No sooner had we passed through the cyclists than they formed across the road and, dismounting, took up positions behind any cover which they discovered in the rough ground.
To my astonishment they unstrapped rifles from their machines, and as soon as the robbers appeared in pursuit greeted them with a rapid fire evidently from magazines. I saw several saddles emptied as they turned and rode off.
A few minutes after St. Nivel and his friends rejoined us.
"That was a lucky thought of mine," he said, laughing, when he had gripped my hand and congratulated me on our escape.
I remembered seeing the bicycles being put into the train at Monte Video, and the magazine rifles of course were in the guard's van, and ought to have been used when the robbers attacked us, but they came too suddenly and there was no time to get them.
From that time forward things went easily enough; steam was soon up, and we were away again to Valoro within half an hour. At the next station a special restaurant car was attached; we were treated like heroes, sitting amid the popping of champagne corks relating our adventures, and this went on long after the morning had broken.
But I, tired out, soon sought my bed in the sleeping-car, but not before I had been assured at the door of the ladies' car, by Mrs. Darbyshire, now all tears and smiles, that Dolores had regained consciousness, and was unhurt, save for bruises and, of course, a severe shock.
I slept until within an hour of our running into Valoro station late in the afternoon, and just had time to have a delicious bath and emerge fresh and hungry into the restaurant car in which St. Nivel, Lady Ethel, and Dolores looking very pale and ill, were just finishing lunch. My darling sat beside me while I lunched and held my hand—when it was disengaged—unheeded by Mrs. Darbyshire. This lady, I think, considered that the case had got beyond her and had better be relegated to a higher court—Don Juan d'Alta—for judgment.
Dolores even lighted my cigarette for me, but soon after her aunt took her away to prepare to leave the train.
"What on earth made you hand that poor devil of a brigand chief that box of cigars, Jack?" I asked St. Nivel, when we were alone with Ethel, and he had restored my precious casket to me; "he might have taken it and got the whole shoot."
"At that moment," replied St. Nivel, glancing through the rings of his cigar smoke quite affectionately at me, "I wished he would take it. Things looked very ugly for you, and we were powerless to help you. I thought if he took the cigar case the casket would at least be with you and you would know it and could use your own discretion about giving them the tip if your life were threatened as I imagined it would be."
"Very clever of you, Jack," I answered, "and I'm very much obliged to you for thinking of it, but I am glad that the poor devil didn't take it after all. I believe it to be my duty to take it to Don Juan d'Alta, even at the risk of my life."
St. Nivel sat thinking a moment or two; then he spoke.
"Why do you use the term 'poor devil'?" he asked, "when you speak of the robber chief?"
I told him why. I told him how I had shot him.
"Well, really, Bill," he said very seriously, "I wish the thing had gone. It has already cost several lives, and seems to carry ill-luck with it. Who knows how many more lives may be sacrificed? Of course, there cannot be a doubt but that the train was held up solely to obtain it; the taking of the hundred dollars a head was simply a ruse to cover the other. Old Frampton says such a raid on a train is a thing unheard of now in Aquazilia."
"Yes," I answered, "but it came to a good round sum all the same. Well, at any rate," I continued, as the train ran into Valoro station, "we've brought the thing to its destination, and we're all safe and sound, so there's something to be thankful for!"
At Valoro, things were "all right" as my man Brooks put it; news of the attack on the train, in which was the British Minister, had reached the capital, and a troop of cavalry awaited to escort him to his Legation.
"As I understand you have something of importance to deliver in Valoro," said Sir Rupert Frampton to me as we left the train, "I think you had better come in my carriage. I am taking Mrs. Darbyshire and the SeÑorita with me too. They both want reassuring, and the morale of the escort will do that. I shall take them right home."
"Thank you very much," I answered, "that will suit me down to the ground. My mission is to deliver a packet to Don Juan d'Alta himself."
"Then come along," added Sir Rupert, "for, of course, the ladies are going there too."
In a few minutes we were driving out of the station yard in a fine carriage, surrounded by soldiers.
It was the first time I had ever ridden with an escort, and I liked it.
