MET 
 
BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 o- 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
^ 
 
THE 
 
 CBCSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
THE 
 
 ri 
 
 CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR" 
 
 H movel. 
 
 BEET HARTE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 'THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP," "GABRIEL CONROY," "FLIP," 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 F. V. WHITE & CO., 
 31, SOUTHAMPTON STKEET, STRAND, W.C. 
 
 [All Right* reserved.] 
 
.1 
 
 Cr 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 KELLY AND CO., GATE STKEET, LINCOLN'S IXN FIELDS, LONDON, W-C. 
 AND MIDDLE MILL, KINGSTON-ON-TTTAMES. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 part 1. 
 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. A CRUSADER AND A SIGN, ,- 
 
 1 
 
 
 15 
 
 III. " VIGILANCIA," . . 
 
 . 30 
 
 
 44 
 
 V. TODOS SANTOS, . ... 
 
 . 58 
 
 VI. " HAIL AND FAREWELL," 
 
 . 74 
 
 VII. THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS, . 
 
 . 87 
 
 VIII. IN SANCTUARY, . . 
 
 . 103 
 
 IX. AN OPEN-AIR PRISON, 
 
 117 
 
 X. TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY, 
 
 . 1 
 
 XI. THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS His SHIP, 
 
 . 148 
 
 part 11. 
 
 
 I. THE MOURNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO, . 
 
 . 163 
 
 II. THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS, 
 
 . 180 
 
 III. INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES, 
 
 . 194 
 
 IV. A GLEAM or SUNSHINE, . 
 
 . 208 
 
 V. CLOUDS AND CHANGE, 
 
 . 226 
 
 VI. A MORE IMPORTANT ARRIVAL, 
 
 . 240 
 
 VII. THE RETURN OF THE "EXCELSIOR," 
 
 . 255 
 
 VIII. HOSTAGE, 
 
 . 270 
 
 IX. LIBERATED, 
 
 . 285 
 
JNOVEbS 
 
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 31, Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.C. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE author gladly avails himself of the 
 opportunity offered by a new edition to 
 correct an ingenuous theory of some of his 
 critics that the central figure of Senor 
 Leonidas Perkins was a purely imaginative 
 creation. The study of that amiable, 
 political Don Quixote was taken from the 
 actual personality of a charming gentleman 
 who was shot in the exercise of his vocation 
 so recently that his story has not yet taken 
 its proper place in history ; but the type 
 may be more familiar to the English reader 
 in the examples of the late William Walker 
 and his lieutenants and proselytes in Sonora 
 and Nicaragua. The incident of the peace- 
 ful capture of the " Excelsior" was fore- 
 cast some years ago in an actual occurrence 
 on the coast of Nicaragua. 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 As to the reality of Todos Santos, hither- 
 to known to the author only from the deck 
 of a passing steamship and the current 
 traditions of coastwise manners, he has 
 found himself, since the publication of this 
 story, confronted with a mass of corrobora- 
 tive testimony as unexpected as it was 
 alarming. In the columns of " The Lower 
 Californian," a newspaper lately established 
 in Todos Santos Bay, he observes that this 
 " Tierra Perfecta of the Mission Fathers," 
 so far surpasses his most imaginative des- 
 cription of its charms, that upon the fictitious 
 site of the purely fanciful exploits of Messrs. 
 Banks and Crosby, " one of the largest hotels 
 in America is in process of erection," and 
 that an opportunity is thus afforded for easy 
 investigation that should satisfy the most 
 incredulous critic. 
 
 LONDON, January, 1 888. 
 
THE CRUSADE OF THE 
 "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 PART I. 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 A CRUSADER AND A SIGN. 
 
 IT was the 4th of August 1854, off Cape Corrientes. 
 Morning was breaking over a heavy sea, and the 
 closely-reefed topsails of a barque that run before it 
 bearing down upon the faint outline of the Mexican 
 coast. Already the white peak of Colima showed, 
 ghost-like, in the east ; already the long sweep of 
 the Pacific was gathering strength and volume 
 as it swept uninterruptedly into the opening Gulf 
 of California. 
 
 As the cold light increased, it could be seen that 
 the vessel showed evidence of a long voyage and 
 stress of weather. She had lost one of her spars, 
 and her starboard davits rolled emptily. Neverthe- 
 less, her rigging was taut and shipshape, and her 
 decks scrupulously clean. Indeed, in that uncertain 
 light, the only moving figure besides the two 
 
 1 
 
2 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 motionless shadows at the wheel was engaged in 
 scrubbing the quarter-deck which, with its grated 
 settees and stacked camp-chairs, seemed to indicate 
 the presence of cabin passengers. For the barque 
 Excelsior, from New York to San Francisco, had 
 discharged the bulk of her cargo at Callao, and had 
 extended her liberal cabin accommodation to swell the 
 feverish Californian immigration, still in its height. 
 Suddenly there was a slight commotion on deck. 
 An order, issued from some invisible depth of the 
 cabin, was so unexpected that it had to be repeated 
 sternly and peremptorily. A bustle forward ensued, 
 two or three other shadows sprang up by the bul- 
 warks, then the two men bent over the wheel, the 
 Excelsior slowly swung round on her heel, and, with 
 a parting salutation to the coast, bore away to the 
 north-west and the open sea again. 
 
 " What's up now ? " growled one of the men at 
 the wheel to his companion, as they slowly eased up 
 on the helm. 
 
 " 'Tain't the skipper's, for he's drunk as a biled 
 owl, and ain't stirred out of his bunk since eight 
 bells," said the other. " It's the first mate's orders ; 
 but I reckon it's the Senor's idea." 
 
 " Then we ain't goin' on to Mazatlan ? " 
 " Not this trip, I reckon," said the third mate, 
 joining them. 
 " Why ? " 
 
 The third mate turned and pointed to leeward. 
 The line of coast had already sunk enough to 
 permit the faint silhouette of a trail of smoke to 
 define the horizon line of sky. 
 
A CRUSADER AND A SIGN. 3 
 
 " Steamer goin' in, eh ? " 
 
 " Yes. D'ye see it might be too hot, in 
 there ! " 
 
 "Then the jig's up? " 
 
 " No. Suthin's to be done, north of St. Lucas. 
 Hush ! " 
 
 He made a gesture of silence, although the con- 
 versation, since he had joined them, had been 
 carried on in a continuous whisper. A figure, 
 evidently a passenger, had appeared on deck. One 
 or two of the foreign-looking crew who had drawn 
 near the group, with a certain undue and irregular 
 familiarity, now slunk away again. 
 
 The passenger was a shrewd, exact, rectangular- 
 looking man, who had evidently never entirely 
 succumbed to the freedom of the sea either in his 
 appearance or habits. He had not even his sea legs 
 yet ; and as the barque, with the full swell of the 
 Pacific now on her weather bow, was plunging un- 
 comfortably, he was fain to cling to the stanchions. 
 This did not, however, prevent him from noticing 
 the change in her position, and captiously resenting it. 
 
 " Look here you ; I say ! What have we turned 
 round for ? We're going away from the land ! 
 Ain't we going on to Mazatlan ? " 
 
 The two men at the wheel looked silently forward, 
 with that exasperating unconcern of any landsman's 
 interest peculiar to marine officials. The passenger 
 turned impatiently to the third mate. 
 
 " But this ain't right, you know. It was under- 
 stood that we were going into Mazatlan. I've got 
 business there." 
 
4 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 " My orders, sir," said the mate curtly, turning 
 away. 
 
 The practical passenger had been observant 
 enough of sea-going rules to recognise that this 
 reason was final, and that it was equally futile to 
 demand an interview with the captain when that 
 gentleman was not visibly on duty. He turned 
 angrily to the cabin again. 
 
 " You look disturbed, my dear Banks. 1 trust 
 you haven't slept badly," said a very gentle voice 
 from the quarter-rail near him ; " or, perhaps, the 
 ship's going about has upset you. It's a little 
 rougher on this tack." 
 
 " That's just it," returned Banks sharply. " We 
 have gone about, and we're not going into 
 Mazatlan at all. It's scandalous ! I'll speak to the 
 captain I'll complain to the consignees I've got 
 business at Mazatlan I expect letters I 
 
 " Business, my dear fellow," continued the voice, 
 in gentle protest. " You'll have time for business 
 when you get to San Francisco. And as for letters 
 they'll follow you there soon enough. Come over 
 here, my boy, and say hail and farewell to the 
 Mexican coast to the land of Montezuma and 
 Pizarro. Come here and see the mountain range 
 from which Balboa feasted his eyes on the broad 
 Pacific. Come ! " 
 
 The speaker, though apparently more at his ease 
 at sea, was in dress and appearance fully as un- 
 nautical as Banks. As he leaned over the railing, 
 his white, close-fitting trousers, and small patent- 
 leather boots gave him a iaunty, half-military air, 
 
A CBUSADER AND A SIUN. 5 
 
 which continued up to the second button of his 
 black frock-coat, and then so utterly changed its 
 character that it was doubtful if a greater contrast 
 could be conceived than that offered by the widely- 
 spread lapels of his coat, his low turned down 
 collar, loosely knotted silk handkerchief, and the 
 round, smooth-shaven, gentle, pacific face above 
 them. His straight long black hair, shining as if 
 from recent immersion, was tucked carefully behind 
 his ears, and hung in a heavy, even, semi-circular 
 fringe around the back of his neck, where his tall 
 hat usually rested, as if to leave his forehead 
 meekly exposed to celestial criticism. When he 
 had joined the ship at Callao, his fellow-passengers, 
 rashly trusting to the momentary suggestion of his 
 legs on the gang-plank, had pronounced him mili- 
 tary ; meeting him later at dinner, they had re- 
 garded the mild Methodistic contour of his breast 
 and shoulders above the table, and entertained the 
 wild idea of asking him to invoke a blessing. To 
 complete the confusion of his appearance, he was 
 called "Senor" Perkins, for no other reason, ap- 
 parently, than his occasional, but masterful, use of 
 the Spanish vernacular. 
 
 Steadying himself by one of the quarter stan- 
 chions, he waved his right hand oratorically towards 
 the sinking coast 
 
 " Look at it, sir. One of the finest countries that 
 ever came from the hand of the Creator; a land 
 overflowing with milk and honey ; containing, sir, 
 in that one mountain range, the product of the 
 three zones and yet the abode of the oppressed 
 
6 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR," 
 
 and down-trodden ; the land of faction, superstition, 
 tyranny, and political revolution." 
 
 " That's all very well," said Banks, irritably, " but 
 Mazatlan is a well-known commercial port, and has 
 English and American correspondents. There's a 
 branch of that Boston firm Potter, Potts & Potter 
 there. The new line of steamers is going to stop 
 there regularly." 
 
 Sefior Perkins' soft black eyes fell for an instant, 
 as if accidentally, on the third mate, but the next 
 moment he laughed, and, throwing back his head, 
 inhaled, with evident relish, a long breath of the 
 sharp, salt air. 
 
 " Ah ! " he said enthusiastically, " that 9 a better 
 than all the business you can pick up along a 
 malarious coast. Open your mouth and try to take 
 in the free breath of the glorious North Pacific. Ah ! 
 isn't it glorious ? " 
 
 " Where's the captain ? " said Banks, with 
 despairing irritation. " I want to see him." 
 
 "The captain," said Senor Perkins, with a bland, 
 forgiving smile and a slight lowering of his voice, 
 " is, I fear, suffering from an accident of hospitality, 
 and keeps his state-room. The captain is a good 
 fellow," continued Perkins, with gentle enthusiasm ; 
 " a good sailor and careful navigator, and exceed- 
 ingly attentive to his passengers. I shall certainly 
 propose getting up some testimonial for him." 
 
 "But if he's shut up in his state-room, who's 
 giving the orders ? " began Banks, angrily. 
 
 Seiior Perkins put up a small, well-kept hand 
 deprecatingly. 
 
A CRUSADER AND A SIGN. 7 
 
 "Keally, my dear boy, I suppose the captain 
 cannot be omnipresent. Some discretion must be 
 left to the other officers. They probably know his 
 ideas and what is to be done better than we do. 
 You business men trouble yourselves too much 
 about these things. You should take them more 
 philosophically. For my part, I always confide 
 myself trustingly to these people. I enter a ship 
 or railroad car with perfect faith. I say to myself, 
 'This captain, or this conductor, is a responsible 
 man, selected with a view to my safety and comfort ; 
 he understands how to procure that safety and that 
 comfort better than I do. He worries himself ; he 
 spends hours and nights of vigil to look after me and 
 carry me to my destination. Why should / worry 
 myself, who can only assist him by passive obedi- 
 ence ? Why ' " But here he was interrupted 
 
 by a headlong plunge of the Excelsior, a feminine 
 shriek that was half a laugh, the rapid patter of 
 small feet and sweep of flying skirts down the 
 slanting deck, and the sudden and violent contact 
 of a pretty figure. 
 
 The next moment he had forgotten his philo- 
 sophy, and his companion his business. Both flew 
 to the assistance of the fair intruder, who, albeit the 
 least injured of the trio, clung breathlessly to the 
 bulwarks. 
 
 " Miss Keene ! " ejaculated both gentlemen. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! I beg your pardon," said the young 
 lady, reddening, with a naive mingling of hilarity 
 and embarrassment. " But it seemed so stuffy in 
 the cabin, and it seemed so easy to get out on deck 
 
8 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 and pull myself up by the railings ; and just as I 
 got up here, I suddenly seemed to be sliding down 
 the roof of a house." 
 
 " And now that you're here, your courage should 
 be rewarded," said the Seiior, gallantly assisting 
 her to a settee, which he lashed securely. fi You 
 are perfectly safe now," he added, holding the end 
 of the rope in his hand to allow a slight sliding 
 movement of the seat as the vessel rolled. " And 
 here is a glorious spectacle for you. Look ! the sun 
 is just rising." 
 
 The young girl glanced over the vast expanse 
 before her with sparkling eyes and a suddenly 
 awakened fancy that checked her embarrassed senile, 
 and fixed her pretty, parted lips with wonder. The 
 level rays of the rising sun striking the white crests 
 of the lifted waves had suffused the whole ocean 
 with a pinkish opal colour : the darker parts of each 
 wave seemed broken into facets instead of curves, 
 and glittered sharply. The sea seemed to have lost 
 its fluidity, and become vitreous ; so much so, that 
 it was difficult to believe that the waves which 
 splintered across the Excelsior's bow did not fall 
 upon her deck with the ring of shattered glass. 
 
 " Sinbad's Valley of Diamonds ! " said the young 
 girl, in an awed whisper. 
 
 " It's a cross sea in the Grulf of California, so the 
 mate says/' said Banks practically ; " but I don't 
 see why we " 
 
 " The Gulf of California ? " repeated the young 
 girl, while a slight shade of disappointment passed 
 over her bright face ; " are we then so near ' 
 
A CRUSADER AND A SIGN. 9 
 
 "Not the California you mean, my dear young 
 lady," broke in Seiior Perkins, " but the old peninsula 
 of California, which is still a part of Mexico. It 
 terminates in Cape St. Lucas, a hundred miles from 
 here, but it's still a far cry to San Francisco, which 
 is in Upper California. But I fancy you don't seem 
 as anxious as our friend Mr. Banks to get to your 
 journey's end," he added, with paternal blandness. 
 
 The look of relief which had passed over Miss 
 Keene's truthful face gave way to one of slight 
 embarrassment. 
 
 " It hasn't seemed long," she said hastily ; and 
 then added, as if to turn the conversation, " What 
 is this' peninsula ? I remember it on our map at 
 school." 
 
 "It's not of much account," interrupted Banks 
 positively. " There ain't a place on it you ever 
 heard of. It's a kind of wilderness." 
 
 " I differ from you," said Senor Perkins gravely. 
 " There are, I have been told, some old Mexican 
 settlements along the coast, and there is no reason 
 why the country shouldn't be fruitful. But you 
 may have a chance to judge for yourself," he con- 
 tinued beamingly. " Since we are not going into 
 Mazatlan, we may drop in at some of those places for 
 water. It's all on our way, and we shall save the 
 three days we would have lost had we touched 
 Mazatlan. That," he added, answering an impatient 
 interrogation in Banks' eye, " at least, is the cap- 
 tain's idea, I reckon." He laughed, and went on 
 still gaily, " But what's the use of anticipating ? 
 Why should we spoil any little surprise that our 
 
10 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 gallant captain may have in store for us ? I've 
 been trying to convert this business man to my 
 easy philosophy, Miss Keene, but he is incorrigible ; 
 he is actually lamenting his lost chance of hearing 
 the latest news at Mazatlan, and getting the latest 
 market quotations, instead of offering a thanksgiving 
 for another uninterrupted day of freedom in this 
 glorious air." 
 
 With a half humorous extravagance he unloosed 
 his already loose necktie, turned his Byron collar 
 still lower, and squared his shoulders ostentatiously 
 to the sea breeze. Accustomed as his two com- 
 panions were to his habitually extravagant speech, 
 it did not at that moment seem inconsistent with 
 the intoxicating morning air and the exhilaration of 
 sky and wave. A breath of awakening and resur- 
 rection moved over the face of the waters; recrea- 
 tion and new-born life sparkled everywhere ; the 
 past night seemed for ever buried in the vast and 
 exundating sea. The reefs had been shaken out, 
 arid every sail set to catch the steadier breeze of the 
 day; and as the quickening sun shone upon the 
 dazzling canvas that seemed to envelop them, they 
 felt as if wrapped in the purity of a baptismal robe. 
 
 Nevertheless, Miss Keene's eyes occasionally wan- 
 dered from the charming prospect towards the com- 
 panion-ladder. Presently she became ominously 
 and ostentatiously interested in the view again, and 
 at the same moment a young man's head and 
 shoulders appeared above the companion-way. With 
 a bound he was on the slanting deck, moving with 
 the agility and adaptability of youth, and approached 
 
A CRUSADER AND A SIGN. 11 
 
 the group. He was quite surprised to find Miss 
 Keene there so early, and Miss Keene was equally 
 surprised at his appearance, notwithstanding the 
 phenomenon had occurred with singular regularity 
 for the last three weeks. The two spectators of this 
 gentle comedy received it as they had often received 
 it before, with a mixture of apparent astonishment 
 and patronising unconsciousness, and, after a decent 
 interval, moved away together, leaving the young 
 people alone. 
 
 The hesitancy and awkwardness which usually 
 followed the first moments of their charming isola- 
 tion, were this morning more than usually prolonged. 
 
 " It seems we are not going into Mazatlan, after 
 all," said Miss Keene at last, without lifting her 
 conscious eyes from the sea. 
 
 " No," returned the young fellow quickly. " I 
 heard all about it down below, and we had quite an 
 indignation meeting over it. I believe Mrs. Mark- 
 ham wanted to head a deputation to wait upon the 
 captain in his berth. It seems that the first officer, 
 or whosoever is running the ship, has concluded we've 
 lost too much time already, and we're going to strike 
 a bee-line for Cape St. Lucas, and give Mazatlan the 
 go-by. We'll save four days by it. I suppose it 
 don't make any difference to you. Miss Keene, does 
 it ? " 
 
 " I ? Oh, no ! " said the girl hastily. 
 
 " I'm rather sorry," he said hesitatingly. 
 
 " Indeed ! Are you tired of the ship ? " she asked 
 saucily. 
 
 " No," he replied bluntly ; " but it would have 
 
12 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 given us four more days together, four more days 
 before we separated." 
 
 He stopped with a heightened colour. There was 
 a moment of silence, and the voices of Senor Perkins 
 and Mr. Banks in political discussion on the other 
 side of the deck came faintly. Miss Keene laughed. 
 
 " We are a long way from San Francisco yet, and 
 you may think differently." 
 
 " Never ! " he said impulsively. 
 
 He had drawn closer to her, as if to emphasise his 
 speech. She cast a quick glance across the deck 
 towards the two disputants, and drew herself gently 
 away. 
 
 " Do you know," she said suddenly, with a 
 charming smile which robbed the act of its sting, 
 " I sometimes wonder if I am really going to San 
 Francisco. I don't know how it is ; but, somehow, 
 I never can see myself there." 
 
 "I wish you did, for Tm going there," he replied 
 boldly. 
 
 Without appearing to notice the significance of 
 his speech, she continued gravely, 
 
 "I have been so strongly impressed with this 
 feeling at times that it makes me quite superstitious. 
 When we had that terrible storm after we left 
 Callao, I thought it meant that that we were all 
 going down, and we should never be heard of 
 again." 
 
 " As long as we all went together," he said, " I 
 don't know that it would be the worst thing that 
 could happen. I remember that storm, Miss 
 Keene. And I remember " He stopped timidly. 
 
A CRUSADEK AND A SIGN. 13 
 
 "What?" she replied, raising her smiling eyes 
 for the first time to his earnest face. 
 
 "I remember sitting up all night near your 
 state-room, with a cork jacket and lots of things, 
 I'd fixed up for you, and thinking I'd die before I 
 trusted you alone in the boat to those rascally 
 Lascars of the crew." 
 
 " But how would you have prevented it ? " asked 
 Miss Keene, with a compassionate and half-maternal 
 amusement. 
 
 "I don't know exactly," he said, colouring; 
 " but I'd have lashed you to some spar, or made a 
 raft, and got you ashore on some island." 
 
 " And poor Mrs. Markham and Mrs. Brimmer 
 you'd have left them to the boats and the Lascars, 
 I suppose ? " smiled Miss Keene. 
 
 " Oh, somebody would have looked after Mrs. 
 Markham ; and Mrs. Brimmer wouldn't have gone 
 with anybody that wasn't well connected. But 
 what's the use of talking ? " he added ruefully. 
 " Nothing has happened, and nothing is going to 
 happen. You will see yourself in San Francisco, 
 even if you don't see me there. You're going to a 
 rich brother, Miss Keene, who has friends of his 
 own, and who won't care to know a poor fellow 
 whom you tolerated on the passage, but who don't 
 move in Mrs. Brimmer's set, and whom Mr. Banks 
 wouldn't indorse commercially." 
 
 " Ah, you don't know my brother, Mr. Brace." 
 " Nor do you, very well, Miss Keene. You 
 were saying, only last night, you hardly remem- 
 bered him." 
 
14 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 The young girl sighed. 
 
 "I was very young when he went West," she 
 said explanatorily ; " but I dare say I shall recall 
 him. What I meant is, that he will be very glad 
 to know that I have been so happy here, and he 
 will like all those who have made me so." 
 " Then you have been happy ? " 
 " Yes ; very." She had withdrawn her eyes, 
 and was looking vaguely towards the companion- 
 way. " Everybody has been so kind to me." 
 " And you are grateful to all ? " 
 " Yes." 
 "Equally?" 
 
 The ship gave a sudden forward plunge. Miss 
 Keene involuntarily clutched the air with her little 
 hand, that had been resting on the settee between 
 them, and the young man caught it in his own. 
 
 " Equally ?" he repeated, with an assumed playful- 
 ness that half veiled his anxiety. " Equally from 
 the beaming Seiior Perkins, who smiles on all, to 
 the gloomy Mr. Hurlstone, who smiles on no 
 one ? " 
 
 She quickly withdrew her hand, and rose. 
 " I smell the breakfast," she said laughingly. 
 " Don't be horrified, Mr. Brace, but I'm very 
 hungry." She laid the hand she had withdrawn 
 lightly on his arm. " Now help me down to the 
 cabin." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ANOTHER PORTENT. 
 
 THE saloon of the Excelsior was spacious for the 
 size of the vessel, and was furnished in a style 
 superior to most passenger-ships of that epoch. 
 The sun was shining though the sliding windows 
 upon the fresh and neatly-arranged breakfast-table, 
 but the presence of the ominous " storm-racks," and 
 partitions for glass and china, and the absence of 
 the more delicate passengers, still testified to the 
 potency of the Grulf of California. Even those 
 present wore an air of fatigued discontent, and the 
 conversation had that jerky interjection al quality 
 which belonged to people with a common 
 grievance, but a different individual experience. 
 Mr. Winslow had been unable to shave. Mrs. 
 Markham, incautiously and surreptitiously opening 
 a porthole in her state-room for a whiff of fresh 
 air while dressing, had been shocked by the in- 
 trusion of the Pacific Ocean, and was obliged to 
 summon assistance and change her dress. Jack 
 Crosby, who had attired himself for tropical shore- 
 going in white ducks and patent leathers, shivered 
 in the keen north-west Trades, and bewailed the 
 cheap cigars he expected to buy at Mazatlan. The 
 entrance of Miss Keene, who seemed to bring with 
 her the freshness and purity of the dazzling outer 
 
16 THE CUUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 air, stirred the younger men into some gallant 
 attention, embarrassed, however, by a sense of 
 self-reproach. 
 
 Senor Perkins alone retained his normal serenity. 
 Already seated at the table between the two fair- 
 headed children of Mrs. Brimmer,, he was benevo- 
 lently performing parental duties in her absence, 
 and gently supervising and preparing their victuals 
 even while he carried on an ethnological and 
 political discussion with Mrs. Markham. 
 
 " Ah, my dear lady," continued the Senor, as he 
 spread a hot biscuit with butter and currant jelly 
 for the youngest Miss Brimmer, " I am afraid that, 
 with the fastidiousness of your sex, you allow your 
 refined instincts against a race who only mix with 
 ours in a menial capacity to prejudice your views 
 of their ability for enlightened self-government. 
 That may be true of the aborigines of the world 
 like our friends the Lascars among the crew 
 
 " They're so snaky, dark, and deceitful-looking," 
 interrupted Mrs. Markham. 
 
 " I might differ from you there, and say that the 
 higher blonde types like the Anglo-Saxon to say 
 nothing of the wily Greeks were the deceitful 
 races : it might be difficult for any of us to say what 
 a sly and deceitful man should be like " 
 
 " Oor not detheitful oor a dood man," inter- 
 polated the youngest Miss Brimmer, fondly regard- 
 ing the biscuit. 
 
 " Thank you, Missey," beamed the Senor ; " but 
 to return : our Lascar friends, Mrs. Markham, be- 
 belong to an earlier Asiatic type of civilisation 
 
ANOTHER PORTENT. 17 
 
 already decayed or relapsed to barbarism, while the 
 aborigines of the New World now existing have 
 never known it or, like the Aztecs, have perished 
 with it. The modern North American aborigine 
 has not yet got beyond the tribal condition ; 
 mingled with Caucasian blood as he is in Mexico 
 and Central America, he is perfectly capable of 
 self-government." 
 
 " Then why has he never obtained it ? " asked 
 Mrs. Markham. 
 
 " He has always been oppressed and kept down 
 by colonists of the Latin races ; he has been little 
 better than a slave to his oppressor for the last two 
 centuries," said Senor Perkins, with a slight darken- 
 ing of his soft eyes. 
 
 " Injins is pizen," whispered Mr. Winslow to Miss 
 Keene. 
 
 "Who would be free, you know, the poet says, 
 ought themselves to light out from the shoulder, 
 and all that sort of thing," suggested Crosby, with 
 cheerful vagueness. 
 
 " True ; but a little assistance and encourage- 
 ment from mankind generally would help them," 
 continued the Senor. " Ah ! my dear Mrs. Mark- 
 ham, if they could even count on the intelligent 
 sympathy of women like yourself, their inde- 
 pendence would be assured. And think what a 
 proud privilege to have contributed to such a result, 
 to have assisted at the birth of the ideal American 
 Republic, for such it would be a Republic of one 
 blood, one faith, one history." 
 
 " What on earth, or sea, ever set the old man off 
 
 2 
 
18 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR.' 
 
 again ? " inquired Crosby, in an aggrieved whisper. 
 " It's two weeks since he's given us any Central 
 American independent flapdoodle long enough 
 for those nigger injins to have had half-a-dozen 
 revolutions. You know that the vessels that put 
 into San Juan have saluted one flag in the morn- 
 ing, and have been fired at under another in the 
 afternoon." 
 
 "Hush!" said Miss Keene. "He's so kind! 
 Look at him now, taking off the pinafores of those 
 children and tidying them. He is kinder to them 
 than their nurse, and more judicious than their 
 mother. And half his talk with Mrs. Markham now 
 is only to please her, because she thinks she knows 
 politics. He's always trying to do good to some- 
 body." 
 
 " That's so," exclaimed Brace, eager to share Miss 
 Keene's sentiments ; " and he's so good to those 
 outlandish niggers in the crew. I don't see how 
 the captain could get on with the crew without 
 him ; he's the only one who- can talk their gibberish, 
 and keep them quiet. I've seen him myself quietly 
 drop down among them when they were wrangling. 
 In my opinion," continued the young fellow, lowering 
 his voice somewhat ostentatiously, " you'll find out 
 when we get to port that he's stopped the beginning 
 of many a mutiny among them." 
 
 " I reckon they'd make short work of a man like 
 him," said Win slow, whose superciliousness was by 
 no means lessened by the community of sentiment 
 between Miss Keene and Brace. "I reckon his 
 political reforms, and his poetical high falutin' 
 
ANOTHER PORTENT. 19 
 
 wouldn't go as far in the forecastle among live 
 men, as it does in the cabin with a lot of women. 
 You'll more likely find that he's been some sort of 
 steward on a steamer, and he's working his passage 
 with us. That's where he gets that smooth, 
 equally-attentive-to-anybody sort of style. The 
 way he skirmished around Mrs. Brimmer and Mrs. 
 Markham with a basin the other day when it was so 
 rough convinced me. It was a little too professional 
 to suit my style." 
 
 "I suppose that was the reason why you went 
 below so suddenly," rejoined Brace, whose too sensi- 
 tive blood was beginning to burn in his cheeks and 
 eyes. 
 
 " It's a shame to stay below this morning," said 
 Miss Keene, instinctively recognising the cause of 
 the discord and its remedy. " I'm going on deck 
 again if I can manage to get there." 
 
 The three gentlemen sprang to accompany her ; 
 and, in their efforts to keep their physical balance 
 and hers equally, the- social equilibrium was re- 
 stored. 
 
 By noon, however, the heavy cross-sea had abated, 
 and the Excelsior bore west. When she once more 
 rose and fell regularly on the long rythmical swell of 
 the Pacific, most of the passengers regained the deck. 
 Even Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb ventured from 
 their state-rooms, and were conveyed to and in- 
 stalled in some state on a temporary divan of 
 cushions and shawls on the lee side. For even in 
 this small republic of equal cabin passengers, the 
 undemocratic and distinction-loving sex had 
 
 2* 
 
20 THE CRUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR." 
 
 managed to create a sham exclusiveness. Mrs. 
 Brimmer, as the daughter of a rich Bostonian, 
 the sister of a prominent lawyer, and the wife of a 
 successful San Francisco merchant, who was popu- 
 larly supposed to be part owner of the Excdsior, 
 was recognised, and alternately caressed and hated 
 as their superior. A majority of the male passen- 
 gers, owning no actual or prospective matrimonial 
 subjection to those charming toad-eaters, I am 
 afraid continued to enjoy a mild and debasing 
 equality among themselves, mitigated only by the 
 concessions of occasional gallantry. To them, Mrs. 
 Brimmer was a rather pretty, refined, well-dressed 
 woman, whose languid pallor, aristocratic spareness, 
 and utter fastidiousness did not, however, preclude 
 a certain nervous intensity which occasionally lit 
 up her weary eyes with a dangerous phosphorescence, 
 under their brown fringes. Equally acceptable was 
 Miss Chubb, her friend and travelling companion ; 
 a tall, well-bred girl, with faint salmon-pink hair 
 and complexion, that darkened to a fiery brown in 
 her short-sighted eyes. 
 
 Between these ladies and Mrs. Markharn and 
 Miss Keene existed an enthusiastic tolerance, which, 
 however, could never be mistaken for a generous 
 rivalry. Of the greater popularity of Miss Keene 
 as the recognised belle of the Excelsior there could 
 be no question ; nor was there any from Mrs. 
 Brimmer and her friend. The intellectual pre- 
 eminence of Mrs. Markham was equally, and no less 
 ostentatiously granted. "Mrs. Markham is so 
 clever; I delight to hear you converse together," 
 
ANOTHEK POKTENT. 21 
 
 Mrs. Brimmer would say to Senor Perkins, 
 " though I'm sure I hardly dare talk to her myself. 
 She might easily go into the lecture-field perhaps 
 she expects to do so in California. My dear 
 Clarissa " to Miss Chubb " don't she remind you 
 a little of Aunt Jane Winthrop's governess, whom 
 we came so near taking to Paris with us, but 
 couldn't, on account of her defective French ? " 
 
 When The Excelsior Banner and South Sea 
 Bubble was published in lat. 15 N. and long 105 W., 
 to which Mrs. Markham contributed the editorials 
 and essays, and Senor Perkins three columns of 
 sentimental poetry, Mrs. Brimmer did not with- 
 hold her praise of the fair editor. When the 
 Excelsior " Kecrossed the Line," with a suitable 
 tableau vivant and pageant, and Miss Keene as 
 California, in white and blue, welcomed from the 
 hands of Neptune (Senor Perkins) and Amphitrite 
 (Mrs. Markham) her fair sister, Massachusetts (Mrs. 
 Brimmer), and New York (Miss Chubb), Mrs. 
 Brimmer was most enthusiastic of the beauty of 
 Miss Keene. 
 
 On the present morning Mr. Banks found his 
 disappointment at not going into Mazatlan lan- 
 guidly shared by Mrs. Brimmer. That lady even 
 made a place for him on the cushions beside her, 
 as she pensively expressed her belief that her hus- 
 band would be still more disappointed. 
 
 " Mr. Brimmer, you know, has correspondents at 
 Mazatlan, and no doubt he has made particular ar- 
 rangements for our reception and entertainment 
 while there. I should not wonder if he was very 
 
22 THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR." 
 
 indignant. And if, as I fear, the officials of the 
 place, knowing Mr. Brimmer's position and my 
 own connections have prepared to show us social 
 courtesies, it may be a graver affair. I shouldn't be 
 surprised if our Government were obliged to take 
 notice of it. There is a Captain-Greneral of 
 the port isn't there ? 1 think my husband spoke 
 of him." 
 
 " Oh, he's probably been shot long ago," broke in 
 Mr. Crosby cheerfully. " They put in a new man 
 every revolution. If the wrong party's got in, 
 they've likely shipped your husband's correspondent 
 too, and might be waiting to get a reception for 
 you with nigger soldiers and ball cartridges. 
 Shouldn't wonder if the skipper got wind of some- 
 thing of the kind, and that's why he didn't put in. 
 If your husband hadn't been so well known, you see, 
 we might have slipped in all right." 
 
 Mrs. Brimmer received this speech with the 
 languid obliviousness of perception she usually 
 meted out to this chartered jester. 
 
