CHAPTER XIAT THE PRESIDIONot a light showed in the Indian huts of tide and straw that clustered near the presidio. From behind the walls came no whisperings of conspiracy, no cries of children in their dreams, no mumblings of women. Since nightfall they had been slipping away down the coast and back into the hills—the men to hurry to their camps, women and children to seek refuge in the wilderness until the war should be over—exactly as they had done in every uprising since the coming of Serra and his coadjutors.Even the mangy curs that generally infested the road were gone, and so there was none to bark and snap at the heels of the caballero as he made his way slowly toward the presidio, walking silently, holding the scabbard of his sword so it would not strike against boot or spur, stopping every few yards to peer into the night, to listen for some sound above the wash of the sea that would apprise him of the nearness of danger.Standing beside the bole of a palm he looked up at the structure atop the knoll. The gate was closed, but light came over the wall, and he could hear the sound of voices raised in argument. Then there came to his ears the shrieking of an Indian, a raucousSpanish voice raised in anger and command, the sound of a lash striking into bare skin.He left the tree and crept through the shadows, avoiding the front, going to the left. Standing against the wall he listened again.“Tell us, dog!” Sergeant Cassara was shouting. “Tell us, or by the saints we’ll have your hide in strips! Be stubborn before your betters, will you?”The lash fell again; again the Indian shrieked; coarse laughter smote the air.“’Tis well we caught one of you!” the sergeant was saying now. “Sneak away like the coyotes you are, will you? Where is that camp—tell us!”“Señor—señor—I cannot tell!” the Indian screeched.“Will not, you mean! Cannot, you hound, when every gentile and neophyte within a score of miles knows of it? Where have the others gone, then? Answer me that!”“One by one they slipped away,señor.”“And you do not know where, eh?”“I—I cannot tell,señor.”“Will not, you mean?”“Si señor!Iwillnot!”The Indian’s voice changed; the caballero listening by the wall knew what the change meant—stoical resignation to his fate was upon the red man now; he expected to be beaten, perhaps slain, and he was ready.“Now, by all the saints, this thing passes a jest!” the sergeant cried. “With the dogs a hundred to one against us, it is proper we should have all information,else soldiers may ride in one direction while gentiles advance from another and sweep all before them. And here is a man admitting he knows where the conspirators’ camp lies, and refusing to tell his betters. For the last time, hound, will you speak?”“I cannot tell you,señor!”“You realise what is to happen to you if you do not?”“It is easy to guessseñor.”The caballero hurried on around the wall until he came to a small rear gate, used generally to take in supplies. It, too, was barred on the inside; but it was studded on the outside with heavy bolts, and the caballero, using these for footholds and handholds, made his way laboriously to the top of the wall.He raised his head carefully, and peered over. All was darkness in that corner of the enclosure. He pulled himself up and dropped over, and for an instant crouched in the shadows against the wall, listening. But no challenge rang out, and he decided the two soldiers left behind with Cassara were inside the barracks-room.Silently he walked across to the wall of the building, and silently he followed it until he could peer through a window. He looked into an officers’ room, but through the open door he could see the interior of the barracks-room proper.An Indian stood in the centre of it, his hands behind his back, his body tall and straight, his face expressionless. Before him was Sergeant Cassara with lash in his hand. The two soldiers sat to one side on stools before a small table with wine cups before them.Sergeant Cassara swung the whip through the air, and the lash curled around the Indian’s body. There was no shriek this time—the gentile’s eyes closed for a moment, flickered, then opened wide, and his body swayed forward a bit as the sergeant jerked the whip back.“Speak!” he commanded. “Tell us the whereabouts of the camp, dog!”Again the lash was raised. The caballero did not wait to see the result. He walked on around the building, and came to the open door. There he took his pistol from his belt, gripped it for action, stepped into the path of light, took a quick step—and had entered the barracks-room and was standing before them.“Allow me to tell you the location of the camp, Sergeant Cassara!” he said.The whip dropped to the floor and the sergeant’s hand dropped to the hilt of his sword. The two soldiers had sprung to their feet, but muskets and pistols were on the other side of the room, and the muzzle of the caballero’s weapon menaced them.