The Man Of Almonacid

(CONCH.'DED.J "I say, Clent!" I began, "havo you been out? What is it? What does it all mean?" Such a nervous f ello w as he was! He jumped up, dropping his spoon into his plate with a clatter. "What does what mean?" he stuttered. "These bonfires in the streets, to be surel The sight is a most singular one ! You ought to be out viewlng it!" He sat down at once. "Oh, the bonfires!" he said, resuming his meal. "The people are keeping St. Anthony's eve, that is all. It is customary here to do it in this way. You know St. Anthony is always represented with a flre by his side." "I thought that it was something of that kind," I answered, following his example. "Will you come out with me presently and have a look at the town ? The sightseers are orderly enough, though to judge from the stir at the gendarmerie the occasion is a special one." "Is there a stir there?" he asked, pausing with his spoon half way to his mouth. "Some civil guards, six or eight I dare say, and an oflieer were dismounting at the door as I passed. Apparently they had just come in." "What! Did you notice what the offlcer was like'"' Clent asked in a curious tone, but I was busy with my dinner. "Yes," I answered, carelessly, "he had a hare lip. I remarked it because he had a good look at me as I passed. No? You do not mean to say that you have done already?" He did not answer, and I looked up to learn the reason. I read something in his pale face and trembling lipa which chilled me. The man was suddenly afraid. And not afraid merely. He was in such terror that the very instinct of concealment had passed from him. As his distended eyes met mine he tried to speak, but no sound carne. Yet I knew whr.t he would have said. His lips formed, "Can I trust you?" "Can you trust me?" I repeated, trembling a little myself , and my mouth growing dry ; "well, I hope so, I think so, Clent; I do, indeed. What is it, my good fellow?" for his very ears seemed to rise from his head, so intently was he listening for some sound. "What have you done? What do you fear?" I whispered. "Fear?" he muttered, with his hand upliffred, "death, man! Hush! Come to my room." I obeyed his gesture as much as his words, and leaving the parlor we crept silently thither. When we were closeted together he stood facing me, and began to speak in breathless haste. "I did you a good turn the other day, Mr. Lynton ; help me now. I am a Carlist- a spy ! A man sent hera to try the fidelity of the troops. Of late I have been suspected. Now 1 am sure I am betrayed. The punishment is death ! In a few minutes they will be here." "But what - what can I do for you?" I exclaimed in horror. No one seeing the man could doubt his danger, or at least his belief in it. "Whydo you not escape while there is time?" I cried impatiently. "Titnel There is notime!" he answered with an oath of despair. "The house is watched. I dare not leave it. But you can do something for me. You can give me your passport and change rooms with me. We are much alike. Take my name for a few hours, nay, a few minutes. It will save my life - my life, sir! And for you - you know our minister ! Yes? Then you will be in no danger." "But," I said faintly- the man's distress was terrible to witness, and it all came so abruptly upon me - "the Spanish pólice are sometimes hasty and" - He flinched as if I had struck him. A fresh bit of trembling seized him. He turned from me with a curse and flung himself fa e downward on the bed. I had hesitated before. I am not a bold man, and I had heard strange tales of summary justice done by the pólice. But here the risk seemed so little ; the man's condition was so pitiable. "Get up!" I said harshly, after a brief fight with myself. "I will save you if I can. You are an Ënglishman when all is said and done. But let us lose no time. You know best what must be done." He sprang to his feet. At once he had all his wits about him. In a couple of minutes I had taken possession of his room, he of mine. With feverish expressions of gratitude he pocketed the passport I gave him. Hedressed me in his long ulster and deer stalker hat ; in which I have no doubt that I was like enough to him to pass for him in Spanish eyes. And all this he did with wouderful method, as if he had thought out the details before. It crossed my mimi once that he had. His last step was to draw from his mattress two long rolls neatly covered with canvas. "They are papers," he said, pausing to listen, and looking doubtfully at them the while. "Lists of men. And men's lives they will cost if they are found," he