The Saint Paul globe., 1904-05-15


TO a burst of babblfng voices, a mad
speed OF tlnkling, a laundering shout,
! Altro, Am1goi" followed by a great
ciatter of oars flung in. The sudden
silence pulsated with the ponderous
strokes of my heart.
TO escape now seemed impossible.
| AZ least 1t seemed impossible while
they talked A dark spot in the shin
ing expanse of fog swan into view.
IL shlfted Its place after I had first
maze 1t out, and then remained mo-
tlonless, astern of the dingey. It was
the shadow of big boat full of men,
| but when they were silent I was not
sure that l saw anything at all. l make
no doubt, had they been aware of our
! nearness, there were amongst them
| eyes that could have detected us in
the same elusive way. But how could
they even dream of anything of the
kind. They talked noisily, and there
must have been round dozen of them
at the least Sometimes they would
| fall a-shouting all together, and then
! keep quiet as if listening. By-and-by
began to hear answering yells, that
seemed to converge upon as from all
| directions.
We were in the thick of it. 1t was
| ManuePs boat, as Castro had guessed.
and the other boats were raIIying upon
1t gropingly, keeping up a succession of
| yells:
"Ohe! Ohe! Where, where?"
And the people in .ManuePs boat
howled back at them. "Ohe! One
e! This way; here!"
Suddenly he struck the guitar a
mighty blow, and chanted in an in
splred and grandiose strain:
Steer-for-the-
His fingers ran riot among the
strings, and above the jingling his
voice, forced to the highest pitch, de-
claimed, as in the midst of tempest:
4 adore the saints in the glory Of
heaven
And, on the dust Of the earth,
| The print of her footsteps"
1t would have been easy to pull away
unheard while he sang, but l had a
plan, the beginning of a plan, some
thing like the beginning of a hope
And for that l should have to use the
fog for the purpose of remaining with
in earshot.
Would the fog last long enough to
serve my turn? That was the only
question, and 1 believed it would, for
1t settled lower; it settled down denser,
almost too heavy to be stirred by the
fitful efforts of the breeze.
With my sharpened hearing catching
every word with preternatural distinct
ness, felt as if, the ring of Gyges on
my finger, 1 had sat invisible at the
council of my enemies.
Manuel began to make a set speech
1t was like the grafton of an ambi-
tious leader in a farce! he held his
hearers with his eIoquence, as much as
he had done with the song of his gro
tesque and desecrating love. He vaunt-
ed his sagacity and his valor. and over
Whelmed with inVective all sorts of
names-my own and Castro's among
them. He revealed the unholy ideals
of all that band of scoundrels-ideaIs
I0OA I n.
his captaincy. He boasted of secret
conferences with O'Brien. There were
murmurs of satisfaction
don't wonder at Seraphina's shud-
der of horror, of disgust of dismay and
Indignation. Robbed Of the inexpug-
nable shelter the Casa Riego, She too,
was made to look into the depths:
upon the animahsm, the lusts and the
reveries of that sOrdid vermin- haunt
ed crowd. l felt for her a profound
and shamed sorrow. It was like q
profaning touch on the sacredness of
her mourning for the dead and on her
clear and passionate vision of life.
"Hombres de Rio Medic! Amigos!
Valientes! =" Manuel was be-
ginning his peroration He would lead
them, now, against the English ship.
The terrified heretics would surrender.
There was always gold In English
ships, He stopped his speech, and then
called loudly, Let the boats keep in
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" / whispered.
Ready for what?" he grumbled.
where shall your worship run from
these sWine?'
1--WE must follow them" answered.
NI1a 1Yan af h. 80
trymen descends upon him. he whis-
pered with sardonic politeness. Where
fore follow?'
ITO find the English Ship" 1 an
swered swiftly.
This, from the moment we had heard
Manuefs guitar, had been my idea
Since the fog that concealed us from
their sight made US, too, hopelessly
blind, those wretches must guide US
themselves out of their own clutches,
as it were.
In the moment before the picaroons
actually started, became the prey of
the most intense anxiety. I knew we
were to seaward of the cluster. But of
our position relatively to the boats,
and to the English ships they would
make for, 1 was profoundly ignorant.
The dingey might be lying right in the
way. Before / could master the sort
of disorder 1 was thrown into by that
thought-which, strange to say, had
not occurred to me till then-with
shrill whistle Manuel led off,
We are always inclined to trust our
eyes rather than our ears; and such is
the conventional temper in which we
receive the impression Of our senses
that 1 had no idea they were SO near
US. Instantly, it seemed, with the sec
! ond swing and plash of the oars, the
boats were right upon us. They went
| clear. 1t was like being grazed by
| fall of rocks. I seemed to feel the wind
of the rush.
The rapid clatter of rowing, the ex-
cited hum of voices. the violent com
motion of the water, passed by us with
an impetuosity that took my breath
away. They had started in bunch
| There must have been amongst them
| at least one crew of negroes. because
| somebody was beating a tambourine
smartly, and the rowers chorused in
| quick painting undertone "Ho no, tall
bambo. Ho, no, talibambo." One
! of the boats silhouetted herself for an
! instant, row OF heads swaying back
| and forth, lowered over astern by a full
| length figure as straight as an arrow. a
| retreating voice thundered. silence"
| The sounds and the forms faded together
! in the fog with amazing swiftness
| Seraphina, her cloak off, her head bare.
| stared forward after the feeting muir
(; murs and shadows we We're pursuing.
1 Sometimes she warned us More to the
| left or "Faster!' We had to put forth
! our best. for Manuel as if in the very
wantonness of confidence had set ire
| mendous pace.
| We followed IN the fro cir of +ha s,o,,,,7