Show THE V VALE ALE t 77 ARAGON OF ty by FRED Md mclaughlin LAUGHLIN author of the blade of copyright by dobbs merrall co service THE STORY at nightfall in the old city of 0 now new orleans orleana in the year 1821 loren garde recently an under general jackson Is surprised by the appearance of three ner urea in ancient spanish ens COB turne tume two men and a woman whose beauty enchants him resenting sen ting the arrogance of the e ider elder of the two men garde f lats a duel with him with swords and wounds h him lm afterward h he 0 learns his appo opponent n ent la Is adolfo d de a ir Fu entea colonel in the army in venezuela gardo garde flees from bens darmes dar mea talc tak ing refuge in a garden where az 1 e overhears a plot to overthrow spanish rule in venezuela discovered he be fichas but la in overpowered recovering consciousness to find himself a prisoner on the santa lucrecia Luc spanish ship shii bearing contraband arms and ammunition for the vene suelane under bolivar CHAPTER 11 II continued we go to la qualm said francisco solemnly and there god willing we join forces with simon colt bell var who will be some day the savior of hla his country just as your own george washington was A thing said 1 I which I 1 hope will come to pass for or the western world should be free of spain and will be some day I 1 am sure that however interests me less at this moment than ray my safe return to new orleans where iny father and my mother will be waiting tor me you think then francisco urged that for certain compensation you could not add to the experiences of your life by joining 1 compensation my father senor to la thi tha richest man in tho the lower valley what can a campaign in venezuela add to my life I 1 haye have spent two years with len gen andrew jakson jackson yet we cannot set you ou free senor you know too much you cannot hold me francisco smiled we have nr ar ranged it you are mad a violent in has possessed you and the good doctor santini nl whom in one of your fits of madness you have already attacked must attend you at at all times we are taking you to your home near caracas you have told the captain all that assuredly it was gentler by tar far than dropping you into the tha rl river V or for our ur plans must not go astray bahle bah ay cried suppose I 1 get word to the captain that the colla coils of tobacco conceal firearms that the kegs of tobacco are powder that the corn contains bullets and that machetes may be found in the pork francisco laughed softly while san tint swore beora out of the side of its his mouth if you managed to get such word to captain alvarez senor and he ha should look and find nothing he awill be assured that you are mad if he should find contraband he would have no proof against vs us tor for shipment has been made in proper form from diego martanez Martl nez to another m merchant erchant in caracas it if the qi questions iest ions our innocence and even becomes so suspicious auspicious na as to confine us pending examination at caracas there la Is yet manuel and the tha mixed crew of this ship chip we cannot do things by halves only spanish ships may trade trad e with venezuela therefore we put t them hem to our use I 1 marveled at the daring of the thing and marveling I 1 was filled with admiration simon bolivar must depend pen dupon upon you greatly senor I 1 said francisco bowed lie he has haa offered me that signal honor bonor and y you 0 u may rest assured that nothing shall swerve me from my service to him and through him my service to venezuela one life senor or a score of lives shall not stand in my way we brought you alive to this ship instead of killing you as wo we should have done because I 1 liar bar bored a faint hope that a man of your courage conrage might see his way clear to aid us but as you cannot offer service I 1 shall see bee to it that you do not inter fere 1011 1 I think of the two of us francisco the charge of madness should not bo be laid against roe met I 1 the days went by slowly enough while the santa lucrecia Luc skimmed the quiet waters of the gulf and my head healed and the face of santini became less leaa like that of 0 a gargoyle we touched at vera cruz where a letter I 1 had written to my father and mother was posted a letter telling them that I 1 had gone to venezuela with friends and would return to new orleans at a later date this I 1 knew would relieve their worry over my non ngn arrival from france at coatzacoalcos in the tha tranquil harbor 1 I which wo we spent a night the wily kinn cisco offered me a chance to escape but having experienced a change of noart I 1 refused to take advantage of it for I 1 had bad heard beard a voice in the night a voice AS n clear and as pure as the note nota of a mocking bird it brought back to me remembrance of all the mad things of that wild now new orleans night that voice had transformed the santa lucrecia Luc from a prison ship into a paradise As the lie days and nights went by I 1 listened for tier her footsteps on the afterdeck I 1 pl pictured aured again and again the exquisite face in its frame of dark curls the soft curve of her cheek check the sweetly pointed chin tind and I 1 lost myself in the immeasurable depths of eyes griat could change to purple the silver glory of moonlight ono oita night I 1 heard her voice lifted in an old french song that I 1 knew and loved and one that my mother used to sing Franc francisco laco and santini were out 1 tried the door and found to my great surprise that it was unsecured for they had been in the habit of lucking fucking me in I 1 slipped out my heart thudding in my throat rind and seeking the protecting shadow of the mizzenmast crouched listening looking scarce thirty feet away she stood beside the starboard after rail a golden tan mantilla over tier her hair and across her slim shoulders her face was wa a raised toward the stars and the music that came from her lips was such as I 1 had always imagined the angels might produce A slim boy polito was near tier her and on her right stood the massive figure that I 1 had last seen dressed as charles V one of his arms was strapped against his side ills his rasping voice broke into the middle of the melody why do you sing in french Ca carrisima Carls risima lma Is not the spanish language sufficient no one Inn language guage dolfo Is sufficient for a night like this lvery every language has its own love songs never does a translation quite suffice 11 I 1 found myself laughing softly in the gloom she would sing a love song la in french to her spanish lover I 1 even polito was laughing now adolfo 11 ho he said in gentle genele raillery console thyself that she does not sing in E english ng which might bring to her mind tho the moon madness of that tall amerl cano with the fair hair and the clever wrist adolfo uttered something in his beard that must have