 " Do you really think so, Mr. Crosby ? And 
 would you have been afraid to leave your cabin or 
 are you joking? You know I never know when 
 you are. It is very dreadful, either way." 
 
 But here Miss Chubb, with ready tact, interrupted 
 any possible retort from Mr. Crosby. 
 
 st Look," she said, pointing to some of the other 
 passengers, who, at a little distance, had grouped 
 about the first mate in animated discussion. " I 
 wonder what those gentlemen are so interested 
 about. Do go and see." 
 
ANOTHER POKTKNT. 23 
 
 Before he could reply, Mr. Winslow, detaching 
 himself from the group, hurried towards them. 
 
 " Here's a row : Hurlstone is missing ! Can't be 
 found anywhere ! They think he's fallen over- 
 board ! " 
 
 The two frightened exclamations from Miss Chubb 
 and Mrs. Brimmer diverted attention from the 
 sudden paleness of Miss Keene, who had impulsively 
 approached them. 
 
 " Impossible ! " she said hurriedly. 
 
 " I fear it is so," said Brace, who had followed 
 Winslow ; " although," he added in a lower tone, 
 with an angry glance at the latter, " that brute need 
 not have blustered it out to frighten everybody. 
 They're searching the ship again, but there seems 
 no hope. He hasn't been seen since last night. 
 He was supposed to be in his stateroom but as 
 nobody missed him you know how odd and 
 reserved he was it was only when the steward 
 couldn't find him, and began to enquire, that every- 
 body remembered they hadn't seen him all day. 
 You are frightened, Miss Keene ; pray sit down. 
 That fellow Winslow ought to have had more 
 sense." 
 
 " It seems so horrible that nobody knew it," said 
 the young girl, shuddering ; " that we sat here 
 
 laughing and talking, while perhaps he was 
 
 Good heavens ! what's that ? " 
 
 A gruff order had been given : in the bustle that 
 ensued the ship began to fall off to leeward; a 
 number of the crew had sprung to the davits of the 
 quarter boat. 
 
24 THE CEUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOK." 
 
 " We're going about, and they're lowering a boat, 
 that's all ; but it's as good as hopeless," said Brace. 
 " The accident must have happened before daylight, 
 or it would have been seen by the watch. It was 
 probably long before we came on deck," he added 
 gently ; " so comfort 'yourself, Miss Keene, you 
 could have seen nothing." 
 
 "It seems so dreadful," murmured the young 
 girl, " that he wasn't even missed. Why," she said, 
 suddenly raising her soft eyes to Brace, " you must 
 
 have noticed his absence ; why, even I " She 
 
 stopped with a slight confusion that was, however, 
 luckily diverted by the irrepressible Winslow. 
 
 "The skipper's been routed out at last, and is 
 giving orders. He don't look as if his hat fitted 
 him any too comfortably this morning, does he ? " 
 he laughed, as a stout, grizzled man, with congested 
 face and eyes, and a preremptory voice husky with 
 alcoholic irritation, suddenly appeared among the 
 group by the wheel. " I reckon he's cursing his 
 luck at having to heave-to and lose this wind." 
 
 " But for a human creature's life ! " exclaimed 
 Mrs. Markham in horror. 
 
 " That's just it. Laying-to now ain't going to 
 save anybody's life, and he knows it. He's doin' it 
 for show, just for a clean record in the log, and to 
 satisfy you people here, who'd kick up a row if he 
 didn't." 
 
 " Then you believe he's lost ? " said Miss Keene, 
 with glistening eyes. 
 
 " There ain't a doubt of it," returned Winslow 
 shortly. 
 
ANOTHER POKTENT. 25 
 
 " I don't agree with you," said a gentle voice. 
 
 They turned quickly towards the benevolent 
 face of Senor Perkins, who had just joined 
 them. 
 
 " I differ from my young friend," continued the 
 Seiior courteously, " because the accident must 
 have happened at about daybreak, when we were 
 .close inshore. It would not be impossible for a 
 good swimmer to reach the land, or even," con- 
 tinued Seiior Perkins, in answer to the ray of hope 
 that gleamed in Miss Keene's soft eyes, " for him 
 to have been picked up by some passing vessel. 
 The smoke of a large steamer was sighted between 
 us and the land at about that time." 
 
 " A steamer !" ejaculated Banks eagerly; "that 
 was one of the new line with the mails. How 
 provoking ! " 
 
 He was thinking of his lost letters. Miss Keene 
 turned, heart-sick, away. Worse than the ghastly 
 interruption to their easy idyllic life was this grim 
 revelation of selfishness. She began to doubt if 
 even the hysterical excitement of her sister 
 passengers was not merely a pleasant titillation of 
 their bored and inactive nerves. 
 
 " I believe the Senor is right, Miss Keene," said 
 Brace, taking her aside, u and I'll tell you why." 
 He stopped, looked around him, and went on in a 
 lower voice, " There are some circumstances about 
 the affair which look more like deliberation than an 
 accident. He has left nothing behind him of any 
 value or that gives any clue. If it was a suicide 
 he would have left some letter behind for somebody 
 
26 THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCKLSIOE." 
 
 people always do, you know, at such times and 
 he would have chosen the open sea. It seems 
 more probable that he threw himself overboard 
 with the intention of reaching the shore." 
 
 " But why should he want to leave the ship ? " 
 echoed the young girl simply. 
 
 " Perhaps he found out that we were not going 
 to Mazatlan, and this was his only chance ; it must 
 have happened just as the ship went about and stood 
 off from shore again." 
 
 " But I don't understand," continued Miss Keene, 
 with a pretty knitting of her brows, "why he 
 should be so dreadfully anxious to get ashore 
 now." 
 
 The young fellow looked at her with the superior 
 smile of youthful sagacity. 
 
 " Suppose he had particular reasons for not going 
 to San Francisco, where our laws could reach him ! 
 Suppose he had committed some offence ! 
 Suppose he was afraid of being questioned or 
 recognised ! " 
 
 The young girl rose indignantly. 
 
 " This is really too shameful ! Who dare talk 
 like that ? " 
 
 Brace coloured quickly. 
 
 " Who ? Why everybody," he stammered, for a 
 moment abandoning his attitude of individual 
 acumen ; " it's the talk of the ship." 
 
 " Is it ? And before they know whether he's 
 alive or dead perhaps even while he is still 
 struggling with death all they can do is to take 
 his character away !" she repeated, with flashing eyes. 
 
ANOTHER PORTENT. 27 
 
 ei And I'm even worse than they are," he returned, 
 his temper rising with his colour. "I ought to 
 have known I was talking to one of his friends, 
 instead of one whom I thought was mine. I beg 
 your pardon." 
 
 He turned away as Miss Keene, apparently not 
 heeding his pique, crossed the deck, and entered 
 into conversation with Mrs. Markham. 
 
 It is to be feared that she found little consola- 
 tion among the other passengers, or even those of 
 her own sex, whom this profound event had united 
 in a certain freemasonry of sympathy and interest 
 to the exclusion of their former cliques. She 
 soon learned, as the return of the boats to the 
 ship, and the ship to her course might have clearly 
 told her, that there was no chance of recovering the 
 missing passenger. She learned that the theory 
 advanced by Brace was the one generally held by 
 them ; but with an added romance of detail, that 
 excited at once their commiseration and admiration. 
 Mrs. Brimmer remembered to have heard him, the 
 second or third night out from Callao, groaning, in 
 his state-room ; but, having mistakenly referred the 
 emotion to ordinary sea-sickness, she had no doubt 
 lost an opportunity for confidential disclosure. " I 
 am sure," she added, " that had somebody as 
 resolute and practical as you, dear Mrs. Markham, 
 approached him the next day, he would have 
 revealed his sorrow." Miss Chubb was quite certain 
 that she had seen him one night, in tears, by the 
 quarter railing. " I saw his eyes glistening under 
 his slouched hat as I passed. I remember thinking 
 
28 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 at the time, that he oughtn't to have been left alone 
 with such a dreadful temptation before him to slip 
 overboard and end his sorrow or his crime." Mrs. 
 Markham also remembered that it was about five 
 o'clock or was it six ? that morning when she dis- 
 tinctly thought she had heard a splash, and she was 
 almost impelled to get up and look out of the bull's- 
 eye. She should never forgive herself for resisting 
 that impulse, for she was positive now that she 
 would have seen his ghastly face in the water. 
 Some indignation was felt that the captain, after 
 a cursory survey of his state-room, had ordered it to 
 be locked until his fate was more positively known, 
 and the usual seals placed on his effects for their 
 delivery to the authorities at San Francisco. It 
 was believed that some clue to his secret would be 
 found among his personal chattels, if only in the 
 form of a keepsake, a locket, or a bit of jewellery. 
 Miss Chubb had noticed that he wore a seal ring, 
 but not on the engagement finger. In some vague 
 feminine way it was admitted without discussion 
 that one of their own sex was mixed up in the 
 affair, and, with the exception of Miss Keene, 
 general credence was given to the theory that 
 Mazatlan contained his loadstar the fatal partner 
 and accomplice of his crime, the siren that allured 
 him to his watery grave. I regret to say that the 
 facts gathered by the gentlemen were equally 
 ineffective. The steward who had attended the 
 missing man was obliged to confess that their 
 most protracted and confidential conversation had 
 been on the comparative efficiency of ship biscuits 
 
ANOTHER PORTENT. 29 
 
 and soda crackers. Mr. Banks, who was known to 
 have spoken to him, could only remember that one 
 warm evening, in reply to a casual remark about 
 the weather, the missing man, burying his ears 
 further in the turned-up collar of his pea-jacket, 
 had stated, " f It was cold enough to freeze the ears 
 off a brass monkey,' a remark, no doubt, sir, 
 intended to convey a reason for his hiding his own." 
 Only Seuor Perkins retained his serene optimism 
 unimpaired. 
 
 " Take my word for it, we shall yet hear good 
 news of our missing friend. Let us at least believe 
 it until we know otherwise. Ah ! my dear Mrs. 
 Markham, why should the Unknown always fill us 
 with apprehension ? Its surprises are equally often 
 agreeable." 
 
 " But we have all been so happy before this ; and 
 this seems such an unnecessary and cruel awaken- 
 ing," said Miss Keene, lifting her sad eyes to the 
 speaker, " that I can't help thinking it's the 
 beginning of the end. Good heavens ! what's 
 that?" 
 
 She had started at the dark figure of one of 
 the foreign -looking sailors, who seemed to have 
 suddenly risen out of the deck beside them. 
 
 " The Senor Perkins," he said, with an apologetic 
 gesture of his hand to his hatless head. 
 
 " You want me, my good man ? " asked Senor 
 Perkins paternally. 
 
 " Si, Seiior ; the mate wishes to see the Patrone," 
 he said in Spanish. 
 
 " I will come presently." 
 
30 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 The sailor hesitated. Senor Perkins took a step 
 nearer to him benignantly. The man raised his 
 eyes to Senor Perkins, and said, 
 
 " Vigilancia." 
 
 " Bueno ! " returned the Senor gently. " Excuse 
 me, ladies, for a moment." 
 
 " Perhaps it is some news of poor Mr. Hurlstone ? " 
 said Miss Keene, with an instinctive girlish move- 
 ment of hope. 
 
 " Who knows ? " returned Senor Perkins, waving 
 his hand, as he gaily tripped after his guide. " Let 
 us believe in the best, dear young lady, the 
 best ! 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " VIGILANCIA." 
 
 WITHOUT exchanging another word with his escort, 
 Senor Perkins followed him to the main hatch, 
 where they descended and groped their way through 
 the half obscurity of the lower deck. Here they 
 passed one or two shadows, that, recognising the 
 Senor, seemed to draw aside in a half-awed, half- 
 suppressed shyness, as of caged animals in the 
 presence of their trainer. At the fore hatch they 
 again descended, passing a figure that appeared to 
 be keeping watch at the foot of the ladder, and 
 almost instantly came upon a group lit up by the 
 glare of a bull's-eye lantern. It was composed of 
 the first and second mate, a vicious-looking Peruvian 
 sailor with a bandaged head, and, to the Senor's 
 
" VIGIL ANCIA." 31 
 
 astonishment, the missing passenger Hurlstone, 
 seated on the decked, heavily ironed. 
 
 " Tell him what you know, Pedro," said the first 
 mate to the Peruvian sailor curtly. 
 
 " It was just daybreak, Patrono, before we put 
 about," began the man in Spanish, " that I thought 
 I saw someone gliding along towards the fore hatch ; 
 but I lost sight of him. After we had tumbled up 
 to go on the other tack, I heard a noise in the fore 
 hold. I went down and found him" pointing to 
 Hurlstone, " hiding there. He had some provisions 
 stowed away beside him, and that package. I 
 grabbed him, Patrono. He broke away and struck 
 me here " he pointed to his still wet bandage 
 " and would have got out overboard through the 
 port, but the second mate heard the row and came 
 down just in time to stop him." 
 
 " When was this ? " asked Selior Perkins. 
 
 " Guardia di Diana" 
 
 " You were chattering, you fellows." 
 
 " Quien sabe ? " said the Peruvian, lifting his 
 shoulders. 
 
 " How does he explain himself? " 
 
 " He refuses to speak." 
 
 " Take off his irons," said Seiior Perkins, in 
 English. 
 
 "But" expostulated the first mate, with a 
 warning gesture. 
 
 " I said take off his irons," repeated Seiior 
 Perkins, in a dry and unfamiliar voice. 
 
 The two mates released the shackles. The 
 prisoner raised his eyes to Seiior Perkins. He was 
 
32 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 a slightly-built man of about thirty, fair haired and 
 hollow cheeked. His short upper lip was lifted 
 over his teeth, as if from hurried or laboured 
 breathing : but his features were regular and 
 determined, and his large blue eyes shone with a 
 strange abstraction of courage and fatuity. 
 
 " That will do," continued the Sefior, in the same 
 tone. " Now leave him with me." 
 
 The two mates looked at each other, and hesitated ; 
 but at a glance from Perkins, turned, and ascended 
 the ladder again. The Peruvian alone remained. 
 
 " Gro ! " said the Senor sharply. 
 
 The man cast a vindictive look at the prisoner, 
 and retreated sullenly. 
 
 " Did he tell you," said the prisoner, looking after 
 the sailor grimly, " that I tried to bribe him to let 
 me go, but that I couldn't reach his figure ? He 
 wanted too much. He thought I had some stolen 
 money or valuables here," he added, with a bitter 
 laugh, pointing to the package that lay beside him. 
 
 " And you hadn't ? " said Perkins shortly. 
 
 "No." 
 
 " I believe you And now, my young friend," 
 said Perkins, with a singular return of his beaming 
 gentleness, " since those two efficient and competent 
 officers and this energetic but discourteous seaman 
 are gone, would you mind telling me what you were 
 hiding for ? " 
 
 The prisoner raised his eyes on his questioner. 
 For the last three weeks he had lived in the small 
 community of which the Seiior was a prominent 
 member, but he scarcely recognised him now. 
 
'VIGILANCIA," 33 
 
 "What if I refuse ?" he said. 
 
 The Senor shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Those two excellent men would feel it their 
 duty to bring the Peruvian to the captain, and I 
 should be called to interpret to him." 
 
 " And I should throw myself overboard the first 
 chance I got. I would have done so ten minutes 
 ago, but the mate stopped me." 
 
 His eye glistened with the same fatuous deter- 
 mination he had shown at first. There was no 
 doubt he would do as he said. 
 
 "I believe you would," said the Senor benevo- 
 lently ; " but I see no present necessity for that, 
 nor for any trouble whatever, if you will kindly tell 
 me what I am to say." 
 
 The young man's eyes fell. 
 
 " I did try to conceal myself in the hold," he 
 said bluntly. " I intended to remain there hidden 
 while the ship was at Mazatlan. I did not know 
 until now that the vessel had changed her course." 
 
 " And how did you believe your absence would be 
 accounted for ? " asked the Senor blandly. 
 
 u I thought it would be supposed that I had 
 fallen overboard before we entered Mazatlan." 
 
 " So that anybody seeking you there would not 
 find you, and you would be believed to be dead ? " 
 
 "Yes." He raised his eyes quickly to Senor 
 Perkins again. "I am neither , a thief nor a 
 murderer," he said, almost savagely, " but I do 
 not choose to be recognised by any one who knows 
 me on this side of the grave." 
 
 Senor Perkins' eyes sought his, and for an instant 
 
 3 
 
34 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 seemed to burn through the singular, fatuous mist 
 that veiled them. 
 
 66 My friend," he said cheerfully, after a moment's 
 pause, " you have just had a providential escape. 
 I repeat it a most providential escape. Indeed, if 
 1 were inclined to prophesy, 1 would say you were a 
 man reserved for some special good fortune." 
 
 The prisoner stared at him with angry amazement. 
 " You are a confirmed somnambulist. Excuse 
 me," continued the Senor, with a soft, deprecating 
 gesture, "you are, of course, unaware of it most 
 victims of that singular complaint are, or at least 
 fail to recognise the extent of their aberration. In 
 your case it has only been indicated by a profound 
 melancholy and natural shunning of society. In a 
 paroxysm of your disorder, you rise in the night, 
 fully dress yourself, and glide as unconsciously along 
 the deck in pursuance of some vague fancy. You 
 pass the honest but energetic sailor who has just 
 left us, who thinks you are a phantom, and fails to 
 give the alarm ; you are precipitated by a lurch of 
 the ship through an open hatchway ; the shock 
 renders you insensible until you are discovered and 
 restored." 
 
 " And who will believe this pretty story ? " said 
 the young man scornfully. 
 
 " The honest sailor who picked you up, who has 
 related it in his own picturesque tongue to me, who 
 will in turn interpret it to the captain and the 
 other passengers," replied Senor Perkins blandly. 
 
 " And what of the two mates who were here ? " 
 said the prisoner hesitatingly. 
 
"VIGILANCIA." 35 
 
 " They are two competent officers, who are quite 
 content to carry out the orders of their superiors, 
 and who understand their duty too well to interfere 
 with the reports of their subordinates, on which 
 these orders are based. Mr. Brooks, the first officer, 
 though fairly intelligent and a good reader of 
 history, is only imperfectly acquainted with the 
 languages, and Mr. McCarthy's knowledge of 
 Spanish is confined to a few objurgations which 
 generally preclude extended conversation. 
 
 " And who are you," said Hurls tone, more calmly, 
 " who are willing to do this for a stranger ? " 
 
 " A friend equally of yours, the captain's, and 
 the other passengers'," replied Senor Perkins 
 pleasantly. "A man who believes you, my dear 
 sir, and, even if he did not, sees no reason to 
 interrupt the harmony that has obtained in our 
 little community during our delightful passage. 
 Were any scandal to occur, were you to carry out 
 your idea of throwing yourself overboard, it would, 
 to say nothing of my personal regret, produce a 
 discord for which there is no necessity, and from 
 which no personal good can be derived. Here at 
 least your secret is secure, for even / do not ask 
 what it is ; we meet here on an equality, based on our 
 own conduct and courtesy to each other, limited by 
 no antecedent prejudice, and restrained by no 
 thought of the future. In a little while we shall 
 be separated why should it not be as friends ? 
 Why should we not look back upon our little world 
 of this ship as a happy one ? " 
 
 Hurlstone gazed at the speaker with a troubled 
 
 3* 
 
36 THE CEUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR." 
 
 air. It was once more the quaint benevolent figure 
 whom he had vaguely noted among the other 
 passengers, and as vaguely despised. He hesitated 
 a moment, and then, half timidly, half reservedly, 
 extended his hand. 
 
 " I thank you," he said, " at least for not asking 
 my secret. Perhaps, if it was only " 
 
 " Your own you might tell it," interrupted the 
 Senor gaily. " I understand. I see you recognise 
 my principle. There is no necessity of your putting 
 yourself to that pain, or another to that risk. And 
 now, my young friend, time presses. I must say a 
 word to our friends above, who are waiting, and I 
 shall see that you are taken privately to your state- 
 room while most of the other passengers are still on 
 deck. If you would permit yourself the weakness 
 of allowing the steward to carry or assist you it 
 would be better. Let me advise you that the 
 excitement of the last three hours has not left you 
 in your full strength. You must really give me the 
 pleasure of spreading the glad tidings of your safety 
 among the passengers, who have been so terribly 
 alarmed." 
 
 "They will undoubtedly be relieved," said 
 Hurlstone, with ironical bitterness. 
 
 " You wrong them," returned the Senor, with 
 gentle reproach ; " especially the ladies." 
 
 The voice of the first mate from above here 
 checked his farther speech, and,. perhaps, prevented 
 him, as he quickly reascended the upper deck, 
 from noticing the slight embarrassment of his 
 prisoner. 
 
"VIGILANCIA." 37 
 
 The Senor's explanations to the mate were evi- 
 dently explicit and brief. In a few moments he 
 reappeared with the steward and his assistant. 
 
 " Lean on these men," he said to Hurlstone 
 significantly, " and do not over-estimate your 
 strength. Thank Heaven, no bones are broken, 
 and you are only bruised by the fall. With a little 
 rest, I think we can get along without laying the 
 captain's medicine-chest under contribution. Our 
 kind friend Mr. Brooks has had the lower deck 
 cleared, so that you may regain your state-room 
 without alarming the passengers or fatiguing your- 
 self." 
 
 He pressed Hurlstone's hand as the latter re- 
 signed himself to the steward, and was half led, half 
 supported, through the gloom of the lower deck. 
 Senor Perkins remained for an instant gazing after 
 him with even more than his usual benevolence. 
 Suddenly his arm was touched almost rudely. He 
 turned, and encountered the lowering eyes of the 
 Peruvian sailor. 
 
 " And what is to be done for me ? " said the man 
 roughly, in Spanish. 
 
 "You?" 
 
 " Yes. Who's to pay for this ? " he pointed to his 
 bandaged head. 
 
 Without changing his bland expression, Senor 
 Perkins apparently allowed his soft black eyes to 
 rest, as if fondly, on the angry pupils of the 
 Peruvian. The eyes of the latter presently sought 
 the ground. 
 
 " My dear Yoto," said Senor Perkins softly, " I 
 
38 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 scarcely think that this question of personal damage 
 can be referred to the State. I will, however, look 
 into it. Meantime, let me advise you to control 
 your enthusiasm. Too much zeal in a subordinate 
 is even more fatal than laxity. For the rest, son, 
 be vigilant and peaceful. Thou hast meant well, 
 much shall be forgiven thee. For the present, 
 vamos ! " 
 
 He turned on his heel, and ascended to the 
 upper deck. Here he found the passengers thrilling 
 with a vague excitement. A few brief orders, a few 
 briefer explanations, dropped by the officers, had 
 already whetted curiosity to the keenest point. 
 The Senor was instantly beset with interrogations. 
 Grentle, compassionate, with well-rounded periods, 
 he related the singular accident that had befallen 
 Mr. Hurlstone, and his providential escape from 
 almost certain death. " At the most, he has now 
 only the exhaustion of the shock, from which a day 
 of perfect rest will recover him ; but," he added 
 deprecatingly, " at present, he ought not to be 
 disturbed or excited." 
 
 The story was received by those fellow-passengers 
 who had been strongest in their suspicions of 
 Hurlstone's suicide or flight, with a keen sense of 
 discomfiture, only mitigated by a humorous per- 
 ception of the cause of the accident. It was agreed 
 that a man whose ludicrous infirmity had been the 
 cause of putting the ship out of her course, and the 
 passengers out of their comfortable security, could 
 not be wronged by attributing to him manlier and 
 more criminal motives. A somnambulist on ship- 
 
"VIGILANCIA." 39 
 
 board was clearly a humorous object, who might, 
 however, become a bore. " It all accounts for his 
 being so deuced quiet and reserved in the day- 
 time," said Crosby facetiously ; " he couldn't keep 
 it up the whole twenty-four hours. If he'd only, 
 given us a little more of his company when he was 
 awake, he wouldn't have gallivanted round at night, 
 and we'd have been thirty miles nearer port." 
 Equal amusement was created by the humorous 
 suggestion that the unfortunate man had never 
 been entirely awake during the voyage, and that he 
 would now, probably for the first time, really make 
 the acquaintance of his fellow-voyagers. Listening 
 to this badinage with bland tolerance, Senor Perkins, 
 no doubt, felt that, for the maintenance of that 
 perfect amity he so ardently apostrophised, it was 
 just as well that Hurlstone was in his state-room, 
 and out of hearing. 
 
 He would have been more satisfied, however, had 
 he been permitted to hear the feminine comments 
 on this incident. In the eyes of the lady-passengers, 
 Mr. Hurlstone was more a hero than ever ; his 
 mysterious malady invested him with a vague and 
 spiritual interest ; his escape from the awful fate 
 reserved to him, in their excited fancy, gave him 
 the eclat of having actually survived it ; while the 
 supposed real incident of his fall through the hatch- 
 way, lent him the additional lustre of a wounded 
 and crippled man. That prostrate condition of 
 active humanity, which so irresistibly appeals to the 
 feminine imagination as segregating their victim 
 from the distractions of his own sex, and, as it were, 
 
40 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 delivering him helpless into their hands, was at 
 once their opportunity, and his. All the ladies 
 volunteered to nurse him ; it was with difficulty that 
 Mrs. Brimmer and Mrs. Markham, reinforced with 
 bandages, flannels, and liniments, and supported by 
 different theories, could be kept from the door of 
 his state-room. Jellies, potted meats, and delicacies 
 from their private stores appeared on trays at his 
 bedside, to be courteously declined by the Senor 
 Perkins, in his new functions of a benevolent type 
 of Sancho Panza physician. To say that this 
 pleased the gentle optimism of the Senor is un- 
 necessary. Even while his companion writhed under 
 the sting of this enforced compassion, the good man 
 beamed philosophically upon him. 
 
 (i Take care, or I shall end this cursed farce in 
 my own way," said Hurlstone ominously, his eyes 
 again filming with a vague desperation. 
 
 " My dear boy," returned the Senor gently, " re- 
 flect upon the situation. Your suffering, real or 
 implied, produces in the hearts of these gentle 
 creatures a sympathy which not only exalts and 
 sustains their higher natures, but, I conscientiously 
 believe, gratifies and pleases their lower ones. Why 
 should you deny them this opportunity of indulging 
 their twofold organisms, and beguiling the tedium 
 of the voyage, merely because of some erroneous 
 exhibition of fact ? " 
 
 Later, Senor Perkins might have added to this 
 exposition the singularly stimulating effect which 
 Hurlstone's supposed peculiarity had upon the 
 feminine imagination. But there were some secrets 
 
" VIGILANCIA." 41 
 
 which were not imparted even to him, and it was 
 only to each other that the ladies confided certain 
 details and reminiscences. For it now appeared 
 that they had all heard strange noises and stealthy 
 steps at night ; and Mrs. Brimmer was quite sure 
 that on one occasion the handle of her state-room 
 door was softly turned. Mrs. Markham also re- 
 membered distinctly that only a week before, being 
 unable to sleep, she had ventured out into the 
 saloon in a dressing-gown to get her diary, which 
 she had left with a portfolio on a chair ; that she 
 had a sudden consciousness of another presence in 
 the saloon, although she could distinguish nothing 
 by the dim light of the swinging lantern ; and that, 
 after quickly returning to her room, she was quite 
 positive she heard a door close. But the most sur- 
 prising reminiscence developed by the late incident 
 was from Mrs. Brimmer's nurse, Susan. As it, ap- 
 parently, demonstrated the fact that Mr. Hurlstone 
 not only walked but talked in his sleep, it possessed 
 a more mysterious significance. It seemed that 
 Susan was awakened one night by the sound of 
 voices, and, opening her door softly, saw a figure 
 which she at first supposed to be the Senor Perkins, 
 but which she now was satisfied was poor Mr. Hurl- 
 stone. As there was no one else to be seen, the 
 voices must have proceeded from that single figure ; 
 and being in a strange and unknown tongue, were 
 inexpressibly weird and awful. When pressed to 
 remember what was said, she could only distinguish 
 one word a woman's name Virgil Vigil no 
 Virgin escia ! 
 
42 . THE CEUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR." 
 
 "It must have been one of those creatures at 
 Callao, whose pictures you can buy for ten cents," 
 said Mrs. Brimmer. 
 
 " If it is one of them, Susan must have made a 
 mistake in the first two syllables of the name," said 
 Mrs. Markham grimly. 
 
 "But surely, Miss Keene," said Miss Chubb, 
 turning to that young lady, who had taken only the 
 part of a passive listener to this colloquy, and was 
 gazing over the railing at the sinking sun, " surely 
 you can tell us something about this poor young 
 man. If I don't mistake, you are the only person 
 he ever honoured with his conversation." 
 
 " And only once, I think," said the young girl, 
 slightly colouring. " He happened to be sitting 
 next to me on deck, and I believe he spoke only out 
 of politeness. At least, he seemed very quiet and 
 reserved, and talked on general topics, and I thought 
 very intelligently. I should have thought I 
 mean," she continued hesitatingly " I thought he 
 was an educated gentleman." 
 
 " That isn't at all inconsistent with photographs 
 or sleep-walking," said Mrs. Brimmer, with one of 
 her vague simplicities. " Uncle Quincey brought 
 home a whole sheaf of those women whom he said 
 he'd met; and one of my cousins, who was edu- 
 cated at Heidelberg, used to walk in his sleep, as it 
 were, all over Europe." 
 
 " Did you notice anything queer in his eyes, Miss 
 Keene ? " asked Miss Chubb vivaciously. 
 
 Miss Keene had noticed that his eyes were his 
 best feature, albeit somewhat abstracted and melan- 
 
43 
 
 eholy; but, for some vague reason she could not 
 explain herself, she answered hurriedly that she had 
 seen nothing very particular in them. 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Markham positively, " when 
 he's able to be out again, / shall consider it 
 my duty to look him up, and try to keep him 
 sufficiently awake in the daytime to ensure his 
 resting better at night." 
 
 " No one can do it, dear Mrs. Markham, better 
 than you ; and no one would think of misunder- 
 standing your motives," said Mrs. Brimmer sweetly. 
 " But it's getting late, and the air seems to be 
 ever so much colder. Captain Bunker says it's 
 because we are really nearing the Californian 
 coast. It seems so odd ! Mr. Brimmer wrote to me 
 that it was so hot in Sacramento that you could 
 do something with eggs in the sun I forget 
 what." 
 
 " Hatch them ? " suggested Miss Chubb. 
 
 " I think so," returned Mrs. Brimmer, rising. 
 " Let us go below." 
 
 The three ladies rustled away, but Miss Keene, 
 throwing a wrap around her shoulders, lingered by 
 the railing. With one little hand supporting her 
 round chin, she leaned over the darkly heaviDg 
 water. She was thinking of her brief and only 
 interview with that lonely man whose name was 
 now in everybody's mouth, but who, until to-day, 
 had been passed over by them with an unconcern 
 equal to his own. And yet to her refined and deli- 
 cately feminine taste there appeared no reason why 
 he should not have mingled with his fellows, and 
 
44 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOK," 
 
 have accepted the homage from them that she was 
 instinctively ready to give. He seemed to her 
 like a gentleman and something more. In her 
 limited but joyous knowledge of the world a 
 knowledge gathered in the happy school-life of an 
 orphan who but faintly remembered arid never 
 missed a parent's care she knew nothing of the 
 mysterious dominance of passion, suffering, or 'ex- 
 perience in fashioning the outward expression of 
 men, and saw only that Mr. Hurlstone was unlike 
 any other. That unlikeness was fascinating. He 
 had said very little to her in that very brief period. 
 He had not talked to her with the general gallantry 
 which she already knew her prettiness elicited. 
 Without knowing why, she felt there was a subtle 
 flattery in his tacit recognition of that other self of 
 which she, as yet, knew so little. She could not 
 remember what they had talked about nor why. 
 Nor was she offended that he had never spoken to 
 her since, nor gone beyond a grave lifting of his 
 hat to her when he passed. 
 
 CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 IN THE FOG. 
 
 BY noon of the following day the coast of 
 the Peninsula of California had been sighted 
 to leeward. The lower temperature of the 
 north-west trades had driven Mrs. Brimmer and 
 Miss Chubb into their state rooms to consult their 
 
IN THE FOG. 45 
 
 wardrobes in view of an impending change from 
 the light muslins and easy languid toilettes of the 
 Tropics. That momentous question for the moment 
 held all other topics in abeyance ; and even Mrs. 
 Markham and Miss Keene, though they still 
 kept the deck, in shawls and wraps, sighed over 
 this feminine evidence of the gentle passing of 
 their summer holiday. The gentlemen had 
 already mounted their pea-jackets and over- 
 coats, with the single exception of Senor 
 Perkins, who, in chivalrous compliment to the 
 elements, still bared his unfetterd throat and 
 forehead to the breeze. The aspect of the 
 coast, as seen from the Excelsior's deck, seemed 
 to bear out Mr. Banks' sweeping indictment of the 
 day before. A few low, dome-like hills, yellow and 
 treeless as sand dunes, scarcely raised themselves 
 above the horizon. The air, too, appeared to have 
 taken upon itself a dry asperity; the sun shone 
 with a hard practical brilliancy. Miss Keene 
 raised her eyes to Senor Perkins with a pretty 
 impatience that she sometimes indulged in, as one 
 of the privileges of accepted beauty and petted 
 youth. 
 
 " I don't think much of your peninsula," she 
 said poutingly. " It looks dreadfully flat and un- 
 interesting. It was a great deal nicer on the other 
 coast, or even at sea." 
 
 " Perhaps you are judging hastily, my dear 
 young friend." said Senor Perkins, with habitual 
 tolerance. " I have heard that behind those hills, 
 and hidden from sight in some of the canons, are 
 
46 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 perfect little Edens of beauty and fruitfulness. 
 They are like some ardent natures that cover their 
 approaches with the ashes of their burnt-up fires, 
 but only do it the better to keep intact their glow- 
 ing, vivifying, central heat.'" 
 
 " How very poetical, Mr. Perkins ! " said Mrs. 
 Markham, with blunt admiration. " You ought to 
 put that into verse." 
 
 "I have," returned Senor Perkins modestly. 
 " They are some reflections on I hardly dare call 
 them an apostrophe to the crater of Colima ! If 
 you will permit me to read them to you this 
 evening, I shall be charmed. I hope also to take 
 that opportunity of showing you the verses of a 
 gifted woman, not yet known to fame, Mrs. 
 Euphemia M'Corkle, of Peoria, Illinois." 
 
