The Jungle Trail/Chapter 9

HEIR prison hut was a poor one, especially for two men and a woman who might be friends of the Great Cacique, but Inez had insisted that she be placed with the other two, and the chieftain was anxious to do as she desired: this was the only vacant hut that would serve, and Inez had accepted it, the cacique making long apologies because it was not better.

It was no more than ten feet square; its walls were constructed of mud and rocks and vines, and had been baked long in the tropic sun, hence were almost as granite: there were no windows, but there was an aperture in the top to allow the escape of foul air and smoke, and there was a low, narrow door. The dirt floor was filthy, but the cacique had skins and palm fronds scattered upon it. And, if the hut was poor, the service was not, for the chieftain made up in food and supplies what he lacked in residence.

In the hut they sat as the quick tropical night descended, Inez and Botello side by side, and Ruiz across from them, and ate the food the cacique had furnished. Before the door two native guards were on watch.

"It could have been far more serious," Botello said, "yet it is bad enough as it is. We live, but are close prisoners. The chieftain, no doubt, already has sent runners to the Great Cacique, and in a short time he will learn we have no right to superior protection. Then will our end come in short order."

"Wherefore," said Ruiz, "it behooves us to make escape at the earliest possible moment and continue our journey to the camp of De Balboa."

"Our duty lies in more directions than one," Botello reminded him. "We must escape to save life—si! We must escape, also, to give the warning of this uprising, else renegades triumph and good Spaniards die. This hut stands in the center of a large clearing. Thirty feet from the door is a roaring fire. Before that door are two sturdy native guards. We cannot burrow through the walls, and there are no windows. We have neither rapier nor poniard. The fine Señor Garabito, also, watches to see we do not escape, and also for a chance to poison us, had he the courage and the means. It may be called a predicament."

"We live," Ruiz reminded him. "Violence will avail us naught here and now, especially since we have no weapons with which to practise it. But wit and strategy remain, thank the saints!"

Botello drew Inez closer to him and touched with his lips the bauble of gold that had gained them respite.

"And we have love, also, and incentive, therefore, to make good our escape," he said softly.

"Having seen true wedded love these last two days, I have decided to get me a wife if ever I escape this entanglement," Ruiz said, laughing. "Were there a younger Señorita Malpartida as beautiful and good as this one you have won, my friend—"

He laughed at the blushes that suffused Inez's face, and got up to walk to the open doorway and look out at the guards. A torch burned in one corner of the hut, and they made no effort to extinguish it, for darkness would avail them nothing now, and might cause their guards to be suspicious, and, moreover, the light from the big fire streamed into the room.

They might have whispered certain plans, then, and taken counsel, but there came an interruption. Two figures approached across the clearing, and one of the guards went forward to meet them. There was a parley, and the guard returned with the other two. One—a native warrior—remained standing a few feet away; the other approached and stood in the doorway.

Botello got to his feet and helped Inez up also, for he did not know what the arrival of this stranger might portend. A long robe of woven grass was thrown aside, and the firelight played over the features of Señorita Carlotta Bonilla.

For a moment none spoke: and then Ruiz took a step forward as if to inquire her business, but stopped when he heard Botello's voice.

"So you have come to gloat, señorita?" he asked. "I would be charitable to a lady, yet you make it difficult." "No doubt, señor," replied a tremulous voice, "I merit your ill thoughts. I merit, no doubt, the ill thoughts of every honest and loyal man and woman. Hear me, I beg of you, before you speak further."

"We are listening, señorita," Botello said. Inez drew closer to his side, not speaking at all, and Ruiz leaned against the opposite wall. But, when she spoke, it was in a low tone that the native guards could not overhear, and so Ruiz approached nearer.

"I have come to help as I may," she said. "Wait, señor—do not turn away. What I have done may not be forgiven by loyal persons, yet perchance there will be forgiveness elsewhere in time. I am glad that by a subterfuge you have been spared for the present. I doubt whether you can make escape. But, if you should, there are certain things you should know."

She stopped, but none of them spoke, merely stood looking at her and waiting for her to continue.

"You are making it difficult," she said, "but I merit that, too, I suppose. Messengers have gone to the Great Cacique, and when they return with denial of your protection the chieftain's first intent will be carried out. Whether Señor Garabito really has the sanction of the Great Cacique on his enterprise, I do not know. Perchance he has—and perchance not. But this local chieftain will not wait for that, fearing all his plans will go amiss." "What then?" Ruiz demanded.

"Because Garabito has told him those at Antigua know of the conspiracy, the chieftain has decided to visit De Balboa's camp first. The natives will catch De Balboa's scattered men off guard and slay them all. Then they may turn toward Antigua and fight the governor's forces, knowing that De Balboa cannot attack them in the rear. They will avoid being between two fires."

"Hah!' Botello cried. "De Balboa and his brave men—my comrades—honorable caballeros to be slaughtered because of a renegade!"

"Listen, señor, and do not interrupt, for I have scant time here. The cacique allowed me to come, since I told him it would be proper to show such a courtesy to a señora who wore the Great Cacique's symbol. He will be suspicious if I linger long."

"Proceed, señorita."

"The plans are made. The natives start for De Balboa's camp at dawn. Unless the men on the shore of the Great South Sea are warned, nothing can save them. Were they warned, they could prepare and make good defense."

"What of us?" Ruiz asked.

"At dawn you are to be taken deep into the jungle, to a secluded place, and there kept under close guard until the chieftain returns from the raid on De Balboa. By that time messengers will have returned from the Great Cacique, and disposition will be made of you there. I can tell you this, yet I cannot aid you to escape."

"You would, were it possible?" Botello asked.

"Si, señor!" she responded. "I regret many things I have done. I do not regret what love I had for you, but that it made me do unmaidenly things. I regret what animosity I had for the woman you have taken to wife. Most of all, I regret that I turned traitor with others."

"Why these regrets now, señorita?" Botello asked, scarcely believing in her sincerity.

"In Antigua, my thoughts were wrong," she said. "My mode of living was wrong. I have been my father's daughter, and he always is in the midst of intrigue. I looked forward to riches and place. I did not think, señor, of how they would be gained, of how men would die. Out here in the wilderness things appear differently, somehow. I realize here, señor, with what sort of persons I am allied. Can you not understand? Am I the first woman whose real soul did not awaken to better things until after she had been lost forever?"

"Señorita, I am sorrowful that it is so," Botello said. "If now you are speaking truth—"

Inez stopped him, for she went forward now, and put out her hand. Womanlike, she could read woman better than a man.

"I believe you, señorita," she said. "We are in dire extremity here, yet I would not change places with you. May the future hold something of good for you and yours."

"And you forgive me my words and acts?" Señorita Carlotta asked of Botello.

"Against me and mine, señorita. I cannot forgive you that you turned your back upon your king. That is the unpardonable sin."

"You are a soldier—hence I understand," she replied softly. "Yet it is good to be forgiven some things. Escape, if you can. My good wishes go with you. Escape, and warn De Balboa and his men."

"And you—" Inez asked.

"I remain with my father to the end; I am as guilty as he is, señora. I know now that failure is coming. The good saints would not let such an enterprise succeed. The pride born in my blood has recalled me to honesty too late, perchance, but it will at least teach me to be brave when all is lost. There will be no escape. Carlotta Bonilla did not know how to live—she will know how to die!"

"Señorita, I beg of you—" Ruiz began.

But she had wrapped the robe around her and hurried from the hut. They saw her join the native and walk back across the clearing, her head bent on her breast.