Wind of Destiny

by Christopher Nicole

  ‘Well, I think it was, because the tide was holding the raft against the ship.’

  ‘If it wasn’t touching, it should have done nothing more than scratch the paint,’ Jack argued.

  ‘Well, she certainly went up,’ Rafael said. ‘As I say, maybe the bottom increased the force of the blast. And then, we must have set off a magazine. You should see Havana. It is wrecked. Half the windows are blown in. The panic was like nothing I have ever known.’ He was riding a tremendous high of excitement, Toni realised. Of achievement, at having destroyed both a great ship and a great city, in a matter of seconds.

  ‘So what happens now?’ Jack asked.

  ‘We shall have to wait and see.’

  ‘What about the sailors who got ashore?’

  ‘Oh, they were taken care of by the authorities, of course. They are to be repatriated to America. In addition to Joe, the captain also survived. They’ll have a pretty tale to tell.’ ‘You say you saw Joe. Did he see you?’ Toni asked.

  ‘I think he may have done. He looked directly at me. But I made off before he could say anything; there were policemen around.’ ‘And you seriously believe this will bring America into the war on our side?’ Jack remarked. ‘If Joe mentions to the authorities that he saw you, when you are already suspected of planting bombs in the city, it is more likely to bring diem in on the Spanish side.’

  ‘No one will believe that I would have attacked an American warship,’ Rafael declared. ‘No American, anyway.’

  ‘Then who do you think they are going to accuse? When everyone in Havana was clearly just as much at risk, and from what you are saying, clearly as horrified by the explosion as any American is going to be?’

  ‘Not everyone, my friend,’ Rafael said. ‘Who is to know just who was surprised by what happened and who was merely pretending to be surprised? As for wrecking the Havana waterfront, if that torpedo had been planted by the Spanish, would they care what happened to Havana?’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ Jack said. ‘It’s their city. They built it.’

  ‘I still say, we will wait and see,’ Rafael said. ‘And I will tell you this: when we have won this war, and Cuba is free, they will erect a statue to me right there in Havana, on the waterfront. I will look forward to that. Now let us talk of more important matters. You have betrayed my bed, Toni.’

  She caught her breath, because in the strangest way, while they had been discussing the awful tragedy of the Maine, and while she was still utterly revolted by the crime, the tension she had felt on first seeing him had started to ease, helped of course by the news that Joe had survived. Now she looked at Jack, who was on his feet. He had buckled on his guns while they spoke, but he always did that on rising.

  But Rafael was grinning at them. ‘I am not angry. This is a different way of life to anything we have known in the past. And you thought I was dead. Very well, I am alive. So I forgive you. I will do more. I will share her with you, Jack. How about that, eh?’

  ‘No,’ Toni gasped. ‘Never.’

  Rafael raised his eyebrows. ‘You are still the blushing bride, my Toni? After having shared yourself with Lumbrera, and God knows how many prison guards? Well, Jack, it seems you are out of luck.’

  ‘I think Toni means that she no longer wishes to be your wife, Rafael,’ Jack said, speaking very slowly and distinctly.

  Rafael’s grin slowly turned into a frown, and he looked at Toni.

  She licked her lips. ‘I … Jack is right. You have murdered God knows how many of my countrymen. And you could have killed my brother.’

  ‘How can we not be married?’ Rafael demanded. ‘We were joined by the bishop of Santiago.’ He threw out his arms. ‘In the eyes of God, we are joined forever.’

  ‘I do not think even God will expect me to honour my vows any longer,’ Toni declared. ‘Not after what you have done.’

  ‘I see. But you wish to be Jack’s wife, eh?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Rafael looked from one to the other again, and Toni tensed her muscles, while she could tell that Jack, however relaxed he appeared, also was waiting for the explosion. As were the guerrillas, gathered in a group some distance behind their general. That they would support him, especially now that he had carried out what they felt was a deed of great derring-do, against a gringo, was obvious. But Rafael suddenly smiled. ‘So you have made a choice,’ he said. ‘As I said, things are different now, to what they once were. We shall have to wait until our lives are back to normal, before we … discuss this further.’ He turned and walked away.

