CHAPTER V.
VASQUEZ, THE BANDIT.
Harkaway was merely taken to the station-house and kept there half anhour.
This was all the indignity he was subjected to.
After this he was discharged, as no one came to make any complaintagainst him.
All Lord Maltravers wanted was the scene in the theatre, the scandal ofwhich could be made into a very pretty story for the newspapers.
Harkaway's escapade, as it would be called, could be sent to MissVanhoosen, and her mind be poisoned by reading how Jack was caught in abox at the theatre with another man's wife.
This was part of his deep-laid plot.
Jack returned to the Palace Hotel, where Mr. Mole and Harvey wereawaiting him.
They could not help laughing when they heard how Maltravers hadsucceeded in tricking him, after all.
"Never mind; there will be no harm done," said the professor. "You canwrite to Miss Vanhoosen, and your word will go further than anything hecan say."
"It isn't what he can say," exclaimed Jack; "it's what the papers willprint."
"Hang the papers!" growled Harvey.
"Of course," continued Jack, "Maltravers will send the papers to Lena,and you all know what women think of anything in print."
"It's a dirty, mean trick of Maltravers," said Harvey.
"So it is; but what if he carries out the rest of his programme, as thegirl in the box described it, and sends our friend Jack to the Brazils?"
"I should look well as a galley slave," remarked Jack, laughing.
"It is no laughing matter," continued Mr. Mole.
"We won't leave him," said Harvey. "He shan't go out alone."
This being settled, they retired to rest.
The morning papers fully realized Jack's expectations, for theycontained full and sensational accounts of the disturbance at theCalifornia Theatre.
Names were freely given, and the affair aroused the liveliest interest.
In vain Jack wrote letters explanatory of the occurrence. The paperswould not insert them, so the lie went forth uncontradicted, andMaltravers was triumphant.
While Jack was chewing the cud of bitter reflection, he received aletter bearing the Calistoga postmark.
It was signed "Anonymous," and stated the following:
"If Mr. Harkaway wishes to meet Lord Maltravers, he can find him at theGeysers, in Northern California. Go to Fossville from Calistoga and youwill find fresh instructions awaiting you, with Four-in-Hand Foss."
"Look at this," said Jack, handing the letter to Harvey.
Dick read it and replied:
"Queer! Who the deuce is Four-in-Hand Foss?"
"I'll find out, for I'll start for Calistoga to-day."
Mr. Mole entered at this juncture.
"And what will you go to Calistoga for?" he asked.
Jack read him the letter.
"It's a trap, my dear friend," replied the professor.
"Trap or no trap, I'm going," answered Jack.
He rang the bell and called his black servant, Monday.
"What's in de wind now, sah?" asked Monday.
"Pack up. We are going to start for the North."
That afternoon they crossed the bay in the steamer, and taking thesteam-cars, reached Calistoga by nightfall.
In the morning they were surprised to hear that "Four-in-Hand Foss" waswaiting outside their hotel.
Harkaway went down-stairs and asked to see Mr. Foss.
He was shown a tall, handsome man, between fifty and sixty years ofage, who is well-known to every tourist on the Pacific Slope.
"Well, Mr. Foss," said Jack, after the introduction was effected, "towhat am I indebted for the honor of this visit?"
"I heard you had arrived," replied Foss, "and that you intended tovisit the Geysers. I own the road over the mountains, and I reckonedI'd drive you myself."
"Much obliged, I'm sure."
"You're welcome."
"Have you any message for me?" inquired Jack.
"You're Harkaway, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Then I was told to tell you that you would meet the man you are insearch of in the hills."
"Is that all?"
"All."
"Who told you?"
"Well," said Foss, "he's a fellow I've met around considerable, and heis called Nappa Bill."
"Nappa Bill!" repeated Jack. "That's the fellow I shot in SanFrancisco."
"Maybe--he wears one arm in a sling," replied Foss, carelessly.
"Will you breakfast with me?" perused Jack.
"I'll take a cocktail. Fact is, I'm not much on eating to-day."
"Why not? Has anything occurred to take away your appetite, may I ask?"
"I'm in mourning for a five-hundred dollar horse that died of theglanders, yesterday, and it isn't ten to one that I don't spill you outof the coach before I get you up the hill."
Jack invited him into the breakfast-room and introduced him to hiscompanions.
When they had eaten something they got into the stage, which was drawnby six horses.
Foss was the best driver in California, and the way in which he handleda team was quite fascinating to Jack, who could "handle the ribbons"and "tool a pair of tits" as well as the next one.
The distance between Calistoga and Fossville was completed in abouttwenty-five minutes, the stage rolling about in the most alarmingmanner.
It was arranged they should stay for lunch, and Mr. Foss indulged infurther demonstrations of grief for the five-hundred dollar horse.
That is to say, he drank enough champagne to float an ordinaryrowing-boat.
At one o'clock they started to ascend the mountains on their way to theGeysers.
Harkaway was perfectly charmed by the magnificent scenery which he sawon all sides.
So engrossed was he in contemplating the wonders of nature that he didnot see a man spring out in the middle of the road.
