The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1905-12-18
Synopsis of Preeeaina chanter

Sir Henry Moroan n, former pirate, having
purchased immunity and knighthood
from the king of England, has reformed
and has become vice governor of jana
lea. He is depose5 and, killing the Off
GERS sent to arrest him. determines to
become again a freebooter. Benjamin
Aoiingod, ex-pirate, who has been Bit
terIy wronged by Moroon, joins the for
tunes of the latter in order to seek IN op'
portunity to wreak vengeance on him.
Having recuited a crew of ex- pirates and
other esperadoes, Morgan seizes an
English frieate and murders her crew
Off for the Spanish coast in search OF
treasure. In a de sperate &C ion, wherein
are shcwn the daring and resoursefuI-
ness of Morgan and the courage of his
men, he defeats two Spanish friqates
and captures their convoy, treasure
galIeon carrying an abbess and priests
as passengers,
The consent of Donna Mercedes to
the betrothal had not been asked.
That was a detail which was not con
sidered necessary by parents in the
year of grace 1855, and especially not
by Spanish parents. That she should
object to the engagement or refuse to
carry out her fathers plan never
crossed the vicerOy'S imagination.
That she might love another was an
idea to which he never gave a
thought 1t was the business of a
we'll brought up Spanish maiden to be
a passive instrument in the carrying
out of her fathers views. especially in
things matrimonial, in which. indeed.
love found little room for entrance.
But Donna Mercedes loved Captain
Alvarado. and she cared nothing for
Don Felipe Not that Don Felipe was
disagreeable to her or to any one: he
was a Spanish gentleman in every
sense of the wOrd-handsOme. distn-
guished, proud and gallant-but she
did not, could not. love him. To com
plicate matters still further De Tobar
was Captain Alvarado's cherished COM
panion and most intimate friend.
The progress of the love affair be-
tween Alvarado and Donna Mercedes
had been subjective rather than OBJ
jective. They had enjoyed some un-
usual opportunities for meeting OH ac-
count Of the station the former filled
In the vicerOy's household and the
place he held in his heart, yet the op
portunities for extended freedom of in
tercOurse between young men and wo-
men Of the gentler class in those days,
and especially among Spaniards of
high rank, were extremely limited. The
old count took care to see that his
daughter was carefully watched and
shielded. not because he suspected her
Of anything for he did not, but be-
cause it was a habit of his people and
his ancestry. The busy life that he
led, the many emplOyments which
were thrust upon him, his military du-
ties, had kept the days of the young
soldier very full, and under the most
favorable circumstances he would have
had little time for lOvemaking.
But. though they had enjoyed brief
opportunity for personal intercourse,
the very impossibilities of free com
munication, the difficulties of meeting,
had but added fuel and fire to their
affection. Love had famed into these
their tropic blood and tropic land. AL
varado's passion could feed for days
and grow large upon the remembrance
of the fragrance of her hand when he
kissed it last in formal Salutation.
Mercedes soul could infold itself in
the recollection of the too ardent pres
sure of his lips. the burning yet re-
spectful glance he had shot at her. by
others unperceived, when he said fare
we'll The situation was complicated
in every possible way for Alyarado.
Had he been a man of family, like his
friend, De Tobar, he would have gone
boldly to the viceroy and asked for
the hand of his daughter. in which case
he thought he would have met with no
refusal; but, being ignorant of his
birth, having not even legal right to
the name he bore he knew that the
proud old hidalgo would rather see his
daughter dead than welded to him.
OF all the ancient splendors of the
Spanish people there was left them
but one thing of which they could be
proud-their ancient name. De Lara.
who belonged to one of the noblest and
most distinguished families of the Ibe-
rian peninsula, would never consent to
degrade his line by allying his only
daughter to nobody, however worthy
in other respects the sutton might
prove to be.
Again, had Mercedes father been
any other than the lifelong patron and
friend to whom he literally owed ev-
erything that he possessed, such was
the impetuosity Of AlvaradO's DISPOSE
ton that at every hazard he would
have taken the girl by stealth or force
from her fathers protection, made her
his wife and sought an asylum In Eng
land or France or wherever he could.
So desperate was his state Of mind. 60
overwhelming his love, that he would
have shrunk from nothing to win her.