We left the immense terminus, which would not have disgraced the finest city in Europe, and turned up a great boulevard leading to the higher part of the city where amid trees we could see many fine white houses.
"That is our house!" cried Dolores, as we left the houses behind and came out into the country. "Look, aunt! look, William!"
I did look and saw on the crest of the hill we were approaching, far away to the left, a long range of white buildings, relieved with towers, which looked like a small castle.
It filled me with apprehension, for it was a sign of the great wealth of her father—the wealth which I feared would be a bar to our union.
I think she was surprised at the glum look on my face for the rest of the little journey.
"Are you sorry to go and see my father?" she asked plaintively, with a sweet look in her blue eyes. "I am sure he will be very glad to see you and to thank you for saving me. He is a very kind man is my father," she added solemnly, "very kind to me, and very kind to his reptiles."
Before them all—Mrs. Darbyshire was now quite resigned—I took her hand and pressed it.
"It is a very easy thing to be kind to you, Dolores," I said. "I should find the difficulty in being kind to the reptiles."
"But you will humour my father, won't you?" she asked, and then dropped her voice, "for both our sakes?"
The amount of interest dear old Sir Rupert Frampton took in distant scenery during this drive, and the many objects of interest he pointed out to Mrs. Darbyshire to divert her attention from us, made me his willing slave for life. For, indeed, I was agitated at the prospect of the interview which was to come in a few minutes with old Don Juan d'Alta, not only for our sake, but for the sake of the dear old lady at Bath, who I doubted not was now dead, and the packet she had confided to my care.
It was a comfort to sit with Dolores' little hand in mine. My other clasped the precious packet in my trousers pocket.
At last we drove into a great avenue filled with the most luxuriant tropical vegetation, very carefully tended, for there were men at work everywhere.
The escort wheeled away into line as we swept under a great glass-roofed portiere, and came to a halt at a fine flight of marble steps, where Sir Rupert left us and drove away with the soldiers clattering around him.
Yes, the home of my Dolores was like a modern palace.
Overcome with seeing it again, I think she forgot even me for the moment. She ran gaily up the steps, trilling with laughter.
"Where is father?" she cried.
That gentleman answered her question in person.
At the head of the steps appeared an old man dressed in black with an abundance of perfectly white hair which surrounded a very good-humoured, wrinkled face, almost as brown as a berry. It was the face of an aristocrat, but of an aristocrat who lived in the open air, and a good deal under the burning sun of an Aquazilian summer.
He came forward with a very loving smile on his old face and took his little daughter in his arms.
Their greeting was in Spanish and therefore most of it was lost to me, but I took it to be a very affectionate one. This over, the conversation turned in my direction and broke into English.
"This is the gentleman who saved me from the robbers, father," exclaimed Dolores; "this is Mr. William Anstruther."
The old man turned towards me with extended hands, his face beaming.
"Mr. Anstruther," he said, speaking in very fair English, which I found most of the gentry spoke there, "let me take your hands and thank you from my heart for your heroic conduct to my daughter. The news of the outrage and your gallant escape reached us together by telegraph the first thing this morning. Indeed, I think they had the news at the club last night."
When he had at last let my hand go, I got in a word of my own.
"Naturally," I began, "you will like to spend some time with your daughter, but when you are at liberty I have an important message to deliver to you."
"Indeed!" he said, looking rather surprised. "From whom?"
"From an old lady who formerly lived at Bath, in England," I replied, "but who now, I fear, is dead—murdered!"
"Good heavens!" he cried; "who can it be?"
"It was a lady known by the name of Carlotta Altenberg," I answered.
"Good God!" he cried, throwing up his hands excitedly; "poor old d'Altenberg murdered!"
I was rather disappointed at his tone. It was very certain that the old lady was a person of little importance, or he would never have spoken of her like that.
In a moment or two he turned to me again.
"I have taken the liberty," he said, "of having your luggage and that of your friends with whom you are travelling—and whom Dolores tells me are your cousins—brought up here. I could not think of allowing you to stay anywhere else in Valoro than under my roof, and I am vain enough to think that we can keep you amused during your stay."
I made suitable acknowledgments for his kindness, and was wondering all the while, in my heart, under what lucky star I had been born to be located beneath the very roof with my Dolores, and that, too, at her father's invitation. But he broke in upon my thanks.