Nor did he notice half a dozen men form in line behind the stage.
These held blocks of stone in their hands, and when Foss brought hishorses to a standstill, they placed the stones behind the wheels toprevent the stage slipping down hill.
They were fully armed with rifles and pistols; knives peeped out oftheir belts, and their faces wore an air of ferocious determination.
"Halt!" cried the leader.
It was at this command that Foss stopped his horses.
The leader wore his arm in a sling, and Harkaway had no difficulty inrecognizing the familiar features of Nappa Bill.
"Throw up your arms," continued the leader.
Jack looked round and saw that they were surrounded.
"What shall we do?" he asked of Foss.
"Got to weaken," replied Foss.
Mr. Mole appeared very indignant and drew a pistol, which he dischargedat Nappa Bill.
The bullet missed the mark, and Bill laughed loudly.
"Put up your iron, you old fool," he said; "we only want Jack Harkawayout of your crowd, and if we don't have him step down and out, rightaway, there'll be a circus here, with some dead bodies in it, mightyquick."
"Look at here," replied Foss. "I don't want people to think that I'm inthis thing. You give me a message to take to Calistoga for you to thisgentleman, Mr. Harkaway, and that's all there is in it."
"That is true, Foss; you are as square as they make them."
"Let us go on, then."
"Not till Harkaway gets out."
Harvey now leveled his pistol at Nappa Bill.
"You scoundrel," he said; "take that."
As before, the bullet flew wide of the mark.
"Ha, ha!" laughed Nappa Bill; "the ball isn't molded yet that can hitme."
Just then some one fired from behind, and Harvey fell into the stagewith a bullet in his shoulder.
"My God, I'm hit!" he cried.
Jack rose up.
"We are overpowered," he exclaimed. "I do not wish my friends to sufferfor my sake."
"Surrender!" said Nappa Bill.
Jack deliberately walked over to the man and threw down his pistol.
"This is a civilized State," he said. "You daren't murder me. Let myfriends go on, and I will become your prisoner, for I know that therewill be such a hue and cry in a day or two that California will be toohot to hold you."
"That's what you say," replied the robber, mockingly.
Harkaway folded his arms and stood his ground.
"Drive on, Foss," said the robber.
"Who the deuce are you, anyway?" asked Four-in-Hand Foss.
"Do you want to know, particularly?"
"If I didn't I shouldn't ask."
The robber drew himself up proudly to his full height.
"I am Vasquez, the bandit," he cried.
Foss indulged in a prolonged whistle.
"Jerusalem!" he said, hitting his horses. "Git up thar. That settlesit. I didn't count on meeting with Vasquez."
"No hard feelings, old man," cried Vasquez, who had concealed hisidentity under the name of Nappa Bill.
"Not at all, pard. So long."
The horses started, and the stage went on up the hill.
Harkaway was in the custody of Vasquez and his men, while Mr. Mole,half frightened to death, and Harvey, dangerously wounded, were slowlycarried away, it not being in the power of Foss to prevent thisconsummation.
Jack turned smilingly to his captor, and said:
"Now, Mr. Vasquez, if that is your name, what are you going to do withme?"
"My dear sir," replied Vasquez, the celebrated bandit, about whosecrimes the whole of California was excited, "I will allow some one elseto answer that question."
A man stepped forward.
He had been concealed in the bush hitherto, but directly Jack saw himhe recognized Lord Maltravers.
"Mr. Harkaway," said Maltravers, "you have kindly fallen into thelittle trap I laid for you. It is with great pleasure that I meet youagain, and I shall now send you on a trip which will take you to SouthAmerica."
Jack turned pale.
He saw how foolish he had been to despise the power of his lordship.
"What mean you?" he asked.
"Simply that you are on your way to the diamond mines of Brazil."
"You cannot be in earnest?"
"Never more so in my life, I assure you."
"Villain!"
Lord Maltravers twirled his mustache.
"Yes," he replied, complacently, "I am all that the word implies."
"But----"
"I cannot waste time in talking to you. Pray excuse me," interruptedMaltravers.
Vasquez, the bandit, took hold of Jack's arm and led him away.
Six men with pistols leveled followed on each side.
Escape was impossible.
Lower down in the road a stage was in waiting, and it conveyed theparty in two days to the coast.
Jack was put on board a sailing vessel.
The captain was named Moreland.
"You have your orders?" said Vasquez to Moreland.
"Yes," replied the captain; "my instructions are in writing."
"See that they are fulfilled to the letter."
"I will."
Vasquez left the ship, and Harkaway was confined in the captain'scabin, where he could amuse himself with books and papers.
That afternoon the ship sailed, and Jack was bound for a long voyage.
Lord Maltravers was triumphant again.
Jack now blamed himself for yielding so easily, but he reflected thatif he had made any resistance his whole party would have been killed.
The odds against them were too great.
Wondering if Harvey was much hurt, and consoling himself with thereflection that his friends knew where to look for him, he lighted acigar which he found on the table, and waited for Captain Moreland tocome to him.
The Slave of the Mine; or, Jack Harkaway in 'Frisco Page 5
