Home > Authors Index > Charles Neville Buck > Lighted Match > This page
The Lighted Match, a novel by Charles Neville Buck |
||
Chapter 13. Concerning Farewells And Warnings |
||
| < Previous |
Table of content |
Next > |
|
________________________________________________
_ CHAPTER XIII. CONCERNING FAREWELLS AND WARNINGS "To-morrow!" repeated the girl with a shudder. Both stood silent under such a strain as cannot be long sustained. At the crunch of branch underfoot and the returning Blanco's, "_Senor! Senor!_" both started violently. "Look, _Senor_," exclaimed the Spaniard. "The King has entered the fortress." Then, seeing that the eyes of both man and girl turned at his words from an intent gaze, not on the town but the opposite hills, he added, half-apologetic: "I shall go, _Senor_, and look to my prisoner. If you need me, I shall be there." With the same stricken misery in her eyes that they had worn as she passed in her carriage, Cara remained motionless and silent. The bottom of the valley grew cloudy with shadow. The sun was kissing into rosy pink the snow caps of the western ridge. A cavalcade of horsemen emerged at last from _do Freres_ and started at a smart trot for the Palace. Cara pointed downward with one tremulous finger. Benton nodded. "Safe," he said, but without enthusiasm. "I must go." Cara started down the path and the man walked beside her as far as the battered gate which hung awry from its broken columns. Over it now clambered masses of vine richly purple with bougonvillea. She broke off a branch and handed it to him. "Purple," she said again, "is the color of mourning and royalty." Blanco noted the coming of evening and realized that it would be well to reach the level of the city before dark. He knew that if Lapas was to be turned over to Karyl's authorities, steps to that end should be taken before he was discovered and released by those of his own faction. He accordingly made his way back to the gate. Benton was still standing, looking down the alley-way which ran between the half ruined lines of masonry. His shoulders unconsciously sagged. The Spaniard approached quietly and stood for a moment unwilling to interrupt, then in a low voice touched with that affectionate note which men are not ashamed to show even to other men in the Latin countries, he said: "_Senor_ Benton!" The American turned and put out his hand, grasping that of the _toreador_. His grip said what his lips left unworded. "_Dios mio!_" exclaimed Blanco with a black scowl. "We saved the King, but we bought his life and his throne too high! He cost too dear!" "Blanco," Benton spoke with difficulty, "I have brought you with me and you have asked no questions. The story is not mine to tell." The Andalusian raised a hand in protestation. "It is not necessary that you tell me anything, _Senor_. I have seen enough. And I know the King was not worth the price." Benton shook his head. "Are you going on with me, now that you know what you know?" "_Senor_, it grieves me that you should ask. I told you I was at your disposition." The Spaniard went on talking rapidly, talking with lips and eyes and gesture. "When you came to Cadiz and took me with you on the small steamer, I did not ask why. I thought it was as Americans are interested in all things--or perhaps because the many million _pesetas_ of the _Senor's_ fortune might be affected by changing the map of Europe. No matter. You were interested. It was enough." He swept both hands apart. "But had I known then what to-day has taught me, I should have held my tongue that evening when the Pretender plotted in the cafe." "To-morrow," said Benton slowly, "there will be festivity. I can't be here then. I must leave to-night--but you, _amigo mio_, you must stay and watch. If Lapas is taken prisoner and silenced there will be no one in Puntal who will suspect you. No one knew me and if I leave at once, the Countess will hardly learn who was the mysterious man to whom she gave a ring." "But, _Senor_,"--Blanco was dubious--"would it not be better that I should be with you?" "You can serve me better by remaining here. I would rather have you near Her." The man from Cadiz nodded and crossed himself. "I am pledged, _Senor_," he asserted. "Then," continued the American, "for a time we must separate. The _Isis_ will sail to-night." The men walked together to the terminal station of the small ratchet railway. When they parted the Spaniard and the yachtsman had arranged a telegraph code which might be used by the small but complete wireless equipment of the _Isis_. An hour later the launch from the yacht took him aboard at the ancient stone jetty, where the fruit-venders and wine-sellers shouted their jargon, and the seaweed clung to the landing stage. * * * * * When Karyl had returned to the Palace after the inspection of the Fortress _do Freres_, he had sent word at once to that part of the Palace where Cara had her suite. She was accompanied by her aunt, the Duchess of Apsberg, and her English cousin, Lilian Carrowes, who also knew something of the life in America with the Bristows. The King craved an interview. He had not seen her since morning and his request conveyed the desolation occasioned by the long interval of empty time. The girl, who in the more informal phases had consistently defied the Court etiquette, sent an affirmative reply, and Karyl, still in uniform and dust-stained, came at once to the rooms where she was to receive him. There was much to talk of, and the King came forward eagerly, but the girl halted his protestations and rapidly sketched for him the summary of all she had learned that afternoon. With growing astonishment Karyl listened, then slowly his brows came together in a frown. It was distasteful to him beyond expression to feel that he owed his life and throne to Benton, but of that he said nothing. Lapas had been, in the days of his childhood, his playmate. He had been the recipient of every possible favor, and Karyl, himself ingenuous and loyal to his friends, felt with double bitterness that not only had his enemy saved him, but, too, his friend had betrayed him. Then came a hurried message from Von Ritz, who begged to see the King at once. The soldier must have been only a step behind his messenger, for hardly had his admittance been ordered when he appeared. The officer looked from the King to the Princess, and his eyes telegraphed a request for a moment of private audience. "You may as well speak here," said Karyl dryly. "Her Highness knows what you are about to say." "Lieutenant Lapas," began Von Ritz imperturbably, "has not been seen at the Palace to-day. His duties required his presence this evening. He was to be near Your Majesty at the coronation to-morrow." "Where is he?" demanded the King. "That is what I should like to know," replied Von Ritz. "I learn that last night the Count Borttorff was in Puntal and that Lapas was with him. To-day the Countess Astaride left Puntal, greatly agitated. I am informed that from her window she watched _do Freres_ with glasses during Your Majesty's visit there, and that when you left she swooned. Within ten minutes she was on her way to the quay and boarded the out-going steamer for Villefranche. These things may spell grave danger." So rarely had Karyl been able to anticipate Von Ritz in even the smallest matter that now, despite his own chagrin, he could not repress a cynical smile as he inquired: "What do you make of it?" Von Ritz shook his head. "I shall report to Your Majesty within an hour," he responded. "That is not necessary," Karyl spoke coolly. "You will, I am informed, find Lieutenant Lapas bound to a telescope at the Rock. You will find the explosives at _do Freres_ connected with a percussion cap which was to have been touched while we were there this afternoon. The Countess was disappointed because the percussion cap was not exploded. Sometimes, when ladies are bitterly grieved, they swoon." For a moment the older man studied the younger with an expression of surprise, then the sphinx-like gravity returned to his face. "Your Majesty, may I inquire why the cap failed to explode?" he asked, with pardonable curiosity. "Because"--Karyl's cheeks flushed hotly--"an American gentleman, who had been here a few hours, intercepted the signal--and reversed it." For an instant Von Ritz looked fixedly into the face of the King, then he bowed. "In that case," he commented, "there are various things to be done." _ |
||