| Show I 1 he VAI I 1 it CHAPTER XI 16 polito lends a hand I 1 shall never forget that scene on the blood drenched field of carabobo Car abobo when the liberator went among the scant hundred men that made up the remnant of my amure apure battalion and threw his arms around them and called them my boys and my children or when he tood stood before the silent shattered ranks of the british legion his face working in an emotion he could not control his eyes unseeing because of the tears he could not hold in check his voice for the first time in his life broken and halting and called them galvadores Salva Salv dorei adores deml defail patrial patr lal for they had been indeed the saviors of his country that Is isa a picture I 1 shall hold to the end of my days it came to me that I 1 was free too that now 1 I could thy lay down my sword and hark to the call of love and dreaming I 1 saw the pleading eyes of dulce again and I 1 heard the caressing tones of her voice and felt almost the glory of her presence manuel awakened me from this pleasant trance ile he stood before me the bridle of a fine bay mount in his hand manuel lanuel I 1 said amazed Is not this the horse that bro brought tight me from caracas Carac ns no other major and lie ho can take you just as swiftly to valencia but why should I 1 go to valencia manuel spoke swiftly adolfo de fuentes escaped as did most of the spanish off leers for they fight behind the protection of their men ile he may have gone to valencia Valen cla who knows colonel pint with his cavalry has been directed to pursue la torre and morales who with a small body of men are fleeing toward the safe port of cabello pints orders are to the effect that if he does not overtake the spaniards ere they reach valencia he Is to take over that city a task that should please him very much for the moonlight glances of the senorita have had a devastating effect upon his heart lie he Is mad my friend and when a man of plats pints caliber Is mad about a lady he Is dang dangerous irous ll 11 you bring ill tidings manuel francisco told me many of these things manuel continued he has approached bolivar and he has informed the general that the amerl cano who with so small a force held firm against the right wing of the spanish army requests leave to visit valencia and bolivar has given his perm permission lWon therefore would Francis cos knowledge my friend which seems indeed to cover everything include the location of the house where the senorita may be found of a surety it Is the home of senora ybarra lying three streets east cast of the house of the governor toward the lake A large house of stone and adobe tinted tidied brown with a border of red and resting on a corner of two streets ali ah manuel I 1 said fervently if I 1 wera were less american and more french I 1 would ifould kiss thee then your american blood has saved your life said he be gonel 1 eighteen miles that was all eighteen miles on this swift bay horse and I 1 would reach valencia would find there the lovely senorita would take her in my arms again for she had told me that her love for me had filled her life I 1 would crush with passionate kisses the warm willing lips I 1 would hear her call my name again and I 1 would look into the purple depths depth s of her eyes and find there a light of love the battle lyattle we had won had opened up new in my life because of our love the senorita lamartina Lamart lna belonged to me I 1 could take her back to the land fand of moonlight that was my own back to the fine sturdy gentleman who was my father and to the gracious lady who was my mother and to felice the slim exquisite little sister of mine they would love her and she would make my country her own I 1 entered valencia from the southwest and had no difficulty in finding the mansion that had been the habitation of various governors manuels directions proved correct for I 1 found the red bordered house houge of brown that was the home of the senora ybarra in front of which I 1 dismounted giving the reins into the keeping of a grinning mu chacho I 1 touched very lightly the knocker of the carved door for I 1 did not know what the place might hold for me that the senorita was there I 1 deemed ent and I 1 was quite willing to take my chances with anyone else A small brown woman opened the door wide enough to give me careful examination then she loosed the chain and let me in the sight of my uniform cleansed the fear from her dark dar keyes eyes lind brought a smile of welcome to her face she spoke in a cautious whis by FRED mclaughlin author of the blade of copyright by dobbs bobba merrall cerrlli co service per peri have the men of venezuela taken ov over erthe the city aye senora 1 I nm am glad will the senorita lamartina Lamart lna now she was looking at my hair be ba the americano Amerl cano senor garde I 1 nodded she has spoken of you she has said you would come some day aye senora 1 I but two officers of spain are with her can you not hear their voices I 1 started down aown the wide hallway whence had come the murmur of conversation but she put a hand on my arm walt wait I 1 would tell you one Is her brother the lieutenant yes and the other Is he who was commandant of the venezuela garrison Is 16 it safe for you you to enter aye it Is always safe for me to enter wherever the senorita may be we stood listening in the gloomy corridor tor for the voices had became have the men of venezuela taken over the city high belligerent I 1 could hear very faintly the soft sobbing of the senorita lamartina Lamart lna I 1 heard a rasping oath from adolfo and an accusing complaint from polito A fine soldier adolfo you who leave the field before the battle Is over I 1 saw you I 1 saw you run like the coward when the llanero llandro cavalry struck usand useless as a soldier because of my crippled arm I 1 followed you fori knew you would come here to try some devils trick upon my sister 1 I must protect her said adolfo for we have lost aye we lost and we should have lost for the spanish officers deserted their men bah that a colonel and a de r fuentes should run in the face of an enemy mother of G d lie he gasped can my sister