These pages have been poorly written if he who reads has not discovered that I am of a nature not easily discouraged by events, or disheartened by misfortune. God had sufficiently armored me with hope; so that in the midst of much darkness I sought for whatever light of guidance there might be, making the most of it. Yet the intense, unanticipated loneliness of that bare hut chilled my blood, and I scarcely recall a more wretched time than while I waited, stung and tortured by fears, for the return of De Noyan.
In truth the rough conclusions voiced by the angry sectary merely confirmed my own fear. I had marked within the eyes of Naladi—dreamy as they appeared beneath the shading of long lashes—no promise of tenderness of heart. I believed it was seldom she inclined to mercy, seldom she would step between her warriors and their revenge. I acknowledge freely I felt to some degree the strange spell of her power, the magic influence of her soft, sinuous beauty, which I doubt if any man could utterly resist. Yet I recognized her from the first, even as she stood wrapped in the sun's rays on the rock summit, as one who, by instinct and nature, was scarce less a savage than her most desperate follower, although she possessed the rare gift of masking her cruelty beneath the pleasing smile of a woman not entirely unacquainted with the courtesies of refinement.
I marvelled greatly who she could be, thus sporting the polite graces of a reception-room in the midst of these squalid huts. What was her strange life-story? How ever came such a woman, with charm of face, and grace of manner, to be acknowledged leader over such a people? It was not so odd that a clever, resourceful woman, driven perhaps by necessity, should have made unscrupulous use of their dominant superstitions, and, by naming herself "Daughter of the Sun," have obtained supreme power. The perfect acting of such an assumed character would not prove difficult to her, while their servile worship of the protesting Puritan, whose red hair alone had elevated him to sainthood, proved how easily these savages might be deceived, and led slaves by subtle magic. Yet who was the woman? Whence came she? Why should she ever have chosen such a life?
And Eloise! Through what misfortune had she already attained the undisguised dislike of this Amazon? To what fate would this unmerited disfavor condemn her? It is a terrible thing to remain chained and helpless at such a time, to realize that cruel wrong, possibly torture, is being visited upon another, upon one you know and love, and yet be unable to uplift hand or voice in warning. I am by nature cool in action, yet there are few who fret more grievously when held in leash, compelled to await in uncertainty the coming of the unknown.
All I could do that day was to pace the hard earthen floor, vainly endeavoring to quiet the wild throbbing of my heart with every hope I might conjure up, now and then approaching the unguarded entrance of the lodge to search anxiously for some ground of hope. It was thus the long afternoon wore away, until the deepening shadows of sun-setting rested heavily along the western cliffs, and the workers in the fields began trooping through the village, their shouts of greeting shrill and discordant, while the grim priests found place before the draped entrance to their dread altar-house, with blazing fagots signalling their distant brethren on the dizzy summit. It was then De Noyan finally returned and found me raging from wall to wall like one distracted.
It required but a glance to note the subtile change the afternoon had wrought in his personal appearance, yet at the time I did not greatly marvel at it. The stains of battle and exposure, that had so decidedly disfigured him, had disappeared before the magic of new raiment, which had about it the color and cut of French fashion; so it was now a fair and prosperous gallant of the court, powdered of hair, waxen of moustache, who came jauntily forward with his greetings.
"What said I, Master Benteen?" he questioned cheerily to my stare of surprise. "Did I not boldly contend that this would yet prove a pleasant resting-place to relieve the tedium of a journey? Can you gaze upon this gay attire, longer doubting the verity of my dreams? But no happiness finds reflection in your face; 'tis gloomy as a day of rain. Prithie, the afternoon must have been passed by you far less pleasantly than its hours sped with me."
"I have been conversing with good Master Cairnes," I responded gravely. "I found him in no state of mind or body to bring me pleasant thought."
"Parbleu! I warrant not from all I hear of that worthy servant," the Chevalier laughed gayly. "'T is told me the grim-faced old hypocrite sits in worshipful state, a veritable god, trussed like a bronze idol or some mummy of the Egyptians. By my faith, I should enjoy gazing on his solemn face, and listening to his words withal."
"'T is an unhappy experience for a Christian."
"Ay! a pity; yet it should do the canting preacher good to play heathen god a while. She pictured to me most vividly his struggles to escape a fit draping with which to match his hair.Sacre! I have not laughed so heartily since leaving New Orleans."
"She?" I exclaimed in new interest. "Have you been with your wife?"
He stroked his moustache, gazing at me in apparent surprise.
"Nay, friend Benteen; you must be the very soul of innocence to make such hasty guess. I rested beneath the same roof with her, so I was informed, yet she who spake thus regarding the plight of the Puritan chanced to be the fair Queen, Naladi."
"Naladi? But you speak no Spanish,—how could you hold converse with her?"
