The Stowaway Girl Part 32

"I don't suppose so," Hozier rea.s.sured her. "If the artillery had made good practice at that short range the gunboat must have sunk at her moorings. Her men naturally couldn't miss the town. There was a rare old rattle among the crockery behind the soldiers. Did you hear it? I wonder what went over?"

He was as excited as a schoolboy, almost jubilant. Poor Iris! Though she was now a veteran in scenes of death and disaster, she realized that fate had erred in choosing her as a heroine.

c.o.ke and Watts drew near.

"Dom Wot's-'is-name wasn't long in gettin' busy," chuckled c.o.ke. "Gev'

her a dose of the _Andromeda's_ physic, eh? I'm sorry the blighters managed to 'ook it."

Though he had just uttered an opinion directly contrary to his captain's, Hozier deemed it wise to be non-committal.

"The guns must have been laid badly," he said.

"Mebbe, an' wot's more, d--n 'em, they knew there was something in front that could shoot back."

So c.o.ke was at least impartial. He cared not a jot how the Brazilians slaughtered each other so long as De Sylva established the new regime speedily.

"I never was a fightin' man meself," murmured Watts weakly. "That sort of thing gives me a sinkin' sensation in me innards."

"Wot you want is a drink, me boy," said c.o.ke.

Watts brightened. He drew a deep breath.

"I reelly believe that's wot's wrong with me," he said.

"Then I'll just ax the cook to 'urry up with the corfee," guffawed the unfeeling skipper. "We'll all be the better for a snack an' somethink 'ot."

Iris managed to choke down an hysterical laugh. c.o.ke was incorrigible, yet she was conscious of a growing appreciation of his crude chivalry.

He boasted truly that he feared neither man nor devil. His chief defect lay in being born several centuries too late. Had he flourished during the Middle Ages, c.o.ke would have carved out a kingdom.

Even while the men were thus callously discussing the tragedy that had been enacted before their eyes, the miracle of the dawn was transforming night into day. In the tropics there is no hesitancy about sunrise. The splendid imagery of Genesis is literally exact.

"Let there be light; and there was light . . . and G.o.d divided the light from the darkness." Long before the _Andorinha_ had crept round the southern headland of the Macayo estuary she became visible again.

About six o'clock a grand review was held in the Plaza, or chief square. Dom Corria, a resplendent personage on horseback, made a fine speech. He was vociferously applauded, by both troops and populace.

General Russo, also mounted, a.s.sured him that Brazil was pining for him. In effect, when he was firmly established in the Presidency, the people would be allowed to vote for him.

"We have borne two years of misrule," vociferated the commander-in-chief, "but it has vanished before the fiery breath of our guns. We hail your Excellency as our liberator. Long live Dom Corria!

Down with----"

The fierce "Vivas" of the mob, combined with the general's weight, proved too much for his charger, which plunged violently. Russo was held on accidentally by his spurs. There was a lively interlude until an orderly seized the bridle, and the general was able to disengage the rowels from the animal's ribs. When tranquillity was restored, the soldiers marched off to their quarters, and Colonel San Benavides boarded the _Unser Fritz_. He invited Iris, Schmidt, c.o.ke, and Hozier to breakfast with the President at the princ.i.p.al hotel.

Watts was not included in the list of guests. Being indignant, he expressed himself freely.

"Nice thing!" he said to Norrie. "We're not good enough to be axed.

It was a bit of all right w'en we 'elped 'im out of quod, but now 'e's a bloomin' toff we're low-down sailormen--that's wot we are."

"Man, ye're fair daft," growled the Scot. "It's as plain as the neb on yer face that he canna dae wi' a', so he just picked the twa skippers and the la.s.sie; he kent weel she wadna stir an inch withoot Hozier."

Norrie was right, as it happened, but Watts added another grudge to his score against De Sylva.