"Not another word, Mr. Anstruther," he said; "it is you who confer the benefit upon me.
"Now, you say you have a message from the poor old Baroness d'Altenberg for me. Good! I will show you to my study, and there we will go into the matter at our leisure."
He led me down a long corridor to a beautiful room overlooking the valley, communicating with a long range of what looked like conservatories. Hardly necessary, I thought, in such a climate!
"Now," said my host, placing a box of cigars before me, "amuse yourself with these, and my servant shall bring us some champagne to celebrate your arrival. I will just go and see my sister and little Dolores settled in their apartments, then I will come back to you and we can have our talk. You shall tell me all about the poor Baroness."
The kind old man pressed me down into a comfortable lounge chair, then with a smile departed.
I took a good look round the room, and took stock of its contents. It was furnished very luxuriously in the European fashion and contained some beautiful pictures, but its principal ornaments were cases of stuffed reptiles of every sort, from a tiny lizard to a great boa-constrictor with red jaws agape.
There were four French windows opening to the ground, shaded by outside striped blinds similar to those used in England, but not low enough to hide a most splendid view of hill and dale and far-away mountains, which seemed to surround the city of Valoro, itself seeming to rest on a plateau.
I was standing looking at a case of particularly objectionable yellow snakes when I heard one of the French windows move behind me; turning, I came face to face with the polite lieutenant of the band of robbers who had attacked our train. He had discarded the cowboys' dress and wore the clothes of a gentleman. He at once raised a revolver to the level of my head as I started back, and addressed me in perfectly polite tones.
"Come, come, Mr. Anstruther," he said, "it's no good. I want that packet. If you don't give it to me I shall simply shoot you through the head and take it."
It appeared to me that my journey after all had been in vain; there was the muzzle of the pistol within six inches of my head, and I had to make up my mind about it.
St. Nivel's words came back to me concerning the ill-luck of it, and I could almost hear him saying—
"Let the thing go; it isn't worth risking your life for."
Then I thought of Dolores, and on this thought broke the voice of the robber, cold and hard.
"You must make up your mind, Mr. Anstruther," he said, "while I count ten, otherwise I must fire."
He commenced counting slowly.
"One."
The thought of Dolores grew stronger.
"Two."
I could almost hear St. Nivel's voice urging me to give it up.
"Three."
Then there was my promise to the old lady, murdered, I believed, by these infamous ruffians. I hesitated.
"Four."
"Five."
"Six."
Then came another thought: would the old lady, who had been spoken of as the Baroness d'Altenberg, hold me to my word under the circumstances?
"Seven."
"Eight."
I doubted it.
"Nine."
I had made up my mind to save my life for Dolores.
"Hold," I said; "I will give it to you!"
He smiled.
"I think you are very sensible," he said; "anybody else but an Englishman would have given it up long ago, and then a great deal of trouble and several lives would have been saved."
I put my hand in my pocket despising myself the while for giving way, but still convinced that I should have been a fool to throw my life away under the circumstances.
"Perhaps you will tell me," I asked, as I drew the packet from my pocket, "how it is that you know I am here and that I have the packet with me?"
He laughed.
"I may as well tell you," he said, "that you have never been left unwatched since you left Bath."
"You seem to know my movements pretty well yourself," I said, in an astonished tone.
"Pretty well," he answered, with another smile.
I had no sooner drawn the packet from my pocket than he snatched it unceremoniously from my hands and walked with it towards the window.
"Don't move," he cried to me, "until I tell you or I shall fire. I must verify the contents before I leave you."
He still held the pistol in my direction and I have no doubt would have fired had I made the slightest move towards him, which I could not have done without making some noise, for about six paces divided us.
I stood still and regarded him as he tore off the covering with his teeth.
He was so thoroughly engrossed with the task that he did not hear a slight rustling sound which caused me to turn my head towards the door which led to the long range of what appeared to be glass houses, and which was just open a little. What I saw there made me turn cold from head to foot.
Gliding through the slightly open door, and pushing it farther open as it came with its immense bulk, was a huge black and yellow snake!
