The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-02-28

80 his regard for the Golden Flower
diminished, and he only waited an op-
portunity to desert her and her sub
iects forever, taking with him his lit
tie daughter Dolores and his treasures
of gold and gems. But the second
year passed, and the third was draw
ing to q close before his preparations
were completed; and in all that time
he saw little hope of ever being able
to effect his escape. He had made
himself thoroughly acquainted with
his domain, although it was a large
one, and he had several times revisit
ed the shores of that beautiful bay
where the Spanish ships had an
ehored when Columbus first set foot
on the island, and he now re-
called that great mans plans for
colonizing the New World, which,
with his fellow-sailors, he had been
wont to ridicule as the chimericai
schemes of a crazy visionary.
"How eagerly he now looked for
ward to the possibility OF such
schemes being, at least, attempted
1.From the shore-natives he learned
that mysterious ships had recently
been seen; and if Columbus or an
other had again found the shores of
the New World, it was reasonable to
expect that they would still come
thiro time, fourth and continuously.
He we'll knew the Spanish thirst for
gold, and at times his hopes ran high.
If he sometimes remembered his own
conduct in deserting his commander,
it did not trouble him. he had a
well-planned story to explain it.
"But the third year passed and the
fourth was growing old, and yet the
longed-for sail had not been seen;
and Pedro began to feel that his stay
on the island had become hateful cap
tivity. The shore-natives had re-
ceived his orders to watch day and
night for the Spanish ships, and once
their swiftest runners had come to
him with the news that the great CO.
noes of the pale-face cacique, with
spread wings, had been seen again
and Pedro hastened to the beach. But
nothing was there-nothing but what
seemed sail disappearing in the dis
tance. Many days and nights they
watched the sea, but only the, glory Of
its blue beauty rewarded them.
Meantime, however, PEDRO con-
tinued his preparations, but in secret
and with fear as we'll as hope.
"Many of the Indians have never
recovered from the feeling engendered
in their minds by the murder of their
brother; and although the body of the
Jealous man had been buried where it
fell, and had been refused the custom
ary rites of sepulture, because he had
raised his hand against a celestial be-
ing, there were those among the NAL
contents who visited his grave as a
sacred spot. Also, the Golden Flower
had once said to Pedro that the spirit
of her murdered kinsman had appeared.
to her and had warned her against the
white man. All this alarmed Mendoza,
and he longed to get away from these
uncertain savages, who might kneel to
him in alteration on one day, and burn
him on the next, as the embodiment
of oil their evil gods. But, above all
other creatures, he now feared his
wife, the beautiful Golden Flower.
"kpacaona had greatly changed
since her marriage with the Spaniard.
More beautiful than ever and more de-
votedly, slavishly attached to him, she
had grown jealous and fierce and,
poisoned by fear, suspicious and de-
ceitful. The luminous eyes, once ra-
diant with happiness, now burned and
glowed with angry fire. Thesvoices
that had seemed like angel music
waited from distant spheres now whis-
pered dreadful thoughts and dark sus-
picions to her soul. The shadowy
forms of light that had once peopled
all the air about her now gave place
to grisly and threatening figures, for
ever warning her against the man she
adored-the husband whom she, could
not choose but love, though he might
slay her. More than once Mendoza
had seen her fall as one dead, her face
and form rigid, her eyes wide open but
staring upward; and then her tense
lips would unclose, and voices he never
knew would issue from them, speak
ing in q language he could not under
stand.
<'These frances, clairvoyant visions,
cataleptic seizures, whatever the ad-
vanced science of to-day may prefer to
call them, were common to this Indian
princess, and they were regarded with
awe and veneration by her people.
But to Mendoza they were the cause
of unutterable horror, and it was with
profound and shuddering fear that he
believed his Indian wife to be pos
sessed of the devil.
''In one of these frances Anacaona
had suddenly spoke in the voice Of
Juanita. She told him of their child,
little Raphael, left to the mercy of
strangers. She spoke of the little
churchyard where her body was laid
to rest. She forgave him for his per-
fdy and desertion, but she conjured
him to live better life. What did it
mean? These were Juanita's very
tones. The description of the home
where he had left her and Of the little
churchysrd was perfect. Pedro felt
his hair rise as if a cold breeze had
blown through it, while icy beads of
perspiration started up on his brow.
He had never talked of these things to
Anacaona. Had he spoken in his sleep,
and was this a trick to deceive him?
He bent over the rigid form and glared
into the wide open eyes. He caught
l. L. nl, ln,.