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data/Books/marip10.txt
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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Their Mariposa Legend, by Charlotte Herr
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Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
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copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
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this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
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This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
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Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
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header without written permission.
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Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
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eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
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important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
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how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
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donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
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**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
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**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
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*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
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Title: Their Mariposa Legend
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Author: Charlotte Herr
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Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5196]
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[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
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[This file was first posted on June 3, 2002]
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Edition: 10
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Language: English
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Character set encoding: ASCII
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THEIR MARIPOSA LEGEND ***
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This eBook was produced by David Schwan <davidsch@earthlink.net>.
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Their Mariposa Legend
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A Romance of Santa Catalina
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By Charlotte Herr
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To Little Bruce Parker
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Who Loved Stories
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Part I
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Sir Francis Starts It
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It began to happen a long time ago, centuries ago, when, in a fragrant
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rush of rain, spring came one day to Punagwandah, fairest of the Channel
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Islands. Beneath the golden mists of sunrise danced a radiant sea. On
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steeply sloping hillsides where thickets of wild lilac bloomed, the lark
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shook from his tiny throat a tumult of glad music. In shadowed niches of
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the canyons lilies waited to fill with light their gleaming ivory cups.
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Spring in very truth was there.
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And looking down upon it from her cavern bower high above the beach,
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watched the Princess Wildenai. Kneeling there, the light of dawn shining
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on her long black hair, she was, herself, the sweetest blossom of the
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spring. Loveliest was she among all the maidens of the Mariposa and of
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royal blood besides; although of this the great chief Torquam, who even
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at that moment lay sleeping in his lodge of deerskin on the crescent
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beach below, knew more than he had ever told.
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With eyes rapt, her breath scarcely stirring the folds of softest
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fawnskin drawn across her breast, the princess bent her gaze to where
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the waves ran silver on the ocean's distant rim. There she knew the sun
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must rise and, as the first dazzling ray sparkled across the water, she
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rose slowly until she stood erect, a slender, graceful figure against
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the dim, gray rocks, and stretching her arms toward the East, spoke in
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the musical words of her people.
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"Oh, Waken-ate, great spirit-father," she pleaded, "have mercy on me.
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Grant to me, thy humble daughter, one only boon. Grant, I pray thee,
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that it need not be I wed with Torquam's friend, the pale-face stranger.
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Well knowest thou I would not disobey my father, him the bravest and
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most powerful of all thy warriors, him whom his people delight to honor,
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and whom I strive to please. All the more I feel my duty since, many
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moons ago, they laid my mother underneath the flowers. Yet, even so, I
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cannot find it in my heart to wed with Don Cabrillo, dearly as does my
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father wish it. Can'st thou not then, in thy great power, turn his
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heart, oh lord of spirits, that he no longer may desire it? Help me in
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this, my only trial, I pray thee, and in all else will I be indeed his
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loyal daughter, - in all else save alone in this one thing!"
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Her arms fell. Slowly she sank again to her knees, bending her head
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until her forehead touched the ground. For many minutes she lay thus
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prostrate while the glory of the rising sun bathed the sea in splendor.
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Yet, when at last she rose, her eyes were dim with tears.
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But now from the beach below there drifted up to her the sounds of a
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village astir. Shrill voices of women mingled with the crackling of
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freshly kindled fires. A canoe, pushed hastily into the water, grated
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harshly on the pebbles. Still the maiden did not stir. Leaning against
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the rocky ledge, her chin in her hands, she gazed listlessly out over
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the shining sea. If any interests lived for her among the dark-skinned
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people beneath the cliffs, for the moment at least she gave no sign.
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Then, suddenly, above the ordinary din of the Indian village, rose the
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hoarse shouting of men. Wildenai lifted her eyes, - eyes that widened
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first with wonder, then with fear. For there, far down the shoreline to
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the south, her sails gleaming white against the walls of rock behind her
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as she rounded a distant point, a ship came slowly into view. With
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wildly beating heart the young girl watched the vessel tack to clear the
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long curve of the coast. But once before in all her life had she seen
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such another monster winged canoe, and that had been when Senor Don
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Cabrillo first cast anchor in the Bay of Moons below, now almost a year
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ago. For many a week had the young man lingered, renewing the friendship
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with the Mariposa cemented more than eighteen years before when his
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father, hindered by storms in his adventurous journey up the coast, cast
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anchor off the shore, - the first white man to see their island. Nor was
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the lingering without result. Torquam he taught to speak the Spanish
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tongue, learning in his turn safer and easier routes to the gold fields
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of the north, while not the least among the treasures carried with him
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when at last he sailed away did he hold the promise that the beautiful
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daughter of the chief should become his bride when next he touched upon
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that shore. Could this, then, be the Spaniard's fleet returning? Was the
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Great Spirit powerless, after all, to save her? In sore bewilderment and
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terror Wildenai watched the distant ship.
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Nearer and nearer it came. But, as its outline grew each moment more
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distinct, gradually her fears departed. For this was not the clumsy
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Spanish galleon she remembered. The prow was not nearly so high, nor was
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the incoming vessel as large in any respect as had been that other. Yet,
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though fear died, wonder grew. What new variety of strangers, then, was
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about to visit them? For that the ship intended to anchor she was by
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this time sure. Steadily it bore on until within a scant half mile of
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the crescent shaped beach where lay the royal village of the tribe. At
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length, as if in fear to trust themselves closer to the rocky shore, the
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crew were seen to bring the vessel sharply about. An anchor was cast
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over, the creaking of the hawsers distinctly audible in the clear
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morning air, and a few moments later a small boat was lowered. Into this
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boat immediately several sailors swung themselves and after a short
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delay, amidst the shouting of the Indians, now running in wild
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excitement up and down the beach, the men picked up their oars and
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started for the land.
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"Alla-hoa, Wildenai!"
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Up the stony trail leading to her cavern scrambled an Indian runner, a
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lithe youth who flung himself breathless at her feet.
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"Thy father, oh princess, sends me to summon thee to his lodge.
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Strangers, - paleface strangers, - enemies, who can tell, are coming.
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See, - the ship!" With dark forefinger he pointed toward the sea.
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"Torquam would have thee hide with the rest of the women in the cave at
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the Great Rock. There Kathah-galwa wilt keep thee safe, he says. Make
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haste, oh Wildenai!"
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"And am I not as safe up here?" returned the princess, calmly. "Be not
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so lost in thy terror, oh Norqua. I, too, have seen the ship and I fear
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not. Yet will I obey if so my father bids," she added quickly. "Go thou
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ahead. I follow." And hastily gathering together some reeds and colored
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grasses lying on the ledge, parts of an unfinished basket upon which,
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evidently, she had during some previous visit been at work, she flung
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them into a corner of the cavern and ran lightly down the narrow path
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leading to the village.
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Here all by this time was tense excitement, the dramatic, ungoverned
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excitement of children. While with shrill cries two or three of the
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women gathered the little ones together, the rest pulled frantically at
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the poles holding each tepee in place. Still apparently quite unmoved,
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Wildenai sought first her father standing surprised but unafraid in the
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doorway of his lodge. Tall and spare and stern he looked, straight as
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some lonely pine on the slopes of distant San Jacinto. Yet even in the
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stress of such a moment a tender light stole into his eyes as they
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rested upon his motherless daughter.
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Wildenai made obeisance and for a brief moment the two surveyed each
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other in silence. Then,
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"It is well thou art come, my beloved one," spoke the chief. "Stranger
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pale-faces will soon be amongst us."
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"Wildenai feels no fear, my father," quietly answered the girl.
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"If they come in friendship," quickly Torquam replied, "then indeed may
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all be well. But the ship is not of the Senor's fleet, and if so be that
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we must fight, thou wert better hidden in the cave. We shall see."
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Bending her head in mute acquiescence the girl moved away to join the
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group of women now almost ready to depart.
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Meantime the vessel's long boat, driven onward by the stout arms of
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three strong sailors, steadily approached the bay.
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"What think'st thou then, Rufus Broadmead, of this fool's errand to the
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savages?" inquired one of these, resting upon his oars for a moment that
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he might the better listen to the tumult on the shore. "Wot ye not that
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if water had been the only boon he craves the captain had fared much
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better on the mainland? Besides, did not I myself overhear the Apache
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only yesterday tell him of a certainty that the tribes over there were
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away on the warpath? But no, by the mass, here must we risk our precious
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scalps to row into the very teeth of the heathen, and that to humor the
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whim of as obstinate an Englishman as ever sailed aboard Her Majesty's
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fleets!" and without awaiting any reply he lowered his oars in disgust.
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The others laughed.
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"Hast been, then, so stupid, brother Giles, for all thy listening with
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thy big ears, as not to know 'tis Spanish treasure ever and naught else
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our captain seeks? Water, - pouf!" the speaker made a rough grimace,
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"water may well serve as an excuse, and what to bold Sir Francis were
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the lives of half a dozen seamen when booty for the queen lies in the
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balance? The Apache told him, too, - thou see'st thou hast not played
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the listening game alone, for, hiding behind the fo'castle door myself,
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I heard him say it, - that here lay that famous island, San - how is't
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they call it? San Catlina - I know not how 'tis spoken, - some Spanish
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lingo not fit for English tongues! At any rate 'twas here your Spanish
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robber, Don Cabrillo, and, for the matter of that, his precious son as
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well, stopped to seek direction ere they found the land of gold. The
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savage sware besides they were a gentle tribe, not given to war and
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murder like the rest. I hearkened well, forsooth, knowing past doubt I
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would be een one o' those chosen to try 'em out. The devil take the
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Apache an he lied," he added fiercely, "I'll break his head across till
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even he shrieks out for help when I get back!"
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He paused to gaze fearfully at the stern cliffs now looming close at
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hand, beneath which the excited natives still ran back and forth,
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pointing with frantic gestures at the boat.
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The third man spoke. He was smaller than the other two and darker, with
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a sly look about his eyes and mouth in strong contrast to the bluff
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frankness of his comrades. So far he had appeared content to listen in
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amused silence, but now with a short laugh he interrupted.
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"The Apache did not lie. This is the island Santa Catalina, though that,
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mark you, is not the Indian name. And right well can the chief who rules
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here direct our captain also to the goldfields of the north. But
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hearkee, comrades. 'Tis not Drake will reap the profits this time!" He
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lowered his voice mysteriously as though fearful of being overheard,
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albeit nothing was nearer than his two companions and the clear, green
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+
stretch of water. "Have ye not observed the boy who travels with the
|
259
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+
captain? - the boy I serve, - the one they call Sir Harry? To my mind,
|
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+
cub though he be, 'tis he who rules the ship. Hast never noticed how the
|
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+
great Drake himself bends to his slightest wish?"
|
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|
+
|
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"Aye, marry, that have I! And who, then, is he, think'st thou?" inquired
|
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+
the man who had spoken first.
|
265
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+
|
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+
"Some close kin to the queen, - that much I know," the other answered
|
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+
quickly, "the heir to some great dukedom, mayhap, in disguise to see the
|
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world and make a fortune. 'Tis his desire we land, so much he told me,
|
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+
and 'tis to learn more than directions, my hearties, and that I'll
|
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+
warrant ye! But, look ye, the water grows too shallow! We can use the
|
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+
oars no longer."
|
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+
|
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+
And even as he spoke the boat grated upon the pebbles. An incoming
|
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breaker would have carried it ashore, but before the sailors could take
|
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+
advantage of this help or even so much as ship their oars, half a dozen
|
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swarthy youths had waded out and, with shouts and gestures, whether of
|
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+
welcome or hostility the Englishmen had no means of knowing, pushed it
|
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+
high upon the beach. At once, then, for well they realized the danger of
|
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delay, and with a stolid courage born of many a like adventure, the
|
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+
seamen leaped fearlessly out upon the sand. In their hands they held
|
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+
aloft bolts of brightly colored cloth snatched on the instant from the
|
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+
bottom of the boat. These they offered for the wondering inspection of
|
283
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+
the women who, observing the small number of invaders, were cautiously
|
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+
returning. To the warriors grouped about the chief they proffered knives
|
285
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+
of which the steel blades, set in strong handles of bone, glistened in
|
286
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+
the sun. Eagerly, yet with a certain unexpected formality, the men
|
287
|
+
accepted these, passing them for examination from one to another with
|
288
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+
many a grunt of satisfaction. To be sure, no brave among them but might
|
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|
+
the next moment decide to try out the merits of his gift upon the
|
290
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+
bestower, but this danger the adventurers had to risk. More timidly the
|
291
|
+
women, their eyes fixed wistfully upon the gaudy red and yellow cloth,
|
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+
approached the strangers, offering in their turn bits of abalone shell
|
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+
polished to iridescent beauty.
|
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+
|
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|
+
They seemed in truth a gentle, friendly people, so much so that at
|
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+
length the sailors, deeming it safe to undertake the second part of
|
297
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+
their errand, began to plead for water and to request, besides, an
|
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|
+
interview between their captain and the chief. All this by means of
|
299
|
+
signs in which they displayed no little wit and skill, the Englishmen
|
300
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+
accomplished until, well on toward the middle of the morning, they made
|
301
|
+
ready to return to the ship, the casks they had brought brimming with
|
302
|
+
sweet mountain water, while with them they bore as well the promise of
|
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+
an interview of state between the great chief Torquam and Sir Francis
|
304
|
+
Drake, to take place upon the beach at sunset.
|
305
|
+
|
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|
+
And then at once the little village of Toyobet seethed again with
|
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+
excitement. For these good paleface friends and their god-like commander
|
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|
+
a fitting welcome must be prepared. Fleet-footed messengers, bearing
|
309
|
+
flaming torches, sped in hot haste along the mountain trails that all
|
310
|
+
who saw might know without words spoken of the assembling of the tribe.
|
311
|
+
To the distant village at the isthmus they hurried, and to the cove on
|
312
|
+
the western coast, some twenty miles away, to which a band of warriors
|
313
|
+
had gone several days before to hunt the otter. That no one among his
|
314
|
+
people might remain in ignorance of his command, Torquam even caused
|
315
|
+
signal fires to be kindled on each of the twin peaks, extinct volcanoes,
|
316
|
+
near the center of the island. Smoke rising there was visible from every
|
317
|
+
corner of his land, and woe to any subject who dared to disregard that
|
318
|
+
warning!
|
319
|
+
|
320
|
+
Throughout the long bright day the women toiled, preparing a ceremonial
|
321
|
+
feast. Three antelope, a deer, and half a dozen of the wild sheep which
|
322
|
+
roamed the hills were killed and placed for roasting over deep pits dug
|
323
|
+
in the sand. Nor did any member of the tribe forget in his own crude
|
324
|
+
fashion to deck himself for the occasion. The warriors adorned their
|
325
|
+
heads with feathers and daubed their cheeks and lips with ochre. The
|
326
|
+
women clothed themselves in loose-hanging tunics of doeskin girt with
|
327
|
+
strings of wampum, and hung about their tawny shoulders the lovely
|
328
|
+
greens and blues of uncut turquoise. Meanwhile, also, the great chief
|
329
|
+
Torquam donned his ceremonial dress, a string of eagle feathers held by
|
330
|
+
the crimsoned quills of the porcupine and extending down his back until
|
331
|
+
almost it touched the ground. About his neck, as token of his
|
332
|
+
priesthood, he threw the bear-claw necklace, known far and wide among
|
333
|
+
the tribes for its famous powers of healing. Wildenai alone made no
|
334
|
+
change except to bind the satin black of her hair still more smoothly
|
335
|
+
within a fillet of silver. In the center of the band, so that it rested
|
336
|
+
just above her brow, a strange device appeared, a circle enclosing many
|
337
|
+
rays, - the royal insignia of the tribe which only the daughter of the
|
338
|
+
chief might wear.
|
339
|
+
|
340
|
+
|
341
|
+
|
342
|
+
Then at last when, in the sunset, level rays of light rested golden on
|
343
|
+
the bay and turned to amethyst the distant mountains on the mainland,
|
344
|
+
all was ready. Once again, this time to the weird music of tom-toms and
|
345
|
+
the beating of drums, a boat was lowered from the ship while on the
|
346
|
+
shore the Indians watched.
|
347
|
+
|
348
|
+
It was in truth a picture not soon to be forgotten. Behind the mirrored
|
349
|
+
Bay of Moons, its crescent of sand gleaming white against the rocks, the
|
350
|
+
bands of dusky men and women stood motionless as statues in the quiet
|
351
|
+
light of the setting sun, while in the doorway of his lodge, his
|
352
|
+
daughter close beside him, Torquam waited with simple dignity to receive
|
353
|
+
his guests, the fair-skinned strangers.