"There are always ways, if the lady be fair. The hands, eyes, lips can all be made into messengers of speech. But in this case she brought forth a black boy—a most mischievous imp—who managed to convey her words in my own tongue. Still it was difficult to do justice in such a way to so charming a woman; much came to my lips which I hesitated to utter through the medium of that interpreter."
I looked at him in speechless amazement at this revelation of his supreme conceit, his reckless vanity. Anxiety alone prompted me to smother my resentment, hoping thus to obtain information.
"But your wife, Madame de Noyan? You say she was beneath the same roof, and yet you saw her not? Do you mean you made no effort to obtain speech with her?"
He leaned back against the wall of the hut, crossing his long limbs negligently over the soft fur of the robe beneath, drawing from his pocket a small mirror.
"Ay, I mentioned it; butla reine Naladiappeared not overly well pleased with the suggestion, so I concluded not to press the matter unduly. One never gains by being ungallant at such a time. Besides, there is no doubt Eloise is well attended; the Queen referred to her most kindly."
"The preacher told me," I broke forth indignantly, determined to test him to the full, "that this same sweet Naladi compelled her savage minions to drag Madame harshly forth from the altar-house, despite her pleadings. Perchance this tender-spoken Queen has little of the angel beneath her fairness of skin."
"Sacre! I hope not. I opine an angel would prove wearisome to company with for long. My own taste inclines toward flesh and blood. You say Master Cairnes told you this sad tale?"
"Ay, adding that the pitiful Naladi only laughed at the sobs of Madame."
"Pish! between the two, her word has most weight with me. No doubt 'twas a vision born of his own temper. The Queen assured me most graciously of the welfare and contentment of Eloise. It would have been boorish to question her further. Besides, she took my thought from other things, repeating to me the strange tale of these savages, although the black made poor enough work with her words."
It was abundantly evident the man was fairly crazed with conceit, already well entangled in the web of this designing creature. For the hour, at least, all serious consideration of her who should rightfully claim his attention had been completely blotted out. He had become a willing victim to a will infinitely stronger than his own, his conscience deadened by the poison of beauty; so, while my blood rioted in protest to his simpering French vanity, I could perceive no means by which I might arouse him to more manly action. To cross such a man only invites to the surface the worst elements of his nature; besides, were I to stir him by strong protest, it might be doubtful if he comprehended the nature of my scruples in the matter. Any such misunderstanding would result in the exchange of hard words, and in my making an enemy where now I possessed a friend. Not that the Chevalier was a particularly valuable ally, yet he wielded a good sword upon occasion, and would prove more useful in friendship than in enmity. I might despise him, yet he remained the husband of Madame, and I durst pick no quarrel with him. To do so would raise a barrier between us, rendering our situation among the savages darker than ever. As to the moral side of the affair, it would be sheer waste of words to broach it, as De Noyan could form no clearer conception of such an issue than a babe unborn. He swung as the wind blew, and in all his pampered life had probably never dreamed of denying himself a liberty. Saint Andrew! it was a knotty problem for such a head as mine to solve. I believe I chose the better course in assuming the role of a neutral, as I sat staring at the fellow while he twisted his moustaches into their old-time curl, gazing at himself in the pocket mirror, utterly oblivious of my presence.
"So this beauty of a Queen told you the tale of her people," I remarked at last, determining to humor his mood. "It would interest me to hear the story. Those I have thus far seen differ widely from any other order of savages with whom I have come in contact."
"Your judgment is right. As she tells the story, they are not of Indian blood, but belong to a far older race. She says they are the remnant of a master people—although regarding their exact lineage she spoke but little—who once, hundreds of years ago no doubt, held undisputed dominion from the banks of a great red river flowing through the prairies far to the northward, down to the salted sea bounding the land upon the east. She said their ancestors mined in the rocks, and cultivated the rich land of the valleys. They were ruled over by five kings; and when one of these died all their wives were burned above the grave, and a hundred slaves sacrificed to the Sun, which they worshipped, and called Elagabalus. These were all buried around the body of the king, whose tomb was of rock, and a huge mound of earth erected over them by the labor of thousands of slaves taken in battle. Yet their chief king, in the day of their great power, she called Palenque, placing his capital to north and east of this place, a land journey of thirty days. Here was built a great city of wood and stone, surrounded by an immense wall of earth, to which all the smaller kings journeyed in state once each year to make account of their kingdoms, and offer up slaves on the altar of the great temple in sacrifice to the Sun. They would gather thus from noon to noon, and thousands of captives would be slaughtered before the altar by the priests. She told me they once possessed vast store of yellow metal and flashing stones, with other treasures. Cities were set apart under guard to have special care over them. Some of these have descended even unto the present, but are kept hidden away by the priests, though she promised later to let me view them secretly. And she related a most strange tale of destiny—of a long, barbarous war, filled with the names of warriors and towns sounding most uncouth to my ears; a war lasting many years, during which the Chichimes—for so she named the wild hordes sweeping down upon them from the northward—drove their fathers backward from city to city, beginning far away in the kingdom named Talapa, and pillaging clear to the banks of the great river where Palenque reigned. Their ancestors erected vast forts of earth, thus managing to hold their own against the invaders, so long as their slaves remained loyal. But at last these also rose in revolt, and, when all supplies had been cut off, the hopeless remnant of defenders fell back down the broad river, bearing with them much of their most valued treasure, never permitting the sacred flame, which was the gift of the Sun, to die out upon their altars. Like flies they died in the preservation of this symbol of their religion; for 'tis their faith, that if it be kept burning undimmed, there will yet come to them a great leader from the Sun to restore their lost glories. She described to me the arts of that past, the many beautiful things the race had made, those wondrous cities protected by high walls, the vast mounds of earth moulded into strange figures of extinct animals, uplifted as altars, and sometimes utilized for the burial of their dead and their treasure.Sacre! I can recall a portion of the story, yet it was a weird, fascinating tale as she told it slowly, and with all seriousness, although the black boy stammered so badly in his words I got only dim pictures here and there."