“Stand as you are!” the caballero ordered. “At least I will drive the soul of the first man who moves to eternity. As you are!”“Captain Fly-by-Night, by all the saints!” Cassara cried. “Hah! He walks into a trap!”“Beater of gentiles, he spares you the instant death you deserved!” answered the caballero. “Move if you like! This pistol of mine gets one, and, as for the others——”“The others, perhaps, when we do move, will live to see you shot!” Cassara growled.“Indeed? Careful there, soldier! Your hand may be itching to grasp a pistol, but there is a sure cure here for the itch!”The Indian slipped like a shadow toward a window.“Stop!” the caballero commanded. “I have need of you, gentile. You are a brave man to refuse these soldiers information. See if you are brave enough, now, to turn them into helpless slaves. There are thongs in the corner, I perceive. Get them, and fasten the hands of that nearest soldier behind his back!”“Now by all——” Cassara began.“Swear not, sergeant! It amuses me to have this done. It was information you desired, I believe, and I am going to give it you, also ask some in return.... Fasten those bonds well, gentile!... I understand, sergeant, it was you came dashing along El Camino Real with word that I was to be taken, dead or alive?”“I had that pleasure, caballero!”“Um! And by what right——?”“By right of order from his excellency, caballero. Your description came down the highway along with news of the uprising you had planned. Captain Fly-by-Night, eh? Swindler, gambler, thief! If the saints spare me and place me before you with naked blade in my hand——!”“You had that privilege once, I believe!”“Hah!”“And may have it again one day, sergeant.... Gentile, take the second soldier now, and when youhave bound them, make them sit on their stools, and tie their legs. We are to have some conversation, and I cannot watch three men well and talk at the same time.”The Indian went about his work gladly, remembering the many beatings he had received, and groans from his victims told that he was careful to make the bonds tight enough. Watching the sergeant as a hawk watches its prey, never letting the muzzle of his pistol waver, the caballero stood just inside the door, smiling, humming a bit of song. In time the two soldiers were bound to their stools, and the Indian stood to one side.“Get more thongs, gentile,” the caballero ordered. “Make them strong for the sergeant here.”“You dare to order a dog of a gentile to tie me up like a pig?” Cassara cried.“I pay you the compliment of considering you too dangerous to be allowed free, soldier.... At your work, gentile, and fear not. A move from the man will send a bullet tumbling into his heart. Lash his hands well!”If looks could have killed, the caballero was a dead man already. Sergeant Cassara’s eyes flamed, his lower jaw shot out, his face turned purple in rage. But he made no move while his hands were being fastened securely, for the caballero was not smiling now, and the sergeant knew he could expect a shot if he made a move. But he could talk!“Caballero,” he said, “for this you shall die! If ever I am free and stand before you, I’ll have your life if I am forced to take it with my bare hands!”“You are bloodthirsty,señor.”“May I live to be the laughing-stock of El Camino Real if I do not wipe out this insult you have put upon me!”“You have orders to take me dead or alive, have you not?”“I have, caballero!”“Do you blame me, then, for having you trussed up? I value my life, sergeant, and at present I value my liberty. There are things to be done.”“And there are things to be undone, thanks to your treason—things that will cost scores of good lives!”“Indeed?... Put him on his stool now, gentile, and see that his great legs are fastened to it.... Careful, sergeant! My trigger finger shakes with nervousness this night!”“Your heart will quiver with fear before you die, caballero.”“We grow tragic, eh? Now, sergeant, since you are safe and comfortable, I am at your service in the matter of granting information. You wished to know where the hostiles have their camp, I believe? It is on the Fernandez rancho, sergeant, five miles beyond the mission.”“It is likely you speak the truth.”“However, I am speaking the truth, sergeant. The camp is where I have said. Gentiles and disloyal neophytes are gathering there every hour, as they are gathering near San Luis Rey de Francia and at other points along the coast.”“You are bold to say it? And what do you here with a price on your head, caballero?”“I came to seize the presidio, sergeant. I have accomplished that, I believe.”The sergeant volleyed curses.“What a soldier you would make, were you a loyal man!” he said, his outburst over.“And, since I must dine and sleep, I intend to do it here,” the caballero went on.