|
354
|
+
|
355
|
+
At length along the beach advanced the little group of English, friends
|
356
|
+
and fellow adventurers with the most renowned of all their great queen's
|
357
|
+
buccaneers. Beside Sir Francis himself marched young Harold of Wessex,
|
358
|
+
little more than a boy in years, yet dreaded and feared in his own land
|
359
|
+
even then - a possible heir to Elizabeth's throne. Some short distance
|
360
|
+
in front of these two, standard bearers carried the flags of Merry
|
361
|
+
England, each glorious with fringes and tassels of gold. Well might such
|
362
|
+
banners dazzle the eyes and wits of simple savages.
|
363
|
+
|
364
|
+
Yet, possibly, for all that, had it not been for the lengthy ceremonial
|
365
|
+
of the peace-pipe, Wildenai could not have taken time to observe so
|
366
|
+
closely, in stolen glances from beneath her long black lashes, the
|
367
|
+
splendor of the young noble standing proudly erect beside his captain;
|
368
|
+
nor could he have stared so often, with no attempt to hide his
|
369
|
+
admiration, at the dark beauty of the princess.
|
370
|
+
|
371
|
+
Perhaps, too, if fate had not contrived to place them side by side at
|
372
|
+
the feast which followed, young Harold might never have discovered that
|
373
|
+
an Indian girl, however beautiful, possessed the wit to learn a foreign
|
374
|
+
language. Yet it was certainly Spanish and that well spoken in which, at
|
375
|
+
length, she softly asked of her father a question intended obviously for
|
376
|
+
himself.
|
377
|
+
|
378
|
+
Under cover of one of the Indian dances with which, from time to time,
|
379
|
+
the feast was enlivened, he leaned impulsively toward her.
|
380
|
+
|
381
|
+
"Can'st speak the Spanish tongue?" he hastily inquired.
|
382
|
+
|
383
|
+
The princess dropped her eyes. For a moment she remained silent as if
|
384
|
+
debating to what extent such boldness might involve her. Then, with a
|
385
|
+
glance as shy as if some deer gazed at him startled from the thicket,
|
386
|
+
|
387
|
+
"Yes, mon senor," she answered simply. "I learned it when Don Cabrillo
|
388
|
+
came to Punagwandah many moons ago."
|
389
|
+
|
390
|
+
After that it was only that one thing led to another, as was sometimes
|
391
|
+
true of men and maidens even in the days so long gone by. For, as if by
|
392
|
+
common consent, then, they drew a little apart from the rest, where,
|
393
|
+
throwing himself on the sand beside her while the firelight threw
|
394
|
+
flickering shadows among the rocks, the young man related fragments of
|
395
|
+
his story, - of the long journey across the sea, something of his home
|
396
|
+
in England, and of the brilliant court of the great queen wherein he had
|
397
|
+
served as gentleman-in-waiting. So had he served, yet soon, but here her
|
398
|
+
guest had suddenly flushed and paused as though he spoke too hastily or
|
399
|
+
of what he should not. To all of it the princess listened with
|
400
|
+
fast-beating heart and a desire, ever growing, to make herself a place
|
401
|
+
in this splendid stranger's world. Was not she then, also, the daughter
|
402
|
+
of a king? Yet how different and how unimportant beside that wonderful
|
403
|
+
woman of whom he spoke! For father she boasted the great chief Torquam,
|
404
|
+
feared by every tribe in the north and rich because of the gold hidden
|
405
|
+
in many a canyon among the distant mountains; yet her woman's instinct
|
406
|
+
told her that to this proud Englishman her people were at best little
|
407
|
+
more than a curiosity, almost, indeed, a cause for laughter.
|
408
|
+
|
409
|
+
When at last the feast was finished, Torquam rose, and removing with
|
410
|
+
slow solemnity his crest of eagle feathers, he placed it upon the head
|
411
|
+
of Sir Francis, a seal of everlasting friendship. With difficulty young
|
412
|
+
Harold suppressed a smile. But the older man, as well aware of what the
|
413
|
+
situation demanded as he was keenly alive to its danger, received the
|
414
|
+
attention with a gravity fully equal to that of his host. Indeed, he
|
415
|
+
went still further.
|
416
|
+
|
417
|
+
"Most gracious hast thou been, oh Torquam, all wise chief of the
|
418
|
+
Mariposa," he began in carefully chosen Spanish, "nor shall thy kingly
|
419
|
+
gift remain unrequited. Listen, oh Torquam! On yonder vessel I carry
|
420
|
+
steeds like those of which I told you. For a journey over the mountains
|
421
|
+
of the north we have brought them. One there is, swifter of foot than
|
422
|
+
all the rest. Him will I cause my men to lower into the boat and bring
|
423
|
+
to you after our return tonight."
|
424
|
+
|
425
|
+
In silence Torquam inclined his head. Nothing could have pleased him
|
426
|
+
more. He would be the first then, of all his tribe to own one of those
|
427
|
+
strange yet wondrous creatures never before seen in his world until the
|
428
|
+
Spanish landed! Yet only the eager gleam in his eyes betrayed his
|
429
|
+
pleasure. But Harold of Wessex stared at his captain in blank
|
430
|
+
astonishment, for the gift he had just bestowed with such apparent
|
431
|
+
carelessness was the most valuable bit of cargo in the ship, a costly
|
432
|
+
Arabian horse intended for the young noble's own special comfort and
|
433
|
+
convenience during the search for gold on which they were bound. Was
|
434
|
+
Drake gone suddenly mad, then, thus to throw away, and that without
|
435
|
+
permission, his choicest property on a mere savage? Hot with resentment
|
436
|
+
he was about to interfere; but before he could obey the rash impulse his
|
437
|
+
better judgment prevailed, and just in time he remembered how, on
|
438
|
+
several other such occasions, his very life had been saved by some swift
|
439
|
+
expedient of Drake's and his tact in handling the natives.
|
440
|
+
|
441
|
+
Slowly Sir Francis continued, and now one watching intently might have
|
442
|
+
sensed from the gleam in his eyes that he had reached the real point in
|
443
|
+
the interview.
|
444
|
+
|
445
|
+
"One question, nevertheless, would I ask of all-wise Torquam before we
|
446
|
+
part." He hesitated, searching the impassive face of the Indian. "Can'st
|
447
|
+
tell me of a Spaniard, one Cabrillo, son to that arch pirate of Spain,
|
448
|
+
who, since his father's death, still sails upon these waters? To him I
|
449
|
+
bear a message," - again he paused while the heart of Wildenai beat in
|
450
|
+
sudden panic beneath her fawnskin tunic; but Torquam's face remained
|
451
|
+
blank as a page unwritten, - "a message from our queen," added Drake.
|
452
|
+
The last words were uttered with significance.
|
453
|
+
|
454
|
+
The Indian slowly shook his head.
|
455
|
+
|
456
|
+
"The noble white chief asks what is unknown to any man," he answered.
|
457
|
+
"The young Cabrillo once landed, 'tis true, on Punagwandah. Many moons
|
458
|
+
ago it was. Where he is now, how should Torquam know?"
|
459
|
+
|
460
|
+
In his bitter disappointment the hand of the Englishman sought the hilt
|
461
|
+
of his sword. Instantly a ring of warriors closed darkly about the
|
462
|
+
chief.
|
463
|
+
|
464
|
+
Drake laughed.
|
465
|
+
|
466
|
+
"Nay then, 'tis but by chance I asked thee, thinking thou mightst tell
|
467
|
+
me. It matters not. The gift I promised thee will come, as I said,
|
468
|
+
tonight."
|
469
|
+
|
470
|
+
He turned to go and young Harold rose to follow. Then, perceiving the
|
471
|
+
dark eyes of the princess fixed wistfully upon him, he hesitated and,
|
472
|
+
obeying a sudden impulse, he stepped hastily to her side.
|
473
|
+
|
474
|
+
"When they return with the gift for thy father," he whispered, "I will
|
475
|
+
come with them," he smiled into her soft eyes shining with pleased
|
476
|
+
surprise, "and I will bring a gift to thee as well, oh Wildenai, fairest
|
477
|
+
of maidens!"
|
478
|
+
|
479
|
+
Drake gave a sharp command. His followers sprang to their feet, and
|
480
|
+
without further ceremony the party passed quickly down the beach to
|
481
|
+
their boat.
|
482
|
+
|
483
|
+
But the princess Wildenai did not leave the feasting ground. Hidden by
|
484
|
+
deepening shadows she watched the ship's lights glimmer across the
|
485
|
+
water. Glad indeed was she of the darkness, for a warm flush glowed in
|
486
|
+
her cheeks and her heart throbbed with a strange new pleasure, a
|
487
|
+
pleasure bordering close on fear, yet wholly sweet.
|
488
|
+
|
489
|
+
But when, at length, the quiet of sleep had descended upon the village,
|
490
|
+
once again she sought her father. He, too, within the open doorway of
|
491
|
+
his lodge, watched intently the distant ship. Without surprise he saw
|
492
|
+
his daughter enter and, as she knelt upon the blanket beside him, he
|
493
|
+
stretched a hand and drew her close.
|
494
|
+
|
495
|
+
"It grows cold. The wind is rising. 'Twere best to wait inside." He
|
496
|
+
spoke in the musical Indian tongue. For a moment he stroked her hair in
|
497
|
+
silence, then -
|
498
|
+
|
499
|
+
"What think'st thou by now of the English, Wildenai, my little wild
|
500
|
+
rose?" he asked.
|
501
|
+
|
502
|
+
But the princess seemed not to have heard his question.
|
503
|
+
|
504
|
+
"My father," she began after another short silence, "I have a favor to
|
505
|
+
ask of thee."
|
506
|
+
|
507
|
+
"And what may that be, my daughter?" he returned gravely.
|
508
|
+
|
509
|
+
But again the young girl made no answer and for many minutes they
|
510
|
+
watched the tremulous paths of light in the wake of the vessel.
|
511
|
+
|
512
|
+
After a time he felt her hand tighten upon his arm.
|
513
|
+
|
514
|
+
"It is but the old boon over again, my father." Her voice was low as the
|
515
|
+
sighing of the wind among the oak trees. "I would be freed from my
|
516
|
+
promise to wed with Don Cabrillo."
|
517
|
+
|
518
|
+
An Indian is not given to caresses. Much more used was Torquam's hand to
|
519
|
+
wield the war-club or the hatchet. Yet it was with fingers gentle as any
|
520
|
+
woman's that he stroked the smooth black head at his knee.
|
521
|
+
|
522
|
+
"Doubtest thou then, my motherless one, the judgment of him who loves
|
523
|
+
thee?" he asked.
|
524
|
+
|
525
|
+
"I doubt it not, my father," answered his daughter. "Yet would I not wed
|
526
|
+
with the Spaniard," she added stubbornly.
|
527
|
+
|
528
|
+
"The blue-eyed senor from England" - there was a hint of humor in his
|
529
|
+
tone, - "he it is who steals thy fancy! Is it not so, my Wildenai?"
|
530
|
+
|
531
|
+
Then, after a moment: "Right well knowest thou my only wish is to make
|
532
|
+
thee happy." Again his voice, though gentle, grew serious almost to
|
533
|
+
sadness. "No mere whim it is that counsels me to wed thee to Cabrillo.
|
534
|
+
"There is something - " He paused, continuing with effort, - "a reason I
|
535
|
+
have never told thee why it seems most fitting. Now I will tell thee.
|
536
|
+
That reason is because, because, my Wildenai, thou art Spanish born
|
537
|
+
thyself."
|
538
|
+
|
539
|
+
The princess drew a hasty breath. In the darkness he felt rather than
|
540
|
+
saw her startled eyes upon him.
|
541
|
+
|
542
|
+
"My father!" The exclamation, filled with pain as well as astonishment,
|
543
|
+
touched him to the quick. Tenderly he drew her to him. Then briefly, as
|
544
|
+
was the Indian way, yet with the pictured phrasing which caused each
|
545
|
+
scene to spring into vivid life before the young girl's eyes, he told
|
546
|
+
her of the day, already more than eighteen years gone by, when, in the
|
547
|
+
wake of a long midwinter storm, the first sailing vessel ever beheld by
|
548
|
+
his people had fled for refuge to their bay; and of the little girl
|
549
|
+
carefully brought to shore by her old nurse in the first boat to touch
|
550
|
+
the beach. A mere baby she was, too young to know aught of her
|
551
|
+
misfortune, yet a princess royal, rudely dispossessed of her right to
|
552
|
+
the throne of Spain, and smuggled aboard the adventurer Cabrillo's ship
|
553
|
+
to be dropped in some out-of-the-way corner of the western world. Even
|
554
|
+
then, he made it clear, she might have perished, - since little recked
|
555
|
+
the Spanish explorer what should happen, well knowing that upon his
|
556
|
+
return no questions would be asked, - had it not been for his Indian
|
557
|
+
wife. She, lacking children of her own, had taken an instant fancy to
|
558
|
+
the dark-eyed little girl, a fancy so strong that nothing would do but
|
559
|
+
they must adopt her as their own daughter into the tribe to belong
|
560
|
+
forever, according to their law, she and her children, to the Mariposa.
|
561
|
+
|
562
|
+
"Nor, because thy mother - for ever was she a true mother to thee -
|
563
|
+
thought that it might grieve thee, have any of my people ever given thee
|
564
|
+
cause to doubt that thou wert native born," he finished proudly. "Loyal
|
565
|
+
have they been, doing all they could to make thee happy. But now that
|
566
|
+
thy Indian mother is dead, and I myself grow old, I thought to wed thee,
|
567
|
+
knowing his desire, to the son of that same Cabrillo who brought thee to
|
568
|
+
us, for I long to be sure, when at length I go, that thou art safe, - at
|
569
|
+
home."
|
570
|
+
|
571
|
+
He waited then and in the silence only the low weeping of the girl was
|
572
|
+
heard. At length the old chief spoke again, and now in his voice love
|
573
|
+
conquered disappointment.
|
574
|
+
|
575
|
+
"Much do I desire it, but that matters not. I would not have thee
|
576
|
+
unhappy. I myself will tell the senor that what he hopes for cannot be."
|
577
|
+
|
578
|
+
Slowly Wildenai bent her head until it touched his feet. Then she
|
579
|
+
nestled close against him.
|
580
|
+
|
581
|
+
"I thank thee, oh my father!" she cried, and all her voice was music
|
582
|
+
because of her joy. "And thou art still my father," she added,
|
583
|
+
earnestly. "What care I to go to Spain? I will stay always with thee."
|
584
|
+
|
585
|
+
"For a time, it may be. Yet have a care, little wild rose," he
|
586
|
+
cautioned, smiling, "Let not the Englishman lure thee away! He, too, may
|
587
|
+
not be all that thou thinkest."
|
588
|
+
|
589
|
+
And even as he spoke, in mocking confirmation of his words, there came
|
590
|
+
to them suddenly from across the water, the distant creaking of ropes,
|
591
|
+
the snapping of sails flung hastily to the wind. Before their
|
592
|
+
unbelieving eyes the vessel swung about and put slowly out to sea. Dumb
|
593
|
+
with amazement they watched until the last faint light flickered into
|
594
|
+
darkness. Not until the remotest chance of a mistake was past did the
|
595
|
+
old chief rise, trembling with rage, to his feet.
|
596
|
+
|
597
|
+
"See'st thou now what I meant, my daughter? The English pale-faces know
|
598
|
+
not the meaning of honor, - no, nor of gratitude either!"
|
599
|
+
|
600
|
+
He lifted his long spear from the ground and shook it fiercely.
|
601
|
+
|
602
|
+
"The words of the Mariposa are few," he cried, "but their revenge is
|
603
|
+
sure. Let but an Englishman set foot again on Punagwandah and, swifter
|
604
|
+
than the arrow leaves the bowstring, he dies!"
|
605
|
+
|
606
|
+
And at once, without answer, in the silence of suffering which only the
|
607
|
+
wild things of the earth understand, Wildenai crept from the lodge, her
|
608
|
+
heart heavy with its own bitter disappointment. Noiselessly she passed
|
609
|
+
among the tepees where her father's people slept. Not one of them should
|
610
|
+
ever know how far dwelt slumber from her own eyes that night. Up the
|
611
|
+
steep trail beyond the Bay of Moons she climbed and flung herself
|
612
|
+
weeping on the bed of skins within the cavern.
|
613
|
+
|
614
|
+
"Oh, thou false one," she moaned, "why did'st thou promise then, when
|
615
|
+
never did'st thou mean to keep it?"
|
616
|
+
|
617
|
+
|
618
|
+
|
619
|
+
Yet nothing had been farther from the young Englishman's thoughts when
|
620
|
+
he left her than faithlessness to his word. On reaching the ship again
|
621
|
+
he had gone directly to his cabin. Here he took from its small but
|
622
|
+
richly embroidered case a slender chain of gold, threaded so closely
|
623
|
+
with garnets that even in the dim light of the one flaring lantern, the
|
624
|
+
only illumination the room could boast, it glowed, a glancing stream of
|
625
|
+
crimson, in his hand. This he carried to the light and as he examined it
|
626
|
+
under the lantern he smiled.
