OCR Text |
Show I The i ; BLADE I of J PICARDY ? : By 5 : fred Mclaughlin ! s; CouyriKht by I Jis Tho Bobba-Xlorrlll Co. I W. N. V. Service , ' L . ! SYNOPSIS N CHAPTER 1 Cnpt. Francois de Vlg-"' Vlg-"' n serving with Maximilian's army 01 "; occupation In Mexico, tolls the story. A roysterlnu group of ofllcers Is dis- cusslux La Anita, beautiful hlgh-bom lleilian girl, who, rumor says, hap lured French officers to death or deser- Hon Summoned by Maximilian to make eipl'anatlon. De Vlny undertakes to deliver the message to La Anita, He -n meets the Kirl. her beauty Impressing olm. and he invites hlra to her bouse. V CHAKl'KH 11 At Lm Anita's home De Vlguy meets Colonel L.opex, Mexican officer high In favor with Maximilian ,ud the girl's cousin, Pablo Mudrella. - who bears a wonderful resemblance to Ue Vigny, except that he wears a beard. Angered that Anita should be called before the emperor. Madrella f (oices a duel on Ue Vigny. in whlrb ihe Mexican is wounded. UHAf'lKK 111 Assisting Madrella to V ma carriage, Ue Vigny picks up a pa-, pa-, . per that fails from his puckeL It proves to be a pass trum (Jeueral J;ia-rex. J;ia-rex. Mexican commander, granling Ma-drella Ma-drella passage through the Mexican lines. Laid before Maximilian, it Is. ol course, Madrella's death warruui. since it proves him a spy. Ue Vigny T leaves the house, hopelessly in love 1' with Anita. E! CUAFTUU IV Questioned by Maximilian, Maxi-milian, La Anita denies luring French onlcei'S to danger, and is given her ueeUoin. Ue vigny secures leave of ab- E. sence. planning, while Madrella is v,ouiiaed and under guard, lo grow a " beard and impersonate him, wuh the iaea of securing information of Juarez' movements. OHAPTliK V His beard grown, Ue . Viguy perfects his plans. Uressed as r aiaurella, he enters La Anitas home iy sualth and overbears a conversa- - ilea oetween Madrella aiid Uopes which t'loves the latter a traitor to Muxl- - uiilian. Lopez has secured Madrella's release and the latter is leaving at uuce tor Juarez' camp. La Anita kisses ;i7 ue Vigny. peiieviug mm to be her - cous.n. Leaving his friend. Lieutenant Neville, to kill or capture Madrella. J? ue Viguy sets out tor cuernavaca. CHAiTEit VI On me road. Ue Vlguy hires a Mexican peon, fasuual, lu " ucconipany mm. He ?.u3 lo ilia Hotel aiouieuma and is welcomed by the IT. jiexican proprietor, Manuel, as Ma-urelia. Ma-urelia. Xnat night Uie real Madrella i: icacues (juernavuea. He and Manuel ji plan to kul ue Vigny wnile he sleeps, out with me assistance of asiiual the Jirenchuiau overcomes them bom, leaving leav-ing tu'em uncuuscious. ue Vigny reach- eg Juarez' camp, having stationed B fasual to stop Madrella if he follows. fol-lows. Believing him Madrella, Ue Hgny Is welcomed by Juarez. ta n upnn the fnce of our prisoner, brought liiia buck to consciousness, and he stirred, making futile efforts to rise. Neville reiiclied down and hoisted him roughly to his feet, where he swayed unsteadily. "We had hoped yon were dead. Having seen you, he goes along eh, Francois?" "Assuredly." said I, for Mexico City was far too small for two Madrellas; "never again may he go back to the home of La Anita. This night we will Put you on the road to Cuernavaca beyond the soldiers but if we ever find you again in Mexico City" "There is no chance," said the mozo fervently, a caressing hand on his throat. "Cuernavaca?" said Neville, In dismay. dis-may. "Aye, friend of my youth ; for the next move in the game of Empire Is i to be made at Cuernavaca, upon which, even now, Benito Juarez directs di-rects his army." With heads bent against the rain, we retraced our steps along the Avenue Ave-nue of Flowers. Opposite the great silent cathedral we found what we sought: a closed carriage, with a hor.se of almost unbelievable emaciation emacia-tion asleep in the shafts' and the driver looking for all the world like bedraggled crow perched asleep upon the box. We brought him back to life with emphatic proddings. "Senores?" he cried. "Is lodging so dear," said Neville, . "and forage so scarce that you and ' t'mt equine caricature must live out lu the rain? Were It Cot for the sup-Port sup-Port of the shafts he would fail, of a ' truth 1" "Ah. senor," lamented the cochero, "1 must seek my livelihood in all i weathers and the noble caballo Is good for many leagues." "We shall see," replied Neville, as ' the three of us crowded Into the lim-tcd lim-tcd space within the cab; "we take the road to Cuernavaca." i It took us three 'hours to traverse the city, for the noble steed propelled himself with that deliberation which , has ever been the privilege of no-"lty. no-"lty. Another hour of jolting toward the dim blue range brought "s to a sentry box beside the broad road .that led to Cuernavaca. Here Neville went out to find some officer ' who knew him well enough to permit us to proceed. This used up another hour. Finally, free of the French lines, our steed broke into a sort of a hopeless hope-less canter, and we left the city far behind. In the deep gloom of the early morning we passed a bowed, ; decrepit figure leading an ever lag-j lag-j Kurd burro with his overwhelming load. "That," said I in French for Agos-y Agos-y "no, in his desire to return to the c'ty, might forget the grip of my lin- - eers