“Hah! Sleep here, will you, caballero?”“Si, in the presidio, sergeant mine. You think, perhaps, to get free of your bonds while I sleep, and capture me in turn? You must indeed have given little attention to what was transpiring.... Gentile, fetch wine and food from the rear room!... Why, sergeant mine, suppose I tell you that the blow has fallen, eh? Suppose I say that while you played with this Indian your soldiers have been slain in the hills, and the mission sacked and burned?“Suppose I tell you that flame and steel are sweeping the coast to-night, and that around the wall of this presidio I have a hundred good men anxious to have your life and the lives of these two soldiers here? Suppose I merely had a fancy to capture the three of you single-handed and have a gentile tie you up? Eh? Think you I can sleep here to-night in security?”“Renegade!” the sergeant cried.“Why not give me thanks for entering alone and saving your life, instead of letting you be cut to pieces by hostiles?... Ah, you have the food and wine, gentile? Place them on the table!”The caballero put the pistol back in his belt and drew off his gauntlets, and advanced toward the table, to draw up a stool and begin devouring the food. Neither of the soldiers spoke a word; Sergeant Cassara sputtered meaningless syllables in his wrath. Slowly, deliberately, the caballero ate his meat and bread and drank his wine, afterward dipping his hands into water the gentile fetched, and wiping them on his zarape.“I have been thinking,” he said, “of having some amusement. What do you say, sergeant, to a game of cards?”“With Captain Fly-by-Night? Did you ever play an honest game,señor?”“An abundance of them, sergeant mine. What say you to a game now? We can make the stakes alluring.”“I can guess now how you won the mule at Santa Barbara.”“Indeed? Perhaps I can propose a more interesting game now, sergeant.... Gentile, close that door and bar it!... You are anxious, you say, to stand before me with naked blade. Let us play, then, and if you win you’ll have that chance.”“And, if I do not win——?”“If you lose, sergeant, you are to walk from this building, without weapons—and take what comes!”The sergeant shivered. He visualised a throng of maniac hostiles crouching against the wall silently, waiting with eager hands to grasp him. He imagined tortures and indignities without a chance of resistanceprior to a terrible death. He knew the caballero was watching him, yet the picture overcame him, and for the first time he could not meet another man’s eyes.“Well?” the caballero asked.“Make it that I can have a naked blade, at least, and die fighting as a soldier should, caballero. If you have good blood in your veins, if ever you rejoiced in the name of gentleman, grant me this!”“You are taking the flavour out of our game. I did not think you would beg favours.”“Beg favours of you! Then I do not, caballero. Do as you will with me—I’ll have none of your game.”“Yet I must have some amusement before I go to sleep. Suppose you three soldiers have the game between you? Dice with death, eh? The two who throw lowest will be given to the hostiles. The one who throws highest will receive life and liberty.”“I live or die with my comrades, caballero! I do not gamble with them in a matter of life or death!”“Sergeant Cassara,” said the caballero, “you are a good soldier and a loyal man.”He arose and bowed, and walked to the door. Taking down the bars and motioning for the gentile to stand there, he went out into the darkness. Near the wall he listened for a time, but heard nothing. He was quite sure the remainder of the soldiers would spend the night at the mission, else in the hills, but it was best to be certain and not be caught like a rat in a trap.Returning to the barracks-room, he closed andbarred the door again, drank another swallow of wine, and stepped across to the officers’ room.“I leave you until morning,señores,” he said. “Your fate will be decided then.... Gentile, attend me!”And then, followed by the Indian, he entered the other room and closed the door behind him.“I can trust you?” he asked the gentile.“To the death,señor. You saved me from a beating. And are you not Captain Fly-by-Night?”“Fetch me quill, ink and paper from that shelf. So! I have a message to write.”“I am to carry it,señor?”“No. You are to slip outside, climb the wall, and take station at the corner of it. If you hear horsemen in the distance you are to warn me at once—you understand?”“But the others——”“What others?”“The hundred men waiting outside,señor.”“Ah! ’Twas a jest at the expense of our sergeant. There has been no attack yet. And I am here alone.”“Then you are in grave danger,señor? How does it happen you are here alone, when the soldiers hope to capture you? Why are you not at the camp?”“That is my business, gentile!”“But the camp—! You have betrayed it! You have told the true location to these men!”