CHAPTER XVA NIGHT OF ALARM
Afterthe midshipmen had ridden away Maria returned to the large living-room to bid her father good-night. A new pleasure had come into her life, and what was more natural than that she should wish to share it with him? These frank, young Americans had proved themselves to be of a quality which she had not thought existed outside of the story-books of her childhood. She believed that in their friendship her father’s difficulties would melt away. Juan Rodriguez, interested as he had always been in the political trials of his country together with the management of his vast estates, from which he had reaped great riches, like most Filipinos of the upper class, had treated his only daughter more as a heaven-sent treasure rather than as a daughter to confide in and in whom to seek womanly sympathy in his perplexities. Her principal care had been for her brother, Juan, the prideof the old man’s life. Upon this seven-year-old boy the greater part of his affection was centred. Maria was not at all sleepy, and, seeing a light in her father’s bedroom, she slipped in quietly to pour out her heart to the stern but kindly parent.
On the threshold she stopped in startled amazement. Her slippered feet had made no sound and the door as she pushed it open caused him to glance up in annoyed surprise. She saw her father on his knees in the corner before several heavy iron-bound chests, and their opened covers displayed to her anxious eyes a great wealth of gold and silver coins. More money than her young imagination had ever dreamed of.
As Rodriguez’s eyes encountered the startled look in his daughter’s face, an expression of stern annoyance came into his own as he snapped the huge lids shut and rose to his feet.
“Why do you keep all that money here?” she asked anxiously.
Her father looked worried at the question.
“All the money I have is in those chests, daughter,” he answered in a low voice. “It hasbeen buried, but when Garcia deserted me, Lopez and I dug it up and brought it in here. I fear these native banks, and if I should be robbed by the insurgents I would leave you and Juan penniless. My lands are valuable, but these,” pointing to the chests, “contain the most of my wealth. My ambition is to take my children abroad, away from this turmoil and strife where they can see the world and be educated in a way befitting the blood in their veins.”
Maria put her arms about the old man’s neck and kissed him fondly. “Father,” she began, her eyes smiling with happiness, “I came in to speak to you of the two young men who have just left us. Tell them of your troubles and I know they will be able to solve the difficulty.”
Rodriguez smiled sadly.
“Your knights, child, I see have already been endowed with magic powers,” he answered lovingly, patting her smooth black hair, “but we have a cruel and unscrupulous enemy against us, and I am sure by now he knows of the existence of this treasure. Garcia and I were the only ones who knew where it was buried,and I trusted him as a brother but he has deserted and betrayed me. Lopez is from the people, but his honesty and loyalty are beyond doubt. Captain Blynn knows that this money is here and has promised to send a company of soldiers to take it to safety in the government vaults at Palilo. I had hoped he would be here before now,” he ended in a worried tone.
“Why bury it?” Maria exclaimed. “Our American friends would gladly take it on the gunboat, where it will be perfectly safe.”
Rodriguez’s face lighted up.
“I will ask them to-morrow,” she added as she kissed her father in parting, “and now don’t lose any sleep over your troublesome gold.” She turned, a happy smile on her face, and glided noiselessly to the door, to enter her own room; she stopped and the smile froze on her face and the fear within her made her faint; she clutched reeling at the door and steadied herself. The face of a man had been pressed against the dark glass of the window in her room, and she knew instantly that he had seen through the opened door the three coveted chests of treasure. She passed herhands across her face in horror, hoping that it was but a trick of the imagination, conjured up by her anxiety. But no, the face had been too vividly distinct. As she had entered the darkness of her room, for an instant the light from her father’s lamp had been reflected on the intruder’s face, and in that terrible moment she had recognized her father’s former confidant, but now his enemy, Garcia. She stood panic-stricken, at a loss how to act. To give the alarm might insure her father’s death. Perhaps the enemy had made their way within and were at that very moment concealed in the great vacant rooms, lying hidden in the darkness waiting until the household were all asleep, and then murder and robbery would be their aim. If she told her father now, she knew that he would fearlessly and at once give the alarm and call for his armed men to protect him. Then a thought made the blood freeze in her veins, as her active mind sought for the means Garcia had employed to pass her father’s sentries. There could be but one solution. Garcia had sowed dissension among her father’s retainers. How many of his men could nowbe trusted? While she stood in terrified silence, a loud knock on the outside door caused her young body to tremble in mortal terror. What could it mean? Who would come at this hour in the morning? She saw her father make ready to answer, for the servants all slept in a house adjoining.
“I’ll open it,” she cried, trying to disguise the tremble in her voice, and with shaking limbs she crept down the stairs. Holding her breath, she listened. Then she drew back the bolts in trembling haste and threw wide the door.
O’Neil and his tired companions, the boat’s crew, stood in open-eyed wonder as this wild-eyed but now joyous girl dragged them inside and again barred the door.
“What’s the trouble, señorita?” O’Neil asked in calm surprise.