"But how came they here?" I questioned.
"I was coming to that. It was some trouble with the French in Bienville's day. Only a few escaped, and they were driven into these hills; yet 't is said they saved a considerable amount of treasure which had come to them from their fathers, together with some of the mummified bodies of their kings. It is forty years since they discovered this dell, and only the older men have any memory of the discovery."
"What do they call themselves?"
"'Nalmas' was the word the Queen used, but they are that same people whom we knew about in New Orleans as 'Natchez'; their old country was called Tlapalan."
I sat silent, pondering upon his words, but before I thought out further questioning, a warrior, bearing food, entered the hut. Setting this down upon the ground before us, he drew back into the gathering night shadows without uttering a word. That which I had just heard caused me to gaze upon the fellow—a tall, stalwart savage—with newly awakened interest, and I could not help observing again how widely the type differed from those Indian tribes with whom my wandering border life had rendered me familiar. Not only was this man of fairer, clearer complexion, but his cheek-bones were not in the least prominent, his nose was wide at the base and somewhat flattened, while his forehead sloped sharply backward in such peculiar form as to warrant the opinion that the deformity arose from a compression of the frontal bone in infancy. The hair, although worn long and flowing down the back, was decidedly wavy, and not coarse; the color was a ruddy brown. The eyes of these Indians were bold, cruel, crafty, yet in many instances the coloring was so light as to be startling; the average stature was greater than that of those other Indians that I knew. In short, they impressed me as being all that was claimed, a distinct race, with characteristics more nearly allied to the Ethiopian and the Mongolian than to the surrounding red races. As I figured this out somewhat slowly, De Noyan busted himself with the meal, and, thus engrossed, apparently forgot the topic of our conversation.
"And did this Queen Naladi claim to belong to this old race?" I questioned, thinking thus to test his observation.
"Why not?" he asked in return, suspending operations, and glancing up at me in surprise. "She referred to herself as the 'Daughter of the Sun,' once saying that her ancestors ruled over this people for a thousand years."
"She told you that?"
"At least so the black interpreted her words. Why question it?"
"Doubtless to your thought there exists small cause for questioning the word of so fair a woman," I acknowledged dryly. "Yet to my vision, not wholly blinded by her charms, she possesses more of the Caucasian in face and manner than any other of the race. If she is not of European birth I am a poor judge, Monsieur, and 't is my belief, if she told you she was not, the woman lied."
I was scarcely prepared for the result of my words upon him; his face flushed, a sudden glow of anger sweeping into his eyes.
"You are, indeed, of bold heart," he exclaimed scornfully, "to malign a woman in her absence."
"There are women no words can malign," I retorted sharply, stung by his tone, "I opine this Queen of savages belongs to that class. To my mind it would be better were you to wax indignant over the wrongs of your wife rather than over a just picturing of this harlot."
Before I could move to draw aside, he was upon his feet, and I felt the stinging blow of his hand across my lips.
"Sacre!" he cried, transported by sudden rage, "Charles de Noyan takes such affront from no man. I denounce you as a cowardly vilifier of an absent woman."
I know not why I failed to strike the fellow down. My hand was hard on the knife hilt within my doublet, yet I drew it not as we stood there eye to eye. There was that between us—the dim, shadowy face of a woman—which held me as by a chain. It seemed to me then as if my knife point would have to pass through her before it touched his heart, and, feeling thus, God gave me power to choke back the hot resentment, and restrain my hand.
"Monsieur," I said sternly, "never has the hand of man touched me before in anger without my making full return for the blow. Yet now I strike you not. The time may come when I shall wipe out this insult, but here and now you stand safe from my arm."