“Do not let that concern you, gentile.”“It is, perhaps, a trick to fool them, to draw them into a trap?”“Did I not say for you to attend to your own affairs,gentile? In a moment I shall be angry. Watch outside, as I instructed. If any one approaches, warn me at once. Look in at the window now and then, and be sure those in the other room do not get free. And come here to awaken me in three hours’ time.”“It shall be done,señor.”The gentile went out; the caballero sat at the table and wrote his message, and read it, and laughed lightly.“I risk capture perhaps, but I must get some sleep,” he told himself. He extinguished the lantern the gentile had carried from the other room, barred the door, saw that the window was fastened securely, and stretched himself on the floor close to the wall.A pounding on the door awakened him; he sprang to his feet.“Señor! Señor!” the voice of the Indian was calling.“I am here!”“The time is up,señor!”“Ah! From the din, I supposed the Governor approached with a large force!”It was a yawning caballero who threw open the door and stepped into the barracks-room to face three wide-awake soldiers with angry faces. Sergeant Cassara was mumbling curses under his breath again, and tugging at his bonds. The caballero smiled at him pleasantly as he advanced to the table and took the wine cup the gentile had filled.“It desolates me to leave such good company,” he said, “but duty calls. Have you been worrying these past few hours, sergeant, that the hostiles outside the wall would enter and tear you limb from limb?”“I suppose you will hand us over to them, renegade! Be a man for once! Release but one of my arms, give me a sword and let me face you!”“The Governor has need of your sword-arm, I believe. As for the hostiles waiting outside, sergeant—please to remember that I said ‘suppose’ when I spoke of them. I am a truthful man and would not be considered otherwise. If you have felt fear, then I am sorry, for there was no cause. This gentile here is perhaps the only one within half a score of miles at present.”“Hah!” the sergeant cried.“If it was a subterfuge, consider that it was necessary, for I was forced to have food and sleep, and you had orders to take me dead or alive.... Gentile, go outside and watch!... And you, sergeant, attend me closely. The blow has not fallen yet; I said ‘suppose’ when speaking of that, too. What I told you about the location of the Indians’ camp is true. Pass the word along. And pass the word also that the hostiles will attack night after next, both here and at San Luis Rey de Francia. Attend me! By the saints, I speak truth! It is a warning I have brought you at risk of losing liberty.”“What mean you?” Cassara cried. “You, Captain Fly-by-Night, giving information like this? Ah! You are a double traitor, eh? The hostiles have disowned you? You hope to gain pardon from the Governor by aiding us now to overthrow the conspiracy you have created?”“Who can tell?” the caballero replied, smiling anddrawing on his gauntlets. “There may come a time when many things will be explained.Adios, sergeant! Give my compliments to His Excellency the Governor. Ah, yes! I have written a message!”He spread out the paper and tucked one corner of it in the sergeant’s belt, and for an instant fumbled with the man’s bonds, so that they could be loosened in time by hard work. Then he waved a hand in salute and passed out into the night.“Gentile,” he said, as the Indian opened the gate for him, “you may come with me to where I left my horse. You have done more to-night than you imagine, and while you perhaps are a bloodthirsty wretch not worth consideration, yet I’ll repay your kindness with another. I give you this advice—start now toward the south, make good speed, and do not stop until San Diego de Alcalá is but an elusive memory far in the back of your mind. By doing that you may live long and prosper. If you do not understand, I cannot help it, and I have no time now to teach you understanding. I must ride far before dawn.”Back at the presidio, Sergeant Cassara threw aside the thongs, and tore the paper from his belt. The written words stared up at him:To the man known as thecomandante: At the mission there is a man known as Rojerio Rocha, whom it would profit to watch. This is but a bit of advice given freely by the man known as Captain Fly-by-Night.
Not a light showed in the Indian huts of tide and straw that clustered near the presidio. From behind the walls came no whisperings of conspiracy, no cries of children in their dreams, no mumblings of women. Since nightfall they had been slipping away down the coast and back into the hills—the men to hurry to their camps, women and children to seek refuge in the wilderness until the war should be over—exactly as they had done in every uprising since the coming of Serra and his coadjutors.
