The Cruise of the Thetis: A Tale of the Cuban Insurrection Page 8

  CHAPTER EIGHT.

  SENOR ALVAROS GETS TO WORK.

  For fully a quarter of an hour after the departure of Alvaros, DonHermoso sat plunged in a deep and somewhat anxious reverie. He scarcelyknew whether he was more pleased or annoyed at what had just happened:for, on the one hand, he was at last rid of a distinctly uncongenialacquaintance, which had been almost thrust upon him in the firstinstance, and which had proved ever more uncongenial and unwelcome withthe lapse of time; while, on the other hand, he fully recognised that hehad made for himself a vindictive and implacable enemy who, although notvery formidable or dangerous just then, might at any moment become so.For although Senor Montijo was one of the most important and influentialpersons in the island, he was a Cuban; and, as such, he was well awarethat, thanks to the corruption which was then rampant among the Spanishofficials of the Government, there could be no hope of justice for himif he were brought into collision with any of these officials, of whom,of course, Alvaros was one. The word of a Cuban, however important hisposition might be, was of absolutely no weight whatever; and Don Hermosowas fully aware that it would be no very difficult matter for Alvaros toabsolutely ruin him if he chose. Yet even ruin would be preferable toseeing his beloved daughter the wife and slave of such a man as Alvaroshad proved himself to be; and, for the rest, should it come to be war tothe knife between them--well, he must take his chance with the rest ofthe Cubans, and trust to the coming revolution to enable him to hold hisown.

  His reverie was interrupted by the arrival of Milsom, who, having takenthe _Thetis_ into Havana harbour and snugly berthed her there, andfurther made every possible provision for her safety, had turned herover to the capable care of Perkins, her chief mate, and had now come onby train as far as Pinar del Rio, and from thence by Don Hermoso'scarriage, to pay his promised visit to the hacienda Montijo. He wasfull of glee at the unconcealed uneasiness with which the Spanishofficials regarded the presence of the yacht in the harbour; and theirevident belief that, despite the strict search of the vessel by thecommander and lieutenant of the _Tiburon_, she carried, hidden away insome cleverly-contrived place of concealment, the contraband of whichthey had been informed by their spies on the other side of the Atlantic.

  "They have put on board us no less than four custom-house officers--empleados de la aduana, as they call them--to see that nothing issurreptitiously landed from the ship," he exclaimed with boisterousenjoyment; "and four boats now guard around us every night! Oh, theyare a great people, these Spaniards!"

  Then he went on to relate how, a few hours after his arrival, a boat hadcome alongside from the _Tiburon_, which was also lying in the harbour,bearing a challenge for him from Lieutenant Silvio Fernandez, herlieutenant, who demanded satisfaction from him for his insultingbehaviour on the occasion of the yacht being stopped by the gunboat; andhow he had accepted the challenge to fight and, being the challengedparty, had chosen fists as the weapons wherewith the duel was to befought: and he made merry over the lieutenant's indignation when he haddeclined to accept swords or pistols as a substitute for fists. "Ofcourse," he concluded, "the fight did not come off, although I remainedin Havana forty-eight hours longer than I originally intended, in orderto give Senor Fernandez every chance."

  During dinner, that night, Don Hermoso related to his family and gueststhe particulars of the interview that had occurred between him andAlvaros in the afternoon; and if he had, even for a moment, entertainedthe slightest doubt as to the wisdom of the step which he had taken indeclining Alvaros' proposal and dismissing him from the house, it wasfinally dissipated when Senorita Isolda expressed in quite unmistakableterms her relief and gratification.

  The next few days sped very pleasantly, for the young people, at anyrate, who passed their time in shooting, or in taking long rides aboutthe surrounding country; and Senorita Isolda frequently found herselfcontrasting the genial, hearty friendliness and chivalrous courtesy ofher brother's English friends with the stiff, haughty, overbearingmanner and overweening conceit of the Spanish officers, who seemed tothink that such attentions as they chose to pay her ought to be regardedas a vast condescension on their part.

