"It's all right, my dear," said Mrs.Markham, soothingly; "he's ashore with the Padre, and everything else is all right too.But it's rather ridiculous to think that those idiotic Indians believed the only way they could show Mr.Hurlstone that they meant us no harm was to drag us all up to THEIR Mission, as they call that half heathen cross of theirs--for safety against--who do you think, dear?--the dreadful AMERICANS! And imagine all the while the Padre and I were just behind you, bringing up the rear of the procession--only they wouldn't let us join you because they wanted to show you special honor as"--she sank her voice to a whisper in Eleanor's ear--"as the future Mrs.Hurlstone! It appears they must have noticed something about you two, the last time you were there, my dear.And--to think--YOU never told me anything about it!"When they reached the Excelsior, they found that Mrs.Brimmer, having already settled herself in the best cabin, was inclined to extend the hospitalities of the ship with the air of a hostess.
But the arrival of Hurlstone at midnight with some delegated authority from Senor Perkins, and the unexpected getting under way of the ship, disturbed her complacency.
"We are going through the channel into the bay of Todos Santos,"was the brief reply vouchsafed her by Hurlstone.
"But why can't we remain here and wait for Mr.Brimmer?" she asked indignantly.
"Because," responded Hurlstone grimly, "the Excelsior is expected off the Presidio to-morrow morning to aid the insurgents.""You don't mean to say that Miss Chubb and myself are to be put in the attitude of arraying ourselves against the constituted authorities--and, perhaps, Mr.Brimmer himself?" asked Mrs.
Brimmer, in genuine alarm.
"It looks so," said Hurlstone, a little maliciously; "but, no doubt, your husband and the Senor will arrange it amicably."To Mrs.Markham and Miss Keene he explained more satisfactorily that the unexpected disaffection of the Indians had obliged Perkins to so far change his plans as to disembark his entire force from the Excelsior, and leave her with only the complement of men necessary to navigate her through the channel of Todos Santos, where she would peacefully await his orders, or receive his men in case of defeat.
Nevertheless, as the night was nearly spent, Mrs.Markham and Eleanor preferred to await the coming day on deck, and watch the progress of the Excelsior through the mysterious channel.In a few moments the barque began to feel the combined influence of the tide and the slight morning breeze, and, after rounding an invisible point, she presently rose and fell on the larger ocean swell.The pilot, whom Hurlstone recognized as the former third mate of the Excelsior, appeared to understand the passage perfectly; and even Hurlstone and the ladies, who had through eight months' experience become accustomed to the luminous obscurity of Todos Santos, could detect the faint looming of the headland at the entrance.The same soothing silence, even the same lulling of the unseen surf, which broke in gentle undulations over the bar, and seemed to lift the barque in rocking buoyancy over the slight obstruction, came back to them as on the day of their fateful advent.The low orders of the pilot, the cry of the leadsman in the chains, were but a part of the restful past.
Under the combined influence of the hour and the climate, the conversation fell into monosyllables, and Mrs.Markham dozed.The lovers sat silently together, but the memory of a kiss was between them.It spanned the gulf of the past with an airy bridge, over which their secret thoughts and fancies passed and repassed with a delicious security; henceforth they could not flee from that memory, even if they wished; they read it in each other's lightest glance; they felt it in the passing touch of each other's hands; it lingered, with vague tenderness, on the most trivial interchange of thought.Yet they spoke a little of the future.Eleanor believed that her brother would not object to their union; he had spoken of entering into business at Todos Santos, and perhaps when peace and security were restored they might live together.Hurlstone did not tell her that a brief examination of his wife's papers had shown him that the property he had set aside for her maintenance, and from which she had regularly drawn an income, had increased in value, and left him a rich man.He only pressed her hand, and whispered that her wishes should be his.They had become tenderly silent again, as the Excelsior, now fairly in the bay, appeared to be slowly drifting, with listless sails and idle helm, in languid search of an anchorage.Suddenly they were startled by a cry from the lookout.
"Sail ho!"
There was an incredulous start on the deck.The mate sprang into the fore-rigging with an oath of protestation.But at the same moment the tall masts and spars of a vessel suddenly rose like a phantom out of the fog at their side.The half disciplined foreign crew uttered a cry of rage and trepidation, and huddled like sheep in the waist, with distracted gestures; even the two men at the wheel forsook their post to run in dazed terror to the taffrail.
Before the mate could restore order to this chaos, the Excelsior had drifted, with a scarcely perceptible concussion, against the counter of the strange vessel.In an instant a dozen figures appeared on its bulwarks, and dropped unimpeded upon the Excelsior's deck.As the foremost one approached the mate, the latter shrank back in consternation.
"Captain Bunker!"
"Yes," said the figure, advancing with a mocking laugh; "Captain Bunker it is.Captain Bunker, formerly of this American barque Excelsior, and now of the Mexican ship La Trinidad.Captain Bunker ez larnt every foot of that passage in an open boat last August, and didn't forget it yesterday in a big ship! Captain Bunker ez has just landed a company of dragoons to relieve the Presidio.
What d'ye say to that, Mr.M'Carthy--eh?""I say," answered M'Carthy, raising his voice with a desperate effort to recover his calmness, "I say that Perkins landed with double that number of men yesterday around that point, and that he'll be aboard here in half an hour to make you answer for this insult to his ship and his Government.""His Government!" echoed Bunker, with a hoarser laugh; "hear him!--HIS Government! His Government died at four o'clock this morning, when his own ringleaders gave him up to the authorities.Ha! Why, this yer revolution is played out, old man; and Generalissimo Leonidas Perkins is locked up in the Presidio."