Even the mangy curs that generally infested the road were gone, and so there was none to bark and snap at the heels of the caballero as he made his way slowly toward the presidio, walking silently, holding the scabbard of his sword so it would not strike against boot or spur, stopping every few yards to peer into the night, to listen for some sound above the wash of the sea that would apprise him of the nearness of danger.
Standing beside the bole of a palm he looked up at the structure atop the knoll. The gate was closed, but light came over the wall, and he could hear the sound of voices raised in argument. Then there came to his ears the shrieking of an Indian, a raucousSpanish voice raised in anger and command, the sound of a lash striking into bare skin.
He left the tree and crept through the shadows, avoiding the front, going to the left. Standing against the wall he listened again.
“Tell us, dog!” Sergeant Cassara was shouting. “Tell us, or by the saints we’ll have your hide in strips! Be stubborn before your betters, will you?”
The lash fell again; again the Indian shrieked; coarse laughter smote the air.
“’Tis well we caught one of you!” the sergeant was saying now. “Sneak away like the coyotes you are, will you? Where is that camp—tell us!”
“Señor—señor—I cannot tell!” the Indian screeched.
“Will not, you mean! Cannot, you hound, when every gentile and neophyte within a score of miles knows of it? Where have the others gone, then? Answer me that!”
“One by one they slipped away,señor.”
“And you do not know where, eh?”
“I—I cannot tell,señor.”
“Will not, you mean?”
“Si señor!Iwillnot!”
The Indian’s voice changed; the caballero listening by the wall knew what the change meant—stoical resignation to his fate was upon the red man now; he expected to be beaten, perhaps slain, and he was ready.
“Now, by all the saints, this thing passes a jest!” the sergeant cried. “With the dogs a hundred to one against us, it is proper we should have all information,else soldiers may ride in one direction while gentiles advance from another and sweep all before them. And here is a man admitting he knows where the conspirators’ camp lies, and refusing to tell his betters. For the last time, hound, will you speak?”
“I cannot tell you,señor!”
“You realise what is to happen to you if you do not?”
“It is easy to guessseñor.”
The caballero hurried on around the wall until he came to a small rear gate, used generally to take in supplies. It, too, was barred on the inside; but it was studded on the outside with heavy bolts, and the caballero, using these for footholds and handholds, made his way laboriously to the top of the wall.
He raised his head carefully, and peered over. All was darkness in that corner of the enclosure. He pulled himself up and dropped over, and for an instant crouched in the shadows against the wall, listening. But no challenge rang out, and he decided the two soldiers left behind with Cassara were inside the barracks-room.
Silently he walked across to the wall of the building, and silently he followed it until he could peer through a window. He looked into an officers’ room, but through the open door he could see the interior of the barracks-room proper.
An Indian stood in the centre of it, his hands behind his back, his body tall and straight, his face expressionless. Before him was Sergeant Cassara with lash in his hand. The two soldiers sat to one side on stools before a small table with wine cups before them.
Sergeant Cassara swung the whip through the air, and the lash curled around the Indian’s body. There was no shriek this time—the gentile’s eyes closed for a moment, flickered, then opened wide, and his body swayed forward a bit as the sergeant jerked the whip back.
“Speak!” he commanded. “Tell us the whereabouts of the camp, dog!”
Again the lash was raised. The caballero did not wait to see the result. He walked on around the building, and came to the open door. There he took his pistol from his belt, gripped it for action, stepped into the path of light, took a quick step—and had entered the barracks-room and was standing before them.
“Allow me to tell you the location of the camp, Sergeant Cassara!” he said.
The whip dropped to the floor and the sergeant’s hand dropped to the hilt of his sword. The two soldiers had sprung to their feet, but muskets and pistols were on the other side of the room, and the muzzle of the caballero’s weapon menaced them.
“Stand as you are!” the caballero ordered. “At least I will drive the soul of the first man who moves to eternity. As you are!”
“Captain Fly-by-Night, by all the saints!” Cassara cried. “Hah! He walks into a trap!”