She put her finger to her lips and led them into the dining-room, where the remnants of the midshipmen’s supper still remained. The five men fell upon the food ravenously while Maria stood by, fear and hope in turns showing in her dark eyes.
She told them of the trip up the river andthe escape from the ladrone leader, then of the valuable treasure in her father’s room and the face she had seen at the window. After she had finished she watched O’Neil’s face as if it were an oracle and she a petitioner before it. The boatswain’s mate ate for several minutes in silence.
“Where are your men posted?” he asked suddenly.
“They are divided into four companies, one at each of the outposts,” she answered.
“Does any one except your father and Colonel Martinez know of Garcia’s treachery?” he asked.
“Yes, two, Lopez and Lukban,” she replied, “and they are both away from the ranch. Lopez has just gone to Palilo with our friends.”
“That’s bad,” the sailor exclaimed, a cloud on his otherwise expressionless face. “Then your men believe that Garcia is still their friend? He has, of course, accomplices among them and his object surely must be the treasure. He has discovered that it has been dug up, and now knows it is in your father’s room. I do not believe there is any immediatedanger unless at the same time the insurgents are to make an attack in force.”
The girl listened eagerly, nodding her head in agreement with the wise words of this cool and calm American. O’Neil’s companions, understanding no Spanish, had finished their meal and were dozing contentedly in their chairs.
“Have you a servant you can trust?” O’Neil asked after a moment’s thought.
“My maid, Inez,” she answered.
“All right; give her a revolver and tell her to go to each company and quietly wake the men and tell them to get ready immediately to repel an attack. If she is in danger of being captured by a lurking enemy tell her to use the revolver. I’ll leave two men with you and your father, while I’ll take two to try to bag this Garcia.”
Maria listened eagerly, hope rising as the sailor clearly outlined his plan of action. She was sure Inez could be depended upon. Quietly she flew up the stairs. As she passed her father’s room she saw that he had retired, but had left the light burning for her. She stopped a second, listening to his easy breathing.He was asleep. Then she went through her own room, a chill passing through her as her eyes turned in fear toward the window.
She took hold of Inez’s arm and shook her into wakefulness. The old woman, who had nursed Maria as a baby, sat up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
“Keep quiet,” Maria whispered in a commanding voice. “We are all in danger of being murdered. I want you to take this revolver and go to each outpost, tell the officer on guard that it is Señor Rodriguez’s order to form his men to repel an attack at once. If you fail fire the revolver as a signal to us.”
The old woman rose to her feet trembling violently. She counted her beads, murmuring her prayers, but there was never a word of fear or hesitancy.
“Good, Inez,” Maria whispered, kissing the old wrinkled face. The girl saw it was set determinedly, yet a great and unknown terror looked out of her appealing eyes. But the girl knew that she would be the safest messenger. No one else could be depended upon like Inez, and she wouldsacrifice her old life willingly to help her beloved master.
When Maria again entered the dining-room O’Neil had turned out the lamp and was ready to carry out his daring plan.
“Two of my men will remain here with you, señorita,” he told Maria as she held open the door. “We’ll soon bag this fellow Garcia, if he’s still hanging about.”
O’Neil, followed cautiously by his two men, walked slowly about the great house. As noiselessly as Indians they crept within its shadow, straining their eyes toward the portico and covered porches above their heads. There still remained the light in the room above where the girl and her two protectors were doubtless now guarding her father and his treasure. While O’Neil stood listening eagerly, a shadow crossed the windows; it moved slowly inch by inch. The house was silent. Off to his left O’Neil could hear a babble of excited voices and the rattle of military accoutrements. Inez’s warning had been given and the native soldiers were hastening to their stations to repel an enemy. The shadow slowly crossed and disappeared and then thelight was suddenly extinguished. O’Neil was about to seek further when a noise from above arrested his attention. He recognized at once that a sash was being opened slowly. Then as he watched a dark figure appeared and dropped noiselessly to the porch roof a few feet below the window. Quietly it lowered itself to the edge of the roof and then with the agility of an acrobat or a sailor climbed down the post near which the boatswain’s mate and his men were standing. The next moment two powerful arms enfolded it and a cry of fear was promptly stifled.
Then from the dark shadow of the woods to the northward came a volley of musketry, followed by the war-cry of the bolo-man.