"Safe!" he sneered. "Parbleu! you are a cowardly hound to talk thus. Safe! think you I have anything to fear at your hands?"
"I bid you restrain your tongue, Chevalier," I said, my voice unsteady. "God being my witness, never before did you stand so close to death as now. Look," and I held up the keen blade before his eyes. "This steel thirsts for your blood; only one thought has intervened to save you."
"What was that?"
"The fact that you are the husband of one who was once Eloise Lafrénière."
I know not how much of the truth he suspected, but for a moment we stood thus, I half imagining he contemplated a leap at my throat. Then his eyes fell, and he drew back with a short laugh.
"Le Diable! 'tis easy for some people to discover excuses at such a time. Still, Monsieur, as you refuse to fight I may as well lie down; having been early awake I am somewhat weary."
I watched him silently while he arranged his robes for the night.
"Before you sleep," I ventured, "it would please my curiosity to know where this pure and peerless Queen of yours makes her abode."
"Ah! would you pay her a visit?" he asked suspiciously.
"Far from it; rather that I may avoid her. Yet we are not in specially pleasant surroundings, and such information might not come amiss."
He sulked a moment over his answer, but finally relented.
"In that large hut upon the second mound."
"You spoke as if Madame de Noyan were beneath the same roof, yet you saw her not. Does the hut differ from this in being divided into rooms?"
"A partition runs through it from roof to floor. Naladi holds court in the south room, which is decorated most lavishly with things of beauty."
"Then Madame occupies the northern portion?"
"So I understood," with a sleepy yawn. "I asked little in detail; 'twas enough for me to be assured she was well."
It is occasion for deep regret that I was so blind to my opportunities for learning much relative to this strange people. During those hours of trial my thoughts were so occupied with our own dangers, it was merely incidentally I considered anything else. No small temptation now assails me to record many things I believe true, things I remember vaguely; but I pass the temptation by, determined to write only what I may vouch for as of my own observation.
I remained silent, leaning against the wall and making vigorous use of my pipe, a long time after De Noyan fell peacefully asleep. While the fast fading daylight clung dimly to the interior, my eyes were fastened upon his upturned face, almost boyish in the unconsciousness of repose, and I began to feel pity for his weakness, my anger against him fading away. As the darkness became pronounced I remained there still, my sleepless eyes paying small heed to night, the scenes I saw being of the brain, memory awakening to paint with glowing colors across the black screen. The evening was quiet,—within, no more was heard than the regular breathing of my companion; without, an occasional savage outcry, mingled with the low moaning of the night wind.
It became a lonely vigil, my thoughts unhappy. I had much to reflect upon. The extreme difficulty of our present situation, encompassed and separated as we were: De Noyan was bewitched by a siren who had already bound him by silken cords to any nefarious scheme her unscrupulous desires might compass; Cairnes was as helplessly entangled in her power, although held to his fate by ropes of a different nature; while Madame was scarcely less a prisoner, powerless to escape the ruthless grasp of a false-hearted woman whose jealousy might at any instant lead to measures of extremity. I alone of all our little company remained somewhat my own master. My hands and heart at least were free from all visible bonds. Yet what hideous mockery was such freedom! I realized that I could venture no step beyond the door of the lodge without becoming the focus of spying eyes; that all about was evidence of the despotic power of this renegade white queen, who deigned to spare me merely because she deemed I was utterly powerless to interfere with her cruel purposes. Saint Andrew! it was an environment of evil to chill the blood of any man, nor amid its gathering gloom could I distinguish any gleam promising dawn. About us watched impatiently a horde of ruthless savages, eager to make us victims of their torture, held back temporarily only by the imperious will of this self-styled "Daughter of the Sun," who ruled through appeal to their grossest superstitions. She, I believed, in spite of fair face and evidences of culture, was as vindictive, barbarous, and relentless as the wildest in that savage band.
Over and over I turned such unhappy thoughts in my seething brain, until the faintest sound from without had died away. I may have spent hours thus, while De Noyan slept on peacefully as a tired child. At last a wild desire for action overcame my lassitude, conquered all lingering discretion. There arose before me, clearly as a painted picture, the pleading face of her I loved. I knew that to no other was she looking for aid in her despair. There might be little I could accomplish for her succor, yet it would bring her new courage even to exchange a brief word with some faithful friend, as proof that she was not forgotten. Besides, I longed, as no expression can make clear, to gaze again, if only for an instant, into her clear gray eyes, to listen to the gentle murmur of her trustful voice. In brief, I was in the mood for a desperate venture.
