Up the Forked River, Edward Sylvester Ellis [best free ebook reader for pc .TXT] 📗

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"What's the trouble?" asked the Major.

"Something has frightened him," suggested Captain Guzman.

The guide was savagely stamping. Then he stopped and tugged again at the rein. The horse dragged back but allowed himself to be drawn a little farther. All came to a pause, grouping themselves together, where one was hardly visible to the others.

"What was it?" asked the Major, in a whisper, of Martella.

"He smelled a serpent in front of us, and I stamped him to death."

"Was it venomous?" the American was prompted to ask.

"I think it was a coral snake, but he was not large."

"If he had bitten you?"

"Pardon me, Major, he did not."

"There may be others near us."

"Perhaps; their bite is sure death; we must be ready to crush them under our feet--hist! here come General Yozarro and the officers."


CHAPTER XXIV.

There were six of them, all coming out as clearly in the powerful moonlight as if the sun were in the heavens. The stout form of General Yozarro was at the front, walking at a moderate pace up the slope.

The moment he entered the field of vision, Major Starland heard Martella gasp, as if catching his breath. Then the American felt a hand upon his rifle, as if the other were trying to draw it from his grasp.

"My chance can never be better," whispered the deserter.

"I will not allow murder to be done; a brave man would not ask it."

The native loosened his straining grip upon the weapon, and all silently peered from the gloom at the procession filing past. None of the spectators spoke, but each caught the sounds of fitful conversation among the Atlamalcans. No one could have been more generous than the Dictator in the way of imprecations, which was no cause for surprise to Miss Starland.

Until the purchase of the tugboat, General Yozarro had usually passed between his capital and the Castle of Rest on horseback. Now, however, he preferred the water route, although it compelled him to walk a difficult mile.

At the moment when the rear of the procession was opposite our friends, who were breathlessly watching from their hiding place, the pony suddenly threw up his head and emitted a resounding whinny that could have been heard a mile away.

"That means a fight!" exclaimed the Major, tightening his grasp on his rifle; "be ready, Captain and Martella!"

The moment the alarming cry echoed among the mountains, General Yozarro and his friends stopped and stared in the direction of the disturbance. Martella was the only one with the quickness of resource to meet the crisis. In a twinkling, he slipped the bridle of the horse over his head, unfastened the cinch and flung the saddle to the ground. Then, pointing the nose of the animal toward the trail, he gave his haunch a pinch like the nipping of a fire ant. The animal responded with a snort and leap, and then trotted to the group who stared at him in astonishment.

The Major and the Captain caught the shrewdness of the action. By driving out the horse without any belongings, he gave the impression that he was an estray, probably cropping the herbage, when disturbed by the approach of strangers. He had not been ridden long enough to show the marks of bridle or saddle, unless examined closely, which was not likely to be the case.

"They may learn the truth," whispered Martella; "be ready!"

The animal slowed his pace and walked snuffing suspiciously to the waiting company. When one of the officers reached out to grasp his forelock, he flirted his head away. The brute preferred his freedom to serving a master.

Some natural surprise was expressed that he should be wandering alone, so far from the Castle, and the listening friends heard General Yozarro suggest that it might be worth while to look farther. They were about to do so when he changed his mind.

"Captain Navarro is not careful with his horses: I must remind him to have a better care of my property."

With this observation, the General resumed the lead and almost immediately the party disappeared, vastly to the relief of our friends. Martella waited only until they were beyond sight, when he led the way back to the trail.

There was no further call for him to act as advance scout, though he again placed himself at the head of the little company. He could readily have captured the horse and offered to do so, but Miss Starland refused the favor, saying it was a grateful relief to walk, after having been so long in doors. Accordingly the pony was left to himself.

The situation had changed. The danger was transferred to the rear, though it was not likely to threaten for some time to come. General Yozarro would not dream of the truth until he reached the Castle. There he would quickly learn that the cunning of the deserter had drawn the American Senorita from his custody and probably taken her beyond reach. It would require less than an hour for him to go to _Castillo Descanso_, and only a short time to hasten back over the trail to the river.

Would he do so?

This was the question Major Starland asked himself, while tramping directly behind his sister. Such a thing would be so daring an outrage that it seemed improbable. What excuse could he offer when coming into the presence of the two American visitors for so high-handed an interference with their rights? Hitherto he had shown a fulsome obsequiousness to both, and acted the part of a high-toned gentleman. How could he throw off that courtesy which seemed a part of his nature, and still forbid their going and coming as they pleased?