  *

  Toni still felt extremely mistrustful of the situation, expected him to pick a fight with Jack at any moment, but he continued to appear perfectly contented with the situation, and restored Incarna to her position of honour as the general’s woman, which pleased her greatly. Indeed, if the arrangement was quite the most amoral Toni could ever have considered, indicative, she felt, of the general moral collapse of these men, and women, who had stepped aside from the conventions of society, it did not seem to disturb the other guerrillas either. Or Jack, who was sensing a permanent arrangement. Oh, how she wanted something permanent, with Jack — even outside of marriage. But where would that leave Christina?

  Meanwhile there was a decision to be taken, about what they did next. Jack was still for pulling out and returning to the south, as he was convinced that the government would now really go over to the offensive, driven by American anger at the loss of their ship and their men to find the guilty, at whatever cost. Rafael still wanted to wait and see what happened. So while they wrangled, they sent another spy into Havana, and it was he who returned with momentous news. ‘A general amnesty,’ he shouted as he approached the encampment. ‘General Blanco has announced a general amnesty.’

  They frowned at him in disbelief.

  ‘It is true,’ he insisted. ‘There are to be no exclusions. It applies to all guerrillas who are prepared to lay down their arms.’

  ‘How did this happen?’ Jack asked him.

  ‘It is because of the ship. The Americans are saying that the Spanish blew her up.’

  Rafael snapped his fingers.

  ‘And what are the Spanish saying?’ Jack demanded.

  ‘That it was an internal explosion. Caused by internal combustion in the coal bunkers.’

  ‘I knew it,’ Rafael cried in delight. ‘Neither side would ever consider that a guerrilla could do such a thing.’

  ‘And the Americans won’t accept the Spanish theory?’ Toni asked.

  ‘Their newspapers are calling for war, demanding that an ultimatum be sent to Madrid … Oh, senora, the government of General Blanco is very frightened. Thus the amnesty. They wish to demonstrate that the revolution is at an end, and that there can now be no reason for the Americans to intervene.’

  ‘If that is true … ’ Jack looked at Toni.

  ‘Then we can all go home,’ she said. ‘Home to Obrigar.’ And then bit her lip. Who was she returning with?

  ‘If it is true,’ Rafael sneered.

  ‘Oh, it is true, senor general,’ the guerrilla said. ‘We can all go home. General Blanco has said so.’

  Rafael stared at him for several seconds, then turned away and looked at the mountains. ‘If it is true,’ he said at last, ‘it is because General Blanco is frightened of what the Americans may do next, as you have said. I think we should wait and see just what they do next, before we make a decision.’

  ‘But … if we can go home,’ Toni said.

  ‘Go home? Go home to what? A burned out plantation house? A ruined crop which has been abandoned for three years? A wrecked factory? Do you think the government is going to give us the money to rebuild our home? Rebuild Obrigar?’

  ‘Then what are we going to do?’

  ‘We are going to stay in the mountains and see what happens. Oh, we will return to the south to join Pedro Garcia. But don’t you understand, that if the Americans do come into the war, then we will have achieved our objectives? I will ha
ve achieved my objective,’ he added proudly. ‘And we will win, and free Cuba from Spanish rule. And I will form the government.’

  ‘And if they do not enter the war?’

  He shrugged. ‘Then we can consider surrender.’

  Toni looked at Jack. For just a little while she had thought he was going to be sensible. But now he also shrugged. ‘I think the general has a point,’ he agreed. ‘We cannot abandon all those who have died, and suffered, if there is any chance of success.’

  Toni wanted to weep.

  *

  ‘Come on, come on,’ shouted the guards. ‘Let’s go. Come on, come on.’

  The women stared at them in bewilderment, as they were herded from the inner compound of the camp to the outer. They did not understand what was about to happen. Perhaps they were going to be executed, at last — some had always supposed this was to be their eventual fate. Christina held Manuela’s hand, tightly. They had become the closest of friends, the mistress and the maidservant, because there had been no one else to turn to, especially since Toni’s escape; they were the last two survivors of the women who had been marched away from Obrigar. The others had all either been released, when their husbands had surrendered, or they had died, like Dona Carlotta. Now, perhaps, they were to die as well, together.

