Part 14 (2/2)

Crack! There was the sound of a blow followed by a woman's shriek of pain.

”Why, you cowardly hound!” I heard Tom shout. ”You dare hit _her_, then--you who sneaked off along with your grand Spanish Don when the boat was upset, and left young miss to drown! You're a brave one, you are, and then you all go and take the credit, when it was my Mas'r Harry who saved her. Take that, you beggar, and that--and that!”

Tom's words were accompanied by the sounds of heavy blows; and on leaping out of the window I came upon him, squaring away, and delivering no meanly-planted blows upon the chests and faces of a couple of Indians, while a woman crouched, trembling and weeping, and writhing with pain, upon the ground.

”That's a settler for you anyhow!” said Tom, as he sent one of his adversaries staggering back for a few yards, to fall heavily, when the other retreated, but only for both to out with a knife each, and again come forward to the attack.

But my appearance upon the scene stayed them, and they slunk scowling away.

”I'll knock the wind out of some on 'em, Mas'r Harry, spite of their knives,” cried Tom excitedly. ”I'll let 'em know how an Englishman serves them that knocks women about. Hit her with a great thick stick, he did--cuss him! I'll let him know!”

”Be quiet, Tom! Are you mad?” I said, catching him by the collar, for he was squaring away at the Indians, who were a couple of dozen yards away.

”What did he go knocking her about for? Yah! Mas'r Harry, they're a rotten lot out here, and the country's a thousand times too good for them!”

By degrees I got Tom cooled down, and into the house, and on returning I found Lilla standing watching for me at the window, but only to gaze at me with a strange, troubled look, half pain, half pleasure, and before I could speak she had fled.

But an hour had not pa.s.sed before I came upon her again, speaking anxiously to Tom. They did not see me approach, and as I was close up I was just in time to hear Tom exclaim:

”But he did, Miss, and stuck to you when all the rest had got ash.o.r.e-- the Don and all.”

Lilla gave a faint shriek as I spoke; and then darting at me a look of reproach, she hurried away, leaving me excited and troubled; for she had learned a secret that I had intended should not come to her ears.

”How dare you go chattering about like that?” I cried fiercely to Tom, for I was anxious to have some one to blame.

”Don't care, Mas'r Harry,” he said sulkily. ”Miss Lilla asked me, and I never told her only the truth. They are a cowardly set of hounds, the whole lot of 'em; and I'll take any couple of 'em, one down and t'other come on, with a hand tied behind me.”

”We shall have to go, Tom,” I said bitterly. ”What with your brawls and the mischief you have made, this will be no place for us.”

I spoke with gloomy forebodings in my mind, for I could not but think that trouble was to be our lot. Poor and without prospects, and with a rich and favoured rival, what was I to hope for? Indeed I felt ready to despair.

”Say, Mas'r Harry,” said Tom penitently, ”'tain't so bad as that, is it?”

”Bad! Yes, Tom,” I said gloomily, and I turned and left him.

It was a day or two after. I had only seen Lilla at meals, to find her shy and _distraite_. She hardly seemed to notice me, but I had the satisfaction of seeing that Garcia fared no better.

But he smiled pleasantly, evidently to conceal the rage that burned within him, and more than once there was a hateful glare in his eye that evidently boded no good to those who crossed his path; and it seemed as if I had not only crossed his path, but now stood right in his way.

We had just finished the mid-day meal. Garcia had been with us, and on Lilla rising he had followed her to the door; but she had turned from him with a look of contempt, when, white with pa.s.sion, he had been unable to control himself, but dashed out of the place, muttering fiercely.

My uncle had seen all, and his countenance lowered, but for a while he did not speak. He walked to a closet, took out a cigar, and sat smoking till Mrs Landell had left the room, when, beckoning me to him, he pointed to a chair, and then, as soon as I was seated, he gave utterance to what was in his mind.

”Harry, my lad,” he said, ”I am a plain, straightforward fellow, and I like frankness. I'm going now to speak very plainly to you, for I'm not blind. You've taken a fancy to little Lill.”

I rose, holding by the back of my chair, blushed, blundered, and then stood without a word.

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