| Show THE VALE OF ARAGON B by y FRED mclaughlin author of the blade of dy copyright by dobbs merrill co service THE STORY at nightfall in the old city of new orleans in the year 1821 I 1 loren garde garda rec recently antly an 0 ace r und under r general jackson Is our aur pulsed by the appearance of three figures in ancient spanish cos turns tume two men and a woman who whose e beauty enchants him res benting the arrogance ot of the elder of the two men garde gard e fights a duel with him with w ith swords s wo r do and wounds him afterward he learns his opponent Is adolfo do de fuentes Fu entea colonel in the spanish army in venezuela gardo garde rees flees from kens gens darmes dar mea taking refuse refuge in a garden where I 1 e overhears a plot III ot to overthrow spania rule ruie in venezuela discovered cov er d he f wilts but Is in overpowered recovering consciousness to fl find nd himself a prisoner on the santa lucrecia Luc spanish ship bearing bee ring contraband arms arma and ammunition am eunit on for the vene under bolivar CHAPTER 11 II continued 3 we go to te la gualia guaira said francisco francis n cis co solemnly and there god willing we join forces with simon B boll 0 11 var T ar who will be some so me day the savior sa V lor of his country just as your own george washington was A thing said 1 I which I 1 hope will come to pass for the western w world 0 id should be free of spain and will wll lybe VL e I 1 some borne day I 1 am sure that however however interests me less nt ct this moment than my safe return to now new orleans where ny my father and my mother will be walting waiting for me you think then francisco urged that hat t for certain compensation you could co uld not add to the experiences of your our life by joining VI 7 compensation my aly father senor Is the richest man in the lower v valley alley what can a campaign in venezuela add to my life I 1 have spent two years with gen andrew jackson yet we cannot set you free senor you know too much you cannot hold me francisco FrancIsc 6 smiled we have arranged it you are mad a violent insanity tins has possessed you and the good doctor santini nl whom in one of your fits of madness you hue have already attacked must attend you at all times we are taking you yon to your home near caracas you have told the captain all that assuredly it was gentler by fa r than dropping you into the river for tur pur plans must not go astray bah I 1 I 1 cried suppose I 1 get word to the captain that the colls 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 difrancisco laughed softly while san tint few swore ore out of the side of his mouth if you sou managed to get such word to captain alvarez senor and he should look and find nothing lie he will be assured that you are mad it if he should fill find contraband he would have no proof against us for shipment has been made in proper form f from rom diego martinez Martl nez to another merchant in caracas if the captain quest questions ions our innocence and even becomes so suspicious as to confine us pending examination amin atlon at caracas there Is yet set manuel and the mixed crew of this ship we cannot do things by halves only spanish ships may trade with venezuela Venez therefore we put them to our use I 1 marveled at the daring of the thing and marveling I 1 was filled with admiration simon bolivar must depend upon you greatly senor I 1 said francisco bowed lie ile has offered me that signal honor and you 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 se score ore of lives shall not stand in my way v ay we brought you alive to this ship instead of killing you vou as we should have done because I 1 harbored a faint hops hope that a man of your courage might see his way clear to aid us but as you cannot olter offer service 1 I shall see to it that you iou do not interfere 1 I think of the two of us francisco t the h e charge of madness should not be laid against met me the days das 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 like that of 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 find and would return to new orleans ata at a later date this hits I 1 knew would relieve their worry over my non arrival from france at coatzacoalcos in the tranquil harbor 1 I f which we spent a night the wily cisco offered me a chance to escape but having a change of beart I 1 refused to take ad yan vantage tage of it for I 1 had heard a voice in the night a voice na a clear and as pure as the note of a mocking bird it brought back to me remembrance of all the mad things of that wild new orleans night that toce voice had transformed t the h Is santa lucrecia Luc rocla from a prison ship into a paradise As the days and nights went by I 1 if listened for her footsteps on the afterdeck I 1 pictured again and again the exquisite face in its frame of dark curls the soft curve of her cheek the sweetly pointed chin and I 1 lost myself in the immeasurable depths of eyes anat could change to purple the silver glory of moonlight one 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 francisco and santini were out I 1 tried tho the door and found to my great surprise that it was unsecured for they had been in the habit of locking me in I 1 slipped out my heart thudding in my throat and seeking the protecting shadow of the mizzenmast crouched listening looking scarce thirty leet feet away she stood be beside ide the starboard after rail a golden tan mantilla over tier her hair and across tier her slim shoulders iler her face was 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 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 rasping voice broke into the middle of the melody wily why do you sing in french Carls Carl lma sima Is not the spanish language sufficient no one language dolfo Is sufficient for a night like this every ian language has its own love songs never does a translation quite suffice I 1 found myself laughing softly in the gloom she would sing a love song in french to her spanish loverl lover I 1 even polito was laughing now adolfo 11 he said in gentle raillery console thyself that she does not sing in english which might bring to her