|
627
|
+
|
628
|
+
"Never saw the little maid such jewels before, I'll warrant me! Yet,
|
629
|
+
beshrew my heart, but she deserves them. Indian though she be, still is
|
630
|
+
she, nevertheless, the loveliest woman that ever mine eyes have looked
|
631
|
+
upon!"
|
632
|
+
|
633
|
+
Then, stowing the necklace carefully away in his belt, he went at once
|
634
|
+
in search of the commander.
|
635
|
+
|
636
|
+
But at this point an unexpected difficulty had presented itself. He
|
637
|
+
found Sir Francis in close conversation with his pilot.
|
638
|
+
|
639
|
+
"Marry, Sir, an it fit n'er so ill with thy wish," the keen-eyed old
|
640
|
+
mariner was saying. "I still maintain it were a shame to lose this wind.
|
641
|
+
Gift or no gift, I've sailed these latitudes before, my lord, and by
|
642
|
+
heaven I swear we're not like to have such another breeze, no, not till
|
643
|
+
the change of the moon, and that you know yourself, sir, is a good
|
644
|
+
fortnight hence."
|
645
|
+
|
646
|
+
Sir Francis, striding back and forth within the narrow confines of the
|
647
|
+
quarter deck, appeared to be weighing the old man's words with unusual
|
648
|
+
care. At length, however, he turned as one who has made his decision.
|
649
|
+
|
650
|
+
"By the mass and it shall be even as you say, Jarvis," he declared. "I
|
651
|
+
think myself 'twere well to push on at once. At the most they be but
|
652
|
+
Indians!" The last words were spoken in a lower tone as if to himself.
|
653
|
+
"'Twill matter little either way!"
|
654
|
+
|
655
|
+
It was at this point that young Harold stepped hastily forward. For,
|
656
|
+
strangely enough, although on the morning of that same day such a
|
657
|
+
proceeding would scarcely have appealed to him as being at all unfitting
|
658
|
+
or out of the ordinary, yet now it seemed unthinkable.
|
659
|
+
|
660
|
+
"But, good sir," he interrupted, "you would not so belie your promise!
|
661
|
+
To do as Jarvis here advises, - by heaven, 'twould be neither truthful
|
662
|
+
nor honorable! 'Tis not like you, Sir Francis!"
|
663
|
+
|
664
|
+
Drake shot at him a surprised glance from under his bushy eyebrows, then
|
665
|
+
shrugged his shoulders.
|
666
|
+
|
667
|
+
"Prate not to me, my lord, of truth or honor amongst these savages," he
|
668
|
+
replied. "Did not their chief himself but even now lie to me? Well knew
|
669
|
+
the rascally heathen where the Spaniard hides! The truth indeed! They
|
670
|
+
know not the meaning of such words."
|
671
|
+
|
672
|
+
In vain the younger man petitioned to be allowed to deliver the promised
|
673
|
+
gift with the aid of his own retinue.
|
674
|
+
|
675
|
+
"Thou can'st not get under way for two hours at best, sir," he pleaded,
|
676
|
+
"and well within that time I will be back. 'Tis but a stone's throw to
|
677
|
+
the shore!"
|
678
|
+
|
679
|
+
But Drake first scoffed at his rashness, then, finally losing patience,
|
680
|
+
as commander of the expedition he sternly forbade him or any of his men
|
681
|
+
to leave the ship.
|
682
|
+
|
683
|
+
"We dare not lose the wind," he finished emphatically, "and are like to
|
684
|
+
start at any minute." Then, turning on his heel, he strode away to his
|
685
|
+
cabin and shut the door behind him.
|
686
|
+
|
687
|
+
Left in this unceremonious fashion, young Harold considered a moment,
|
688
|
+
glancing with anxious eyes at the dim line of the coast just visible in
|
689
|
+
the darkness. For some minutes he leaned upon the rail, lost in thought.
|
690
|
+
|
691
|
+
"The old man will e'en have to bear his disappointment," he muttered at
|
692
|
+
length, "but, an' heaven help me, the maid shall not!"
|
693
|
+
|
694
|
+
Then he, too, left the deck to seek out his favorite retainer, the dark,
|
695
|
+
swarthy man who had sat that morning in the prow of the long boat. To
|
696
|
+
him he explained his difficulty, adding grimly:
|
697
|
+
|
698
|
+
"And so thou see'st, Mortimer, that I have work cut out for thee!"
|
699
|
+
|
700
|
+
He threw an arm about the other's shoulders and in this familiar fashion
|
701
|
+
the two men paced the deck together, conversing in low tones.
|
702
|
+
|
703
|
+
"And besides," observed the nobleman as they paused a moment before
|
704
|
+
parting, "would'st know the truth about the matter? For all old Jarvis'
|
705
|
+
prating, the Golden Hind is not like to sail before the dawn, no, nor
|
706
|
+
even then! Jarvis is ever the man to make a show of much hurry, but - "
|
707
|
+
he snapped his fingers scornfully, "only aid me now, unseen by anyone,
|
708
|
+
to launch the Zephir, and by our virgin queen herself I swear, when once
|
709
|
+
again we see the shores of Merry England, thou shalt find 'twas well
|
710
|
+
worth thy trouble."
|
711
|
+
|
712
|
+
His companion smiled even while, with the trained servility of the
|
713
|
+
retainer, he doffed his cap.
|
714
|
+
|
715
|
+
"Aye, truly, my lord," he answered, "but, since it were an impossible
|
716
|
+
feat to get so much as a colt into the Zephir, methinks thou hast a gift
|
717
|
+
of thine own to bestow on yonder pretty Indian maid!"
|
718
|
+
|
719
|
+
The blood leaped to Sir Harry's cheek. With a quick gesture he placed
|
720
|
+
his hand upon his sword.
|
721
|
+
|
722
|
+
"Presume not upon my favor, Mortimer, or by heaven! - " he began
|
723
|
+
angrily, but stopped suddenly as, with a fearless laugh, the man beside
|
724
|
+
him pushed the half-drawn weapon back into its place.
|
725
|
+
|
726
|
+
"Nay then, not so fast, my lord," he chuckled gaily. "Hearkee, my
|
727
|
+
master. I did but use my eyes during their everlasting pow-wow. Surely
|
728
|
+
ye would not grudge me that! And the maid is comely, well worth a
|
729
|
+
trinket from thy store. Besides," he laughed slyly, "I saw e'en more to
|
730
|
+
thine interest, for methinks the princess is as much in love with thy
|
731
|
+
looks as art thou with hers."
|
732
|
+
|
733
|
+
"Silence, fool! Thou hast said more than enough already. Think'st thou
|
734
|
+
the son of a duke royal would look at a brown-skinned savage, an
|
735
|
+
unbelieving pagan, no matter how comely, as thou call'st it, she might
|
736
|
+
be!"
|
737
|
+
|
738
|
+
But the flush remained, nevertheless, on the dark cheek of the young
|
739
|
+
nobleman as he strode angrily from the deck.
|
740
|
+
|
741
|
+
|
742
|
+
|
743
|
+
The moonlight had laid a quivering path of light across the water before
|
744
|
+
Wildenai raised her bowed head from the ground. But, at length, drawing
|
745
|
+
her blanket more closely about her, for into the night air the chill of
|
746
|
+
the ocean had crept, she was about to leave the cave when a sudden sound
|
747
|
+
from the beach below arrested her. For a moment she listened in silence
|
748
|
+
while the shout was repeated, then stood dumb with amazement. A third
|
749
|
+
time it came to her, borne on the rising wind, the terrified cry of a
|
750
|
+
man in dire distress. Nor was it one of her own people who thus called
|
751
|
+
out of the darkness for help. Swiftly she ran to an overhanging ledge of
|
752
|
+
rock from which, by lying flat and peeping over, she could, without
|
753
|
+
exposing herself, command a wide view of the sea.
|
754
|
+
|
755
|
+
At the first glance there appeared to be nothing amiss. Far beneath her
|
756
|
+
the noisy breakers spilled in liquid silver on the beach. Above their
|
757
|
+
musical booming no other sound could be heard. Then suddenly she saw
|
758
|
+
him. A tiny boat it was, tossing dangerously close to the great rounded
|
759
|
+
boulder which, together with a still larger one from which it had at
|
760
|
+
some distant time been broken off, formed the outermost boundary of the
|
761
|
+
curving Beach of Moons. The dark figure standing erect in the boat
|
762
|
+
strove with the aid of an oar to keep it from being dashed to pieces
|
763
|
+
against the giant rock. Again there floated up to her the desperate call
|
764
|
+
for help. The voice was that of the English noble!
|
765
|
+
|
766
|
+
Instantly the girl sprang to her feet, and without the slightest
|
767
|
+
hesitation ran lightly down the perilous incline, leaping fearlessly
|
768
|
+
from rock to rock, until, within a few seconds, she stood poised above
|
769
|
+
the seething surf on the top of the larger boulder. Here, balancing
|
770
|
+
herself as easily and securely as a wild antelope, she raised her arms
|
771
|
+
to dive. But now from the shadows below the white man called once more.
|
772
|
+
|
773
|
+
"Attempt it not, oh Wildenai! 'Tis death to leap from there!"
|
774
|
+
|
775
|
+
But without waiting even to reply, the Indian girl sprang into the
|
776
|
+
waves. An instant later and he saw her arms gleam in the moonlight as,
|
777
|
+
with the strong slow strokes of an experienced swimmer, she struck out
|
778
|
+
for the boat. In spite of the perilous rocking of the little craft he
|
779
|
+
rested on his oar to watch her for a moment in sheer admiration of her
|
780
|
+
skill. But the maid knew well the danger of every instant's delay. In
|
781
|
+
the very nick of time she seemed almost to throw herself between him and
|
782
|
+
the rocks while, with a strength he would have believed impossible in
|
783
|
+
one so small, she pulled the boat around. Then, still swimming and
|
784
|
+
without a word to him, she began to push it ahead of her toward the
|
785
|
+
shore. It was but a few minutes before they stood together on the beach.
|
786
|
+
|
787
|
+
And now the young noble, overcome with gratitude, fell on his knees
|
788
|
+
before her and caught her hand between his own. He would have kissed it
|
789
|
+
in sheer joy at his escape, but the Indian girl drew sharply back.
|
790
|
+
|
791
|
+
"Quick!" she whispered, yet remembering to speak in Spanish, "You must
|
792
|
+
hide yourself at once. My father will kill you if he should find you
|
793
|
+
here!"
|
794
|
+
|
795
|
+
Swiftly she concealed the boat in a tiny cove behind the boulder, a
|
796
|
+
hiding place he would never have seen though it was apparently perfectly
|
797
|
+
familiar to her.
|
798
|
+
|
799
|
+
"Sometimes my own canoe I keep there too," she whispered. "Now come!"
|
800
|
+
and she hurried him along the beach and up an easier trail beyond the
|
801
|
+
rocks to her cavern bower above.
|
802
|
+
|
803
|
+
Nor did she pause for an instant's rest until they had passed safely
|
804
|
+
behind the manzanita branches which concealed the entrance. Here,
|
805
|
+
motioning him to do the same, she dropped upon a pile of skins. But
|
806
|
+
instead, in real concern, the young Englishman knelt again beside her.
|
807
|
+
|
808
|
+
"Thou art so wet and cold," he began anxiously, "Will it not make thee
|
809
|
+
ill? Yet 'twas a wondrous feat," he added admiringly, "well conceived
|
810
|
+
and carried out with skill such as any man might envy!"
|
811
|
+
|
812
|
+
The princess laughed.
|
813
|
+
|
814
|
+
'Twas nothing," she answered briefly. "I do it almost every day."
|
815
|
+
|
816
|
+
"I came to bring to thee the gift I promised," explained Lord Harold
|
817
|
+
then, and from his belt he drew the little case. Eagerly he flung the
|
818
|
+
gleaming string of garnets about her slim brown throat.
|
819
|
+
|
820
|
+
"Jewels brought by my father to my mother on the morning of their
|
821
|
+
marriage," he told her. "When she lay dying she gave them me and told me
|
822
|
+
never to part with them except I gave them to my - " He paused suddenly,
|
823
|
+
"But thou hast saved my life!" he added as quickly, "Who else could ever
|
824
|
+
deserve them more? Well know I my mother would wish thee to have them."
|
825
|
+
|
826
|
+
Silently, though her eyes were bright with, pleasure, the princess
|
827
|
+
lifted the beautiful necklace.
|
828
|
+
|
829
|
+
"Wildenai will wear them always, senor lord," she answered softly, "for
|
830
|
+
now she knows that truly you did mean to keep your word!"
|
831
|
+
|
832
|
+
And so, his mission accomplished, her guest rose hastily to his feet. He
|
833
|
+
must return immediately to the ship.
|
834
|
+
|
835
|
+
"Know you not, then, that it is gone?" exclaimed the girl, amazed.
|
836
|
+
|
837
|
+
"Gone?" echoed young Harold, and stared at her astounded. He seemed not
|
838
|
+
to have grasped her meaning. "Gone, said'st thou?"
|
839
|
+
|
840
|
+
"The ship was out of sight a full hour or more ere ever I heard you
|
841
|
+
call," she explained.
|
842
|
+
|
843
|
+
Still he continued to gaze at her fixedly as if totally unable to
|
844
|
+
comprehend what she would have him know. Then it was plain to be seen
|
845
|
+
that, for the moment at least, blank despair took hold upon him. Up and
|
846
|
+
down the length of the cave he strode like some imprisoned wild thing.
|
847
|
+
At length, standing quite still with folded arms, he seemed to lose
|
848
|
+
himself in thought.
|
849
|
+
|
850
|
+
"Battling with the surf I did not see nor hear," he muttered at last.
|
851
|
+
"But he could not sail without me!" he added. Fiercely he raised his
|
852
|
+
head and his eyes flashed. "He dare not so betray me!"
|
853
|
+
|
854
|
+
Wildenai, too, had been considering.
|
855
|
+
|
856
|
+
"The great white captain knew, then, that you were not on board?" she
|
857
|
+
asked suddenly.
|
858
|
+
|
859
|
+
"No," replied the young man reluctantly, "that did he not. I came
|
860
|
+
without his knowledge. He would have prevented me," he continued
|
861
|
+
stubbornly, "and I had promised thee a gift. Never did I break my word,
|
862
|
+
nor would not then. But I did not dream it possible they could get away
|
863
|
+
so soon! By our virgin lady in Heaven I swear I know not what to do."
|
864
|
+
And once more he seemed lost in despair.
|
865
|
+
|
866
|
+
But only for a moment. Then he turned hastily to the entrance.
|
867
|
+
|
868
|
+
"I must follow them at once," he declared impatiently, "I can overtake
|
869
|
+
them even yet."
|
870
|
+
|
871
|
+
Swift as lightning the girl threw herself between him and the opening in
|
872
|
+
the cave.
|
873
|
+
|
874
|
+
"No, no, senor Englishman," she cried. "It is impossible! Listen, only
|
875
|
+
listen to me! What have you, then, to steer by save the stars? And you
|
876
|
+
see that, drowned in moonlight, they do not shine tonight. And, more
|
877
|
+
than that, you do not even know what course the vessel takes. Remember,
|
878
|
+
too, that there is neither food nor drink within your boat. You would
|
879
|
+
surely die ere you could ever find the ship."
|
880
|
+
|
881
|
+
Gradually she compelled him to listen to reason until, seating himself
|
882
|
+
again upon the skins, he challenged her still further.
|
883
|
+
|
884
|
+
"But what, then, shall I do?" he demanded. "Can'st also tell me that?"
|
885
|
+
|
886
|
+
And with equal readiness the princess replied:
|
887
|
+
|
888
|
+
"If you will but let me I can hide you here. The cavern is my own. Here
|
889
|
+
for many a moon have I worked and waited. No one would dare to enter.
|
890
|
+
You will be safe. Besides, my father's anger will grow cold in time, and
|
891
|
+
then I know that, if I ask him, he will help you."
|
892
|
+
|
893
|
+
His chin propped upon his hands, the young nobleman moodily considered.
|
894
|
+
|
895
|
+
"Well, do then as thou deemest best," he told her finally.
|
896
|
+
|
897
|
+
And from that moment there began for the little princess a time so
|
898
|
+
wonderful that for all the rest of her life she remembered each separate
|
899
|
+
hour as though it had been some beautiful word in a poem learned by
|
900
|
+
heart.
|
901
|
+
|
902
|
+
With deft fingers she piled her softest doeskins for his bed.
|
903
|
+
|
904
|
+
"But what wilt thou do, tell me, if I rob thee of thy nest?" he asked,
|
905
|
+
watching her with amused eyes as she worked.
|
906
|
+
|
907
|
+
"I go always to the village to sleep," she answered simply, and so left
|
908
|
+
him.