added, with excitement. "Yet I dare not take them with me. I dare not. I shali get away by your help, but I shall be stopped more than once, and if these are found on me they will maka it all of no use." He was so reluctant, so sincerely reluctant, as I could see, to leave the papers, despito the risk he would run if he took them, yes, and so very nearly ready to ruu that risk, that I feit for the first time a sense of real sympathy for him. "Can we not hide them somewhere?" I suggested. "No!" he answered bitterly, "they will leave no stone unturned here." And with that he thrust the papers back into the mattress - my mattress now. "Whydo you not destroy them ?" I asked. "There is no time," he answered sullenly. Theu, moved by the force of habit, I think, he sat down on the bed precisely over them. I wondered - at his answer first, then at auothcr thtng. "Why do they not come?" I said qucrulously. "Are you sure that they intend to come at all - that you have not made a fooi of me for nothing;'1 His face grew bright a moment and then feil again. "Nb," ho replied; "they set a watch on this house as soon as they came into the town, and are only waiting now until a time when they may be sure that 1 am at home. That is all." I found out afterward that he was perfectly right in this. So we sat in dreary expectation, waiting in that little whitewashed room for the clang ol musket butts and tramp of feet that should teil us the crisis was at hand. The caadU burned dimly, the air was heavy with the pungent odor that rose f rom the brasero. My eyo feil upon his empty easel and the sight carried me back to a time, days before as il seemed instead of hours, when I had still regarded hini in the light of a problem to be solved. "And are you an artistí" I asked abruptly. I was glad to break the silence. "Oh, yes," ho said with apathv. "I paint a little." "And that Spagnoletto- the St. Christopher? Is it really an original;" "It is the original. You were right," he replied. "It was the gift of a great nonastery to the cause." I whistled. "I think it is a pity," I said, with a jealous eye to the mattress on which he was sitting. The fancy that that priceless Ribera earelessly rolled up might be receiving with each instant some irremediable hurt was a dreadful thing to have on one's mini When my traveling clock in the next room tinkled nine times, I eould bear it no longer. "Look herel" I said, rising, "I am going out. If you are right, I shall bé arrested, and there will be an end of it. If not, I shall come back and there will be an end of this f oolery. Jock ! lie there ; good dog!" I added, pointing to the bed. And I strode to the door. Of course I was still disguised in Clent's ulster and cap. He leaped up and caught me by the arm. "Por Dios!" he cried, clinging to me. "You are going to betray me! You are English, and you can give me up I" "Man alive!" I answered furiously, the fellow's distrust showed the black spot in him so plainly; "if I wish to betray you, I need only stay here and teil the civil guards who you are!" He shrank back at that; I suppose he saw its truth, and I went out, passing down the gallery and the stairs to the outer door. As I opened this and, meeting the wind, stepped into the darkness of the eutrance, before which the embers of a fire still glowed faintly, I confess that I feit nervous - very nervous. With each step that I took I looked for a challenge or a violent hand Uponmy shoulder; yet I sprang aside when the lightest of touches feil on my sleeve. "It is I, Pablo! Go no f urther .'"' hissed a voice in my ear. "The Street is guarded, tenor. I have risked much to save you, but I can do no more. If you get through is it Almonacid?" "Si, hombre, si," Iwbispered. Then clutchfng in my turn the stranger as he was gliding trom me I continued: "But stay, amigo. Teil me what I can do?" "I do not know. Have you no safe hiding place inside?" he answered, cautiously. "Ha! what is that?" It was the sound of approaeh[ng feet. As soon as this was eertain, "Let me go!" he cried, angrily, trying to tear himtelf f rom my grasp. "It is likeyou! You Would destroy me to do yourself no good I" I released him. While he feil back into the darkness I retreated, eursing my folly the while, into the archway and tried to efface hiyself against the wall. I was caught in a trap. The position was not a pleasant one. Tramp! tramp!