I crept to the open door, peering cautiously forth into the darkness. It was a heavy night, the little basin was wrapped in shadow, and not even a star peeped forth from the rifts of low-scudding clouds. In no direction could I distinguish any twinkling of lights except a single fitful flash from off the altar, where black-robed priests guarded the sacred fire or worshipped before the Puritan. Encouraged by the darkness I crept along the outer wall, unchallenged by the skulking guard, and finally attained the upper corner. Here I observed a second glimmer, which I instantly recognized as coming from the other great house upon the summit of the mound—that house in which I understood dwelt Queen Naladi, and where De Noyan said his wife remained prisoner.
I scarcely know what I hoped to accomplish by such a move, yet helpful circumstances are apt to develop when one attempts boldly to do his own part the best he may. It was in blind faith I crept forward through the dry grass, drawing ever closer toward that beckoning light. It was a long journey and a slow one, as the tribe would guard vigilantly the dwelling-place of their Queen. At every rustle in the grass, every flap of wing overhead, I paused, listening to the pounding of my heart.
I clasped closely in one hand the knife, my sole weapon of defence, and, as my eyes became accustomed to the gloom and could distinguish some things more clearly, I paused often, with uplifted head, to study some indistinct object in the darkness. Thus advancing inch by inch, avoiding with care the least rustling of dry grass, I wriggled snake-like forward, until I began breasting the steeper incline of the mound, its summit now outlined against the lighter space of overarching sky.
All my rage deserted me when again in the open, actually attempting to achieve a purpose. My brain cleared as by magic, every nerve steadying itself to meet whatsoever peril might be lurking along the path. Half-way up the mound I lay close to the earth, peering steadily through the gloom. There was no cover to crouch behind, the slope being totally bare of vegetation except for the short, dry grass, yet I felt reasonably secure from observation unless I entered that bar of light. Unable to do more than guess, I concluded that the single flame, splitting the night like the shining blade of a sword, came from the northern compartment, while the southern half remained wrapped in silent darkness. Outwardly this Queen's residence was constructed much like the building used by the priests as a temple. In the latter I recalled two entrances opening respectively toward east and west. Were a partition run between, as in this private dwelling, the eastern door would open into the southern apartment. It was the west door through which the light streamed, and, daring approach it no closer, my only recourse lay in trying my fortune on the opposite side.
I began a winding advance along the sloping side of the hill, but sank suddenly to earth as a spectral figure moved forth from the darkness, stood a moment in the bright glare, and then strode past, vanishing within the gloom like a shadow. It was an Indian, spear in hand, one of the body-guard of the Queen. With renewed caution, my imminent danger being manifest, I barely lifted my head from the level of the grass, and began to work onward, reaching out until I got firm grasp on a bunch of grass, then drawing my body forward the full extent of my arms. The progress was slow, involving much labor, and it required a full half-hour to attain the other side of the mound. I could now look above, perceiving nothing except the black shadow of the house. If Eloise was within, and if this door led to her prison, it was scarcely possible that it was unguarded. Naladi had special reasons for looking carefully after the safe keeping of this captive, and was not likely to forget. I discovered no outward signs of life, but was too thoroughly versed in wilderness ways to count upon that, knowing that each dark shadow along the wall might conceal some crouching stealthy figure, ready to pounce forth. With utmost care, anxiously scanning the silent hillside, I drew myself forward, hardly venturing upon a full breath, until I finally rested on my breast barely three paces from where I believed the entrance must be.
I dreaded any attempt to advance into the unknown, yet I had no intention of withdrawing until I had accomplished that end for which I came. To retreat was foreign to my nature; indeed, I was now so close to Eloise, it required an effort of will to restrain a desire to rush blindly forward. But long training overcame this rash impulse. I rested there, silent as a savage, seeking to trace each detail of what was barely beyond my hand. It was little enough I could distinguish, straining my eyes to the utmost; and finally, despairing of learning more, I advanced my hands, silently groping for something to grasp, when I was instantly frozen into a recumbent statue by a slight movement of something directly in front. This was so faint that, had not my every nerve been tense, I should scarcely have noted it at all. Yet there could be no doubt—some one had given a slight shiver, as though from the chill of the night air; whoever it might be, the person was not three paces from my out-stretched hands, and, as near as I could judge, must be sitting on the very threshold of the entrance.
I was in an awkward position. How I had succeeded in arriving there without attracting attention was little short of miraculous. I durst not venture on any retrograde movement; I even pressed my mouth against the hard earth, the better to deaden the sound of breathing. I know not how long I remained thus; it was until my strained muscles appeared to cord themselves, and I could scarcely keep back a moan of pain. Yet no other sound came from that mysterious presence. Intently as I listened, not so much as the faint sound of breathing reached me. Still I could not have been deceived; there assuredly had been movement; I distinctly felt a consciousness of other presence, so that every nerve tingled, and it required the utmost self-control to hold me still. I fairly throbbed with insane impulses to leap forward and solve the mystery.
