Up the Forked River by Edward Sylvester Ellis (ebook audio reader .txt) 📕

/> "Warrenia, I do not understand it."

"And, Manuela, I'm afraid I do."

"Tell me, then."

"Surely you have a suspicion. Why should we mince matters? He has forgotten his pledge to you and is more resolute than before."

"I fear you are right. The thought has been growing upon me ever since we left the boat. Need I tell you that you are no more shocked and grieved than I?"

"No, nothing that mind can conceive will ever throw a shadow upon your loyalty and goodness. I have known you too long and too well for me to have room for such an injustice."

The other's answer to this was to throw her arms impulsively around the neck of her friend and to kiss her again and again, murmuring:

"Thank you and bless you! I can never be the angel that you are and I would gladly die for you."

There were no tears in the eyes of either; they were too brave for that. It was the American who spoke when they became more composed:

"We are agreed upon the one thing, and, therefore, must be right. But you can aid me to clear up several points that trouble me. Why did General Yozarro put us ashore and send us here?"

"I suspect his reason for that. You know he has spoken of sending us to the Castle to spend a few days of the hot weather. He had the preparations made and this room fitted for us. We should have come here today, but for your change of mind. You demanded to go to Zalapata and he could not refuse. His plan that you should come to the Castle was not changed, but he had to seem to defer to your wishes. To have come directly here would have been a plain disregard of them, so he spent the day in planning this deception, and carried it out without the least difficulty."

"Must he not have seen that when we went ashore and found the escort waiting with ponies, we should see that the whole thing was pre-arranged? In no other way could it have come about."

"True, but when we understood it all it would be too late to do us any good."

"What of his story that General Bambos had sent a boat up the river to attack Atlamalco?"

"It was pure invention."

"We certainly have heard no sounds of a battle between the boats."

"Because there has been none. He saw no more of a hostile fleet than did we, for none exists; he has gone back to Atlamalco."

"I suppose he will be here tomorrow with some cunning falsehood to explain why the conflict did not take place. He will say he gave chase to the enemy, who fled without firing a shot, but how can I pretend to believe him?"

"There is no call for any such pretense. If he tries further deception, ask him to make clear how the two soldiers were waiting on shore with horses. If he makes a reasonable explanation of that, he has more ingenuity than I ever supposed."

"We can have no trouble in convicting him, but, Manuela, my dread is that it will not help matters, but rather make them worse. I must confess that his conduct is beyond my comprehension."

"It is not beyond mine."

"What is your theory?"

"It is not a theory but a fact. My uncle is so hopelessly in love with you that his ordinary common sense has left him."

"It may be as you say, but much remains that is unaccountable to me."

"I see little that is not made clear by what I have said. You and I know that when a man becomes as blindly infatuated as he, his conduct violates reason and the simplest prudence and he does things that would be absurd in a child. Frightened by the prospect of losing you, he gave all his thoughts and energies to preventing it. This was the only method that suggested itself, and we cannot deny, my dear friend, that it has been quite successful up to this point."

"But of what possible avail can it be to him? Idiot that he is, he must know that this situation can last but a short time. Jack will find it out within twenty-four hours, and General Yozarro must know what will happen _then_."

"Dearest Warrenia, you do not see as much in this as I. What stronger proof can I give of my love to you than to say that we must separate and you must leave this part of the world with the least possible delay? Your own loveliness is your peril. It ought to be your greatest protection, but it is not. I would that your yacht was in the river this very hour and that we could make haste to it, for you are in greater danger than you suspect."


CHAPTER XVII.

The cheek of the American blanched, and she looked earnestly at her friend, as if she did not take in the full meaning of her words. She spoke in a whisper:

"Tell me what you mean."

The other rose from her chair, walked across the room to the closed door, and turned the big key in the massive lock. Then she lifted the ponderous bar and dropped it into place.

"It may not be necessary," she said, as she came back, sat down and took the hand which she had released; "for though some of the servants may be in the next room, or in the hall outside, none can hear what we say. It will do no harm, however, to be certain. If you could have your wish you would be in Zalapata tonight?"

"Most assuredly I should."

"Because the Major is there, but if he chanced to be away, your situation would be no better than at Atlamalco."