|
909
|
+
|
910
|
+
But in the morning while yet the red of sunrise burned above the great
|
911
|
+
peak Orazaba, she returned, bearing upon her head an olla of carved
|
912
|
+
stone filled with water from a mountain spring. This in smiling silence
|
913
|
+
she set before him and disappeared. Within the hour, however, she was
|
914
|
+
back again and this time, kneeling on the ground, she laid at his feet
|
915
|
+
the ripe fruit of the manzanita tree, lying like small red apples, dewy
|
916
|
+
fresh, upon a wild-grape leaf.
|
917
|
+
|
918
|
+
"Ala - ate, see! Are they not good?" she asked triumphantly.
|
919
|
+
|
920
|
+
And so from day to day she ministered to him. Many a time as he sat,
|
921
|
+
listless and moody, within his hiding-place, a handful of wild
|
922
|
+
strawberries, steeped in the warm sweetness of the hills, would be
|
923
|
+
pushed beneath the leafy branches that concealed the door. Sometimes she
|
924
|
+
brought him bread baked from a curious kind of meal made of pounded
|
925
|
+
seeds.
|
926
|
+
|
927
|
+
Once, too, when a sudden storm had chilled the air, she kindled a fire
|
928
|
+
for him within a smaller cave, receding like a fire-place into the rocky
|
929
|
+
wall opposite the opening. It was a long and tedious process which the
|
930
|
+
man watched curiously. First, kneeling on the ground, she rubbed
|
931
|
+
together two dry willow sticks until a little pile of dust had gathered.
|
932
|
+
Then, still stooping, she struck two flints together until at last a
|
933
|
+
spark fell into the dust. Some dry leaves were dropped upon the tiny
|
934
|
+
blaze, then twigs, and lo, a fire!
|
935
|
+
|
936
|
+
In spite of himself the Englishman smiled, though a softer feeling shown
|
937
|
+
in his eyes. How beautiful and yet how childish she looked kneeling
|
938
|
+
there with the anxious pucker between her brows. Poor little princess,
|
939
|
+
how very hard she worked to serve him!
|
940
|
+
|
941
|
+
"It takes a long time, Wildenai," he observed, "dost thou try it often?"
|
942
|
+
|
943
|
+
"Never for myself," she answered gravely. "I have no need. But I do it
|
944
|
+
gladly for you." She smiled brightly back at him, then rose and moved
|
945
|
+
swiftly to the doorway. "Another thing I do for you today. Wait!"
|
946
|
+
|
947
|
+
And when she returned a few minutes later she brought with her,
|
948
|
+
carefully wrapped in cool green leaves, a fish freshly caught that
|
949
|
+
morning.
|
950
|
+
|
951
|
+
"A brook trout, on my word, such as I have often taken in the streams at
|
952
|
+
home!" exclaimed Lord Harold, amazed.
|
953
|
+
|
954
|
+
"I got it far up the canyon before the sun was risen," she answered,
|
955
|
+
delighted at his surprise.
|
956
|
+
|
957
|
+
This, having quickly dressed it, she wrapped again in leaves and placed
|
958
|
+
under the hot ashes to bake, and it being, evidently, a feast out of the
|
959
|
+
ordinary, a merry-making to which a third guest might be bidden,
|
960
|
+
suddenly Wildenai left the cavern again to return this time with a tiny
|
961
|
+
gray fox perched familiarly upon her shoulder.
|
962
|
+
|
963
|
+
"'Tis Onatoa, senor Englishman," she announced, gently stroking the
|
964
|
+
bushy tail of the little creature as it lay about her neck.
|
965
|
+
|
966
|
+
But from his vantage point above his rival, Onatoa merely sniffed
|
967
|
+
disdainfully with his sharp black nose. He looked far from friendly.
|
968
|
+
|
969
|
+
The princess laughed softly.
|
970
|
+
|
971
|
+
He does not know you yet," she defended her pet. "He will soon learn to
|
972
|
+
love you, too."
|
973
|
+
|
974
|
+
"I will catch fish with thee next time thou goest," declared young
|
975
|
+
Harold later as they ate together. "There's no reason I can see why I
|
976
|
+
should stay mewed up forever in this cave. I fear not Indians! No, not
|
977
|
+
even Torquam, thy father, himself."
|
978
|
+
|
979
|
+
For an instant Wildenai seemed alarmed. Then she laughed.
|
980
|
+
|
981
|
+
"You are afraid of nothing. I knew it!" she exclaimed with pride. "Nor
|
982
|
+
would there be much danger. We will go to the other side of the island
|
983
|
+
where the waves run high and the cliffs are tall and black. There will I
|
984
|
+
show you the nests of the great eagles, and the antelope leaping among
|
985
|
+
the rocks. And, - who can tell?" she laughed again with child-like
|
986
|
+
pleasure, "perhaps we shall find a white otter!"
|
987
|
+
|
988
|
+
And, true to her word, he heard at dawn next day outside the cavern the
|
989
|
+
whistle of a blackbird, a signal early contrived between them. She
|
990
|
+
deemed it best, she explained, to start thus early that the darkness
|
991
|
+
might conceal them until they had passed well beyond the outskirts of
|
992
|
+
the village. But this danger overcome, they spent the whole day rambling
|
993
|
+
fearlessly among the hills, - a long, idle, happy day. Up many a dim
|
994
|
+
trail winding back into the canyons the princess led him. Through golden
|
995
|
+
thickets of wild mustard they passed, coming, when he least expected it,
|
996
|
+
upon glimpses of the summer sea framed between the branches of knarled
|
997
|
+
old oak trees.
|
998
|
+
|
999
|
+
"They are low and crooked, and they spread themselves over the ground as
|
1000
|
+
do our English oaks," the young nobleman informed her.
|
1001
|
+
|
1002
|
+
As Wildenai had promised they discovered, poised high among the crags of
|
1003
|
+
the wild southern shore, the great eagles of which she had told him,
|
1004
|
+
measuring easily, from wing-tip to wing-tip, fully a dozen feet. The
|
1005
|
+
white otter, rarest and most valuable of all the game hunted by her
|
1006
|
+
people, eluded them, but many a small gray fox slipped away among the
|
1007
|
+
bushes, leaving the Englishman tingling for the chase.
|
1008
|
+
|
1009
|
+
At twilight, as they made their way back to the cavern, they came upon a
|
1010
|
+
tiny lake lying asleep within the crater of a dead volcano. From the
|
1011
|
+
sides little clouds of ashes rose, floating softly away on the breezes
|
1012
|
+
of evening. The princess gathered a handful and murmuring some musical
|
1013
|
+
words in her own tongue she threw them into the air.
|
1014
|
+
|
1015
|
+
"And would it be amiss for me to ask what 'tis you do?" questioned her
|
1016
|
+
companion, observing her closely.
|
1017
|
+
|
1018
|
+
"I was sending a prayer to Wakan-ate, the Great Spirit," she replied
|
1019
|
+
quietly.
|
1020
|
+
|
1021
|
+
"A prayer, - and borne to heaven on the wings of ashes!" He seemed
|
1022
|
+
amused. "But what hast thou to pray for, oh fair princess?"
|
1023
|
+
|
1024
|
+
Her cheeks glowing with quick color, she replied: "It were not fitting
|
1025
|
+
that any maiden tell for what she prays!"
|
1026
|
+
|
1027
|
+
The words were spoken with such gravity that the young man flushed under
|
1028
|
+
the rebuke.
|
1029
|
+
|
1030
|
+
When she left him at the doorway of the cavern that evening she said as
|
1031
|
+
she made a gay little gesture of farewell: "Today the land, but tomorrow
|
1032
|
+
we shall find still more beautiful things that lie hidden under the deep
|
1033
|
+
waters. You shall see!"
|
1034
|
+
|
1035
|
+
And once again with dawn she came. This time it was the splash of a
|
1036
|
+
paddle that brought him to the opening in the rock.
|
1037
|
+
|
1038
|
+
"Aloho-ate, lazy one!" she called gaily from below. "Make haste! The
|
1039
|
+
world is always loveliest while it lies waiting for the sun!"
|
1040
|
+
|
1041
|
+
That day, perhaps, from among them all, lived longest within the memory
|
1042
|
+
of young Harold, - the porpoises playing fearlessly around her canoe as
|
1043
|
+
the princess, with graceful, effortless strokes, paddled around one
|
1044
|
+
after another of the pointed tongues of rock; the flying fish, skimming
|
1045
|
+
the surface of the ocean until, by virtue of their speed alone, they
|
1046
|
+
rose like gleaming bows of silver from the foam. Intent to show him all
|
1047
|
+
her treasures, Wildenai guided him to a quiet stretch of water lying
|
1048
|
+
close to shore within the shadow of tall cliffs which rose at that point
|
1049
|
+
with precipitous abruptness from the sea itself.
|
1050
|
+
|
1051
|
+
"Here are my gardens that grow under the water," she explained, as they
|
1052
|
+
glided above the spot. "Look well at them. They are most beautiful."
|
1053
|
+
|
1054
|
+
And gazing down at her command through the clear green into the luminous
|
1055
|
+
depths below, he caught glimpses of these gardens of the sea where
|
1056
|
+
goldfish darted like tropical birds among the branches of tall tree-like
|
1057
|
+
stalks of swaying seaweed, and strange shapes of jade and blue floated
|
1058
|
+
in the shadows.
|
1059
|
+
|
1060
|
+
"Is it not wonderful?" she asked.
|
1061
|
+
|
1062
|
+
"It is indeed, my Wildenai," he answered earnestly. "Never in all my
|
1063
|
+
travels, methinks, have I seen aught before like this your island here!
|
1064
|
+
It seems to me indeed a charmed land, a kind of magic isle!"
|
1065
|
+
|
1066
|
+
One day it rained, the last belated rain of winter. But even the storm
|
1067
|
+
brought pleasures of its own, for, seated on the pile of skins beside
|
1068
|
+
him, the little gray fox curled contentedly at her feet, Wildenai worked
|
1069
|
+
at her loom. Within its dull-colored warp a blanket, woven in a strange
|
1070
|
+
design of mingled red, and black, and white, grew slowly beneath her
|
1071
|
+
busy fingers.
|
1072
|
+
|
1073
|
+
For hours the maiden drew the short woolen threads in and out while the
|
1074
|
+
young man, stretched lazily upon the ground, told her many a tale of the
|
1075
|
+
England he had left. Then, quite without warning, she ceased her work
|
1076
|
+
and sat pensively watching through the opening in the rocks the long
|
1077
|
+
gray swell of the sea.
|
1078
|
+
|
1079
|
+
"And what is it now, my princess?" laughed young Harold. "The pattern is
|
1080
|
+
not yet finished, nor is the rain abated."
|
1081
|
+
|
1082
|
+
"Ah, senor Harold lord," wistfully replied the girl, "I was but wishing
|
1083
|
+
I had been born one of those same fair English maids with the eyes of
|
1084
|
+
blue and golden hair you tell about. Then would you love me even as you
|
1085
|
+
do them!" she added artlessly, and leaned her chin upon her hand,
|
1086
|
+
considering. A secret trembled on her lips.
|
1087
|
+
|
1088
|
+
"And how if I were Spanish born?" she questioned, and lifted hesitating,
|
1089
|
+
frightened eyes to his, "dark to look at, that I know well, but even so,
|
1090
|
+
the white man's kind of princess, who also has a throne?"
|
1091
|
+
|
1092
|
+
And all unwitting Lord Harold answered scornfully, "Spanish! Say no such
|
1093
|
+
word to me! The English hate the Spanish!" Fiercely he caught up a
|
1094
|
+
pebble and sent it whirling out across the water. "Even now their robber
|
1095
|
+
king plans his huge armada to take our queen and rule our land, but
|
1096
|
+
that, by the holy virgin herself, shall never be! Sooner will every drop
|
1097
|
+
of blood in bonny England be spilt. Never could I make thee understand
|
1098
|
+
how much I hope to be at home before he comes! Spanish indeed! Nay,
|
1099
|
+
never let me hear the hateful word again!"
|
1100
|
+
|
1101
|
+
Then, noting her puzzled, downcast face, with the impulsive
|
1102
|
+
changeableness which had so endeared him to her, he caught one little
|
1103
|
+
brown hand and raised it to his lips.
|
1104
|
+
|
1105
|
+
"But I do love thee even as thou art, my Wildenai," he told her with the
|
1106
|
+
careless assurance of one much older speaking to a child. "Is not a wild
|
1107
|
+
rose sweet as any garden bloom? Nay, methinks 'tis often sweeter!"
|
1108
|
+
|
1109
|
+
Again he laughed and the little princess laughed with him now, for into
|
1110
|
+
her heart at his words had come a happiness so unlooked for and so
|
1111
|
+
wildly sweet as wholly to bewilder her. Quickly she rose, struck by a
|
1112
|
+
sudden thought, and running to the farthermost corner of the cavern she
|
1113
|
+
brushed aside a pile of leaves and lifted some stones, disclosing at
|
1114
|
+
length a box fashioned from the choicest cedar. Out of it, while the
|
1115
|
+
Englishman watched with wondering eyes, she drew a garment made of
|
1116
|
+
creamy doeskin, deeply fringed and trimmed besides with strings of
|
1117
|
+
wampum, the polished fragments of abalone shells and many-colored beads.
|
1118
|
+
Silently she brought it to him and when he touched it admiringly, for
|
1119
|
+
the dress was beautiful. "It is my marriage robe," she told him gravely.
|
1120
|
+
|
1121
|
+
That night, while the rain tapped softly at her tepee, the princess
|
1122
|
+
dreamed of a wondrous land beyond the sea where proudly she walked by
|
1123
|
+
her white chief's side and fair women with braided, golden hair spoke
|
1124
|
+
kind words of welcome, smiling at her out of sweet blue eyes.
|
1125
|
+
|
1126
|
+
|
1127
|
+
|
1128
|
+
Then, without warning, came the end of all her dreams. Hurrying along
|
1129
|
+
the beach at sunset only a few days later, Wildenai caught the first
|
1130
|
+
glimpse of the returning vessel as it stole around a distant point. For
|
1131
|
+
the space of a second her heart stood still, then throbbed wildly, but
|
1132
|
+
whether with joy or pain she could not herself have told. One question
|
1133
|
+
only demanded all her thought. Should she let Lord Harold know? Perhaps
|
1134
|
+
the great white captain would not remember their bay. Perhaps, - her
|
1135
|
+
breath came fast, - perhaps the ship, unseen by anyone, would pass and
|
1136
|
+
Lord Harold remain behind content. With hands tight-clenched she watched
|
1137
|
+
the distant sail, fear growing in her eyes. Yet she knew that she would
|
1138
|
+
tell him. Nothing else was honorable. This, surely, he must decide for
|
1139
|
+
himself.
|
1140
|
+
|
1141
|
+
But tidings of such moment outran even her swift feet. She found him
|
1142
|
+
buckling on his swordbelt, in his eyes the glad light of some trapped
|
1143
|
+
bird which sees the door of its cage suddenly open.
|
1144
|
+
|
1145
|
+
"The ship - " she began with sinking heart.
|
1146
|
+
|
1147
|
+
"Yes, yes, I know! I saw it!" he answered, a fever of impatience in his
|
1148
|
+
voice. "'Tis Drake. I knew he dared not leave me! 'Twill soon be too
|
1149
|
+
close in. Needs not he risk his safety. I must go before he gains the
|
1150
|
+
shore."
|
1151
|
+
|
1152
|
+
The princess hesitated. What meant that strange heaviness at her heart?
|
1153
|
+
Was he not still her brave, true warrior, - her great white chief? Had
|
1154
|
+
he not told her that he loved her? Crossing to where he stood she bowed
|
1155
|
+
herself before him until her silver fillet touched his feet.
|
1156
|
+
|
1157
|
+
"I, too!" she whispered, "I shall go to England with thee!"
|
1158
|
+
|
1159
|
+
And at her words, within the little cavern there came a silence to be
|
1160
|
+
felt. In undisguised dismay the Englishman gazed at her where she knelt.
|
1161
|
+
Then:
|
1162
|
+
|
1163
|
+
"By the holyrood!" he muttered aghast, "She must have thought, - God
|
1164
|
+
only knows what she must have thought!"
|
1165
|
+
|
1166
|
+
He glanced hurriedly toward the doorway and back again, ashamed. Then
|
1167
|
+
even such impatience as was his gave way, for the moment at least, to
|
1168
|
+
something more chivalric. He stooped and patted awkwardly the smooth
|
1169
|
+
black head.
|
1170
|
+
|
1171
|
+
"Come, Wildenai, little wild rose, look up and speak to me. I must be
|
1172
|
+
going!"