 Mrs. Markham coughed slightly. The gifted 
 M'Corkle was already known to her through certain 
 lines quoted by the Senor ; and the entire cabin 
 had one evening fled before a larger and more 
 ambitious manuscript of the fair Illinoisian. Miss 
 Keene, who dreaded the reappearance of this 
 poetical phantom that seemed to haunt the Senor's 
 fancy, could not, however, forget that she had been 
 touched on that occasion by a kindly moisture of 
 eye and tremulousness of voice in the reader ; and, 
 in spite of the hopeless bathos of the composition, 
 she had forgiven him. Though she did not always 
 understand Senor Perkins, she liked him too well to 
 allow him to become ridiculous to others ; and, at 
 the present moment, she promptly interposed with 
 a charming assumption of coquetry. 
 
IN THE FOG. 47 
 
 " You forget that you promised to let me read 
 the manuscript first, and in private, and that you 
 engaged to give me my revenge at chess this even- 
 ing. But do as you like. You are all fast becoming 
 faithless. I suppose it is because our holiday is 
 drawing to a close and we shall soon forget we ever 
 had any, or be ashamed we ever played so long. 
 Everybody seems to be getting nervous and fidgety 
 and preparing for civilisation again ; Mr. Banks, for 
 the last few days, has dressed himself regularly as 
 if he was going down town to his office, and writes 
 letters in the corner of the saloon as if it were a 
 counting-house. Mr. Crosby and Mr. Winslow do 
 nothing but talk of their prospects, and I believe 
 they are drawing up articles of partnership 
 together. Here is Mr. Brace frightening me by 
 telling me that my brother will lock me up, to 
 keep the rich miners from laying their bags of gold 
 dust at my feet ; and Mrs. Brimmer and Miss 
 Chubb assure me that I haven't a decent gown to go 
 ashore in." 
 
 " You forget Mr. Hurlstone," said Brace, with ill- 
 concealed bitterness ; " he seems to have time 
 enough on his hands, and I daresay would 
 sympathise with you. You women like idle men." 
 
 " If we do, it's because only the idle men have 
 the time to amuse us," retorted Miss Keene. " But," 
 she added, with a laugh, " I suppose I'm getting 
 nervous and fidgety myself ; for I find myself every 
 now and then watching the officers and men, and 
 listening to the orders as if something were going 
 to happen again. I never felt so before ; I never 
 
48 THE CRUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR." 
 
 used to have the least concern in what you call 
 ' the working of the ship,' and now " her voice, 
 which had been half playful, half pettish, suddenly 
 became grave, " and now look at the mate and 
 those men forward. There certainly is something 
 going on, or is going to happen again. What are 
 they looking at ? " 
 
 The mate had clambered half-way up the main 
 ratlines, and was looking earnestly to windward. 
 Two or three of the crew on the forecastle were 
 gazing in the same direction. The group of cabin- 
 passengers on the quarter-deck, following their 
 eyes, saw what appeared to be another low shore on 
 the opposite bow. 
 
 " Why, there's another coast there ! " said Mrs. 
 Markham. 
 
 " It's a fog-bank, said Senor Perkins gravely. He 
 quickly crossed the deck, exchanged a few words 
 with the officer, and returned. Miss Keene, who 
 had felt a sense of relief, nevertheless questioned 
 his face as he again stood beside her. But he had 
 recovered his beaming cheerfulness. " It's nothing 
 to alarm you," he said, answering her glance, " but 
 it may mean delay if we can't get out of it. You 
 don't mind that, I know." 
 
 " No," replied the young girl, smiling. " Besides, 
 it would be a new experience. We've had winds 
 and calms we only want fog now to complete our 
 adventures. Unless it's going to make everybody 
 cross," she continued, with a mischievous glance at 
 Brace. 
 
 " You'll find it won't improve the temper of the 
 
IN THE FOG. 49 
 
 officers," said Crosby, who had joined the group. 
 " There's nothing sailors hate more than a fog. 
 They can go to sleep in a hurricane between the 
 rolls of a ship, but a fog keeps them awake. It's 
 the one thing they can't shirk. There's the skipper 
 tumbled up, too ! The old man looks wrathy, don't 
 he ? But it's no use now ; we're going slap into it, 
 and the wind's failing ! " 
 
 It was true. In the last few moments all that 
 vast glistening surface of metallic blue which 
 stretched so far " to windward appeared to be slowly 
 eaten away as if by some dull, corroding acid ; the 
 distant horizon line of sea and sky was still distinct 
 and sharply cut, but the whole water between them 
 had grown grey, as if some invisible shadow had 
 passed in mid-air across it. The actual fog bank 
 had suddenly lost its resemblance to the shore, 
 had lifted as a curtain, and now seemed suspended 
 over the ship. Gradually it descended ; the top- 
 gallant and top-sails were lost in this mysterious 
 vapour, yet the horizon line still glimmered faintly. 
 Then another mist seemed to rise from the sea and 
 meet it ; in another instant the deck whereon they 
 stood shrank to the appearance of a raft adrift in a 
 faint grey sea. With the complete obliteration of 
 all circumambient space, the wind fell. Their isola- 
 tion was complete. 
 
 It was notable that the first and most peculiar 
 effect of this misty environment was the absolute 
 silence. The empty, invisible sails above did not 
 flap ; the sheets and halliards hung limp ; even the 
 faint creaking of an unseen block overhead was so 
 
 4 
 
50 THE CRUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR." 
 
 startling as to draw every eye upwards. Muffled 
 orders from viewless figures forward were obeyed 
 by phantoms that moved noiselessly through the 
 grey sea that seemed to have invaded the deck. 
 Even the passengers spoke in whispers, or held 
 their breath, in passive groups, as if fearing to 
 break a silence so replete with awe and anticipa- 
 tion. It was next noticed that the vessel was 
 subjected to some vague motion ; the resistance of 
 the water had ceased, the waves no longer hissed 
 under her bows, or nestled and lapped under her 
 counter; a dreamy, irregular, and listless rocking 
 had taken the place of the regular undulations ; 
 at times, a faint and half delicious vertigo 
 seemed to overcome their senses ; the ship was 
 drifting. 
 
 Captain Bunker stood near the bitts, where his 
 brief orders were transmitted to the man at the 
 almost useless wheel. At his side, Seiior Perkins 
 beamed with unshaken serenity, and hopefully 
 replied to the captain's half surly, half anxious 
 queries. 
 
 " By the chart we should be well east of Los 
 Lobus island, d'ye see ? " he said impatiently. 
 " You don't happen to remember the direction 
 of the current off shore when you were running up 
 here ? " 
 
 " It's five years ago," said the Seiior modestly ; 
 " but I remember we kept well to the west to 
 weather Cape St. Eugenio. My impression is that 
 there was a strong north-westerly current setting 
 north of Ballenos Bay." 
 
IN THE FOG. 51 
 
 " And we're in it now," said Captain Bunker 
 shortly. " How near St Roque does it set ? " 
 
 "Within a mile or two. I should keep away 
 more to the west," said Senor Perkins, "and 
 clear " 
 
 " I ain't asking you to run the ship," interrupted 
 Captain Bunker sharply. "How's her head now, 
 Mr. Brooks ? " 
 
 The seamen standing near cast a rapid glance at 
 Senor Perkins, but not a muscle of his bland face 
 moved or betrayed a consciousness of the insult. 
 Whatever might have been the feeling towards 
 him, at that moment the sailors after their 
 fashion admired their captain ; strong, masterful 
 and imperious. The danger that had cleared his 
 eye, throat and brain, and left him once more the 
 daring and skilful navigator they knew, wiped out 
 of their shallow minds the vicious habit that had 
 sunk him below their level. 
 
 It had now become perceptible to even the inex- 
 perienced eyes of the passengers that the Excelsior 
 was obeying some new and profound impulse. The 
 vague drifting had ceased, and in its place had 
 come a mysterious but regular movement, in which 
 the surrounding mist seemed to participate, until 
 fog and vessel moved together towards some unseen 
 but well-defined bourne. In vain had the boats of 
 the Excelsior, manned by her crew, endeavoured 
 with a towing-line to check or direct the inexplic- 
 able movement ; in vain had Captain Bunker 
 struggled with all the skilled weapons of seaman- 
 ship, against his invincible foe ; wrapped in the im- 
 
 4* 
 
52 THE CKUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR." 
 
 penetrable fog, the ship moved ghost-like to what 
 seemed to be her doom. 
 
 The anxiety of the officers had not as yet com- 
 municated itself to the passengers ; those who had 
 been most nervous in the ordinary onset of wind 
 and wave, looked upon the fog as a phenomenon 
 whose only disturbance might be delay. To Miss 
 Keene this conveyed no annoyance, rather that 
 placid envelopment of cloud soothed her fancy, she 
 submitted herself to its soft embraces, and to the 
 mysterious onward movement of the ship, as if it 
 were part of a youthful dream. Once she thought 
 of the ship of Sinbad, and that fatal loadstone moun- 
 tain with an awe that was, however, half a pleasure. 
 " You are not frightened, Miss Keene ? " said a 
 voice near her. 
 
 She started slightly. It was the voice of Mr. 
 Hurlstone. So thick was the fog that his face and 
 figure appeared to come dimly out of it, like a part 
 of her dreaming fancy. Without replying to his 
 question, she said quickly 
 
 " You are better, then, Mr. Hurlstone ? We we 
 were all so frightened for you." 
 
 An angry shadow crossed his thin face, and he 
 hesitated. After a pause he recovered himself and 
 said 
 
 " I was saying you were taking all this very 
 quietly. I don't think there's much danger myself. 
 
 And if we should go ashore here " 
 
 "Well?" suggested Miss Keene, ignoring this 
 first intimation of danger in her surprise at the man's 
 manner. 
 
IN THE FOG. 53 
 
 " Well, we should all be separated only a few days 
 earlier, that's all ! " 
 
 More frightened at the strange bitterness of his 
 voice than by the sense of physical peril, she was 
 vaguely moving away towards the dimly-outlined 
 figures of her companions, when she was arrested by 
 a voice forward. There was a slight murmur 
 among the passengers. 
 
 " What did he say ? " asked Miss Keene. " What 
 are < Breakers ahead ' ? " 
 
 Hurlstone did not reply. 
 
 " Where away ? " asked a second voice. 
 
 The murmur still continuing, Captain Bunker's 
 hoarse voice pierced the gloon> " Silence fore and 
 aft ! " 
 
 The first voice repeated faintly 
 
 " On the larboard bow." 
 
 There was another silence. Again the voice 
 repeated, as if mechanically 
 
 " Breakers ! " 
 
 "Where away?" 
 
 " On the starboard beam." 
 
 "We are in some passage or channel," said 
 Hurlstone quietly. 
 
 The young girl glanced round her and saw for the 
 first time that, in one of those inexplicable move- 
 ments she had not understood, the other passengers 
 had been withdrawn into a limited space of the 
 deck, as if through some authoritative orders, 
 while she and her companion had been evidently 
 overlooked. A couple of sailors, who had suddenly 
 
54 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 taken their positions by the quarter-boats 
 strengthened the accidental separation. 
 
 "Is there some one taking care of you?" he 
 asked, half hesitatingly, " Mr. Brace Perkins 
 or " 
 
 " No," she replied quickly. Why ? " 
 
 " Well, we are very near the boat in an emergency, 
 and you might allow me to stay here and see you 
 safe in it." 
 
 " But the other ladies ? Mrs. Markham, and " 
 
 "They'll take their turn after you" he said 
 grimly, picking up a wrap from the railing and 
 throwing it over her shoulders. 
 
 " But I don't understand ! " she stammered, 
 more embarrassed by the situation than by any 
 impending peril. 
 
 "There is very little danger, I think," he added 
 impatiently. " There is scarcely any sea ; the ship 
 has very little way on ; and these breakers are not 
 over rocks. Listen." 
 
 She tried to listen. At first she heard nothing 
 but the occasional low voice of command near the 
 wheel. Then she became conscious of a gentle, 
 soothing murmur through the fog to the right. She 
 had heard such a murmuring accompaniment to her 
 girlish dreams at Newport on a still summer night. 
 There was nothing to frighten her, but it increased 
 her embarrassment. 
 
 " And you ? " she said awkwardly, raising her 
 soft eyes. 
 
 " Oh, if you are all going off in the boats, by Jove, 
 I think I'll stick to the ship ! " he returned, with a 
 
IN THE FOG. 55 
 
 frankness that would have been rude but for its 
 utter abstraction. 
 
 Miss Keene was silent. The ship moved gently 
 onward. The monotonous cry of the leadsman in 
 the chains was the only sound audible. The sound- 
 ings were indicating shoaler water, although the 
 murmuring of the surf had been left far astern. The 
 almost imperceptible darkening of the mist on either 
 beam seemed to show that the Excelsior was enter- 
 ing some land-locked passage. The movement of 
 the vessel slackened, the tide was beginning to ebb. 
 Suddenly a wave of far-off clamour, faint but sonor- 
 ous, broke across the ship. There was an interval 
 of breathless silence, and then it broke again, and 
 more distinctly. It was the sound of bells ! 
 
 The thrill of awe which passed through passengers 
 and crew at this spiritual challenge from the vast 
 and intangible void around them had scarcely sub- 
 sided when the captain turned to Senor Perkins 
 with a look of surly interrogation. The Senor 
 brushed his hat further back on his head, wiped his 
 brow and became thoughtful. 
 
 " It's too far south for Kosario," he said deprecat- 
 ingly ; " and the only other mission I know of is 
 San Carlos, and that's far inland. But that is the 
 Angelus, and those are mission bells, surely." 
 
 The captain turned to Mr. Brooks. The voice of 
 invisible command again passed along the deck, and, 
 with a splash in the water and the rattling of chains, 
 the Excelsior swung slowly round on her anchor on 
 the bosom of what seemed a placid bay. 
 
 Miss Keene, who, in her complete absorption, had 
 
56 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 listened to the phantom bells with an almost super- 
 stitious exaltation, had forgotten the presence of 
 her companion, and now turned towards him. But 
 he was gone. The imminent danger he had spoken 
 of, half-slightingly, he evidently considered as past. 
 He had taken the opportunity offered by the slight 
 bustle made by the lowering of the quarter-boat 
 and the departure of the mate on a voyage of dis- 
 covery to mingle with the crowd, and regain his 
 state-room. With the anchoring of the vessel, the 
 momentary restraint was relaxed, the passengers 
 were allowed to pervade the deck, and Mrs. Markham 
 and Mr. Brace simultaneously rushed to Miss 
 Keene's side. 
 
 "We were awfully alarmed for you, my dear," 
 said Mrs. Markham, " until we saw you had a pro- 
 tector. Do tell me what did he say ? He must 
 have thought the danger great, to have broken the 
 Senor's orders and come upon deck ? What did he 
 talk about ? " 
 
 With a vivid recollection in her mind of Mr. 
 Hurlstone's contemptuous ignoring of the other 
 ladies, Miss Keene became slightly embarrassed. 
 Her confusion was not removed by the consciousness 
 that the jealous eyes of Brace were fixed upon her. 
 
 " Perhaps he thought it was night, and walked up 
 on deck in his sleep," remarked Brace sarcastically. 
 " He's probably gone back to bed." 
 
 " He offered me his protection very politely, and 
 begged to remain to put me in the boat in case of 
 danger," said Miss Keene, recovering herself, and 
 directing her reply to Mrs. Markham. " I think that 
 
IN THE FOG. 57 
 
 others have made me the same kind of offer who 
 were wideawake," she added mischievously to Brace. 
 
 " I wouldn't be too sure that they were not foolishly 
 dreaming too," returned Brace, in a lower voice. 
 
 " I should think we all were asleep or dreaming 
 here," said Mrs. Markham briskly. " Nobody seems 
 to know where we are, and the only man who might 
 guess it Senor Perkins has gone off in the boat 
 with the mate." 
 
 "We're not a mile from shore and a Catholic 
 church," said Crosby, who had joined them. " I 
 just left Mrs. Brimmer, who is very High Church, 
 you know, quite overcome by these Angelus bells. 
 She's been entreating the captain to let her go 
 ashore for vespers. It wouldn't be a bad idea, if we 
 could only see what sort of a place we've got to. 
 It wouldn't do to go feeling round the settlement in 
 the dark would it ? Hallo ! what's that ? Oh, by 
 Jove, that'll finish Mrs. Brimmer, sure ! " 
 
 " Hush ! " said Miss Keene impulsively. 
 
 He stopped. The long-drawn cadence of a chant 
 in thin clear soprano voices swept through the fog 
 from the invisible shore, rose high above the ship, 
 and then fell, dying away with immeasurable sweet- 
 ness and melancholy. Even when it had passed, a 
 lingering melody seemed to fill the deck. Two or 
 three of the foreign sailors crossed themselves de- 
 voutly ; the other passengers withheld their speech, 
 and looked at each other. Afraid to break the 
 charm by speech, they listened again, but in vain ; 
 an infinite repose followed that seemed to pervade 
 everything. 
 
58 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 It was broken, at last, by the sound of oars in 
 their rowlocks ; the boat was returning. But it was 
 noticed that the fog had slightly lifted from the 
 surface of the water, for the boat was distinctly 
 visible two cables' length from the ship as she 
 approached, and it was seen that besides the first 
 officer and Seiior Perkins there were two strangers 
 in the boat. Everybody rushed to the side for a 
 nearer view of those strange inhabitants of the 
 unknown shore ; but the boat's crew suddenly 
 ceased rowing, and lay on their oars until an in- 
 distinct hail and reply passed between the boat and 
 ship. There was a bustle forward, an unexpected 
 thunder from the Excelsior's eight-pounder at the 
 bow port; Captain Bunker and the second mate 
 ranged themselves at the companion-way, and the 
 passengers for the first time became aware that they 
 were participating at the reception of visitors of 
 distinction, as two strange and bizarre figures stepped 
 upon the deck. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TODOS SANTOS. 
 
 IT was evident that the two strangers represented 
 some exalted military and ecclesiastical authority. 
 This was shown in their dress a long-forgotten, 
 half-mediaeval costume, that to the imaginative 
 spectator was perfectly in keeping with their 
 mysterious advent, and to the more practical as 
 startling as a masquerade. The foremost figure 
 
TODOS SANTOS. 59 
 
 wore a broad-brimmed hat of soft felt, with tar- 
 nished gold lace, and a dark feather tucked in its 
 recurved flap ; a short cloak of fine black cloth 
 thrown over one shoulder left a buff leathern jacket 
 and breeches, ornamented with large round silver 
 buttons, exposed until they were met by high boots 
 of untanned yellow buckskin that reached half-way 
 up the thigh. A broad baldric of green silk hung 
 from his shoulder across his breast, and supported at 
 his side a long sword with an enormous basket hilt, 
 through which somewhat coquettishly peeped a 
 white lace handkerchief. Tall and erect, in spite 
 of the grizzled hair and iron-grey moustaches and 
 wrinkled face of a man of sixty, he suddenly halted 
 on the deck with a military precision that made the 
 jingling chains and bits of silver on his enormous 
 spurs ring again. He was followed by an ecclesiastic 
 of apparently his own age, but smoothly shaven, 
 clad in a black silk sotana and sash, and wearing 
 the old-fashioned oblong, curl-brimmed hat sacred 
 to "Don Basilo," of the modern opera. Behind 
 him appeared the genial face of Senor Perkins, 
 shining with the benignant courtesy of a master of 
 ceremonies. 
 
 " If this is a fair sample of the circus ashore, I'll 
 take two tickets," whispered Crosby, who had re- 
 covered his audacity. 
 
 "I have the inexpressible honour," said Senor 
 Perkins to Captain Bunker, with a gracious wave of 
 his hand towards the extraordinary figures, " to 
 present you to the illustrious Don Miguel Briones, 
 Comandante of the Presidio of Todos Santos, at 
 
60 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 present hidden in the fog, and the very reverend 
 and pious Padre Esteban, of the mission of Todos 
 Santos, likewise invisible. When I state to you," 
 he continued, with a slight lifting of his voice, so as 
 to include the curious passengers in his explanation, 
 " that, with very few exceptions, this is the usual 
 condition of the atmosphere at the entrance to the 
 mission and Presidio of Todos Santos, and that the 
 last exception took place thirty-five years ago, when 
 a ship entered the harbour, you will understand why 
 these distinguished gentlemen have been willing to 
 waive the formality of your waiting upon them first, 
 and have taken the initiative. The illustrious 
 Comandante has been generous to exempt you from 
 the usual port regulations, and to permit you to 
 
 wood and to water 
 
 " What port regulation is he talking of ? " asked 
 Captain Bunker testily. 
 
 " The Mexican regulations forbidding any foreign 
 vessel to communicate with the shore," returned 
 Senor Perkins deprecatingly. 
 
 " Never heard of 'em. When were they given ? " 
 The Senor turned and addressed a few words 
 to the commander, who stood apart in silent 
 dignity. 
 "In 1792." 
 
 In what ? Is he mad ? " said Bunker. Does 
 he know what year this is ? " 
 
 " The illustrious commander believes it to be the 
 year of grace 1854," answered Senor Perkins quietly. 
 "In the case of the only two vessels who have 
 touched here since 1792 the order was not carried 
 
TODOS SANTOS. 61 
 
 out because they were Mexican coasters. The 
 illustrious Comandante explains that the order he 
 speaks of as on record distinctly referred to the ship 
 Columbia, which belonged to the General Wash- 
 ington." 
 
 u Greneral Washington ! " echoed Bunker, angrily 
 staring at the Senor. " What's this stuff ? Do you 
 mean to say they don't know any history later than 
 oar old Kevolutionary War? Haven't they heard 
 of the United States among them ? Nor Cali- 
 fornia that we took from them during the late 
 war?" 
 
 " Nor how we licked 'em out of their boots ? 
 and that's saying a good deal," whispered Crosby, 
 glancing at the Comandante's feet. 
 
 Senor Perkins raised a gentle, deprecating hand. 
 " For fifty year the Presidio and the Mission of 
 Todos Santos have had but this communication 
 with the outer world," he said blandly. " Hidden 
 by inpenetrable fogs from the ocean pathway at 
 their door ; cut off by burning and sterile deserts 
 from the surrounding country, they have preserved 
 a trust and propagated a faith in enforced but not 
 unhappy seclusion. The wars that have shaken 
 mankind, the dissensions that have even disturbed 
 the serenity of their own nation on the mainland, 
 have never reached them here. Left to themselves, 
 they have created a blameless Arcadia and an ideal 
 community within an extent of twenty square 
 leagues. Why should we disturb their innocent 
 complacency and tranquil enjoyment by infor- 
 mation which cannot increase and might impair 
 
62 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 their present felicity ? Why should we dwell upon 
 a late political and international episode which, 
 while it has been a benefit to us, has been a humi- 
 liation to them as a nation, and which might not only 
 imperil our position as guests, but interrupt our 
 practical relations to the wood and water, with 
 which the country abounds ? " 
 
 He paused, and before the captain could speak, 
 turned to the silent Commander, addressed him in 
 a dozen phrases of fluent and courteous Spanish, 
 and once more turned to Captain Bunker. 
 
 " I have told him you are touched to the heart 
 with his courtesy, which you recognise as coming 
 from the fit representative of the great Mexican 
 nation. He reciprocates your fraternal emotion, 
 and begs you to consider the Presidio and all that 
 it contains, at your disposition and the disposition 
 of your friends the passengers, particularly those 
 fair ladies," said Senor Perkins, turning with grace- 
 ful promptitude towards the group of lady pas- 
 sengers, and slightly elevating himself on the tips 
 of his neat boots, " whose white hands he kisses, 
 and at whose feet he lays the devotion of a Mexican 
 caballero and officer." 
 
 He waved his hand towards the Comandante, 
 who, stepping forward, swept the deck with his 
 plumed hat before each of the ladies in solemn 
 succession. Eecovering himself, he bowed more 
 stiffly to the male passengers, picked his handker- 
 chief out of the hilt of his sword, gracefully wiped 
 his lips, pulled the end of his long grey moustache, 
 and became again rigid. 
 
TOD OS SANTOS. 63 
 
 " The reverend father," continued Senor Perkins, 
 turning towards the priest, " regrets that the rules 
 of his order prevent his extending the same 
 courtesy to these ladies at the Mission. But he 
 hopes to meet them at the Presidio, and they will 
 avail themselves of his aid and counsel there and 
 everywhere." 
 
 Father Esteban, following the speaker's words 
 with a gracious and ready smile, at once moved 
 forward among the passengers, offering an antique 
 snuff-box to the gentlemen or passing before the 
 ladies with slightly uplifted benedictory palms and 
 a caressing paternal gesture. Mrs. Brimmer, 
 having essayed a French sentence, was delighted 
 and half frightened to receive a response from the 
 ecclesiastic, and speedily monopolisedjiim until he 
 was summoned by the Commander to the returning 
 boat. 
 
 " A most accomplished man, my dear," said Mrs. 
 Brimmer, as the Excelsior's cannon again thundered 
 after the retiring oars, " like all of his order. He 
 says, although Don Miguel does not speak French, 
 that his secretary does; and we shall have no 
 difficulty in making ourselves understood." 
 
 " Then you really intend to go ashore ? " said 
 Miss Keene timidly. 
 
 " Decidedly! " returned Mrs. Brimmer potentially. 
 " It would be most unpolite, not to say insulting, 
 if we did not accept the invitation. You have no 
 idea of the strictness of Spanish etiquette. Besides, 
 he may have heard of Mr. Brimmer." 
 
 " As his last information was only up to 1 792, 
 
64 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 he might have forgotten it," said Crosby gravely. 
 " So perhaps it would be safer to go on the general 
 invitation:" 
 
 " As Mr. Brimmer's ancestors came over on the 
 Mayflower, long before 1792, it doesn't seem so 
 very impossible, if it comes to that," said Mrs. 
 Brimmer, with her usual unanswerable naivete ; 
 "provided always that you are not joking, Mr. 
 Crosby. One never knows when you are serious." 
 
 " Mrs. Brimmer is quite right, we must all go. 
 This is no mere formality," said Senor Perkins, who 
 had returned to the ladies. " Indeed, I have 
 myself promised the Comandante to bring you" he 
 turned towards Miss Keene, " if you will permit 
 Mrs. Markham and myself to act as your escort. 
 It was Don Miguel's express request." 
 
 A slight flush of pride suffused the cheek of the 
 young girl, but the next moment she turned 
 diffidently towards Mrs. Brimmer. 
 
 " We must all go together," she said ; " shall we 
 not ? " 
 
 " You see your triumphs have begun already," 
 said Brace, with a nervous smile. " You need no 
 longer laugh at me for predicting your fate in San 
 Francisco." 
 
 Miss Keene cast a hurried glance around her, in 
 the faint hope she scarcely knew why that Mr. 
 Hurlstone had overheard the Senor's invitation ; 
 nor could she tell why she was disappointed at not 
 seeing him. But he had not appeared on deck 
 during the presence of their strange visitors ; nor 
 was he in the boat which half-an-hour later con- 
 
TODOS SANTOS. 65 
 
 veyed her to the shore. He must have either gone 
 in one of the other boats, or fulfilled his strange 
 threat of remaining on the ship. 
 
 The boats pulled away together towards the 
 invisible shore, piloted by Captain Bunker, the first 
 officer, and Senor Perkins in the foremost boat. It 
 had grown warmer, and the fog that stole softly 
 over them touched their faces with the tenderness 
 of caressing fingers. Miss Keene, wrapped up in 
 the stern sheets of the boat, gave way to the 
 dreamy influence of this weird procession through 
 the water, retaining only perception enough to be 
 conscious of the singular illusions of the mist that 
 alternately thickened and lightened before their 
 bow. At times it seemed as if they were driving 
 full upon a vast pier or breakwater of cold grey 
 granite that, opening to let the foremost boat pass, 
 closed again before them ; at times it seemed as if 
 they had diverged from their course, and were once 
 more upon the open sea, the horizon a far-off line 
 of vanishing colour; at times, faint lights seemed 
 to pierce the gathering darkness, or to move like 
 will-o'-wisps across the smooth surface, when sud- 
 denly the keel grated on the sand. A narrow, but 
 perfectly well defined strip of palpable strand 
 appeared before them; they could faintly discern 
 the moving lower limbs of figures whose bodies 
 were still hidden in the mist ; then they were lifted 
 from the boats ; the first few steps on dry land 
 carried them out of the fog that seemed to rise like 
 a sloping roof from the water's edge, leaving them 
 under its canopy in the full light of actual torches 
 
 5 
 
66 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 held by a group of picturesquely-dressed people 
 before the vista of a faintly-lit, narrow, ascending 
 street. The dim twilight of the closing day lingered 
 under this roof of fog, which seemed to hang 
 scarcely a hundred feet above them, and showed a 
 wall or rampart of brown adobe on their right that 
 extended nearly to the water ; to the left, at the 
 distance of a few hundred yards, another low brown 
 wall appeared ; above it rose a fringe of foliage, 
 and, more distant and indistinct, two white towers, 
 that were lost in the nebulous grey. 
 
 One of the figures dressed in green jackets, who 
 seemed to be in authority, now advanced, and, after 
 a moment's parley with Senor Perkins while the 
 Excelsiors passengers were being collected from the 
 different boats, courteously led the way along the 
 wall of the fortification. Presently a low opening 
 or gateway appeared, followed by the challenge of a 
 green-jacketed sentry, and the sentence, " Dios y 
 Libertad." It was repeated in the interior of a 
 dusky courtyard, surrounded by a low corridor, 
 where a dozen green-jacketed men of aboriginal 
 type and complexion, carrying antique flintlocks, 
 were drawn up as a guard of honour. 
 
 " The Comandante," said Senor Perkins, " directs 
 me to extend his apologies to the Senor Capitano 
 Bunker for withholding the salute which is due alike 
 to his country, himself, and his fair company ; but 
 fifty years of uninterrupted peace and fog have left 
 his cannon inadequate to polite emergencies, and 
 firmly fixed the tampion of his saluting gun. But 
 he places the Presidio at your disposition ; you will 
 
TODOS SANTOS. 67 
 
 be pleased to make its acquaintance while it is still 
 light ; and he will await you in the guard-room." 
 
 Left to themselves, the party dispersed like 
 dismissed school-children through the courtyard and 
 corridors, and in the enjoyment of their release 
 from a month's confinement on shipboard stretched 
 their cramped limbs over the ditches, walls, and 
 parapets, to the edge of the glacis. 
 
 Everywhere a ruin that was picturesque, a decay 
 that was refined and gentle, a neglect that was 
 graceful, met the eye ; the sharp exterior and re- 
 entering angles were softly rounded and obliterated 
 by overgrowths of semi-tropical creepers ; the 
 abattis was filled by a natural brake of scrub-oak 
 and manzanita ; the clematis flung its long scaling 
 ladders over the escarpment, until Nature, slowly 
 but securely investing the doomed fortress, had 
 lifted a victorious banner of palm from the con- 
 quered summit of the citadel ! Some strange con- 
 vulsions of the earth had completed the victory ; 
 the barbette guns of carved and antique bronze 
 commemorating fruitless and long - forgotten 
 triumphs, were dismounted ; one, turned in the 
 cheeks of its carriage, had a trunnion raised pite- 
 ously in the air, like an amputated stump ; another, 
 sinking through its rotting chasses, had buried 
 itself to its chase in the crumbling adobe wall. But 
 above and beyond this gentle chaos of defence 
 stretched the real ramparts and escarpments of 
 Todos Santos the impenetrable and unassailable 
 fog ! Corroding its brass and iron with saline 
 breath, rotting its wood with unending shadow, 
 
 5* 
 
68 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 sapping its adobe walls with perpetual moisture, 
 and nourishing the obliterating vegetation with its 
 quickening blood, as if laughing to scorn the puny 
 embattlements of men it still bent around the 
 crumbling ruins the tender grace of an invisible but 
 all-encompassing arm. 
 
 Sefior Perkins, who had acted as cicerone to the 
 party, pointed out these various mutations with no 
 change from his usual optimism. 
 
 " Protected by their peculiar isolation during the 
 late war, there was no necessity for any real forti- 
 fication of the place. Nevertheless, it affords some 
 occupation and position for our kind friend, Don 
 Miguel, and so serves a beneficial purpose. This 
 little gun," he continued, stopping to attentively 
 examine a small but beautifully-carved bronze six- 
 pounder, which showed indications of better care 
 than the others, " seems to be the saluting-gun 
 Don Miguel spoke of. For the last fifty years it 
 has spoken only the language of politeness and 
 courtesy, and yet through want of care the tampion, 
 as you see, has become swollen and choked in its 
 mouth." 
 
 " How true in a larger sense," murmured Mrs. 
 Markham ; " the habit of courtesy alone preserves 
 the fluency of the heart." 
 
 " I know you two are saying something very 
 clever," said Mrs. Brimmer, whose small French 
 slippers and silk stockings were beginning to show 
 their inadequacy to a twilight ramble in the fog, 
 " but I am so slow, and I never catch the point. 
 Do repeat it slowly." 
 
TODOS SANTOS. 69 
 
 " The Senor was only showing us how they man- 
 aged to shut up a smooth bore in this country," said 
 Crosby gravely. " I wonder when we're going to 
 have dinner. I suppose old Don Quixote will trot 
 out some of his Seiioritas. I want to see those 
 choir girls that sang so stunningly a while ago." 
 
 " I suppose you mean the boys for they're all 
 boys in the Catholic choirs but then, perhaps you 
 are joking again. Do tell me if you are, for this is 
 really amusing. I may laugh mayn't I ? " As the 
 discomfited humourist fell again to the rear amidst 
 the laughter of the others, Mrs. Brimmer continued 
 naively to Senor Perkins : " Of course, as Don 
 Miguel is a widower, there must be daughters or 
 sisters-in-law who will meet us. Why, the priest, 
 you know even he must have nieces. Really, 
 it's a serious question if we are to accept his 
 hospitality in a social way. Why don't you ask 
 him ? " she said, pointing to the green-jacketed 
 subaltern who was accompanying them. 
 
 Senor Perkins looked half-embarrassed. 
 
 " Repeat your question, my dear lady, and I will 
 translate it." 
 
 " Ask him if there are any women at the 
 Presidio." 
 
 Senor Perkins drew the subaltern aside. Pre- 
 sently he turned to Mrs. Brimmer. 
 
 " He says there are four : the wife of the baker, 
 the wife of the saddler, the daughter of the 
 trumpeter, and the niece of the cook." 
 
 " Grood heavens ! we can't meet them" said Mrs. 
 Brimmer. 
 
70 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 Senor Perkins hesitated. 
 
 " Perhaps I ought to have told you," he said 
 blandly, " that the old Spanish notions of etiquette 
 are very strict. The wives of the officials and 
 higher classes do not meet strangers on a first visit, 
 unless they are well known." 
 
