Miss Keene was awakened1 from a heavy sleep by a hurried shake of her shoulder and an indefinite feeling of alarm. Opening her eyes, she was momentarily dazed by the broad light of day, and the spectacle of Mrs. Brimmer, pale and agitated2, in a half-Spanish dishabille, standing3 at her bedside.
"Get up and dress yourself, my dear, at once," she said hurriedly, but at the same time attentively4 examining Miss Keene's clothes, that were lying on the chair: "and thank Heaven you came here in an afternoon dress, and not in an evening costume like mine! For something awful has happened, and Heaven only knows whether we'll ever see a stitch of our clothes again."
"WHAT has happened?" asked Miss Keene impatiently, sitting up in bed, more alarmed at the unusual circumstance of Mrs. Brimmer's unfinished toilet than at her incomplete speech.
"What, indeed! Nobody knows; but it's something awful—a mutiny, or shipwreck5, or piracy6. But there's your friend, the Commander, calling out the troops; and such a set of Christy Minstrels you never saw before! There's the Alcalde summoning the Council; there's Mr. Banks raving7, and running round for a steamboat—as if these people ever heard of such a thing!—and Captain Bunker, what with rage and drink, gone off in a fit of delirium8 tremens, and locked up in his room! And the Excelsior gone—the Lord knows where!"
"Gone!" repeated Miss Keene, hurrying on her clothes. "Impossible! What does Father Esteban tell you? What does Dona Isabel say?"
"That's the most horrible part of it! Do you know those wretched idiots believe it's some political revolution among ourselves, like their own miserable9 government. I believe that baby Isabel thinks that King George and Washington have something to do with it; at any rate, they're anxious to know to what side you belong! So; for goodness' sake! if you have to humor them, say we're all on the same side—I mean, don't you and Mrs. Markham go against Miss Chubb and me."
Scarcely knowing whether to laugh or cry at Mrs. Brimmer's incoherent statement, Miss Keene hastily finished dressing11 as the door flew open to admit the impulsive12 Dona Isabel and her sister Juanita. The two Mexican girls threw themselves in Miss Keene's arms, and then suddenly drew back with a movement of bashful and diffident respect.
"Do, pray, ask them, for I daren't," whispered Mrs. Brimmer, trying to clasp a mantilla around her, "how this thing is worn, and if they haven't got something like a decent bonnet13 to lend me for a day or two?"
"The Senora has not then heard that her goods, and all the goods of the Senores and Senoras, have been discovered safely put ashore14 at the Embarcadero?"
"No?" said Mrs. Brimmer eagerly.
"Ah, yes!" responded Dona Isabel. "Since the Senora is not of the revolutionary party."
Mrs. Brimmer cast a supplicatory15 look at Miss Keene, and hastily quitted the room. Miss Keene would have as quickly followed her, but the young Ramirez girls threw themselves again tragically16 upon her breast, and, with a mysterious gesture of silence, whispered,—
"Fear nothing, Excellencia! We are yours—we will die for you, no matter what Don Ramon, or the Comandante, or the Ayuntamiento, shall decide. Trust us, little one!—pardon—Excellencia, we mean."
"What IS the matter?" said Miss Keene, now thoroughly17 alarmed, and releasing herself from the twining arms about her. "For Heaven's sake let me go! I must see somebody! Where is—where is Mrs. Markham?"
"The Markham? Is it the severe one?—as thus,"—said Dona Isabel, striking an attitude of infantine portentousness18.
"Yes," said Miss Keene, smiling in spite of her alarm.
"She is arrested."
"Arrested!" said Eleanor Keene, her cheeks aflame with indignation. "For what? Who dare do this thing?"
"The Comandante. She has a missive—a despatch19 from the insurrectionaries."
Without another word, and feeling that she could stand the suspense20 no longer, Miss Keene forced her way past the young girls, unheeding their cries of consternation21 and apology, and quickly reached the patio22. A single glance showed her that Mrs. Brimmer was gone. With eyes and cheeks still burning, she swept past the astounded23 peons, through the gateway24, into the open plaza25. Only one idea filled her mind—to see the Commander, and demand the release of her friend. How she should do it, with what arguments she should enforce her demand, never occurred to her. She did not even think of asking the assistance of Mr. Brace26, Mr. Crosby, or any of her fellow-passengers. The consciousness of some vague crisis that she alone could meet possessed27 her completely.
The plaza was swarming28 with a strange rabble29 of peons and soldiery; of dark, lowering faces, odd-looking weapons and costumes, mules30, mustangs, and cattle—a heterogeneous31 mass, swayed by some fierce excitement. That she saw none of the Excelsior party among them did not surprise her; an instinct of some catastrophe32 more serious than Mrs. Brimmer's vague imaginings frightened but exalted33 her. With head erect34, leveled brows, and bright, determined35 eyes she walked deliberately36 into the square. The crowd parted and gave way before this beautiful girl, with her bared head and its invincible37 crest38 of chestnut39 curls. Presently they began to follow her, with a compressed murmur40 of admiration41, until, before she was halfway42 across the plaza, the sentries43 beside the gateway of the Presidio were astonished at the vision of a fair-haired and triumphant44 Pallas, who appeared to be leading the entire population of Todos Santos to victorious45 attack. In vain a solitary46 bugle47 blew, in vain the rolling drum beat an alarm, the sympathetic guard only presented arms as Miss Keene, flushed and excited, her eyes darkly humid with gratified pride, swept past them into the actual presence of the bewildered and indignant Comandante.