|
1173
|
+
|
1174
|
+
But still the maid lay prostrate, clasping close his rough buskins in
|
1175
|
+
her little brown hands. Never in all his life had Lord Harold been so
|
1176
|
+
sorely uncomfortable. How was it possible she had ever imagined that he
|
1177
|
+
could take her with him, - that he had meant so much? Resentment grew
|
1178
|
+
within him at the thought, yet strangely mingled always with something
|
1179
|
+
far more tender. Hastily he considered, his heart torn between the
|
1180
|
+
desire not to wound her and dread of what he knew she wanted. To be sure
|
1181
|
+
the maid was beautiful, with the softened beauty of a moonlit night in
|
1182
|
+
summer, her eyes beneath her dusky hair like stars between the branches
|
1183
|
+
of dark trees, her voice that of the forest stream when it sings itself
|
1184
|
+
to sleep. Yet past all doubt he knew that not one among the gorgeous
|
1185
|
+
throng that crowded about Elizabeth would ever see that beauty, no
|
1186
|
+
English ear take heed to hear the music of her voice. Nay, he could
|
1187
|
+
even, as he thought of it, picture the amazement of the great queen,
|
1188
|
+
could hear her scornful laughter, should he present, to help adorn her
|
1189
|
+
court, a savage Indian girl! No, a thousand times no! Such disgrace he
|
1190
|
+
could not suffer. Nor was the maid herself, so he defended himself,
|
1191
|
+
fitted for such a life. Soon would she be as unhappy in England as he
|
1192
|
+
would be to have her there. Besides, she was but a child. Else had she
|
1193
|
+
never so far forgot all womanly dignity as to force herself upon him,
|
1194
|
+
and being but a child she would soon forget. Gently he made to raise her
|
1195
|
+
to her feet.
|
1196
|
+
|
1197
|
+
"Wildenai, little wild rose," he began again, "what thou hast asked of
|
1198
|
+
me thou dost well know thyself is an unheard of thing. Much as I owe to
|
1199
|
+
thee, and well know I that 'tis so much I never can repay it; still for
|
1200
|
+
thine own sweet sake 'tis not in this way thy reward must come. The long
|
1201
|
+
journey and the strange new life would kill thee, Wildenai." Having once
|
1202
|
+
begun he stumbled on, but half aware of how each word he uttered hurt
|
1203
|
+
her, eager only to have done with the whole sorry scene. "Thou art but a
|
1204
|
+
little wild flower. Thou couldst not live away from this, thy sunny
|
1205
|
+
island. Can'st thou not understand, my Wildenai?"
|
1206
|
+
|
1207
|
+
He paused, waiting for a reply; but the maiden answered nothing. Silent
|
1208
|
+
she lay as though in very truth she were a wild flower tossed to earth
|
1209
|
+
and trampled upon by some uncaring foot.
|
1210
|
+
|
1211
|
+
At last the man could bear it no longer. Forcibly he loosed her hands
|
1212
|
+
and stepped back. For a moment longer he lingered, looking down upon her
|
1213
|
+
in mingled impatience and regret; then, turning abruptly, he passed
|
1214
|
+
hastily out of the cavern and down the trail to the beach.
|
1215
|
+
|
1216
|
+
Still the girl lay motionless. It was as if every sense were stunned,
|
1217
|
+
all power of thought suspended except to grasp the one fact that made
|
1218
|
+
her whole world empty, - he was gone! As in a dream she heard the
|
1219
|
+
grating of the pebbles when he pushed his boat into the water, heard the
|
1220
|
+
clank of the oars as they dropped into the oar-locks. Even yet she did
|
1221
|
+
not move. Then, after many minutes, she crept to the opening and
|
1222
|
+
searched the sea with eyes almost, too dim with tears to find that for
|
1223
|
+
which she sought. But yes, there it was, - a black speck against the
|
1224
|
+
golden sunset. She watched until she had seen the distant vessel put
|
1225
|
+
about, making for the open sea. Ah, now she knew that he was safe
|
1226
|
+
aboard, - no need had they to come farther into shore. Yet still she
|
1227
|
+
waited, straining her eyes to see the ship sink slowly beneath the
|
1228
|
+
horizon. One last glint of sunlight against a white sail, and it was
|
1229
|
+
gone.
|
1230
|
+
|
1231
|
+
Then at once she rose, and moving quietly about the little cavern, she
|
1232
|
+
put all in perfect order with touch as tender as that of a mother
|
1233
|
+
preparing for its last sleep some little child. Here was the basket he
|
1234
|
+
had helped to weave, here the mat on which he had lain. Her fingers
|
1235
|
+
lingered caressingly on each thing that he had touched. There in the
|
1236
|
+
corner still stood the olla in which she had brought him water. How
|
1237
|
+
amused he had been that she could carry it on her head all the way up
|
1238
|
+
the hill from the spring without so much as spilling one drop! But that
|
1239
|
+
was all past now.
|
1240
|
+
|
1241
|
+
When at last everything was finished she gave the little rock-walled
|
1242
|
+
room one long, lingering look, the look of one who would carry in his
|
1243
|
+
heart the image of what he beholds all the rest of his life. Then she,
|
1244
|
+
too, made her way through the doorway into the deepening dusk.
|
1245
|
+
|
1246
|
+
|
1247
|
+
|
1248
|
+
On the beach below, squatted within the opened flap of his tepee,
|
1249
|
+
Torquam, mighty chief of the Mariposa, smoked his evening pipe. A
|
1250
|
+
wonderful pipe it was, long and delicately fashioned, inlaid with
|
1251
|
+
iridescent fragments of shell. Yet instantly he laid it aside as the
|
1252
|
+
slender form of his daughter darkened the doorway.
|
1253
|
+
|
1254
|
+
"Ah, Wildenai, little wild rose, welcome art thou as sunshine after
|
1255
|
+
rain!" His eyes lighted with the tenderness never seen there by any
|
1256
|
+
other than this motherless girl. He stretched his hand to her and the
|
1257
|
+
princess came silently and knelt before him.
|
1258
|
+
|
1259
|
+
"My father," she said firmly, though in so low a tone that Torquam bent
|
1260
|
+
to hear. "Oh, father, thou art always wise! Thou only knowest best. I
|
1261
|
+
come to thee to tell that I will wed Cabrillo. I will wed with him
|
1262
|
+
whenever thou dost choose!"
|
1263
|
+
|
1264
|
+
Taking her face between his hands, Torquam gazed long and searchingly
|
1265
|
+
into the sorrowful eyes of his daughter.
|
1266
|
+
|
1267
|
+
"And thou art wise to do so, my beloved one," he said at last. "He will
|
1268
|
+
make to thee a good husband." In his voice was the keen understanding of
|
1269
|
+
a father. "He will be kind to thee and heal thy wounded heart, my
|
1270
|
+
daughter. Don Cabrillo is a good man," he repeated solemnly."
|
1271
|
+
|
1272
|
+
|
1273
|
+
|
1274
|
+
Miss Hastings Brings It to an End
|
1275
|
+
|
1276
|
+
|
1277
|
+
|
1278
|
+
Part II
|
1279
|
+
|
1280
|
+
|
1281
|
+
|
1282
|
+
Miss Hastings Brings It to an End
|
1283
|
+
|
1284
|
+
|
1285
|
+
|
1286
|
+
Centuries passed, and again, with the same sweet suddenness as in the
|
1287
|
+
days gone by, spring came to Catalina. Guests of the St. Catherine,
|
1288
|
+
lounging on its wide verandahs, gazed across a sunlit sea to where the
|
1289
|
+
faint cloud that was San Jacinto hovered, the merest ghost of a
|
1290
|
+
mountain, above the misty mainland. Along the broad board-walk leading
|
1291
|
+
down to Avalon benches, shaded by brightstriped awnings, flaunted an
|
1292
|
+
invitation to every passing tourist. Strings of Japanese lanterns bobbed
|
1293
|
+
merrily above the narrow village streets. Everywhere were laughter and
|
1294
|
+
movement and color from the bathing beaches, dotted with gay umbrellas -
|
1295
|
+
even to the last yacht anchored round the point.
|
1296
|
+
|
1297
|
+
To the man making slow progress down the crowded wharf from the
|
1298
|
+
afternoon boat this holiday world into which he thus suddenly stepped,
|
1299
|
+
presented an appearance so different from that he had pictured as almost
|
1300
|
+
to bewilder him. At sight of the jaunty little motorbus waiting to haul
|
1301
|
+
him up the winding grade to the hotel, he actually hesitated. Yet seldom
|
1302
|
+
before, to his knowledge, had he found it difficult to adapt himself to
|
1303
|
+
an unexpected situation.
|
1304
|
+
|
1305
|
+
"Hotel St. Catherine! Bus to the hotel, sir?"
|
1306
|
+
|
1307
|
+
Other guests, more certain of their intentions, pushed impatiently
|
1308
|
+
against him, and presently he found himself, wedged well toward the
|
1309
|
+
middle of the long seat, chugging comfortably up the hill. Still
|
1310
|
+
half-daunted, he gazed about him. It was all of it charming to be sure,
|
1311
|
+
fascinating even; yet, could this festive summering place be the Avalon
|
1312
|
+
of his dreams? Was this the quaint village of Spanish times, reaching
|
1313
|
+
back still further through dimly remembered Indian lore to a world lost
|
1314
|
+
now except to legend? Yet it was for the sake of a mere legend, a
|
1315
|
+
fanciful tale handed down in his family through many a generation, that
|
1316
|
+
he had made the long journey from New York to California, nor - and here
|
1317
|
+
he set his lips with dogged determination, did he intend to return until
|
1318
|
+
he had found that for which he searched.
|
1319
|
+
|
1320
|
+
It was now something over two years since Harrison Blair, then fresh
|
1321
|
+
from Yale, had astonished both those who wished him well and those who,
|
1322
|
+
for various envious reasons, did not, with the wholly unreasonable
|
1323
|
+
success of his first book. For, to those who did not understand, his
|
1324
|
+
sudden fame had seemed all the more surprising in that it rested upon
|
1325
|
+
nothing more substantial than a slender volume of Indian verse. So
|
1326
|
+
unusual, however, had been his treatment of this well-worn subject as to
|
1327
|
+
call forth more than a little comment from even the most conservative of
|
1328
|
+
critics. The Brush and Pen had hastened to confer upon him an honorary
|
1329
|
+
membership. Cadmon, magic weaver of Indian music, had written a warm
|
1330
|
+
letter of appreciation. And, most precious tribute of all, the Atlantic
|
1331
|
+
Monthly had become interested in his career.
|
1332
|
+
|
1333
|
+
To be sure, it was nothing more than might have been expected of a man
|
1334
|
+
whose undergraduate work in English had aroused the reluctant wonder of
|
1335
|
+
more than one instructor. Nevertheless, the fact that he pulled stroke
|
1336
|
+
on the 'varsity crew had somewhat blinded other contemporaries to his
|
1337
|
+
more scholarly attainments. Nor had anyone thought it probable, because
|
1338
|
+
of his father's wealth, that Blair, in any event, would feel called upon
|
1339
|
+
to do much more than make a frolic of life. No one, indeed, had been
|
1340
|
+
more taken aback than had his father to find him, a year after
|
1341
|
+
graduation, drudging over the assistant editor's desk of a struggling
|
1342
|
+
magazine the payroll of which, to put it mildly, offered no financial
|
1343
|
+
inducements.
|
1344
|
+
|
1345
|
+
"It's good practice for me, though, - quickest way to learn," was all he
|
1346
|
+
vouchsafed when the older man remonstrated.
|
1347
|
+
|
1348
|
+
Yet, had that same father, shrewd capitalist that he was, but taken the
|
1349
|
+
trouble to reason back from premises evident enough, he might have been
|
1350
|
+
the first to realize that this tall son of his, with the keen gray eyes
|
1351
|
+
and a face the strength of which was but increased by the high cheek
|
1352
|
+
bones and squarely molded chin, was scarcely the type of man to sit idly
|
1353
|
+
by enjoying the fruits of another's labor.
|
1354
|
+
|
1355
|
+
And now, after two years more of grinding apprenticeship, he had in mind
|
1356
|
+
something much bigger than the slender volume of verse, - an adventure
|
1357
|
+
into authorship more suited to his metal, - a story for which an intense
|
1358
|
+
personal sympathy would furnish fitting atmosphere, with the final spur
|
1359
|
+
to his ambition a letter from the Atlantic even at the moment stowed
|
1360
|
+
safely away in his pocket.
|
1361
|
+
|
1362
|
+
Some two hours later, after an unexpectedly excellent dinner in the
|
1363
|
+
luxurious dining room, he sauntered over to the hotel desk. There was no
|
1364
|
+
more than the faintest probability that a clerk of the St. Catherine
|
1365
|
+
would be able to tell him how to reach a secret cavern bower above the
|
1366
|
+
Bay of Moons; still, he had to enter an opening wedge somewhere. The one
|
1367
|
+
man on duty was for the moment occupied with another guest, and Blair,
|
1368
|
+
lighting his after-dinner cigar, prepared with leisurely patience to
|
1369
|
+
await his turn.
|
1370
|
+
|
1371
|
+
The guest happened to be a young woman, rather pretty, he casually
|
1372
|
+
decided, although her greatest claim to beauty lay more, perhaps, in the
|
1373
|
+
swift changes in expression of which her face was capable, than in any
|
1374
|
+
actual regularity of line. For lack of anything better to do, Blair
|
1375
|
+
watched idly her encounter with the clerk. There appeared to be some
|
1376
|
+
kind of misunderstanding.
|
1377
|
+
|
1378
|
+
"Awfully sorry it's happened that way, Miss Hastings," the man behind
|
1379
|
+
the desk was saying. He lifted with genuine reluctance the key she had
|
1380
|
+
just laid down. "We'd be mighty sorry to interfere with your work, but
|
1381
|
+
those small rooms always do go first. You know that yourself."
|
1382
|
+
|
1383
|
+
"I hadn't heard about it, though. I didn't know they were all gone." Her
|
1384
|
+
voice quivered with disappointment.
|
1385
|
+
|
1386
|
+
Blair, whose vocation taught him a certain technical sympathy, shot a
|
1387
|
+
swift glance at her. She couldn't be more than twenty-two or
|
1388
|
+
thereabouts, he decided less casually, and went on to observe her still
|
1389
|
+
further. She wore a shabby, broad-brimmed hat much faded as if from
|
1390
|
+
constant exposure to the sun, but the shadows in the coil of hair
|
1391
|
+
beneath were warmly golden.
|
1392
|
+
|
1393
|
+
"Couldn't you find a room down in the village somewhere, - at Mrs.
|
1394
|
+
Merrill's perhaps?" suggested the clerk.
|
1395
|
+
|
1396
|
+
"But Mrs. Merrill isn't here this spring." In spite of its quiver the
|
1397
|
+
voice was very sweet.
|
1398
|
+
|
1399
|
+
"No," she started to turn away, "I'll have to put it off again, I
|
1400
|
+
suppose. I've looked everywhere."
|
1401
|
+
|
1402
|
+
She took a step or two, hesitated, then returned to the desk.
|
1403
|
+
|
1404
|
+
"You're positive there isn't a single one of the small rooms left?" she
|
1405
|
+
pleaded. "I wouldn't care how far back it was, - anything would do. You
|
1406
|
+
can't think how I hate to give up. I had so hoped to finish it this
|
1407
|
+
time!"
|
1408
|
+
|
1409
|
+
The man shook his head.
|
1410
|
+
|
1411
|
+
"No, we're absolutely full just now. Later on there might be something,
|
1412
|
+
- after the season is over."
|
1413
|
+
|
1414
|
+
"But that will be after school begins," answered the girl bitterly. "I
|
1415
|
+
can't work at all then!" and catching up a bag fully as shabby as the
|
1416
|
+
hat, she hurried away.
|
1417
|
+
|
1418
|
+
"Who is she?" asked Blair abruptly, overlooking for the moment his
|
1419
|
+
original purpose in seeking the man.
|
1420
|
+
|
1421
|
+
"School-teacher from Pasadena," replied the clerk briefly. "Teaches art
|
1422
|
+
in some private school over there, I believe." He eyed Blair amusedly.
|
1423
|
+
"Think you've met her before somewhere?"
|
1424
|
+
|
1425
|
+
Blair allowed his annoyance to show. "No, never laid eyes on her till
|
1426
|
+
just now. But I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for her," he
|
1427
|
+
persisted. "She seemed so sort of cut up. What's the trouble?"
|
1428
|
+
|
1429
|
+
"I'm sorry for her myself," declared the man on the other side as he
|
1430
|
+
hung the returned key on its board. "This is the third time that poor
|
1431
|
+
little woman's had to leave before she could finish what she came for on
|
1432
|
+
account of the expense. But what can we do?" He shrugged his shoulders.
|
1433
|
+
"The St. Catherine isn't exactly a Y. W. C. A."
|
1434
|
+
|
1435
|
+
"What is it she's trying to do?"
|
1436
|
+
|
1437
|
+
Amusement deepened in the man's eyes.
|
1438
|
+
|
1439
|
+
"She's supposed to be painting Indians."
|
1440
|
+
|
1441
|
+
"Indians!" To the amazement of the other man Blair suddenly leaned
|
1442
|
+
forward, his eyes agleam with interest.