  The commandant looked them over. He was, presumably, a better man than Lumbrera, but they had seen little evidence of it. Until today, for today he was smiling at them, as they assembled before him. ‘By order of General Blanco,’ he shouted. ‘Governor General of Cuba, and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, all internment camps are as of now closed.’

  They stared at him, still not comprehending.

  ‘That means you are free to go,’ he said, and pointed at the gates, which were being pushed open by the guards.

  Christina looked at the beaten earth roadway, and beyond, the track leading to El Caney. Free to go? ‘To go where?’ she asked.

  ‘Wherever you choose, Senorita Diaz. For you, and your maid, there is a free rail ticket to any destination in Cuba. General Blanco has pronounced a general amnesty. You can go and find your brother and your sister-in-law. Even they have been amnestied. Cuba is to have peace once more.’

  That sounded even more incomprehensible to her.

  ‘Can it be real, senorita?’ Manuela whispered.

  ‘So leave,’ the commandant ordered. ‘Please leave,’ he begged them. ‘This camp is to be dismantled.’

  Christina gazed at the gate again. Then one of the women gave a whoop and ran through it, laughing and shrieking. The others followed. Christina and Manuela brought up the rear. Outside there was quite a crowd of people from Santiago, who had come out on learning of the general amnesty, and were offering food and wine to the emaciated inmates. Christina seized a loaf of bread in her hands and tore at it, as if she had never in her life sat down to a meal at a table laid with crystal and silver. But there was no one in the crowd who would recognise this gaunt, haggard woman, with the tattered gown and the unwashed skin and the greasy hair.

  ‘It is because of the explosion,’ someone was explaining. ‘In Havana. An American warship has been sunk, and the government is trying to avert a war with the United States. Is that not good news?’

  Christina had no idea what the woman was talking about. Still clutching her loaf of bread, and her rail ticket, she walked towards El Caney, where the train could be seen standing in the station. Manuela came beside her, also with a handful of food, and a bottle of wine. ‘What are we going to do, senorita?’ she asked.

  ‘We are going to take the train to Daiquiri,’ Christina told her. ‘At Daiquiri, we will go into the sea, and bathe and bathe and bathe. Then we will sit on the beach and drink that bottle of wine. Then we are going to walk out to Obrigar, and when we are there, we are going to sleep and sleep. On Obrigar,’ she repeated.

  *

  ‘Come in, Captain Sigsbee, Lieutenant Mc-Gann.’ Navy Secretary John Long stood up to welcome the two officers. ‘Glad to have you back. Sit down.’ He returned behind his desk, and his secretary also sat down, notebook in hand. ‘Quite a mess,’ Long remarked, picking up the sheet of paper in front of him. ‘Two hundred men lost. God damn.’

  Sigsbee cleared his throat; he looked utterly miserable. ‘I’m afraid there have been some more deaths, Mr Secretary.’

  Long raised his eyebrows.

  ‘The total now stands at two hundred and fifty-eight men and two officers,’ Joe said.

  ‘Good God. That means … ’

  ‘There were just ninety-four survivors,’ Joe told him.

  ‘Those scoundrels,’ Long said.

  ‘The Spanish could not have been more shocked by what happened, or more helpful to the survivors, sir,’ Sigsbee pointed out.

  Long frowned at him. ‘Just what are you trying to say, Captain? Your ship was blown up, in a most dastardly and treacherous manner, while in an apparently friendly harbour. What the hell else is there to say?’

  Sigsbee looked at Joe; they had spent a good deal of time discussing that point.

  ‘There was a small combustion problem in one of the bunkers,’ Joe explained. ‘It is possible that some inflammable material got into the bilges, close by the forward magazine. There is no doubt that it was the explosion of the forward magazine which caused the destruction of the ship.’

  Long’s frown deepened. ‘You trying to tell me it was an internal explosion? Hell, I know that’s what the Spanish are claiming, but no one’s going to believe them.’

  ‘I’m saying that could have been the cause,’ Joe pointed out.

  ‘Your log was destroyed with the ship, right?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Sigsbee agreed.

  ‘So who else knew about this bunker problem?’

  ‘Chief Morrissey.’

  ‘Where is he?’

  ‘He went up with the ship, sir,’ Joe said.

