Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/175

Rh ground, and who was pressing his hand over his mouth so that he could only utter a feeble groan. She was about to cry out, when she saw the two men rise together from the ground, and deliberately make a survey of each other.

"You! you! is it you?" said Liberta.

There had risen to her vision what appeared to be a phantom from another world, and as Liberta now followed the man who had felled him to the earth, she recognized Martin Paz, and was unable to do more than re-echo the words she had heard, " You! you! is it you?"

Gazing at her intently, Martin addressed her with an earnest appeal.

"Does the bride hear the revelry of the bridal feast? Are not the guests speeding to the hall, that they may rejoice in the beauty of her charms? The victim, is she prepared for the sacrifice? Is it with these pale cheeks, and trembling lips, that she is going to surrender herself to the bridegroom?"

She scarcely understood him, but he continued his pathetic address, "Why should the maiden weep? There is peace there; far away from the house of her father; far away from the home where she drops her tears of bitterness; there is peace there."

And drawing himself to his full height, he stood pointing with his finger to the summits of the Cordilleras, as if showing that there was a refuge in the mountains to which she might escape.

The girl felt herself constrained by an irresistible impulse. There were voices close to her very chamber; she heard the sound of approaching footsteps; her father was on his way, perchance the man to whom she was betrothed was coming too. Suddenly Martin Paz extinguished the lamp that hung above her head, and his whistle, just as on that evening on the Plaza-Mayor, resounded shrilly through the gathering shades of night.

The door burst open. Samuel and Andre Certa hurried in. The darkness was all bewildering. The servants hastened to bring some lanterns; but the room was empty.

"Death and fury!" shrieked the half-breed.

"Where is she?" exclaimed the Jew.

"For this," said André, with the coarsest insolence, "I hold you responsible."