|
1443
|
+
|
1444
|
+
"But I didn't know there were any around here."
|
1445
|
+
|
1446
|
+
"There aren't."
|
1447
|
+
|
1448
|
+
"Then how - ?"
|
1449
|
+
|
1450
|
+
"Makes 'em up out of her head, I guess. I never heard that she had even
|
1451
|
+
a model."
|
1452
|
+
|
1453
|
+
"But - but what I want to know is why she comes here at all?" The
|
1454
|
+
situation seemed to Blair to offer possibilities, yet he was thoroughly
|
1455
|
+
puzzled. "I met a fellow on the train who does that sort of thing, but
|
1456
|
+
he always goes to the desert to paint, - at least he said he did."
|
1457
|
+
|
1458
|
+
"Yes, they do mostly. Probably he meant Taos, - whole nest of artists at
|
1459
|
+
Taos."
|
1460
|
+
|
1461
|
+
"Well, but why in thunder then - ?"
|
1462
|
+
|
1463
|
+
The clerk smiled skeptically.
|
1464
|
+
|
1465
|
+
"Why, you see, it's something like this. Miss Hastings' bent on being an
|
1466
|
+
illustrator, pays better than teaching, I suppose, or - well, at any
|
1467
|
+
rate, that's what she's aiming for, - and she has an idea that if she
|
1468
|
+
can only get a series of pictures, - several of them on the same
|
1469
|
+
subject, you understand, - accepted by one of those Eastern magazines,
|
1470
|
+
she can soon work in with some big publisher and get an order. She told
|
1471
|
+
us all about it one night last winter when she was over."
|
1472
|
+
|
1473
|
+
"But in heaven's name, why Indians?" persisted Blair.
|
1474
|
+
|
1475
|
+
"Because she thinks she's found some good material here. She told me
|
1476
|
+
about that, too. Seems there's an old legend connected with Catalina,
|
1477
|
+
about an Indian princess and a cavern. The princess died of a broken
|
1478
|
+
heart or something of the sort, I believe she said. I never heard the
|
1479
|
+
particulars myself. Nobody else, either, seems to know anything about
|
1480
|
+
it. But Miss Hastings says there's quite a story, and she's got it all
|
1481
|
+
down pat from A to Z. She's using it for her series."
|
1482
|
+
|
1483
|
+
A porter brought up some newcomers and Blair stepped aside. But the
|
1484
|
+
moment his man was at leisure again he cornered him at once. An idea had
|
1485
|
+
come to him, an idea almost dazzling in its possibilities.
|
1486
|
+
|
1487
|
+
"You say she hasn't finished her series yet?"
|
1488
|
+
|
1489
|
+
"Beg pardon? Oh, the teacher?" The man shook his head. "Evidently not
|
1490
|
+
from what she said just now. She never stays long enough really to put
|
1491
|
+
it over. Every few months she bobs up over a week-end, but that doesn't
|
1492
|
+
give her time even to visit some of the places she's after. She never
|
1493
|
+
seems to get much more than started before she has to go home again."
|
1494
|
+
|
1495
|
+
For a moment Blair smoked in silence. Then:
|
1496
|
+
|
1497
|
+
"Look here," he cut in abruptly, "You split my suite and give her one of
|
1498
|
+
my rooms."
|
1499
|
+
|
1500
|
+
The man's eyebrows rose in surprise.
|
1501
|
+
|
1502
|
+
"Her? What do you mean?"
|
1503
|
+
|
1504
|
+
Blair made an impatient gesture.
|
1505
|
+
|
1506
|
+
"Why, this Miss - the teacher, you know. Didn't you just say you hadn't
|
1507
|
+
any room for her? Well, I've got three, you know."
|
1508
|
+
|
1509
|
+
"Yes, but that's altogether a different proposition. You made your
|
1510
|
+
reservation weeks ago."
|
1511
|
+
|
1512
|
+
"But you could still give her one of them, couldn't you?"
|
1513
|
+
|
1514
|
+
Clerks in large hotels listen with patience to a vast number of strange
|
1515
|
+
proposals, but at this from Blair, the man opposite eyed him in
|
1516
|
+
unflattering amazement.
|
1517
|
+
|
1518
|
+
"But you said, when you wired, you wanted the extra room to work in," he
|
1519
|
+
objected, "and you'll remember, Mr. Blair, that you were pretty emphatic
|
1520
|
+
about it, too, at the time. We went to all kinds of trouble to fix that
|
1521
|
+
up for you."
|
1522
|
+
|
1523
|
+
"I can get along all right without it, though," coolly observed his
|
1524
|
+
changeable guest, "and I'd rather she'd have it. It's possible to split
|
1525
|
+
suites here, isn't it?" he persisted. "They do at most hotels."
|
1526
|
+
|
1527
|
+
"It's possible, of course." Across the desk the eyes of the two men met
|
1528
|
+
squarely. "That part of it's easy enough. But why? and who's going to
|
1529
|
+
pay for it?"
|
1530
|
+
|
1531
|
+
"I'm going to pay for it! What did you suppose?" exploded Blair. "It's
|
1532
|
+
worth that and a lot more to me just now to keep her from getting away.
|
1533
|
+
Oh, I'm in earnest all right. I mean it! Look here! Can't you see how
|
1534
|
+
that woman can be a perfect gold mine to me? You know enough about my
|
1535
|
+
work to understand that I'm really out here after Indians myself, and
|
1536
|
+
she - well, I'll wager a cool thousand there isn't a spot on this whole
|
1537
|
+
island that ever dreamed of seeing an Indian that she doesn't know all
|
1538
|
+
about!"
|
1539
|
+
|
1540
|
+
The clerk nodded. "But - "
|
1541
|
+
|
1542
|
+
"But nothing!" Impatiently Blair brushed aside all objections. "Why, I
|
1543
|
+
hadn't the remotest idea how I was going to get started. It's a rattling
|
1544
|
+
piece of good luck, and we'll fix it up right now!"
|
1545
|
+
|
1546
|
+
"Yes, but - " Still the other man hesitated. "It sounds all right
|
1547
|
+
enough, - from your end of it especially, but you'd better see her
|
1548
|
+
first. She's a proud little piece, - doesn't like obligations of any
|
1549
|
+
kind, - and a stranger, - a man - I'm sorry to discourage you, but I
|
1550
|
+
don't believe she'll have a thing to do with it."
|
1551
|
+
|
1552
|
+
In Blair's eyes impatience threatened to become something more emphatic.
|
1553
|
+
|
1554
|
+
"It's a business proposition pure and simple," he argued. "She gives me
|
1555
|
+
all the information she's been able to get together, and I pay her
|
1556
|
+
expenses while she does it. That gives her a chance to finish her own
|
1557
|
+
work, don't you see? A mighty good proposition for her, too, I should
|
1558
|
+
say, and if she doesn't see it that way herself, - why, - well, she
|
1559
|
+
isn't as intelligent as she looks, that's all!"
|
1560
|
+
|
1561
|
+
"Providing you can persuade her it is just business. I'd advise you to
|
1562
|
+
talk with her first, just the same. And you'll have to be quick about
|
1563
|
+
it, too. She's planning to wait in the village tonight for the morning
|
1564
|
+
boat, and she'll be starting down about now."
|
1565
|
+
|
1566
|
+
|
1567
|
+
|
1568
|
+
Outside was one of those radiant nights intended for dreams and the
|
1569
|
+
makers of dreams. Over an ocean white with light long breakers rolled
|
1570
|
+
crests gleaming with silver that fell in soft thunder on the beach. Miss
|
1571
|
+
Hastings, hurrying along the board-walk to the village, glanced at them
|
1572
|
+
and looked quickly away.
|
1573
|
+
|
1574
|
+
"Oh, I say!" came a voice out of the darkness behind her, "if you don't
|
1575
|
+
mind, hold on there a minute, will you? Wait for me, please!" The voice
|
1576
|
+
was that of a man, pleasant, but exceedingly determined. Without so much
|
1577
|
+
as turning her head Miss Hastings quickened her steps.
|
1578
|
+
|
1579
|
+
But it was of no use. Whoever her pursuer might be, he was even then at
|
1580
|
+
her side.
|
1581
|
+
|
1582
|
+
"I beg your pardon," breathlessly he began again, "but I've been chasing
|
1583
|
+
you all the way down from the hotel. I want you to come right back there
|
1584
|
+
with me. I have a proposal to make to you."
|
1585
|
+
|
1586
|
+
Even in the darkness he could see how the girl's eyes blazed.
|
1587
|
+
|
1588
|
+
"I never listen - " she began hotly, "to proposals from people I don't
|
1589
|
+
know," she had meant to add, but he gave her no time.
|
1590
|
+
|
1591
|
+
"It will mean the biggest chance for your pictures you've ever had," he
|
1592
|
+
broke in. "Now, listen!"
|
1593
|
+
|
1594
|
+
And, to her complete surprise, Miss Hastings suddenly found herself
|
1595
|
+
doing that very thing.
|
1596
|
+
|
1597
|
+
"There are a lot of things I've got to find out right away," continued
|
1598
|
+
the astonishing stranger, "and the clerk up there tells me you're
|
1599
|
+
painting a series of Indian portraits."
|
1600
|
+
|
1601
|
+
The little art teacher gazed at him fascinated. What manner of man could
|
1602
|
+
this be, she wondered.
|
1603
|
+
|
1604
|
+
"I don't see the connection - " Coldness struggled with curiosity in her
|
1605
|
+
voice.
|
1606
|
+
|
1607
|
+
"Listen!" With uplifted, peremptory hand again he stopped her. Nor is it
|
1608
|
+
safe to say that any book agent, watching the door slowly closing upon
|
1609
|
+
him, ever talked faster, or more rigidly to the point, than did Blair
|
1610
|
+
within the next few minutes.
|
1611
|
+
|
1612
|
+
"Perhaps you won't understand it all right off. I wouldn't expect that.
|
1613
|
+
But it's this way. I'm representing Harper's, and Houghton and Mifflin,
|
1614
|
+
and Dodd and Mead, and - several other firms" (to satisfy his conscience
|
1615
|
+
Blair contended with himself that he might as well as not have been
|
1616
|
+
their representative - a mere oversight on their part ought not to be
|
1617
|
+
allowed to stand in his way), "and I'm out here to find the best
|
1618
|
+
illustrator I can lay hands on to do the pictures for some Indian stuff
|
1619
|
+
I'm getting into shape for one of 'em. I want to see your work. And, if
|
1620
|
+
I like it, I'll pay you well. And anyway, I'll pay every bit of the
|
1621
|
+
expense while you finish your series here if you'll tell me what you
|
1622
|
+
know about Wildenai!"
|
1623
|
+
|
1624
|
+
But, at the name, the girl beside him had given a low cry of utter
|
1625
|
+
amazement. She stopped short.
|
1626
|
+
|
1627
|
+
"Do you know it too, then?" she gasped. "How did you hear about it?"
|
1628
|
+
|
1629
|
+
"Oh, I've known it for years," replied Blair carelessly. "Some of it
|
1630
|
+
I've known all my life. But look here now. Is it a bargain? - about your
|
1631
|
+
helping me, I mean?"
|
1632
|
+
|
1633
|
+
Before he left her, an hour or so later, every detail had been arranged.
|
1634
|
+
Miss Hastings had meekly agreed to return to the hotel in the morning.
|
1635
|
+
Blair would pay her expenses and something he called a retaining fee
|
1636
|
+
besides. That would make an extra fifty dollars, - she smiled to herself
|
1637
|
+
in the dark, - a new winter suit at least, and perhaps one or two
|
1638
|
+
matinees if she managed! All this for the information she could give him
|
1639
|
+
about the island and its history. The various points in their contract
|
1640
|
+
spun dizzily in her dazed brain. No spot known to legend to which it was
|
1641
|
+
possible to conduct him should remain unvisited. Four hours out of every
|
1642
|
+
day were pledged without fail to his interests. The rest of the time she
|
1643
|
+
might have for her own work. It had all come about so unexpectedly, and
|
1644
|
+
was altogether so extraordinary that, after he had gone, his new
|
1645
|
+
employe, stretched uncomfortably upon a narrow cot in the tent of a
|
1646
|
+
fellow teacher, spent the remainder of the night in imaginary interviews
|
1647
|
+
with Eastern publishers regarding impossible royalties. She was far too
|
1648
|
+
excited to sleep.
|
1649
|
+
|
1650
|
+
And, for a week, the arrangement worked very well, - almost too well.
|
1651
|
+
Every day brought with it some new adventure, and every adventure became
|
1652
|
+
a pleasure.
|
1653
|
+
|
1654
|
+
Mounted at Blair's expense on more or less energetic ponies, for from
|
1655
|
+
the first he had insisted that horses were a necessary part of their
|
1656
|
+
business equipment, they cantered gaily along the shady canyon trails,
|
1657
|
+
or over the sunlit slopes sheeted in pale lavender wherever the wild
|
1658
|
+
lilacs were in bloom. Often, emerging from some thicket of dwarf oak
|
1659
|
+
they caught glimpses of a sapphire sea held between red, twisted
|
1660
|
+
branches of manzanita as in a frame. About them rang the music of the
|
1661
|
+
meadow larks. Merry shouts of bathers floated up from the beaches far
|
1662
|
+
below, mingled with the distant click of golf balls on the greens.
|
1663
|
+
|
1664
|
+
For the whole of a golden day they chartered a sailboat from one, Capt.
|
1665
|
+
Warren, and rounding the yellow headlands under his lazy guidance, they
|
1666
|
+
went to examine the Ning Po, the ancient Chinese barge stranded, no one
|
1667
|
+
knew how many hundreds of years before, among the rocks off the isthmus.
|
1668
|
+
|
1669
|
+
"Fascinating old place," observed Blair gazing, his eyes aglow with
|
1670
|
+
interest, around the mediaeval cabin. "Don't doubt a dozen murders at
|
1671
|
+
least were pulled off in this one room!"
|
1672
|
+
|
1673
|
+
"Oh yes, of course," eagerly echoed his assistant. "It's absolutely
|
1674
|
+
unique!"
|
1675
|
+
|
1676
|
+
Her gaze, as bright with interest as his own, rested upon Blair himself.
|
1677
|
+
She was considering, absent-mindedly, how becoming white trousers can be
|
1678
|
+
to most men, especially when they are reasonably dark themselves. But, -
|
1679
|
+
her glance travelled upward, - how unusually dark he was, and his hair,
|
1680
|
+
- yes, without question, the straightest and blackest she had ever seen.
|
1681
|
+
Yet it seemed in some indefinable way to become him, - to belong, as it
|
1682
|
+
were, to his type. Leaning her elbows meditatively upon the rusty
|
1683
|
+
anchor, her chin in her hands, she silently appraised him. He really was
|
1684
|
+
a handsome man, she decided, and clever, too, of the sort who does
|
1685
|
+
things in the world! A dreamy light grew within her eyes.
|
1686
|
+
|
1687
|
+
It was only two or three evenings later when, on their way back from the
|
1688
|
+
site of an historic Indian village on the other side of the island, they
|
1689
|
+
walked their horses slowly around the Wishbone Loop, the ostensible
|
1690
|
+
reason being that, as Blair had already discovered, it commanded the
|
1691
|
+
widest view of the ocean at sunset.
|
1692
|
+
|
1693
|
+
He was the first to speak when they struck again into the main trail.
|
1694
|
+
|
1695
|
+
"I wished for something about a rose, a wild rose, - want to guess?" He
|
1696
|
+
eyed her mischievously.
|
1697
|
+
|
1698
|
+
"Hush, - mustn't tell!" she laughed. "Your wish won't come true if you
|
1699
|
+
tell." Then, for no reason at all, she blushed.
|
1700
|
+
|
1701
|
+
Never, in truth, during her twenty-three years of working, and
|
1702
|
+
scrimping, and going without, had life shown to the little art teacher
|
1703
|
+
so fair and generous a side, seemed so extravagantly joyous an affair as
|
1704
|
+
during that magic week. The spending of money, it was easy to see, meant
|
1705
|
+
little or nothing to Blair. But that was the least of his attractions,
|
1706
|
+
for, to the girl herself, mere wealth for its own sake had never
|
1707
|
+
appealed. The charm lay rather in the genial broadness of his view of
|
1708
|
+
things, the strength of reasoning behind the few opinions he put
|
1709
|
+
forward, his reticence, and quiet modesty. In these dwelt the spell that
|
1710
|
+
swept her into an almost delirious enjoyment of his society. For, all
|
1711
|
+
unknown to herself, like many another woman in like condition, she had
|
1712
|
+
needed a change of people. In the cramped life of a private school men
|
1713
|
+
played but little part, and the men who were most worth while, almost no
|
1714
|
+
part at all. Instinctively, in time, she had wearied of little girls and
|
1715
|
+
their lessons. Sorely had she craved the stimulus which only the
|
1716
|
+
companionship of congenial men can give. Of this fact, however, she had
|
1717
|
+
been even less aware.