Who could be lurking there in such silence? It must assuredly be an enemy, a guard stationed to watch over the fair prisoner within; doubtless, he would remain until relieved by some other. What hope for successful advance held me in such agony of mind and body? I felt that I must relieve my cramped limbs or else scream aloud in spite of every effort at control. Slowly I drew back, my outspread hands searching for some hummock of grass against which I might press, to force my body silently downward, but discovered none. Then there sounded, slightly to my left, the soft rustle of a moccasoned foot, and a low, guttural voice muttered some indistinct sentences. The lurking form in my front appeared to rise, and there was a brief grunt as if in response to command. Then a huge warrior stalked past so close that his moccasoned foot planted itself fairly between my outstretched arms. Instantly he faded away within the enveloping gloom, and with hardly the hesitation of a moment I was on hands and knees creeping toward my goal. With groping fingers I touched the riven trunk that formed the threshold, and, reaching upward, noted with a thrill of delight that merely a heavy curtain of woven straw guarded the interior. There was no time for hesitancy; at any instant the savage guard might return to his deserted post. Pushing the slight barrier noiselessly aside, I gained the interior, dropped the mat behind me, and, for the first time, ventured to pause and survey my surroundings.
The single partition did not extend to the roof by a foot or more, so sufficient light found passage through the narrow aperture to render dimly visible the principal features of this apartment into which I had ventured. It was evidently a sleeping-chamber, handsomely furnished in barbaric fashion, the faint light gleaming on numerous burnished ornaments, while a carpet of soft skins concealed the floor. To this I gave brief attention, my anxious glance falling almost instantly upon the draped figure of a woman, vaguely defined in the dimness, lying outstretched on a slightly raised cushioned couch, her face concealed by the denser shadows of the wall, sound asleep.
Cautiously I crept forward, hesitating to touch her lest so sudden an awakening might cause alarm. It seemed safer to trust in speech, as then she would recognize at once who was by her side.
"Madame," I whispered softly, my lips as close as possible to her tiny ear, "I seek brief word with you to-night."
She must have slept lightly, for at my faint whisper I perceived that her wide-opened eyes were scrutinizing my face.
"'Tis I, Madame, Geoffrey Benteen. I beg you make no noise."
"You need have no fear," returned a soft voice in purest Spanish. "You do me honor by so unexpected a visit; I bid you welcome, Geoffrey Benteen."
If you were ever rudely aroused from pleasant dreams by a sudden dash of cold water in your face, you may partially comprehend my emotions upon hearing these words of greeting, and realizing that I was looking into the beautiful, pitiless eyes of the Daughter of the Sun, now sitting upright on the couch, happily smiling at my embarrassment.
"Nay, Geoffrey Benteen," she exclaimed, significantly waving her white hand as she noted my swift glance backward, "retire not thus suddenly. You must be a marvellous woodsman to have attained this place through the watchful cordon of my guards, but 'tis not likely you would so safely run the gantlet of return. You are not so fair of visage as your gay companion the Chevalier, yet now you are here I will enjoy a short time with you. Yet first let us understand each other. For what purpose do you invade my apartment so boldly?"
"I came," I replied, believing frankness would prove my best play in this crisis, "expecting to find not you, but your prisoner."
"Ah! you are honest, if not complimentary," a quick flash of understanding in her bright eyes. "So it was another woman for whose sake you came creeping recklessly through the night! God's mercy! I even ventured to dream my charms had pierced the dull armor of your cold English heart, yet here you merely stand and laugh at me,—would even flee my presence as though pestilence were upon my breath. Why, I wonder? am I not also fair? Why then flout me thus disdainfully? Naladi has not been accustomed to such harsh treatment at the hands of your sex."
"You are, indeed, beautiful both in form and face," I answered, seeking to avoid quarrel, "but it is not for a mere adventurer of the woods to utter words of love to such as you."
Her lips curled in sarcastic smile.
"Pish! you grow marvellously modest all at once. I bid you note that the passion of love cares nothing for a registry of birth—it looks to flesh and blood, not records. There is more hidden in your secret heart to-night than finds utterance upon the lips. You have the soft speech of a diplomat, full of guile and cunning. Come, I bid you tell me the whole truth. Do you think me an untutored savage, that you deny me in such disdain?"
"I know not how it may prove regarding your heart," I said boldly, not hesitating to meet her questioning eyes, "but in manner and graces you exhibit the gloss of courts."
She smiled mockingly, rising to her feet and saluting me with a low curtsy.
