Page:Under three flags; a story of mystery (IA underthreeflagss00tayliala).pdf/313

 Suddenly she hears the sound of footsteps hurrying up the walk. The door is thrown open, and Van Zandt, breathing hard from the exertion of his run, stands before her.

"Thank God, you are safe!" he cries, fervently.

"What danger threatens?" asks Louise, laying one hand upon Van Zandt's arm.

For answer he leads the way out upon the veranda. "Look!" he says; and Miss Hathaway beholds the Semiramis, resting quietly upon the still bosom of the bay.

"We must reach that yacht, or I fear we may not leave Cuba alive!" he tells her.

Louise gazes at him in questioning dismay.

"Ah, there comes the enemy," says Van Zandt, pointing up the beach toward the city. A small troop of horsemen is approaching at a lively canter.

"What is all this mystery? Why do you fear those men?" asks Louise, as they re-enter the house.

"It is not for myself that I tremble," replies Van Zandt, who is critically examining his pistols.

"Then it is I whom they seek. Your silence answers yes," says Louise quietly. She is very white, but her voice does not tremble. Like a true heroine she has grown calm in the face of danger.

"By heaven!" Van Zandt bursts forth; "my life stands between you and those Spanish devils, and gladly do I place it there. As for you," turning to Cyrus Felton, who has risen from the library table and stands near them, "I would not lift a finger to save your worthless existence. For the wrongs which I have suffered, for the misery which you and your son have caused me, I meant to have exacted a bitter reparation, but fate has otherwise decreed. Ah, you know me!"

"Spare me your reproaches," says the old man, lifting his hand in protest. "I know you. You are Ernest Stanley. What I have dreaded, yet for nearly a year expected, has come at last. My sin has found me out."

"Ah, that it has. But you are safe from my hands now, and maybe from that of the law before this day is ended. Out of the way, unless you wish your miserable life cut