|
1718
|
+
|
1719
|
+
One crisp morning, seated in a diminutive wicker cart behind a
|
1720
|
+
discontented pony, they searched out Chicken John's cabin on the mesa
|
1721
|
+
behind the golf links.
|
1722
|
+
|
1723
|
+
"Not that it has anything to do with Indians," she apologized, "only I
|
1724
|
+
want you to see him. He's such a character, so nice and untidy and
|
1725
|
+
queer!"
|
1726
|
+
|
1727
|
+
As a result of this expedition they brought away with them what old John
|
1728
|
+
designated a "plump little fry" to be served at the cosy table for two
|
1729
|
+
in the sunniest window of the dining room, a luxury which Blair had
|
1730
|
+
likewise confiscated in the interests of business.
|
1731
|
+
|
1732
|
+
And so for seven glorious days they tramped the fragrant hills, or
|
1733
|
+
sailed a sea as softly blue as though fallen fresh that morning from the
|
1734
|
+
cloudless heaven above. In the warmth and glow of his friendship the
|
1735
|
+
starved heart of the little art teacher opened like some hot-house
|
1736
|
+
flower carried suddenly into the wide outdoors. And when at last the
|
1737
|
+
week drew to an end, their work, both his and hers, was still
|
1738
|
+
unfinished, so that there was nothing else to do but to live on through
|
1739
|
+
another fully as wonderful.
|
1740
|
+
|
1741
|
+
Blair himself took things much more for granted, and even when their
|
1742
|
+
talk strayed farthest afield it was plain to the girl that his mind
|
1743
|
+
never fully lost sight of the purpose for which he had come. His work
|
1744
|
+
stood always first, while, - she blushed to own it even to herself, -
|
1745
|
+
she had sometimes entirely forgotten her own.
|
1746
|
+
|
1747
|
+
At the end of the third week they had seen almost everything he
|
1748
|
+
considered essential and at times she sensed in his manner, even when he
|
1749
|
+
was least aware of it, a kind of repressed impatience. She knew what it
|
1750
|
+
meant and shivered. Presently he would leave her, and life would become
|
1751
|
+
again the same dull round of work. Only one spot of real importance
|
1752
|
+
remained unvisited, - the cavern bower above the Bay of Moons. Of this
|
1753
|
+
he had spoken frequently, and well she knew he held it the climax of his
|
1754
|
+
search.
|
1755
|
+
|
1756
|
+
But for reasons best known to herself Miss Hastings put off from day to
|
1757
|
+
day this final expedition until Blair began to chaff at the delay.
|
1758
|
+
|
1759
|
+
"That's really the one place I came to see!" he told her more than once.
|
1760
|
+
"After I've been there I think I can go."
|
1761
|
+
|
1762
|
+
"But we've planned Middle Ranch for today," she would answer evasively,
|
1763
|
+
or, "This is the best time to see Orazaba; it's so clear this morning.
|
1764
|
+
That's the mountain, you know, where the Indians carved out their ollas.
|
1765
|
+
Some of them are still there, only half cut away. It would be too bad
|
1766
|
+
for you to miss that."
|
1767
|
+
|
1768
|
+
At length, however, there came a day when excuses would do no longer.
|
1769
|
+
|
1770
|
+
"We've waited long enough," he declared that morning over their coffee,
|
1771
|
+
"Besides, I may have to go now in a few days."
|
1772
|
+
|
1773
|
+
And although at his words the sunshine of her new world faded suddenly
|
1774
|
+
away, yet the little teacher kept a brave front. She even laughed
|
1775
|
+
carelessly.
|
1776
|
+
|
1777
|
+
"Men are so impatient," she teased, "But we'll go today."
|
1778
|
+
|
1779
|
+
Nevertheless, it was not until the rose of sunset rested among the hills
|
1780
|
+
that at last they found themselves on the crest of the tall cliff which
|
1781
|
+
commanded so wide a stretch of the ocean and the shimmering valleys
|
1782
|
+
below.
|
1783
|
+
|
1784
|
+
"It reminds one of the Bay of Naples," observed Blair, pausing to scan
|
1785
|
+
the rocky coastline against which, far beneath them, the foaming
|
1786
|
+
breakers threw themselves. He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked
|
1787
|
+
far out to sea. "What a wonderful place for a watch tower it would have
|
1788
|
+
made!"
|
1789
|
+
|
1790
|
+
"It had one once," softly replied the girl, "Wildenai's watch tower!"
|
1791
|
+
|
1792
|
+
Blair turned, their eyes met, and he smiled.
|
1793
|
+
|
1794
|
+
"It's been splendid to have you with me all these days," he said, "I've
|
1795
|
+
been wanting to tell you. You've been more of a help than you'll ever
|
1796
|
+
know." And then, after a pause, "It's because you care so much about the
|
1797
|
+
story yourself, I suppose, that you've been such an inspiration to me."
|
1798
|
+
|
1799
|
+
Something in the girl's heart seemed suddenly to snap.
|
1800
|
+
|
1801
|
+
"It's because I care more about your work, and - and you. You are so
|
1802
|
+
wonderful!" she broke forth impulsively, and stood before him crimson
|
1803
|
+
with confusion. For a second, which seemed to her an age, there was
|
1804
|
+
silence. Then he spoke and, in her bitter humiliation, his voice sounded
|
1805
|
+
strained and cold.
|
1806
|
+
|
1807
|
+
"Shall we go in?" he asked.
|
1808
|
+
|
1809
|
+
Silently he parted the tangle of manzanita that for centuries had veiled
|
1810
|
+
the secrets of the princess, and stood aside for her to enter. Wildly
|
1811
|
+
the little art teacher glanced about her. This moment to which she had
|
1812
|
+
so looked forward, and yet had dreaded as much because it meant the end,
|
1813
|
+
- this moment which might, nevertheless, have meant much to them both
|
1814
|
+
even though it were the end, she herself had spoiled! All its delicate
|
1815
|
+
beauty changed to a sordid suspicion, it lay in ruins now because of her
|
1816
|
+
thoughtless words. She dared not guess at what he must be thinking! For
|
1817
|
+
a desperate second she considered flight. Then proudly she raised her
|
1818
|
+
head. One more thing, at least, about her now he should learn!
|
1819
|
+
|
1820
|
+
"Did you know - ?" she began, then broke off irresolute.
|
1821
|
+
|
1822
|
+
Blair glanced at her and again their eyes met. This time he did not
|
1823
|
+
smile.
|
1824
|
+
|
1825
|
+
"Know what?" he asked.
|
1826
|
+
|
1827
|
+
She laughed with embarrassment.
|
1828
|
+
|
1829
|
+
"It really isn't of any interest to you, but - " and again she paused.
|
1830
|
+
|
1831
|
+
"Suppose you let me be the judge of that," he suggested stiffly. "You're
|
1832
|
+
making me horribly curious, you know. You can't very well drop the
|
1833
|
+
subject now." He was evidently making an effort at pleasantry.
|
1834
|
+
|
1835
|
+
She flushed brightly.
|
1836
|
+
|
1837
|
+
"Of course it couldn't be of the slightest importance to anyone except
|
1838
|
+
myself," she explained. Then, as if doubting her courage to continue
|
1839
|
+
long, she hurried on, "but one reason I take such an interest in - your
|
1840
|
+
work is because I'm a direct descendant of Lord Harold myself. He became
|
1841
|
+
the Duke of Norfolk afterward, you know, but Hastings was always the
|
1842
|
+
family name." She flashed him a haughty glance, a pride that changed to
|
1843
|
+
wideeyed surprise as she noted his amazement.
|
1844
|
+
|
1845
|
+
"Not really?" He had turned abruptly and in his eyes there was a curious
|
1846
|
+
expression, almost of alarm. "How extraordinary, - how perfectly
|
1847
|
+
extraordinary!"
|
1848
|
+
|
1849
|
+
"Why extraordinary?" That her cup of humiliation might brim to the full,
|
1850
|
+
resentment was added to confusion. "You consider me unworthy, then, of
|
1851
|
+
having had nobility among my ancestry? But, just the same, there was
|
1852
|
+
nothing strange about it. The colonies were chiefly English, you
|
1853
|
+
remember!" He smiled at her sarcasm. "The duke married one of
|
1854
|
+
Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting after he went home and there was a younger
|
1855
|
+
son, and he had a younger son, and after a long time one of them came
|
1856
|
+
over to Virginia just like anybody else. They have always been good,
|
1857
|
+
loyal, highly respected American citizens," she told him fiercely, "and
|
1858
|
+
I'm proud of them! Besides - " with reckless emphasis, "I've always felt
|
1859
|
+
so sorry for Wildenai."
|
1860
|
+
|
1861
|
+
But at this point, quite incomprehensibly, Blair broke into peals of
|
1862
|
+
laughter.
|
1863
|
+
|
1864
|
+
"And by and by, after a long, long time, one of these good, loyal,
|
1865
|
+
American citizens that we're both so proud of had a hot-tempered, most
|
1866
|
+
disloyal little daughter who intends to show her employer his proper
|
1867
|
+
place before she dismisses him! But why are you sorry for Wildenai?"
|
1868
|
+
|
1869
|
+
With mischievous eyes he searched her face.
|
1870
|
+
|
1871
|
+
She flushed, then, looking squarely at him, "Because she was impulsive
|
1872
|
+
like me, and just for that reason Lord Harold ran away and left her,"
|
1873
|
+
she said. "He's the only one of them I never had any use for."
|
1874
|
+
|
1875
|
+
Blair wandered the length of the cavern and back before he replied.
|
1876
|
+
|
1877
|
+
"You think him a coward, I suppose." He still looked as though he wanted
|
1878
|
+
to laugh, yet something in his tone seared her outraged pride. He might
|
1879
|
+
as well have touched an iron to quivering flesh. "You ought to remember,
|
1880
|
+
however, - I mean every woman ought to remember, - that when a girl lets
|
1881
|
+
a man know that she cares for him she generally forfeits, then and
|
1882
|
+
there, whatever interest she may have had for him. Wildenai risked too
|
1883
|
+
much. Of course, in her case there was some excuse. She was only an
|
1884
|
+
untrained barbarian. But, under ordinary circumstances, I tell you
|
1885
|
+
there's nothing a man despises so much!"
|
1886
|
+
|
1887
|
+
What was done or said after that Miss Hastings never could have told.
|
1888
|
+
She was possessed of but one desire, - to get away, to go back to the
|
1889
|
+
hotel, - home, anywhere beyond the reach of his voice and his eyes. For
|
1890
|
+
the moment she hated him, and although Blair, conscience smitten at he
|
1891
|
+
knew not what, waited in the lobby a full hour before going in to
|
1892
|
+
dinner, she did not come down.
|
1893
|
+
|
1894
|
+
Up in her room, mechanically brushing her hair for the night, Miss
|
1895
|
+
Hastings stormily addressed the girl in the glass who stared so
|
1896
|
+
scornfully back at her.
|
1897
|
+
|
1898
|
+
"I tell you I don't care a thing about it! He probably thought he was
|
1899
|
+
justified in every word he said. He's probably smiling this very minute
|
1900
|
+
because he thinks he managed it so well! But he's a coward just the
|
1901
|
+
same, and I despise him, - I do despise him!" Her eyes brimming with
|
1902
|
+
tears, she fiercely repeated the word. "Well, he'll soon find out how
|
1903
|
+
much I really meant!"
|
1904
|
+
|
1905
|
+
Over and over she re-lived the short scene, - all of its humiliation,
|
1906
|
+
all of its hurt, seeking at every turn solace for her woman's pride.
|
1907
|
+
|
1908
|
+
"Naturally I wanted to help him all I could, to appear, at least, to be
|
1909
|
+
interested, especially when he was paying so much for it! It was only a
|
1910
|
+
business arrangement anyway," she continued bitterly, "nothing but
|
1911
|
+
business from start to finish, and if he doesn't know that yet, he'll
|
1912
|
+
find it out the very first thing tomorrow morning!"
|
1913
|
+
|
1914
|
+
And having tumbled into bed she lay staring into the dark, planning the
|
1915
|
+
details of a campaign warranted either to cure or kill the enemy.
|
1916
|
+
Outside, a mocking bird, perched provokingly near her window, kept the
|
1917
|
+
night ringing with music. Resolutely she closed her ears to his song.
|
1918
|
+
But presently, through the faint fragrance of oleanders, other sounds
|
1919
|
+
began to penetrate, - the strains of the waltz to which they had danced
|
1920
|
+
only the night before. The little art teacher turned wearily over and
|
1921
|
+
cried herself to sleep.
|
1922
|
+
|
1923
|
+
On the morning which followed she rose very early, however, much too
|
1924
|
+
early to breakfast with Blair at the little table in the sunny corner.
|
1925
|
+
Instead, she ordered some coffee and toast at Jim's Waffle Shop in the
|
1926
|
+
village and was hard at work sketching on the wharf before eight
|
1927
|
+
o'clock. She had suddenly remembered a promise to sketch Capt. Warren's
|
1928
|
+
dog holding the gaff, a feat of which both Pal and his master were
|
1929
|
+
justifiably proud. Indeed, so long had the arrangement been made and so
|
1930
|
+
entirely had it been neglected, that no one was more surprised than the
|
1931
|
+
Captain himself at her unexpected appearance.
|
1932
|
+
|
1933
|
+
"But Pal and me ought to be at the Tuna Club in fifteen minutes, to take
|
1934
|
+
a party o' members out fishin'," he demurred. "You can't paint Pal in no
|
1935
|
+
quarter of an hour!"
|
1936
|
+
|
1937
|
+
"I'm sorry to have had to put it off so long," replied Miss Hastings
|
1938
|
+
crisply, "but I'm planning to go home in a few days now, - this
|
1939
|
+
afternoon probably. It's the only chance I shall have." And she prepared
|
1940
|
+
to make good the belated promise with such determination that, after a
|
1941
|
+
wistful glance or two across the slapping white caps, the old skipper
|
1942
|
+
meekly succumbed.
|
1943
|
+
|
1944
|
+
It was here Blair found her an hour or so later. Unceremoniously he
|
1945
|
+
placed himself in front of her, his hands in his pockets, and gave vent
|
1946
|
+
to a low whistle.
|
1947
|
+
|
1948
|
+
"Well, of all the - !"
|
1949
|
+
|
1950
|
+
"Oh, is it you, Mr. Blair?" she inquired in cool, sweet tones. "I
|
1951
|
+
thought most probably you'd gone! Didn't you say yesterday you intended
|
1952
|
+
to as soon as you'd seen the cavern?" Then, after a pause during which
|
1953
|
+
Blair said nothing, "I've been getting dreadfully behind with my own
|
1954
|
+
work, so I thought, if you didn't mind, I'd try to catch up a little
|
1955
|
+
this morning."
|
1956
|
+
|
1957
|
+
"Certainly not. Take all the time you want! We've about finished anyway,
|
1958
|
+
I guess." His coolness matched her own.
|
1959
|
+
|
1960
|
+
Another silence during which she painted furiously.
|
1961
|
+
|
1962
|
+
"I'm making a sketch of Pal holding the gaff," she ventured at length
|
1963
|
+
when the strain had become too uncomfortable.
|
1964
|
+
|
1965
|
+
"So I see."
|
1966
|
+
|
1967
|
+
This second tentative effort at conversation having flickered and gone
|
1968
|
+
out she bent again to her work, while Blair remained, looking down at
|
1969
|
+
her, in his eyes mingled amusement and resentment. What had he done, he
|
1970
|
+
wondered, to account for such a change? Or, perhaps, it was something he
|
1971
|
+
had not done. He tried again.
|
1972
|
+
|
1973
|
+
"Aren't we going for our ride this morning? It's a glorious day, and I
|
1974
|
+
have the refusal of the two best horses."
|
1975
|
+
|
1976
|
+
"No, I think not, - not this morning, thank you," she answered. In her
|
1977
|
+
voice was the same crisp sweetness. "I haven't time!"
|
1978
|
+
|
1979
|
+
With a shrug of pure bewilderment he backed away, then lingered a moment
|
1980
|
+
longer to watch the sketch take shape beneath her hurrying brush. That
|
1981
|
+
was the particular moment Miss Hastings chose for the final reckless
|
1982
|
+
stab.
|
1983
|
+
|
1984
|
+
"You're standing in my light," she said. "If you'd just as soon, please
|
1985
|
+
do go away, Mr. Blair. It makes me nervous to have people looking over
|
1986
|
+
my shoulder when I'm trying to paint."
|
1987
|
+
|
1988
|
+
This was just a trifle more than Blair at the moment was prepared to
|
1989
|
+
stand. His eyes grew dark.
|
1990
|
+
|
1991
|
+
"Certainly," he replied icily. "So sorry to have bothered you at all. I
|
1992
|
+
only came down to tell you that I've decided to leave today. There's
|
1993
|
+
nothing more to keep me now, I think, and I'm rather anxious to get
|
1994
|
+
home. You'll find your check at the desk." And he sauntered away.