been an oath for her voice was waa gently chiding poor dolfo he has had an evil time and we should be good to him film during this ills his first hour on the deck I 1 think the americano Amert cano must have had a touch of the moon which does amazing things to us 1 I suppose he la Is laughing somewhere over the madness of that night unless said do de fuentes I 1 lamely mely there have been other nighta now I 1 wanted to deny that I 1 wanted to tell her that her image had find filled my dreams I 1 had a wild desire deal re to cast myself at tier her feet and to cry my love aloud to the world yet I 1 knew that such an act of insanity would only add confirmation to Francis cos charge of madness against me while I 1 waited hot and cold by turns listening to tier her voice and devouring her with eager eyes evea two figures came along the rail and stopped the taller one francisco bowed and adolfo jerked hla his heavy body awkwardly when she spoke to francisco and santini there was an easy frankness in her manner as though she had been in the habit of talking with them often that mysterious patient of yours vours doctor villard she said has filled me with a consuming curiosity Is it forbidden that I 1 satisfy it santini laughed lau glied uneasily and francisco answered her it has been or dered senorita that our patient be left in the strictest privacy ills people in caracas will hold us now do da fuentes laughed laughed harshly laughed long and loud on a huge guffaw that bent beat out over the quiet sea caracas he cried how will you two reach caracas ah adolfo she said what do you yon menn mean has haa the close confinement and the pain of your wound 7 no adolfo yelled a hundred noes it ile iio went off into another par paroxysm of unholy glee in which I 1 fervently hoped he might expire of apoplexy apo alexy but he be survived doctor villard 11 lie he jeered doctor villard In indeed decoll tie he Is santini nl the soldier and bolivar Is going to lose a patriot I 1 and as for you francisco perez ther 4 will be a rope francisco emitted a shrill whistle and figures running swiftly emerged from the gloom I 1 dashed toward the milling group caught sight of san tint with a knife upraised and threw myself upon him the evil blade clattered to the deck and the soldier turn turned ed to face me lie ile rasped a bitter oath swinging his fists the while which crashed against the side of my head and filled the heavens with shooting stars before santini could strike again the little lithe form of poetto 11 t 0 1 intervened uter ile iio threw his slim d x a lanco lance at the soldiers throat and the two went down a grotesque figure of writhing arnis arms and legs now I 1 saw the dark manuel a a pistol Is his hand and his mouth open in sin an expectant grin before he could raise the weapon I 1 closed ills his mouth with a driving fist behind which I 1 had put nil all the power of my muscles with the ibe sailors pressing around us I 1 turned to and francisco there was no enmity in his eyes and he made no move to attack me francisco I 1 said in one of those sudden unaccountable hushes that every battle large or small will develop you have committed a grave blunder trembling hands caught my arm and whirled me around the senorita lamartina martina ln raised on tiptoe and her pale face was less than eight indies inches from my eyes leyes your your majesty I 1 faltered mother of G d she elie whispered pred the moon wraith I 1 A western sun filled the upper halt half of my tiny cubicle with a lurid glow a still oppressive heat presaging a storm bore upon me bonds that cut me cruelly held field my arms and legs and black thoughts of injustice fl filled 1 le my brain I 1 had fought to save him and her and I 1 had come to this prison cell was tills this the spaniards idea of gratitude could there be in the heart of adolfo de fuentes so perverted a sense of right and wrong in ills hla plan of life so poor a picture of sportsmanship ali ah I 1 was to learn many things about the spaniards I 1 wondered what had become of manuel I 1 wondered what they had done to francisco and santini nl for I 1 remembered that spanish justice was wag swift but one ray of light showed la in the gloom of my despair riding upon that fervent whisper of the moon wealth t had come so I 1 believed a definite note of joy I 1 heard the grating of a key 1 in the padlock and the rattle of a chain the door opened and two armed sailors came in they loosed my bonds and I 1 stood up moving my arms and legs so that the numbness passed away the sailors eased out in single file and stationed themselves in the channel guns ready for any attempt that I 1 might make to escape I 1 stood wondering eyes upon the un even floor until the consciousness of a presence came to me I 1 was afraid to raise my eyes until I 1 heard her voice and there has never been another voice like hers never another face so exquisite nor a form so graciously fashioned will the senor moon wealth now a palsy seized me I 1 was afraid afraid that I 1 was waa dreaming I 1 heard her light step as she crossed the narrow way and I 1 felt the touch 0 of f a tentative hand upon my arm I 1 raised my eyes and drank deep of the beauty of her face I 1 senorita I 1 said lab ah senorita you have come thus to my poor prison she turned her head and glanced over her shoulder where in the gloom of the channel dim outlines of the sailor guards were visible sion leur you know the french perfectly I 1 said it Is 13 my mother tongue 1 your mother dongue tongue I 1 thought you were americano Amerl cano yes though my mother la Is french standing close to me she raised her face toward the glow of the tiny porthole will you tell me monsieur who you are tell her I 1 would tell her anything anything to hold tier her here to give me further time to fill my eyes with her loveliness and my soul with the joy of her presence my name Is loren loren she repeated accenting na as she should have done the last syllable loren what loren garde the good norse name that my father a youth just out of ills his teens brought to new orleans after ills his campaign under the brilliant gen nathaniel greene with faith in himself and the new nation to which he had offered valiant service ho he has managed by hard work and careful saving and investment to gather vast acreage of mississippi valley lands if your father la Is wealthy then why in the name of nil all the saints monsieur did you thus throw away your life by serving that arch rebel and conspirator simon Boll bolivar var nowa now a bit of Francis cos patriotism touched me so that I 1 refrained for the moment from telling her that I 1 had spurned the otter offer of the revolutionists the rebel of today your majesty may be tomorrows liberator do you not know that al already rendy they are calling this bolivar the washington of south america TO BB CONTINUED |