The Firebrand

by S. R. Crockett

  CHAPTER XXXII

  LIKE A FALLING STAR

  Rollo judged aright. It was indeed no time for love-making, and, to dothe young man justice, he did not connect any idea so concrete with theimpulsive kiss he had given to Concha.

  She it was who had saved his life at Sarria. She was perilling her ownin order to accompany and assist his expedition. She had drawn up theladder he had foolishly forgotten. Yet, in spite of the fact that he wasa young man and by no means averse from love, Rollo was so clean-mindedand so little given to think himself desirable in the eyes of women,that it never struck him that the presence of La Giralda and Conchamight be interpreted upon other and more personal principles than he hadmodestly represented to himself.

  True, Rollo was vain as a peacock--but not of his love-conquests.Punctilious as any Spaniard upon the smallest point of honour, in aquarrel he was as ready as a Parisian _maitre d'armes_ to pull out swordor pistol. Nevertheless when a man boasted in his presence of thefavours of a woman, he thought him a fool and a braggart--and was ingeneral nowise backward in telling him so.

  Thus it happened that, though Concha had received no honester or betterintentioned kiss in her life, the giver of it went about his militaryduties with a sense of having said his prayers, or generally, havingperformed some action raising himself in his own estimation.

  "God bless her," he said to himself, "I will be a better man for hersweet sake. And, by heavens, if I had had such a sister, I might havebeen a better fellow long ere this! God bless her, I say!"

  But what wonder is it that little Concha, in her passionate Spanishfashion understanding but one way of love, and being little interestedin brothers, felt the tears come to her eyes as Rollo's step waxedfainter in the distance, and said over and over to herself with smilingpleasure, "He loves me--he loves me! Oh, if only my mother had lived, Imight have been worthier of him. Then I would not have played with men'shearts for amusement to myself, as alas, I have too often done. Godforgive me, there was no harm, indeed. But--but--I am not worthy ofhim--I know I am not!"

  So Rollo's hasty kiss on the dark balcony was provocative of a healthyself-reproach on both sides--which at least was so much to the good.

  Concha peered out into the darkness towards the south where a few starswere blinking sleepily through the ground-mist. She could dimly discernthe outline of the town lying piled beneath her, without a light,without a sound, without a sign of life. From beyond the hills came aweird booming as of a distant cannonade. But Concha, the careless maidenwho had grown into a woman in an hour, did not think of these things.For to the Spanish girl, whose heart is touched to the core, there isbut one subject worthy of thought. Wars, battles, sieges, the distressesof queens, the danger of royal princesses--all are as nothing, becauseher lips have been kissed.

  "All the same," she muttered to herself, "he ought not have done it--andwhen I have a little recovered I will tell him so!"

  But at that moment, poised upon the topmost spike of the great gate infront of her, she saw the silhouette of a man. He was climbing upwards,with his hand on the cross-bar of the railing, and cautiouslyinsinuating a leg over the barrier, feeling meanwhile gingerly for afoothold on the palace side.

  "He is come to do evil to--to Rollo!" she said to herself, with a slighthesitation even in thought when she came for the first time upon theChristian name.

  But there was no hesitation in the swift assurance with which she setthe rifle-stock to her shoulder, and no mistake as the keen andpractised eye glanced along the barrel.

  She fired, and with a groan of pain the man fell back outside theenclosure.

  The sound of Concha's shot was the first tidings to the besieged thatthe gipsies had really arrived. Rollo, stealing lightfoot from post topost, pistol in hand, the Sergeant erect behind the vine-trellis on thebalcony between the rearward doors, Etienne and John Mortimer a littlefarther along on the same side of the chateau, all redoubled theirvigilance at the sound. But for the space of an hour or more nothingfarther was seen or heard north, south, east, or west of the beleagueredpalace of La Granja.

  The gipsies had not had the least idea that their intention was known.They expected no obstacles till the discharge of Concha's piece put themon their guard, and set them to concerting other and more subtle modesof attack. It was too dark for those in the chateau to see whether thewounded man lay where he had fallen or whether he had been removed byhis comrades.