on his throat "is Madrella. "" wimi, ixoviiio, ror It will ho thy task almost within tho hour to halt him, and to return with htm to Mexico City, where, according to Maximilian's ordor, he should ho, even new, under guard. Only one Mudrella goes to soo lienlto Juarez." We were ascending tho gentle slope of the bench when the sun came out of the mists of tho east and lifted above the rim of the Great plateau. Here we stopped, for a horseman approached. ap-proached. It was only a mountain pony that he rode a creature of little value but hardy and fast, and, for my Immediate need, quite sudlclent. For fifty pesos I purchased horse and saddle from tho owner, a lean, stolid Indian whom Agostlno seemed to know; and with whom by our permission per-mission he made off. "At tills point, Neville, we pnrt," said I, casting a leg over the saddle. "You will gain the ear of the em-peror, em-peror, nnd you will say to Mm that Captain de Vigny sends news fwm authentic sources that Juarez plans to attack Cuernavaca before the week is out." "And you, Francois?" "I go as Senor Madrella to Cuernavaca, Cuer-navaca, where Manuel, proprietor of the Hotel Montezuma, will take good care of me. He will see to it that I proceed safely on my journey to the camp of General Juarez. To Pablo Pab-lo Madrella the great revolutionary general will doubtless tell many things of interest and of profit to his majesty. Besides, I have heard that Rene Leroux and Besancon serve under un-der the banner of Benito Juarez, and I would get the story of their treachery treach-ery from their own lips. Your business, busi-ness, Neville, my friend. Is to stop the real Madrella. There must be no failure; he must go back with you to Mexico City. In Cuernavaca there Is not room for two Madrellas." "Nor Is there," said he with a grin, "In the heart of La Anita." Now, as I jogged along the road to Cuernavaca, I found much sweetness In his morsel of wit CHAPTER VI The Hotel Montezuma Cuernavaca has been used for generations gen-erations as a health resort by the people of Mexico City who cannot bear for long the excessive nltitude of the national capital. Cortes lived here, and Maximilian built In Cuernavaca Cuer-navaca wondrous public gardens. It Is the key and has ever been to all that vast area south and west of Mexico Mex-ico City. I noticed that my horse had slowed to a deliberate walk, and there came to my ears the words of a weirdly plaintive melody ; and looking look-ing up, I saw a man a tall man whose well-muscled body swung along easily beside a burro which bore upon up-on Its back a tremendous load of hay. "You sing," said I, surprised, for singing over one's work In Mexico Is a rare thing indeed. He touched the brim of a tattered sombrero. "Yes, senor." "And you are happy? Is there In Cuernavaca, some one who waits for thee?" "Yes, senor; Dolores waits for me." "Dolores, then, Is your wife?" "When the season's hay is delivered, deliv-ered, senor, there will be money enough for a marriage. It Is more than a month yet." He sighed. "Ah," said I, "what are you called?" "Pasqual," he said. "If I offer you, Pasqual, the amount of money that the labor of this mouth will bring to you, will you do for me the things that I ask you to do?" "Why not?" said he, with a frank and engaging smile. He was Spanish and Indian, but mostly Spanish, for his skin was a clear olive; his brown eyes had a resolute light, and his body held that dauntless, erect posture of an uncon-quered uncon-quered people. "First then," said I, "we will change clothes, and I will walk beside the burro while you ride the' horse." We stopped behind a giant ceiha tree, and, when we started on again, one would have looked closely to have recognized in the bent, dragging, gray-bearded gray-bearded figure with worn sombrero, shapeless brown clothes, and dusty welaches, the Impeccable Count de Vigny. Maintaining the basis of my resemblance to Madrella I must pass through the Imperial lines. So, as the sun went down, we entered en-tered Cuernavaca. We passed many 'soldiers of the Belgian corps. A lieutenant lieu-tenant stopped, and after watching us from the curb, spoke to Pasqual: "Why not permit the old man to mount the horse?" Whereupon I laughed softly in my beard, for he was Bruglere, a Belgian lad who had sat with us often at the Cafe Mlramon, a man whose moving wit had added much to the gaiety of our evenings. Pasqual gave him a winning smile. "This mile," said he, "is my turn to ride; I have walked many leagues." "For that, Pasqual," I said, "I will add five pesos to thy pay." Tho porte-cochere of the Hotel Montezuma leads to a cobbled courtyard, court-yard, or patio. A short fat man, who, I was sure, could be none other than Madrella's "apoplectic Manuel," waddled wad-dled down the steps, and after a glance around to assure himself that we were alone, grasped my hand and spoke with asthmatic difficulty: "Senor, it Is good to find you here again!" Already Pnsqual was leading the hay-laden burro toward the barn. Manuel directed me to a spacious room on the second floor, which overlooked over-looked the patio. "Then you go to see the great general?" gen-eral?" beamed Manuel. "Yes," said I, "the plan, I think, is to attack the city ere the week has gone." ,-Continued next week.) |