heaven-!
It was an impious wish, but I could not control it.
"What have I got between my lips? A slip of paper! Why was it placed there, and not in my bosom or my button-hole? Ha! there is more providence in the manner of the act than at first thought appears. How could I have taken it from either the one or the other, bound as I am? Moreover it may contain what would destroy the writer, if known to-. Cunning thought-for one so young and innocent, too-but love-."
I pressed the paper against the tapojo, covering it with my lips, so as to conceal it in case the blind should be removed.
"Halted again?"
"It is the ruin, Captain-the old convent of Santa Bernardina."
"But why do they halt here?"
"Likely to noon and breakfast-that on the ridge was only theirdesayuna . The Mexicans of thetierra caliente never travel during mid-day. They will doubtless rest here until the cool of the evening."
"I trust they will extend the same favour to us," said Clayley: "God knows we stand in need of rest. I'd give them three months' pay for an hour upon the treadmill, only to stretch my limbs."
"They will take us down, I think-not on our account, but to ease the mules. Poor brutes! they are no parties to this transaction."
Raoul's conjecture proved correct. We were taken out of our saddles, and, being carefully bound as before, we were hauled into a damp room, and flung down upon the floor. Our captors went out. A heavy door closed after them, and we could hear the regular footfall of a sentry on the stone pavement without. For the first time since our capture we were left alone. This my comrades tested by rolling themselves all over the floor of our prison to see if anyone was present with us. It was but a scant addition to our liberty; but we could converse freely, and that was something.
* * *
Mine were anything but agreeable. I was pained and puzzled. I was pained to think thatshe -dearer to me than life-was thus exposed to the dangers that surrounded us. It was her sister that had occupied the other hammock.
"Are they alone? Are they prisoners in the hands of these half-robbers? May not their hospitality to us have brought them under proscription? And are they not being carried-father, mother, and all-before some tribunal? Or are they travelling for protection with this band- protection against the less scrupulous robbers that infest the country?"
It was not uncommon upon the Rio Grande, when rich families journeyed from point to point, to pay for an escort of this sort. This may elucidate-.
"But I tell yez I did hear a crack; and, be my sowl! it was the sargint's rifle, or I've lost me sinses intirely."
"What is it?" I asked, attracted to the conversation of my comrades.
"Chane says he heard a shot, and thinks it was Lincoln's," answered Clayley.
"His gun has a quare sound, Captain," said the Irishman, appealing to me. "It's diffirint intirely from a Mexican piece, and not like our own nayther. It's a way he has in loadin' it."
"Well-what of that?"
"Why, Raowl says one of them axed him who fired. Now, I heerd a shot, for my ear was close till the door here. It was beyant like; but I cud swear upon the blissed crass it was ayther the sargint's rifle or another as like it as two pays."
"It is very strange!" I muttered, half in soliloquy, for the same thought had occurred to myself.
"I saw the boy, Captain," said Raoul; "I saw him crossing when they opened the door."
"The boy!-what boy?" I asked.
"The same we brought out of the town."
"Ha! Narcisso!-you saw him?"
"Yes; and, if I'm not mistaken, the white mule that the old gentleman rode to camp. I think that the family is with the guerilla, and that accounts for our being still alive."
A new light flashed upon me. In the incidents of the last twenty hours I had never once thought of Narcisso. Now all was clear-clear as daylight. The zambo whom Lincoln had killed-poor victim!-was our friend, sent to warn us of danger; the dagger, Narcisso's-a token for us to trust him.
It was an impious wish, but I could not control it.
"What have I got between my lips? A slip of paper! Why was it placed there, and not in my bosom or my button-hole? Ha! there is more providence in the manner of the act than at first thought appears. How could I have taken it from either the one or the other, bound as I am? Moreover it may contain what would destroy the writer, if known to-. Cunning thought-for one so young and innocent, too-but love-."
I pressed the paper against the tapojo, covering it with my lips, so as to conceal it in case the blind should be removed.
"Halted again?"
"It is the ruin, Captain-the old convent of Santa Bernardina."
"But why do they halt here?"
"Likely to noon and breakfast-that on the ridge was only theirdesayuna . The Mexicans of thetierra caliente never travel during mid-day. They will doubtless rest here until the cool of the evening."
"I trust they will extend the same favour to us," said Clayley: "God knows we stand in need of rest. I'd give them three months' pay for an hour upon the treadmill, only to stretch my limbs."
"They will take us down, I think-not on our account, but to ease the mules. Poor brutes! they are no parties to this transaction."
Raoul's conjecture proved correct. We were taken out of our saddles, and, being carefully bound as before, we were hauled into a damp room, and flung down upon the floor. Our captors went out. A heavy door closed after them, and we could hear the regular footfall of a sentry on the stone pavement without. For the first time since our capture we were left alone. This my comrades tested by rolling themselves all over the floor of our prison to see if anyone was present with us. It was but a scant addition to our liberty; but we could converse freely, and that was something.
* * *
Mine were anything but agreeable. I was pained and puzzled. I was pained to think thatshe -dearer to me than life-was thus exposed to the dangers that surrounded us. It was her sister that had occupied the other hammock.
"Are they alone? Are they prisoners in the hands of these half-robbers? May not their hospitality to us have brought them under proscription? And are they not being carried-father, mother, and all-before some tribunal? Or are they travelling for protection with this band- protection against the less scrupulous robbers that infest the country?"
It was not uncommon upon the Rio Grande, when rich families journeyed from point to point, to pay for an escort of this sort. This may elucidate-.
"But I tell yez I did hear a crack; and, be my sowl! it was the sargint's rifle, or I've lost me sinses intirely."
"What is it?" I asked, attracted to the conversation of my comrades.
"Chane says he heard a shot, and thinks it was Lincoln's," answered Clayley.
"His gun has a quare sound, Captain," said the Irishman, appealing to me. "It's diffirint intirely from a Mexican piece, and not like our own nayther. It's a way he has in loadin' it."
"Well-what of that?"
"Why, Raowl says one of them axed him who fired. Now, I heerd a shot, for my ear was close till the door here. It was beyant like; but I cud swear upon the blissed crass it was ayther the sargint's rifle or another as like it as two pays."
"It is very strange!" I muttered, half in soliloquy, for the same thought had occurred to myself.
"I saw the boy, Captain," said Raoul; "I saw him crossing when they opened the door."
"The boy!-what boy?" I asked.
"The same we brought out of the town."
"Ha! Narcisso!-you saw him?"
"Yes; and, if I'm not mistaken, the white mule that the old gentleman rode to camp. I think that the family is with the guerilla, and that accounts for our being still alive."
A new light flashed upon me. In the incidents of the last twenty hours I had never once thought of Narcisso. Now all was clear-clear as daylight. The zambo whom Lincoln had killed-poor victim!-was our friend, sent to warn us of danger; the dagger, Narcisso's-a token for us to trust him.
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