  Rollo hastened back to Concha and inquired in a low voice what it wasshe had fired at. Whereupon she told him the story of the man climbingthe railings and how she had stayed his course so suddenly. Rollo madeno remark, save that she had done entirely right. Then he inquired ifshe had recharged her piece, and hearing that she wanted nothing and wasready for all emergencies, he departed upon his rounds without the leastleave-taking or approach to love-making. In her heart Concha respectedhim for this, but at the same time she could not help feeling that aSpaniard would have been somewhat warmer in his acknowledgments.Nevertheless she comforted herself with the thought that he had trustedher with one of the most important posts in the whole defence, and sheprayed fervently to the Virgin that she might be able to do her dutythere.

  She thought also that, when the morning came, perhaps he would have moretime. For her, she could wait--here she smiled a little. Yes, sheacknowledged it. She who had caught so many, was now taken in her ownnet. She would go to the world's end for this young Scot. Nor in herheart of hearts was she ashamed of it. Above and beyond all courtesiesand sugared phrases she loved his free-handed, careless, curt-spoken,hectoring way. After his one kiss, he had treated her exactly like anyother of his company. He did not make love well, but--she liked him nonethe worse for that. In such matters (sayeth the Wise Man) excellence isapt to come with experience.

  And he would learn. Yes, decidedly he might yet do credit to histeacher. To-morrow morning would arrive, and for the present, well--shewould keep her finger upon the trigger and a pair of remarkablyclear-sighted eyes upon the grey space of greensward crossed by blacktrellises of railing immediately before her. That in the mean time washer duty to her love and (she acknowledged it), her master.

  Apart from these details of his feeling for Concha, however (which gavehim little concern), Rollo was far from satisfied with the condition ofaffairs. He would rather (so he confided to the Sergeant) have defendeda sheepfold or a simple cottage than this many-chambered, many-passaged,mongrel chateau. His force was scattered out of sight, though for themost part not out of hearing of each other. It was indeed true that,owing to his excellent dispositions, and the fortunate situation of thebalconies, he was able to command every part of the castle enclosure,and especially the doors by which it was most likely that the chiefattempt would be made.

  So occupied had Rollo been with his affairs, both private and of amilitary character, that he had actually wholly forgotten the presenceof the Queen-Regent, her daughter and husband, within the palace of LaGranja. And this though he had come all that way across two of thewildest provinces of Spain for the sole purpose of securing theirpersons and transporting mother and daughter to the camp of Don Carlos.Nevertheless so instant was the danger which now overhung every one,that their intended captor had ceased to think of anything but how topreserve these royal lives and to keep them from the hands of theruthless gipsies of the hills.

  But circumstances quickly recalled the young man to his primarypurpose, and taught him that he must not trust too much to those whoseinterests were opposed to his own.

  Rollo, as we have said, had reserved no station for himself, butconstantly circulated round all the posts of his little army, ready atany time to add himself to the effective forces of the garrison at anythreatened point. It was while he was thus passing from balcony tobalcony on the second or defending storey that his quick ear caught thesound of a door opening and shutting on the floor beneath.

  "Ah," thought Rollo to himself, suspiciously, "the Queen and her peopleare safe in their chambers on this floor. No person
connected with thedefence ought to be down there. This is either treachery or the enemyhave gained admission by some secret passage!"

  With Rollo Blair to think was to act. So in another moment he hadslipped off his shoes, and treading noiselessly on his stocking solesand with a naked sword in his hand he made his way swiftly and carefullydown towards the place whence he had heard the noise.

  Descending by the grand _escalier_ he found himself in one of the narrowcorridors which communicated by private staircases with the left wing ofthe palace. Rollo stood still in the deepest shadow. He was sure that hecould hear persons moving near him, and once he thought that he coulddistinguish the sound of a muttered word.

  The Egyptian darkness about him grew more and more instinct with noises.There was a scuffling rustle, as of birds in a chimney, all over thebasement of the house. A door creaked as if a slight wind had blown it.Then a latch clicked, and the wind, unaided, does not click latches.Rollo withdrew himself deeper into a niche at the foot of the narrowwinding-stair which girdled a tower in the thickness of the wall.

  The young man had almost resolved to summon his whole force from above,so convinced was he that the enemy had gained a footing within the towerand were creeping up to take them in the rear, when a sound altered hisintention. There is nothing more unmistakable to the ear than therebellious whimper of an angry child compelled to do something againstits will.

  Rollo instantly comprehended the whole chain of circumstances. Thetreachery touched him more nearly than he had imagined possible. Thosefor whom he and his party were imperilling their lives were in fact toleave them to perish as best they might in the empty shell of thepalace. The royal birds were on the point of flying.