  It was about a week after the dismissal of Alvaros by Don Hermoso that,at the end of a long and fatiguing day's shooting, ending up with a verypleasant musical evening, the party in the casa Montijo retired,somewhat late, to their several rooms; and Jack Singleton, weary withmuch tramping under the scorching sun, lost no time in disrobing andflinging himself, with his pyjama suit as his only covering, upon hisbed, where he almost instantly sank into a sound and dreamless sleep.He had probably been asleep for at least three hours, although it seemedto him only as many minutes, when he suddenly started broad awake, withthe disagreeable feeling that he was no longer alone, or rather, to putit more exactly, that someone had that instant stealthily entered hisroom by way of the window, which, as is customary in Cuba, had been leftwide open for the admission of every possible breath of air.

  For a moment he lay perfectly still, listening intently, and peering thewhile into the darkness which encompassed him. All was perfectly still,however, save for the faint rustle in the night breeze of the mosquitocurtains which surrounded his bed, and the musical tinkling of thewaters of the fountain outside; while the darkness was so intense thatit was only with the utmost difficulty he could dimly discern theopening of the window, which, it will be remembered, looked out upon apatio, or kind of courtyard. Suddenly the room was faintly illuminedfor a moment by a flicker of summer lightning, and Jack felt almostpositive that during that fraction of a second he caught a glimpse ofsomething by the open window which had certainly not been there when heretired for the night--something which suggested a crouching humanfigure. Stretching out his hand, Jack cautiously and noiselessly partedthe mosquito curtains, with the object of getting a clear view when thenext flash should come, as come he knew it would. And come it did, aminute or two later, disclosing to the young man's astonished gaze aform on hands and knees, about halfway between the window and the bed.As before, the glimmer of the lightning was but momentary, but, brief asit was, it sufficed Jack to see that the individual, whoever he mightbe, held a long, murderous-looking knife in his right hand; and theinference was obvious that he was there for no good purpose. Jack hadlearned, among other things, to act promptly and with decision, and nosooner was he again in darkness than, with a single bound, he was on hisfeet on the floor, where he instantly came into violent collision withthe stranger, who was at that precise moment in the very act of risingfrom his knees. Brief as had been the flicker of the lightning, it hadenabled Jack to measure his distance and to note the exact spot occupiedby the unknown: the moment, therefore, that he came into contact withthe intruder his left hand fell unerringly upon the right wrist of theother, which he seized in so vice-like a grip that the arm becameimmovable; while with his right he grasped the man by the throat andthrust him violently backward, at the same instant twining his right leground the legs of his antagonist, with the result that both crashed tothe ground, Jack being uppermost. His antagonist was an immenselypowerful man, lithe and sinewy as a leopard, and he struggled furiouslyto free himself, hitting out savagely with his free left hand andlanding one or two very nasty blows on Jack's face; until the latter,with one knee on his prostrate foe's chest, managed to get the otherupon his left forearm and thus pin it to the ground. Meanwhile Jack'sgrip upon the throat of the man was by no means to be shaken off, andthe struggles of the stranger were rapidly growing weaker as the breathwas remorselessly choked out of him, when Milsom and Carlos, both ofwhom had been awaked by the commotion, dashed into the room, bearinglights, and loudly demanding to know what was the matter.

  "I'll be shot if I know," answered Jack; "but I daresay this chap cantell us. He got in through the window; and as the lightning showed himto be a stranger, and I also noticed that he carried a ratherformidable-looking knife, it occurred to me that it might be wise tomake a prisoner of him, and get him to tell us who he is, and what hewants. Now,
friend, I will trouble you for that knife." The mansurrendered the weapon with a sullen scowl. "Thanks!" said Jack. "Nowyou may stand up."

  The man rose to his feet, revealing to the gaze of the three friends atall and sinewy form, attired in the picturesquely-tattered garb of amuleteer, or wagoner. The fellow was a low-class Spaniard, ofsingularly vicious and disreputable appearance; and as he glaredvindictively at his captor he looked capable of anything, murderincluded. For a moment he appeared inclined to make a desperate bid forliberty; but as Jack had slipped between him and the open window, whileMilsom, with a cocked revolver in his hand, stood with his back againstthe closed door of the apartment, he thought better of it, and simplyenquired:

  "Well, what are you going to do with me?"