|
1995
|
+
|
1996
|
+
She did not go back to the hotel for luncheon. She had finished her
|
1997
|
+
sketch, yet, somehow, when the time came, she discovered that it would
|
1998
|
+
be quite impossible to enter the dining room. She found it equally
|
1999
|
+
impossible to take the afternoon boat herself. Instead, having clambered
|
2000
|
+
half way up the steep slope to the cavern, she watched from behind a
|
2001
|
+
flaming riot of wild nasturtians while, preceded by a hotel porter
|
2002
|
+
bearing bags and suit-cases, Blair boarded the Avalon for Los Angeles.
|
2003
|
+
He was going away, then, without even a word of farewell.
|
2004
|
+
|
2005
|
+
The heart of the little art teacher turned cold within her, so cold that
|
2006
|
+
she sank numbly into the red and gold tangle; nor did she look up again
|
2007
|
+
until the steamer, dipping below the horizon, had left only a trail of
|
2008
|
+
smoke to show where it disappeared. She had not believed that he would
|
2009
|
+
do quite that!
|
2010
|
+
|
2011
|
+
When evening came she went stoically in to dinner. There was no reason
|
2012
|
+
any longer for staying away. Sternly she kept her eyes from the vacant
|
2013
|
+
place opposite. Yet somehow she could not persuade herself that he was
|
2014
|
+
really gone. More than once she caught herself watching the door, half
|
2015
|
+
expecting to see him stroll in with apologies for tardiness and take his
|
2016
|
+
empty chair. When again the orchestra drifted suddenly into the waltz to
|
2017
|
+
which they had danced, she rose abruptly and left the room.
|
2018
|
+
|
2019
|
+
Well, she would go herself in the morning. She would settle everything
|
2020
|
+
and pack her things at once. She went to the desk to ask for the check.
|
2021
|
+
But there was nothing for her. No, the clerk assured her after much
|
2022
|
+
fumbling, Mr. Blair hadn't left anything, either in her box or his own.
|
2023
|
+
But, - the man stole a covert glance at her downcast face, - he was
|
2024
|
+
still holding his rooms. Probably he meant to attend to it when he
|
2025
|
+
returned.
|
2026
|
+
|
2027
|
+
That he might not see the wild joy that leaped to her eyes, Miss
|
2028
|
+
Hastings turned with startling suddenness and fled upstairs. Safe in her
|
2029
|
+
own room she flung herself with tears and laughter on the bed. So that
|
2030
|
+
was the hand he was playing, was it? - the dear, wicked, unmanageable - !
|
2031
|
+
Of course he would have to be punished, - well punished! but - she
|
2032
|
+
laughed aloud for pure joy - the world was a radiant place once more,
|
2033
|
+
and nothing of any sort really mattered, because he was coming back.
|
2034
|
+
|
2035
|
+
But the next day went by, and the next, and he had not come. Day after
|
2036
|
+
day passed in an empty procession, yet no one of them brought that for
|
2037
|
+
which she waited. And there was nothing else to do. Work was out of the
|
2038
|
+
question. She could not sit still long enough. It became, instead, her
|
2039
|
+
sole occupation to linger each morning and afternoon on the verandah
|
2040
|
+
until the steamer from Los Angeles had rounded the point and crossed the
|
2041
|
+
bay in front of the hotel. Then, hidden behind the palms she would watch
|
2042
|
+
until the last straggling tourist had left the pier. But still he did
|
2043
|
+
not come.
|
2044
|
+
|
2045
|
+
Doubt in every tormenting guise assailed her. Perhaps he had changed his
|
2046
|
+
mind and decided later not to return. Yet the clerk had said he meant to
|
2047
|
+
come back! Perhaps her check, sent by mail, was even now in her box. But
|
2048
|
+
she had not the courage to go again to the desk. Driven by alternate
|
2049
|
+
hope and fear she lost color, and she could not sleep. During seven
|
2050
|
+
miserable nights she planned to go back to Pasadena by the morning boat,
|
2051
|
+
and as many times she put it off. Yet, if he did return to find her
|
2052
|
+
waiting, what, then, would she have given him the right to think? But,
|
2053
|
+
on the other hand, if she went she might never see him again!
|
2054
|
+
|
2055
|
+
On the eighth day she took herself grimly in hand. No longer would she
|
2056
|
+
humiliate herself by any further delay. Wildenai had not waited, and
|
2057
|
+
even a school teacher can be as proud as an Indian princess! That very
|
2058
|
+
afternoon she would finish her sketch of the cavern. Then tomorrow she
|
2059
|
+
would go back to Pasadena and the long gray round of work. Desolately
|
2060
|
+
she wandered up the secret trail to Wildenai's bower. Never had her
|
2061
|
+
sympathy for the deserted princess been so keen. Perhaps, she mournfully
|
2062
|
+
considered, if the spirit of the Indian maiden still lingered there it
|
2063
|
+
might feel sympathy for her as well. Perhaps she, too, would find
|
2064
|
+
comfort in the spot where that other woman had paid an equal price for
|
2065
|
+
her impulsiveness.
|
2066
|
+
|
2067
|
+
The shadows in the little cavern were dark and cool and, laying aside
|
2068
|
+
her box of colors, for a long time she sat quite motionless, staring out
|
2069
|
+
to where the gulls drifted and glinted against the blue. She heard after
|
2070
|
+
a while the whistle of the approaching steamer but gave no heed. Lying
|
2071
|
+
back against the moss she had almost dropped asleep when something in
|
2072
|
+
the corner opposite attracted her attention. She sat up nervously and
|
2073
|
+
stared into the shadows. Was it only that the darkness was deeper over
|
2074
|
+
there, or was that really something propped against the wall? And had it
|
2075
|
+
moved?
|
2076
|
+
|
2077
|
+
In the years that followed she never knew how long she sat there after
|
2078
|
+
the stones had been lifted away, holding in her lap those shreds of torn
|
2079
|
+
white doeskin. Still caught together, though in tatters, by long strings
|
2080
|
+
of shells and beads, they shone, a ghostly film of white from out the
|
2081
|
+
dimness. A breath, and the whole would have crumbled into dust. Yet the
|
2082
|
+
beads, she noticed, were still perfect as when strung by slim brown
|
2083
|
+
fingers centuries before. Only half believing it was not all of it a
|
2084
|
+
dream, she lifted them strand after strand. Then, suddenly, she gave a
|
2085
|
+
little cry. Somewhere from out the torn folds a slender chain had
|
2086
|
+
slipped. Trembling with a curiosity that bordered close on terror, she
|
2087
|
+
carried it to the light, and there it glowed, a glancing stream of
|
2088
|
+
crimson, in her hand.
|
2089
|
+
|
2090
|
+
"Wildenai's necklace!" she breathed, and hid her face.
|
2091
|
+
|
2092
|
+
There came the sound of a step outside. The manzanita branches were
|
2093
|
+
pushed impatiently aside and he stood before her.
|
2094
|
+
|
2095
|
+
The journey across the channel from Los Angeles had seemed twice as long
|
2096
|
+
as when he made it a few weeks before, and he had hurried all the way
|
2097
|
+
from the hotel straight to the little cavern. But now that he had found
|
2098
|
+
her again, there seemed to be plenty of time for everything, and he
|
2099
|
+
stood quite silent looking down at her. He was glad he had found her
|
2100
|
+
there, glad, in a curious, unreasoning way, for the quiet of the late
|
2101
|
+
afternoon, for the faint fragrance of the Mariposa lilies blooming just
|
2102
|
+
beyond the ledge. Yet he let her know nothing of this in what he said.
|
2103
|
+
|
2104
|
+
"So here you are, after all! I thought I should find you here."
|
2105
|
+
|
2106
|
+
She had not heard him come and was startled into a cry.
|
2107
|
+
|
2108
|
+
"You!" she gasped, and lifted eyes in which the telltale signs of tears
|
2109
|
+
were still quite evident, so evident that, with a woman's instinct to
|
2110
|
+
hide them, she caught up the necklace and held it toward him.
|
2111
|
+
|
2112
|
+
"See what I've found!" she exclaimed.
|
2113
|
+
|
2114
|
+
But he paid no heed. Instead, manlike, he proceeded, quite
|
2115
|
+
unconsciously, to say the one thing that could hurt her most.
|
2116
|
+
|
2117
|
+
"I looked for you at the hotel first, then I came on up here. I knew you
|
2118
|
+
wouldn't go till I came!"
|
2119
|
+
|
2120
|
+
The color that had flooded her face at the sound of his voice faded
|
2121
|
+
again. She was quite white as she asked quietly:
|
2122
|
+
|
2123
|
+
"How could you know I would stay?"
|
2124
|
+
|
2125
|
+
He laughed easily, settling himself confidently on the moss at her side.
|
2126
|
+
|
2127
|
+
"Because I hadn't paid you yet," he answered gaily. "Don't you think
|
2128
|
+
that was clever of me, Wildenai?"
|
2129
|
+
|
2130
|
+
"I would rather you did not call me that," she told him coldly, "It
|
2131
|
+
sounds irreverent." And she dropped her eyes, which had filled again
|
2132
|
+
miserably, to the film of white in her lap. Then, with a pitiful attempt
|
2133
|
+
to hurt him in return: "Of course you realize that I really don't know
|
2134
|
+
much about you. I don't want you to think that I distrusted you exactly
|
2135
|
+
- " she marvelled at herself that she could say such things to him, but
|
2136
|
+
went recklessly on. "The check wasn't there, - and so, well, it seemed
|
2137
|
+
wisest to wait. They said you were coming back, and I couldn't afford to
|
2138
|
+
lose it; so I stayed. Just a matter of business, you see!" She finished
|
2139
|
+
in a tone which, except for a suspicious tremble, was satisfactorily
|
2140
|
+
disagreeable.
|
2141
|
+
|
2142
|
+
But Blair's armor, since his return, seemed proof against such thrusts
|
2143
|
+
as she could give.
|
2144
|
+
|
2145
|
+
"Won't play Indian at all, then?" he retorted teasingly. "But of course
|
2146
|
+
not! How could you when you happen to come from the other side of the
|
2147
|
+
house? However," he continued whimsically, "there are such things as
|
2148
|
+
English roses, you know. I've always loved them, too, even when they
|
2149
|
+
were thorny!"
|
2150
|
+
|
2151
|
+
He pulled absently at a fern growing near, while, suddenly, for no
|
2152
|
+
particular reason, the color glowed again in the cheeks of the little
|
2153
|
+
art teacher. She smiled, half unwillingly.
|
2154
|
+
|
2155
|
+
"But don't pull up the wild flowers here," she warned him, "You'll have
|
2156
|
+
the forester after you! When did you get back?" she added. "Where have
|
2157
|
+
you been so long?" burned on her lips, but she scorned to ask it.
|
2158
|
+
|
2159
|
+
"About an hour ago," he replied amiably. "The boat was late."
|
2160
|
+
|
2161
|
+
"I was beginning to think you'd given up coming at all." She could not
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keep it back. "The duke never bothered to, you know."
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But this blow, like the first, failed to reach any vulnerable spot.
|
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Blair did not flinch.
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"No, naturally he didn't! He was English, and you can't depend upon the
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English, I've discovered. But there's not the slightest reason for
|
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linking me up with him. The princess never ran away now, did she? And I
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- " He paused, then without looking at her he began again.
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"Seriously, I'm sorry if I seemed to be deserting. I - well, honestly, I
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didn't know what else to do. You suggested it yourself, you remember!
|
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And I'd promised my father to look after some business for him in Los
|
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Angeles while I was out here. You see, he - our family, have lived in
|
2176
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the East for a long time now, but we used to own pretty much all of Los
|
2177
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+
Angeles county some three centuries ago, when the Spanish were here, and
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2178
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- " Again he broke off abruptly. "Do you want to know about me?" he
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2179
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+
demanded.
|
2180
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+
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2181
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Miss Hastings leaned breathlessly toward him. Her heart was beating
|
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wildly.
|
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+
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2184
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"Oh, please!" she begged.
|
2185
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"Perhaps I should have told you at the first," he began, "or at least
|
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after you told me who you were, but - anyway, I didn't. I'd never told
|
2188
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+
anyone before and I didn't much suppose I ever would. There's a reason,
|
2189
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+
though, why I'm particularly interested in this legend, too, a reason
|
2190
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+
just as good as you've got. I'm - well, I'm one of Wildenai's great,
|
2191
|
+
great grandsons!"
|
2192
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+
|
2193
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+
And then, because she sat quite silent there in the shadows, and
|
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+
motionless except for fingering something white that lay in her lap, he
|
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waited uneasily. Was she angry again, he wondered, or perhaps she was
|
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only laughing!
|
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+
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She was the first to break the silence.
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"Are you trying to be funny?" Her voice was very cold.
|
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"Not at all," he answered hotly. "It must be all of ten generations back
|
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or even more, and of course it wasn't all Spanish afterward, but, just
|
2204
|
+
the same, I'm as much a descendant of the princess as you are of the
|
2205
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+
duke, - always have been! I'm just as proud of it, too. Possibly you
|
2206
|
+
will remember that the Spanish beat the English to it, at least in
|
2207
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+
California. Anyway," he finished bitterly, "what difference does it
|
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+
make? So far as I can see, it only gives us one more good subject to
|
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quarrel about!"
|
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|
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Then out of the dimness came a queer little sound, whether of tears or
|
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of laughter it was impossible to know. For the least part of a second a
|
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+
hand brushed his own.
|
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|
2215
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"Oh, no!" she whispered, "Let's not do that. It wouldn't be right! And
|
2216
|
+
see," she laughed tremulously, "Isn't it strange I should have found it
|
2217
|
+
today, but," she lifted the white thing in her lap, "here is Wildenai's
|
2218
|
+
wedding dress - and the chain of garnets!"
|
2219
|
+
|
2220
|
+
The cavern was quite dark before they had finished talking about it, but
|
2221
|
+
at length they laid the poor little ghost of a garment reverently back
|
2222
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+
among the stones and rose to go.
|
2223
|
+
|
2224
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+
"But the necklace?" Blair asked, hesitating, "do you think we ought to
|
2225
|
+
leave that here?"
|
2226
|
+
|
2227
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+
The girl considered a moment.
|
2228
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|
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"It's really yours," she decided. "Nobody else could have the least
|
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+
claim to it."
|
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+
|
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+
"Except - " Suddenly his eyes shone with a strange expression before
|
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which the little art teacher instinctively shrank. He took a step toward
|
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her.
|
2235
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+
|
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+
"I believe I'll give the garnets back," he announced. "I fancy that's
|
2237
|
+
what the princess would have liked to do if she'd had the chance.
|
2238
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+
Besides," his eyes grew still darker, "they were meant in the first
|
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+
place for a wedding gift, and so if you - "
|
2240
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+
|
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He would have clasped them about her neck, but Miss Hastings backed
|
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|
+
frantically away.
|
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+
|
2244
|
+
"No! - not for worlds," she cried. "You know you're only saying it
|
2245
|
+
because you think you can't get out of it!" And before he could realize
|
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|
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just what was happening, she was gone.
|
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+
|
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|
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|
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The boat for Los Angeles was unusually crowded that night. For either
|
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this reason, or some other she would not acknowledge, Miss Hastings
|
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+
found herself pushed aside by more impatient passengers every time she
|
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|
+
attempted to enter the gangway.
|
2254
|
+
|
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|
+
"All aboard!" called a peremptory voice from somewhere on deck. She took
|
2256
|
+
a step forward, hesitated, drew back. The plank was hauled irrevocably
|
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|
+
away, and she turned to face Blair standing just behind her on the
|
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|
+
wharf.
|
2259
|
+
|
2260
|
+
"I was sure you wouldn't run away," he declared, "but if you had - !"
|
2261
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|
2262
|
+
She let him lead her back along the broad boardwalk toward the hotel
|
2263
|
+
until they stood within the shadow of the huge boulder which for
|
2264
|
+
centuries has marked the outer boundary of the Bay of Moons. Beyond them
|
2265
|
+
the lights of the St. Catherine glimmered down the hill and on over the
|
2266
|
+
water, rimming with golden bubbles the outlines of the pier.
|
2267
|
+
|
2268
|
+
"Wildenai!" Out of the darkness his voice came to her, mocking, tender,
|
2269
|
+
wholly insistent. "Foolish, obstinate little lady! Can't you see how
|
2270
|
+
it's up to you, - up to the English to make amends? Honestly now, when
|
2271
|
+
he began it I don't imagine even that rascal Drake himself would have
|
2272
|
+
believed a family scrap could last the better part of four centuries.
|
2273
|
+
Don't you really think it's about time for you to call it off?"
|
2274
|
+
|
2275
|
+
And flinging her scruples to the winds, Miss Hastings suddenly decided
|
2276
|
+
that it was.
|
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|
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|
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