mind 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 gently chi chiding dingi 1 poor dolfo he has had on an evil time tim and we should be good to him during thishia this his first hour on the deck I 1 think the americano Amerl cano must have had a touch of tie te moon which does amazing things to us I 1 suppose he be Is laughing somewhere over the madness of that night unless said de fuentes lamely Y there have been other nights now I 1 wanted to deny that I 1 wanted to tell her that her image had find filled in my y dreams I 1 had bad a wild desire to cast myself nt at her feet and to cry my love aloud to the world yet set 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 ana cold cola by turns listening to her voice olce and devouring her with eager eyes two figures came along the rail and stopped the taller one francisco bowed and adolfo jerked 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 f yours illas doctor villard she said has filled me with a consuming curiosity Is it forbidden chat hat I 1 satisfy it santini laughed uneasily and francisco answered tier her it has been ordered senorita that our patient be left in the strictest ills people in caracas will hold us now do de fuentes laughed laughed harshly laughed long and loud a huge guffaw that beat out over the quiet sea caracas he cried how flow will you two reach caracas ali ah adolfo slie site said what do you mean has the close confinement and the pain of your wound 1 1 I no adolfo yelled a hundred lie ile went off into another paroxysm of unholy glee in which I 1 fervently hoped he might expire of apoplexy but lie he survived sun 1 veil doctor villard 11 he jeered doctor villard indeed ile he Is santini the soldier and bolivar Is going to lose a patriot patrio tl 1 and andas as for you francisco perez thero there will be a rope francisco emitted a whistle and figures running swiftly emerged from the gloom I 1 dashed toward the milling group caught sight bight of san tint with a knife upraised and threw m myself upon him the evil blade clattered to the deck and the soldier turned to face me ne ile rasped a n bitter oath swinging his fists the ahl while le which crashed against the side of my head and filled the heavens with shooting stars before santini bould strike again the lithe form of polito intervened ile he threw his slim badir like et a lance at the soldiers throat and the two went down a grotesque figure of 0 writhing arms and legs egg now I 1 saw the dark manuel a pistol Is his hand and his bis mouth open in an expectant grin before he could raise the weapon I 1 closed his mouth with a driving fist behind which I 1 had put all the power of my muscles with the sailors pressing around us I 1 turned to find francisco there was no enmity in his eyes and be 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 7 hands caught my arm am and whirled me around the senorita lamartina raised on tiptoe and her pale face was less than eight inches from roni my eyes your tour your majesty I 1 faltered mother of G d she whis whispered the moon I 1 A western sun filled the upper tipper halt half of my tiny cubicle with a lurid harld glow it a still oppressive heat presaging a storm barp upon me bonds that cut me cruelly held my arms and legs and black thoughts of injustice filled my brain ilind I 1 had ought fought to save him and her and I 1 had come to this prison cell was 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 his plan of life so poor a picture re 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 tor for I 1 remembered that spanish justice was swift hut but one ray of light showed in the gloom of my despair riding hiding upon that fervent whisper of the moon wraith 1 had bad come so I 1 believed a definite note of joy I 1 heard the grating ofa key 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 stall stationed boned themselves in the channel guns ready for any a 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 ra raise ise my eyes until I 1 heard her voice and there has never been another voice like tiers hers never another face so exquisite nor a form so graciously fashioned will the senor moon wraith 1 now a palsy seized me I 1 was afraid afraid that I 1 was n as dreaming I 1 heard her light step as she crossed the narrow way and I 1 felt the touch of a tentative hand upon my arm I 1 raised my eyes and drank deep of the beauty of her face senorita I 1 said all ah senorita you have come thus to my poor prison she turned tier her head and glanced over her shoulder where in the gloom of the channel dim outlines of the sailor guards were visible monsieur you know the french 1 11 perfectly I 1 said it Is my mother t tongue 11 your mother tongue I 1 thought you ion were americano Amerl cano yes though my mother Is french standing close to me she raised her face toward the plow glow odthe of the tiny porthole will yuu tell me monsieur who ho you vou are tell lell tier her I 1 would tell tier her anything an thing an y thin tiling to hold tier her here to give we me further time to fill 1111 my eyes eves with her loveliness and my soul with the joy of tier her presence pi my name Is loren loren she repeated accenting as she should have done the last syllable loren what loren garde the good norse name that my father a youth south just out of ills his teens brought biou glit to new orleans after ills campaign under the brilliant gen nathaniel greene with falth faith in himself and the new nation to which lie he had ad offered valiant service he has bus managed by hard work and careful saving and investment to gather vast acreage of mississippi valley in lands ild S 11 if your father Is wealthy then why in the name of all the saints monsieur did you thus throw away your life by serving that arch rebel and conspirator simon Boli bolivar varl now a bit of Francis cos patriotism touched roe me so that I 1 refrained for the moment from telling her that I 1 had bad spurned the offer of the revolutionists the rebel of today your majesty may be tomorrows liberator do you not know knor that already they are calling this bolivar the washington of south america TO BE CONTINUED |