Now, though dynasties totter and empires crash, the first thing a woman thinks of when bidden to a public gathering is her attire. Iris declared most emphatically that to expect her to go ash.o.r.e and meet certain military and civic dignitaries while she was wearing a costume originally purchased for mountaineering, which had endured the rough usage of the past two days, was "for to laugh." She was speaking French, and that was the literal phrase she used. The courteous San Benavides smiled away her protest. His Excellency had foreseen the difficulty. Those who knew Dom Corria best would not credit that he should forget anything. The Senhora Pondillo awaited Iris at the hotel with a supply of new clothing. Captain Schmidt, of course, could depend on his own wardrobe, but Captain c.o.ke and the Senhor Hozier would find a tradesman in their rooms who had guaranteed to equip them suitably. Moreover, the same outfitter would visit the s.h.i.+p during the morning and make good the lost raiment and boots of the other officers and men of the _Andromeda_. San Benavides spoke like the amba.s.sador of a prince, and, in the sequel, there was no stint of deeds to give effect to his promises.

On the way to the hotel Iris saw a large building labeled "Casa do Correio e Telegraphia." It was not surprising that she had not thought earlier of the necessity of cabling to Liverpool. She blushed, and looked involuntarily at Hozier.

"I must send a message to my uncle," she said.

Were Philip a professed spiritualist, the spectral shapes of David Verity and d.i.c.key Bulmer could not have been more effectually "projected" into his astral plane at Maceio than they were at that instant. He had not set eyes on either of the men, but the girl's words conjured them into being, and the vision was vastly disagreeable.

San Benavides, of course, was anxious to oblige Iris in this as in every other respect. He procured the requisite form, told her the cost, which led to a condensed version of the original draft, smoothed away the slight hindrance of foreign money tendered in payment, and arranged the due delivery of a reply. Perhaps he smiled when he read what she had written. The words were comprehensible even to one who did not understand English:

"_Andromeda_ lost. Arrived here safely. Address, Yorke, Maceio."

There was a s.p.a.ce at the foot of the form on which it was necessary to subscribe her name and local address. So she wrote, "Iris Yorke, steams.h.i.+p _Unser Fritz_, Maceio harbor." Hozier was standing by her side as she printed the words legibly. She looked up at him with a curiously tense expression that he did not fathom immediately. They were in the busy main street again ere its meaning occurred to him.

The cable committed her irrevocably. She felt that she was signing her own condemnation!

Among the four people, therefore, who entered the Hotel Grande in the Rua do Sul there were two whose feelings were the reverse of cheerful.

But convention is stronger than the primal impulses--sometimes it triumphs over death itself--and convention was all-powerful now. It led Iris away captive in the train of the smiling and voluble Senhora Pondillo, and it immersed Hozier in a tangle of fearsome words which turned out to be the stock in trade of a clothier. The mere male of Maceio decks himself with gay plumage. Philip was hard put to it before he secured some garments which did not irresistibly recall the heroes of certain musical comedies popular in England.

c.o.ke experienced worse vicissitudes. Even the variety and richness of a master mariner's vocabulary was taxed to its utmost resources when he was coaxed into "trying on" a short jacket apparently intended for a toreador. Such minor troubles, however, were overcome in time. A razor and a hot bath were by no means the least important items of the rejuvenating process, and when the two men entered the salon where Dom Corria was holding an impromptu reception they looked like a couple of coffee-planters from the Argentine. Schmidt was there already. For some reason, the new President seemed to be so fond of the _Unser Fritz's_ commander that he refused to be parted from him. It was not until long afterward that Hozier discovered the reason of this mushroom friends.h.i.+p. The German consul was in the room.

The appearance of Iris caused something akin to a sensation. The Dona Pondillo could not create English clothes, nor bad copies of French, but her own daughters dressed in the height of local fas.h.i.+on, and Dom Corria's earnest request had made them generous. The dark-eyed, olive-complexioned women of Alagoas are often exceedingly beautiful, but few of those present had ever seen a brown-haired, brown-eyed, fair-faced Englishwoman. Iris was remarkably good-looking, even among the pretty girls of her own county of Lancas.h.i.+re. Her large, limpid eyes, well-molded nose, and perfectly formed mouth were the dominant features of a face that had all the charm of youth and health. Her smooth skin, brown with exposure to sun and air, glowed into a rich crimson when she found herself in the midst of so many strangers. The slightly delicate semblance induced by the hards.h.i.+ps and loss of rest which fell to her lot since the _Andromeda_ went to pieces on the Grand-pere rock in no wise detracted from her appearance. She wore the elegant costume of a Maceio belle with ease and distinction. If she was flurried by the undisguised murmur of admiration that greeted her, she did not show it beyond the first rush of color.