- the feet carne on so steadily and surely until half a dozen forms stood between me and the dying fire outside. A whispered word followed, then a flashing open of lanthorns, a momentary starting back of all parties as a mustached guard discovered me, and with the ringing out of a word of command half a dozen carbinea came to the present in front of my breast. "Is this our man!" cried the leader. He did not wait for an answer, but added, imperiously, " Your name, senor?" "I am English. Is not that sufficient for you? Have a care what you are doing," I answered. "Enough; enter. Conduct us to your room," was his order. I went in. On the veranda, at the door of No. 2, stood Clent, holding a candle above his head, so that his face was in shadow while the light feil on us. He was palé, as I saw a moment later, but he played his part to admiration. "What is this?" he asked, with the superior air which Englishmen permit themselves abroad. "What does this mean?" "Your name, sir!" cried the leader, by way of answer. "My name is Rouse Lynton, and I am an artist and an Englishman," he replied, haughtily. "Here is my passport, and I ask you again what this means?" The ofticer cast a single glance at the paper and returned it. "It is in order," he said politely. "I have made inquines and know about you, senor. Do not let me disturb you. We are merely making a capture." "But he, too, is English," put in Clent, looking at me in well feigned surprise. "Ciertamente! but criminal." "Good heavensl I do not believe it; it cannot be. Is there nothing," he added, addressing me with concern, "that I can do for you ! Send a telegram, or anything of that kind?" "Yes," I cried eagerly, "telegraph to the English minister at Madrid." "It shall be done, and at once. Keep up your heart." "Spare your pains, sir," interposed the leader with a grim smile; "you will do no good. And besides, the office is closed." "Then 1 will have it opened," cried Clent hotly, acting the English tra veler to the life, and with a gesture of encouragement he rattled noisily away. "Your room is No. 1," dictated the offlcer, addressing me. "Enter." I did so. Jock sprang up, and with his coat bristling about his neck, growled ominously at my companions. I toid him to lie down. "It is the other Englishman's dog," said one of the guards. "Is that so?" replied the officer, glancing sharply at me. "Then how comes it in this room? Buttowork! Search!" In five minutes their skillful fingere had overhauled the lujgage which was lying about. They found nothing to the purpose. "The bed," was the next command. I do not know what seized upon me then; whether it was sheer longing to give vent to my excitement that carried me away, or the memory of Clent's words, "And men'i lives they will cost," that inspired me with some spirit that certainly was not my own. I cannot say. Only I know that when the order "Now the bed" was given I sprang betweenit and the searchers. "No!" I shouted, waving them back. "Wait!" If I had a dim notion of delay ing them and gaining time the attempt was as vain as it was foolish. "Madmanl'' cried the leader, dropping the mask, and suddenly beside himsclf with rage; "stuud back. Juan, Felipe, do your duty!" I flung one f rom mei another! I had a mo menfs awful consciousness of a oarbine leveled at my chest, of a finger pressing on the trigger, of a sheathed sword that struck up the weapon a second beforo it exploded, of the officer shouting in a voioe of thunder above the tumult, "Noaquil Después!'' and then a strong arm flung me forcibly against the wall. I saw Jock leap forward, his teetb bared - saw some one fire hastüy- saw the dog f all bloeding by the bed. The room grew thick with smoke. "Oh, my GodP'I cried, and covered my face. I was trembling in every limb. Some one not ungeutly drew the dog aside. Instinctively I knelt down and tried to stanch the blood. Poor Jock] Presently - ia the meantime I was tuking no hoed of their doings- I heard a cry of satisfaction and looked up. They had discöv ered the two rolls and bending over their: as they lay on the bed wero unfastening th wrappers. I went and looked on apathetically I waited no longer with any feeling that i concerned me to see the muster rolls, anc loyal autographs, and promises that were to cost so dearly, of which Clent had spoken But what was this? The Spagnoletto! Oh yes! I understood hovv that carne to be hero But these - these pietures which followed Could it bc that all the subscriptions tooi the form of paintings? Or what was thi delicate Moro, fit for a royal gallery, doing here? And that possible Murillo? Tha portrait which might havo been by Velas quez? That San Sebastian that was at leas by a pupil of C'aravaggio? My head reeled I passed my hand over