“Beater of gentiles, he spares you the instant death you deserved!” answered the caballero. “Move if you like! This pistol of mine gets one, and, as for the others——”
“The others, perhaps, when we do move, will live to see you shot!” Cassara growled.
“Indeed? Careful there, soldier! Your hand may be itching to grasp a pistol, but there is a sure cure here for the itch!”
The Indian slipped like a shadow toward a window.
“Stop!” the caballero commanded. “I have need of you, gentile. You are a brave man to refuse these soldiers information. See if you are brave enough, now, to turn them into helpless slaves. There are thongs in the corner, I perceive. Get them, and fasten the hands of that nearest soldier behind his back!”
“Now by all——” Cassara began.
“Swear not, sergeant! It amuses me to have this done. It was information you desired, I believe, and I am going to give it you, also ask some in return.... Fasten those bonds well, gentile!... I understand, sergeant, it was you came dashing along El Camino Real with word that I was to be taken, dead or alive?”
“I had that pleasure, caballero!”
“Um! And by what right——?”
“By right of order from his excellency, caballero. Your description came down the highway along with news of the uprising you had planned. Captain Fly-by-Night, eh? Swindler, gambler, thief! If the saints spare me and place me before you with naked blade in my hand——!”
“You had that privilege once, I believe!”
“Hah!”
“And may have it again one day, sergeant.... Gentile, take the second soldier now, and when youhave bound them, make them sit on their stools, and tie their legs. We are to have some conversation, and I cannot watch three men well and talk at the same time.”
The Indian went about his work gladly, remembering the many beatings he had received, and groans from his victims told that he was careful to make the bonds tight enough. Watching the sergeant as a hawk watches its prey, never letting the muzzle of his pistol waver, the caballero stood just inside the door, smiling, humming a bit of song. In time the two soldiers were bound to their stools, and the Indian stood to one side.
“Get more thongs, gentile,” the caballero ordered. “Make them strong for the sergeant here.”
“You dare to order a dog of a gentile to tie me up like a pig?” Cassara cried.
“I pay you the compliment of considering you too dangerous to be allowed free, soldier.... At your work, gentile, and fear not. A move from the man will send a bullet tumbling into his heart. Lash his hands well!”
If looks could have killed, the caballero was a dead man already. Sergeant Cassara’s eyes flamed, his lower jaw shot out, his face turned purple in rage. But he made no move while his hands were being fastened securely, for the caballero was not smiling now, and the sergeant knew he could expect a shot if he made a move. But he could talk!
“Caballero,” he said, “for this you shall die! If ever I am free and stand before you, I’ll have your life if I am forced to take it with my bare hands!”
“You are bloodthirsty,señor.”
“May I live to be the laughing-stock of El Camino Real if I do not wipe out this insult you have put upon me!”
“You have orders to take me dead or alive, have you not?”
“I have, caballero!”
“Do you blame me, then, for having you trussed up? I value my life, sergeant, and at present I value my liberty. There are things to be done.”
“And there are things to be undone, thanks to your treason—things that will cost scores of good lives!”
“Indeed?... Put him on his stool now, gentile, and see that his great legs are fastened to it.... Careful, sergeant! My trigger finger shakes with nervousness this night!”
“Your heart will quiver with fear before you die, caballero.”
“We grow tragic, eh? Now, sergeant, since you are safe and comfortable, I am at your service in the matter of granting information. You wished to know where the hostiles have their camp, I believe? It is on the Fernandez rancho, sergeant, five miles beyond the mission.”
“It is likely you speak the truth.”
“However, I am speaking the truth, sergeant. The camp is where I have said. Gentiles and disloyal neophytes are gathering there every hour, as they are gathering near San Luis Rey de Francia and at other points along the coast.”
“You are bold to say it? And what do you here with a price on your head, caballero?”
“I came to seize the presidio, sergeant. I have accomplished that, I believe.”
The sergeant volleyed curses.
“What a soldier you would make, were you a loyal man!” he said, his outburst over.
“And, since I must dine and sleep, I intend to do it here,” the caballero went on.
“Hah! Sleep here, will you, caballero?”