  A door opened, and through it (though dimly) Rollo could see the greatwaterfall glimmering and above the stars, chill over the snowy shoulderof Penalara. He could not make out who had opened the door, but therewas enough light to discern that a lady wrapped in a mantilla went outfirst. Then followed another, stouter and of shorter stature, apparentlycarrying a burden. Then the whole doorway was obscured by the tallfigure of a man.

  "Munoz himself, by Heaven!" thought Rollo.

  And with a leap he was after him, in his headlong course dashing to theground some other unseen person who confronted him in the hall.

  In a moment more he had caught the tall man by the collar and swung himimpetuously round back within the doorway.

  "Move one sole inch and your blood be on your own head!" he muttered.And the captive feeling Rollo's steel cold at his throat, remainedprudently silent. Not so the lady without. She uttered a cry which rangabout the silent chateau.

  "Munoz! My husband! Fernando, where art thou? Oh, they have slain him,and I only am to blame!"

  She turned about and rushed back to the door, which she was about toenter, when a cry far more sudden and terrible rang out behind her.

  "_They have killed the Princess! Some one hath slain my darling!_"

  At the word Rollo abandoned the man whom he was holding down, and withshouts of "Cardono!" "El Sarria!" "To me! They are upon us!" he flunghimself outside.

  There was little to be discerned clearly when he emerged into the cooldamp darkness, only a dim heap of writhing bodies as in some combat ofhounds or of the denizens of the midnight forest. But Rollo once andagain saw a flash of steel and a hand uplifted to strike. Withoutwaiting to think he gripped that which was topmost and therefore nearestto him, and finding it unexpectedly light, he swung the thing clear bythe garment he had clutched. As he did so he felt a pain in his rightshoulder, which at the time appeared no more than the bite of a squirrelor the sting of a bee. With one heave he threw the object, human or nothe could not for the moment determine, behind him into the blackness ofthe hall.

  "Take hold there, somebody!" he cried, for by this time he could hearthe clattering of the feet of his followers on the stairs and flaggedpassages.

  Outside under the stars something or some one larger and heavier lay onthe ground and moaned. As Rollo bent over it there came a rush of menfrom all sides, and the young man had scarcely time to straightenhimself up and draw his pistol before he found himself attacked by halfa dozen men.

  His pistol cracked and an assailant tumbled on his face, while the flashin the pan revealed that he had already an ally. The Sergeant was besidehim, by what means did not then appear. For he had certainly not comethrough the door, and at this Rollo drew a long breath and appliedhimself to his sword-play with renewed vigour. The assailants, he soonfound, were mostly armed with long knives, which, however, had littlechance against the long and expert blades of the Sergeant and Rollo.

  After proving on several occasions the deadly quality of these last,they broke and ran this way and that, while from the windows above(where the two royal servants were posted, with La Giralda on guardbetween them), a scattering fire broke out, which tumbled more than oneof the fugitives upon the grass.

  With great and grave tenderness Rollo and the Sergeant carried thatwhich lay on the grass within. In a moment more they had the door shutand bolted, when from the rear of the hall came the voice of El Sarria.

  "For God's sake," he cried, "bring a light! For I have that here whichis in human form, yet bites and scratches and howls like a wild beast! Icannot hold it long. It is nothing less than a devil incarnate!"

  * * * * *

  Most strange and incomprehensible of all that the light revealed, wasthe appearance of the giant El Sarria, who, his hands and face bleedingwith scratches, and seated on the final steps of the cork-screwstaircase, held in his arms clear of the ground the bent and contortedform of a young girl. So desperate were her struggles that it was all hecould do to confine her feet by passing them under his arm, while withone great palm he grasped two flat and meagre wrists in a grip of steel.Yet in spite of his best efforts the wild thing still struggled, andindeed more than once came within a hair's-breadth of fastening herteeth in his cheek.

  As he had said, there was more of the wild beast of the woods taken in atrap than of human creature in these frantic struggles and inarticulatecries. The girl foamed at the mouth. She threw herself backward into theshape of a bow till her head almost touched her feet, and againmomentarily twisting herself like an eel half out of El Sarria's grasp,she endeavoured, with a force that seemed impossible to so frail a body,to reach the group by the door, where Munoz was still supporting theQueen Maria Cristina.

