Part 37 (1/2)
”Well, your holiness,” said the colonel, ”there may have been devilry in it; how else would ht into the ainst our very noses, and tue butts of earth?”
”Doubtless by force of the fiends which raged with them,” interposed the bishop
”And then, with their blasphemous cries, leap upon us with sword and pike? I myself saw that Lieutenant-General Carlisle heith one stroke that noble young gentlen-bearer, your excellency's sister's son's nephew, though he was aric here? And that , I sa he caught our general by the head, after the illustrious Don Alonzo had given hirievous wound, threw hiic here?”
”Well, I say,” said the captain, ”if you are looking for art-h the flank fire of our galleys, with eleven pieces of ordnance, and two hundred shot playing on them, as if it had been a h: but that was the English rascals' doing, for they got down on the tide beach But, senor coht theht theer than yours?”
”Ah, well,” said the bishop, ”sacked are we; and San Doustine in Florida likewise; and all that is left for a poor priest like me is to return to Spain, and see whether the pious clemency of his rant some small relief or bounty to the poor of Mary--perhaps--(for who knows?) to translate to a sphere of more peaceful labor one who is now old, senors, and weary with lasses I have saved soeneral wreck; and for the flock, when I am no more, illustrious senors, Heaven's mercies are infinite; new cities will rise from the ashes of the old, new mines pour forth their treasures into the sanctified laps of the faithful, and new Indians flock toward the life-giving standard of the Cross, to put on the easy yoke and light burden of the Church, and--”
”And where shall I be then? Ah, where? Fain would I rest, and fain depart tita! sling e and infiro to bed!”
And the Dons rose to depart, while the bishop went on ,-- ”Farewell! Life is short Ah! we shall meet in heaven at last And there are really no old either,” said the intendant
”Ah, well! Better a dinner of herbs where love is, than--tita!”
”My breviary--ah! Man's gratitude is short-lived, I had hoped-- You have seen nothing of the Senora Bovadilla?”
”No”
”Ah! she proold cross, or an eet And what have I to do orldly wealth!--Ah! tita! bring one, the oldover jewels and gold, with the dull greedy eyes of covetous old age
”Ah!--it may buy the red hat yet!--Omnia Romae venalia! Put it by, tita, and do not look at it too much, child Enter not into temptation The love of money is the root of all evil; and Heaven, in love for the Indian, has made hih!--So!”
And the old miser clambered into his hammock tita drew the mosquito net over him, wrapt another round her own head, and slept, or seemed to sleep; for she coiled herself up upon the floor, and master and slave soon snored a merry bass to the treble of the ht, and the ed overhead till they thought their officers were sound asleep, had slipped out of the unwholesome rays of the planet to seek that health and peace which they considered their right, and slept as soundly as the bishop's self
Two long lines glided out from behind the isolated rocks of the Morro Grande, which bounded the bay soalleon They were al perfectly white; and, had a sentinel been looking out, he could only have descried the their sides
Now the bishop had awoke, and turned hi out within him, and his shoulders had slipped down, and his heels up, and his head ached! so he sat upright in his hammock, looked out upon the bay, and called tita
”Put another pillow under my head, child! What is that? a fish?”
tita looked She did not think it was a fish: but she did not choose to say so; for it u his holiness awake
The bishop looked again; settled that it must be a white whale, or shark, or other e, and snored once ently, and the head of the senor intendant appeared
tita sat up; and then began crawling like a snake along the floor, aht of the cabin lamp
”Is he asleep?”
”Yes: but the casket is under his head”
”Curse hiht hi on purpose that he ht to slip the box away as I did it; but the old ox nursed it in both hands all the while”
”What shall we do, in the na, and then all is lost”
tita showed her white teeth, and touched the dagger which hung by the intendant's side
”I dare not!” said the rascal, with a shudder
”I dare!” said she ”He whipt ht in his schools, when she went to the mines And she went to the o, with a chain round her neck; but she never caain Yes; I dare kill him! I will kill him! I will!”
The senor felt his mind much relieved He had no wish, of course, to coood Catholic, and feared the devil But tita was an Indian, and her being lost did not matter so much Indians' souls were cheap, like their bodies So he answered, ”But we shall be discovered!”
”I will leap out of the ith the casket, and swim ashore They will never suspect you, and they will fancy I am drowned”
”The sharks ive me the casket”
tita sh you care little about losing me And yet you told ht of my eyes! life of my heart! I swear, by all the saints, I love you I will marry you, I swear I will--I will swear on the crucifix, if you like!”
”Swear, then, or I do not give you the casket,” said she, holding out the little crucifix round her neck, and devouring hi tropic love
He swore, treer”
”No, not mine It may be found I shall be suspected What if my sheath were seen to be eh”
And she glided stealthily as a cat toward the ha at the other end of the cabin, and turned his back to her, that he , one minute--two--five? Was it an hour, rather? A cold sweat bathed his limbs; the blood beat so fiercely within his te? No; it was the pulses of his brain Impossible, surely, a death-bell Whence could it cole--ah! she was about it now; a stifled cry--Ah! he had dreaded that most of all, to hear the old man cry Would there be le, and tita's voice, apparently muffled, called for help
”I cannot help you Mother of Mercies! I dare not help you!” hissed he ”She-devil! you have begun it, and you must finish it yourself!”
A heavy arm from behind clasped his throat The bishop had broken loose frohost? or a fiend co all but mere wild terror, he opened his lips for a scream, which would have wakened every soul on board But a handkerchief was thrust into his mouth and in another minute he found hiantic enemy The cabin was full of ar up the bishop in his ha up into the stern-gallery beyond, wild figures, with bright blades and arht
”Now, Will,” whispered the giant who had seized him, ”forward and clap the fore-hatches on; and shout Fire! with all your ht Girl! murderess! your life is in my hands Tell me where the commander sleeps, and I pardon you”
tita looked up at the huge speaker, and obeyed in silence The intendant heard him enter the colonel's cabin, and then a short scuffle, and silence for a moment
But only for a iven, and h every deck Aained the poop; the sentinels were gagged and bound; and every half-naked wretch who ca up on deck in his shi+rt by theone, ”Fire! another, ”Wreck!” and another, ”Treason!” was hurled into the scuppers, and there secured
”Loay that boat!” shouted Amyas in Spanish to his first batch of prisoners