The only feminine consciousness she retained was that she was more relieved at her deliverance from the wild cattle and unbroken horses of her progress than from the Indians and soldiers.
"I want to see Mrs. Markham, and to know by what authority she is arrested," said Miss Keene boldly.
"The Senor Comandante can hold no conference with you until you disperse48 your party," interpreted the secretary.
She was about to hurriedly reply that she knew nothing of the crowd that had accompanied her; but she was withheld49 by a newly-born instinct of tact50.
"How do I know that I shall not be arrested, like my friend?" she said quickly. "She is as innocent as myself."
"The Comandante pledges himself, as a hidalgo, that you shall not be harmed."
Her first impulse was to advance to the nearest intruders at the gate and say, "Do go away, please;" but she was doubtful of its efficiency, and was already too exalted by the situation to be satisfied with its prosaic51 weakness. But her newly developed diplomacy52 again came to her aid. "You may tell them so, if you choose, I cannot answer for them," she said, with apparent dark significance.
The secretary advanced on the corridor and exchanged a few words with her more impulsive followers53. Miss Keene, goddess-like and beautiful, remained erect behind him, and sent them a dazzling smile and ravishing wave of her little hand. The crowd roared with an effusive54 and bovine55 delight that half frightened her, and with a dozen "Viva la Reyna Americanas!" she was hurried by the Comandante into the guard-room.
"You ask to know of what the Senora Markham is accused," said the Commander, more gently. "She has received correspondence from the pirate—Perkins!"
"The pirate—Perkins?" said Miss Keene, with indignant incredulity.
"The buccaneer who wrote that letter. Read it to her, Manuel."
The secretary took his eyes from the young girl's glowing face, coughed slightly, and then read as follows:—
"ON BOARD THE EXCELSIOR, of the Quinquinambo Independent States Navy, August 8, 1854.
"To Captain Bunker.—Sir," . . .
"But this is not addressed to YOU!" interrupted Miss Keene indignantly.
"The Captain Bunker is a raving madman," said the Commander gravely. "Read on!"
The color gradually faded from the young girl's cheek as the secretary continued, in a monotonous56 voice:—
"I have the honor to inform you that the barque Excelsior was, on the 8th of July, 1854, and the first year of the Quinquinambo Independence, formally condemned57 by the Federal Council of Quinquinambo, for having aided and assisted the enemy with munitions58 of war and supplies, against the law of nations, and the tacit and implied good-will between the Republic of the United States and the struggling Confederacies of South America; and that, in pursuance thereof, and under the law of reprisals59 and letters of marque, was taken possession of by me yesterday. The goods and personal effects belonging to the passengers and yourself have been safely landed at the Embarcadero of Todos Santos—a neutral port—by my directions; my interpretation60 of the orders of the Federal Council excepting innocent non-combatants and their official protector from confiscation61 or amercement.
"I take the liberty of requesting you to hand the inclosed order on the Treasury62 of the Quinquinambo Confederate States to Don Miguel Briones, in payment of certain stores and provisions, and of a piece of ordnance63 known as the saluting64 cannon65 of the Presidio of Todos Santos. Vigilancia!
"Your obedient servant,
"LEONIDAS BOLIVAR PERKINS,
"Generalissimo Commanding Land and Sea Forces, Quinquinambo Independent States."
In her consternation at this fuller realization66 of the vague catastrophe, Miss Keene still clung to the idea that had brought her there.
"But Mrs. Markham has nothing to do with all this?"
"Then why does she refuse to give up her secret correspondence with the pirate Perkins?" returned the secretary.
Miss Keene hesitated. Had Mrs. Markham any previous knowledge of the Senor's real character?
"Why don't you arrest the men?" she said scornfully. "There is Mr. Banks, Mr. Crosby, Mr. Winslow, and Mr. Brace." She uttered the last name more contemptuously, as she thought of that young gentleman's protestations and her present unprotected isolation67.
"They are already arrested and removed to San Antonio, a league hence," returned the secretary. "It is fact enough that they have confessed that their Government has seized the Mexican province of California, and that they were on their way to take possession of it."
Miss Keene's heart sank.
"But you knew all this yesterday," she faltered68; "and our war with Mexico is all over years ago."
"We did not know it last night at the banquet, Senora; nor would we have known it but for this treason and division in your own party."
A sudden light flashed upon Miss Keene's mind. She now comprehended the advances of Dona Isabel. Extravagant69 and monstrous70 as it seemed, these people evidently believed that a revolution had taken place in the United States; that the two opposing parties had been represented by the passengers of the Excelsior; and that one party had succeeded, headed by the indomitable Perkins. If she could be able to convince them of their blunder, would it be wise to do so? She thought of Mrs. Br............