The Ruined Cities of Zululand Part 28

"Is she armed?" asked Wyzinski.

"The 'Dawn's' people said not, but as the s.h.i.+p happened to be crowded with coolies, it is possible that the schooner would not show her metal."

"And you think that the Malays were part of her crew?"

"I feel sure of it. The schooner has run into some of the little bays of the coast, and is now doubtless lying within a few miles of us. This night she will make a second attempt."

"And will find the Bay empty."

"Certainly. In two hours I shall be ready to heave up the anchor, warp the brig well up with the entrance to the Bay, and profit by the breeze, which generally blows from the eastward after sunset."

"It would be necessary to move on another account, Captain Weber."

"Ay, ay; forty-eight hours would bring some of those fellows up from the bottom bobbing about us, the big chap whose skull I scratched, among the rest."

"He gave you some trouble, did he not?"

"I should have mastered him single handed," replied the old seaman, "if I had not been trampled on and crushed by both parties. I never quite lost consciousness, but I was very near it when the big villain dashed away on to the quarter-deck."

"Mr Lowe," continued the captain, "heave up the anchor, and let me know when you are ready for the warp."

"Ay, ay, sir," replied the mate, whose left arm was in a sling, going forward.

Captain Hughes, his arms folded, was leaning over the taffrail, when the clink of the capstan made itself heard, as the sailors s.h.i.+pped the bars, and to the merry tones of the flute began heaving up the anchor. Dom Maxara was standing erect beside him, his tall figure and n.o.ble bearing telling of a proud and haughty nature.

"Isabel has told me what has pa.s.sed between you, Senhor Capitano,"

continued the n.o.ble; "but though I will never thwart her will, you must remember we know little of each other."

"Ours has scarcely been a ball-room meeting," returned the English officer, in a tone scarcely less haughty than that of the Portuguese.

"That I am willing to concede, and more, for on one occasion at least my daughter owed you her life, but even that is not a debt on which a n.o.ble caballero counts. Are you aware that Isabel, on her father's side, descends from the oldest dukedom of the land, that of the princely house of Cadaval?"

His listener bowed stiffly, and the proud n.o.ble continued--

"Are you aware also that her mother was of the race of the Guzmans of Castille, and that in her is concentrated the purest Spanish, with the oldest blood of Portugal?"

"Well, as to that," replied Hughes, who could not help smiling, though feeling very anxious, "I can count pedigree with any man, only instead of the Guzmans of Castille, I must refer you back to the rude hills of the Cymri and the chieftains, my ancestors, who wore their golden torques, when the Druids raised their altars in Britain, and before even the Romans knew the land."

The speaker's voice showed pride and dignity fully equal to that of the n.o.ble, though there breathed through the words a spirit of mockery and cynicism.

Dom Maxara bowed courteously. "I can hardly perceive the a.n.a.logy between your skin-clad ancestors and the chivalrous barons of my land,"

he replied coldly.

"I regret to hear it, Senhor," said the soldier, with some show of humour, "and it yet remains for me to learn how as to birth and old lineage I am so immeasurably your inferior," he continued, sharply.

"The boon I ask of you is great, so great that a lifetime of devotion will not pay my debt, but in other matters," and here the delicacy of the subject striking him, he paused. "In a word, Senhor Maxara, my fortune is small, very small, and resumes itself thus:--A captain's commission, an income of five hundred a year besides, and an old name, and old house in Wales. In worldly means I am not rich, but in love for Dona Isabel I will not yield even to a father."

"And she has told you that your love is returned, has she not?" asked the n.o.ble.

"She has led me to hope it may, and that hope is the loadstar of my existence; and one with which I will never part."

"Listen, Senhor Hughes. My father, Dom Antonio Mendez de Maxara," said the n.o.ble, speaking slowly and deliberately, "was a rich man. Added to a proud name, he enjoyed large estates. When I married into the n.o.ble house of the Guzmans of Castille, few had a brighter prospect than myself. My father mixed himself up with the political parties of the land. He was unfortunate, and, like many another, plunged more deeply into intrigue. Not content with that, he must needs join the Guzmans in their schemes against the Queen of Spain, thus not only rendering himself obnoxious to the Portuguese Government, but hated and feared by the cruel and treacherous Narvaez.

"Years pa.s.sed on, Isabel was born, and her mother paid for the young life with her own."

The n.o.ble paused, and seemed buried in sad reflections as the cigarette smoke curled upwards.

"Run that warp forward, clap it on to the capstan," shouted the clear voice of the captain. "Heave with a will, my lads. The old barky knows her way out into blue water. Run the boats up to the davits, Mr Lowe."