  "That will depend, to some extent, upon the answers which you may seefit to give to our questions," answered Carlos. "First of all, who areyou; and what errand brought you here?"

  "My name, Senor Montijo, is Panza--Antonio Panza; my present occupationis that of a carrier of goods; and I suppose I may as well confess atonce that my business here was to murder the English senor, yourfriend."

  "To murder me?" repeated Jack. "And why, pray? What harm have I everdone you, that you should desire to murder me?"

  "None whatever, Senor," answered the man. "But it would appear that youhave harmed somebody else, or I should not have been hired to slit yourthroat."

  "So," exclaimed Carlos, "that is the explanation, is it? I suspected asmuch! And pray who is the coward who hired you to do his dirty work forhim?"

  "Ah, pardon, Senor; that is just what I may not tell you!" answeredPanza. "I was paid handsomely to undertake this piece of work; and itwas part of the bargain that, should I fail, I was to keep my employer'ssecret."

  "Is it permissible to ask how much you were paid?" demanded Jack.

  "Certainly, Senor," answered the fellow. "I was paid fifty doubloons tokill you, if I could, and to hold my tongue about it."

  "Fifty doubloons--a trifle over fifty pounds sterling!" exclaimed Jack,in comic disgust. "Is that all that my life is worth to your employer?"

  "He told me that it was the utmost he could afford to give, Senor; andit was quite enough to tempt me. Why, were I to work all my life at mytrade as a carrier, I could never hope to save fifty doubloons, nay, northe fourth part of that sum. It is not so very long ago that I riskedmy life constantly as a contrabandista, for a profit of one-fifth ofthat amount."

  "Well, Antonio," said Carlos, "according to your own showing you have avery elastic conscience, which you appear to have made pretty completelysubservient to your own interests. Now, I suppose you know what willhappen to you if we hand you over to the authorities?"

  "Yes, Senor," answered the ruffian. "I shall probably be sentenced tosix months' imprisonment with hard labour; which sentence will becommuted to one month, if I behave myself, as I shall, of course."

  "Six months' hard labour?" exclaimed Carlos incredulously. "You arestrangely mistaken, friend. You are far more likely to get ten years'penal servitude in Africa. Attempted murder is a crime that is usuallypunished very severely."

  "Usually--yes," assented the prisoner. "But that is when one attemptsto murder a Spaniard. This muchacho, however, is English; and nobody inCuba is just now likely to trouble himself very much over the attemptedmurder of an Englishman. Besides, I have received a definite promisethat, if caught, I shall be very leniently treated."

  "Oh, you have, have you?" exclaimed Carlos, in a tone that seemed toindicate that he was beginning to see daylight. "That seems to point tothe fact that your employer is a man possessing a considerable amount ofinfluence with the authorities. But I fancy he must have entirelyforgotten the British Consul at Havana. Does he, or do you, imagine fora moment that that gentleman will permit any tampering with justicewhere one of his countrymen is concerned? Make no mistake about that,my friend! So surely as you are brought to trial, so surely may yourely upon receiving the maximum amount of punishment for your crime."

  "Santa Maria!" gasped Panza. "I had forgotten that."

  "I suspected as much," answered Carlos. "Now, if Senor Singleton hereshould chance to be disposed to be merciful, to the extent of permittingyou to go free, would you be willing in return to swear upon thatcrucifix which I see you wear round your neck that you will make nofurther attempt upon his life; and also to disclose the name of youremployer?"

  "That would be no good, Senor," said Panza. "My employer warned methat, should I attempt to betray him, he would simply deny every word Imight say; and who would take the word of a suspected contrabandistaagainst that of a--well, a Spaniard of high position? It is true thatthe judge might shrewdly suspect that there was a considerable amount oftruth in my story; but he would be very careful to conceal any suchsuspicion, I assure you."

  "It thus appears that your employer has taken the utmost care to shieldhimself behind you, and leave you to bear the brunt of whatever maybefall," exclaimed Carlos. "But you have not replied to my questionyet. I asked you whether, in the event of Senor Singleton permittingyou to go free and unpunished, you would swear never again to lift yourhand against him; and also to disclose the name of your employer. As amatter of fact, I know it already; but it would of course be moresatisfactory to have an explicit statement from you."