marry a craven can you expect her to look upon you with anything save loathing Poll roi to ito came the voice of dulce ah polito I 1 1 I told you adolfo polito continued that I 1 would kill you if you tried to force my sister into marriage and dulce told you she would marry you when spain should win in venezuela II 11 lie e laughed bitterly spain has lost my country has lost the western world because of the stupidity and the cowardice of de fuentes and la torre and that murderer morales spain will have failed in her attempt to build a mighty empire in the new world all the wealth of this fahrland fal fair rland land could have made us a great nation but tits his majesty ferdinand puts his work here in the hands oi of cowards I 1 aye worse than cowards cheap tricksters trick in Caracas you played an evil trick upon my sister you and that other liar morales told her that the tall americano Amerl cano lay in the dungeon awaiting execution and that she could save him by going to the altar with you ali ah name of a sweet and sacrificing angel I 1 tiow how I 1 loved her for that A whole life of service could never repay her now adolfo got in a word or two you talk to me thus lieutenant you a subordinate officer talk so to the commandant of the valencia garrison A ward from me and a firing squad will fad face eyou you as you stand against a wall and that word belleve believe me shall be givan before the sun has set and the senorita dulce who has haa held hela me oft off with threats and promises and who has loved secretly this ladrone that she picked up in a new orle orleana Or leang bans park li i i a i ali ah dios the senorita cried dios I 1 polito laughed colonel fuentes will give no order for my execution for such order Is out of his province ile he Is not the commandant of the V valencia garrison polito Poll to my own said dulce duke surely your mind not at nil all my sister while the poor deluded adolfo pleaded with you and coaxed and threatened the venezuelan army has taken over the city of valencia lie la Is a prisoner and iam I 1 am a prisoner and I 1 am going coln to do my earnest best to kill him and take my chances on escape I 1 hesitated not because I 1 was afraid of colonel fuentes but because I 1 believed that the clean courage of this boy would win you have a weapon in your hand adolfo and aid you should not be bd afraid to use it I 1 might tell you that my left hand in my pocket also holds holda a pistol you have been a traitor to spain in your service and a traitor to honor and decency in your love it if you have a spark of courage left you will use your pistol before I 1 kill you bolf like the dog P A deafening report filled the house with thunder and in an instant later another shot added volume to the din senora ybarra held to me for support it Is murder she gasped murder my aly poor housel house 1 I 1 heard the choking cry of v a man in agony and the crash of a h heavy m vy body falling to the floor I 1 waited for the sound of a voice waited waleed anxiously anxiously finally it came polito Poll to nh mother mary Poll tol I 1 you will notice my sister said polito coolly that it was not I 1 who fired first As I 1 pushed through the port lerea leres the knocker clanged loudly on the front door dulce screamed at sight of me for she must have imagined that I 1 was an apparition then she ran into my arms sobbing and crying my name loren ah loren I 1 polito has killed him my brother has killed adolfo I 1 over the shining curls curla I 1 looked at colonel puentes fuentes who lay motionless in the sprawling posture of tits his fall A good thing my own I 1 sald said polito has only saved me the task of killing ahli him 91 I 1 loosed her and lieutenant lamar tina proffered his weapon to me 1 I will be a prisoner senor eh yos yes polito for I 1 fear there will pe be no chance for your esbai the forces of venezuela hold the city As I 1 stood over the prostrate man the pistol in my hand colonel pint appeared tt at the port leres lie ile approached pro ached the senorita and cap in hand offered a deep bow before her may I 1 apologize for maracay karacay Mar acay senorita for a madness must have possessed me sly iry mind Is closed to karacay maracay Mar acay y senor she said coldly ali ah what regal poise of her head what limitless heights from which she looked down upon him I 1 ile he studied the still form of adolfo pretty quick work major you offer valiant service in aiding us to win the battle of carabobo Car abobo and then you rush away to attend a few personal feuds that you have accumulated I 1 congratulate you a buster busier man I 1 have never seen I 1 was sure that dulce would not be safe in the city so long as this man was commanding officer for the rule of valencia was martial law and colonel himself forthe for the present at least was the law I 1 determined therefore to settle my affair with him as quickly as possible your words of praise warm my heart colonel for I 1 have as you intimate ma te made a most excellent beginning yet there are many important things that I 1 must do ilia eyes narrowed who may m ay I 1 ask garde will be the next on your list now that you have finished with the estimable colonel fuentes not so said polito 11 major garde w was as not you will be her brother no not plat laughed softly for there must have been a deal in this situation to please him one would imagine that the senorita lamartina Is well squired squared squi red aye so she Is my colonel I 1 lied and so shall she be long ago adolfo de fuentes forfeited her regard in such manner as to render a challenge from me imperative As you can readily see he has haa paid most grievously for it it was my right colonel dulce cried erle dout out in dismay and ro po bilto bent an astonished look upon me nothing could be gained by charging the die lieutenant with the death of his commanding officer and much I 1 knew might be lost the lieutenant lamartina marthia La I 1 continued was anxious to take from me the lionor honor of defend ing the senorita yet he was a prisoner and I 1 could not permit it besides a soldier may not attack his superior officer Is tt it not so my colonel i TO BE BB vi 1 |
