Roland Cashel Volume I Part 3

Amigo Mio,--Not mine the fault that I do not stand before you now instead of these few lines; but Noronja has received news of these Chilian fellows, and sent me to get the craft ready for sea at once. We shall meet, then, in a few hours; and, if so, let it be as comrades. The service and our own rules forbid a duel so long as we are afloat and on duty. Whatever be your humor when next we touch sh.o.r.e again, rely upon finding me ready to meet it, either as an enemy or as

Your friend,

Enrique da Cordova.

A single exclamation of disappointment broke from Roland, but the moment after all former anger was gone. The old spirit of comrade-affection began to seek its accustomed channels, and he left the spot, happy to think how different had been his feeling than if he were quitting it with the blood of his s.h.i.+pmate on his hands.

Although he now saw that his continuance in the service for the present was inevitable, he had fully made up his mind to leave it, and, with it, habits of life whose low excesses had now become intolerable. So long as the spirit of adventure and daring sustained him, so long the respite of a few months' sh.o.r.e life was a season of pleasure and delight; but as by degrees the real character of his a.s.sociates became clearer, and he saw in them men who cared for enterprise no further than for its gain, and calculated each hazardous exploit by its profit, he felt that he was now following the career of a bravo who hires out his arm and sells his courage. This revolted every sentiment of his mind, and, come what would, he resolved to abandon it. In these day-dreams of a new existence the memory of two years pa.s.sed in the Pampas constantly mingled, and he could not help contrasting the happy and healthful contentment of the simple hunter with the voluptuous but cankered pleasures of the wealthy buccaneer. Once more beneath the wooded shades of the tall banana, he thought how free and peaceful his days would glide by, free from the rude conflicts he now witnessed, and the miserable jealousies of these ill-a.s.sorted companions.h.i.+ps. For some hours he wandered, revolving thoughts like these; and at length turned his steps towards the villa, determined, so long as his captain remained, that he would take up his quarters at Barcelonetta, nor in future accept of the hospitality of Don Rica's house. With this intention he was returning to arrange for the removal of his luggage, when his attention was excited by the loud cracking of whips, and the shrill cries that accompanied the sounds of "The post! the post!"

In a moment every window of the villa was thrown open, and beads, in every species of night-gear, and every stage of sleepy astonishment, thrust out; for the post, be it observed, was but a monthly phenomenon, and the arrival of letters was very often the signal for a total break-up of the whole household.

The long wagon, drawn by four black mules, and driven by a fellow whose wide-ta.s.selled sombrero and long moustaches seemed to savor more of the character of a melodrama than real life, stopped before the chief entrance of the villa, and was immediately surrounded by the guests, whose hurried wardrobe could only be excused in so mild a climate.

"Anything for me, Truxillo?" cried one, holding up a dollar temptingly between finger and thumb.

"Where are my cigarettes?"

"And my mantle?"

"And my gun?"

"And the senhora's embroidered slippers?" cried a maid, as she ransacked every corner where the packages lay.

The driver, however, paid little attention to these various demands, but, loosening the bridles of his beasts, he proceeded to wash their mouths with some water fetched from the fountain, coolly telling the applicants that they might help themselves, only to spare something for the people of Barcelonetta, for he knew there was a letter or two for that place.

"What have we here?" cried one of the guests, as a ma.s.s of something enveloped in a horse-sheet lay rolled up in the foot of the caleche, where the driver sat.

"Ah, par Dios!" cried the man, laughing, "I had nearly forgotten that fellow. He is asleep, poor devil! He nearly died of cold in the night!"

"Who is he--what is he?"

"A traveller from beyond San Luis in search of Don Pedro."

"Of me?" said Don Pedro, whose agitation became, in spite of all his efforts, visible to every one; at the same instant that, pulling back the cloak rudely, he gazed at the sleeping stranger,--"I never saw him before."

"Come, awake--stir up, senhor!" said the driver, poking the pa.s.senger very unceremoniously with his whip. "We are arrived; this is the Villa de las Noches Entretenidas; here is Don Pedro himself!"

"The Lord be praised!" said a short, round-faced little man, who, with a nightcap drawn over his ears, and a huge cravat enveloping his chin, now struggled to look around him. "At last!" sighed he; "I 'm sure I almost gave up all hope of it." These words were spoken in English; but even that evidence was not necessary to show that the little plump figure in drab gaiters and shorts was not a Spaniard.

"Are you Don Peter, sir,--are you really Don Peter?" said he, rubbing his eyes, and looking hurriedly around to a.s.sure himself he was not dreaming.