  "If you know the man, as you say, Senor, you will also know that it willnot be of the slightest use to charge him with complicity in this,"answered Panza.

  "Possibly not," agreed Carlos. "Yet it would enable us to give SenorAlvaros a hint that his machinations are known, and that henceforth weshall be on our guard against them."

  "Very well, Senor," agreed the would-be assassin. "You have named theman who employed me; it is therefore evident that you know a great dealmore about this affair--whatever it may be--than he suspects, so it isuseless for me to attempt to keep the secret from you. Senor Alvaros isindeed the man who employed me; but I am not going to be such a fool asto go back and tell him that I have failed. I insisted upon receivingpayment in advance, and there is therefore no need for me to see himagain; I shall consequently leave Pinar del Rio, and resume my formeroccupation of contrabandista. With Senor Alvaros' fifty doubloons I cansee my way to earn a very comfortable living as a smuggler; and if you,Senor, should at any time require my services in that capacity--or anyother, for that matter--I shall be pleased to do my utmost to afford youcomplete satisfaction."

  "Very well, I will remember," said Carlos, laughing heartily at theman's cool impudence. "But you have not yet taken the oath, you know,and you must do that before we can release you."

  Without a word of objection the Spaniard took the small bronze crucifixin his hand, bowed his head reverently as he pressed it to his lips, andthen, holding it aloft before him, exclaimed:

  "I swear upon this emblem of our redemption, and by all my hopes ofsalvation, that I will never again attempt to take the life of the youngEnglishman, if he will be so generous as to allow me to go free andunpunished for what I have already done."

  "Right, that will do! You are free to go, now, as soon as you please.Open the door, Milsom, and let him pass," said Jack.

  "Mil gracias y buenas noches, Senor," exclaimed Panza as he strodetoward the door. "One word before I go, caballeros; beware of SenorAlvaros, for he bears no love for either of you."

  And he passed into the night and the darkness.

  "Well," exclaimed Milsom, "I have met with some queer folk in my time,but that chap breaks the record for cool impudence! Spanish is not mystrong point, but, if I understood him aright, after calmlyacknowledging that he had been hired to murder our friend Jack, here, hewith equal calmness informs you that if you should at any time want asimilar job done, he will be pleased to undertake it, and will do hisbest to afford you complete satisfaction! `Murders of the mostbarbarous description undertaken, and executed with promptitude anddispatch', eh? By Jove, this is an interesting country!"

  Carlos laughed rather bitterly
. "Yes, it is, isn't it?" he responded."And it has come to this under Spanish rule. That fellow knew perfectlywell that, in accepting Alvaros' commission, he was incurring absolutelyno risks whatever, beyond such small personal danger as was involved inhis attack upon a sleeping man, and that is not much, as a rule. Butthe incident goes to show what a vindictive and unscrupulous scoundrelthat fellow Alvaros is. I must tell the Padre about it to-morrow, forit is evident that the man means mischief, and we must all be on ourguard. The worst of it is that we can take no overt steps in thematter; for, as our friend Panza hinted, if we were to go to theauthorities with a statement of what has occurred, and lodge a complaintagainst Alvaros, we should only be laughed at. The Spanish Governmentprotects its own people pretty effectually; but Cubans and foreignershave to take care of themselves as best they can."

  "Nevertheless," said Milsom, "I should advise Jack to put the matterinto the hands of our Consul at Havana, who is not at all the sort offellow to stand any nonsense. He would doubtless communicate promptlywith the Capitan-General, informing him of what has happened, and givinghim very clearly to understand that he will be held responsible if,after receiving such information, anything is allowed to happen toJack."

  "Yes," assented Carlos, "that might be a good plan, perhaps. But Iwould suggest that you decide upon nothing until we have had a talk withthe Padre to-morrow. Let us hear, first, what he thinks of the affair.Meanwhile, Jack, I think you need not apprehend any further molestationto-night, and certainly none from Panza; after swearing that oath hewill not again raise his hand against you. But, to make assurancedoubly sure, I will rouse Pedro and instruct him to mount guard underthe veranda for the remainder of the night, and to turn loose the twobloodhounds. Then woe betide any stranger who attempts to approach thehouse!"