 " That isn't it," said Winslow, joining them 
 excitedly. " I've heard the whole story. It's a 
 good joke. Banks has been bragging about us all, 
 and saying that these ladies had husbands who 
 were great merchants, and, as these chaps consider 
 that all trade is vulgar, you know, they believe we 
 are not fit to associate with their women, don't you 
 see ? All, except one Miss Keene. She's con- 
 sidered all right. She is to be introduced to the 
 Commander's women, and to the sister of the 
 Alcalde." 
 
 " She will do nothing of the kind ! " said Miss 
 Keene indignantly. "If these ladies are not to 
 be received with me, we'll all go back to the ship 
 together." 
 
 She spoke with a quick and perfectly unexpected 
 resolution and independence, so foreign to her 
 usual child-like, half- dependent character, that her 
 hearers were astounded. Senor Perkins gazed at 
 her thoughtfully ; Brace, Crosby, and Winslow ad- 
 miringly; her sister passengers with doubt and 
 apprehension. 
 
 "There must be some mistake," said Senor 
 Perkins gently. " I will enquire." 
 
 He was absent but a few moments. When he 
 returned, his face was beaming. 
 
TODOS SANTOS. 71 
 
 "" It's a ridiculous misapprehension. Our practical 
 friend Banks, in his zealous attempts to impress the 
 Comandante's secretary, who knows a little 
 English, with the importance of Mr. Brimmer's 
 position as a large commission merchant, has, I 
 fear, conveyed only the idea that he was a kind of 
 pawnbroker ; while Mr. Markham's trade in hides 
 has established him as a tanner ; and Mr. Banks' 
 own flour speculations, of which he is justly proud, 
 have been misinterpreted by him as the work of a 
 successful baker ! " 
 
 " And what idea did he convey about you ? " 
 asked Crosby audaciously ; " it might be interesting 
 to us to know, for our own satisfaction." 
 
 " I fear they did not do me the honour to 
 inquire," replied Seiior Perkins, with imperturbable 
 good-humour ; " there are some persons, you know, 
 who carry all their worldly possessions palpably 
 about with them. I am one of them. Call me a 
 citizen of the world, with a strong leniency towards 
 young and struggling nationalities ; a traveller, at 
 home anywhere ; a delighted observer of all things, 
 an admirer of brave men, the devoted slave of 
 charming women and you have, in one word, a 
 passenger of the good ship Excelsior" 
 
 For the first time, Miss Keene noticed a slight 
 irony in Senor Perkins' superabundant fluency, and 
 that he did not conceal his preoccupation over the 
 silent saluting-gun he was still admiring. The 
 approach of Don Miguel and Padre Esteban with a 
 small bevy of ladies, however, quickly changed her 
 thoughts, and detached the Senor from her side. 
 
72 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 Her first swift feminine impression of the fair 
 strangers was that they were plain and dowdy, an 
 impression fully shared by the other lady passengers. 
 But her second observation, that they were more 
 gentle, fascinating, child-like, and feminine than 
 her own countrywomen, was purely her own. Their 
 loose, undulating figures, guiltless of stays ; their 
 extravagance of short, white, heavily-flounced skirt, 
 which looked like a petticoat ; their lightly wrapped, 
 formless, and hooded shoulders and heads, lent a 
 suggestion of dishabille that Mrs. Brimmer at once 
 resented. 
 
 " They might, at least, have dressed themselves," 
 she whispered to Mrs. Markham. 
 
 "1 really believe," returned Mrs. Markham, 
 " they've got no bodices on ! " 
 
 The introductions over, a polyglot conversation 
 ensued in French by the Padre and Mrs. Brimmer, 
 and in broken English by Miss Chubb, Miss Keene, 
 and the other passengers with the Commander's 
 secretary, varied by occasional scraps of 
 college Latin from Mr. Crosby, the whole 
 aided by occasional appeals to Sefior Perkins. 
 The darkness meanwhile increasing, the party re- 
 entered the courtyard, and passing through the 
 low studded guard-room, entered another corridor, 
 which looked upon a second court, enclosed on three 
 sides, the fourth opening upon a broad plaza, 
 evidently the public resort of the little town. En- 
 compassing this open space, a few red-tiled roofs 
 could be faintly seen in the gathering gloom. 
 Chocolate and thin spiced cakes were served in the 
 
TODOS SANTCS. 73 
 
 verandah, pending the preparations for a more 
 formal banquet. Already Miss Keene had been 
 singled out from her companions for the special 
 attentions of her hosts, male and female, to her 
 embarrassment and confusion. Already Dona Isabel, 
 the sister of the Alcalde, had drawn her aside, and 
 with caressing frankness, had begun to question 
 her in broken English, 
 
 " But Miss Keene is no name. The Dona Keene 
 is of nothing." 
 
 " Well you may call me Eleanor, if you like," 
 said Miss Keene, smiling. 
 
 "Dona Leon or so; that is good," said Dona 
 Isabel, clapping her hands like a child. " But how 
 are you ? " 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Miss Keene, greatly 
 amused, " but I don't understand." 
 
 " Ah, Caramba ! What are you, little one ? " 
 Seeing that her guest still looked puzzled, she 
 continued, " Ah ! Mother of Ood ! Why are 
 your friends so polite to you ? Why does every one 
 love you so ? " 
 
 " Do they ? Well," stammered Miss Keene, 
 with one of her rare, dazzling smiles, and her cheeks 
 girlishly rosy with na'ive embarrassment, " I sup- 
 pose they think I am pretty." 
 
 " Pretty ! Ah, yes, you are ! " said Dona Isabel, 
 gazing at her curiously. " But it is not all that." 
 
 "What is it, then?" asked Miss Keene de- 
 ' inurely." 
 
 " You are a a Dama de Grandeza ! " 
 
CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 "HAIL AND FAREWELL." 
 
 SUPPER was served in the inner room opening 
 from the corridor, lit by a few swinging lanterns of 
 polished horn and a dozen wax candles of sacerdotal 
 size and suggestion. The apartment though 
 spacious, was low and crypt-like, and was not 
 relieved by the two deep oven-like hearths that 
 warmed it without the play of firelight. But when 
 the company had assembled it was evident that the 
 velvet jackets, gold lace, silver buttons, and red 
 sashes of the entertainers not only lost their 
 tawdry and theatrical appearance in the half- 
 decorous and thoughtful gloom, but actually 
 seemed more in harmony with it than the modern 
 dresses of the guests. It was the Excelsior party 
 who looked strange and bizarre in these sur- 
 roundings ; to the sensitive fancy of Miss Keene, 
 Mrs. Brimmer's Parisian toilette had an air of 
 provincial assumption ; her own pretty Zouave 
 jacket and black silk skirt horrified her with its 
 apparent ostentatious eccentricity ; and Mrs. Mark- 
 ham and Miss Chubb seemed dowdy and overdressed 
 beside the satin mantillas and black lace of the 
 Sefioritas. Nor were the gentlemen less outres : 
 the stiff correctness of Mr. Banks, and the lighter 
 foppishness of Winslow and Crosby, not to mention 
 
"HAIL AND FAREWELL." 75 
 
 Senor Perkins' more pronounced unconventionally, 
 appeared as burlesques of their own characters in a 
 play, The crowning contrast was .reached by 
 Captain Bunker, who, in accordance with the habits 
 of the mercantile marine of that period when in 
 port, wore a shore-going suit of black broadcloth, 
 with a tall hat, high shirt collar, and diamond 
 pin. Seated next to the Commander, it was no 
 longer Don Miguel who looked old-fashioned, it 
 was Captain Bunker who appeared impossible. 
 
 Nevertheless, as the meal progressed, lightened 
 by a sweet native wine made from the Mission grape, 
 and stimulated by champagne a present of Captain 
 Bunker from the cabin lockers of the Excelsior 
 this contrast, and much of the restraint that it 
 occasioned, seemed to melt away. The passengers 
 became talkative ; the Commander and his . friends 
 unbent, and grew sympathetic and inquiring. The 
 temptation to recite the news of the last half 
 century, and to recount the wonderful strides of 
 civilisation in that time, was too great to be resisted 
 by the Excelsior party. That some of them not- 
 withstanding the caution of Senor Perkins ap- 
 proached dangerously near the subject of the late 
 war between the United States and Mexico, of which 
 Todos Santos was supposed to be still ignorant, or that 
 Crosby in particular, seized upon this opportunity 
 for humorous exaggeration, may be readily imagined. 
 But, as the translation of the humourist's speech, as 
 well as the indiscretions of his companions, were 
 left to the Senor, in Spanish, and to Mrs. Brimmer 
 and Miss Keene, in French, any imminent danger 
 
76 THE CRUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR." 
 
 to the harmony of the evening was averted. Don 
 Eamon Eamirez, the Alcalde, a youngish man of 
 evident distinction, sat next to Miss Keene, and 
 monopolised her conversation with a certain curiosity 
 that was both grave and childish in its frank trust- 
 fulness. Some of his questions were so simple and 
 incompatible with his apparent intelligence that she 
 unconsciously lowered her voice in answering them, 
 in dread of the ridicule of her companions. She 
 could not resist the impression which repeatedly 
 obtruded upon her imagination, that the entire 
 population of Todos Santos were a party of lost 
 children, forgotten by their parents, and grown to 
 man and womanhood in utter ignorance of the 
 world. 
 
 The Commander had, half informally, drunk the 
 health of Captain Bunker, without rising from his 
 seat, when, to Miss Keene's alarm, Captain Bunker 
 staggered to his feet. He had been drinking freely, 
 as usual ; but he was bent on indulging a loquacity 
 which his discipline on shipboard had hitherto pre- 
 cluded, and which had, perhaps, strengthened his 
 solitary habit. His speech was voluble and in- 
 coherent, complimentary and tactless, kindly and 
 aggressive, courteous and dogmatic. It was left to 
 Sefior Perkins to translate it to the eye and ear of 
 his host without incongruity or offence. This he 
 did so admirably as to elicit not only the applause 
 of the foreigners who did not understand English, 
 but of his own countrymen who did not understand 
 Spanish. 
 
 " I feel," said Senor Perkins, in graceful perora- 
 
"HAIL AND FAREWELL." 77 
 
 tion, " that I have done poor justice to the eloquence 
 of this gallant sailor. My unhappy translation 
 cannot offer you that voice, at times trembling with 
 generous emotion, and again inaudible from exces- 
 sive modesty in the presence of this illustrious 
 assembly those limbs that waver and bend under 
 the undulations of the chivalrous sentiment which 
 carries him away as if he were still on that 
 powerful element he daily battles with and 
 conquers." 
 
 But when coffee and sweets were reached, the 
 crowning triumph of Seiior Perkins' oratory was 
 achieved. After an impassioned burst of enthusiasm 
 towards his hosts in their own tongue, he turned 
 towards his own party with bland felicity. 
 
 " And how is it with us, dear friends ? We find 
 ourselves not in the port we were seeking ; not in 
 the goal of our ambition, the haven of our hopes ; 
 but on the shores of the decaying past. ' Ever 
 drifting ' on one of those 
 
 "'Shifting 
 Currents of the restless main,' 
 
 if our fascinating friend, Mrs. Brimmer, will permit 
 us to use the words of her accomplished fellow- 
 townsman, H. W. Longfellow, of Boston we find 
 ourselves borne not to the busy hum and clatter of 
 modern progress, but to the soft cadences of a dying 
 crusade, and the hush of ecclesiastical repose. In 
 place of the busy marts of commerce and the 
 towering chimneys of labour, we have the ruined 
 embattlements of a warlike age, and the crumb- 
 
78 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 ling church of an ancient Mission. Towards the 
 close of an eventful voyage, during which we have 
 been guided by the skilful hand and watchful eye 
 of that gallant navigator Captain Bunker, we have 
 turned aside from our onward course of progress to 
 look back for a moment upon the faded footprints 
 of those who have so long preceded us, who have 
 lived according to their lights, and whose record is 
 now before us. As I have just stated, our journey 
 is near its end, and we may, in some sense, look 
 upon this occasion, with its sumptuous entertain- 
 ment, and its goodly company of gallant men and 
 fair women, as a parting banquet. Our voyage has 
 been a successful one. I do not now especially 
 speak of the daring speculations of the distinguished 
 husband of a beautiful lady whose delightful society 
 is known to us all need I say I refer to Quincy 
 Brimmer, Esq., of Boston " (loud applause), " whose 
 successful fulfilment of a contract with the Peruvian 
 Government, and the landing of munitions of war 
 at Callao, has checked the uprising of the Quin- 
 quinambo insurgents ? I do not refer especially to 
 our keen-sighted business friend Mr. Banks " 
 (applause), " who, by buying up all the flour in 
 Callao, and shipping it to California, has virtually 
 starved into submission the revolutionary party of 
 Ariquipa I do not refer to these admirable illustra- 
 tions of the relations of commerce and politics, for 
 this, my friends this is history, and beyond my 
 feeble praise. Let me rather speak of the social 
 and literary triumphs of our little community, of 
 our floating Arcadia may I say Olympus ? Where 
 
"HAIL AND FAREWELL." 79 
 
 shall we find another Minerva like Mrs. Markham, 
 another Thalia like Miss Chubb, another Juno like 
 Mrs. Brimmer, worthy of the Jove-like Quincy 
 Brimmer ; another Queen of Love and Beauty like 
 like ' continued the gallant Senor, with an 
 effective oratorical pause, and a profound obeisance 
 to Miss Keene, "like one whose mantling maiden 
 blushes forbid me to name ? " (Prolonged applause.) 
 " Where shall we find more worthy mortals to 
 worship them than our young friends, the handsome 
 Brace, the energetic Winslow, the humorous Crosby ? 
 When we look back upon our concerts and plays, 
 our minstrel entertainments, with the incomparable 
 performances of our friend Crosby as Brother Bones ; 
 our recitations, to which the genius of Mrs. 
 MacCorkle, of Peoria, Illinois, has lent her charm 
 and her manuscript" (a burlesque start of terror 
 from Crosby), " I am forcibly impelled to quote the- 
 impassioned words from that gifted woman 
 
 " ' When idly Life's barque on the billows of Time, 
 
 Drifts hither and yon by eternity's sea ; 
 On the swift feet of verse and the pinions of rhyme 
 My thoughts, Ulricardo, fly ever to thee ! ' " 
 
 "Who's Ulricardo?" interrupted Crosby, with 
 assumed eagerness, followed by a " Hush ! " from 
 the ladies. 
 
 " Perhaps I should have anticipated our friend's 
 humorous question," said Senor Perkins, with 
 unassailable good-humour. " Ulricardo, though not 
 my own name, is a poetical substitute for it, and a 
 mere figure of apostrophe. The poem is personal to 
 myself," he continued, with a slight increase of 
 
80 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 colour in his smooth cheek which did not escape 
 the attention of the ladies, " purely as an exigency 
 of verse, and that the inspired authoress might 
 more easily express herself to a friend. My 
 acquaintance with Mrs. MacCorkle has been only 
 epistolary. Pardon this digression, my friends, but 
 an allusion to the muse of poetry did not seem to 
 me to be inconsistent with our gathering here. 
 Let me briefly conclude, by saying that the occasion 
 is a happy and memorable one ; I think I echo the 
 sentiment of all present when I add that it is one 
 which will not be easily forgotten by either the 
 grateful guests, whose feelings I have tried to 
 express, or the chivalrous hosts, whose kindness I 
 have already so feebly translated." 
 
 In the applause that followed, and the clicking of 
 glasses, Senor Perkins slipped away. He mingled a 
 moment with some of the other guests who had 
 already withdrawn to the corridor, lit a cigar, and 
 then passed through a narrow doorway on to the 
 ramparts. Here he strolled to some distance, as if 
 in deep thought, until he reached a spot where the 
 crumbling wall and its fallen debris afforded an easy 
 descent into the ditch. Following the ditch, he 
 turned an angle, and came upon the beach, and the 
 low sound of oars in the invisible offing. A whistle 
 brought the boat to his feet, and without a word he 
 stepped into the stern sheets. A few strokes of the 
 oars showed him that the fog had lifted slightly 
 from the water, and a green light hanging from the 
 side of the Excelsior could be plainly seen. Ten 
 minutes' more steady pulling placed him on her 
 
"HAIL AND FAREWELL." 81 
 
 deck, where the second officer stood with a number 
 of the sailors listlessly grouped around him. 
 
 " The landing has been completed ? " said Seiior 
 Perkins interrogatively. 
 
 " All except one boat-load more, which waits to 
 take your final instructions," said the mate. " The 
 men have growled a little about it," he added, in a 
 lower tone. " They don't want to lose anything, it 
 seems," he continued, with a half sarcastic laugh. 
 
 Seiior Perkins smiled peculiarly. 
 
 " I am sorry to disappoint them. Who's that in 
 the boat ? " he asked suddenly. 
 
 The mate followed the Senor's glance. 
 
 " It is Yoto. He says he is going ashore, and 
 you will not forbid him." 
 
 Seiior Perkins approached the ship's side. 
 
 " Come here," he said to the man. 
 
 The Peruvian sailor rose, but did not make the 
 slightest movement to obey the command. 
 
 " You say you are going ashore ? " said Perkins 
 blandly. 
 
 " Yes, Patrono." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " To follow him the thief, the assassin who 
 struck me here," he pointed to his head. " He has 
 escaped again with his booty." 
 
 " You are very foolish, my Yoto ; he is no thief, 
 and has no booty. They will put you in prison, not 
 him." 
 
 " You say so," said the man surlily. "Perhaps 
 they will hear me for other things," he added 
 significantly. 
 
 6 
 
82 THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR." 
 
 " And for this you would abandon the cause ? " 
 
 The man shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Why not ? " he glanced meaningly at two of 
 his companions, who had approached the side ; 
 " perhaps others would. Who is sending the booty 
 ashore, eh ? " 
 
 " Come ont of that boat," said the Senor, leaning 
 over the bulwarks with folded arms, and his eyes 
 firmly fixed on the man. 
 
 The man did not move. But the Senor's hand 
 suddenly flew to the back of his neck, smote 
 violently downwards, and sent eighteen inches of 
 glittering steel hurtling through the air. The 
 bowie knife entered the upturned throat of the 
 man, and buried itself half-way to the hilt. With- 
 out a gasp or groan he staggered forward, caught 
 wildly at the side of the ship, and disappeared 
 between the boat and the vessel. 
 
 "My lads," said Sefior Perkins, turning with a 
 gentle smile towards the faces that in the light of 
 the swinging lantern formed a ghastly circle around 
 him, " when I boarded this ship that had brought 
 aid and succour to our oppressors at Callao, I deter- 
 mined to take possession of it peacefully, without 
 imperilling the peace and property of the in- 
 nocent passengers who were entrusted to its care, 
 and without endangering your own lives or free- 
 dom. But I made no allowance for traitors. The 
 blood that has been shed to-night has not been spilt 
 in obedience to my orders, nor to the cause that we 
 serve ; it was from defiance of it ; and the real and 
 only culprit has just atoned for it." 
 
"HAIL AND FAREWELL." 83 
 
 He stopped, and then stepped back from the 
 gangway, as if to leave it open to the men. 
 
 " What I have done," he continued calmly, " I 
 do not ask you to consider either as an example or 
 a warning. You are free to do what he would have 
 done," he repeated, with a wave of his hand towards 
 the open gangway, and the empty boat. " You are 
 free to break your contract and leave the ship, and I 
 give you my word that I will not lift a hand to 
 prevent it. But if you stay with me," he said, sud- 
 denly turning upon them a face as livid as their 
 own, " I swear by the living Grod that, if between 
 this and the accomplishment of my design, you as 
 much as shirk or question any order given by me, 
 you shall die the death of that dog who went 
 before you. Choose as you please but quickly." 
 
 The mate was the first to move. Without a word 
 he crossed over to the Serior's side. The men 
 hesitated a moment longer, until one, with a strange 
 foreign cry, threw himself on his knees before the 
 Sen or, ejaculating, " Pardon ! pardon ! " The 
 others followed, some impulsively catching at the 
 hand that had just slain their comrade, and cover- 
 ing it with kisses ! 
 
 " Pardon, Patrono we are yours." 
 
 " You are the State's," said Senor Perkins coldly, 
 with every vestige of his former urbanity gone 
 from his colourless face. " Enough ! Gro back to 
 your duty." He watched them slink away, and 
 then turned to the mate. " Gret the last boat-load 
 ready, and report to me." 
 
 from that moment another power s.eemed to 
 
 a* 
 
84 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 dominate the ship. The men no longer moved 
 listlessly or slunk along the deck with perfunctory 
 limbs; a feverish haste and eagerness possessed 
 them; the boat was quickly loaded, and the 
 mysterious debarkation completed in rapidity and 
 silence. This done, the fog once more appeared to 
 rise from the water and softly encompass the ship, 
 until she seemed to be obliterated from its face. 
 In this vague obscurity, from time to time, 
 the faint rattling of chains was heard, the soft 
 creaking of blocks, and later on, the regular rise 
 and fall of oars. And then the darkness fell 
 heavier, the sounds became more and more indis- 
 tinct, and were utterly lost. 
 
 Ashore, however, the lanterns still glittered 
 brightly in the courtyard of the Presidio ; the 
 noise of laughter and revel still came from the 
 supper-room, and, later, the tinkling of guitars and 
 rhythmical clapping hands showed that the fes- 
 tivities were being wound up by a characteristic 
 fandango. Captain Bunker succumbed early to his 
 potations of fiery aguardiente, and was put to bed 
 in the room of the Commander, to whom he had 
 sworn eternal friendship and alliance. It was long 
 past midnight before the other guests were disposed 
 of in the various quarters of the Presidio ; but to 
 the ladies were reserved the more ostentatious 
 hospitalities of the Alcalde himself, the walls of 
 whose ambitious hacienda raised themselves across 
 the plaza, and overlooked the gardens of the 
 Mission. 
 
 It was from one of the deep, quaintly-barred 
 
"HAIL AND FAREWELL.' 85 
 
 windows of the hacienda that Miss Keene gazed 
 thoughtfully on the night, unable to compose her- 
 self to sleep. An antique guest-chamber had been 
 assigned to her in deference to her wish to be 
 alone, for which she had declined the couch and 
 vivacious prattle of her new friend. Dona Isabel. 
 The events of the day had impressed her more 
 deeply than they had her companions, partly from 
 her peculiar inexperience of the world, and partly 
 from her singular sensitiveness to external causes. 
 The whole quaint story of the forgotten and 
 isolated settlement, which had seemed to the other 
 passengers as a trivial and half-humorous incident, 
 affected her imagination profoundly. When she 
 could escape the attentions of her entertainers, or 
 the frivolities of her companions, she tried to touch 
 the far-off past on the wings of her fancy ; she tried 
 to imagine the life of those people, forgetting the 
 world and forgotten by it ; she endeavoured to 
 picture the fifty years of solitude amidst these 
 decaying ruins, over which even ambition had 
 crumbled and fallen. It seemed to her the true 
 conventual seclusion from the world without the 
 loss of kinship or home influences ; she contrasted 
 it with her boarding-school life in the 'fashionable 
 seminary; she wondered what she would have 
 become had she been brought up here ; she thought 
 of the happy ignorance of Dona Isabel, and shud- 
 dered ; and yet she felt herself examining the 
 odd furniture of the room with an equally child-like 
 and admiring curiosity. And these people looked 
 upon her as a superior being ! 
 
86 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR. 15 
 
 From the deep embrasure of the window, she 
 could see the tops of the pear and olive trees, in the 
 misty light of an invisible moon that suffused the 
 old Mission garden with an ineffable and angelic 
 radiance. To her religious fancy, it seemed to be 
 a spiritual effusion of the church itself, enveloping 
 the two grey dome-shaped towers with an atmo- 
 sphere and repose of its own, until it became the 
 incarnate mystery and passion where it stood. 
 
 She was suddenly startled by a moving shadow 
 beside the wall, almost immediately below her the 
 figure of a man ! He was stealing cautiously 
 towards the church, as if to gain the concealment of 
 the shrubbery that grew beside it, and, furtively 
 glancing from side to side, looked towards her 
 window. She unconscionsly drew back, forgetting 
 at the moment that her light was extinguished, and 
 that it was impossible for the stranger to see her. 
 But she had seen /wm, and in that instant recog- 
 nised Mr. Hurlstone ! 
 
 Then he had come ashore, and secretly, for the 
 other passengers believed him still on the ship ! 
 But what was he doing there ? and why had he 
 not appeared with the others at the entertain- 
 ment ? She could understand his avoidance of them 
 from what she knew of his reserved f and unsocial 
 habits ; but when he could so naturally have re- 
 mained on ship-board, she could not, at first, con- 
 ceive why he should wish to prowl around the town 
 at the risk of detection. The idea suddenly 
 occurred to her that he had had another attack of 
 his infirmity and was walking in his sleep, and for 
 
THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS. 87 
 
 an instant she thought of alarming the house, that 
 some one might go to his assistance. But his 
 furtive movements had not the serene impassibility 
 of the somnambulist. Another thought withheld 
 her; he had looked up at her window! Did he 
 know she was there ? A faint stirring of shame and 
 pleasure sent a slight colour to her cheek. But he 
 had gained the corner of the shrubbery, and was 
 lost in the shadow. She turned from the window. 
 A gentle sense of vague and half maternal pity 
 suffused her soft eyes as she at last sought her 
 couch and fell into a deep slumber. 
 
 Towards daybreak a wind arose over the sleeping 
 town and far outlying waters. It breathed through 
 the leaves of the Mission garden, brushed away the 
 clinging mists from the angles of the towers, and 
 restored the sharp outlines of the ruined fortifica- 
 tions. It swept across the unruffled sea to where 
 the Excelsior, cradled in the softly heaving bay, had 
 peacefully swung at anchor on the previous night, 
 and lifted the snowy curtain of the fog to seaward 
 as far as the fringe of surf, a league away. 
 
 But the cradle of the deep was empty the ship 
 was gone ! 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS. 
 
 Miss KEENE was awakened from a heavy sleep by a 
 hurried shake of her shoulder and an indefinite feel- 
 ing of alarm. Opening her eyes, she was momen- 
 tarily dazed by the broad light of day, and the 
 
88 THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR." 
 
 spectacle of Mrs. Brimmer, pale and agitated, in a 
 half-Spanish deshabille, standing at her bedside. 
 
 " Get up and dress yourself, my dear, at once," 
 she said hurriedly, but at the same time attentively 
 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 im- 
 patiently, sitting up in bed, more alarmed at the 
 unusual circumstance of Mrs. Brimmer's unfinished 
 toilette than at her incomplete speech. 
 
 " What, indeed ! Nobody knows ; but it's some- 
 thing awful a mutiny, or shipwreck, or piracy. 
 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 summon- 
 ing the Council ; there's Mr. Banks raving, and 
 running round for a steam-boat as if these people 
 ever heard of such a thing ! and Captain Bunker, 
 what with rage and drink, gone off in a fit of 
 delirium 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 miserable 
 government. I believe that baby Isabel thinks that 
 
THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS. 89 
 
 King Greorge 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 humour 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 dressing as the door flew open to admit the 
 impulsive Dona Isabel and her sister Juanita. The 
 two Mexican girls threw themselves into 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 bonnet to lend me for a day 
 or two ? " 
 
 " The Senora has not then heard that her goods 
 and all the goods of the Senors and Senoras, have 
 been discovered safely put ashore at the Embar- 
 cadero ? " 
 
 " No ? " said Mrs. Brimmer eagerly. 
 
 " Ah, yes ! " responded Dona Isabel. " Since the 
 Senora is not of the revolutionary party." 
 
 Mrs. Brimmer cast a supplicating look at Miss 
 Keene, and hastily quitted the room. Miss Keene 
 would have as quickly followed her, but the young 
 Eamirez girls threw themselves again tragically 
 upon her breast, and, with a mysterious gesture of 
 silence, whispered, 
 
 " Fear nothing, Excellencia ! We are yours we 
 
90 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 will die for you, no matter what Don Kamon, or the 
 Comandante, or the Ayuntamiento, shall decide. 
 Trust us, little one ! pardon Excellencia, we 
 mean." 
 
 " What is the matter ? " said Miss Keene, now 
 thoroughly 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 portentiousness. 
 
 " 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 despatch 
 from the insurrectionaries." 
 
 Without another word, and feeling that she could 
 stand the suspense no longer, Miss Keene forced 
 her way past the young girls, unheeding their cries 
 of consternation and apology, and quickly reached 
 the patio. A single glance showed her that Mrs. 
 Brimmer was gone. With eyes and cheeks still 
 burning, she swept past the astounded peons, 
 through the gateway, into the open plaza. 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. S he 
 
THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS. 91 
 
 did not even think of asking the assistance of Mr. 
 Brace, Mr. Crosby, or any of her fellow-passengers. 
 The consciousness of some vague crisis that she 
 alone could meet, possessed her completely. 
 
 The plaza was swarming with a strange rabble of 
 peons and soldiery; of dark, lowering faces, odd- 
 looking weapons and costumes, mules, mustangs, 
 and cattle a heterogeneous mass, swayed by some 
 fierce excitement. That she saw none of the Ex- 
 cdsior party among them did not surprise her ; an 
 instinct of some catastrophe more serious than Mrs. 
 Brimmer's vague imaginings frightened but exalted 
 her. With head erect, levelled brows, and bright, 
 determined eyes she walked deliberately into the 
 square. The crowd parted and gave way before 
 this beautiful girl, with her bared head and its in- 
 vincible crest of chestnut curls. Presently they 
 began to follow her, with a compressed murmur of 
 admiration, until, before she was half-way across 
 the plaza, the sentries beside the gateway of the 
 Presidio were astonished at the vision of a fair- 
 haired and triumphant Pallas, who appeared to be 
 leading the entire population of Todos Santos to 
 victorious attack. In vain a solitary bugle blew, in 
 vain the rolling drum beat an alarm, the sym- 
 pathethic 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 Co- 
 mandante. 
 
 The only feminine consciousness she retained was 
 that she was more relieved at her deliverance from 
 
92 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 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 disperse 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 withheld by a newly-born instinct of 
 tact. 
 
 " 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 prosaic weakness. But her newly-developed 
 diplomacy 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 
 followers. 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 effusive and 
 bovine delight that half frightened her, and with a 
 
THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS. 93 
 
 dozen " Viva la Eeyna Americana ! " she was 
 hurried by the Comandante into the guard-room. 
 
 " You ask to know of what the Seiiora 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. Kead it 
 to her, Manuel." 
 
 The secretary took his eyes from the young girFs 
 glowing face, coughed slightly, and then read as 
 follows, 
 
 " ' On board the Excelsior, of the Quinquinambo 
 ' Independent States Navy, Aug. 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. " Eead on ! " 
 
 The colour gradually faded from the young girl's 
 cheek as the secretary continued, in a monotonous 
 voice, 
 
 " I have the honour to inform you that the 
 barque Excelsior was, on the 8th of July 1854, and 
 the first year of the Quinquinambo Independence, 
 formally condemned by the Federal Council of 
 Quinquinambo, for having aided and assisted the 
 enemy with munitions of war and supplies, against 
 the law of nations, and the tacit and implied good- 
 will between the Eepublic of the United States and 
 
94 THE CBUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 the struggling Confederacies of South America ; and 
 that, in pursuance thereof, and under the law of 
 reprisals 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 interpretation 
 of the orders of the Federal Council excepting 
 innocent non-combatants and their official protector 
 from confiscation or amercement. 
 
 " I take the liberty of requesting you to hand the 
 enclosed order on the Treasury of the Quinquinambo 
 Confederate States to Don Miguel Briones, in 
 payment of certain stores and provisions, and of a 
 piece of ordnance known as the saluting cannon 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 realisation 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 saicl 
 
THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS. 95 
 
 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 protesta- 
 tions and her present unprotected isolation. 
 
 " 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 faltered ; 
 " 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. Extravagant and monstrous 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. Brimmer's supplication to be ranged 
 " on her side," and realised with feminine quickness, 
 that the situation might be turned to her country- 
 men's advantage. But which side had Todos Santos 
 favoured ? It was left to her woman's wit to discover 
 
96 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 this, and conceive a plan to rescue her helpless 
 companions. 
 
 Her suspense was quickly relieved. The Com- 
 mander and his secretary exchanged a few words : 
 
 "The Comandante will grant Dona Leonora's 
 request," said the secretary, " if she will answer a 
 question." 
 
 " What is it ? " responded Miss Keene, with 
 inward trepidation. 
 
 " The Senora Markham is perhaps beloved by the 
 pirate Perkins ? " ' 
 
 In spite of her danger, in spite of the uncertain 
 fate hanging over her party, Miss Keene could with 
 difficulty repress a half hysterical inclination to 
 laugh. Even then, it escaped in a sudden twinkle 
 of her eye, which both the Commander and his 
 subordinate were quick to notice, as she replied 
 demurely, " Perhaps." 
 
 It was enough for the Commander. A gleam of 
 antique archness and venerable raillery lit up his 
 own murky, tobacco-coloured pupils; a spasm of 
 gallantry crossed the face of the secretary. 
 
 " Ah what would you ? it is the way of the 
 world," said the Commander. "We comprehend. 
 Come!" 
 
 He led the way across the corridor, and suddenly 
 opened a small barred door. Whatever precon- 
 ceived idea Miss Keene may have had of her 
 unfortunate country-woman immured in a noisome 
 cell, and guarded by a stern jailer, was quite 
 dissipated by the soft misty sunshine that flowed in 
 through the open door. The prison of Mrs. Mark- 
 
THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS. 97 
 
 ham was a part of the old glacis which had been 
 allowed to lapse into a wild garden that stretched 
 to the edge of the sea. There was a summer-house 
 built on and partly from a crumbling bastion, 
 and here, under the shade of tropical creepers, the 
 melancholy captive was comfortably writing, with 
 her portable desk on her knee, and a travelling bag 
 at her feet. A Saratoga trunk of obtrusive propor- 
 tions stood in the centre of the peaceful vegetation 
 like a newly-raised altar to an unknown deity. The 
 only suggestion of martial surveillance was an Indian 
 soldier, whose musket, reposing on the ground near 
 Mrs. Markham, he had exchanged for the rude 
 mattock with which he was quietly digging. 
 
 The two women, with a cry of relief, flew into 
 each other's arms. The Commander and his 
 secretary discreetly retired to an angle of the 
 wall. 
 
 " I find everything as I left it, my dear, even to 
 my slipper-bag," said Mrs. Markham. "They've 
 forgotten nothing." 
 