"Ah! very prettily said, señor. I perceive your objection then: you think me fairer without than within. I dare not contend you are altogether wrong in such conjecture. Faith, why not, señor? It would be strange otherwise. All lives do not flow gently amid prosaic routine, and my ship has been often enough upon the rocks. I have learned reasons of deceit and cruelty in the hard school of experience. If, in years of trial, I have grown hard of judgment, reckless of action, it is because others have been harsh with me. Power is naturally tyrannical. But then what use for us to dwell upon the past? So you came to-night to meet another? 'T is strange the risks a man will run for so infinitesimal a reward. Yet, Mother of God, it gives me a pleasant tale to pour into the ears of him you call De Noyan when we meet again to-morrow. If I mistake not, the one you seek in secret bears the name of that gay gallant. At least, she masquerades in this wilderness under the title of Madame de Noyan. But 'tis you, not he, her reputed husband, forsooth, who seeks her chamber in the midnight. Truly 'tis a pretty tale of romance."
It flashed upon me, as she thus lightly spoke, what infernal use an unscrupulous woman might easily make of this. The imputation lurking in her words aroused me to defiant anger, yet before I could collect my thought to make reply, she marked my hesitancy and continued with bitter sarcasm.
"Madame possesses so sweetly innocent a face I should never have suspected her of being an immodest wanton, were it not for the evidence of my own eyes. 'T is a strange world, señor. Yet I have often heard this is the way with thesegrandes damesof France."
"It is only your own foulness of thought which places such construction upon my coming here," I broke forth, determined I would face her down at every hazard. "You know well my purpose; I came seeking to aid one you held prisoner. It is all because of your sin, not ours. You have robbed this Chevalier de Noyan of all his manhood by your cursed smiles and honeyed speech. You have made him forget his sworn duty unto her who is his wife."
"How interesting you grow," she interrupted, her lips curling, her eyes hardening. "Señor, you grow almost handsome when your eyes flash. So you felt called upon to devote yourself to this poor, misused, neglected wife? I trust you have not found it an unpleasant service, or entirely without reward?"
"I felt called upon to aid her in escaping from your grip."
"Ah, indeed? Would you kindly, señor, tell me how you proposed performing such a miracle? It remains in my memory some such effort at release has been made before," her eyes hardening like diamonds. "Down yonder stands a blackened post which tells how Naladi deals with those daring to mock her will."
"You may spare threats," I retorted, gathering courage from rising anger, "as I care nothing for your good will, nor shall I swerve an inch in the hope of escaping your savage vengeance. Madame de Noyan is so far above you in every attribute of unsullied womanhood that no words of yours can ever besmirch her reputation; while, as to myself, I remain so certain of my own rectitude in the action of this night, I challenge you to do your worst."
"No doubt the Chevalier will also feel confidence in all you say," she added maliciously. "I understand it is the way with the French."
"With whom your previous acquaintance seems to have rendered you most familiar."
It was a wild, chance shot, for firing which I had no reason excepting that twice she had openly sneered at that people, and once had spoken of ships in a way strange to an inland savage. It was worth trying, however, and I marked her slight start of surprise at my insinuating tone, and the dark shadow sweeping across her face.
"Think you so, señor? It is passing strange, then, that I should be ignorant of the tongue."
"Yes, were it true," I made quick reply, encouraged by her manner, determined now to press this guessing home, and abide results. "But you had small difficulty comprehending the language a moment back. Permit me to remind you that it chanced to be French I spoke when first kneeling at your bedside."
She savagely bit her red lips in rage at my words; yet more, I thought, at her own forgetfulness.
"Pish! perhaps so;" and she stamped her foot angrily on the stone slabs of the floor. "What does that prove to my discredit for you to harp upon?"
Why my accidental words should thus worry her I could not even guess. Yet, clearly enough, there lay hidden some secret here—a hideous secret I had harshly probed. Believing this, I felt that I could enhance my power over her by pressing it relentlessly home with whatsoever directness of speech I dared to venture. With me, at such a crisis, decision meant action, and I advanced a step nearer, looking her directly in the eyes. A single moment she met me with a haughty stare; then defiance faded away into pleading, and her glance wavered. Whatever the cause, she was clearly afraid.
"Who—who are you?" she faltered. "Surely we have never met before?"
"As you know already, I am Geoffrey Benteen. I only regret that your memory is so faulty."
"What is it you know of me?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing, Madame," and I threw into the utterance of these words all the irony possible. "It is not altogether strange Madame should forget acquaintances of other days, even her native tongue, living so long in the wilderness."
It was a reckless shot, but somehow it struck the mark.
"I am a Toltec!" she cried wildly. "You speak to the Daughter of the Sun."
"No doubt; 'tis a neat superstition with which to overawe savages, yet there was one once across the water greatly resembling you,—a bit younger, perhaps,—yet who was content then with a title not nearly so high-sounding, until—oh, well, what need to tell the rest? Of course, it was not you?"
I would never have believed so sudden a change could come over the countenance of a human being, had I not witnessed it with these eyes. She had sunk back against the couch, her hands pressing her breast as if to still the wild throbbing of the heart, her great eyes staring at me in silent horror. Twice her lips moved as if attempting speech, yet no articulated sound issued from between them.