  On the following morning, after first breakfast, Carlos and Jackfollowed Don Hermoso into his office, where the former informed hisfather of the incident of the preceding night, and of Milsom'ssuggestion that the matter should be placed in the hands of the EnglishConsul, to be dealt with as that official might deem fit. Don Hermosowas of course, as might be expected, most indignant at the outrage, andwas at first very strongly disposed to make a personal matter of it bylodging a formal complaint with the Capitan-General against Alvaros; butafter listening to all that his son and Jack had to say he finallyallowed himself to be dissuaded from taking so decisive a step,especially as he fully shared their doubts as to its effectiveness: buthe cordially approved of Milsom's suggestion that the affair should belaid before the English Consul, and the final result of the talk wasthat Jack and Carlos forthwith rode into Pinar del Rio, and from thencetook train to Havana, where they arrived rather late in the afternoon,yet still early enough to catch the Consul ere he left his office forthe day. This official gave the two young men a cordial welcome, andlistened to Jack's story with the utmost attention, his mouth settingever more firmly and the frown upon his brow lowering ever more darklyas the story proceeded. When at length it was finished he said:

  "I have heard of this man Alvaros before, but never any good of him.Yet I believe he stands well with the Capitan-General. But of course Ishall not allow that to influence me; one of my duties here is toprotect British subjects, and I intend to do it. It is ratherunfortunate, Mr Singleton, that you should have chosen this particularperiod for your visit to Cuba, for I may tell you--if you don't happento know it already--that foreigners of all kinds, and particularlyAmericans and English, are looked upon with scant favour by theSpaniards just now, as the latter suspect them of favouring theaspirations of the Cubans toward independence. And that reminds me thatthe Spaniards somehow got hold of the notion that you were bringing outa cargo of contraband of war for the Cuban insurgents. I suppose thereis no truth in that story, is there?"

  Jack had been expecting some such question as this, sooner or later, andwas fully prepared for it. He had made up his mind that to tell theConsul the whole truth of the matter would only be to place thatofficial in an extremely embarrassing position, so he answered, with alaugh:

  "They took good care to test the truth of the story for themselves bysending out a torpedo boat to accompany us from Key West and see that wedid not land anything of the kind. But something went wrong with her--she apparently broke down--and we left her. But, to make assurancedoubly sure, they also sent out a gunboat which--quite unlawfully, in myopinion--stopped us on the high seas, and informed us that we were allprisoners." Then Jack went on to relate in full detail all theoccurrences of that afternoon--how Milsom had refused to surrender theyacht, and had threatened to sink the gunboat if force were attempted,and how he, Jack, had subsequently insisted upon the yacht beingsearched, and how nothing had been found, to the intense disappointmentand chagrin of the Spanish officers, from whom he had exacted an ampleapology.

  The Consul's brow cleared, and he laughed heartily as Jack described ingraphic language the entire incident, from beginning to end; and whenthe story was ended he was pleased to express a somewhat qualifiedapproval of the Englishmen's behaviour.

  "As a matter of fact," he said, "the whole affair was in the highestdegree irregular. On the one hand, the Spaniards had no business tostop you on the high seas, whatever their suspicions may have been; andin so doing they exceeded their rights and laid themselves open to therebuff which you gave them. On the other hand, although I do not blameyou altogether for your somewhat high-handed action in offeringresistance to their attempted seizure of your vessel, it would have beenmore politic on your part to have submitted, and then placed the wholeaffair in my hands. I would have seen to it that no harm befell you;and I would also have exacted from the Government an ample apology andadequate compensation for the outrage. However, that is all past anddone with; but I have no doubt you will be quite able to follow me whenI point out to you that such an incident is, in itself, quite sufficientto render you a somewhat unpopular personage with the Spanish officials,and to cause them to regard with scarcely veiled disapproval your avowedintention to prolong your visit to the island. I tell you candidly thatyou must be quite prepared to have your stay in Cuba rendered asunpleasant as it can possibly be made; and I ought to advise you to makethat stay as brief as possible. But if you choose to remain I will domy utmost to protect you; and I can guarantee you freedom from officialinterference so long as you abstain from meddling with politics. But ofcourse I cannot insure you against private malignity, such as that ofthis fellow Alvaros; the utmost that I can promise is that, shouldanything untoward happen to you, I will exact ample reparation. I shallmake it my business to call upon the Capitan-General to-morrow, and willnot only lay the whole case before him, but will also insist upon histaking some steps to mark his disapproval of Captain Alvaros' peculiarmethods of venting his personal spite. And now, since you cannotpossibly get back to Senor Montijo's place to-night, I think perhaps youcannot do better than come home with me; I can put you both up quiteeasily."

