The Key to Yesterday Part 17

"Give me a moment," pleaded Saxon. He realized with desperation that every word the other spoke was true, that he was helpless unless he could be convincing.

"Listen, Rodman," he hurried on, ready to surrender everything else if he could carry his own point. "For G.o.d's sake, listen to me! You trusted me in the first place. I could have left the boat at any point, and wired back!" He looked into the face of the other man so steadily and with such hypnotic intensity that his own eyes were the strongest argument of truth he could have put forward.

"You say I have distrusted you, that I have not admitted my ident.i.ty as Carter. I don't care a rap for my life. I'm not fighting for that now. I have no designs on you or your designs. Let me put a hypothetical question: Suppose you had come to a point where your past life was nothing more to you than the life of another man--a man you hated as your deadliest enemy; suppose you lived in a world that was as different from the old one as though it had never existed; suppose a woman had guided you into that new world, would you, or would you not, turn your back on the old? Suppose you learned as suddenly as I learned, from you, on deck, that that woman was in danger, would you, or would you not, go to her?"

Men rarely find the most eloquent or convincing words when they stand at sudden crises, but usually men's voices and manners at such times can have a force of convincing veracity that means more. Possibly, it may have been the hypnotic quality of Saxon's eyes, but, whatever it was, Rodman found it impossible to disbelieve him when he spoke in this fas.h.i.+on. In the plaza, he had suddenly turned the scales and held power of life and death over Rodman, and his only emotion had been that of heart-broken misery. Carter had been, like Rodman himself, the intriguer, but he had always been trustworthy with his friends. He had been violent, bitter, avenging, but never mean in small ways. That had been one of the reasons why Rodman, once convinced that the danger of vengeance was ended, had remained almost pa.s.sionately anxious to prove to the other that he himself had not been a traitor. Carter had been the Napoleonic adventurer, and Rodman only the pettier type. For Carter, he held a sort of hero-wors.h.i.+p. Rodman's methods were those of chicane, but rightly or wrongly he believed that he could read the human doc.u.ment.

If this other man were telling the truth, and if love of a woman were his real motive, he could be stung into fury with a slur. If that were only a pretext, the other would not allow his resentment to imperil his plans--he would repress it, or simulate it awkwardly.

"So," he commented satirically, "it's the good-looking young female that's got you buffaloed, is it? The warrior has been taken into camp by the squaw." The tone held deliberate intent to insult.

Saxon's lips compressed themselves into a dangerously straight line, and his face whitened to the temples. As he took a step forward, the slighter man stepped quickly back, and raised a hand with a gesture of explanation. Saxon had evidently told the truth. The revolutionist had satisfied himself, and his somewhat erratic method of judging results had been to his own mind convincing. And, at the same moment, Saxon halted. He realized that he stood in a position where questions of life and death, not his own, were involved. His anger was driving him dangerously close to action that would send cras.h.i.+ng to ruin the one chance of winning an effective ally. He half-turned with something like a groan.

He was called out of his stupor of anxiety by the voice of the other.

Rodman had been thinking fast. He would take a chance, though not such a great chance as it would seem. Indeed, in effect, he would be taking the other prisoner. He would in part yield to the request, but in the method that occurred to him he would have an ample opportunity of studying the other man under conditions which the other man would not suspect. He would have Saxon at all times in his power and under his observation while he set traps for him. If his surmise of sincerity proved false, he could act at once as he chose, before Saxon would have the opportunity to make a dangerous move. He would seem to do a tremendously hazardous thing in the name of friends.h.i.+p, but all the while he would have the cards stacked. If at the proper moment he still believed in the other, he would permit the man, under supervision, to save these friends. If not, Rodman would still be master of the situation. Besides, he had been seriously disappointed in not meeting Miraflores. He had felt that there might yet be advantages in coming closer to the theater of the drama than this vessel going north, though he must still remain under the protection of a foreign flag.

"So, you are willing to admit that your proper name is Mr. Carter?" he demanded, coolly.

"I am willing to admit anything, if I can get to Puerto Frio and through the lines," responded Saxon, readily.

"If I take you back, you will go unarmed, under constant supervision,"

stipulated Rodman. "You will have to obey my orders, and devise some pretext for enticing your friends away, without telling them the true reason. I shall be running my neck into a noose perhaps. I have no right to run that of _Vegas y Libertad_ into a noose as well. Are those terms satisfactory?"