Hastily binding their prisoner with their neckerchiefs, the sailors flung him on to the porch and rushed to join the defenders scarcely four hundred yards away. Rodriguez had carefully laid out his plan of defense, and before the attacking enemy could come to a hand to hand fight, over three hundred yards of cleared land must be traversed. As O’Neil and his men reached the trenches where the native soldiers were excitedly firing blindlyinto the night, he could see a bobbing line of men rapidly running across this open space, firing as they advanced. Hastily surveying his surroundings, he saw that on one flank was the river defended by a company of men and on the flank away from the river was still another company. The excited native officers were shouting orders to their men, the purport of which O’Neil could but guess. The bobbing figures seemed in vast numbers and they advanced rapidly in spite of the fire from the trenches. Suddenly the company from the river bank left its post and came at double time to the middle of the line of defense. O’Neil and his men had seized a rifle each from lifeless hands and were elbow to elbow—vociferously haranguing the men, cautioning them to aim at the constantly moving enemy. Before they could realize its significance, a line of men arose suddenly from the short grass, only a few score of yards in front of the trenches, to which point they had crawled unobserved, while the defenders had been firing at the visible enemy. The next second this avalanche of naked humanity had cleared the intervening yards and were hacking at thesurprised defenders with their sharp bolos. Their friends in their rear still kept up a brisk fire and many of the bolo-men suffered by it. O’Neil suddenly found himself occupied by three fanatics bent upon his destruction, while his companions near him were in as perilous a position. Throwing away his empty rifle he drew his revolver and fired unerringly at the nearest native. Then seizing the fallen man’s bolo he rushed upon his other two assailants. So fierce had been the onslaught of the bolo-men that they had surged into and even beyond the rifle-pits, leaving a trail of destruction in their path.
The bolo-men, now at close quarters with those in the trenches, made good use of their keen-bladed knives, but Rodriguez’s men, familiar with the method of attack of these fanatics, appeared to flee, and then turning shot their would-be pursuers down by the score. O’Neil and his companions were in these few exciting minutes many times in peril of their lives but soon the last of the attacking horde lay gasping on the grass behind the intrenchment and the sailors and their dusky allies were again in comparative security awaiting grimlythe final attack of the bobbing figures some hundreds of yards in their front, from whose direction a hail of bullets whistled incessantly. O’Neil felt himself all over hardly believing that he had escaped unscathed. The sailor during his many years of service had never seen a fight more desperate. He had frequently heard of the insurgent method of employing bolo-men; using their riflemen as a screen, the practically unarmed horde, who believed that their “Anting-Anting” charms rendered them invulnerable, crawling snake-like, unobserved beyond their firing line until they reached the rifle-pits of their enemy. Now he felt sure the attack on the ranch would fail. Rodriguez’s natives had successfully weathered the bolo rush, which they had learned to fear most. He did not know the numbers of the attackers, but if they could be held off until morning the soldiers who had been promised from Palilo to guard Rodriguez’s treasure would surely be there to turn the tide in their favor. By the fire from the trenches surrounding the ranch house on all sides except that covered by the river, beyond which was an impenetrable swamp, he knew thattheir line had not been broken. With a lighter heart he counseled the natives near him to be careful of their ammunition, setting them an example by firing deliberately only when a target native exposed himself in the clearing in front of them. So much occupied were those in the trenches that they failed to see several great canoes land near the pier, and their occupants in single file noiselessly steal toward the ranch house.
Again and again the insurgents made their onslaught, but each time were received unflinchingly and driven back in confusion across the cleared ground, many being left dead or dying on the field.
A disheveled, terrified figure came running from the house toward the trenches; it glanced about wildly seeking some one and then threw itself at O’Neil’s feet, clasping his legs tightly, almost upsetting him among the stiffening bodies of the dead on the floor of the trench. In the dim light he recognized the woman Inez who had courageously spread the alarm among the native soldiers and her incoherent words filled the sailor’s heart with dire forebodings.
“Oh, señor, save my master,” she cried; “he is in mortal danger.”
O’Neil bent down and unclasped the woman’s hands and lifted her to her feet, but her body crumpled and the American saw with a sob of horror that Inez had done her last service to the Rodriguez family; a bolo cut on her old body had claimed her among the victims slain in this unnecessary war.
The boatswain’s mate laid the woman’s body aside and with a score of willing men started on a run for the house. Half-way there they stopped precipitously, hardly believing their eyes, a great fear in their hearts, for from the river there came a noiseless band of men, dim shadows under the gloom of the trees. O’Neil counted them as their silhouettes crossed a vista in the trees, and his hopes died within him. Here was a new enemy, striking from the rear. The men in the trenches could not leave their positions; to do so would allow many hundreds of the insurgents to sweep the ranch.
“Forward!” he cried; “we must reach the ranch house first.”
He saw that this was their only hope to save the inmates.
Then a cry of joy leaped from his lips as tongues of flame leaped from the vicinity of the house, directed upon the advancing men from the river. He heard an order given sharply in the English tongue and a volley shattered the darkness asunder.
“American soldiers!” he cried jubilantly.
O’Neil and his men had meanwhile circled away from the river in hopes of making a rush for an entrance; now with sudden consternation O’Neil saw that the appearance of the soldiers from the river would place him in the line of retreat of those now surrounding the ranch house. Selecting the protection of a tree trunk he called upon his men to do likewise. He heard the order “Charge” given in the silvery peals of a bugle and the next moment the terrified natives were fleeing directly toward him, the hindmost slashing with their bolos those in front of them in their mad haste to seek safety. Then the drumming of hoof-beats was heard and three horsemen appeared suddenly from the night,emptying their revolvers as they came into the fleeing savages.
A woman’s scream pierced the night and the figure of a man silently dropped from the roof and disappeared in the darkness.