CHAPTER XXVTHE SERGEANT SLEEPS AGAIN“Explain, rogue!” cried the Governor half an hour later. They were in the plaza, where a temporary camp had been established. The fires were out, the smoke had drifted away. Wounded had received attention, and preparations were being made for burying the dead. In all directions troopers pursued hostiles and cut them down.His excellency had told how the revolt at San Luis Rey de Francia and other missions had been quelled. The body on the floor of the guest house had been examined and word passed that here was the genuine Fly-by-Night, renegade and conspirator, and that the real Rojerio Rocha had slain him.“Explain?” the caballero echoed. “’Tis a simple matter. When I reached San Diego de Alcalá I was mistaken for this Fly-by-Night. I thought to have jest by assuming the rôle. Then the hostiles, taking me for their leader through the same misunderstanding, came to tell me their plans. Being a loyal man, I maintained my rôle to learn all possible, and tried in every way to delay the attack until the force from the north could arrive.”“Very good, my boy!” his excellency exclaimed.“But they grew suspicious and soon I found myselfat outs with white men and red. Then came word for Captain Fly-by-Night to be taken dead or alive at all costs. To everyone here I was Fly-by-Night, of course. The description sent——”“A fool of a cleric copied your description from the pass record by mistake,” cried the Governor. “I’ll send him packing when I return!”“It was at San Juan Capistrano that I first met discourtesy,” the caballero went on. “They knew of this Fly-by-Night’s insult to theseñorita, assumed I was the man come to win her, and gave me to understand how they regarded me. Sorry trouble I faced by pretending to be another man.“Then the real Fly-by-Night came, and because Rojerio Rocha was due, he was hailed as such. It amused him, no doubt, to be called Rocha and introduced to theseñorita, placed in a position to win her. Moreover, it gave him a chance to continue plotting in security—for who would suspect Rojerio Rocha? You understand? And I could say nothing then, being known as Fly-by-Night. Oh, it was a pretty mess! Things were happening with such rapidity that he was not asked to show credentials, of course——”“And you faced death,” said the Governor, “became fugitive, allowed people to call you despicable in order to be of service to the state? A worthy caballero!”“That was not all the object,” the caballero replied, laughing lightly and looking at Anita again. “I had heard of Fly-by-Night’s boast, you see; and when they took me for him I thought it would be a lark to approach theseñoritain that guise. I was coming towed her at her father’s request, you see. We were as good as wed, you might say, yet never had seen each other. How much better—I am sure you will understand, excellency—to win her true love under another name, to be sure she was wedding the man, not the distant relative her father had commanded her to wed.“You see my point? And, if I could win her love as Captain Fly-by-Night, the man she despised—if I could turn her hatred and repugnance to affection, would I not be sure it was real love?”“Hah!” the Governor cried, and looked at the blushing girl.“It was done,” the caballero said. “And—thank the saints, it has been proved the love is real!”And then he crossed before them, and Anita, seeing him coming, got upon her feet, and he took her into his arms and kissed her there before them all.A padre lifted hand in blessing; Señora Vallejo smiled; the Governor nodded in approval; Gonzales, good pirate, swore softly under his breath at this display of young affection; and Sergeant Cassara slapped his thigh and cried unto the sky.“Dios!So I cannot slay him after all? He is a friend of the Governor, eh? Not Fly-by-Night, but Rojerio Rocha, a proper fellow! I shall go mad! Better, I shall go to sleep for the saints know I need it!”He threw himself on the ground against the wall; and presently he snored.And so the tale ends as it began, with Sergeant Carlos Cassara.THE END
“Explain, rogue!” cried the Governor half an hour later. They were in the plaza, where a temporary camp had been established. The fires were out, the smoke had drifted away. Wounded had received attention, and preparations were being made for burying the dead. In all directions troopers pursued hostiles and cut them down.
His excellency had told how the revolt at San Luis Rey de Francia and other missions had been quelled. The body on the floor of the guest house had been examined and word passed that here was the genuine Fly-by-Night, renegade and conspirator, and that the real Rojerio Rocha had slain him.
“Explain?” the caballero echoed. “’Tis a simple matter. When I reached San Diego de Alcalá I was mistaken for this Fly-by-Night. I thought to have jest by assuming the rôle. Then the hostiles, taking me for their leader through the same misunderstanding, came to tell me their plans. Being a loyal man, I maintained my rôle to learn all possible, and tried in every way to delay the attack until the force from the north could arrive.”
“Very good, my boy!” his excellency exclaimed.
“But they grew suspicious and soon I found myselfat outs with white men and red. Then came word for Captain Fly-by-Night to be taken dead or alive at all costs. To everyone here I was Fly-by-Night, of course. The description sent——”
“A fool of a cleric copied your description from the pass record by mistake,” cried the Governor. “I’ll send him packing when I return!”
“It was at San Juan Capistrano that I first met discourtesy,” the caballero went on. “They knew of this Fly-by-Night’s insult to theseñorita, assumed I was the man come to win her, and gave me to understand how they regarded me. Sorry trouble I faced by pretending to be another man.
“Then the real Fly-by-Night came, and because Rojerio Rocha was due, he was hailed as such. It amused him, no doubt, to be called Rocha and introduced to theseñorita, placed in a position to win her. Moreover, it gave him a chance to continue plotting in security—for who would suspect Rojerio Rocha? You understand? And I could say nothing then, being known as Fly-by-Night. Oh, it was a pretty mess! Things were happening with such rapidity that he was not asked to show credentials, of course——”
“And you faced death,” said the Governor, “became fugitive, allowed people to call you despicable in order to be of service to the state? A worthy caballero!”
“That was not all the object,” the caballero replied, laughing lightly and looking at Anita again. “I had heard of Fly-by-Night’s boast, you see; and when they took me for him I thought it would be a lark to approach theseñoritain that guise. I was coming towed her at her father’s request, you see. We were as good as wed, you might say, yet never had seen each other. How much better—I am sure you will understand, excellency—to win her true love under another name, to be sure she was wedding the man, not the distant relative her father had commanded her to wed.
“You see my point? And, if I could win her love as Captain Fly-by-Night, the man she despised—if I could turn her hatred and repugnance to affection, would I not be sure it was real love?”
“Hah!” the Governor cried, and looked at the blushing girl.
“It was done,” the caballero said. “And—thank the saints, it has been proved the love is real!”
And then he crossed before them, and Anita, seeing him coming, got upon her feet, and he took her into his arms and kissed her there before them all.
A padre lifted hand in blessing; Señora Vallejo smiled; the Governor nodded in approval; Gonzales, good pirate, swore softly under his breath at this display of young affection; and Sergeant Cassara slapped his thigh and cried unto the sky.
“Dios!So I cannot slay him after all? He is a friend of the Governor, eh? Not Fly-by-Night, but Rojerio Rocha, a proper fellow! I shall go mad! Better, I shall go to sleep for the saints know I need it!”
He threw himself on the ground against the wall; and presently he snored.
And so the tale ends as it began, with Sergeant Carlos Cassara.
THE END