The Saint Paul globe., 1904-06-05


they, carried him along clear Of the
cornice, and I understood they formed
half circle round him, drawing their
knives Manuel began to finger the
strings, lifting up his voice between
the gusts of savage hiIarity, mingled
with cries OF death. He exhorted his
followers to close on the traitor inch
by inch, presenting their knives.
He runs here and there, the blood
trickling from his lfmbs-but in vain,
this Is the appointed time for the
Then everything seemed to stop
even my own painful breathing. Again
Castro shrieked like a madman.
fSenorita-your gold. Senorita!
Hear me! Help!"
Then all was still.
Hear the dead calling to the dead"
sneered Manuel.
An awestruck sort Of hum proceed
ed from the Spaniards. Was the
senorita alive? In the cave? Or
where?
Her nod would have saved thee,
Castro" said Manuel, slowly. I got
up. I heard Castor stammer wildly
she shall fill both yours hands with
gold. DO you hear hombres? /, Cas-
tro, tell you-each man-both- hands
He had done it. The last hope
was gone now. And all that there
remained for me to do was to leap
over or give myself up, and end this
horrible business.
She was creature born to COM
mand the moon and stars" Manuel
unused aloud in a vibrating tone, and
suddenly smote the strings with
emphatic violence. She could even
stay his vengeance. But was it pos
sible7 No, no! 1t could not be, and
Thou art alive yet, Castro?" he
cried. Thou hast eaten and drunk;
life is goods it not, old mainland
the leap is high
He thundered "Silencel" to still the
excited murmurs Of his band. If she
lived Castro should live, too-he, Man
uel, said so; but he threatened him
with horrible tortures, with two days
of slow dying, if he dared to deceive.
Let him, then, speak the truth quickly.
Speak, viejo. Where is she?'
And at the opening fifty yards away,
I was tempted to call out, as though l
had loved Castro well enough to save
him from the shame and remorSe of
plain betrayal
| was to learn then that the ultimate
value of life to all of us is based on the
means of deception. Morally he
had his back against the wall-he
could not hope to deceive himself;
and after Manuel had cried again at
him, Where are they?" in really ter
rible tone, heard his answer:
'At the bottom of the sea-
Sometimes 1t seems to me as if the
whole scene, with his wild cries for
help, had been the outcome of a su-
preme exercise of cunning. For, in
deed, he could not have invented any,
thing better to bring the conviction of
our death to the most skeptical of these
ruffians. All I heard after his words
had been a great shout, followed by
solemn and unbroken silence. 1t seem
ed to last a very long time He had
thrown himself over! Then, after a
time, a voice below, to the left of the
cave, ascended with a hooting and
mournful effect from the depths.
Manuel! Manuel! We have found
him. Els muerte!"
And from above ManuePs shout roll
ed, augmented between the rocks:
"Bueno! Turn his face up-for the
birds!''
They continued calling to each other
for a good while. The men below
declared their intention of going on to
the seashore; and Manuel shouted to
them not to forget to send him up
good rope early in the morning. APP
parently the schooner had been refloat-
ed some time before; many of the Luz
garenos were to sleep on board. They
purposed to set sail early next day.
This revived me, and I spent the
night between Seraphina's couch and
the mouth of the cave, keeping tight
hold of my reason, that seemed to lose
itself in this hope, in this darkness, in
this torment. I touched her cheek, it
was hot-while her forehead felt to
my fingers as cold as ice. l had no
more voice, but tried to force out
some harsh whispers through by throat
They sounded horrible in my own ears,
and she endeavored to soothe me by
murmuring my name feebly. I believe
she thought me delirious. I tried to
pray for my strength to last till +
could carry her out of that cave to the
side of the brook-then let death come
Live, live" l whispered into her ear,
and would hear a sigh so faint so fee
BILE, that it swayed all my soul with
pity and fear. "Yes, Juan"
And / would go away to watch for the
dawn from the mouth of the cave, and
curse the stars that would not fade.
Manueps voice always steadied me.
A languor had come over them above,
as if their passion had been exhausted.
Several of them, understood, left the
camp for the schooner but avoiding
the road by the ravine as if CaStro'S
dead body down there had made it i'm
passible. And the talk went on late
into the night. There was some su-
perstitious fear attached to the cave
a legend Of men who had gone in and
had never come back any more. All
they knew of it was the region of twi-
light: formerly when they used the
shelter of the cavern no one, it seems,
ever ventured outside the circle of the
fire. Manuel disdained their fears. Had
he not been such a profound politico, a
man Of stratagems, there would have
been necessity to go down and see.
y They all protested. Who was
going down? Not they. Their
craven cowardice was amazing.