"Absolutely!" Saxon let more eagerness burst from his lips than he had intended.

"Then, come with me to the captain." Suddenly, Rodman wheeled, and looked at the other man with a strange expression. "Do you know why I'm doing this? It's a fool reason, but I want to prove to you that I'm not the sort that would be apt to turn an ally over to his executioners. That's why."

Five minutes later, the two stood in the captain's cabin, and Saxon noted that the officer treated Rodman with a manner of marked deference.

"Is Cartwright's steam yacht still at Mollera?" demanded the soldier of fortune, incisively.

"It's held there for emergencies," replied the officer.

"It's our one chance! Mr. Saxon and myself must get to Puerto Frio at once. When do we strike Mollera?" Rodman consulted his watch.

"In an hour."

"Have us put off there. Send a wireless to the yacht to have steam up, and arrange for clearance. Put on all steam ahead for Mollera."

It was something, reflected Saxon, to have such toys to play with as this thin ally of his could, for the moment at least, command.

"Now, I fully realize," said Rodman, as they left the captain's cabin together, "that I'm embarking on the silliest enterprise of a singularly silly career. But I'm no quitter. Cartwright," he explained, "is one of the owners of the line. He's letting his yacht be used for a few things where it comes in handy."

There was time to discuss details on the way down the coast in the _Phyllis_. The yacht had outwardly all the idle ease of a craft designed merely for luxurious loafing over smooth seas, but Cartwright had built it with one or two other requisite qualities in mind. The _Phyllis_ could show heels, if ever matters came to a chase, to anything less swift than a torpedo-boat destroyer. Her mastheads were strung with the parallel wires that gave her voice in the Marconi tongue, and Saxon had no sooner stepped over the side than he realized that the crew recognized in Mr. Rodman a person to be implicitly obeyed.

If Rodman had seemed to be won over with remarkable suddenness to Saxon's request that he undertake a dangerous rescue, it was now evident to the painter that the appearance had been in part deceiving.

Here, he was more at Rodman's mercy than he had been on the steamer.

If Rodman's word had indeed been as he boasted, that of an admiral on the _City of Rio_, it was, on the _Phyllis_, that of an admiral on his own flags.h.i.+p. By a thousand little, artful snares thrown into their discussions of ways and means, Rodman sought to betray the other into any utterance or action that might show underlying treachery, and, before the yacht had eaten up the route back to the strip of coast where the frontier stretched its invisible line, he had corroborated his belief that the artist was telling the truth. Had he not been convinced, Rodman had only to speak, and every man from the skipper to the j.a.panese cabin boy would have been obedient to his orders.

"We will not try to get to Puerto Frio harbor," explained Rodman. "It would hardly be safe. We shall steam past the city, and anchor at Bellavista, five miles beyond. Bellavista is a seaside resort, and there a boat like this will attract less attention. Also, the consulate is better suited to our needs as to the formalities of entering and leaving port. There, we will take horses, and ride to town. I'll read the signs, and, if things look safe, we can get in, collect your people, and get out again at once. They can go with us to the yacht, and, if you like fireworks, we can view them from a safe distance."

La Punta, as they pa.s.sed, lay sleepy by her beach, her tattered palms scarcely stirring their fronds in the breathless air. Later, Puerto Frio went alongside, as quiet and untouched with any sense of impending disturbance as the smaller town. Behind the scattered outlying houses, the incline went up to the base of San Francisco, basking in the sun. The hill was a huge, inert barrier between the green and drab of the earth and the blue of the sky. Saxon drew a long breath as he watched it in the early morning when they pa.s.sed. It was difficult to think of even an artificial volcano awakening from such profound slumber and indolence.

"You'd better go below, and get ready for the ride. We go horseback.

Got any riding togs?" Rodman spoke rapidly, in crisp brevities. "No?

Well, I guess we can rig you out. Cartwright has all sorts of things on board. Change into them quick. You won't need anything else. This is to be a quick dash."

When the anchor dropped off Bellavista, Saxon stood in a fever of haste on deck, garbed in riding-clothes that almost fitted him, though they belonged to Cartwright or some of the guests who had formerly been pleasuring on the yacht.

