The Dust of Conflict Part 21

Again the curious little smile showed in the man's face, but he took off his hat and turned away; while ten minutes later Appleby rode out of Santa Marta somewhat troubled in mind. It was tolerably plain to him that Harding's affairs were being watched with interest by the Administration or somebody who desired to gain a hold on him, and that his own connection with the Sin Verguenza was at least suspected by the peons who had befriended him. That being so, it appeared likely that others were aware of it too.

XIV - APPLEBY PROVES OBDURATE

THE hot day was over, and the light failing rapidly when Appleby, who had just finished comida, sat by a window of the hacienda San Cristoval with an English newspaper upon his knee. The room behind him, where Harper lay in a cane chair, was already shadowy, but outside the saffron sunset still flamed beyond the cane, and here and there a palm tuft cut against it hard and sharp in ebony tracery. Inside the air was hot, and heavy with the smell of garlic-tainted oil; but a faint cool draught flowed in between the open lattices, and Appleby, who had been busy since sunrise that day, sighed contentedly as he breathed it in. Beneath him the long white sheds still glimmered faintly, and a troop of men were plodding home along the little tram-line that wound through the cane; while in the direction they came from the smoke of the crus.h.i.+ng- mill floated, a long, dingy smear, athwart the soft blueness, out of which here and there a pale star was peeping.

Appleby was dressed in spotless duck, with a gray alpaca jacket over it, and the thin garments showed his somewhat spare symmetry as he lay relaxed in mind and body in his chair. He felt the peaceful stillness of the evening after the strain of the day, for Harding had left him in sole charge for some months now, and the handling of the men who worked for him had taxed all his nerve and skill. By good-humored patience and uncompromising grimness, when that appeared the more advisable, he had convinced his swarthy subordinates that they would gain little by trifling with him, though he had wondered once or twice when an open dispute appeared imminent why it was that certain peons had so staunchly supported him against their discontented comrades. It was not, however, his difficulties with the workmen which caused him most concern, but the task of keeping on good terms with an administration that regarded aliens, and especially Americans, with a jealous eye, and appeasing the rapacity of officials whose exactions would, if unduly yielded to, have absorbed most of Harding's profits. To hit the happy medium was a delicate business, but hitherto Appleby had accomplished it successfully.

The cigar he held had gone out, but he had not noticed it for the paper on his knee had awakened memories of the life he had left behind him. He could look back upon it without regret, for its trammels had galled him, and the wider scope of the new one appealed to him. In it the qualities of foresight, quick decision, daring, and the power of command were essential, and he had been conscious without vanity that he possessed them. Also, though that counted for less, his salary and bonus on the results of the crus.h.i.+ng was liberal.

Still, he was thinking of England, for a paragraph in the paper had seized his attention. There was nothing to show who had sent it him, though two or three had reached him already, and he knew that Nettie Harding was in England. He could scarcely see, but he held up the journal to the fading light, and with difficulty once more deciphered the lines:-

"The electrical manufacturing company have been very busy since the consummation of their agreement with Mr. Anthony Palliser. Already their factory at Dane Cop is in course of construction, and they have an army of workmen laying the new tramway and excavating the dam. It is also rumored that negotiations are in progress for the establishment of subsidiary industries, and it is evident that Northrop will make a stride towards prosperity under the enterprising gentleman who has recently succeeded to the estate."

Appleby smiled curiously as he laid the paper down. Tony, it was evident, would no longer be hampered by financial embarra.s.sments, and Appleby did not envy him the prosperity he had not hitherto been accustomed to. Still, he wondered vaguely why Tony had never written to the address in Texas, from which letters would have reached him, especially since it appeared that G.o.dfrey Palliser was dead. He was also curious as to whether Tony was married yet, and would have liked to have heard that he was. That, he felt, would have snapped the last tie that bound him to the post, and made it easier to overcome the longing he was sensible of when he remembered Violet Wayne. It would, he fancied, be less difficult if he could think of her as Tony's wife. Then he brushed away the fancies as Harper noisily moved his chair.

"Hallo!" he said. "Another of their blamed officers coming to worry us!"

Appleby heard a beat of hoofs, and looking down saw a man riding along the tramway on a mule. It was too dark to see the stranger clearly, and he sat still until there was a murmur of voices below, and a patter of feet on the stairway.

"He is coming up," he said, with a trace of displeasure in his voice. "I fancied I had made it plain that n.o.body was to be shown in until I knew his business. Still, we can't turn him out now. Tell Pancho to bring in the lights."

Harper rose, but as he did so the major-domo flung the door open, and stood still with a lamp in his hand as a man walked into the room. He made a little gesture of greeting, and Appleby checked a gasp of astonishment. The major-domo set the lamp on the table, and then slipped out softly, closing the door behind him.

"Don Maccario!" said Harper, staring at the stranger. "Now, I wonder where he got those clothes."

Maccario smiled, and sat down uninvited. He was dressed in broadcloth and very fine linen, and laid a costly Panama hat on the table. Then he held out a little card towards Appleby.

"With permission!" he said. "Don Erminio Peralla, merchant in tobacco, of Havana!"

