by Bret Harte
CHAPTER IX.
LIBERATED.
The revolution was, indeed, ended. The unexpected arrival of a relievinggarrison in the bay of Todos Santos had completed what the dissensionsin the insurgents' councils had begun; the discontents, led by Brace andWinslow, had united with the Government against Perkins and his aliens;but a compromise had been effected by the treacherous giving up of theLiberator himself in return for an amnesty granted to his followers.The part that Bunker had played in bringing about this moral catastrophewas, however, purely adventitious. When he had recovered his health, andsubsequent events had corroborated the truth of his story, the MexicanGovernment, who had compromised with Quinquinambo, was obliged torecognize his claims by offering him command of the missionary ship, andpermission to rediscover the channel, the secret of which had been lostfor half a century to the Government. He had arrived at the crucialmoment when Perkins' command were scattered along the seashore, and thedragoons had invested Todos Santos without opposition.
Such was the story substantially told to Hurlstone and confirmed on hisdebarkation with the ladies at Todos Santos, the Excelsior being now inthe hands of the authorities. Hurlstone did not hesitate to express toPadre Esteban his disgust at the treachery which had made a scapegoat ofSenor Perkins. But to his surprise the cautious priest only shrugged hisshoulders as he took a complacent pinch of snuff.
"Have a care, Diego! You are of necessity grateful to this man forthe news he has brought--nay, more, for possibly being the instrumentelected by Providence to precipitate the denouement of that miserablewoman's life--but let it not close your eyes to his infamous politicalcareer. I admit that he was opposed to the revolt of the heathen againstus, but it was his emissaries and his doctrines that poisoned withheresy the fountains from which they drank. Enough! Be grateful! but donot expect ME to intercede for Baal and Ashtaroth!"
"Intercede!" echoed Hurlstone, alarmed at the sudden sacerdotal hardnessthat had overspread the old priest's face. "Surely the Council willnot be severe with the man who was betrayed into their power by othersequally guilty?"
Padre Esteban avoided Hurlstone's eyes as he answered with affectedcoolness,--"Quien sabe? There will be expulsados, no doubt. TheExcelsior, which is confiscated, will be sent to Mexico with them."
"I must see Senor Perkins," said Hurlstone suddenly.
The priest hesitated.
"When?" he asked cautiously.
"At once."
"Good." He wrote a hurried line on a piece of paper, folded it, sealedit, and gave it to Hurlstone. "You will hand that to the Comandante. Hewill give you access to the prisoner."
In less than half an hour Hurlstone presented himself before theCommander. The events of the last twenty-four hours had evidentlyaffected Don Miguel, for although he received Hurlstone courteously,there was a singular reflection of the priest's harshness in his face ashe glanced over the missive. He took out his watch.
"I give you ten minutes with the prisoner, Don Diego. More, I cannot."
A little awed by the manner of the Commander, Hurlstone bowed andfollowed him across the courtyard. It was filled with soldiers, andnear the gateway a double file of dragoons, with loaded carbines, werestanding at ease. Two sentries were ranged on each side of an open doorwhich gave upon the courtyard. The Commander paused before it, and witha gesture invited him to enter. It was a large square apartment, lightedonly by the open door and a grated enclosure above it. Seated in hisshirtsleeves, before a rude table, Senor Perkins was quietly writing.The shadow of Hurlstone's figure falling across his paper caused him tolook up.
Whatever anxiety Hurlstone had begun to feel, it was quickly dissipatedby the hearty, affable, and even happy greeting of the prisoner.
"Ah! what! my young friend Hurlstone! Again an unexpected pleasure," hesaid, extending his white hands. "And again you find me wooing the Muse,in, I fear, hesitating numbers." He pointed to the sheet of paper beforehim, which showed some attempts at versification. "But I confess to asingular fascination in the exercise of poetic composition, in instantsof leisure like this--a fascination which, as a man of imaginationyourself, you can appreciate."
"And I am sorry to find you here, Senor Perkins," began Hurlstonefrankly; "but I believe it will not be for long."
"My opinion," said the Senor, with a glance of gentle contemplation atthe distant Comandante, "as far as I may express it, coincides with yourown."
"I have come," continued Hurlstone earnestly, "to offer you my services.I am ready," he raised his voice, with a view of being overheard, "tobear testimony that you had no complicity in the baser part of the lateconspiracy,--the revolt of the savages, and that you did your best tocounteract the evil, although in doing so you have sacrificed yourself.I shall claim the right to speak from my own knowledge of the Indiansand from their admission to me that they were led away by the vaguerepresentations of Martinez, Brace, and Winslow."
"Pardon--pardon me," said Senor Perkins deprecatingly, "you aremistaken. My general instructions, no doubt, justified these younggentlemen in taking, I shall not say extreme, but injudicious measures."He glanced meaningly in the direction of the Commander, as if towarn Hurlstone from continuing, and said gently, "But let us talkof something else. I thank you for your gracious intentions, butyou remember that we agreed only yesterday that you knew nothing ofpolitics, and did not concern yourself with them. I do not know but youare wise. Politics and the science of self-government, although dealingwith general principles, are apt to be defined by the individuallimitations of the enthusiast. What is good for HIMSELF he toooften deems is applicable to the general public, instead of wiselyunderstanding that what is good for THEM must be good for himself. But,"said the Senor lightly, "we are again transgressing. We were to chooseanother topic. Let it be yourself, Mr. Hurlstone. You are lookingwell, sir; indeed, I may say I never saw you looking so well! Let mecongratulate you. Health is the right of youth. May you keep both!"
He shook Hurlstone's hand again with singular fervor.