  Thus it was accordingly arranged; and after dinner their genial hosttook the two young men out and showed them something of the town ofHavana, which was very interesting to Jack, although less so to Carlos,who was of course tolerably familiar with the place. They also took theopportunity to pay a flying visit to the _Thetis_, which they foundmoored just off the custom-house, still with four customs officers onboard; but the other precaution mentioned by Milsom had been relaxed,for it was gradually being borne in upon the minds of the Spanishofficials that there was nothing about the ship, or about the behaviourof her people, to justify their suspicions. Everything was found quiteright on board her: Perkins took care to keep everybody on the alert, astrict anchor watch was maintained every night, to guard against anypossible attempt to maliciously damage the ship; and it appeared that,before leaving her, Milsom had taken care to have the bunkers filled totheir utmost capacity, while Macintyre, the chief engineer, after havinghad the boilers thoroughly cleaned, had caused them to be filled withfresh water in readiness to get up steam at a moment's notic
e.

  On the following morning the Consul called upon the Capitan-General,taking the two lads with him, and lodged a formal, but none the lessvigorous, complaint respecting the outrage which had been offered to aBritish subject--Jack, to wit--by one of his officers. The Capitan-General, who was a fine, stately, white-haired man, listened with themost courteous attention to what the two Englishmen had to say, andthen, with equal courtesy, proceeded to pooh-pooh the whole story,insisting upon the exceeding unlikelihood of any officer of CaptainAlvaros' standing in the Spanish service stooping to so degrading andcowardly a step as that of hiring an assassin to "remove" an almosttotal stranger from his path. He dwelt very strongly upon the sterlingworth of Senor Alvaros' character, and the very high esteem in whichthat gentleman was held by all who enjoyed the privilege of hisacquaintance; and mildly reproached the Englishmen for being socredulous as to believe the unsupported story of such an unmitigatedruffian as Panza had appeared to be. The fact that the character of aSpanish officer and gentleman could be so easily smirched was dwelt uponby him at some length, but more in sorrow than in anger; and he did notomit to draw the especial attention of his visitors to the importantfact that, even according to their own showing, there was no sufficientmotive to induce Senor Alvaros to engage in such a very reprehensibleundertaking.

  It was intensely amusing to Jack, and scarcely less so to Carlos, toobserve the sympathetic courtesy with which the English Consul listenedto all this rigmarole, which, from his manner, one might have believedto have been absolutely convincing--until he remarked, in turn:

  "Well, my dear General, after all has been said, one fact remains; whichis, that Senor Singleton's life has been attempted by a man whom henever saw before, and who could therefore have had no personal animusagainst him. The obvious inference therefore is that he was hired bysomeone to make the attempt; and he asserts that the man who hired himwas Senor Alvaros. Therefore, notwithstanding all that you have said,if anything further of an untoward nature should happen to SenorSingleton, I warn you that very grave suspicion will attach to SenorAlvaros, and I shall be compelled to insist upon the most stringentenquiry being made into the matter. I would therefore suggest--if youwill pardon me for taking so great a liberty--that Senor Alvaros shouldbe made aware of all the circumstances of the case; and that a hintshould be given him of the extreme necessity for the utmostcircumspection on his part. And now, General, I must offer you my mostsincere apologies for having occupied so much of your valuable time, andtender you my warmest thanks for the great patience and courtesy withwhich you have listened to what I have had to say. Good-morning!"