Harper laughed when he had laid out a bottle and gla.s.ses, and the faint rose-like bouquet of Canary moscatel stole into the room.

"That's a prescription you are fond of," he said. "The tobacco business is evidently flouris.h.i.+ng."

The last was in Castilian, and Maccario delicately rolled up the brim of the hat and let it spring out again to show the beauty of the fabric, while his dark eyes twinkled.

"It seems that one's efforts for the benefit of his countrymen are appreciated now and then, but my business is the same," he said. "One does not look for the patriot Maccario in the prosperous merchant of tobacco, for those who would make mankind better and freer are usually poor. That is all-but I am still a leader of the Sin Verguenza, and as such I salute you, comrade."

He made Appleby a little inclination, which the latter understood, as he drank off his wine. It implied that he, too, was still counted among the Sin Verguenza.

"There is business on hand?" he said quietly, signing to Harper, who moved towards the door.

Maccario, somewhat to his astonishment, checked Harper with a gesture.

"It is not necessary," he said. "There is n.o.body there. Morales is sending his troops away, and by and by we seize the Barremeda district for the Revolution."

"You want me?" asked Appleby very slowly.

A curious little smile crept into Maccario's eyes. "Where could one get another teniente to equal you?"

Appleby sat very still. He had, he fancied, started on the way to prosperity when he became Harding's manager, and while he sympathized vaguely with the aspirations of the few disinterested Insurgents who seemed to possess any he had seen sufficient of the Sin Verguenza. If he could cling to the position it seemed not unlikely that a bright future awaited him; and while free from avarice, he had his ambitions. On the other hand, there were privations relieved only by the brief revelry that followed a scene of rapine, weary marches, hungry bivouacs, and anxious days spent hiding in foul mora.s.ses from the troops of Spain.

Still, he had already surmised that he would sooner or later have to make the decision, and while he remembered the promise the ragged outcasts had required of him a vague illogical longing for the stress of the conflict awoke in him.

"Well," he said quietly, "when I am wanted I will be ready."

Maccario made him a very slight inclination, which was yet almost stately and expressive, as only a Spaniard's gesture could be.

"It is as one expected, comrade; but perhaps we do not want you to carry the rifle," he said. "It is the silver we have in the meanwhile the most need of."

"What I have is my friends', to the half of my salary."

"We do not take so much from you. A little, yes, when the good will goes with it; but there is more you can do for us."

"No!" and Appleby's voice, though quiet, had a little ring in it. "There is nothing else."

Maccario lifted one hand. "It is arms we want most, my friend, and now the patriotic committee are liberal we are getting them. There remains the question of distribution and storage for the rifles as they some from the coast, which is difficult. Still, I thing Morales would not search one place, and that is the hacienda San Cristoval. It is evident how you could help us."

"No," said Appleby grimly. "Not a single rifle shall be hidden here.

When the Sin Verguenza send for me I will join them, but in the meanwhile I serve the Senor Harding. That implies a good deal, you understand?"

Maccario appeared reflective. "A little hint sent Morales would, I think, be effectual. Arrives a few files of cazadores with bayonets, and the Senor Harding will want another manager."

"Oh yes," said Harper dryly as he sprang towards the door. "That's quite simple, but the hint isn't sent yet. A word from me, and I guess the Sin Verguenza would be left without a leader!"

Maccario looked round, and laughed softly as he saw the American standing grim in face with his back to the door and a pistol glinting in his hand.

"It is Don Bernardino I have the honor of talking with," he said.

"You have heard all I have to tell you," said Appleby. "I cannot embroil the Senor Harding with Morales."

Maccario rose, and smiled at Harper. "It saves trouble when one has an understanding; and now, my friends, I will show you something. The major-domo had orders not to send up anybody without announcing him, but he admitted me. Will you come out with me into the veranda?"

"Put your pistol up, Harper," said Appleby; but Maccario shook his head.

"Not yet, I think," he said. "Open that lattice so the light s.h.i.+nes through. Will you send for the men I mention, Don Bernardino?"

They did as he directed, and when they went out into the veranda Appleby blew a whistle. It was answered by a patter of feet, and Appleby spoke swiftly when a man appeared below.

"I have sent for the men. They are among the best we have, and supported me when I had a difference with the rest," he said.

Maccario smiled. "They did as they were told, my friend."

Appleby could not see his face because the light from the room was behind them, but his tone was significant, and he waited in some astonishment until the patter of feet commenced again, and half-seen men flitted into the patio. The latter could, however, see the men above them, for a threatening murmur went up when they caught the glint of Harper's pistol, and two of them came running to the foot of the stairway. Maccario laughed, and laid his hand on Harper's shoulder. Then the murmurs died away, and the men stood still below, while Maccario turned with a little nod to Appleby.

"One would fancy they would do what I wished," he said. "The Sin Verguenza have, it seems, friends everywhere. It is permissible for one to change his mind."

"Yes," said Appleby, who hid his astonishment by an effort. "Still, in this case you have not been as wise as usual, Don Maccario. There are men who become more obdurate when you try to intimidate them. You have already heard my decision."