  ‘Ah.’ Long’s brow cleared. ‘Presumably it was he who reported the problem?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘So really it was his theory that something was wrong. But you don’t really believe there was, do you, gentlemen?’

  It was Joe’s turn to look at Sigsbee. While he had told his captain about the raft, he had not mentioned seeing Rafael in the crowd. That could have been coincidence. If he had been taken aback when his brother-in-law had not attempted to greet him or discover how he was, he had soon remembered that Rafael Diaz was accused of planting bombs in Havana and would presumably be executed on sight. And the fact that he had been accused of planting bombs in Havana did not necessarily mean he had blown up an American warship; it was difficult to believe that Rafael, or any other guerrilla, could have been so criminally stupid.

  ‘It could have been a spar torpedo,’ Sigsbee said. ‘Neither of the marines on guard duty, nor the officer of the watch, have survived, but Lieutenant McGann saw what was assumed to be a mass of floating debris close by the ship shortly before the explosion.’

  ‘Did you report that, Lieutenant?’ Long demanded.

  ‘It was seen by the watch, and they directed a searchlight on it,’ Joe said. ‘After close inspection, nothing sinister was observed. I went along with that opinion at the time. It was only half an hour later, after I had turned in, I realised that the debris had appeared to be drifting against the tide. I got up to return on deck and conduct another inspection, but the explosion took place before I could do so. I take full responsibility for my negligence.’

  ‘Negligence, hell. How the devil were you supposed to imagine the Dons would do anything like that?’

  Joe opened his mouth and then closed it again. It had to have been the Spanish, if it had been anyone. Surely. But even that had been an act of the most criminal folly. An act of war, in fact.

  ‘It is my opinion, sir,’ Sigsbee said, ‘that the torpedo alone could not have inflicted so much damage. I suspect there was some combustible material in the bilge, the explosion set it off, and that in turn set off the magazine.’ />
  ‘Hmm,’ Long commented. ‘You read the papers?’ He picked one up from the desk, read aloud, “Remember the Maine, the hell with Spain.” That’s the mood of the entire country right now, gentlemen; the people are hell bent on war. Well, I guess we’ve wanted a casus belli for a long time, eh? There’ll be no holding back now. You want to remember that when you face the board of inquiry tomorrow. The fact that the Spanish treated you well when you got ashore and then sent you home, the fact that they’re now bending over backwards to convince the world that they’re really good guys, don’t mean a damn beside the fact that they sank one of our warships. Incidentally, regardless of the finding of the inquiry, I have new assignments for you both. Captain Sigsbee, you’ll assume command of the cruiser St Paul.’

  ‘Why, thank you, sir,’ Sigsbee said. Like Joe, he had wondered if his career was at an end.

  ‘Lieutenant McGann, I’m giving you command of the torpedo boat Dahlgren.’

  ‘Thank you, sir,’ Joe stammered, totally surprised. His first independent command!

  ‘See that you use them well, gentlemen, when you get a Spaniard in your sights,’ Long said, getting up to signify that the interview was at an end. ‘I’ll see you in court.’

  Sigsbee and Joe looked at each other as they got outside. ‘What do you think, Joe?’

  ‘I think that we have a war on our hands, as the man said. Whether the Spaniards are guilty or not. I don’t think the President could survive if he doesn’t take action now.’ ‘Yeah,’ Sigsbee answered. ‘Do you think the Spanish are guilty?’

  ‘I have an odd feeling that they are not, sir. At least of the crime of blowing up the Maine. But as far as Cuba is concerned, I reckon they have one or two other crimes on their consciences that need atoning for. As far as I’m concerned, I’m at last being allowed to do something about my sister. And I’m real happy about that.’

  And about my sister-in-law, he thought. If it isn’t too late.

  *

  Commodore William Thomas Sampson was a tall man, fifty-eight years old, with a square white beard. A veteran of the Civil War, in which his ship, the monitor Patabesco, had been sunk by a mine in Charleston Harbour, he had spent several years as superintendent of the Naval Academy. Now there could be no question that he welcomed a sea going command, and what a command; the North Atlantic Fleet, which included nearly all the new battleships, at a moment when the United States was on the verge of war.