 " But you are a captive ? " said Eleanor. " What 
 does it mean ? " 
 
 " Nothing, my dear. I gave them a piece of my 
 mind," said Mrs. Markham, looking, however, as if 
 that mental offering had by no means exhausted her 
 capital, " and I have written six pages to the 
 Governor at Mazatlan, and a full account to Mr. 
 Markham." 
 
 " And they won't get them in thirty years ! " 
 said Miss Keene impetuously. " But where is this 
 letter from Senor Perkins. And, for Heaven's sake, 
 
 7 
 
98 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 tell me if you had the least suspicion before of any- 
 thing that has happened ? " 
 
 " Not in the least. The man is mad, ray dear, 
 and I really believe, driven so by that absurd 
 Illinois woman's poetry. Did you ever see any- 
 thing so ridiculous and shameful, too as the 
 * Ulricardo,' business ? I don't wonder he coloured 
 so." 
 
 Miss Keene winced with annoyance. Was every- 
 body going crazy, or was there anything more in 
 this catastrophe that had only enfeebled the minds 
 of her country-women ! For here was the severe, 
 strong-minded Mrs. Markham actually pre-occupied, 
 like Mrs. Brimmer, with these utterly irrelevant 
 particulars, and apparently powerless to grasp the 
 fact that they were abandoned on a half-hostile 
 strand, and cut off by half a century from the rest 
 of the world. 
 
 " As to the letter," said Mrs. Markham quietly, 
 " there it is. There's nothing in it that might not 
 have been written by a friend." 
 
 Miss Keene took the letter. It was written in a 
 delicate, almost feminine hand. She could not help 
 noticing that in one or two instances corrections had 
 been made and blots carefully removed with an 
 eraser. 
 
 " Midnight, on the Excelsior. 
 
 " MY FRIEND, When you receive this I shall 
 probably be once more on the bosom of that 
 mysterious and mighty element whose majesty has 
 impressed us, whose poetry we have loved, and whose 
 
THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS. 99 
 
 moral lessons, I trust, have not been entirely thrown 
 away upon us. I go to the deliverance of one of 
 those oppressed nations whose history I have often 
 recited to you, and in whose destiny you have from 
 time to time expressed a womanly sympathy. 
 While it is probable, therefore, that my motives 
 may not be misunderstood by you, or even other 
 dear friends of the Excelsior, it is by no means im- 
 possible that the celerity and unexpectedness of 
 my action may not be perfectly appreciated by the 
 careless mind, and may seem to require some 
 explanation. Let me then briefly say that the idea 
 of debarking your goods and chattels, and parting 
 from your delightful company at Todos Santos, only 
 occurred to me on our unexpected shall I say 
 providential ? arrival at that spot ; and the 
 necessity of expedition forbade me either inviting 
 your co-operation or soliciting your confidence- 
 Human intelligence is variously constituted or, to 
 use a more homely phrase, ' many men have many 
 minds ' and it is not impossible that a premature 
 disclosure of my plans might have jeopardised that 
 harmony which you know it has been my desire to 
 promote. It was my original intention to have 
 landed you at Mazatlan, a place really inferior in 
 climate and natural attractions to Todos Santos, 
 although, perhaps, more easy of access and egress ; 
 but the presence of an American steamer in the 
 offing would have invested my enterprise with a 
 certain publicity foreign, I think, to all our tastes , 
 Taking advantage, therefore, of my knowledge of 
 the peninsular coast, and the pardonable ignorance 
 
100 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 of Captain Bunker, I endeavoured, through my 
 faithful subordinates, to reach a less-known port, 
 and a coast rarely frequented by reason of its pre- 
 vailing fog. Here occurred one of those dispensa- 
 tions of an over-ruling Power which, dear friend, 
 we have so often discussed. We fell in with an 
 unknown current, and were guided by a mysterious 
 hand into the bay of Todos Santos ! 
 
 " You know of my belief in the infinite wisdom 
 and benignity of events ; you have, dear friend, 
 with certain feminine limitations, shared it with 
 me. Could there have been a more perfect illustra- 
 tion of it than the power that led us here ? On a 
 shore, historic in interest, beautiful in climate, 
 hospitable in its people, utterly freed from external 
 influences, and absolutely without a compromising 
 future, you are landed, my dear friend, with your 
 youthful companions. From the crumbling ruins 
 of a decaying Past you are called to construct an 
 Arcadia of your own; the rudiments of a new 
 civilisation, are within your grasp ; the cost of ex- 
 istence is comparatively trifling ; the various sums 
 you have with you, which even in the chaos of 
 revolution I have succeeded in keeping intact, will 
 more than suffice to your natural wants for years to 
 come. Were I not already devoted to the task of 
 freeing Quinquinambo, I should willingly share this 
 Elysium with you all. But, to use the glowing words 
 of Mrs. MacCorkle, slightly altering the refrain, 
 
 " ' Ah, stay me not ! With flying feet 
 O'er desert sands, I rush to greet 
 JVIy fate, my love, my life, my sweet 
 Quinquinambo 1 ' 
 
THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS. 101 
 
 " I venture to entrust to your care two unpub- 
 lished manuscripts of that gifted woman. The 
 dangers that may environ my present mission, the 
 vicissitudes of battle by sea or land, forbid my im- 
 perilling their natural descent to posterity. You, 
 my dear friend, will preserve them for the ages to 
 come, occasionally refreshing yourself, from time to 
 time, from that Parnassian spring. 
 
 " Adieu ! my friend. I look around the familiar 
 cabin, and miss your gentle faces. I feel as Jason 
 might have felt, alone on the deck of the Argo 
 when his companions were ashore, except that I 
 know of no Circean influences to mar their destiny. 
 In examining the state-rooms to see if my orders 
 for the complete restoration of passengers' pro- 
 perty had been carried out, I allowed myself to 
 look into yours. Lying alone, forgotten and over- 
 looked, I saw a peculiar jet hair-pin, which I think 
 I have observed in the coils of your tresses. May I 
 venture to keep this gentle instrument as a re- 
 minder of the superior intellect it has so often 
 crowned ? Adieu, my friend. Ever yours, 
 
 "LEONIDAS BOLIVAR PERKINS." 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Markham impatiently, as Miss 
 Keene remained motionless with the letter in her 
 hand. 
 
 " It seems like a ridiculous nightmare ! I can't 
 understand it at all. The man that wrote this 
 letter may be mad but he is neither a pirate nor a 
 thief and yet " 
 
 " He a pirate ! " echoed Mrs. Markham indig- 
 
102 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 nantly ; " he's nothing of the kind ; Why, it's not 
 even his fault ! " 
 
 "Not his fault?" repeated Miss Keene ; "are 
 you mad, too ? " 
 
 " Xo nor a fool, my dear ! Don't you see ? It's 
 all the fault of Banks and Brimmer for compromis- 
 ing the vessel : of that stupid, drunken captain for 
 permitting it. Senor Perkins is a liberator, a 
 patriot, who has perilled himself and his country to 
 treat us magnanimously, Don't you see it ? It's 
 like that Banks and that Mrs. Brimmer to call Aim 
 a pirate ; I've a good mind to give the Commander 
 my opinion of them" 
 
 " Hush ! " said Miss Keene with a sudden recol- 
 lection of the Commander's suspicions, " for 
 Heaven's sake ; you do not know what you are 
 saying. Look ! they were talking with that strange 
 man, and now they are coming this way." 
 
 The Commander and his secretary approached 
 them. They were both more than usually grave ; 
 but the look of inquiry and suspicion with which 
 they regarded the two women was gone from their 
 eyes. 
 
 " The Senor Comandante says you are free, 
 Senoras, and begs you will only decide whether you 
 will remain his guests, or the guests of the Alcalde. 
 But, for the present, he cannot allow you any 
 communication with the prisoners of San Antonio." 
 
 " There is further news ? ' ; said Miss Keene 
 faintly, with a presentiment of worse complications. 
 
 " There is ! A body, from the Excelsior, has been 
 washed on shore." 
 
IN SANCTUARY. 103 
 
 The two women turned pale. 
 
 "In the pocket of the murdered man is an 
 accusation against one Seiior Hurlstone, who was 
 concealed on the ship ; who came not ashore openly 
 with the other passengers, but who escaped in 
 secret, and is now hiding somewhere in Todos 
 Santos." 
 
 " And you suspect him of this infamous act ? " 
 said Eleanor, forgetting all prudence in her indig- 
 nation. "You are deceiving yourself. He is as 
 innocent as I am ! " 
 
 The Commander and the secretary smiled 
 sapiently, but gently. 
 
 " The Senor Comandante believes you, Dona 
 Leonora : the Senor Hurlstone is innocent of the 
 piracy. He is, of a surety, the leader of the 
 Opposition." 
 
 CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 IN SANCTUARY. 
 
 WHEN 'James Hurlstone reached the shelter of the 
 shrubbery he leaned exhaustedly against the adobe 
 wall, and looked back upon the garden he had just 
 traversed. At its lower extremity a tall hedge of 
 cactus reinforced the crumbling wall with a cheval 
 de frise of bristling thorns ; it was through a gap 
 in this green barrier that he had found his way a 
 few hours before, as his torn clothes still testified. 
 At one side ran the low wall of the Alcalde's casa, a 
 mere line of dark shadow in that strange diaphanous 
 mist that seemed to suffuse all objects. The gnarled 
 
104 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 and twisted branches of pear-trees, gouty with old 
 age, bent so low as to impede any progress under 
 their formal avenues ; out of a tangled labyrinth of 
 fig-trees, here and there a single plume of feathery 
 palm swam in a drowsy upper radiance. The shrub- 
 bery around him, of some unknown variety, exhaled 
 a faint perfume ; he put out his hand to grasp what 
 appeared to be a young catalpa, and found it the 
 trunk of an enormous passion vine, that, creeping 
 softly upward, had at last invaded the very belfry 
 of the dim tower above him ; and touching it, 
 his soul seemed to be lifted with it out of the 
 shadow. 
 
 The great hush and quiet that had fallen like a 
 benediction on every sleeping thing around him ; 
 the deep and passionless repose that seemed to drop 
 from the bending boughs of the venerable trees ; 
 the cool, restful, earthy breath of the shadowed 
 mould beneath him, touched only by a faint jessa- 
 mine-like perfume as of a dead passion, lulled the 
 hurried beatings of his heart and calmed the feverish 
 tremor of his limbs. He allowed himself to sink 
 back against the wall, his hands tightly clasped 
 before him. Gradually, the set, abstracted look of 
 his eyes faded and became suffused, as if moistened 
 by that celestial mist. Then he rose quickly, drew 
 his sleeve hurriedly across his lashes, and began 
 slowly to creep along the wall again. 
 
 Either the obscurity of the shrubbery became 
 greater or he was growing pre-occupied ; but in 
 steadying himself by the wall, he had, without per- 
 ceiving it, put his hand upon a rude door that, 
 
IN SANCTUARY. 105 
 
 yielding to his pressure, opened noiselessly into a 
 dark passage. Without apparent reflection he 
 entered, followed the passage a few steps until it 
 turned abruptly ; turning with it, he found himself 
 in the body of the Mission Church of Todos Santos. 
 A swinging-lamp that burned perpetually before an 
 effigy of the Virgin Mother, threw a faint light on 
 the single rose-window behind the high altar; 
 another, suspended in a low archway, apparently lit 
 the open door of the passage towards the refectory. 
 By the stronger light of the latter, Hurlstone could 
 see the barbaric red and tarnished gold of the 
 rafters that formed the straight roof. The walls 
 were striped with equally bizarre colouring, half 
 Moorish and half Indian. A few hangings of 
 dyed and painted cloths with heavy fringes were 
 disposed on either side of the chancel, like the flaps 
 of a wigwam ; and the aboriginal suggestion was 
 further repeated in a quantity of coloured beads and 
 sea-shells that decked the communion-rails. The 
 Stations of the Cross, along the walls, were com- 
 memorated by paintings, evidently by a native 
 artist to suit the same barbaric taste; while a 
 larger picture of San Francisco d'Assisis, under the 
 choir, seemed to belong to an older and more artistic 
 civilisation. But the sombre half-light of the two 
 lamps mellowed and softened the harsh contrast of 
 these details until the whole body of the church 
 appeared rilled with a vague harmonious shadow. 
 The air, heavy with the odours of past incense, 
 seemed to be a part of that expression, as if the 
 
106 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 solemn and sympathetic twilight became palpable in 
 each deep, long-drawn inspiration. 
 
 Again overcome by the feeling of repose and 
 peacefulness, Hurlstone sank upon a rude settle, and 
 bent his head and folded arms over a low railing 
 before him. How long he sat there, allowing the 
 subtle influence to transfuse and possess his entire 
 being, he did not know. The faint twitter of birds 
 suddenly awoke him. Looking up, he perceived 
 that it came from the vacant square of the tower 
 above him, open to the night and suffused with its 
 mysterious radiance. In another moment the roof 
 of the church was swiftly crossed and recrossed with 
 tiny and adventurous wings. The mysterious light 
 had taken an opaline colour. Morning was 
 breaking. 
 
 The slow rustling of a garment, accompanied by 
 a soft but heavy tread, sounded from the passage. 
 He started to his feet as the priest, whom he had 
 seen on the deck of the Excelsior, entered the 
 church from the refectory. The Padre was alone. 
 At the apparition of a stranger, torn and dishevelled, 
 he stopped involuntarily, and cast a hasty look 
 towards the heavy silver ornaments on the altar. 
 Hurlstone noticed it, and smiled bitterly. 
 
 " Don't alarm yourself. I only sought this place 
 for shelter." 
 
 He spoke in French the language he had heard 
 Padre Esteban address to Mrs. Brimmer, but the 
 priest's quick eye had already detected his own 
 mistake. He lifted his hand with a sublime gesture 
 towards the altar, and said : 
 
IN SANCTUARY. 107 
 
 " You are right ! Where should you seek shelter 
 but here?" 
 
 The reply was so unexpected that Hurlstone was 
 silent. His lips quivered slightly. 
 
 " And if it were sanctuary I was seeking ? " he 
 said. 
 
 " You would first tell me why you sought it," said 
 Don Esteban gently. 
 
 Hurlstone looked at him irresolutely for a 
 moment, and then said, with the hopeless des- 
 peration of a man'anxious to anticipate his fate : 
 
 "I am a passenger on the ship you boarded 
 yesterday. I came ashore with the intention of con- 
 cealing myself somewhere here until she had sailed. 
 When I tell you that I am not a fugitive from 
 justice, that I have committed no offence against 
 the ship or her passengers, nor have I any intention 
 of doing so, but that I only wish concealment from 
 their knowledge for twenty-four hours, you will 
 know enough to understand that you run no risk in 
 giving me assistance. I can tell you no more." 
 
 " I did not see you with the other passengers, 
 either on the ship or ashore," said the priest. " How 
 did you come here ? " 
 
 " I swam ashore before they left. I did not know 
 they had any idea of landing here ; I expected to 
 be the only one, and there would have been no 
 need for concealment then. But I am not lucky," 
 he added, with a bitter laugh. 
 
 The priest glanced at his garments, which bore 
 the traces of the sea, but remained silent. 
 " Do you think I am lying ? " 
 
108 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 The old priest lifted his head with a gesture. 
 
 " Not to me but to Grod ! " 
 
 The young man followed the gesture, and glanced 
 around the barbaric church with a slight look of 
 scorn. But the profound isolation, the mystic 
 seclusion, and, above all, the complete obliteration 
 of that world and civilisation he shrank from and 
 despised, again subdued and overcame his rebellious 
 spirit. He lifted his eyes to the priest. 
 
 " Nor to God," he said gravely. 
 
 " Then why withhold anything from Him here ? " 
 said the priest gently. 
 
 " I am not a Catholic I do not believe in 
 confession," said Hurlstone doggedly, turning 
 aside. 
 
 But Padre Esteban laid his large brown hand on 
 the young man's shoulder. Touched by some 
 occult suggestion in its soft contact, he sank again 
 into his seat. 
 
 " Yet you ask for the sanctuary of His house a 
 sanctuary bought by that contrition whose first ex- 
 pression is the bared and open soul ! To the first 
 worldly shelter you sought the peon's hut or the 
 Alcalde's casa you would have thought it necessary 
 to bring a story. You would not conceal from the 
 physician whom you asked for balsam either the 
 wound, the sj'mptoms, or the cause ? Enough," he 
 said kindly, as Hurlstone was about to reply. " You 
 shall have your request. You shall stay here. I 
 will be your physician, and will salve your wounds ; 
 if any poison I know not of rankle there, you will 
 not blame me, son, but perhaps you will assist me 
 
IN SANCTUARY. 109 
 
 to find it. I will give you a secluded cell in 
 the dormitory until the ship has sailed. And 
 then " 
 
 He dropped quietly on the settle, took the young 
 man's hand paternally in his own, and gazed into 
 his eyes as if he read his soul. 
 
 And then. . . . Ah, yes. . . . What 
 then ? Hurlstone glanced once more around him. 
 He thought of the quiet night ; of the great peace 
 that had fallen upon him since he had entered the 
 garden, and the promise of a greater peace that 
 seemed to breathe with the incense from those 
 venerable walls. He thought of that crumbling 
 barrier, that even in its ruin seemed to shut out, 
 more completely than anything he had conceived, 
 his bitter past, and the bitter world that recalled 
 it. He thought of the long days to come, when, 
 forgetting and forgotten, he might find a new life 
 among these simple aliens, themselves forgotten 
 by the world. He had thought of this once before 
 in the garden ; it occurred to him again in this 
 Lethe-like oblivion of the little church, in the 
 kindly pressure of the priest's hand. The orna- 
 ments no longer looked uncouth and barbaric 
 rather they seemed full of some new spiritual 
 significance. He suddenly lifted his eyes to Padre 
 Esteban, and, half rising to his feet, said : 
 
 "Are we alone?" 
 
 " We are ; it is a half-hour yet before mass," said 
 the priest. 
 
 " My story will not last so long," said the young 
 man hurriedly, as if fearing to change his mind. 
 
110 THE CRUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR." 
 
 " Hear me, then it is no crime nor offence to any 
 one ; more than that, it concerns no one but myself 
 it is of " 
 
 "A woman," said the priest softly. " So ! we will 
 sit down, my son." 
 
 He lifted his hand with a soothing gesture 
 the movement of a physician who has just arrived 
 at an easy diagnosis of certain uneasy symptoms. 
 There was also a slight suggestion of an habitual 
 toleration, as if even the seclusion of Todos Santos 
 had not been entirely free from the invasion of the 
 primal passion. 
 
 Hurlstone waited for an instant, but then went 
 on rapidly. 
 
 " It is of a woman, who has cursed my life, blasted 
 my prospects, and ruined my youth ; a woman who 
 gained my early affection only to blight and wither 
 it ; a woman who should be nearer and dearer 
 than all else, and yet who is further than the 
 uttermost depths of hell from me in sympathy or 
 feeling ; a woman that I should cleave to, but from 
 whom I have been flying, ready to face shame, 
 disgrace, oblivion, even that death which alone can 
 part us : for that woman is my wife." 
 
 He stopped, out of breath, with fixed eyes and a 
 rigid mouth. Father Esteban drew a snuff-box 
 from his pocket, and a large handkerchief. After 
 blowing his nose violently, he took a pinch of snuff, 
 wiped his lip, and replaced the box. 
 
 " A bad habit, my son," he said apologetically, 
 " but an old man's weakness. Gro on." 
 
 "I met her first five years ago; the wife of 
 
IN SANCTUARY. Ill 
 
 another man. Don't misjudge me, it was no lawless 
 passion ; it was a friendship, I believed, due to her 
 intellectual qualities as much as to , her womanly 
 fascinations; for I was a young student, lodging in 
 the same house with her, in an academic town. 
 Before I ever spoke to her of love, she had confided 
 to me her own unhappiness the uncongeniality of 
 her married life, the harshness, and even brutality, of 
 her husband. Even a man less in love than I was 
 could have seen the truth of this the contrast of the 
 coarse, sensual, and vulgar man with an apparently 
 refined and intelligent woman ; but any one else 
 but myself would have suspected that such a union 
 was not merely a sacrifice of the woman. I 
 believed her. It was not until long afterwards that 
 I learned that her marriage had been a condonation 
 of her youthful errors by a complaisant bridegroom ; 
 that her character had been saved by a union that 
 was a mutual concession. But I loved her madly ; 
 and when she finally got a divorce from her un- 
 congenial husband, I believed it less an expression 
 of her love for me than an act of justice. I did 
 not know at the time that they had arranged the 
 divorce together, as they had arranged their 
 marriage, by equal concessions. 
 
 " I was the only son of a widowed mother, 
 whose instincts were, from the first, opposed to my 
 friendship with this woman, and what she propheti- 
 cally felt would be its result. Unfortunately, both 
 she and my friends were foolish enough to avow 
 their belief that the divorce was obtained solely 
 with a view of securing me as a successor ; and it 
 
112 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 was this argument more than any other that con- 
 vinced me of my duty to protect her. Enough, I 
 married, not only in spite of all opposition but 
 because of it. 
 
 t( *My mother would have reconciled herself to 
 the marriage, but my wife never forgave the 
 opposition, and, by some hellish instinct, divining 
 that her power over me might be weakened by 
 maternal influence, precipitated a quarrel which for 
 ever separated us. With the little capital left by my 
 father, divided between my mother and myself, I 
 took my wife to a western city. Our small income 
 speedily dwindled under the debts of her former 
 husband, which she had assumed to purchase her 
 freedom. I endeavoured to utilise a good education 
 and some accomplishments in music and the 
 languages by giving lessons and by contributing to 
 the press. In this my wife first made a show of 
 assisting me, but I was not long in discovering 
 that her intelligence was superficial and shallow, 
 and that the audacity of expression, which I had 
 believed to be originality of conviction, was simply 
 shamelessness, and a desire for notoriety. She had 
 a certain facility in writing sentimental poetry, 
 which had been efficacious in her matrimonial 
 confidences, but which editors of magazines and 
 newspapers found to be shallow and insincere. To 
 my astonishment, she remained unaffected by this, 
 as she was equally impervious to the slights and 
 sneers that continually met us in society. At last 
 the inability to pay one of her former husband's 
 claims bought to me a threat and an anonymous 
 
IN SANCTUARY. 113 
 
 letter. I laid them before her, when a scene 
 ensued which revealed the blindness of my folly 
 in all its hideous hopelessness ; she accused me of 
 complicity in her divorce, and deception in regard 
 to my own fortune. In a speech, whose language 
 was a horrible revelation of her early habits, she 
 offered to arrange a divorce from me as she had 
 from her former husband. She gave as a reason 
 her preference for another, and her belief that the 
 scandal of a suit would lend her a certain advertise- 
 ment and prestige. It "was a combination of 
 Messalina and Mrs. Jarly " 
 
 " Pardon ! I remember not a Madame Jarly," 
 said the priest. 
 
 "Of viciousness and commercial calculation," 
 continued Hurlstone hurriedly. " I don't remember 
 what happened ; she swore that I struck her ! 
 Perhaps Grod knows ! But she failed, even before 
 a western jury, to convict me of cruelty. The 
 judge that thought me half insane would not 
 believe me brutal, and her application for divorce 
 was lost. 
 
 " I need not tell you that the same friends who 
 had opposed my marriage now came forward to 
 implore me to allow her to break our chains. I 
 refused. I swear to you it was from no lingering 
 love for her, for her presence drove me mad ; it was 
 from no instinct of revenge or jealousy, for I should 
 have welcomed the man who would have taken her 
 out of my life and memory. But I could not bear 
 the idea of taking her husband's place in her 
 hideous comedy ; I could not purchase my freedom 
 
 8 
 
114 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 at that price at any price. I was told that I 
 could get a divorce against her, and stand forth 
 before the world untrammelled and unstained. 
 But I could not stand before myself in such an 
 attitude. / knew that the shackles I had deliber- 
 ately forged could not be loosened except by death. 
 I knew that the stains of her would cling to me 
 and become a. part of my own sin, even as the sea I 
 plunged into yesterday to escape her, though it 
 has dried upon me, has left its bitter salt behind. 
 
 " When she knew my resolve, she took her 
 revenge by dragging my name through the suc- 
 cessive levels to which she descended. Under the 
 plea that the hardly-earned sum I gave to her 
 maintenance apart from me was not sufficient, she 
 utilised her undoubted beauty and more doubtful 
 talent in amateur entertainments and, finally, on 
 the stage. She was openly accompanied by her 
 lover, who acted as her agent, in the hope of 
 goading me to a divorce. Suddenly, she disap- 
 peared. I thought she had forgotten me. I 
 obtained an honourable position in New York. 
 One night I entered a theatre devoted to burlesque 
 opera, and the exhibition of a popular actress, 
 known as the Western Thalia, whose beautiful and 
 audaciously-draped figure was the talk of the town. 
 I recognised my wife in this star of nudity ; more 
 than that, she recognised me. The next day, in 
 addition to the usual notice, the real name of the 
 actress was given in the morning papers, with a 
 sympathising account of her romantic and un- 
 fortunate marriage. I renounced my position, and, 
 
IN SANCTUARY. 115 
 
 taking advantage of an offer from an old friend in 
 California, resolved to join him secretly there. My 
 mother had died broken-hearted ; I was alone in 
 the world. But my wife discovered my intention ; 
 and when I reached Callao, I heard that she had 
 followed me, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, 
 and that probably she would anticipate me in 
 Mazatlan, where we were to stop. The thought 
 of suicide haunted me during the rest of that 
 horrible voyage ; only my belief that she would 
 make it appear as a tacit confession of my guilt 
 saved me from that last act of weakness." 
 
 He stopped and shuddered. Padre Esteban 
 again laid his hand softly upon him. 
 
 " It was God who spared you that sacrifice of soul 
 and body," he said gently. 
 
 " I thought it was (rod that suggested to me to 
 make the simulation of that act the means of 
 separating myself from her for ever. When we 
 neared Mazatlan, I conceived the idea of hiding 
 myself in the hold of the Excelsior until she had 
 left that port, in the hope that it would be believed 
 that I had fallen overboard. I succeeded in secret- 
 ing myself, but was discovered at the same time 
 that the unexpected change in the ship's destina- 
 tion rendered concealment unnecessary. As we did 
 not put in at Mazatlan, nobody suspected my 
 discovery in the hold to be anything but the 
 accident that I gave it out to be. I felt myself 
 saved the confrontation of the woman at Mazatlan ; 
 but I knew she would pursue me to San Francisco. 
 The strange dispensation of Providence that brought 
 
 8* ' 
 
116 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 us into this unknown port gave me another hope 
 of escape and oblivion. While you and the 
 Commander were boarding the Excelsior, I slipped 
 from the cabin window into the water ; I was a 
 good swimmer, and reached the shore in safety. I 
 concealed myself in the ditch of the Presidio until 
 I saw the passengers' boats returning with them, 
 when I sought the safer shelter of this mission. 
 I made my way through a gap in the hedge and 
 lay under your olive-trees, hearing the voices of my 
 companions, beyond the walls, till past midnight. I 
 then groped my way along the avenue of pear- 
 trees till I came to another wall, and a door that 
 opened to my accidental touch. I entered, and 
 found myself here. You know the rest." 
 
 He had spoken with the rapid and unpent 
 fluency of a man who cared more to relieve him- 
 self of an oppressive burden than to impress his 
 auditor ; yet the restriction of a foreign tongue had 
 checked repetition or verbosity. Without imagina- 
 tion he had been eloquent ; without hopefulness he 
 had been convincing. Father Esteban rose, hold- 
 ing both his hands. 
 
 "My son, in the sanctuary which you have 
 claimed there is no divorce. The woman who has 
 ruined your life could not be your wife. As long as 
 her first husband lives, she is for ever his wife, 
 bound by a tie which no human law can sever! " 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AN OPEN-AIR PRISON. 
 
 AN hour after mass, Father Esteban had quietly 
 installed Hurlstone in a small cell-like apartment 
 off the refectory. The household of the priest 
 consisted of an old Indian woman of fabulous age 
 and miraculous propriety, two Indian boys, who 
 served at mass, a gardener, and a muleteer. The 
 first three, who were immediately in attendance 
 upon the priest, were cognisant of a stranger's 
 presence, but, under instructions from the reverend 
 Padre, were loyally and superstitiously silent ; the 
 vocations of the gardener and muleteer made any 
 intrusion from them impossible. A breakfast of 
 fruit, tortillas, chocolate, and red -wine, of which 
 Hurlstone partook sparingly, and only to please his 
 entertainer, nevertheless seemed to restore his 
 strength, as it did the Padre's equanimity. For 
 the old man had been somewhat agitated during 
 mass, and, except that his early morning congre- 
 gation was mainly composed of Indians, muleteers, 
 and small vendors, his abstraction would have been 
 noticed. With ready tact he had not attempted, 
 by further questioning, to break the taciturnity 
 into which Hurlstone had relapsed after his 
 emotional confession and the priest's abrupt half- 
 absolution, Was it possible he regretted his 
 
118 THE CBUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOK." 
 
 confidence, or was it possible that his first free and 
 untrammelled expression of his wrongs had 
 left him with a haunting doubt of their real 
 magnitude ? 
 
 " Lie down here, my son," said the old 
 ecclesiastic, pointing to a small pallet in the 
 corner, " and try to restore in the morning what 
 you have taken from the night. Mafmela will bring 
 your clothes when they are dried and mended ; 
 meantime, shift for yourself in Pepito's serape and 
 calzas. I will betake me to the Comandante and the 
 Alcalde> to learn the dispositions of your party, when 
 the ship will sail, and if your absence is suspected- 
 Peace be with you, son ! Manuela, attend to the 
 caballero, and see you chatter not " 
 
 Without doubting the substantial truth of his 
 guest's story, the good Padre Esteban was not un- 
 willing to have it corroborated by such details as he 
 thought he could collect among the Excelsior's 
 passengers. His own experience in the confessional 
 had taught him the unreliability of human evidence, 
 and the vagaries of both conscientious and uncon- 
 cious suppression. That a young, good-looking, and 
 accomplished caballero should have been the victim 
 of not one, but even many, erotic episodes, did not 
 strike the holy father as being peculiar ; but that he 
 should have been brought by a solitary unfortunate 
 attachment to despair and renunciation of the 
 world, appeared to him marvellous. He was not 
 unfamiliar with the remorse of certain gallants for 
 peccadilloes with other men's wives ; but this 
 Americano's self-abasement for the sins of his own 
 
AN OPEN-AIR PRISON. 119 
 
 wife as he foolishly claimed her to be whom he 
 hated and despised, struck Father Esteban as a 
 miracle open to suspicion. Was there anything else 
 in these somewhat commonplace details of vulgar 
 and low intrigue than what he had told the priest ? 
 Were all these Americano husbands as sensitive and 
 as gloomily self-sacrificing and expiating ? It did 
 not appear so from the manners and customs of the 
 others from those easy matrons whose complacent 
 husbands had abandoned them to the long com- 
 panionship of youthful cavaliers on adventurous 
 voyages ; from those audacious virgins, who had the 
 freedom of married women. Surely, this was not a 
 pious and sensitive race, passionately devoted to 
 their domestic affections ! The young stranger must 
 be either deceiving him or an exception to his 
 countrymen ! 
 
 And if he was that exception what then ? An 
 idea which had sprung up in Father Esteban's fancy 
 that morning now took possession 'of it with the 
 tenacity of a growth on fertile virgin soil. The 
 good Father had been devoted to the conversion of 
 the heathen with the fervour of a one-ideaed man. 
 But his successes had been among the Indians a 
 guileless, harmless race, who too often confounded 
 the practical benefits of civilisation with the abstract 
 benefits of the Church, and their instruction had 
 been simple and coercive. There had been no 
 necessity for argument or controversy ; the worthy 
 priest's skill in polemical warfare and disputation 
 had never been brought into play ; the Comandante 
 and Alcalde were as punctiliously orthodox as him- 
 
120 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 self, and the small traders and artisans were hope- 
 lessly docile and submissive. The march of science, 
 which had been stopped by the local fogs of Todos 
 Santos some fifty years, had not disturbed the simple 
 ^Esculapius of the province with heterodox theories : 
 he still purged and bled like Sangrado, and met the 
 priest at the deathbed of his victims with a pious 
 satisfaction that had no trace of sceptical contention. 
 In fact, the gentle Mission of Todos Santos had 
 hitherto presented no field for the good Father's 
 exalted ambition, nor the display of his powers 
 as a zealot. And here was a splendid opportunity. 
 
 The conversion of this dark, impulsive, hysterical 
 stranger would be a gain to the fold, and a triumph 
 worthy of his steel. More than that, if he had 
 judged correctly of this young man's mind and 
 temperament, they seemed to contain those elements 
 of courage and sacrificial devotion that indicated 
 the missionary priesthood. With such a subaltern, 
 what might not he, Father Esteban, accomplish ! 
 Looking further into the future, what a glorious 
 successor might be left to his unfinished work on 
 Todos Santos ! 
 
 Buried in these reflections, Padre Esteban saun- 
 tered leisurely up the garden, that gradually 
 ascended the slight elevation on which the greater 
 part of the pueblo was built. Through a low gate- 
 way in the wall he passed on to the crest of the 
 one straggling street of Todos Santos. On 
 either side of him were ranged the low 
 one-storeyed, deep-windowed adobe fondas and 
 artisans' dwellings, with low-pitched roofs of dull 
 
AN OPEN-AIR PEISON. 121 
 
 red pipe-like tiles. Absorbed in his fanciful dreams, 
 he did not at first notice that those dwellings ap- 
 peared deserted, and that even the Posada opposite 
 him, whose courtyard was usually filled with 
 lounging muleteers, was empty and abandoned. 
 Looking down the street towards the plaza, he 
 became presently aware of some undefined stirring 
 in the peaceful hamlet. There was an unusual 
 throng in the square, and afar on that placid surface 
 of the bay from which the fog had lifted, the two 
 or three fishing-boats of Todos Santos were vaguely 
 pulling. But the strange ship was gone. 
 
 A feeling of intense relief and satisfaction fol- 
 lowed. Father Esteban pulled out his snuff-box 
 and took a long and complacent pinch. But his 
 relief was quickly changed to consternation as an 
 armed cavalcade rapidly wheeled out of the plaza 
 and cantered towards him, with the unmistakable 
 spectacle of the male passengers of the Excelsior 
 riding two and two, and guarded by double files of 
 dragoons on each side. 
 
 At a sign from the priest, the subaltern reigned 
 in his mustang, halted the convoy, and saluted 
 respectfully, to the astonishment of the prisoners. 
 The clerical authority of Todos Santos evidently 
 dominated the military. A feeling of hope sprang 
 up in the hearts of the Excelsior party. 
 
 "What have we here ? " asked Padre Esteban. 
 
