Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-14

I had sat invisible at the council of my

I had sat invisible at the council of my
enemies.
Manuel began to make a set speech.
1t was like the Grafton of an ambitious
! leader in a farce; he held his hearers with
! his eloquence, as much as he had done with
| the song of his grotesque and desecrating
love. He Wanted his sagacity and his va
lor, and overwhelmed with invective all
among them. He revealed the unholy ideals
of all that band of scoundrels-ideals that
he said should find fruition under his cap
taincy. He boosted of secret conferences
with O'Brien. There were murmurs of sat
isfaction.
1 don't wonder at Seraphina's shudder of
horror, of disgust, of dismay and indigna-
ton. Robbed of the inexpugnable shelter
the Casa Riego, she, too, was made to
look into the depths; upon the animalsm
the lusts and the reveries of that sordtd
vermin- haunted crowd. I felt for her
profound and shamed sorrow. 1t was like
a profaning touch on the sacredness of
her mourning for the dead and on her
clear and passionate vision of life.
"Hombres de Rio Medioi Amigos! Va
lientes! ." Manuel was beginning
his peroration. He would lead them, now
against the English ship. The terrified
heretics would surrender. There was al
ways gold in English ships. He stopped his
speech. and then called loudly. Let the
boats keep touch with each other, and not
stray in that fog"
THE dog" grunted Castro. We heard a
resolute hustle of preparation; oars were
being shipped.
Make ready, Tomas" 1 whispered.
Ready for what?' he grumbled. Where
| shall your worship run from these swine?"
I'VE must follow them I answered.
The madness of the senor's countrymen
sardonfc politeness Wherefore follow ?''
''To find the English ship 1 answered
swiftly
This, from the moment we had heard
Il Haay Aan innn
| the fog that concealed US from their sight
made us. too. hopelessly blind, these
! WI etches must guide us themselves out of
/ their own clutches. as 1t were.
| In the moment before the picaroons ac-
, tually started, l became the prey of the
| most intense anxiety. 1 knew we were to
| seward of the cluster But of our posi-
| ton relatively to the boats. and to the
| English ship they would make for, / was
| profoundly ignorant. The dingey might be
| lying right in the way. Before l could
| master the sort of disorder | was thrown
| into by that thought-which. strange to
| say. had not occurred to me till then-with
| a shrill whistle Manuel led off.
| We are always inclined to trust our eyes
| rather than our ears. and such Is the con-
| ventional temper in which we receive the
| impression of our senses that had no Idea
| they were so near Instantly, 1t seemed,
| with the second swing and splash of the
/ oars the boats were right upon us. They
| went clear 1t was like being grazed by a
| fall of rocks. l seemed to feel the wind OF
| the rush,
| The rapid chatter of rowing, the excited
| hum of voices the violent commotion of the
| water. passed by US with an impetuosty
! that took my breath away. They had start
| ed in a bunch There must have been
/ among them at least one crew of negroes,
! because somebody was beating a tambou-
/ rine smartly and the rowers chorused in
a quick painting undertone. "Ho, no, till
| bambo. Ho, no, tilibambo." One
1 of the boats shouted herself for an in
| slant row of heads swaying back and
I forth lowered over astern by full
length figure as straight as an arrow A re-
| treating voice Numbered "Silence!" The
| sounds and the forms faded together in
/ the fog with amazing swiftness.
| Seraphina, her cloak off, her head bare
1 stared forward after the fleeting murmurs
and shadows we were pursuing. Some