Doubtless the Major would have convinced himself that what he mentally outlined was not to be feared from the Dictator, except for a most important fact that obtruded itself: the presence of Martella, the deserter, with the company of fugitives, as they must now regard themselves. That would justify him in pursuing the ingrate to the uttermost confines of his dominion, and to make his shelter by General Bambos a _casus belli_, especially if the message left with the engineer of the tugboat had been delivered. Acting under this pretext, Yozarro would be able to bring the man's companions within his power, with the opportunity of carrying out the plans he had formed respecting them. His infatuation had destroyed his tact, judgment and sense, of which his furnishment had never been great.

Strange that one of the most likely contingencies of the peculiar situation did not present itself to any one until it flashed upon Major Starland, while threading the mountain trail and when near its termination. General Yozarro's tugboat must have come ashore directly behind the catboat of his predecessors. He would recognize the smaller craft, and know that the American had gone to the Castle to join his sister, no doubt with the intention of bringing her away. He must have destroyed the usefulness of the catboat and thus estopped the flight of the fugitives by that means.

While such action on his part would appear to have been certain, yet it did not accord with his conduct when on the way to _Castillo Descanso_. The sight of the pony would have told him the truth, and he would have been certain to make an investigation on the spot. But that was not done, nor was there anything in the words or manner of the Atlamalcans to show that he held a suspicion of the real situation.

"Martella must have thought of all this, yet he did not show it by word or act."

Walking briskly, they soon passed up a slight incline, descended another and arrived within a short distance of the Rio Rubio. Then, for the first time, the officer recalled that the trail bifurcated like the river itself. One fork turned to the right, which led to where the sailboat had been secured. Without pausing, Martella turned down this, and a few minutes later all stood on the river's margin.


CHAPTER XXV.

There nestled their boat with no sign of having been visited during their absence. Its prow was drawn well up the bank, and the sail lay in a roll on the boom and at the foot of the single mast with everything snug. Martella hastily examined every portion of the hull, stepping into the water to do so, and finally said with a grin:

"None of them saw it."

"That is better fortune than I expected. Providence has been kind to us, but where is _their_ boat, Martella?"

They listened for the blowing off of steam, but, save for the never silent sounds from the forest and jungle, all was silent.

"It is not far away; General Yozarro made the landing above and passed up the other trail to where it joins this one. It was lucky, for, had he come here, as he did last night, he must have seen our boat. He would have crippled it, and when he met the horse along the trail, he would have known we were near. There is no need of undue haste, and if you do not care, I will visit the gunboat."

"Are you not running great risk?"

"The only ones there are the engineer and two firemen; I have nothing to fear from them."

"You have my permission."

The vegetation and foliage were so intricate that, instead of taking the shorter distance, the native loped back over the trail to the forking, and then went down the other to the river's edge. As he expected, he found the tug lying against the shore. In a country where wood is superabundant and coal almost unknown, the former was used exclusively on the craft. A large quantity was always piled at the front, some of the kinds belonging to the most valuable exports, with such a close grain that it gave out as fervid heat as the mineral itself. Instead of maintaining a high pressure of steam, the engineer allowed it to sink. The return of General Yozarro was not looked for under several hours, and with so much resinous wood at hand, the furnace could be quickly fired up. It was a saving all round to let the steam moderate, which explains why our friends heard nothing of the craft sleeping less than thirty rods away.

Despite the confidence of Martella, he knew his venture was not wholly free from risk, and in the face of his comradeship with the crew, it was not unlikely that they would seek to win the good will of the Dictator by delivering the deserter to him. If there were others beside the engineer and firemen on board, it would be imprudent to the last degree to entrust himself to them. He therefore spent considerable time in reconnoitering.

Moving stealthily here and there, and peering out from the shadows, he soon made out the form of a man seated on the gunwale at the front, doubtless in quest of coolness. He was smoking a cigarette and something in his appearance was so familiar that the deserter called, in a guarded voice:

"Valentin, is that you?"

The man looked sharply around and removed the cigarette from between his lips.

"Martella!" he replied in the same careful voice.

"Who else is on the boat?"

"Only Juarez and Dominguez."

He had mentioned the names of the two firemen.

"Is it safe for me to join you in a smoke?"

"For a little while