Dom Corria, dragging Schmidt with him, hurried to meet her. Surprise at his gala attire helped to conquer her natural timidity, for the President was gorgeous in blue and gold.

"My good wishes are soon changed into congratulations, Senhor," she said.

"Ah, my dear young lady, I am overjoyed that you should be here to witness my success," he cried. Then, as if he had waited for this moment, he turned to the a.s.sembled company and delivered an eloquent panegyric of the _Andromeda's_ crew and their _deusa deliciosa_--for that is what he called Iris--a delightful G.o.ddess. He had made many speeches already that day, but none was more heartfelt than this. His eulogy was unstinted. Luckily for Iris, she was so conscious of the attention she attracted that she kept her eyes steadfastly fixed on the carpet. Otherwise, having a well-developed sense of humor, she must have laughed outright had she seen c.o.ke's face.

He, of course, understood no word that was said. But De Sylva's animated gestures and flas.h.i.+ng eyes were enough. Ever and anon, the excitable citizens of Maceio would turn and gaze at one or other of the three, while loud cries of "Bravo!" punctuated the President's oratory.

When c.o.ke's turn came for these demonstrations, he tried to grin, but was only able to scowl. For once in his stormy life he was nonplused.

His brick-red countenance glowed with heat and embarra.s.sment. At the close of the speech he muttered to Hozier:

"Wish I'd ha' known wot sort of beano I was comin' to. Dam if I ain't meltin'."

This ordeal ended, dejeuner was served. The President took in Iris and the Dona Pondillo. They were the only ladies present. The three sailors, some staff officers, and a few local celebrities, made up the rest of the company.

Hozier, though by no means indifferent to the good fare provided, was wondering how many hours would elapse before Iris's cablegram reached Verity's office, when some words caught his ear that drove all other considerations from his mind.

"I am sorry to say that, in my opinion, there is not the slightest chance of your message reaching England to-day, Miss Yorke," the President was saying.

"But why not?" she asked, with an astonishment that was not wholly the outcome of regret.

"The cable does not land here, and the transmitting stations will be closely watched, now that my arrival in Brazil is known. Even the simplest form of words will be twisted into a political significance.

No, I think it best to be quite candid. Until I control Pernambuco, which should be within a week or ten days, you may rest a.s.sured that no private cablegrams will be forwarded."

"Oh, dear, I fully expected a reply to-day," she said, and now that she realized the effect of a further period of anxiety on the Bootle partners.h.i.+p she was genuinely dismayed.

"You may be sure it will not come," said Dom Corria. "Indeed I may as well take this opportunity of explaining to you--and to my other English friends"--with the interpolated sentence his glance dwelt quietly on Hozier and c.o.ke--"the exact position locally. You see, Maceio is a small place, and easily approached from the sea. A hostile fleet could knock it to pieces in half an hour, and it would be a poor reward for my supporters' loyalty if my presence subjected them to a bombardment. I have no strong defenses or heavy guns to defy attack, and my troops are not more than a thousand men, all told. It is obvious that I must make for the interior. There, I gather strength as I advance, the wars.h.i.+ps cannot pursue, and I can choose my own positions to meet the half-hearted forces that Dom Miguel will collect to oppose me. In fact, I and every armed man in Maceio march up-country this afternoon."

Iris, by this time, was thoroughly frightened, and Hozier, who read more in De Sylva's words than was possible in her case, was watching the speaker's calm face with a fixity that might have disconcerted many men. Dom Corria seemed to be unaware of either the girl's distress or Philip's white anger.