It was moving in the direction of the robber, who, entirely engrossed with the packet from which he had torn the wrapper, was totally oblivious of his position. The snake had possibly been attracted by the tearing noise which he had made as he rent the linen envelope with his teeth.
I had almost cried aloud to warn him, when, I checked myself. The man had come to murder me; he must take his chance. He had turned to me, satisfied with his scrutiny of the casket which he now held in his hand, the box which contained it having been thrown on the floor, when I saw the snake draw itself into a great coil and raise its head; then, just as his lips were opening to speak to me, the great reptile made a spring, and in an instant coiled itself tight round him, the tail whipping close like a steel wire. He gave a great cry and dropped the casket and the revolver immediately. Within a second or two I had them in my hands, and at the same moment the door opened and Don Juan d'Alta entered.
He rapped out a great Spanish oath, and a good many more words in the same language; then he turned to me.
"Who is this man?" he asked.
"That is one of the men," I answered at once, "who attacked the train. He entered this room a few minutes after you left me with the intention of robbing or murdering me."
"Then he seems to have got his deserts," replied my host, laughing. He came quite close to me and whispered in my ear, "The snake is quite harmless, but it will give him a fright and maybe break a rib or two if it squeezes hard."
The old man appeared to regard it as a huge joke, but kept a solemn face.
It appeared to be going beyond a joke to break his ribs, and I said so in a whisper.
"He deserves it," was the reply.
Meanwhile, the robber was becoming absolutely livid with fear, and began to supplicate Don Juan in Spanish.
Finding this of no avail, he turned to me.
"Have mercy, SeÑor," he cried piteously, "and help me to free myself from this reptile. It is crushing me to death."
The horrible thing with wide-open jaws was breathing in his face, and its fetid breath seemed turning him sick.
Don Juan laughed aloud, rather heartlessly it seemed to me, but the Spanish nature is a cruel one to its enemies.
"I know the man," he said, "and I cannot understand what has brought him into this galÈre. Let us question him?"
* * * * *
I could not quite see that a man enveloped in the embrace of a boa-constrictor, even though the reptile might be tame and harmless, would be a person likely to give either correct or coherent answers to questions, but I acquiesced in Don Juan d'Alta's suggestion that we should try and get some information out of him.
He commenced at once; speaking in English for my benefit.
"What induced you and your band to attack the train yesterday?" was his first question.
"I don't know," was the answer.
"That is a lie," responded Don Juan, speaking quite coolly. "If you wish to get out of the coils of that snake, you must speak the truth.
"Now come, I know of course who you are, I know everybody in Valoro, and especially the members of the Carlotta Society, which is avowedly Royalist and opposed to the present Government like myself. You are a member of that Society; you are one of its leaders. I suggest to you that the so-called band of robbers who attacked the train last night were simply members of the Carlotta Society?"
"I admit," gasped the man, trying with all his force to keep the boa-constrictor's head away from his face, "that I am a leader of the Carlotta Society, but I cannot disclose its secrets even to you."
"You must speak, Lopes," Don Juan said, "or you will not get free. Remember that I am a member of the Carlotta Society myself, though an honorary one on account of my age. You will never get back to your desk in the bank of Valoro if you don't speak."
"It is inhuman!" cried the man desperately, "it is vile torture!"
"It is also inhuman," added Don Juan sententiously, "to raid trains, and to threaten murder as you have done in this room. Your band too was none too scrupulous in hanging Jimenez the half-breed, though he was an informer. Tell me now, why did you hold up the train? why did you try to rob this English gentleman?"
"It was done," answered the man stertorously, for he was becoming weak, "it was done on urgent orders from Europe from our head."
Don Juan started, and going close whispered a name in his ear.
"Yes," replied Lopes faintly, but I heard the words, "from the Duke himself."
As Don Juan turned from him with a perplexed look, his eye caught the casket which I still held in my hand; he lost colour and became very agitated as he saw it.
"Where did you get that from?" he asked abruptly, seizing my hand.
I opened my hand and placed the casket in his.
"From the Baroness d'Altenberg," I replied. "I made the journey from Europe to give it to you. My task is accomplished."