 " A revolution, your Keverence, among the 
 Americanos, with robbery of the Presidio saluting 
 gun ; a grave affair. Your Reverence has been sent 
 for by the Comandante. I am taking these men 
 
122 THE CEUSADB OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 to San Antonio. . _to_. await . the decision of the 
 Council." 
 
 "And the ship?" 
 
 " Gone, your Reverence. One of the parties has 
 captured it." 
 
 " And these ? " 
 
 " Are the Legitimists, your Eeverence : at least 
 they have confessed to have warred with Mexico, 
 and invaded California the brigands." 
 
 The priest remained lost for a moment in blank 
 and bitter amazement. Banks took advantage of 
 the pause to edge his way to the front. 
 
 " Ask him, some of you," he said, turning to 
 Brace and Crosby, " when this d d farce will be 
 over, and where we can find the head man the 
 boss idiot of this foolery." 
 
 ."Let him put it milder," whispered Winslow. 
 " You got us into trouble enough with your tongue 
 already." 
 
 Crosby hesitated a moment. 
 
 (( Quand finira ce drole representation ? et et 
 qui est ce qui est 1'entrepreneur ? " he said 
 dubiously. 
 
 The priest stared. These Americans were surely 
 cooler and less excitable than his strange guest. A 
 thought struck him. 
 
 " How many are still in the ship ? " he asked 
 gently. 
 
 " Nobody but Perkins and that piratical crew of 
 niggers." 
 
 " And that infernal Hurlstone," added Winslow. 
 
 The priest pricked up his ears. 
 
AN OPEN-AIR PRISON. ;__ 123 
 
 " Hurlstone ? " he repeated. 
 
 "Yes a passenger like ourselves, as we supposed. 
 But we are satisfied now he was in the conspiracy 
 from the beginning," translated Crosby painfully. 
 
 " Look at his strange disappearance a regular 
 put-up job," broke in Brace, in English, without 
 reference to the Padre's not comprehending him ; 
 "so that he and Perkins could shut themselves 
 up together without suspicion." 
 
 " Never mind Hurlstone now ; he's gone, and 
 we're here" said Banks angrily. " Ask the parson, 
 as a gentleman and a Christian, what sort of a 
 hole we've got into, anyhow. How far is the next 
 settlement ? " 
 
 Crosby put the question. The subaltern lit a 
 cigarette. 
 
 " There is no next settlement. The pueblo ends 
 at San Antonio." 
 
 " And what's beyond that ? " 
 
 " The ocean." 
 
 " And what's south ? " 
 
 " The desert one cannot pass it." 
 
 " And north ? " 
 
 " The desert." 
 
 "And east?" 
 
 " The desert too." 
 
 " Then how do you get away from here ? " 
 
 " We do not get away." 
 
 " And how do you communicate with Mexico 
 with your Government ? " 
 
 " When a ship comes." 
 
 " And when does a ship come ? " 
 
124 THE CEUSADE OF THE ''EXCELSIOR." 
 
 "Quiensabe?" 
 
 The officer threw away his cigarette. 
 
 " I say, you'll tell the Commander that all this is 
 illegal ; and that I'm going to complain to our 
 Government," continued Banks hurriedly. 
 
 "I go to speak to the Comandante," responded 
 the priest gravely. 
 
 " And tell him that if he touches a hair of the 
 ladies' heads we'll have his own scalp," interrupted 
 Brace impetuously. 
 
 Even Crosby's diplomatic modification of this 
 speech did not appear entirely successful. 
 
 " The Mexican soldier wars not with women," said 
 the priest coldly. " Adieu, messieurs ! " 
 
 The cavalcade moved on. The Excelsior pas- 
 sengers at once resumed their chorus of complaint, 
 tirade, and aggressive suggestion, heedless of the 
 soldiers who rode stolidly on each side. 
 
 " To think we haven't got a single revolver among 
 us ! " said Brace despairingly. 
 
 " We might each grab a carbine from these 
 nigger fellows," said Crosby, eyeing them con- 
 templatively. 
 
 " And if they didn't burst, and we weren't shot 
 by the next patrol, and if we'd calculated to be 
 mean enough to run away from the women where 
 would we escape to ? " asked Banks curtly. " Hold 
 on at least until we get an ultimatum from that 
 commodious ass at the Presidio! Then we'll 
 anticipate the fool-killer, if you like. My opinion 
 is, they aren't in any great hurry to try anything 
 on us just yet." 
 
AN OPEN-AIR PRISON. 125 
 
 "And I say, lie' low and keep dark until they 
 show their hand," added Winslow, who had no relish 
 for an indiscriminate scrimmage, and had his own 
 ideas of placating their captors. 
 
 Nevertheless, by degrees they fell into a silence, 
 partly the effect of the strangely enervating air. 
 The fog had completely risen from the landscape, 
 and hung high in mid-air, through which an intense 
 sun, shorn of its fierceness, diffused a lambent 
 warmth, and a yellowish, unctuous light, as if it 
 had passed through amber. The bay gleamed 
 clearly and distinctly; not a shadow flecked its 
 surface to the grey impenetrable rampart of fog 
 that stretched like a granite wall before its entrance. 
 On one side of the narrow road billows of monstrous 
 grain undulated to the crest of the low hills, that 
 looked like larger undulations of the soil, furrowed 
 by bosky canadas or shining arroyos. Banks was 
 startled into a burst of professional admiration. 
 
 " There's enough grain there to feed a thousand 
 Todos Santos ; and raised, too, with tools like that," 
 he continued, pointing to a primitive plough that 
 lay on the wayside, formed by a single forked root. 
 A passing ox-cart, whose creaking wheels were made 
 of a solid circle of wood, apparently sawn from an 
 ordinary log, again plunged him into cogitation. 
 Here and there little areas of the rudest cultivation 
 broke into a luxuriousness of orange, lime, and fig 
 trees. The joyous earth at the slightest provocation 
 seemed to smile and dimple with fruit and flowers. 
 Everywhere the rare beatitudes of Todos Santos 
 revealed and repeated its simple story. The fructi- 
 
126 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 fying influence of earth and sky ; the intervention 
 of a vaporous veil between a fiery sun and fiery soil ; 
 the combination of heat and moisture, purified of 
 feverish exhalations, and made sweet and wholesome 
 by the saline breath of the mighty sea, had been 
 the beneficent legacy of their isolation, the 
 munificent compensation of their oblivion. 
 
 A gradual and gentle ascent at the end of two 
 hours brought the cavalcade to a halt upon a rugged 
 upland with semi-tropical shrubbery, and here and 
 there larger trees from the tierra templada in the 
 evergreens or madrono. A few low huts and corrals, 
 and a rambling hacienda, were scattered along the 
 crest, and in the midst arose a little votive chapel, 
 flanked by pear-trees. Near the roadside were the 
 crumbling edges of some long-forgotten excavation. 
 Crosby gazed at it curiously. Touching the arm of 
 the officer, he pointed to it. 
 
 " Una mina de plata," said the officer sen- 
 tentiouely. 
 
 " A mine of some kind silver, I bet ! " said 
 Crosby, turning to the others. " Is it good bueno 
 you know ? " he continued to the officer, with 
 vague gesticulations. 
 
 " En tiempos pasados," returned the officer 
 gravely. 
 
 " I wonder what in thunder that means ? " said 
 Winslow. 
 
 But before Crosby could question further, the 
 subaltern signalled to them to dismount. They 
 did so, and their horses were led away to a little 
 declivity, whence came the sound of running water. 
 
AN OPEN-AIR PEISON. 127 
 
 Left to themselves, the Americans looked around 
 them, The cavalcade seemed to have halted near 
 the edge of a precipitous ridge, the evident ter- 
 mination of the road. But the view that here met 
 their eyes was unexpected and startling. 
 
 The plateau on which they stood seemed to drop 
 suddenly away, leaving them on the rocky shore of 
 a monotonous and far-stretching sea of waste and 
 glittering sand. Not a vestige nor trace of vegeta- 
 tion could be seen, except an occasional ridge of 
 straggling pallid bushes, raised in hideous simula- 
 tion of the broken crest of a ghostly wave. On 
 either side, as far as the eye could reach, the hollow 
 empty vision extended the interminable desert 
 stretched and panted before them. 
 
 "It's the jumping-off place, I reckon," said 
 Crosby, " and they've brought us here to show us 
 how small is our chance of getting away. But," he 
 added, turning towards the plateau again, " what 
 are they doing now ? Ton my soul ! I believe 
 they're going off and leaving us ! " 
 
 The others turned as he spoke. It was true. The 
 dragoons were coolly galloping off the way they 
 came, taking with them the horses the Americans 
 had just ridden. 
 
 " I call that cool," said Crosby. " It looks deuced 
 like as if we were to be left here to graze, like cattle." 
 
 "Perhaps that's their idea of a prison in this 
 country," said Banks ; " there's certainly no chance 
 of our breaking jail in that direction," he added, 
 pointing to the desert ; " and we can't follow them 
 without horses." 
 
128 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOK." 
 
 " And I daresay they've guarded the pass in the 
 road lower down," said Winslow. 
 
 " We ought to be able to hold our own here until 
 night," said Brace, "and then make a dash into 
 Todos Santos, get hold of some arms, and join the 
 ladies." 
 
 " The women are all right," said Crosby im- 
 patiently, " and are better treated than if we were 
 with them. Suppose, instead of maundering over 
 them, we reconnoitre and see what we can do here. 
 I'm getting devilishly hungry ; they can't mean to 
 starve us, and, if they do, I don't intend to be 
 starved as long as there is anything to be had by 
 buying or stealing. Come along. There's sure to 
 be fruit near that old chapel, and I saw some 
 chickens in the bush near those huts. First, let's 
 see if there's any one about. I don't see a 
 soul." 
 
 The little plateau, indeed, seemed deserted. In 
 vain they shouted ; their voices were lost in the 
 echoless air. They examined one by one the few 
 thatched huts ; they were open, contained one or 
 two rude articles of furniture a bed, a bench, and 
 table were scrupulously clean and empty. 
 They next inspected the chapel ; it was tawdry and 
 barbaric in ornament, but the candle-sticks and 
 crucifix and the basin for holy water ware of heavily- 
 beaten silver. The same thought crossed their 
 minds the abandoned mine at the roadside ! 
 
 Bananas, oranges, and prickly pears growing 
 within the cactus-hedge of the chapel partly 
 mollified their thirst and hunger, and they turned 
 
AN OPEN-AIR PEISON. 129 
 
 their steps towards the long rambling barrack- 
 looking building, with its low windows and red- 
 tiled roof, which they had first noticed. Here, too, 
 the tenement was deserted and abandoned ; but 
 there was evidence of some previous and more 
 ambitious preparation : in a long dormitory off the 
 corridor a number of scrupulously clean beds were 
 ranged against the white-washed walls, with spotless 
 benches and tables. To the complete astonishment 
 and bewilderment of the party, another room, fitted 
 up as a kitchen, with the simpler appliances of 
 housekeeping, revealed a larder filled with provisions 
 and meal. A shout from Winslow, who had 
 penetrated the inner courtyard, however, drew them 
 to a more remarkable spectacle. Their luggage and 
 effects from the cabins of the Excelsior were there, 
 carefully piled in the antique ox-cart that had 
 evidently that morning brought them from Todos 
 Santos ! 
 
 " There's no mistake," said Brace, with a relieved 
 look, after a hurried survey of the trunks. "They 
 have only brought our baggage. The ladies have 
 evidently had the opportunity of selecting their 
 own things." 
 
 " Crosby told you they'd be all right," said Banks ; 
 " and as for ourselves, I don't see why we can't be 
 pretty comfortable here, and all the better for our 
 being alone. I shall take an opportunity of looking 
 around a bit. It strikes me that there are some 
 resources in this country that might pay to 
 develop." 
 
 "And I shall have a look at that played-out 
 
 9 
 
130 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 mine," said Crosby; "if it's been worked as they 
 work the land, they've left about as much in it as 
 they've taken out." 
 
 " That's all well enough," said Brace, drawing a 
 dull vermilion-coloured stone from his pocket ; 
 " but here's something I picked up just now that 
 ain't ' played-out,' nor even the value of it sus- 
 pected by those fellows. That's cinnabar quick- 
 silver ore and a big per cent, of it too ; and if 
 there's as much of it here as the indications show, 
 you could buy up all your silver mines in the 
 country with it." 
 
 " If I were you, I'd put up a notice on a post 
 somewhere, as they do in California, and claim dis- 
 covery," said Banks seriously. " There's no 
 knowing how this thing may end. We may not get 
 away from here for some time yet, and if the 
 Government will sell the place cheap, it wouldn't 
 be a bad spec' to buy it. Form a kind of ' Excelsior 
 Company' among ourselves, you know, and go 
 shares." 
 
 The four men looked earnestly at each other. 
 Already the lost Excelsior and her mutinous crew 
 were forgotten ; even the incidents of the morning 
 their arrest, the uncertainty of their fate, and the 
 fact that they were in the hands of a hostile 
 community appeared but as trivial preliminaries to 
 the new life that opened before them ! They 
 suddenly became graver than they had ever been 
 even in the moment of peril. 
 
 f{ I don't see why we shouldn't," said Brace 
 quickly. " We started out to do that sort of thing 
 
TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. 131 
 
 in California, and I reckon if we'd found such a spot 
 as this on the Sacramento or American River we'd 
 have been content. We can take turns at house- 
 keeping, prospect a little, and enter into negotiations 
 with the Government. I'm for offering them a fair 
 sum for this ridge and all it contains at once." 
 
 " The only thing against that," said Crosby slowly, 
 "is the probability that it is already devoted to 
 some other use by the Government. Ever since 
 we've been here I've been thinking I don't know 
 why that we've been put in a sort of quarantine. 
 The desertion of the place, the half-hospital 
 arrangements of this building, and the means they 
 have taken to isolate us from themselves must mean 
 something. I've read somewhere that in these out- 
 of-the-way spots in the tropics, they have a place 
 where they put the fellows with malarious or 
 contagious diseases. I don't want to frighten you 
 boys : but I've an idea that we're in a sort of 
 lazaretto, and the people outside won't trouble us 
 often." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING his promise, and the summons of 
 the Council, Father Esteban, on parting with the 
 Excelsior prisoners in the San Antonio Road, did 
 not proceed immediately to the presence of the 
 Comandante. Partly anxious to inform himself 
 more thoroughly regarding Hurlstone's antecedents 
 before entering upon legislative functions that 
 
 9* 
 
132 THE CRUSADE 01* THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 might concern him, partly uneasy at Brace's allusion 
 to any possible un gentleness in the treatment of 
 the fair Americanas, and partly apprehensive that 
 Mrs. Brimmer might seek him at the Mission in 
 the present emergency, the good Father turned his 
 steps towards the Alcalde's house. 
 
 Mrs. Brimmer, in a becoming morning wrapper, 
 half reclining in an Indian hammock in the 
 corridor, supported by Miss Chubb, started at his 
 approach. So did the young Alcalde, sympatheti- 
 cally seated at her side. Padre Esteban for an 
 instant was himself embarrassed ; Mrs. Brimmer 
 quickly recovered her usual bewildering naivete. 
 
 " I knew you would come ; but if you hadn't, I 
 should have mustered courage enough to go with 
 Miss Chubb to find you at the Mission," she said, 
 half coquettishly. " Not but that Don Kamon has 
 been all kindness and consideration, but you know 
 one always clings to one's spiritual adviser in such 
 an emergency ; and although there are differences 
 of opinion between us, I think I may speak to you 
 as freely as I would speak to my dear friend Dr. 
 Potts, of Trinity Chapel. Of course you don't know 
 him ; but you couldn't have helped liking him, he's 
 so gentle, so tactful, so refined ! But do tell me 
 the fullest particulars of this terrible calamity that 
 has happened so awkwardly. Tell me all ! I fear 
 that Don Eamon, out of kindness, has not told me 
 everything. / have been perfectly frank, / told 
 him everything who I am, who Mr. Brimmer is, 
 and given him even the connexions of my friend 
 Miss Chubb. I can do no more ; but you will 
 
TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. 133 
 
 surely have no difficulty in finding some one in 
 Todos Santos who has heard of the Quincys and 
 Brimmers. I've no doubt that there are books in 
 your library that mention them. Of course I can 
 say nothing of the other passengers, except that Mr. 
 Brimmer would not have probably permitted me 
 to associate with any notorious persons. I confess 
 now I think I told you once before, Clarissa 
 that I greatly doubted Captain Bunker's 
 ability " 
 
 " Ah," murmured Don Ramon. 
 
 " To make a social selection," continued Mrs. 
 Brimmer. " He may have been a good sailor, and 
 boxed his compass, but he lacked a knowledge of the 
 world. Of the other passengers I can truly say I 
 know nothing; I cannot think that Mr. Crosby's 
 sense of humour led him into bad associations, or 
 that he ever went beyond verbal impropriety. 
 Certainly nothing in Miss Keene's character has 
 led me to believe she could so far forget what was 
 due to herself and to us as to address a lawless mob 
 in the streets as she did just now ; although her 
 friend Mrs. Markham, as I just told Don Ramon, is 
 an advocate of Women's Rights and Female 
 Suffrage, and I believe she contemplates addressing 
 the public from the lecturer's platform." 
 
 " It isn't possible ! " interrupted Don Ramon 
 excitedly, in mingled horror of the masculinely 
 rampant Mrs. Markham and admiration of the 
 fascinatingly feminine Mrs. Brimmer ; " a lady 
 cannot be an orator a haranguer of men ! " 
 
 " Not in society," responded Mrs, Brimmer, with 
 
134 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 a sigh, " and I do not remember to have met the 
 lady before. The fact is, she does not move in our 
 circle in the upper classes." 
 
 The Alcalde exchanged a glance with the Padre. 
 
 " Ah ! you have classes ? and she is of a distinct 
 class, perhaps ? " 
 
 " Decidedly," said Mrs. Brimmer promptly. 
 
 "Pardon me," said Padre Esteban, with gentle 
 persuasiveness, "but you are speaking of your 
 fellow-passengers. Know you not, then, of one 
 Hurlstone, who is believed to be still in the ship 
 Excelsior, and perhaps of the party who seized 
 it?" 
 
 " Mr. Hurlstone ? it is possible ; but I know 
 really nothing of him," said Mrs. Brimmer care- 
 lessly. " I don't think Clarissa did, either did 
 you, dear ? Even in our enforced companionship 
 we had to use some reserve, and we may have 
 drawn the line at him ! He was a friend of Miss 
 Keene's ; indeed, she was the only one who seemed 
 to know him." 
 
 " And she is now here ? " asked the Padre 
 eagerly. 
 
 " No. She is with her friend the Sefiora Mark- 
 ham, at the Presidio. The Comandante has given 
 her the disposition of his house," said Don Ramon, 
 with a glance of grave archness at Mrs. Brimmer ; 
 " it is not known which is the most favoured, the 
 eloquent orator or the beautiful and daring leader ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Markham is a married woman," said Mrs. 
 Brimmer severely, " and, of course, she can do as she 
 pleases ; but it is far different with Miss Keene. / 
 
TOD OS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. 135 
 
 should scarcely consider it proper to expose Miss 
 Chubb to the hospitality of a single man, without 
 other women, and I cannot understand how she 
 could leave the companionship and protection of 
 your lovely sisters." 
 
 The priest here rose, and, with formal politeness, 
 excused himself, urging the peremptory summons 
 of the Council. 
 
 " I scarcely expected, indeed, to have had the 
 pleasure of seeing my colleague here," he added, 
 with quiet suavity, turning to the Alcalde. 
 
 " I have already expressed my views to the Co- 
 mandante," said the official, with some embarrass- 
 ment, " and my attendance will hardly be required." 
 
 The occasional misleading phosphorescence of 
 Mrs. Brimmer's quiet eyes, early alluded to in these 
 pages, did not escape Father Esteban's quick per- 
 ception at that moment ; however, he preferred to 
 leave his companion to follow its aberrations rather 
 than to permit that fair ignis fatuus to light him 
 on his way by it. 
 
 "But my visit to you, Father Esteban," she 
 began sweetly, " is only postponed." 
 
 "Until I have the pleasure of anticipating it 
 here," said the priest, with paternal politeness 
 bending before the two ladies ; " but for the present, 
 au revoir ! " 
 
 "It would be an easy victory to win this dis- 
 creetly emotional Americana to the Church," said 
 Father Esteban to himself, as he crossed the plaza ; 
 " but, if I mistake not, she would not cease to be a 
 disturbing element even there. However, she is 
 
136 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 not such as would give this Hurlstone any trouble. 
 It seems I must look elsewhere for the brains of 
 this party, and to find a solution of this young man's 
 mystery; and, if I judge correctly, it is with this 
 beautiful young agitator of revolutions and her 
 oratorical duenna I must deal." 
 
 He entered the low gateway of the Presidio un- 
 challenged, and even traversed the courtyard 
 without meeting a soul. The guard had evidently 
 withdrawn to their habitual peaceful vocations, and 
 the former mediaeval repose of the venerable 
 building had returned. There was no one in the 
 guard-room ; but as the priest turned back to the 
 corridor, his quick ear was suddenly startled by the 
 unhallowed and inconsistent sounds of a guitar. A 
 monotonous voice also the Comandante's evidently 
 was raised in a thin, high recitative. 
 
 The Padre passed hastily through the guard- 
 room, and opened the door of the passage leading 
 to the garden slope. Here an extraordinary group 
 presented itself to his astonished eyes. In the 
 shadow of a palm tree, Mrs. Markham, seated on her 
 Saratoga trunk as on a throne, was gazing blandly 
 down upon the earnest features of the Commander, who, 
 at her feet, guitar in hand, was evidently repeating 
 some musical composition. His subaltern sat near 
 him, divided in admiration of his chief and the 
 guest. Miss Keene, at a little distance, aided by 
 the secretary, was holding an animated conversation 
 with a short, stout, Sancho Panza-looking man, 
 whom the Padre recognised as the doctor of Todos 
 Santos. 
 
TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. 137 
 
 At the apparition of the reverend Father, the 
 Commander started, the subaltern stared, and even 
 the secretary and the doctor looked discomposed. 
 
 " I am decidedly de trop this morning," solilo- 
 quised the ecclesiastic ; but Miss Keene cut short 
 his reflection by running to him frankly, with out- 
 stretched hand. 
 
 " I am so glad that you have come," she said, 
 with a youthful, unrestrained earnestness that was 
 as convincing as it was fascinating, " for you will 
 help me to persuade this gentleman that poor 
 Captain Bunker is suffering more from excitement 
 of mind than body, and that bleeding him is more 
 than folly." 
 
 " The man's veins are in a burning fever and 
 delirium from aguardiente/' said the little doctor 
 excitedly, " and the fire must first be put out by 
 the lancet." 
 
 " He is only crazy with remorse for having lost 
 his ship through his own carelessness, and the 
 treachery of others," said Miss Keene doughtily. 
 
 " He is a maniac and will kill himself, unless his 
 fever is subdued," persisted the doctor. 
 
 " And you would surely kill him by your way of 
 subduing it," said the young girl boldly. " Better 
 for him, a disgraced man of honour, to die by his 
 own hand, than to be bled like a calf into a feeble 
 and helpless dissolution. I would, if I were in his 
 place if I had to do it by tearing off the 
 bandages." 
 
 She made a swift, half-unconscious gesture of 
 her little hand, and stopped j her beautiful eyes 
 
138 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 sparkling, her thin pink nostrils dilated, her red lips 
 parted, her round throat lifted in the air, and one 
 small foot advanced before her. The men glanced 
 hurriedly at each other, and then fixed their eyes 
 upon her with a rapt, yet frightened, admiration. 
 To their simple minds it was Anarchy and Kevolu- 
 tion personified, beautiful, and victorious. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the secretary to Don Esteban, in 
 Spanish, " it is true ! she knows not fear ! She was 
 in the room alone with the madman ; he would let 
 none approach but her ! She took a knife from 
 him else the medico had suffered ! " 
 
 " He recognised her, you see ! Ah ! they know 
 her power," said the Comandante, joining the 
 group. 
 
 " You will help me, Father Esteban ? " said the 
 young girl, letting the fire of her dark eyes soften 
 to a look of almost childish appeal " you will 
 help me to intercede for him ? It is the restraint 
 only that is killing him that is goading him to 
 madness ! Think of him, Father think of him : 
 ruined and disgraced, dying to retrieve himself by 
 any reckless action, any desperate chance of 
 recovery, and yet locked up where he can do 
 nothing attempt nothing not even lift a hand 
 to pursue the man who has helped to bring him to 
 this ! " 
 
 " But he can do nothing ! The ship is gone ! " 
 remonstrated the Comandante. 
 
 " Yes, the ship is gone ; but the ocean is still 
 there," said Miss Keene. 
 
 " But he has no boat." 
 
TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. 139 
 
 " He will find or make one." 
 
 " And the fog conceals the channel." 
 
 " He can go where they have gone, or meet their 
 fate. You do not know my countrymen, Sefior 
 Comandante," she said proudly. 
 
 " Ah, yes pardon ! They are at San Antonio 
 the baker, the buffoon, the two young men who dig. 
 They are already baking, and digging, and joking. 
 We have it from my officer, who has just re- 
 turned." 
 
 Miss Keene bit her pretty lips. 
 
 " They think it is a mistake ; they cannot 
 believe that any intentional indignity is offered 
 them," she said quietly. 6s Perhaps it is well they 
 do not." 
 
 " They desired me to express their condolences to 
 the Senora," said the Padre, with exasperating 
 gentleness, " and were relieved to be assured by me 
 of your perfect security in the hands of these 
 gentlemen." 
 
 Miss Keene raised her clear eyes to the eccle- 
 siastic. That accomplished diplomat of Todos 
 Santos absolutely felt confused under the cool 
 scrutiny of this girl's unbiassed and unsophisticated 
 intelligence. 
 
 " Then you have seen them," she said, " and you 
 know their innocence, and the utter absurdity of 
 this surveillance ? " 
 
 " I have not seen them all" said the priest 
 softly. " There is still another a Senor Hurl- 
 stone who is missing ? Is he not ? " 
 
 It was not in the possibility of Eleanor Keene's 
 
HO THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR," 
 
 truthful blood to do other than respond with a 
 slight colour to this question. She had already 
 concealed from every one the fact of having seen 
 the missing man in the Mission garden the evening 
 before. It did not, however, prevent her the next 
 moment from calmly meeting the glance of the 
 priest as she answered gravely, 
 
 " I believe so. But I cannot see what that has to 
 do with the detention of the others." 
 
 " Much, perhaps. It has been said that you 
 alone, my child, were in the confidence of this 
 man." 
 
 " Who dared say that ? " exclaimed Miss Keene 
 in English, forgetting herself in her indignation. 
 
 "If it's anything mean it's Mrs. Brimmer, I'll 
 bet a cooky," said Mrs. Markham, whose linguistic 
 deficiencies had debarred her from the previous con- 
 versation. 
 
 " You have only," continued the priest, without 
 noticing the interruption, " to tell us what you 
 know of this Hurlstone's plans of his complicity 
 with Sefior Perkins, or," he added significantly, " his 
 opposition to them to ensure that perfect justice 
 shall be done to all." 
 
 Relieved that the question involved no disclosure 
 of her only secret regarding Hurlstone, Miss Keene 
 was about to repeat the truth that she had no con- 
 fidential knowledge of him, or of his absurd alleged 
 connection with Senor Perkins, when, with an 
 instinct of tact, she hesitated. Might she not 
 serve them all even Hurlstone himself by saying 
 nothing, and leaving the burden of proof to their 
 
TODOS SAKTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. 141 
 
 idiotic accusers ? Was she altogether sure i hat 
 Hurls tone was entirely ignorant of Sen or Perkins' 
 plans, or might he not have refused, at the last 
 moment, to join in the conspiracy, and so left the 
 ship? 
 
 " I will not press you for your answer now," said 
 the priest gently. " But you will not, I know, keep 
 back anything that may throw a light on this sad 
 affair, and perhaps help to reinstate your friend Mr. 
 Hurlstone in his real position." 
 
 " If you ask me if I believe that Mr. Hurlstone 
 had anything to do with this conspiracy, I should 
 say, unhesitatingly, that I do not. And more, I 
 believe that he would have jumped overboard rather 
 than assent to so infamous an act/' said the young 
 girl boldly. 
 
 " Then you think he had no other motive for 
 leaving the ship ? " said the priest slowly. 
 
 " Decidedly not." She stopped ; a curious anxious 
 look in the Padre's persistent eyes both annoyed 
 and frightened her. " What other motive could he 
 have ? " she said coldly. 
 
 Father Esteban's face lightened. 
 
 " I only ask because I think you would have 
 known it. Thank you for the assurance all the 
 same, and in return I promise you I will use my 
 best endeavours with the Comandante for your 
 friend the Captain Bunker. Adieu, my daughter. 
 Adieu, Madame Markham," he said, as, taking the 
 arm of Don Miguel, he turned with him and the 
 doctor towards the guard-room. The secretary lin- 
 gered behind for a moment. 
 
142 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 " Fear nothing," he said, in whispered English to 
 Miss Keene. " I, Buy Sanchez, shall make you free 
 of Capitano Bunker's cell," and passed on. 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Markham, when the two women 
 were alone again, " I don't pretend to fathom the 
 befogged brains of Todos Santos ; but as far as I 
 can understand their grown-up child's play, they are 
 making believe this unfortunate Mr. Hurlstone, who 
 may be dead for all we know, is in revolt against the 
 United States Government, which is supposed to be 
 represented by Senor Perkins and the Excelsior 
 think of that ! " 
 
 " But Perkins signed himself of the Quinquinambo 
 navy ! " said Miss Keene wonderingly. 
 
 " That is firmly believed by those idiots to be one 
 of our States. Eemember they know nothing of 
 what has happened anywhere in the last fifty years. 
 I daresay they never heard of filibusters like 
 Perkins, and they couldn't comprehend him if they 
 had. I've given up trying to enlighten them, and 
 I think they're grateful for it. It makes their poor 
 dear heads ache." 
 
 " And it is turning mine ! But, for Heaven's 
 sake, tell me what part I am supposed to act in this 
 farce ! " said Miss Keene. 
 
 " You are the friend and colleague of Hurlstone, 
 don't you see ? " said Mrs. Markham. " You are 
 two beautiful young patriots don't blush, my dear ! 
 endeared to each other, and a common cause, and 
 ready to die for your country in opposition to Perkins, 
 and the faint-heartedness of such neutrals as Mrs. 
 Brimmer, Miss Chubb, the poor Captain, and all 
 
TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. 143 
 
 the men whom they have packed off to San 
 Antonio." 
 
 " Impossible ! " said Miss Keene, yet with an un- 
 easy feeling that it not only was possible, but that 
 she herself had contributed something to the 
 delusion. " But how do they account for my 
 friendship with you you, who are supposed to be 
 a correspondent an accomplice of Perkins ? " 
 
 " No, no," returned Mrs. Markham, with a half- 
 serious smile, " / am not allowed that honour. I 
 am presumed to be only the disconsolate Du^cinea 
 of Perkins, abandoned by him, pitied by you, and 
 converted to the true faith at least, that is what I 
 make out from the broken English of that little 
 secretary of the Commander." 
 
 Miss Keene winced. 
 
 " That's all my fault, dear," she said, suddenly 
 entwining her arms round Mrs. Markham, and hiding 
 her half-embarrassed smile on the shoulder of her 
 strong-minded friend ; " they suggested it to me, 
 and I half assented, to save you. Please forgive 
 me." 
 
 " Don't think I am blaming you, my dear Eleanor," 
 said Mrs. Markham. " For Heaven's sake assent to 
 the wildest and most extravagant hypothesis they 
 can offer, if it will leave us free to arrange our own 
 plans for getting away. I begin to think we were 
 not a very harmonious party on the Excelsior, and 
 most of our troubles here are owing to that. We 
 forget we have fallen among a lot of original saints, 
 as guileless and as unsophisticated as our first 
 parents, who know nothing of our customs and 
 
144 THE CRUSADE OF THE -EXCELSIOR." 
 
 antecedents. They have accepted us on what they 
 believe to be our own showing. From first to last 
 we've underrated them, forgetting they are in the 
 majority. We can't expect to correct the ignorance 
 of fifty years in twenty-four hours, and I, for one, 
 sha'n't attempt it. I'd much rather trust to the 
 character those people would conceive of me from 
 their own consciousness than to one Mrs. Brimmer 
 or Mr. Winslow would give of me. From this 
 moment I've taken a firm resolve to leave my 
 reputation and the reputation of my friends entirely 
 in their hands. If you are wise you will do the 
 same. They are inclined to worship you don't 
 hinder them. My belief is, if we only take things 
 quietly, we might find worse places to be stranded 
 on than Todos Santos. If Mrs. Brimmer will keep 
 her mouth shut, and those men of ours, who, I dare 
 say, have acted as silly as the Mexicans themselves, 
 will only be quiet, we can have our own way here 
 
 yet." 
 
 " And poor Captain Bunker ? " said Miss Keene. 
 
 " It seems hard to say it, but, in my opinion, he 
 is better under lock and key, for everybody's good, 
 at present. He'd be a firebrand in the town if he 
 got away. Meantime, let us go to our room. It is 
 about the time when everybody is taking a siesta, 
 and for two hours, thank Heaven ! we're certain 
 nothing more can happen." 
 
 " I'll join you in a moment," said Miss Keene. 
 
 Her quick ear had caught the sound of voices 
 approaching. As Mrs. Markham disappeared in the 
 passage, the Commander and his party reappeared 
 
TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. 145 
 
 from the guard-room, taking leave of Padre Esteban. 
 The secretary, as he passed Miss Keene, managed to' 
 add to his formal salutation the whispered words, 
 " When the Angelus rings I will await you before 
 the grating of his prison." 
 
 Padre Esteban was too preoccupied to observe this 
 incident. As soon as he quitted the Presidio, he 
 hastened to the Mission with a disquieting fear that 
 his strange guest might have vanished. But, 
 crossing the silent refectory, and opening the door 
 of the little apartment, he was relieved to find him 
 stretched on the pallet in a profound slumber. The 
 peacefulness of the venerable walls had laid a gentle 
 finger on his weary eyelids. 
 
 The Padre glanced round the little cell, and back 
 again at the handsome suffering face that seemed to 
 have found surcease and rest in the narrow walls, 
 with a stirring of regret. But the next moment he 
 awakened the sleeper, and in the briefest, almost 
 frigid, sentences, related the events of the morning. 
 The young man rose to his feet with a bitter 
 laugh. 
 