"I am certain it would be a thousand-fold better."

"I am afraid, dear friend from the North, that I see some things clearer than you; General Bambos is just as much infatuated with your loveliness as General Yozarro."

"But he has a wife and family!" was the horrified exclamation of Miss Starland.

"That makes not the slightest difference to him."

An expression of unutterable scorn darkened the face of the American.

"Impossible as it seems, Manuela, I must believe you. How can you live here?" she asked with impulsive disgust; "you cannot trust _any_ man in this country."

"Ah, my dear Warrenia, they are not all alike; I certainly know _one_ who is different from the two we have been talking about."

And the dark countenance became delightfully darker, and was aglow with the radiance of perfect love and trust.

"I am glad to assure you I believe every word you say; I forgot Captain Ramon Ortega, the brave officer and faultless gentleman, whose greatest good fortune is to come when he wins you."

"And his good fortune will be no greater than mine; but, Warrenia, to leave the most winsome of subjects for the most hateful, you will be safer at Zalapata with Major Jack, but neither of you will be secure until you are on the yacht and beyond reach of General Bambos, as well as of General Yozarro. I could almost advise you to wait here, and yet something whispers it will not do."

"But how am I to leave? It will not do to attempt the journey alone to Zalapata, and what way is there of sending word thither?"

"Why shall we not have our ponies brought up and ride direct to the capital? They are here already, with proper saddles. We can start tomorrow after breaking fast, and we should reach the capital by nightfall."

"Do you know the route?"

"As well as the walks around the old Seminary, where we spent the happiest days of our lives; I have gone over it many times in my girlhood and have done so since coming home."

"Neither of us carries any firearms and we must face danger."

"I was never in any danger, though I suppose there must be more or less of it. I shouldn't like to meet a jaguar, tiger cat or zaratu, but we might do so without any harm coming to us."

"What of the serpents?"

"The big ones are near the streams and in the marshy country; we have a few coral snakes with their black heads and ringed bodies, but we are as safe from them without as with firearms. This part of the world is not so much infested as others. If I have no hesitation in making the venture should you feel any?"

"I do not; shall we take an escort?"

"It would seem we ought to do so, but I believe it best to have none."

"For what reason?"

"They would be soldiers of General Yozarro."

The significance of these words was not lost upon the other, who hastened to say:

"Let us go alone."

They sat communing until the night was far advanced. Their plans for the morrow may be summarized in what has been stated. Both believed that no special risk would be run in venturing upon a journey of something more than twenty miles by daylight, without firearms or escort. As a rule, strangers had little to fear in passing through any section of either republic, and there were several native huts along the trail, where the Senorita had obtained refreshment and secured lodging on some of the journeys that were begun too late in the day to be completed before nightfall. Although she was always in the company of others, it was not on account of any misgiving or fear on her part.

Very rarely or never was a wheeled vehicle seen either in Zalapata or Atlamalco, and the connecting roads were naturally no more than simple trails; but all of these were so clearly marked that there was no cause for even a stranger losing his way. While the bifurcation of the river made the water communication between the republics more convenient, many preferred the overland journey. The ride through the craggy mountains, whose width may be roughly given as less than half a dozen miles, was romantic and easy enough when made on the back of a horse.

The strange, disturbing situation in which Miss Starland found herself kept her awake long after the gentle breathing of her friend at her side told her she was unconscious. The conditions were so singular and so alarming that at times she was mystified and doubted the wisdom of the course they had decided upon. She could not believe that the path was as free from danger as the Senorita supposed. None the less, she was resolved to make the venture. There was one comforting feature about it all: if they were followed and brought back under some pretext by the soldiers of General Yozarro, no unpleasant consequences would result therefrom to them. The man would be ready with some plausible justification of his course, but would be as effusive in his courtesy as ever. Finally the sorely troubled one slept.

Neither awoke until the sunlight streamed through the narrow windows, and then the two were roused by the knocking on the outer door, and the call of Juanita that she was waiting with their food. She was admitted and the meal on the broad silver tray was set on the stand in the middle of the apartment. Nothing could have been more appetizing, in that smothering climate, consisting as it did wholly of fruit, and