“Si, in the presidio, sergeant mine. You think, perhaps, to get free of your bonds while I sleep, and capture me in turn? You must indeed have given little attention to what was transpiring.... Gentile, fetch wine and food from the rear room!... Why, sergeant mine, suppose I tell you that the blow has fallen, eh? Suppose I say that while you played with this Indian your soldiers have been slain in the hills, and the mission sacked and burned?
“Suppose I tell you that flame and steel are sweeping the coast to-night, and that around the wall of this presidio I have a hundred good men anxious to have your life and the lives of these two soldiers here? Suppose I merely had a fancy to capture the three of you single-handed and have a gentile tie you up? Eh? Think you I can sleep here to-night in security?”
“Renegade!” the sergeant cried.
“Why not give me thanks for entering alone and saving your life, instead of letting you be cut to pieces by hostiles?... Ah, you have the food and wine, gentile? Place them on the table!”
The caballero put the pistol back in his belt and drew off his gauntlets, and advanced toward the table, to draw up a stool and begin devouring the food. Neither of the soldiers spoke a word; Sergeant Cassara sputtered meaningless syllables in his wrath. Slowly, deliberately, the caballero ate his meat and bread and drank his wine, afterward dipping his hands into water the gentile fetched, and wiping them on his zarape.
“I have been thinking,” he said, “of having some amusement. What do you say, sergeant, to a game of cards?”
“With Captain Fly-by-Night? Did you ever play an honest game,señor?”
“An abundance of them, sergeant mine. What say you to a game now? We can make the stakes alluring.”
“I can guess now how you won the mule at Santa Barbara.”
“Indeed? Perhaps I can propose a more interesting game now, sergeant.... Gentile, close that door and bar it!... You are anxious, you say, to stand before me with naked blade. Let us play, then, and if you win you’ll have that chance.”
“And, if I do not win——?”
“If you lose, sergeant, you are to walk from this building, without weapons—and take what comes!”
The sergeant shivered. He visualised a throng of maniac hostiles crouching against the wall silently, waiting with eager hands to grasp him. He imagined tortures and indignities without a chance of resistanceprior to a terrible death. He knew the caballero was watching him, yet the picture overcame him, and for the first time he could not meet another man’s eyes.
“Well?” the caballero asked.
“Make it that I can have a naked blade, at least, and die fighting as a soldier should, caballero. If you have good blood in your veins, if ever you rejoiced in the name of gentleman, grant me this!”
“You are taking the flavour out of our game. I did not think you would beg favours.”
“Beg favours of you! Then I do not, caballero. Do as you will with me—I’ll have none of your game.”
“Yet I must have some amusement before I go to sleep. Suppose you three soldiers have the game between you? Dice with death, eh? The two who throw lowest will be given to the hostiles. The one who throws highest will receive life and liberty.”
“I live or die with my comrades, caballero! I do not gamble with them in a matter of life or death!”
“Sergeant Cassara,” said the caballero, “you are a good soldier and a loyal man.”
He arose and bowed, and walked to the door. Taking down the bars and motioning for the gentile to stand there, he went out into the darkness. Near the wall he listened for a time, but heard nothing. He was quite sure the remainder of the soldiers would spend the night at the mission, else in the hills, but it was best to be certain and not be caught like a rat in a trap.
Returning to the barracks-room, he closed andbarred the door again, drank another swallow of wine, and stepped across to the officers’ room.
“I leave you until morning,señores,” he said. “Your fate will be decided then.... Gentile, attend me!”
And then, followed by the Indian, he entered the other room and closed the door behind him.
“I can trust you?” he asked the gentile.
“To the death,señor. You saved me from a beating. And are you not Captain Fly-by-Night?”
“Fetch me quill, ink and paper from that shelf. So! I have a message to write.”
“I am to carry it,señor?”
“No. You are to slip outside, climb the wall, and take station at the corner of it. If you hear horsemen in the distance you are to warn me at once—you understand?”
“But the others——”
“What others?”
“The hundred men waiting outside,señor.”
“Ah! ’Twas a jest at the expense of our sergeant. There has been no attack yet. And I am here alone.”