The brig's head, now the anchor was clear of the ground, slowly fell off under the strain put upon the warp, and she moved through the water in the direction of the entrance.

"Keep all fast with the boats," called Captain Weber. "We may have to tow the hussy out. There's not a breath of wind, Mr Lowe. Look handy with that maintop-gallant sail, my lads. We shall need it before the moon rises. Send a hand to the wheel."

All was bustle on the brig's decks, while aloft the busy topmen were bending new sails, splicing the rigging, and completing their work, which had been hastily but effectually done. The creak of the oars in their rowlocks was heard as a boat pulled out for the entrance, to see that all was clear to seaward. Still the old n.o.ble seemed immersed in thought. At last he spoke again.

"The moment came," he said, "when Narvaez triumphed. A traitor was found who had been for many years my father's intimate friend, had shared his plans and his purse. Bribed with gold and promises, the man placed a long political correspondence in the hands of the minister. It became plain that my father had dreamed of freedom both of religion and of government. This might have been pa.s.sed over, but he had gone further, and desired a federation of the two countries, Spain and Portugal, under a popular Republic. This was his crime, and the two parties then fighting for power became united against the common danger.

"Forced to fly, my father had nearly reached the French frontier, when he was struck down by the hands of hired a.s.sa.s.sins. A desultory and useless rising took place at different but isolated points. In these I had taken part, burning to revenge a father's death. I managed, with great difficulty, to escape; but my property and estates were lost, and I but retained sufficient to enable me to live, and to place Isabel with a relative, the Superior of the Convent of the Augustines, in Paris.

Pa.s.sing into the service of France, I won a commission in the Foreign Legion, serving in Algeria, in Italy, and Austria. I rose to the command of my regiment, when, some months since, I was enabled to return to my country, was received with favour, a small portion of our forfeited estates restored, and the mission I am now accomplis.h.i.+ng given me.

"Ah! Isabel, my child!" continued the n.o.ble, as at that moment she appeared on deck, and he bent to kiss her high forehead; "I have been burthening our friend with the tale of our family misfortunes."

Dressed in a light muslin with a flowing skirt, her dark hair heavily braided, with the high comb, and mantilla, Dona Isabel would have looked beautiful enough; but with the left arm bound up and worn in a sling made with a crimson Andalusian scarf, and the air of fatigue and languor which late events had caused still hanging over her, Hughes thought he had never seen her look so lovely.

Nestling in between her father and her lover, Isabel pa.s.sed her right hand through the arm of the old n.o.ble, who looked down fondly into her face.

The brig's stern was now no longer pointed towards the land, for she was moving slowly along parallel with it. The click of the capstan, as the sailors stamped round with a measured step, was heard, and the vessel was slowly drawing up with the entrance to the Bay. The parrots were screaming on sh.o.r.e and the gulls overhead, the last rays of the evening sun tinging the tops of the fan-like leaves of the ravinala trees, just as the "Halcyon" arrived abreast of the "Onglake" river, which here discharged itself into the sea.

"It is a beautiful scene," said Isabel, "and who could believe that it is the same quiet Bay which a few hours since rang with the demoniac yells of those horrible pirates!"

"If we have any wind it will come towards sunset, the captain says, and we shall shape our course for the Cape," said Dom Maxara. "What leave of absence remains to you, Senhor Enrico!"

The name seemed singular to Captain Hughes; it was the first time he had heard it used; but it was, after all, decidedly prettier than plain matter-of-fact Henry.

"About eighteen months," replied he, "which could easily be prolonged."

"And have you any plans for the future, Enrico mio?" asked Isabel, raising her large dark eyes to his face.

If "Enrico" seemed pleasant from the mouth of the stately old n.o.ble, what was that first "Enrico mio" from those ruby lips?

The noise of the boats as they were manned, the dropping of the oars into the water, the uns.h.i.+pping of the capstan bars, and the preparations for casting off the rope used to tow the vessel's head round, now told that the "Halcyon" had reached the entrance of the Bay.

"Set the fore-topmast-staysail, let fall the foresail, get the fore-topsail on her, Mr Lowe. Cast off the warp; give way, my lads, give way cheerily in the boats," shouted the captain, as he stood on the quarter-deck. "Starboard--hard--let her feel the helm. Steady! so."

The brig's head slowly payed off, as she felt the strain of the boats'

towing, and her jib-boom pointed right for the entrance of the Bay. The horizon had been reported clear, nothing being in sight, and sail after sail opened its wide expanse, while the long breathings of the ocean began to be felt, and the idle canvas flapped to and fro in the calm.

"Have you any plans for the future, Enrico mio?" reiterated Isabel.