As their motor-boat was making its way sh.o.r.eward over peacefully glinting water, the painter ran his hand into his coat-pocket for a handkerchief. He found that he had failed to provide himself. The other pockets were equally empty, save for what money had been loose in his trousers-pocket when he changed, and the old key he always carried there. These things he had unconsciously transferred by mere force of habit. Everything else he had left behind. He felt a mild sense of annoyance. He had wanted, on meeting her, to hand Duska the letter he had written on the night that their s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sed, but haste was the watchword, and one could not turn back for such trifles as pocket furnis.h.i.+ngs.

Rodman proved the best of guides. He knew a liveryman from whom Argentine ponies could be obtained, and led the way at a brisk canter out the smooth road toward the capital.

For a time, the men rode in silence between the _haciendas_, between scarlet cl.u.s.tered vines, clinging with heavy fragrance to adobe walls, and the fringed spears of palms along the cactus-lined roadsides.

Hitherto, the man's painting sense had lain dormant. Now, despite his anxiety and the nervous prodding of his heels into the flanks of his vicious little mount, he felt that he was going toward Duska, and with the realization came satisfaction. For a time, his eyes ceased to be those of the man hurled into new surroundings and circ.u.mstances, and became again those of Frederick Marston's first disciple.

They rode before long into the country that borders the town. Rodman's eyes were fixed with a fascinated gaze on the quiet summit of San Francisco. He had himself no definite knowledge when the craters might open, and as yet he had seen no sign of war. The initial note must of course come drifting with the first wisp of smoke and the first detonation from the mouths of those guns.

At the outskirts of the town, they turned a sharp angle hidden behind high monastery walls, and found themselves confronted by a squad of native soldiery with fixed bayonets.

With an exclamation of surprise, Rodman drew his pony back on its flanks. For a moment, he leaned in his saddle, scrutinizing the men who had halted him. There was, of course, no distinction of uniforms, but he reasoned that no government troops would be guarding that road, because, as far as the government knew, there was no war. He leaned over and whispered:

"_Vegas y Libertad._"

The sergeant in command saluted with a grave smile, and drew his men aside, as the two hors.e.m.e.n rode on.

"Looks like it's getting close," commented Rodman shortly. "We'd better hurry."

Where the old market-place stands at the junction of the _Calle Bolivar_ with a lesser street, Rodman again drew down his pony, and his cheeks paled to the temples. From the center of the city came the sudden staccato rattle of musketry. The plotter threw his eyes up to the top of San Francisco, visible above the roofs, but the summit of San Francisco still slept the sleep of quiet centuries. Then, again, came the clatter from the center of the town, and again the sharp rattle of rifle fire ripped the air. There was heavy fighting somewhere on ahead.

"Good G.o.d!" breathed the thin man. "What does it mean?"

The two ponies stood in the narrow street, and the air began to grow heavier with the noise of volleys, yet the hill was silent.

Rodman rattled his reins on the pony's neck, and rode apathetically forward. Something had gone amiss! His dreams were crumbling. At the next corner, they drew to one side. A company of troops swept by on the double-quick. They had been in action. Their faces streamed with sweat, and many were bleeding. A few wounded men were being carried by their comrades. Rodman recognized _Capitan_ Morino, and shouted desperately; but the officer shook his head wildly, and went on.

Then, they saw a group of officers at the door of a crude cafe. Among them, Rodman recognized Colonel Martinez, of Vegas' staff, and Colonel Murphy of the Foreign Legion, yet they stood here idle, and their faces told the story of defeat. The filibuster hurled himself from the saddle, and pushed his way to the group, followed by Saxon.

"What does it mean, Murphy?" he demanded, breathlessly. "What in all h.e.l.l can it mean?"

Murphy looked up. He was wrapping his wrist with a handkerchief, one end of which he held between his teeth. Red spots were slowly spreading on the white of the bandage.

"Sure, it means h.e.l.l's broke loose," replied the soldier of fortune, with promptness. Then, seeing Saxon, he shot him a quick glance of recognition. The eyes were weary, and showed out of a face pasted with sweat and dust.

"h.e.l.lo, Carter," he found time to say. "Glad you're with us--but it's all up with our outfit."

This time, Saxon did not deny the t.i.tle.