 " You see," he said, " (rod is against me ! And 
 yet a few hours ago I dared to think that He had 
 guided me to a haven of rest and forgetfulness ! " 
 
 " Have you told the truth to him and to me ? " 
 said the priest sternly, "or have you a mere 
 political refugee taken advantage of an old man's 
 weakness to forge a foolish lie of sentimental 
 passion ? " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " said Hurlstone, turning 
 upon him almost fiercely. 
 
 10 
 
146 THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR." 
 
 The priest rose, and drawing a folded paper from 
 his bosom, opened it before the eyes of his indignant 
 guest. 
 
 " Remember what you told me last night in the 
 sacred confidences of yonder holy church, and hear 
 what you really are from the lips of the Council of 
 Todos Santos." 
 
 Smoothing out the paper, he read slowly as 
 follows : 
 
 " Whereas, it being presented to an Emergency 
 Council, held at the Presidio of Todos Santos, that 
 the foreign barque Excelsior had mutinied, dis- 
 charged her captain and passengers, and escaped 
 from the waters of the bay, it was, on examination, 
 found and decreed that the said barque was a vessel 
 primarily owned by a foreign Power, then and there 
 confessed and admitted to be at war with Mexico 
 and equipped to invade one of her northern provinces. 
 But that the God of Liberty and Justice awakening 
 in the breasts of certain patriots to wit, the heroic 
 Senor Diego Hurlstone and the invincible Dona 
 Leonor the courage and discretion to resist the 
 tyranny and injustice of their oppressors, caused them 
 to mutiny and abandon the vessel rather than 
 become accomplices, in the company of certain 
 neutral and non-combatant traders and artisans, 
 severally known as Brace, Banks, Winslow, and 
 Crosby ; and certain aristocrats, known as Senoras 
 Brimmer and Chubb. In consideration thereof it 
 is decreed by the Council of Todos Santos that 
 asylum, refuge, hospitality, protection, amity, and 
 
TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY. H7 
 
 alliance be offered and extended to the patriots, 
 Senor Diego Hurlstone, Dona Leonor, and a certain 
 Duenna Susana Markham, particularly attached to 
 Dona Leonor's person; and that war, reprisal, 
 banishment, and death be declared against Senor 
 Perkins, his unknown aiders and abettors. And 
 that for the purposes of probation, and in the 
 interests of clemency, provisional parole shall be 
 extended to the alleged neutrals Brace, Banks, 
 Crosby, and Winslow within the limits and bound- 
 aries of the lazaretto of San "Antonio, until their 
 neutrality shall be established, and pending the 
 further pleasure of the Council. And it is further 
 decreed and declared that one Capitano Bunker, 
 formerly of the Excelsior, but now a maniac and 
 lunatic being irresponsible and visited of God, 
 shall be exempted from the ordinances of this 
 decree until his reason shall be restored ; and 
 during that interval subjected to the ordinary 
 remedial and beneficent restraint of civilisation 
 and humanity. By order of the Council, 
 
 " The signatures and rubrics of 
 
 " DON MIGUEL BRIONES, Comandante. 
 " PADRE ESTEBAN, of the Order of San 
 
 Francisco d'Assisis. 
 "DON EAMON RAMIREZ, Alcalde of the 
 
 Pueblo of Todos Santos." 
 
 10' 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP. 
 
 WHEN Padre Esteban had finished reading the 
 document, he laid it down and fixed his eyes on the 
 young man. Hurlstone met his look with a glance 
 of impatient disdain. 
 
 " What have you to say to this ? " asked the 
 ecclesiastic, a little impressed by his manner. 
 
 " That as far as it concerns myself it is a farrago 
 of absurdity. If I were the person described there, 
 why should I have sought you with what you call a 
 lie of 'sentimental passion,' when I could have 
 claimed protection openly with my sister patriot," 
 he added, with a bitter laugh. 
 
 " Because you did not know then the sympathy of 
 the people nor the decision of the Council," said the 
 priest. 
 
 " But I know it now, and I refuse to accept it." 
 
 " You refuse to to accept it ! " echoed the 
 priest. 
 
 " I do." He walked towards the door. " Before 
 I go, let me thank you for the few hours' rest and 
 security that you have given to one who may be a 
 cursed man, yet is no impostor. But I do not blame 
 you for doubting one who talks like a desperate man, 
 yet lacks the courage of desperation. Good-bye ! " 
 
 " Where are you going ? " 
 
 " What matters ? There is a safer protection and 
 
THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP. 149 
 
 security to be found than even that offered by the 
 Council of Todos Santos." 
 
 His eyes were averted, but not before the priest 
 had seen them glaze again with the same gloomy 
 absorption that had horrified him in the church the 
 evening before. Father Esteban stepped forward 
 and placed his soft hand on Hurlstone's shoulder. 
 
 " Look at me. Don't turn your face aside, but 
 hear me ; for I believe your story." 
 
 Without raising his eyes, the young man lifted 
 Father Esteban's hand from his shoulder, pressed it 
 lightly, and put it quietly aside. 
 
 " I thank you," he said, " for keeping at least 
 that unstained memory of me. But it matters little 
 now. Grood-bye ! " 
 
 He had his hand upon the door, but the priest 
 again withheld him. 
 
 " When I tell you I believe your story, it is only 
 to tell you more. I believe that Grod has directed 
 your wayward, wandering feet here to His house, 
 that you may lay down the burden of your weak 
 and suffering manhood before his altar, and become 
 once more a child of his. I stand here to offer you, 
 not a refuge of a day or a night, but for all time ; 
 not a hiding-place from man or woman, but from 
 yourself, my son yourself, your weak and mortal 
 self, more fatal to you than all. I stand here to 
 open for you not only the door of this humble cell, 
 but that of His yonder blessed mansion. You shall 
 share my life with me ; you shall be one of my 
 disciples ; you shall help me strive for other souls 
 as I have striven for yours ; the protection of 1 he 
 
150 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 Church, which is all-powerful, shall be around you 
 if you wish to be known ; you shall hide yourself 
 in its mysteries if you wish to be forgotten. You 
 shall be my child, my companion, my friend ; all 
 that my age can give you shall be yours while I 
 live, and it shall be your place one day to take up 
 my unfinished work when it falls from these palsied 
 hands for ever." 
 
 " You are mistaken," said the young man coldly. 
 " I came to you for human aid, and thank you for 
 what you have granted me : I have not been pre- 
 sumptuous enough to ask more, nor to believe 
 myself a fitting subject for conversion. I am weak, 
 but not weak enough to take advantage of the 
 mistaken kindness of either the temporal Council 
 of Todos Santos or its spiritual head." He opened 
 the door leading to the garden. "Forget and 
 forgive me, Father Esteban, and let me say 
 farewell." 
 
 " Stop ! " said the ecclesiastic, raising himself to 
 his full height and stepping before Hurlstone. 
 " Then if you will not hear me in the name of your 
 Father who lives, in the name of your father who 
 is dead I command you to stay ! I stand here to- 
 day in the place of that man I never knew to hold 
 back his son from madness and crime. Think of 
 me as of him whom you loved, and grant to an old 
 man who might have had a son as old as you, the 
 right of throwing a father's protecting arm around 
 
 you." 
 
 There was a moment's silence. 
 
 " What do you want me to do ? " said Hurlstone, 
 
THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP. 151 
 
 suddenly lifting his now moist and glistening eyes 
 upon the old man. 
 
 " Give me your word of honour that for twenty- 
 four hours you will remain as you are pledging 
 yourself to nothing only promising to commit no 
 act, take no step, without consulting me. You will 
 not be sought here, nor yet need you keep your- 
 self a prisoner in these gloomy walls ; except that, 
 by exposing yourself to the people now, you might 
 be compromised to some course that you are not 
 ready to take." 
 
 " I promise," said Hurlstone. 
 
 He turned and held out both his hands ; but 
 Father Esteban anticipated him with a paternal 
 gesture of uplifted and opened arms, and for an 
 instant the young man's forehead was bowed on the 
 priest's shoulder. 
 
 Father Esteban gently raised the young man's 
 head. 
 
 " You will take a pasear in the garden, until 
 the Angelus rings, my son, while the air is sweet 
 and wholesome, and think this over. Remember 
 that you may accept the hospitality of the Council 
 without sin of deception. You were not in sym- 
 pathy with either the captors of the Excelsior or 
 their defeated party ; for you would have flown from 
 both. You, of all your party now in Todos Santos, 
 are most in sympathy with us. You have no cause 
 to love your own people ; you have abandoned them 
 for us. Gro, my son ; and meditate upon my words. 
 I will fetch you from yonder slope in time for the 
 evening refection." 
 
152 THE CEUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR." 
 
 Hurlstone bowed his head and turned his ir- 
 resolute feet towards the upper extremity of the 
 garden, indicated by the priest, which seemed to offer 
 more seclusion and security than the avenue of 
 pear-trees. He was dazed and benumbed. The 
 old dogged impulses of self-destruction revived by 
 the priest's reproaches, but checked by the vision 
 of his dead and forgotten father, which the priest's 
 words had called up gave way, in turn, to his 
 former despair. With it came a craving for peace 
 and rest so insidious that in some vague fear of 
 yielding to it he quickened his pace, as if to increase 
 his distance from the church and its apostle. He 
 was almost out of breath when he reached the sum- 
 mit, and turned to look back upon the mission 
 buildings and the straggling street of the pueblo, 
 which now for the first time he saw skirted the wall 
 of the garden in its descent towards the sea. He 
 had not known the full extent of Todos Santos be- 
 fore ; when he swam ashore he had landed under a 
 crumbling outwork of the fort ; he gazed now with 
 curious interest over the hamlet that might have 
 been his home. He looked over the red-tiled roofs, 
 and further on to the shining bay, shut in by the 
 impenetrable rampart of fog. He might have found 
 rest and oblivion here but for the intrusion of those 
 fellow-passengers to share his exile and make it 
 intolerable. How he hated and loathed them all ! 
 Yet the next moment he found himself scrutinising 
 the street and plaza below him for a glimpse of 
 his countrywomen, whom he knew were still in the 
 town or vainly endeavouring to locate their habita- 
 
THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP. 153 
 
 tion among the red-tiled roofs. And that frank, 
 clear-eyed girl Miss Keene ! she who had seemed 
 to vaguely pity him she was somewhere here too 
 selected by the irony of fate to be his confederate ! 
 He could not help thinking of her beauty and kind- 
 ness now, with a vague curiosity that was half an 
 uneasiness. It had not struck him before, but if he 
 were to accept the ridiculous attitude forced upon 
 him by Todos Santos, its absurdity, as well as its 
 responsibility, would become less odious by sharing 
 it with another. Perhaps it might be to Tier ad- 
 vantage and if so, would he be justified in exposing 
 its absurdity ? He would have to see her first and 
 if he did, how would he explain his real position ? 
 A returning wave of bitterness threw him back into 
 his old despair. 
 
 The twilight had slowly gathered over the view as 
 he gazed or, rather a luminous concentration above 
 the pueblo and bay had left the outer circle of fog 
 denser and darker. Emboldened by the apparent 
 desertion of the Embarcadero, he began to retrace 
 his steps down the slope, keeping close to the wall 
 so as to avoid passing before the church again, or a 
 closer contact with the gardener among the vines. 
 In this way he reached the path he had skirted the 
 night before, and stopped almost under the shadow 
 of the Alcalde's house. It was here he had rested 
 and hidden here he had tasted the first sweets of 
 isolation and oblivion in the dreamy garden here 
 he had looked forward to peace with the passing of 
 the ship and now! The sound of voices and 
 laughter grated upon his ear. He had heard those 
 
154 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOK." 
 
 voices before. Their distinctness startled him until 
 he became aware that he was standing before a 
 broken, half-rotting door that permitted a glimpse 
 of the courtyard of the neighbouring house. He 
 glided quickly past it without pausing, but in 
 that glimpse beheld Mrs. Brimmer and Miss 
 Chubb half reclining in the corridor in the attitude 
 he had often seen them on the deck of the ship 
 talking and laughing with a group of Mexican 
 gallants. A feeling of inconceivable loathing and 
 aversion took possession of him. Was it to this he 
 was returning after his despairing search for 
 oblivion ? Their empty, idle laughter seemed to 
 ring mockingly in his ears as he hurried on, scarce 
 knowing whither, until he paused before the broken 
 cactus hedge and crumbling wall that faced the 
 Embarcadero. A glance over the hedge showed 
 him that the strip of beach was deserted. He looked 
 up the narrow street ; it was empty. A few rapid 
 strides across it gained him the shadow of the sea- 
 wall of the Presidio, unchecked and unhindered. 
 The ebbing tide had left a foot or two of narrow 
 shingle between the sea and the wall. He crept 
 along this until, a hundred yards distant, the sea- 
 wall re-entered inland around a bastion at the 
 entrance of a moat half filled at high tide by the 
 waters of the bay, but now a ditch of shallow pools, 
 sand, and debris. He leaned against the bastion, 
 and looked over the softly darkening water. 
 
 How quiet it looked, and, under that vaporous 
 veil, how profound and inscrutable ! How easy to 
 slip into its all-embracing arms, and sink into its 
 
THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP. 155 
 
 yielding bosom, leaving behind no stain, trace, or 
 record ! A surer oblivion than the Church, which 
 would not absolve memory, grant forgetfulness, nor 
 even hide the ghastly footprints of its occupants. 
 Here was obliteration. But was he sure of that ? 
 He thought of the body of the murdered Peruvian, 
 laid out at the feet of the Council by this same 
 fickle and uncertain sea ; he thought of his own 
 distorted face subjected to the cold curiosity of 
 these aliens or the contemptuous pity of his country- 
 men. But that could be avoided. It was easy for 
 him a good swimmer to reach a point far enough 
 out in the channel for the ebbing tides to carry 
 him past that barrier of fog into the open and 
 obliterating ocean. And then, at least, it might 
 seem as if he had attempted to escape indeed, if 
 he cared, he might be able to keep afloat until he 
 was picked up by some passing vessel, bound to a 
 distant land ! The self-delusion pleased him, and 
 seemed to add the clinching argument to his 
 resolution. It was not suicide; it was escape 
 certainly no more than escape he intended ! And 
 this miserable sophism of self-apology, the last 
 flashes of expiring conscience, helped to light up his 
 pale, determined face with satisfaction. He began 
 coolly to divest himself of his coat. 
 
 What was that? the sound of some dislodged 
 stones splashing in one of the pools further up ! 
 He glanced hurriedly round the wall of the bastion. 
 A figure crouching against the side of the ditch, as 
 if concealing itself from observation on the glacis 
 above, was slowly approaching the sea. Suddenly, 
 
156 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 when within a hundred yards of Hurlstone, it turned, 
 crossed the ditch, rapidly mounted its crumbling 
 sides, and disappeared over the crest. But in that 
 hurried glimpse he had recognised Captain Bunker ! 
 The sudden and mysterious apparition of this man 
 produced on Hurlstone an effect that the most 
 violent opposition could not have created. Without 
 a thought of the terrible purpose it had interrupted, 
 and obeying some stronger instinct that had seized 
 him, he dashed down into the ditch and up to the 
 crest again after Captain Bunker. But he had com- 
 pletely disappeared. A little lagoon, making in 
 from the bay, on which a small fishing-boat was 
 riding, and a solitary fisherman mending his nets on 
 the muddy shore a few feet from it, were .all that 
 was to be seen. 
 
 He was turning back, when he saw the object of 
 his search, creeping from some reeds, on all fours, 
 with a stealthy, panther-like movement towards the 
 unconscious fisherman. Before Hurlstone could utter 
 a cry, Bunker had sprung upon the unfortunate man, 
 thrown him to the earth, rapidly rolled him over and 
 over, enwrapping him hand and foot in his own net, 
 and involving him hopelessly in its meshes. Tossing 
 the helpless victim who was apparently too stupe- 
 fied to call out to one side, he was rushing towards 
 the boat when, with a single bound, Hurlstone 
 reached his side, and laid his hand upon his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Captain Bunker, for Grod's sake ! what are you 
 doing?" 
 
 Captain Bunker turned slowly and without 
 
THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP. 157 
 
 apparent concern towards his captor. Hurlstone 
 fell back before the vacant, lack-lustre eyes that 
 were fixed upon him. 
 
 " Captain Bunker's my name," said the madman, 
 in a whisper. " Lemuel Bunker, of Nantuckett ! 
 Hush ! don't waken him," pointing to the prostrate 
 fisherman; "I've put him to sleep. I'm Captain 
 Bunker old drunken Bunker who stole one ship 
 from her owners, and disgraced himself, and now is 
 going to steal another ha, ha ! Let me go." 
 
 " Captain Bunker," said Hurlstone, recovering 
 himself in time to prevent the maniac from dashing 
 into the water. " Look at me. Don't you know 
 me?" 
 
 " Yes, yes ; you're one of old Bunker's dogs kicked 
 overboard by Perkins. I'm one of Perkins' dogs 
 gone mad, and locked up by Perkins ! Ha, ha ! 
 But I got out ! Hush ! She let me out. She 
 thought I was going to see the boys at San Antonio. 
 But I'm going off to see the old barque out there in 
 the fog. I'm going to chuck Perkins overboard and 
 the two mates. Let me go." 
 
 He struggled violently. Hurlstone, fearful of 
 quitting his hold to release the fisherman, whom 
 Captain Bunker no longer noticed, and not daring 
 to increase the Captain's fury by openly calling to 
 him, beckoned the pinioned man to make an effort. 
 But, paralysed by fear, the wretched captive 
 remained immovable, staring at the struggling 
 men. With the strength of desperation Hurlstone 
 at last forced the Captain down upon his knees. 
 " Listen, Captain ! We'll go together you 
 
158 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 understand. I'll help you but we must get a 
 larger boat first you know." 
 
 " But they won't give it," said Captain Bunker 
 mysteriously. " Didn't you hear the Council the 
 owners the underwriters say : " He lost his ship, 
 he's ruined and disgraced, for rum, all for rum ! " 
 And we want rum, you know, and it's all over there, 
 in the Excelsior's locker ! " 
 
 " Yes, yes," said Hurlstone soothingly ; " but 
 there's more in the bigger boat. Come with me. 
 We'll let the man loose, and we'll make him show 
 us his bigger boat." 
 
 It was an unfortunate suggestion; for the 
 Captain, who had listened with an insane chuckle, 
 and allowed himself to be taken lightly by the 
 hand, again caught sight of the prostrate fisherman. 
 A yell broke from him his former frenzy returned. 
 With a cry of " Treachery ! all hands on deck ! " he 
 threw off Hurlstone and rushed into the water. 
 
 "Help!" cried the young man, springing after 
 him. " It is madne ss. He will kill himself ! " 
 
 The water was shallow, they were both wading, 
 they both reached the boat at the same time ; but 
 the Captain had scrambled into the stern-sheets, and 
 cast loose the painter, as Hurlstone once more threw 
 his arms about him. 
 
 " Hear me, Captain. I'll go with you. Listen ! 
 I know the way through the fog. You understand : 
 I'll pilot you ! " He was desperate, but no longer 
 from despair of himself, but of another; he was 
 reckless, but only to save a madman from the fate 
 that but a moment before he had chosen for himself. 
 
THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP. 159 
 
 Captain Bunker seemed to soften. " Gret in 
 for'ard," he said, in a lower voice. Hurlstone 
 released his grasp, but still clinging to the boat, 
 which had now drifted into deeper water, made 
 his way to the bow. He was climbing over the 
 thwarts when a horrified cry from the fisherman 
 ashore and a jarring laugh in his ear caused him to 
 look up. But not in time to save himself ! The 
 treacherous maniac had suddenly launched a blow 
 from an oar at the unsuspecting man as he was 
 rising to his knees. It missed his head, but fell 
 upon his arm and shoulder, precipitating him 
 violently into the sea. 
 
 Stunned by the shock he sank at first like lead to 
 the bottom. When he rose again, with his return- 
 ing consciousness, he could see that Captain Bunker 
 had already hoisted sail, and, with the assistance of 
 his oars, was rapidly increasing his distance from 
 the shore. With his returning desperation he 
 turned to strike out after him, but groaned as his 
 one arm sank powerless to his side. A few strokes 
 showed him the madness of the attempt ; a few 
 more convinced him that he himself could barely 
 return to the shore. A sudden torpor had taken 
 possession of him he was sinking ! 
 
 With this thought, a struggle for life began j- and 
 this man who had just now sought death so eagerly 
 with no feeling of inconsistency, with no physical 
 fear of dissolution, with only a vague, blind, dogged 
 determination to live for some unknown purpose 
 a determination as vague and dogged as his former 
 ideas of self-destruction summoned all his energies 
 
160 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOK." 
 
 to reach the shore. He struck out wildly, des- 
 perately ; once or twice he thought he felt his feet 
 touch the bottom, only to find himself powerlessly 
 dragged back towards the sea. With a final super- 
 human effort he gained at last a foothold on the 
 muddy strand, and, half scrambling, half crawling, 
 sank exhaustedly beside the fisherman's net. But 
 the fisherman was gone! He attempted again to 
 rise to his feet, but a strange dizziness attacked 
 him. The darkening landscape, with its contracting 
 wall of fog ; the gloomy flat ; the still, pale sea, as 
 yet unruffled by the faint land breeze that was 
 slowly wafting the escaping boat into the shadowy 
 offing all swam round him ! Through the roaring 
 in his ears 'he thought he heard drum-beats, and 
 the fanfare of a trumpet, and voices. The next 
 moment he had lost all consciousness. 
 
 When he came to, he was lying in the guard-room 
 of the Presidio. Among the group of people who 
 surrounded him he recognised the gaunt features of 
 the Commander, the sympathetic eyes of Father 
 Esteban, and the fisherman who had disappeared. 
 When he rose on his elbow, and attempted to lift 
 himself feebly, the fisherman, with a cry of grati- 
 tude, threw himself on his knees, and kissed his 
 helpless hand. 
 
 " He lives, he lives ! your Excellencies ! Saints 
 be praised, he lives ! The hero the brave 
 Americano the noble caballero who delivered me 
 from the madman." 
 
 " Who are you ? and whence come you ? " de- 
 
THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP. 161 
 
 manded the Commander of Hurlstone, with grave 
 austerity. 
 
 Hurlstone hesitated ; the priest leaned forward 
 with a half-anxious, half- warning gesture. There 
 was a sudden rustle in the passage ; the crowd gave 
 way as Miss Keene, followed by Mrs. Markham, 
 entered. The young girl's eyes caught those of the 
 prostrate man. With an impulsive cry she ran 
 towards him. 
 
 " Mr. Hurlstone ! " 
 
 " Hurlstone ? " echoed the group, pressing nearer 
 the astonished man. 
 
 The Comandante lifted his hand gravely with a 
 gesture of silence, and then slowly removed his 
 plumed hat. Every head was instantly un- 
 covered. 
 
 " Long live our brave and noble ally, Don Diego ! 
 Long live the beautiful Dona Leonor ! " 
 
 A faint shade of sadness passed over the priest's 
 face. He glanced from Hurlstone to Miss 
 Keene. 
 
 " Then you have consented ? " he whispered. 
 
 Hurlstone cast a rapid glance at Eleanor Keene. 
 
 I consent ! " 
 
 11 
 
PART II. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE MOURNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 THE telegraph operator at the Grolden Grate of San 
 Francisco had long since given up hope of the 
 Excelsior. During the months of September and 
 October, 1854, stimulated by the promised reward, 
 and often by the actual presence of her owners, he 
 had shown zeal and hope in his scrutiny of the 
 incoming ships. The gaunt arms of the semaphore 
 at Fort Point, turned against the sunset sky, had 
 regularly recorded the smallest vessel of the 
 white-winged fleet which sought the portal of 
 the bay during that eventful year of immigration ; 
 but the Excelsior was not amongst them. At the 
 close of the year 1854 she was a tradition; by the 
 end of January 1855 she was forgotten. Had she 
 been engulphed in her own element, she could not 
 have been more completely swallowed up than 
 in the changes of that shore she never reached. 
 Whatever interest or hope was still kept alive in 
 solitary breasts the world never knew. By the 
 significant irony of Fate, even the old-time sema- 
 phore that should have signalled her was abandoned 
 and forgotten. 
 
 11* 
 
164 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 The mention of her name albeit in a quiet, 
 unconcerned voice in the dress-circle of a San 
 Francisco Theatre, during the performance of a 
 popular female star, was therefore so peculiar that 
 it could only have come from the lips of some one 
 personally interested in the lost vessel. Yet the 
 speaker was a youngish, feminine-looking man 
 of about thirty, notable for his beardlessness, in 
 the crowded circle of bearded and moustachioed 
 Californians ; and had been one of the most 
 absorbed of the enthusiastic audience. A weak 
 smile of vacillating satisfaction and uneasiness 
 played on his face during the plaudits of his 
 fellow-admirers, as if he were alternately gratified 
 and annoyed. It might have passed for a discrimi- 
 nating and truthful criticism of the performance, 
 which was a classical burlesque, wherein the star 
 displayed an unconventional frankness of shapely 
 limbs and unrestrained gestures and glances ; but 
 he applauded the more dubious parts equally with 
 the audience. He was evidently familiar with the 
 performance, for a look of eager expectation greeted 
 most of the " business." Either he had not come 
 for the entire evening, or he did not wish to 
 appear as if he had, as he sat on one of the back 
 benches near the passage, and frequently changed 
 his place. He was well, even foppishly, dressed 
 for the period, and appeared to be familiarly 
 known to the loungers in the passage as a man of 
 some social popularity. 
 
 He had just been recognised by a man of 
 apparently equal importance and distinction, who 
 
THE MOURNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO. 165 
 
 had quietly and unconsciously taken a seat by his 
 side, and the recognition appeared equally un- 
 expected and awkward. The new-comer was the 
 older and more decorous looking, with an added 
 formality of manner and self-assertion that did 
 not, however, conceal a certain habitual shrewdness 
 of eye and lip. He wore a full beard, but the 
 absence of a moustache left the upper half of his 
 handsome and rather satirical mouth uncovered. 
 His dress was less pronounced than his companion's, 
 but of a type of older and more established 
 gentility. 
 
 " I was a little late coming from the office to- 
 night," said the younger man, with an embarrassed 
 laugh, " and I thought I'd drop in here on my way 
 home. Pretty rough outside, ain't it ? " 
 
 " Yes, it's raining and blowing ; so I thought I 
 wouldn't go up to the plaza for a cab, but wait here 
 for the first one that dropped a fare at the door, and 
 take it on to the hotel." 
 
 " Hold on, and I'll go with you," said the young 
 man carelessly, " I say, Brimmer," he added, after 
 a pause, with a sudden assumption of larger gaiety, 
 " there's nothing mean about Belle Montgomery, 
 eh ? She's a whole team and the little dog under 
 the waggon, ain't she ? Deuced pretty woman ! 
 no make-up there, eh ? " 
 
 " She certainly is a fine woman," said Brimmer 
 gravely, borrowing his companion's lorgnette. " By- 
 the-way, Markham, do you usually keep an opera- 
 glass in your office in case of an emergency like 
 this ? " 
 
166 THE CKUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOK." 
 
 "I reckon it was forgotten in my overcoat 
 pocket," said Markham, with an embarrassed smile. 
 
 " Left over from the last time," said Brirnmer, 
 rising from his seat. " Well, I'm going now I 
 suppose I'll have to try the plaza." 
 
 " Hold on a moment. She's coming on now 
 there she is ! " He stopped, his anxious eyes fixed 
 upon the stage. Brimmer turned at the same 
 moment in no less interested absorption. A 
 quick hush ran through the theatre ; the men bent 
 eagerly forward as the Queen of Olympus swept 
 down to the footlights, and, with a ravishing smile, 
 seemed to envelop the whole theatre in a gracious 
 caress. 
 
 " You know, 'pon my word, Brimmer, she's a very 
 superior woman," gasped Markham excitedly, when 
 the goddess had temporarily withdrawn ; " these 
 fellows here," he said, indicating the audience 
 contemptuously, " don't know her, think she's all 
 that sort of thing, you know ; and come here just 
 to look at her. But she's very accomplished; in 
 fact, a kind of literary woman. Writes devilish 
 good poetry only took up the stage on account of 
 domestic trouble: drunken husband that beat her 
 regular affecting story, you know. These sap- 
 headed fools don't, of course, know that. No, sir; 
 she's a remarkable woman ! I say, Brimmer ; look 
 here : I " he hesitated, and then went on more 
 boldly, as if he had formed a sudden resolution, 
 " What have you got to do to-night ? " 
 
 Brimmer, who had been lost in abstraction, 
 started slightly, and said, 
 
THE MOURNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO. 167 
 
 " I-*-on ! I've got an appointment with Keene. 
 You know he's off by the steamer day after to- 
 morrow ? " 
 
 " What ! He's not going off on that wild-goose 
 chase, after all ? Why, the man's got Excelsior on 
 the brain ! " He stopped as he looked at Brimmer's 
 cold face, and suddenly coloured. " I mean his 
 plan his idea's all nonsense you know that ! " 
 
 " I certainly don't agree with him," began 
 Brimmer gravely ; " but " 
 
 " The idea," interrupted Markham, encouraged 
 by Brimmer's beginning, " of his knocking around 
 the (rulf of California, and getting up an expe- 
 dition to go inland, just because a mail-steamer 
 saw a bark like the Excelsior off Mazatlan last 
 August. As if the Excelsior wouldn't have gone 
 into Mazatlan if it had been her ! I tell you what 
 it is, Brimmer : it's mighty rough on you and me, 
 and it ain't the square thing at all after all we've 
 done, and the money we've spent, and the nights 
 we've sat up over the Excelsior to have this young 
 fellow Keene always putting up the bluff of his lost 
 sister on us ! His lost sister, indeed ! as if we 
 hadn't any feelings ! " 
 
 The two men looked at each other, and each felt 
 it incumbent to look down and sigh deeply not 
 hypocritically, but perfunctorily, as over a past 
 grief, although anger had been the dominant ex- 
 pression of the speaker. 
 
 " I was about to remark," said Brimmer practi- 
 cally, " that the insurance on the Excelsior having 
 been paid, her loss is a matter of commercial 
 
168 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 record ; and that, in a business point of view, this 
 plan of Keene's ain't worth looking at. As a 
 private matter of our own feelings purely domestic 
 there's no question but that we must sympathise 
 with him, although he refuses to let us join in the 
 expenses." 
 
 " Oh, as to that," said Markham hurriedly, " I 
 told him to draw on me for a thousand dollars last 
 time I saw him. No, sir ; it ain't that. What 
 gets me is this darned nagging and simpering 
 around, and opening old sores, and putting on 
 sentimental style, and doing the bereaved business 
 generally. I reckon he'd be even horrified to see 
 you and me here though it was just- a chance 
 with both of us." 
 
 " I think not," said Brimmer dryly. " He knows 
 Miss Montgomery already. They're going by the 
 same steamer." 
 
 Markham looked up quickly. 
 " Impossible ! She's going by the other line to 
 Panama ; that is " he hesitated " I heard it from 
 the agent." 
 
 " She's changed her mind, so Keene says," re- 
 turned Brimmer. " She's going by way of Nicaragua. 
 He stops at San Juan to reconnoitre the coast up 
 to Mazatlan. Good-night. It's no use waiting here 
 for a cab any longer, I'm off." 
 
 " Hold on ! " said Markham, struggling out of a 
 sudden uneasy reflection. "I say, Brimmer," he 
 resumed, with an enforced smile, which he tried to 
 make playful, " your engagement with Keene won't 
 keep you long. What do you say to having a little 
 
THE MOURNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO. 159 
 
 supper with Miss Montgomery, eh ? perfectly 
 proper, you know at our hotel ? Just a few 
 friends, eh ? " 
 
 Brimmer's eyes and lips slightly contracted. 
 
 "I believe I am already invited," he said quietly. 
 "Keene asked me. In fact, that's the appoint- 
 ment. Strange, he didn't speak of you," he added 
 dryly. 
 
 " I suppose it's some later arrangement," Mark- 
 ham replied, with feigned carelessness. "Do you 
 know her ? " 
 
 Slightly." 
 
 " You did'nt say so ! " 
 
 " You didn't ask me," said Brimmer. " She 
 came to consult me about South American affairs. 
 It seems that fillibuster General Leonidas, alias 
 Perkins, whose little game we stopped by that 
 Peruvian contract, actually landed in Quinquinambo, 
 and established a Government. It seems she knows 
 him, has a great admiration for him as a Liberator, 
 as she calls him. I think they correspond ! " 
 
 " She's a wonderful woman, by jingo, Brimmer ! 
 I'd like to hear who she don't know," said Markham, 
 beaming with a patronising vanity. " There's you, 
 and there's that fillibuster, and old Governor Pico, 
 that she's just snatched bald-headed I mean, you 
 know, that he recognises her worth, don't you see ? 
 Not like this cattle you see here." 
 
 " Are you coming with me ? " said Brimmer, 
 gravely buttoning up his coat, as if encasing him- 
 self in a panoply of impervious respectability. 
 
 "I'll join you at the hotel," said Markham 
 
170 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 hurriedly. "There's a man over there in the 
 parquet that I want to say a word to ; don't wait 
 for me." 
 
 With a slight inclination of the head Mr. 
 Brimmer passed out into the lobby, erect, self- 
 possessed, and impeccable. One or two of his 
 commercial colleagues of maturer age, who were 
 loitering leisurely by the wall, unwilling to com- 
 promise themselves by actually sitting down, took 
 heart of grace at this correct apparition. Brimmer 
 nodded to them coolly, as if on 'Change, and made 
 his way out of the theatre. He had scarcely taken 
 a few steps before a furious onset of wind and rain 
 drove him into a door-way for shelter. At the 
 same moment a slouching figure, with a turned-up 
 coat collar, slipped past him, and disappeared in a 
 passage at his right. Partly hidden by his lowered 
 umbrella, Mr. Brimmer himself escaped notice, but 
 he instantly recognised his late companion, Mark- 
 ham. As he resumed his way up the street, he 
 glanced into the passage. Half-way down, a light 
 flashed upon the legend " Stage Entrance." Quincy 
 Brimmer, with a faint smile, passed on to his hotel. 
 
 It was striking half-past eleven when Mr. Brimmer 
 again issued from his room in the Oriental, and 
 passed down a Jong corridor. Pausing a moment 
 before a side hall that opened from it, he cast a 
 rapid look up and down the corridor, and then 
 knocked hastily at a door. It was opened sharply 
 by a lady's maid, who fell back respectfully before 
 Mr. Brimmer's all-correct presence. 
 