  Presently Cardono desisted from his examination of the body of thewaiting-woman. He shook his head murmuring--"Dead! Dead! of a certaintystone-dead!"

  And the Sergeant was a good judge of life and death. He had seen much ofboth.

  Then he came over to where El Sarria was still struggling awkwardly withthe wild and maniacal thing, as if he could not bring his great strengthto bear upon a creature so lithe and quick. At the first glance hestarted back and turned his gaze on the royal group.

  For that which he now saw, distorted with the impotence of passion andmadness, was no other than the little girl whom he had met in the campof the gipsies on the side of Guadarrama--the daughter of Munoz, theplan-maker and head-centre of the whole attack.

  The Sergeant stood a moment or two fingering his chin, as a man does whoconsiders with himself whether it is worth while shaving. Then with hisusual deliberation he undid a leathern strap from his waist and withgreat consideration but equal effectiveness he buckled the girl's handsfirmly behind her back. Then with a sash of silk he proceeded to do thelike office with her feet.

  Just as he was tying the final knots, the girl made one supreme effort.She actually succeeded in twisting her body out of the arms of ElSarria, and flung herself headlong in the direction of Munoz and theQueen, spitting like a cat. But the Sergeant's extemporised shackles didtheir work, and the poor tortured creature would have fallen on her faceupon the cold flags of the stone floor but that El Sarria caught her inhis arms, and lifting her gently up, proceeded to convey her to anotherapartment where she might more safel
y be taken care of.

  In order to do this, however, he had to pass close by the Queen-Regentand her consort. It happened that the latter, who till that moment hadbeen wholly occupied by his cares for the recovery of his mistress, hadscarcely glanced either at the motionless heap staining the floor withblood or at the wild thing scrambling and biting savagely in the arms ofEl Sarria.

  But the girl's struggles were now over for that time. Her fit ofdemoniacal fury had apparently completely exhausted her. Her head layback pale and white, the livid lips drawn so as to show the teeth in aghastly smile, and her whole body drooped, relaxed and flaccid, over hercaptor's arm.

  The Queen-Regent was just able once more to stand upon her feet when ElSarria passed with his burden. The eyes of Munoz fell upon the girl'spale distorted features. He started back and almost dropped the Queen inhis horror.

  "Whence came this she-devil?" he cried, "What is she doing here? Let herbe locked in a dungeon. Eugene will show you where. She will cut all ourthroats else!"

  "Has this child not the honour to be daughter to his Excellency the Dukeof Rianzares?" inquired the Sergeant, grimly.

  "She is a maniac, I tell you! I put her in a madhouse and she escaped!She hath sworn my death!" cried Munoz, his supercilious calm for oncequite broken up.

  "And what is this that she hath done?" he cried, holding up his hands ashis eyes fell on the body of the nurse Susana. In another moment,however, he had partially recovered himself.

  "My beloved lady," he said, turning to his wife, "this is certainly noplace for you. Let me conduct you to your own chamber!"

  "Not without the added presence of one of my people, sir," said Rollo,sternly; "this had not happened but for your intention of secretlydeserting us, and leaving us to hold the castle alone against the cruelenemy of whose approach we risked our lives to warn you!"

  Meanwhile the Queen-Regent had been casting her eyes wildly anduncomprehendingly around. Now she looked at the motionless form of thegirl in the arms of El Sarria, now at the dead woman upon the floor, butall without the least token that she understood how the tragedy had cometo pass.

  But suddenly she threw her arms into the air and uttered a wild scream.

  "Where is my Isabel--where is my daughter? She was in the arms of thenurse Susana who lies there before us. They have killed her also. Thisdevil-born has killed her! Where shall I find her?--My darling--theprotected of the Virgin, the future Queen of all the Spains?"

  But it was a question no one could answer. None had seen the littleIsabel, since the moment when she had passed forth through the portal ofthe palace into the night, clasped in the faithful arms of her nurse.

  She had not cried. She had not returned. Apparently not a soul hadthought of her, save only the woman whose life had been laid down forher sake, as a little common thing is set on a shelf and forgotten.

  So, for this reason, the question of Maria Cristina remained unanswered.For, even as a star shoots athwart the midnight sky of winter, so thelittle Queen of Spain had passed and been lost in the darkness andterror without the beleaguered castle of La Granja.