Part 45 (2/2)
”To the fact that both these damsels have large properties in Spain, as a worthy friend in San Francisco made me aware just before leaving. The Dona Carmen will inherit handsomely at her father's death, which is the same as if said and done now. I don't refer to his gold-dust, but a large landed property the old gentleman is soon coming into in Biscay; and which, please G.o.d, I shall some day look up and take possession of.
While the other has no end of acres in Andalusia, with whole streets of houses in Cadiz. To get all that, these women must be our wives; otherwise, we should have no claim to it, nor yet be able to show our faces in Spain.”
”Of course I'm glad to hear about all that,” rejoins Hernandez; ”but, if you believe me, it's not altogether the money that's been tempting me throughout this whole affair. I'm mad in love with Inez Alvarez;--so mad, that if she hadn't a _claco_ in the world I'm willing to be her husband.”
”Say, rather, her master; as I intend to be of Carmen Montijo. Ah! once we get ash.o.r.e, I'll teach her submission. The haughty dame will learn what it is to be a wife. And if not an obedient one, _por Dios_! she shall have a divorce, that is, after I've squeezed out of her the Biscayan estate. Then she can go free, if it so please her.”
On p.r.o.nouncing this speech, the expression on the speaker's countenance is truly satanic. It seems to foreshadow a sad fate for Carmen Montijo.
For some seconds there is silence between the plotters. Again breaking it, Hernandez says:
”I don't like the idea of our putting the old gentleman to death. Is there no other way we could dispose of him?”
”Pah, _hombre_! You're always harping on the strings of humanity; striking discordant sounds too. There's no other way by which we can be ourselves safe. If we let him live, he'd be sure to turn up somewhere, and tell a tale that would get both our throats grappled by the _garrota_. The women might do the same, if we didn't make wives of them. Once that, and we can make exhibit of our marriage certificates, their words will go for nought. Besides, having full marital powers, we can take precautions against any scandal. Don Gregorio has got to die; the skipper too; and that rough fellow, the first mate--with the old blackamoor _cocinero_.”
”_Maldita_! I don't feel up to all that. It will be rank wholesale murder.”
”Nothing of the sort--only drowning. And we needn't do that either.
They can be tied before we scuttle the s.h.i.+p, and left to go down along with her. By the time she sinks, we'll be a long way off; and you, my sensitive and sentimental friend, neither see nor hear anything to give your tender heart a horror.”
”The thought of it's enough.”
”But how is it to be helped? If they're allowed to live, we'd never be out of danger. Maybe, you'd like to abandon the business altogether, and resign thought of ever having the pretty Inez for a wife?”
”There you mistake, _amigo_. Sooner than that, I'll do the killing myself. Ay, kill _her_, rather than she shall get away from me.”
”Now you're talking sense. But see! What's up yonder?”
The interrogatory is from seeing a group of men a.s.sembled on the fore-deck, alongside the hatch. The sky cloudless, with a full moon overhead, shows it to be composed of nearly, if not all, the _Condor's_ crew. The light also displays them in earnest gesticulation, while their voices, borne aft, tell of some subject seriously debated.
What can it be? They of the last dog-watch, long since relieved, should be asleep in their bunks. Why are they now on deck? Their presence there, gives surprise to the two at the wheel.
And while engaged in expressing it, and interrogating one another, they perceive the second mate coming aft--as also, that he makes approach in hurried, yet stealthy manner.
”What is it?” asks Gomez.
”A strike,” answers Padilla. ”A mutiny among the men we engaged to a.s.sist us.”
”On what grounds?”
”They've got to know all about the gold-dust--even to the exact quant.i.ty there is of it.”
”Indeed! And what's their demand?”
”That we shall share it with them. They say they'll have it so.”
”The devil they do!”
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