America First
Page 11
Lorente in theterrifying reply:
"Pacheco and a picked few will knife the patrol at the ford, thenAlva's men will cross, and approach the camp up the ravine."
"To-morrow morning?" Pascual's voice asked.
"Yes, just before dawn."
There were approaching steps on the street.
A customer entered. Riego heard Lorente departing--heard the customerinquire the price of a saddle, and go out.
It must be done _now_--now while Pascual was alone, and he couldspeak to him! The next moment Riego stood before his brother.
"I heard you!" he cried. "Pascual, they _must not_!"
But Pascual laid a fierce hand upon his breast and pinned him to thewall.
It was a terrible scene--that which followed--terrible in the tensequiet of its enactment--terrible in its outcome!
With Riego pinned against the wall where he needs must listen, Pascualpoured forth such a torrent of abuse, of falsehood, against the"gringos" that at length the old hate blood leapt in the younger boy'sveins and went beating through his brain.
The gringos were their enemies--_enemies_! The men who were comingdown upon them with the dawn were of their own blood, of their nativecountry! What if the invaders _were_ "revolutionists"? Were they not_Mexican_? Talk of "loyalty"--one must be loyal to _one's own_!
When Pascual loosed his grip upon the slight form it was after he hadstirred to the very dregs all that was passionate, all that wasignorant and prejudiced and violent, in the boy's nature.
That afternoon Riego did not report at Miss Arden's class, but longafter class hour he was obliged to pass her house on the mission todeliver a mended harness to a farmer living near the American camp.
Miss Arden and her mother, Riego knew, were the only members of thebig captain's family. They lived in a large house in the woods,half-way between the town and the camp. He knew also that the bigcaptain stayed in camp.
As Riego emerged from the long stretch of lonely woods which separatedMiss Arden's house from the town, and as he faced the other longstretch of woods which lay between him and the camp, the boy wasstruck by the isolation of the senorita's home.
He reflected, however, that Alva's men were to attack the gringosoldiers by way of the ford, and that the ford lay to the rightyonder, far out of connection with the captain's house. He wasglad--glad that Alva's men would not come that way!
Suddenly he spied the senorita herself. She was standing on the stepsof her father's home. Riego's heart bounded within him at sight ofher. He pulled down his hat and hoped to pass unrecognized, but thesweet, familiar voice called:
"Riego!"
He did not answer.
Then she ran down the steps to him, and put her gentle hands upon him,turning him to her against his will.
"What is the matter, Riego?" she asked.
No answer.
"You didn't come to class this afternoon."
No answer.
"I'm sorry," she said, after a moment of silence in which she lookedsearchingly into his face, "because we had an interesting lessonto-day. It was all about what one ought to do in case one should beforced to _choose between_ the old land and the new."
The boy gave a swift, upward glance at her, then dropped his eyes to theground again. Miss Arden continued, and her voice was very serious now:
"And we decided, Riego, that one ought to think out carefully whichcountry was really the better, and be true to that, because there is ahigher duty than that to party or country, and that is--to theprinciples of justice and freedom."
Riego's head sank lower. The Beautiful One took one of his brown handsinto her own.
"And we said"--was she looking into the dark heart of him?--"thatwhichever way one chose, one should choose _openly_. Now this littlebrown hand could never----"
But the little brown hand was snatched away, and with a great sob thechild fled into the woods.
When at last that night Riego did fall asleep he dreamed that hisbeautiful America came to him with her white arms held out in appeal,and that he slipped a dagger out of his bosom and stabbed her to theheart.
He started, awake, and sat up. It was black dark.
_Had Alva struck already? Or was there yet time?_
Ten feet away was Pascual's cot--he must not wake Pascual! As still asdeath he slipped out of his bed, pulled on his overalls that he hadhung near, and crept out into the moonless night.
Riego could not think--it was all so desperate! He could only respondto the heart that was in him, and creep forward through the dark. Buthis feet knew the road that he took, though his brain was reeling. Hewas going straight to the one who had wakened the new loyalty inhim--his beautiful America!
"I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which itstands," went surging through him as he struggled on.
Riego was not grandly heroic; he was only a frightened little boy, butdetermined now to do his loyal best for the country that had shelteredhim from oppression. And so, though the treacherous sands might seekto drag him down, though the dark chaparral yonder might hide--anyfearsome thing!--Riego went forward.
And now the house of the big captain loomed black before him. Riegostole up the front steps. He knew behind which of the long, closedwindows the senorita slept, and he approached and tapped fearfullyupon it.
It was a frightened voice that called: "Who is _that_?"
Riego was not conscious how he answered, but he knew that a wave ofrelief flowed over him when the blind of the long window opened and hewas drawn into the dark room by a pair of familiar hands.
The blind was closed after him and a light was struck.
The senorita's eyes were disclosed big and startled; her face was aswhite as the long robe she wore.
"What _is_ it, Riego?" she gasped.
"They are coming!" he whispered.
"Who?" she exclaimed, catching him by the shoulders, "_Who?_"
"Alva," the boy answered, "and three hundred with him. They are goingto surprise--our soldiers--and kill them while they sleep!"
The senorita sprang to the telephone. She pulled down the lever many,many times, then she staggered back against the wall.
"They have cut the wires!" she cried. "Riego, you and I must take thewarning!"
"To the camp?" the boy cried in dismay.
"Yes, there's no one within a mile of here that could take it but us!"
"But the Mexicans have spies over there," the boy moaned. "They willfind us in the dark with their knives!"
She had flung on a long cloak, and was hurriedly fastening her shoes.
"Then you stay here and I'll go," she said.
"_You?_" cried the startled child--then--"It is dark out there, mylady; I'll go with you."
They extinguished the light and stole out together to the stable, butthe horses were gone!
Desperate now, they started out afoot.
The treacherous sand again and the black dark! But they crept alongtogether. Then suddenly the boy's courage gave way and he clung to thecloaked figure, sobbing:
"Senorita! Senorita! I am _afraid_!"
The senorita was trembling, too, and her voice broke as she whispered:
"You and I don't make very good heroes, do we?"
They had come to a standstill and were clinging together in the dark.Suddenly there was a sound of something approaching---the velvet treadof an unshod pony in the sand!
The rider passed.
When they breathed again the senorita took him strongly by theshoulders.
"Riego," she whispered--and there was no break in her voice now--"wemust separate. One of us must go straight to the ford and warn thepatrol, the other to camp."
"But it is near the ford that Pacheco is hiding," the boy replied.
"I'll go to the ford," she said simply.
"No, my lady, _I_ go--you take the news to camp." And before she coulddetain him the boy turned at a sharp angle and plunged into the deeperblackness of the chaparral.
* * *
* *
A long nightmare intervened between their parting and the time when thehalf-dead boy clung to the saddle of the patrol and whispered to him:
"Keep to the open, senor; there are men with knives in the chaparral!Help is coming!"
Then, somehow, everything was blotted out for Riego.
When consciousness came again to the boy, the cool air of the dawn waschoked with dust clouds till he could not see ten feet before him andhis ears were nearly bursting with the thunder-beat of frantic hoofs.Dim horses were rearing and plunging against the reddening dawn.There were shouts and cries and firing! Firing!
Who was losing? Who was _winning_?
Dear God, Alva's men were sweeping back across the Rio Grande!
One little frightened boy had saved the day for the country that