my eyes and looke again. It ivas not a delusion. There, the canvases lay one on the other, their edge strangely rough, their corners frayed - can vases worth a king's ransom. The other roll was fuli of odds and ends valueless, but equally st range ; picture back and rough pieces of cloth and opened letters Among these last I saw, with searcely ani added wonder, envelopes and letters directei to myself. "I do not imderstand," I said feebly, look ing f rom one guard to another. They had al turned to me to see how I took their dis coveries. "He told me that he was a Carlist - a spy sent here to bribe the troops. But what are these doing here! I do not under stand." "Who told you- and what?" cried the leader. "Clent! Clent told me- " and then I stopped dazed and bewildered. Two or three laughed; the offlcer, gazing fixedly at me did not. I met his gaze vaeantly ; then my eyes wandered to the corner and feil upoi poor Jock. A mist passed from my mind my brain cleared ; I spoke aloud and sharply "He has fooiedus all!" I said, "you as wel as me ! lam not Clent. I am Rouse Lynton the artist. He told me" "Who? who? whoï" cried the offlcer, with flerce impatience. "Clent, the man whom you want - the man in No. 1. He told me that he was a Carlist in danger of arrest. I gave him my passport I took his room and he mine. AVhat is it he has done?" "Done?" cried the man, stamping about the room in furious rage. "Can you not see He is a robber of museums - the captain of a gangl Done, blockhead of an Englishman Madre de Dios ! did he not kill a civil guarí at Valladolid ten months ago? He is now a Germán, now an Englishman. He is the devil himself , whom, for all that, we had netted finely but for you ! Yet, fooi that I was I feared something when the dog obeyet you." I remembered that I had read in the English newspapers of picture robberies in various parts of Spain, in which it was supposec that a Germán was engaged. By this light 1 understood it all. The man's terror when 1 discovered him gloating over the Spagnoletto which had been stolen from a monastery at Seville ; his lettere from distant dealers his studied appeal to my sympathies; his greedy reluctance, which I had thought pure unselfishness, to part with his spoils ; even the casual "job" which had made him master ol my L50! I understood them noir. Yes, hac this been all - had Jock not been lying bleeding in a corner - I would have let the man go. As it was, I cried out to them, "Quick! I wil teil you where you will find him! He wil make for Almonacid. You know the place?' "Did he teil you that alsoï" asked the offlcer scomfuliy. "No," I exelaimed, "I had it from one oi his gang in the street - one who took me for him as you did. Almonacid is their rendezvous. You are watching the railway station herei Yes. Then be sure he will make across country for Almonacid, which is only a mile from Torrijos station on the other railway." There was sense in my words, and the pólice saw it. The ring of scowling faces round me brightened. A few hasty sentences were exchanged, and an order was curtly given, and in two minutes the offlcer and his following trooped down stairs, no doubt to get to norse and start af ter the fugitives; leaving me in charge of a couple of town pólice, who good naturedly helped me to do what I could for Jock. Jock was not dead, nor going to die, I am glad to say, of that wound, although he walks lame to this day, the bullet having cut the tendons at the root of the fore leg. When I found that this was so, I began to be sorry that I had betrayed Clent's trust, though in fact he had never trusted me. "I wish that I had not spoken so soon," I said to one of my guards as we sat over the brasero, wondering what was doing at Almonacid. "It is ill work standing behind a kicking mule," he answered dryly. "But second thoughts are best." He considered this; then said briefly: "The last orange the f rost nips." The full meaning of which only came horae to me next morning. About 10 o'clock the offlcer of pólice came clattering up the stairs to discharge me from custody. He told me politely that owing to the amends I had made no notice would be taken of my vain attempt to mislead justice. "Vain attempt! Vaiix? Then you have captured him?" "No, señor." "No! He has eseaped!" I cried in astonishment. "Hardly; he tried," replied the Spaniard, meeting my eyes with a smile. "He was shot Sn the scuffle. " "DeadT I said faintly. "Yes, señor, quite dead." Then I knew for certain what the words, No aqui! Despuesl ("Not here! Afterward !") had meant. And I shivered.