There was a slight bustle and commotion at the door of the guard-room,and the Commander's attention was called in that direction. Hurlstoneprofited by the opportunity to say in a hurried whisper:
"Tell me what I can do for you;" and he hesitated to voice his reneweduneasiness--"tell me if--if--if your case is--urgent!"
Senor Perkins lifted his shoulders and smiled with grateful benevolence.
"You have already promised me to deliver those papers and manuscriptsof my deceased friend, and to endeavor to find her relations. I do notthink it is urgent, however."
"I do not mean that," said Hurlstone eagerly. "I"--but Perkins stoppedhim with a sign that the Commander was returning.
Don Miguel approached them with disturbed and anxious looks.
"I have yielded to the persuasions of two ladies, Dona Leonor and theSenora Markham, to ask you to see them for a moment," he said to SenorPerkins. "Shall it be so? I have told them the hour is nearly spent."
"You have told them--NOTHING MORE?" asked the Senor, in a whisperunheard by Hurlstone.
"No."
"Let them come, then."
The Commander made a gesture to the sentries at the guard-room, who drewback to allow Mrs. Markham and Eleanor to pass. A little child, one ofEleanor's old Presidio pupils, who, recognizing her, had followed herinto the guard-room, now emerged with her, and momentarily disconcertedat the presence of the Commander, ran, with the unerring instinct ofchildhood, to the Senor for protection. The filibuster smiled, andlifting the child with a paternal gesture to his shoulder by one hand,he extended the other to the ladies.
"The Commander," said Mrs. Markham briskly, "says it's against therules; that visiting time is up; and you've already got a friend withyou, and all that sort of thing; but I told him that I was bound to seeyou, if only to say that if there's any meanness going on, Susannah andJames Markham ain't in it! No! But we're going to see you put right andsquare in the matter; and if we can't do it here, we'll do it, if wehave to follow you
to Mexico!--that's all!"
"And I," said Eleanor, grasping the Senor's hand, and half blushing asshe glanced at Hurlstone, "see that I have already a friend here whowill help me to put in action all the sympathy I feel."
Senor Perkins drew himself up, and cast a faint look of pride towardsthe Commander.
"To HEAR such assurances from beautiful and eloquent lips like thosebefore me," he said, with his old oratorical wave of the hand, but apassing shadow across his mild eyes, "is more than sufficient. In myexperience of life I have been favored, at various emergencies, by thesympathy and outspoken counsel of your noble sex; the last time by Mrs.Euphemia M'Corkle, of Peoria, Illinois, a lady of whom you have heard mespeak--alas! now lately deceased. A few lines at present lying on yondertable--a tribute to her genius--will be forwarded to you, dear Mrs.Markham. But let us change the theme. You are looking well--and you,too, Miss Keene. From the roses that bloom on your cheeks--nourishedby the humid air of Todos Santos--I am gratified in thinking you haveforgiven me your enforced detention here."
At a gesture from the Commander he ceased, stepped back, bowed gravely,and the ladies recognized that their brief audience had terminated. Asthey passed through the gateway, looking back they saw Perkins stillstanding with the child on his shoulder and smiling affably upon them.Then the two massive doors of the gateway swung to with a crash, thebolts were shot, and the courtyard was impenetrable.
* * * * *
A few moments later, the three friends had passed the outermost angle ofthe fortifications, and were descending towards the beach. By the timethey had reached the sands they had fallen into a vague silence.
A noise like the cracking and fall of some slight scaffolding behindthem arrested their attention. Hurlstone turned quickly. A light smoke,drifting from the courtyard, was mingling with the fog. A faint cry of"Dios y Libertad!" rose with it.
With a hurried excuse to his companions, Hurlstone ran rapidly back, andreached the gate as it slowly rolled upon its hinges to a file of menthat issued from the courtyard. The first object that met his eyeswas the hat of Senor Perkins lying on the ground near the wall, with aterrible suggestion in its helpless and pathetic vacuity. A few pacesfurther lay its late owner, with twenty Mexican bullets in his breast,his benevolent forehead bared meekly to the sky, as if even then mutelyappealing to the higher judgment. He was dead! The soul of the Liberatorof Quinquinambo, and of various other peoples more or less distressedand more or less ungrateful, was itself liberated!
* * * * *
With the death of Senor Perkins ended the Crusade of the Excelsior.Under charge of Captain Bunker the vessel was sent to Mazatlan by theauthorities, bearing the banished and proscribed Americans, Banks,Brace, Winslow, and Crosby; and, by permission of the Council, alsotheir friends, Markham and Brimmer, and the ladies, Mrs. Brimmer, Chubb,and Markham. Hurlstone and Miss Keene alone were invited to remain, but,on later representations, the Council graciously included Richard Keenein the invitation, with the concession of the right to work the minesand control the ranches he and Hurlstone had purchased from theirproscribed countrymen. The complacency of the Council of Todos Santosmay be accounted for when it is understood that on the day the firmof Hurlstone & Keene was really begun under the title of Mr. and Mrs.Hurlstone, Richard had prevailed upon the Alcalde to allow him to addthe piquant Dona Isabel also to the firm under the title of Mrs. Keene.Although the port of Todos Santos was henceforth open to all commerce,the firm of Hurlstone & Keene long retained the monopoly of trade, andwas a recognized power of intelligent civilization and honest progresson the Pacific coast. And none contributed more to that result than theclever and beautiful hostess of Excelsior Lodge, the charming countryhome of James Hurlstone, Esq., senior partner of the firm. Under thetruly catholic shelter of its veranda Padre Esteban and the hereticstranger mingled harmoniously, and the dissensions of local and centralGovernment were forgotten.
"I said that you were a dama de grandeza, you remember," said theyouthful Mrs. Keene to Mrs. Hurlstone, "and, you see, you are!"
