Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-28

Serapnina sat up
We were pleased to be with each other In
an inexpungable retreat to hearsour voices
untinged by anxiety; and going to the outer
eno OF the short passage, we breatned with
JOY the pure air.
grew nervous with anxiety at last. and
begged Seraphina to go in. She obeyed
without word, and remained just with
IN the entrance. watching. I had no means
to tell the time. but IT. seemed to me that
an hour or two passed.
piexity, saw. on the other side OF the
ravine, the lower part of man from his
waist to his feetee 81
by crouching down at once brought his
neau INTO view This was not Castro. He
wore black sombrero, and on his shout
uer carried gun. He turned his back on
the ravine and began to walk straight
hway, SINKING from my sight till only his
nat anu shoulders remained visible. He
nfted his arm then-straight up-evidently
aS sisnai, and waited Presently another
nHao ana shoulders joined him, and they
snueq across my line of sight together.
Du. nad recognized their bandit-like as
enos!
l caught Seraphina's hand. At once we
t1anoo the neighborhood of the en-
aHce, plungl1g straight away into the
profound obscurity of the cave The rocky
sIcund under our feet had a gentle slope,
sneh aipped so sharply as to surprise us;
Gnu me entrance, diminishing at our backs,
|
se-hole. We made a few steps more
groplngiy. The bead of light disappeared
n,.Ggeshe ei when we sat down, and We re-
two frightened children placed at the CEN
ter OF the earth. There was not a sound
not a CLEAN. Seraphina bore the crushing
straln OF THIS perfect and black stiffness in
an almost heroic immobility; but, as to me,
1t seemed to lie upon my limbs to embar-
rass my breathing like a numbness full of
aread' ana to shake that feeling off 1
Jumped up repeatedly to look at that lumi-
nous bead. that point of light no bigger
tran pearl In the infinity of darkness.
Ana once, just l was looking 1t shut
and opened at me slowly, like the deliber-
white eyeball
Somebody had come in.
circled widely in that subterranean
darkness, which, unlike the darkest night
on the surface of the earth, had no sugges-
ton of shape, no horizon, and seemed to
have no more limit than the darkness Of in
finite space. Approaching from the side 1
scanned from afar the circumscribed region
or twilight about the opening. There
man in 1T. l contemplated for time his
rounded back, his dropping head. 1t was
gray. The man was Castro. He sat rock
ing himself sorrowfully over the ashes
He started when l put my hand on his
shoulder looked up, then, instead of giving
any signs of joy, dropped his head again.
You managed to avoid them, Castro?' 1
said.
Senior, behold. Here am. I, Castro"
He bowed till his forehead struck the
rock. Plunging his hands into the ashes,
he poured fistful with inarticulate low
cries over his gray hairs; and the agitation
of that obese little body on its knees had
lamentable and grotesque inconsequence as
inexpEcable in itself as the sorrow of a
mailman. Full of wonder before his abject
collapse / murmured:
What have you done?"
He tried to fling himself upon Seraphina's
feet, but my hand was in his collar, and
ff11 81 IL
by main force. He gulped, blinked the
whites of his eyes. then, in a whisper full of
rage:
Horror, shame. misery, and malediction;
have betrayed you."
AT once she said soOthingly: Tomas,
do not believe this
You told them we were here?' I asked,
so perfectly incredulous that l was not at
all surprised to hear him protest. by all the
saints, that he never did-never would do
Never. Never. - n
He had gone out to get a provision of
water. Waking up early, he saw us sleep
ing, and felt great pity for the senorita.
AS to the caballero-his savior from drown
ing, alas!-the senorita would need every
ounce of his strength. He would let us
sleep till his return from the spring; and
there being a blessed freshness in the air,
he caught up the flask and started bare
headed. The torrent, gushing with force
made loud noise, and after he had done
he was about to rise when, glancing about
carelessly, he saw two men leaning on their
escopetas and looking at him in perfect
silence They were standing right over
him; he knew them well; one they called
FL Rubio: the other, the little one.
Jose-sQuinting Jose. They said nothing;
nothing at all. With a sudden and mighty
effort he preserved his self-command, af-
fected unconcern, and, instead of getting
up, only shifted his pose to a sitting posi-
tion took off his shoes and stockings and
proceeded to battle his feet.
IJo not a W
come with what object or how much they
knew. They might have been only mes
sengers from Rio Medic to Havana. They
generally went In couples. If Manuel had
escaped alive out of the sea everything was
known In Rio Medic. The thoughts rushed
round and round his head. He remembered
that our boat must be floating or lying
stranded in the little bay, and resolved, in
case of necessity, to say that we two were
dead that we had been drowned.
1t was Ell Rubio who put the very ques-
ton to him In an insolent tone, and Sit
ting on the ground out of his reach, with
his gun across his knees. His long knife
ready in his hand, squirting Jose remain
ed standing over Castro. Those two men
nodded to each other significantly at the
intelligence. He perceived that they were
more than half disposed to credit his
story. They had nearly been drowned
themselves pursuing that accursed here
tic of an Englishman. When, from their
remarks, he learned that the schooner
was in the bay he began putting on his
shoes though the hope of making sud
den dash for his life down the ravine
abandoned him.
The schooner had been run in at night
during the gale, and in such distress that
they let her take the ground. She was
not injured, however and some of them
were preparing to haul her Off Our boat,
as I conceive, after humping along the
beach, had drifted within the influence of
the current created by the little river, or
else by the water forced into the basin
by the tempest, seeking to escape. and
had been carried out toward the inlet.
She was seen at daylight, knocking about
amongst the breakers, bottom up, and in
such shallow water that three or four
men wading out knee deep managed to
turn her over. They had found a wooden
shawl and my cap floating underneath
| That the boat had been in the bay at ali
| did not seem to have occurred to them. It
| had been concluded that she had capsized
| outside the entrance. Castro fastened to
confirm the idea by relating how he had
| been clinging to the bottom of the boat
| for long time Thus he had saved him
| self, he declared.
Manuel will be glad" observed Ell Rubio
then. with an evil laugh. And for long
| time nobody said a word.
1t Is clear that these ruffians stood in
| awe of his blade. In their cowardly hea rts
they did not think it quite safe (being only