“Then you are in grave danger,señor? How does it happen you are here alone, when the soldiers hope to capture you? Why are you not at the camp?”
“That is my business, gentile!”
“But the camp—! You have betrayed it! You have told the true location to these men!”
“Do not let that concern you, gentile.”
“It is, perhaps, a trick to fool them, to draw them into a trap?”
“Did I not say for you to attend to your own affairs,gentile? In a moment I shall be angry. Watch outside, as I instructed. If any one approaches, warn me at once. Look in at the window now and then, and be sure those in the other room do not get free. And come here to awaken me in three hours’ time.”
“It shall be done,señor.”
The gentile went out; the caballero sat at the table and wrote his message, and read it, and laughed lightly.
“I risk capture perhaps, but I must get some sleep,” he told himself. He extinguished the lantern the gentile had carried from the other room, barred the door, saw that the window was fastened securely, and stretched himself on the floor close to the wall.
A pounding on the door awakened him; he sprang to his feet.
“Señor! Señor!” the voice of the Indian was calling.
“I am here!”
“The time is up,señor!”
“Ah! From the din, I supposed the Governor approached with a large force!”
It was a yawning caballero who threw open the door and stepped into the barracks-room to face three wide-awake soldiers with angry faces. Sergeant Cassara was mumbling curses under his breath again, and tugging at his bonds. The caballero smiled at him pleasantly as he advanced to the table and took the wine cup the gentile had filled.
“It desolates me to leave such good company,” he said, “but duty calls. Have you been worrying these past few hours, sergeant, that the hostiles outside the wall would enter and tear you limb from limb?”
“I suppose you will hand us over to them, renegade! Be a man for once! Release but one of my arms, give me a sword and let me face you!”
“The Governor has need of your sword-arm, I believe. As for the hostiles waiting outside, sergeant—please to remember that I said ‘suppose’ when I spoke of them. I am a truthful man and would not be considered otherwise. If you have felt fear, then I am sorry, for there was no cause. This gentile here is perhaps the only one within half a score of miles at present.”
“Hah!” the sergeant cried.
“If it was a subterfuge, consider that it was necessary, for I was forced to have food and sleep, and you had orders to take me dead or alive.... Gentile, go outside and watch!... And you, sergeant, attend me closely. The blow has not fallen yet; I said ‘suppose’ when speaking of that, too. What I told you about the location of the Indians’ camp is true. Pass the word along. And pass the word also that the hostiles will attack night after next, both here and at San Luis Rey de Francia. Attend me! By the saints, I speak truth! It is a warning I have brought you at risk of losing liberty.”
“What mean you?” Cassara cried. “You, Captain Fly-by-Night, giving information like this? Ah! You are a double traitor, eh? The hostiles have disowned you? You hope to gain pardon from the Governor by aiding us now to overthrow the conspiracy you have created?”
“Who can tell?” the caballero replied, smiling anddrawing on his gauntlets. “There may come a time when many things will be explained.Adios, sergeant! Give my compliments to His Excellency the Governor. Ah, yes! I have written a message!”
He spread out the paper and tucked one corner of it in the sergeant’s belt, and for an instant fumbled with the man’s bonds, so that they could be loosened in time by hard work. Then he waved a hand in salute and passed out into the night.
“Gentile,” he said, as the Indian opened the gate for him, “you may come with me to where I left my horse. You have done more to-night than you imagine, and while you perhaps are a bloodthirsty wretch not worth consideration, yet I’ll repay your kindness with another. I give you this advice—start now toward the south, make good speed, and do not stop until San Diego de Alcalá is but an elusive memory far in the back of your mind. By doing that you may live long and prosper. If you do not understand, I cannot help it, and I have no time now to teach you understanding. I must ride far before dawn.”
Back at the presidio, Sergeant Cassara threw aside the thongs, and tore the paper from his belt. The written words stared up at him:
To the man known as thecomandante: At the mission there is a man known as Rojerio Rocha, whom it would profit to watch. This is but a bit of advice given freely by the man known as Captain Fly-by-Night.
To the man known as thecomandante: At the mission there is a man known as Rojerio Rocha, whom it would profit to watch. This is but a bit of advice given freely by the man known as Captain Fly-by-Night.