"Are you a fiend from hell?" she sobbed at last. "Why have you pursued me here?"
"You do me far too great an honor." I made her a low bow, thoroughly confident I held the whip hand, provided only I did not overplay my part. "It is the merest accident of fate which has thus thrown me again across your path. Nor have I the slightest desire to cause you trouble, only that through your power may come our safety."
"You—you have not followed me, then?"
"No."
I saw she was diligently studying my face in the dim light, vainly endeavoring to recall where, under what circumstances, we had met before.
"Who are you?"
"Bah! what difference can a name make? Surely you are careless enough about your own to be lenient with another choosing to forget."
"You also are a fugitive?" I caught the sudden ring of hope in her voice, saw a new light flash into her eyes.
"I have fled the Spaniards," I answered carelessly enough. "What odds is that, so long as what I did has been for France? Still, as I say, I have no desire to play you harm provided you deal justly with us all."
"Harm? You? How could you harm me?" she questioned, evidently more at ease from the change in my tone of speech. "You presume, señor; surely you forget you address the Queen of the Nahuacs; that even in our remnant there remain more than a hundred warriors to do my bidding! I can laugh at threats, señor."
I stared at her coldly.
"As you please, Madamela reineNaladi, Daughter of the Sun, formerly woman of—ah! so you do not care for me to speak that accursed word? Well, I thought you might not, so I spare you the shame. 'T is nothing to me your past, yet I would have you remember there is a people we both know to whom your miserable horde of savages would be but a mouthful. This tribe has already tested the sharpness of the French sword."
Her troubled eyes fell before mine, the last faint gleam of defiance dying from her face. She glanced about the apartment, evidently meditating retreat from my presence, or the swift summoning of her guards. Whichever it might have been, she as evidently thought better of it, turning toward me once more, no longer a frightened, angry Amazon, but instead a smiling, pleasant-faced woman.
"We have surely jested long enough, señor," she exclaimed with apparent lightness of demeanor. "It can never be best for us to be other than good friends. I doubt not you are a bold man, loyal to those trusting you, and I honor you for it. Take me, also, into that charmed circle, yet never forget I am a woman capable of doing great harm if I choose, for I have those at my command here who would die gladly at my bidding. The threat of French vengeance moves me little, señor; France is strong, cruel, relentless; but France is not here."
"Quite true," I replied, feeling best now to permit her to enjoy her own way. "But France never forgets, never pardons, and France possesses arms which reach across the seas, even into this wilderness. All she needs is a guide, and I could become that. Yet if you grant my request I pledge that no words of mine shall result in your injury."
"Your half threat does not greatly trouble me, señor. I am no frail reed fearing a puff of air. I merely seek that duty which seems most fair to all concerned. Pray tell me then what it is you would ask at my hands. Nay, wait; before we go into this business be seated here, so we may more easily converse together."
It was a low stool beside the couch she indicated, and I could do no less than silently accept her courtesy, the soft, mysterious charm of the woman blunting my prejudice.
"Now, señor," an engaging smile rendering more beautiful the face turned toward me. "I pray you trust me fully, and state frankly your demands upon Naladi."
If slightest sarcasm lurked in these softly spoken words I acknowledge total oblivion to it. Her fair face was the picture of earnestness, her eyes gazed frankly into mine.
"Our release, Madame."
She lifted her white hands in a sudden gesture of expostulation.
"Why ask that? It is utterly beyond my power, señor—at least, at once," in a tone of despair, convincing me she spoke truly. "We have our laws, which must be obeyed. It was the tribe who in battle took you prisoners, not I; it would cost me my position did I endeavor to give you immediate release."
"Could it be accomplished later?"
"Possibly it might."
"Will you promise me it shall?"
She hesitated, her eyes downcast, her bosom rising and falling to tumultuous breathing.
"Yes," at last slowly, as if she had weighed the problem with care. "I will pledge you my utmost help to that end."
"There is one thing more, Queen Naladi," I contended earnestly. "It is that Madame de Noyan be permitted meanwhile to abide with her husband."
The fair face darkened ominously. Instead of immediately answering she stepped across the room; returning, she held in her hands a small box in which I perceived papers.
"One moment, señor; move your stool here; yes, a trifle to the left where we may have clearer light shed upon these documents."
I drew it unsuspectingly to the spot indicated by her gesture, bending forward, wondering what it might be of importance she held in her hands.
"This, señor," she began calmly, slightly unrolling a written sheet, "is, as you will easily comprehend, the very document causing my unfortunate exile in this wilderness. You will take notice—"
As she spoke, I felt myself falling. She sprang hastily back, barely in time to escape my frenzied clutch upon her draperies; for one instant I clung to the stone slab of the floor desperately. Then she laughed, her heel crunched on my gripping fingers, and, with one muffled cry of despair, I went plunging down into the blackness.