"What is your business with me--or have you any?" said Rica, in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Have I!--Did I come six thousand miles in search of you? Oh, dear! oh, dear! I can scarcely think it all over, even now. But still there may be nothing done if he isn't here."

"What do you mean?" said Rica, impatiently.

"Mr. Roland Cashel; Roland Cashel, Esq., I should call him now, sir."

"That 's my name!" said the youth, forcing his way through the crowd, and standing in front of the traveller.

The little man put his hand into a breast-pocket, and drew out a little book, opening which he began to read, comparing the detail, as he went on, with the object before him:--

"Six foot and an inch in height, at least, olive-brown complexion, dark eyes and hair, straight nose, short upper lip, frowns slightly when he speaks;--just talk a little, will you?"

Cashel could not help smiling at the request; when the other added, "Shows his teeth greatly when he laughs."

"Am I a runaway negro from New Orleans that you have taken my portrait so accurately, sir?"

"Got that at Demerara," said the little man, putting up the book, "and must say it was very near indeed!"

"I have been at Demerara," said Cashel, hoping by the admission to obtain some further insight into the traveller's intentions.

"I know that," said the little man. "I tracked you thence to St Kitts, then to Antigua. I lost you there, but I got up the scent again in Honduras, but only for a short time, and had to try Demerara again; then I dodged down the coast by Pernambuco, but lost you entirely in June,--some d.a.m.ned Indian expedition, I believe. But I met a fellow at New Orleans who had seen you at St. Louis, and so I tracked away south--"

"And, in one word, having found me, what was the cause of so much solicitude, sir?" said Cashel, who felt by no means comfortable at such a hot and unwearied pursuit.

"This can all be better said in the house," interposed Don Rica, who, relieved of any uneasiness on his own account, had suddenly resumed his habitual quiet demeanor.

"So I 'm thinking too!" said the traveller; "but let me first land my portmanteau; all the papers are there. I have not lost sight of it since I started."

The parcels were carefully removed under his own inspection, and, accompanied by Don Pedro Rica and Roland, the little man entered the villa.

There could be no greater contrast than that between the calm and placid bearing Don Pedro had now a.s.sumed, and the agitated and anxious appearance which Cashel exhibited. The very last interview he had sustained in that same spot still dwelt upon his mind; and when he declined Don Pedro's polite request to be seated, and stood with folded arms before the table, which the traveller had now covered with his papers, a prisoner awaiting the words of his judgment could not have endured a more intense feeling of anxiety.

"'Roland Cashel, born in York, a. d. 18--, son of G.o.dfrey Cashel and Sarah, his wife,'" read the little man; then murmured to himself, "Certificate of baptism, signed by Joshua Gorgeous, Prebendary of the Cathedral; all right, so far. Now we come to the wanderings. Your father was quartered at Port-au-Prince, in the year 18--, I believe?"

"He was. I was then nine years old," said Cashel.

"Quite correct; he died there, I understand?"

Cashel a.s.sented by a nod.

"Upon which event you joined, or was supposed to join, the 'Brown Peg,'

a sloop in the African trade, wrecked off Fernando Po same winter?"

"Yes; she was scuttled by the second mate, in a mutiny. But what has all this secret history of me to mean? Did you come here, sir, to glean particulars to write my life and adventures?"

"I crave your pardon most humbly, Mr. Cashel," said the little man, in a perfect agony of humiliation. "I was only recapitulating a few collateral circ.u.mstances, by way of proof. I was, so to say, testing--that is, I was--"

"Satisfying yourself as to this gentleman's ident.i.ty," added Don Pedro.

"Exactly so, sir; the very words upon the tip of my tongue,--satisfying myself that you were the individual alluded to here"--as he spoke, he drew forth a copy of the "Times" newspaper, whose well-worn and much-thumbed edges bespoke frequent reference--"in this advertis.e.m.e.nt,"

said he, handing the paper to Don Pedro, who at once read aloud,--

"Reward of 500.--Any person giving such information as may lead to the discovery of a young gentleman named Roland Cashel, who served for some years on board of various merchant vessels in the Levant, the African, and the West India trade, and was seen in New Orleans in the autumn of 18--, will receive the above reward. He was last heard of in Mexico, but it is believed that he has since entered the Chilian or Columbian service. He is well known in the Spanish Main, and in many of the cities on the coast, as the Caballero."

Cashel's face was one burning surface of scarlet as he heard the words of an advertis.e.m.e.nt which, in his ideas, at once a.s.sociated him with runaway negroes and escaped felons; and it was with something like suffocation that he restrained his temper as he asked why, and by whose authority, he was thus described?