 Half reclining on a sofa in the parlour of an 
 
THE MOURNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO. 171 
 
 elaborate suite of apartments was the woman whom 
 Mr. Brimmer had a few hours before beheld on the 
 stage of the theatre. Lifting her eyes languidly 
 from a book that lay ostentatiously on her lap, she 
 beckoned her visitor to approach. She w;is a woman 
 still young, whose statuesque beauty had but 
 slightly suffered from cosmetics, late hours, and 
 the habitual indulgence of certain hysterical 
 emotions that were not only inconsistent with 
 the classical suggestions of her figure, but had 
 left traces not unlike the grosser excitement of 
 alcoholic stimulation. She looked like a tinted 
 statue whose slight mutations through stress of 
 time and weather had been unwisely repaired by 
 freshness of colour. 
 
 "I am such a creature of nerves," she said, 
 raising a superb neck, and extending a goddess- 
 like arm, " that I am always perfectly exhausted 
 after the performance. I fly, as you see, to my 
 first love poetry as soon as Rosina has changed 
 my dress. It is not generally known but I don't 
 mind telling you that I often nerve myself for 
 the effort of acting by reading some well-remem- 
 bered passage from my favourite poets, as I stand 
 by the wings. 1 quaff, as one might say, a single 
 draught of the Pierian spring before I go on." 
 
 The exact relations between the humorous " walk 
 round," in which Miss Montgomery usually made 
 her first entrance, and the volume of Byron she 
 held in her hand, did not trouble Mr. Brimmer 
 so much as the beautiful arm with which she 
 emphasised it. Neither did it strike him that the 
 
172 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 distinguishing indications of a poetic exaltation 
 were at all unlike the effects of a grosser stimulant 
 known as " Champagne cocktail " on the less 
 sensitive organisation of her colleagues. Touched 
 by her melancholy but fascinating smile, he said 
 gallantly that he had observed no sign of exhaustion 
 or want of power in her performance that evening. 
 
 " Then you were there ? " she said, fixing her 
 eyes upon him with an expression of mournful 
 gratitude. " You actually left your business and 
 the calls of public duty to see the poor mountebank 
 perform her nightly task." 
 
 " I was there with a friend of yours," answered 
 Brimmer soberly, " who actually asked me to the 
 supper to which Mr. Keene had already invited me, 
 and which you had been kind enough to suggest to 
 me a week ago." 
 
 " True, I had forgotten," said Miss Montgomery, 
 with a large goddess-like indifference that was more 
 effective with the man before her than the most 
 elaborate explanation. "You don't mind them do 
 you ? for we are all friends together ; my position, 
 you know," she added sadly, " prevents my always 
 following my own inclinations or preferences. Poor 
 Markham, I fear the world does not do justice to 
 his gentle, impressible nature. I sympathise with 
 him deeply ; we have both had our afflictions, we 
 have both lost. Good heavens ! " she exclaimed, 
 with a sudden exaggerated start of horror, "what 
 have I done ? Forgive my want of tact, dear friend ; 
 I had forgotten, wretched being that I am, that 
 you, too " 
 
THE MOURNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO. 173 
 
 She caught his hand in both hers, and bowed her 
 head over it as if unable to finish her sentence. 
 
 Brimmer, who had been utterly mystified and 
 amazed at this picture of Markham's disconsolate 
 attitude to the world, and particularly ^to the 
 woman before him, was completely finished by 
 this later tribute to his own affliction. His usually 
 composed features, however, easily took upon them- 
 selves a graver cast as he kept, and pressed, the 
 warm hands in his own. 
 
 " Fool that I was," continued Miss Montgomery, 
 "in thinking of poor Markham's childlike open 
 grief, I forgot the deeper sorrow that the more 
 manly heart experiences under an exterior that 
 seems cold and impassible. Yes," she said, raising 
 her languid eyes to Brimmer, " I ought to have 
 felt the throb of that volcano under its mask of 
 snow. You have taught me a lesson." 
 
 Withdrawing her hand hastily, as if the volcano 
 had shown some signs of activity, she leaned back 
 on the sofa again. 
 
 " You are not yet reconciled to Mr. Keene's ex- 
 pedition, then ? " she asked languidly. 
 
 " I believe that everything has been already 
 done," said Brimmer, somewhat stiffly ; " all 
 sources of sensible inquiry have been exhausted 
 by me. But I envy Keene the eminently practical 
 advantages his impractical journey gives him," he 
 added, arresting himself, gallantly ; " he goes with 
 you." 
 
 " Truly ! " said Miss Montgomery, with the 
 melancholy abstraction of a stage soliloquy. 
 
174 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR" 
 
 "Beyond obeying the dictates of his brotherly 
 affection, he gains no real advantage in learning 
 whether his sister is alive or dead. The surety 
 of her death would not make him freer than he 
 is now freer to absolutely follow the dictates of 
 a new affection ; free to make his own life again. 
 It is a sister, not a wife, he seeks." 
 
 Mr. Brimmer's forehead slightly contracted. He 
 leaned back a little more rigidly in his chair, and 
 fixed a critical, half-supercilious look upon her. She 
 did not seem to notice his almost impertinent 
 scrutiny, but sat silent, with her eyes bent on the 
 carpet, in gloomy abstraction. 
 
 " Can you keep a secret ? " she said, as if with a 
 sudden resolution. 
 
 "Yes," said Brimmer briefly, without changing 
 his look. 
 
 " You know I am a married woman. You have 
 heard the story of my wrongs ? " 
 
 " I have heard them," said Brimmer dryly. 
 
 " Well, the husband who abused and deserted me 
 was, I have reason to believe, a passenger on the 
 Excelsiw. 
 
 " MacCorkle ! impossible. There was no such 
 name on the passenger list." 
 
 " MacCorkle ! " repeated Montgomery, with a 
 dissonant tone in her voice, and a slight flash in 
 her eyes. "What are you thinking of? There 
 never was a Mr. MacCorkle ; it was one of my noms 
 de plume. And where did you hear it ? " 
 
 " I beg your pardon, I must have got it from the 
 press notices of your book of poetry. I knew that 
 
THE MOUENERS AT SAN FRANCISCO, 175 
 
 Montgomery was only a stage name, and as it was 
 necessary that I should have another in making the 
 business investments you were good enough to 
 charge me with, I used what I thought was your 
 real name. It can be changed, or you can sign 
 MacCorkle." 
 
 " Let it go," said Miss Montgomery, resuming her 
 former manner. " What matters ? I wish there 
 was no such thing as business. Well," she resumed, 
 after a pause, " my husband's name is Hurlstone." 
 
 " But there was no Hurlstone on the passenger 
 list either," said Brimmer. " I knew them all, and 
 their friends." 
 
 " Not in the list from the States, but if he came 
 on board at Callao, you wouldn't have known it. / 
 knew that he arrived there on the Osprey a few days 
 before the Excelsior sailed." 
 
 Mr. Brimmer's eyes changed their expression. 
 
 " And you want to find him ? " 
 
 " No," she said, with an actress's gesture. " I 
 want to know the truth. I want to know if I am 
 still tied to this man, or if I am free to follow the 
 dictates of my own conscience, to make my life 
 anew, to become you see I am not ashamed to 
 say it to become the honest wife of some honest 
 man." 
 
 " A divorce would suit your purpose equally," said 
 Brimmer coldly. " It can be easily obtained." 
 
 " A divorce ! Do you know what that means to a 
 woman in my profession ? It is a badge of shame, 
 a certificate of disgrace, an advertisement to 
 every miserable wretch who follows me with his 
 
176 THE CRUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR," 
 
 advances, that I have no longer the sanctity of 
 girlhood, nor the protection of a wife." 
 
 There was tragic emotion in her voice, there were 
 tears in her eyes. Mr. Brimmer, gazing at her with 
 what he firmly thought to be absolute and incisive 
 penetration, did not believe either. But like most 
 practical analysts of the half-motived sex, he was 
 only half right. The emotion and the tears were as 
 real as anything else in the woman under criticism, 
 notwithstanding that they were not as real as they 
 would have been in the man who criticised. He, 
 however, did her full justice on a point where most 
 men and all women misjudged her: he believed 
 that, through instinct and calculation, she had been 
 materially faithful to her husband ; that this large 
 goddess-like physique had all the impeccability of a 
 goddess ; that the hysterical dissipation in which she 
 indulged herself was purely mental, and usurped 
 and preoccupied all other emotions. In this public 
 exposition of her beauty, there was no sense of 
 shame, for there was no sense of the passion it 
 evoked. And he was right. But there he should 
 have stopped. Unfortunately, his masculine logic 
 forced him to supply a reason for her coldness in 
 the existence of some more absorbing passion. He 
 believed her ambitious and calculating : she was 
 neither. He believed she might have made him an 
 admirable co-partner and practical helpmeet : he 
 was wrong. 
 
 " You know my secret now," she continued. 
 " You know why I am anxious to know my fate. 
 You understand now why I sympathise with " 
 
THE MOURNERS AT SAN FEANCISCO. 177 
 
 she stopped, and made a half-contemptuous gesture 
 " with these men Markham and Keene. They do 
 not know it ; perhaps they prefer to listen to their 
 own vanity that's the way of most men ; but you 
 do know it, and you have no exeus3 for misjudging 
 me, or undeceiving them." She stopped and looked 
 at the clock. " They will be here in five minutes ; 
 do you wish them to find you already here ? " 
 
 " It is as you wish," stammered Brimmer, com- 
 pletely losing his self-possession. 
 
 " I have no wish," she said, with a sublime gesture 
 of indifference. " If you wait you can entertain 
 them here, while Rosina is dressing me in the next 
 room. We sup in the larger room across the hall." 
 
 As she disappeared, Quincy Brimmer rose irre- 
 solutely from his seat, and checked a half-uttered 
 exclamation. Then he turned nervously to the 
 parlour door. What a senseless idiot he had 
 become ! He had never for an instant conceived 
 the idea of making this preliminary confidential 
 visit known to the others ; he had no wish to 
 suggest the appearance of an assignation with the 
 woman, who, rightly or wrongly, was notorious ; he 
 had nothing to gain by this voluntary assumption of 
 a compromising attitude, yet here he was, he Mr. 
 Brimmer with the appearance of being installed in 
 her parlour, receiving her visitors, and dispensing 
 her courtesies. Only a man recklessly in love would 
 be guilty of such an indiscretion even Markham's 
 feebleness had never reached this absurdity. In the 
 midst of his uneasiness, there was a knock at the 
 door ; he opened it himself nervously and sharply. 
 
 12 
 
178 THE CRUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOK." 
 
 Markham's self-satisfied face drew back in alarm and 
 embarrassment at the unexpected apparition. The 
 sight restored Brimmer's coolness and satirical 
 self-possession. 
 
 " I I didn't know you were here," stammered 
 Markham. " I left Keene in your room." 
 
 "Then why didn't you bring him along with 
 you ? " said Brimmer maliciously. " Go and fetch 
 him." 
 
 " Yes ; but he said you were to meet him 
 there," continued Markham, glancing around the 
 empty room with a slight expression of relief. 
 
 " My watch was twenty minutes fast, and I had 
 given him up," said Brimmer, with mendacious 
 effrontery. " Miss Montgomery is dressing. You 
 can bring him here before she returns." 
 
 Markham flew uneasily down the corridor, and 
 quickly returned with a handsome young fellow of 
 five-and-twenty, whose frank face was beaming with 
 excitement and youthful energy. The two elder 
 men could not help regarding him with a mingled 
 feeling of envy and compassion. 
 
 " Did you tell Brimmer yet ? " said Keene, with 
 animation. 
 
 " I haven't had time," hesitated Markham. " The 
 fact is, Brimmer, I think of going with Keene on 
 this expedition." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said Brimmer superciliously. 
 
 " Yes," said Markham, colouring slightly. " You 
 see, we've got news. Tell him, Dick." 
 
 " The Storm Cloud got in yesterday from Val- 
 paraiso and Central American ports," said Keene, 
 
THE MOUKNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO. 179 
 
 with glowing cheeks. "I boarded her, as usual, 
 last night, for information. The mate says there is 
 a story of a man picked up crazy, in an open fishing- 
 boat, somewhere off the peninsula, and brought into 
 hospital at San Juan last August. He recovered 
 enough lately to tell his story, and claimed to be 
 Captain Bunker, of the Excelsior, whose crew 
 mutinied and ran her ashore in a fog. But the 
 boat in which he was picked up was a Mexican 
 fishing-boat, and there was something revolutionary 
 and political about the story, so that the authorities 
 detained him. The Consul has just been informed, 
 and has taken the matter in hand." 
 
 " It's a queer story," said Brimmer, gazing from 
 the one to the other, " and I will look into it also 
 to-morrow. If it is true," he added slowly, " I will 
 go with you." 
 
 Eichard Keene extended his hand impulsively to 
 his two elders. 
 
 " You'll excuse me for saying it, Brimmer and 
 you, too, Markham but this is just what I've been 
 looking forward to. Not but what I'd have found 
 Nell without your assistance ; but you see, boys, it 
 did look mighty mean in me to make more fuss 
 about a sister than you would for your wives ! But 
 
 now that it's all settled " 
 
 "We'll go to supper," said Miss Montgomery 
 theatrically, appearing at the door. "Dick will 
 give me his arm." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS. 
 
 THERE was a breath of spring in the soft morning 
 air of Todos Santos a breath so subtle and odorous 
 that it penetrated the veil of fog beyond the bay, 
 and for a moment lingered on the deck of a passing 
 steamer like an arresting memory. But only for 
 an instant ; the Ometepe, bound from San Francisco 
 to San Juan del Norte, with its four seekers of the 
 Excelsior, rolled and plunged on its way uncon- 
 sciously. 
 
 Within the bay and over the restful pueblo still 
 dwelt the golden haze of its perpetual summer ; the 
 two towers of the old Mission church seemed to 
 dissolve softly into the mellow upper twilight, and 
 the undulating valleys rolled their green waves up 
 to the wooded heights of San Antonio, that still 
 smiled down upon the arid, pallid desert. But 
 although Nature had not changed in the months 
 that had passed since the advent of the Excelsior, 
 there appeared some strange mutations in the town 
 and its inhabitants. On the beach below the 
 Presidio was the unfinished skeleton of a small 
 sea-going vessel on rude stock ; on the plaza rose 
 the framed walls and roofless rafters of a wooden 
 building ; near the Embarcadero was the tall adobe 
 chimney of some inchoate manufactory whose walls 
 had half risen from their foundations, but all of 
 
THE MOUKNERS AT TODOS SANTOS. 181 
 
 these objects had evidently succumbed to the drowsy 
 influence of the climate, and already had taken 
 the appearances of later and less picturesque ruins 
 of the past. There were singular innovations in 
 the costumes : one or two umbrellas, used as sun- 
 shades, were seen upon the square ; a few small chip 
 hats had taken the place of the stiff sombreros, with 
 an occasional tall white beaver; while linen coat 
 and nankeen trousers had, at times, usurped the 
 short velvet jacket and loose calzas of the national 
 costume. 
 
 At San Antonio the change was still more per- 
 ceptible. Beside the yawning pit of the aban- 
 doned silver mine a straggling building arose, filled 
 with rude machinery, bearing the legend, painted 
 in glowing letters, " Excelsior Silver Mining Co., 
 J. Crosby, Superintendent ; " and in the midst of 
 certain excavations assailing the integrity of the 
 cliff itself, was another small building, scarcely 
 larger than a sentry-box, with the inscription 
 " Office : Eleanor Quicksilver Smelting Works." 
 
 Basking in that yellow morning sunlight, with 
 his back against his office, Mr. Brace was seated on 
 the ground, rolling a cigarette. A few feet from 
 him Crosby, extended on his back on the ground, 
 was lazily puffing rings of smoke into the still air. 
 Both of these young gentlemen were dressed in 
 exaggerated Mexican costumes ; the silver buttons 
 fringing the edge of Crosby's calza, open from the 
 knee down to show a glipmse of the snowy under- 
 trouser, were richer and heavier than those usually 
 worn ; while Brace, in addition to the crimson silk 
 
182 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 sash round his waist, wore a crimson handkerchief 
 around his head, under his sombrero. 
 
 " Pepe's falling off in his tobacco," said Brace. 
 " I think I'll have to try some other Fonda." 
 
 " How's Banks getting on with his crop ? " asked 
 Crosby. " You know he was going to revo- 
 lutionise the business, and cut out Cuba on that 
 hillside." 
 
 " Oh, the usual luck ! He couldn't get proper 
 cultivators, and the Injins wouldn't work regular. 
 I must try and get hold of some of the Coman- 
 dante's stock ; but I'm out of favour with the old 
 man since Winslow and I wrecked that fishing-boat 
 on the rocks off yonder. He always believed we 
 were trying to run off, like Captain Bunker. 
 That's why he stopped our shipbuilding, I always 
 believe." 
 
 " All the same, we might have had it built and 
 ready now but for our laziness. We might have 
 worked on it nights without their knowing it, and 
 slipped off some morning in the fog." 
 
 " And we wouldn't have got one of the women to 
 go with us ! If we are getting shiftless here and 
 I don't say we're not these women have just 
 planted themselves and have taken root. But 
 that ain't all : there's the influence of that infernal 
 sneak Hurlstone ! He's set the Comandante 
 against us, you know he, and the priest, the 
 Comandante, and Nelly Keene make up the real 
 Council of Todos Santos. Between them they've 
 shoved out the poor little Alcalde, who's ready to 
 give up everything to dance attendance on Mrs. 
 
THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS. 183 
 
 Brimmer. They run the whole concern, and they 
 give out that it's owing to them that we're given 
 parole of the town, and the privilege of spending 
 our money and working these mines. Who'd have 
 thought that sneak Hurlstone would have played 
 his cards so well ? It makes me regularly sick to 
 hear him called ' Don Diego.' " 
 
 " Yet you're mightily tickled when that black-eyed 
 sister of the Alcalde calls you ' Don Carlos,' " said 
 Crosby, yawning. 
 
 " Dona Isabel," said Brace, with some empresse- 
 ment, " is a lady of position, and these are only her 
 national courtesies." 
 
 " She just worships Miss Keene, and I reckon 
 she knows by this time all about your old at- 
 tentions to her friend," said Crosby, with lazy 
 mischief. 
 
 " My attentions to Miss Keene were simply 
 those of an ordinary acquaintance, and were never 
 as strongly marked as yours to Mrs. Brimmer." 
 
 " Who has deserted me as Miss Keene did you" 
 rejoined Crosby. 
 
 Brace's quick colour had risen again, and he 
 would have made some sharp retort, but the 
 jingling of spurs caught his ear. They both 
 turned quickly, and saw Banks approaching. He 
 was dressed as a vaquero, but with his coinpanions'- 
 like exaggeration of detail ; yet, while his spurs 
 were enormous, and his sombrero unusually expan- 
 sive, he still clung to his high shirt collars and 
 accurately-tied check cravat." 
 
 " Well ? " he said, approaching them. 
 
184 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 " Well ? " said Crosby. 
 
 " Well ? " repeated Brace. 
 
 After this national salutation, the three 
 Americans regarded each other silently. 
 
 " Knocked off cultivating to day ? " queried 
 Crosby, lighting a fresh cigarette. 
 
 " The peons have," said Banks, " it's another 
 saint's day. That's the fourth in two weeks. 
 Leaves about two clear working days in each week, 
 counting for the days off, when they're getting 
 over the effects of the others. I tell you what, sir, 
 the Catholic religion is not suited to a working 
 civilisation, or else the calendar ought to be over- 
 hauled and a lot of these saints put on the retired- 
 list. It's hard enough to have all the Apostles on your 
 pay-roll, so to speak, but to have a lot of fellows 
 run in on you as saints, and some of them not even 
 men or women, but ideas, is piling up the agony ! 
 I don't wonder they call the place ' All Saints.' 
 The only thing to do," continued Banks severely, 
 "is to open communication with the desert, and 
 run in some of the heathen tribes outside. I've 
 made a proposition to the Council offering to take 
 five hundred of them in the raw, unregenerate 
 state, and turn 'em over after a year to the Church. 
 If I could get Hurlstone to do some log rolling 
 with that Padre, his friend, I might get the bill 
 through. But I'm always put off till to-morrow. 
 Everything here is ' Hasta manana ; hasta 
 manana,' always. I believe when the last trump 
 is sounded, they'll say, ' Hasta manana.' What 
 are you doing ? " he said, after a pause. 
 
THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS. 185 
 
 " Waiting for your ship," answered Crosby sar- 
 castically. 
 
 " Well, you can laugh, gentlemen but you won't 
 have to wait long. According to my calculations 
 that Mexican ship is about due now. And I ain't 
 basing my figures on anything the Mexican 
 Government is going to do, or any commercial 
 speculation. I'm reckoning on the Catholic 
 Church." 
 
 The two men languidly looked towards him. 
 Banks continued gravely : 
 
 " I made the proper inquiries, and I find that 
 the stock of rosaries, scapularies, blessed candles, 
 and other ecclesiastical goods, is running low. I 
 find that just at the nick of time a fresh supply 
 always comes from the Bishop of Guadalajara, with 
 instructions from the Church. Now, gentlemen, my 
 opinion is that the Church, and the Church only, 
 knows the secret of the passage through the foggy 
 channel, and keeps it to itself. I look at this com- 
 mercially, as a question of demand and supply. 
 Well, sir, the only real trader here at Todos Santos 
 is the Church." 
 
 " Then you don't take into account the interests 
 of Brimmer, Markham, and Keene ? " said Brace. 
 " Do you suppose they're doing nothing ? " 
 
 " I don't say they're not ; but you're confounding 
 interests with instincts. They haven't got the 
 instinct to find this place, and all that they've done 
 and are doing is blind calculation. Just look at 
 the facts. As the filibuster who captured the Ex- 
 celsior of course changed her name, her rig-out, and 
 
186 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 her flag, and even got up a false register for her, 
 she's as good as lost, as far as the world knows, until 
 she lands at Quinquinambo. Then supposing she's 
 found out, and the whole story is known although 
 everything's against such a proposition the news 
 has got to go back to San Francisco before the real 
 search will be begun. As to any clue that might 
 come from Captain Bunker, that's still more remote. 
 Allowing he crossed the bar and got out of the 
 channel, he wasn't at the right time for meeting a 
 passing steamer ; and the only coasters are Mexican. 
 If he didn't die of delirium tremens or exposure, 
 and was really picked up in his senses by some 
 other means, he would have been back with succour 
 before this, if only to get our evidence to prove the 
 loss of the vessel. No, sir ; sooner or later, of course, 
 the San Francisco crowd are bound to find us here. 
 And if it wasn't for my crops and our mine, I 
 wouldn't be in a hurry for them ; but our first hold 
 is the Church." 
 
 He stopped. Crosby was asleep. Brace arose 
 lazily, lounged into his office, and closed his desk. 
 
 " Going to shut for the day ? " said Banks, 
 yawning. 
 
 " I reckon," said Brace dubiously ; " I don't know 
 but I'd take a little pasear into the town if I had 
 my horse ready." 
 
 " Take mine, and I'll trapse over on foot to the 
 Kanche with Crosby after a spell. You'll find him 
 under that big madrono, if he has not already wound 
 himself up with his lariat by walking round it. 
 Those Mexican horses can't go straight even when 
 
THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS. 187 
 
 they graze they must feed in a circle. He's a 
 little fresh, so look out for him ! " 
 
 " All the better. I'd like to get into town just 
 after the siesta." 
 
 " Siesta ! " echoed Banks, lying comfortably down 
 in the shade just vacated by Brace ; " that's another 
 of their shiftless practices. Two hours out of every 
 day that's a day out of the week spent in a 
 hammock ; and during business hours too ! It's 
 disgraceful, sir ; simply disgraceful." 
 
 He turned over and closed his eyes, as if to reflect 
 on its enormity. 
 
 Brace had no difficulty in finding the mare, al- 
 though some trouble in mounting her. But, like 
 his companions, having quickly adopted the habits 
 of the country, he had become a skilful and ex- 
 perienced horseman, and the mustang, after a few 
 springless jumps, which failed to unseat him, sub- 
 mitted to his rider. The young man galloped 
 rapidly towards Todos Santos ; but when within a 
 few miles of the pueblo he slackened his pace. From 
 the smiles and greetings of wayfarers among 
 whom were some pretty Indian girls and mestizas 
 it was evident that the handsome young foreigner, 
 who had paid them the compliment of extravagantly 
 adopting their national costume, was neither 
 an unfamiliar nor an unpleasing spectacle. 
 When he reached the posada at the top 
 of the Chilly street, he even carried his 
 simulation of the local customs to the point of 
 charging the verandah at full speed, and pulling up 
 suddenly at the threshold, after the usual fashion 
 
188 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 of vaqueros. The impetuous apparition brought a 
 short stout man to the door, who, welcoming him 
 with effusive politeness, conducted him to an inner 
 room that gave upon a green grass courtyard. 
 Seated before a rude table, sipping aguardiente, was 
 his countryman Winslow and two traders of the 
 pueblo. They were evidently of the number 
 already indicated who had adopted the American 
 fashions. Senor Ruiz wore a linen " duster " in 
 place of his embroidered jacket, and Senor Martinez 
 had an American beard, or " goatee," in imitation 
 of Mr. Banks. The air was yellow with the fumes 
 of tobacco, through which the shrewd eyes of Winslow 
 gleamed murkily. 
 
 " This," he said to his countryman, in fluent if 
 not elegant Spanish, indicating the gentleman who 
 had imitated Banks, " is a man of ideas, and a power 
 in Todos Santos. He would control all the votes 
 in his district, if there were anything like popular 
 suffrage here, and he understands the American 
 policy." 
 
 Senor Martinez here hastened to inform Mr. 
 Brace that he had long cherished a secret and 
 enthusiastic admiration for that grand and mag- 
 nanimous nation of which his friend was such a 
 noble representative ; that, indeed, he might say it 
 was an inherited taste, for had not his grandfather 
 once talked with the Americau whaling Capitano 
 Coffino and partaken of a subtle spirit known as 
 " er-r-rum " on his ship at Acapulco ? 
 
 " There's nothing mean about Martinez," said 
 Winslow to Brace confidentially, in English. " He's 
 
THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS. 189 
 
 up to anything, and ready from the word * Gro.' 
 Don't you think he's a little like Banks, you know 
 a sort of Mexican edition. And there is Kuiz, 
 he's a cattle dealer ; he'd be a good friend of Banks 
 if Banks wasn't so infernally self-opinionated. But 
 Kuiz ain't a fool, either. He's picked up a little 
 English good American, I mean from me 
 already." 
 
 Senor Kuiz here smiled affably, to show his com- 
 prehension ; and added slowly, with great gravity : 
 
 " It is of twenty-four year I have first time the 
 Americano of your beautiful country known. He 
 have buy the hides and horns of the cattle for his 
 ship here." 
 
 " Here ? " echoed Brace. " I thought no 
 American ship no ship at all had been in here 
 for fifty years ? " 
 
 Ruiz shrugged his shoulders, and cast a glance 
 at his friend Martinez, lowered his voice and lifted 
 his eyelashes at the same moment, and, jerking 
 his yellow tobacco-stained thumb over his arm, 
 said : 
 
 " Ah of a verity on the beach two leagues 
 away." 
 
 " Do you hear that ? " said Winslow, turning 
 complacently to Brace and rising to his feet. 
 " Don't you see now what hogwash the Commander, 
 Alcalde, and the priest have been cramming down 
 our throats about this place being sealed up for 
 fifty years. What he says is all Grospel truth. 
 That's what I wanted you fellows to hear, and you 
 might have heard before, only you were afraid of 
 
190 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 compromising yourselves by talking with the 
 people. You got it into your heads and the 
 Comandante helped you to get it there that Todos 
 Santos was a sort of Sleepy Hollow, and that no 
 one knew anything of the political changes for the 
 last fifty years. Well ! what's the fact ? Ask Ruiz, 
 there ! and Martinez, and they'll both tell you they 
 know that Mexico got her independence in 1826, 
 and that the Council keep it dark that they may 
 perpetuate themselves. They know," he continued, 
 lowering his voice, "that the Commander's com- 
 mission from the old Viceroy isn't worth the paper 
 it is stamped upon." 
 
 "But what about the Church?" asked Brace 
 hesitatingly, remembering Banks' theory. 
 
 "The Church caramba! the priests were ever 
 with the Escossas, the aristocrats, and against the 
 Yorkenos, the men of the Republic the people," 
 interrupted Martinez vehemently ; " they will not 
 accept, they will not proclaim the Republic to the 
 people. They shut their eyes, so . They fold 
 their hands, so . They say, ' Sicut era principio 
 et nunc et semper in secula secularum ! ' Look 
 you, Senor, I am not of the Church no, caramba ! 
 I snap my fingers at the priests. Ah ! what they 
 give one is food for the bull's horns, believe me I 
 have read ' Tompano,' the American * Tompano.' " 
 
 Who's he ? " asked Brace. 
 
 " He means Tom Paine ! ' The Age of Reason ' 
 you know," said Winslow, gazing with a mixture 
 of delight and patronising pride at the Radicals of 
 Todos Santos. " Oh ! he's no fool is Martinez, nor 
 
THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS. 191 
 
 Ruiz either ! And while you've been flirting with 
 Dona Isabel, and Banks has been trying to log-roll 
 the Padre, and Crosby going in for siestas, /'ve 
 found them out. And there are a few more aren't 
 there, Ruiz ? " 
 
 Ruiz darted a mysterious glance at Brace, and 
 apparently not trusting himself to speak, checked 
 off his ten fingers dramatically in the air 
 thrice. 
 
 " As many of a surety ! (rod and liberty ! " 
 
 " But, if this is so, why haven't they done some- 
 thing ? " 
 
 Senor Martinez glanced at Senor Ruiz. 
 
 " Hasta manana ! " he said slowly. 
 
 " Oh, this is a case of ' Hasta manana ! ' " said 
 Brace, somewhat relieved. 
 
 " They can wait," returned Winslow hurriedly. 
 " It's too big a thing to rush into without looking 
 round. You know what it means ? Either Todos 
 Santos is in rebellion against the present Govern- 
 ment of Mexico or she is independent of any. Her 
 present Government, in any event, don't represent 
 either the Republic of Mexico or the people of 
 Todos Santos don't you see? And in that case 
 we've got as good a right here as anyone." 
 
 " He speaks the truth," said Ruiz, grasping a 
 hand of Brace and Winslow each ; " in this we are 
 as brothers." 
 
 " God and liberty ! " ejaculated Martinez, in turn 
 seizing the other disengaged hands of the Americans, 
 and completing the mystic circle. 
 
 " God and liberty ! " echoed a thin chorus from 
 
192 THE CEUSADE OP THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 their host, and a few loungers who had entered 
 unperceived. 
 
 Brace felt uneasy. He was not wanting in the 
 courage or daring of youth, but it struck him that 
 his attitude was by no means 'consistent with his 
 attentions to Dona Isabel. He managed to get 
 Winslow aside. 
 
 " This is all very well as a * free lunch ' con- 
 spiracy ; but you're forgetting your parole," he said, 
 in a low voice. 
 
 " We gave our parole to the present Government. 
 When it no longer exists, there will be no parole 
 don't you see ? " 
 
 " Then these fellows prefer waiting " 
 
 " Until we can get outside help, you understand. 
 The first American ship that comes in here eh ? " 
 
 Brace felt relieved. After all, his position in 
 regard to the Alcalde's sister would not be compro- 
 prised ; he might even be able to extend some pro- 
 tection over her ; and it would be a magnanimous 
 revenge if he could even offer it to Miss Keene. 
 
 u I see you don't swear anybody to secrecy," he 
 said, with a laugh ; " shall I speak to Crosby, or will 
 you?" 
 
 " Not yet ; he'll only see something to laugh at. 
 And Banks and Martinez would quarrel at once, and 
 go back on each other. No ; my idea is to let some 
 outsider do for Todos Santos what Perkins did for 
 Quinqumambo. Do you take ? " 
 
 His long, thin, dyspeptic face lit up with a certain 
 small political cunning and shrewdness that struck 
 Brace with a half-respect. 
 
THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS. 193 
 
 " I say, Winslow ; you'd have made a first-class 
 caucus leader in San Francisco." 
 
 Winslow smiled complacently. 
 
 " There's something better to play on here than 
 ward politics," he replied ; " there's a material here 
 that like the mine and the soil ain't half 
 developed. I reckon I can show Banks some- 
 thing that beats lobbying and log-rolling for 
 contracts. I've let you into this thing to show 
 you a sample of my prospecting. Keep it to 
 yourself if you want it to pay. Dat's me, 
 George ! Grood-bye ! I'll be out to the office to- 
 morrow ! " 
 
 He turned back towards his brother politicians 
 with an expression of satisfied conceit that Brace 
 for a moment envied. The latter even lingered on 
 the verandah, as if he would have asked Winslow 
 another question; but, looking at his watch, he 
 suddenly recollected himself, and, mounting his 
 horse, cantered down towards the plaza. 
 
 The hour of siesta was not yet over, and the 
 streets were still deserted probably the reason why 
 the politicians of Todos Santos had chosen that hour 
 for their half-secret meeting. At the corner of the 
 plaza he dismounted, and led his horse to the public 
 hitching-post gnawn and nibbled by the teeth of 
 generations of mustangs and turned into the 
 narrow lane flanked by the walls of the Alcalde's 
 garden. Half-way down he stopped before a slight 
 breach in the upper part of the adobe barrier, 
 and looked cautiously around. The long, shadowed 
 vista of the lane was unobstructed by any moving 
 
 13 
 
194 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR. 
 
 figure as far as the yellow light of the empty square 
 beyond. With a quick leap he gained the top of 
 the wall, and disappeared on the other side. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES. 
 
 THE garden over whose wall Brace had mysteriously 
 vanished was apparently as deserted as the lane and 
 plaza without. But its solitude was one of graceful 
 shadow and restful loveliness. A tropical luxuriance, 
 that had perpetuated itself year after year, until it 
 was half suffocated in its own over-growth and 
 strangled with its own beauty, spread over a 
 variegated expanse of starry flowers, shimmering 
 leaves, and slender inextricable branches, pierced 
 here and there by towering rigid cactus spikes or 
 the curved plumes of palms. The repose of ages 
 lay in its hushed groves, its drooping vines, its 
 lifeless creepers; the dry dust of its decaying 
 leaves and branches mingled with the living 
 perfumes, like the spiced embalmings of a for- 
 gotten past. 
 
 Nevertheless, this tranquillity, after a few 
 moments, was singularly disturbed. There was 
 no breeze stirring, and yet the long fronds of a 
 large fan palm, that stood near the breach in the 
 wall, began to move gently from right to left, 
 like the arms of some graceful semaphore, and 
 then as suddenly stopped. Almost at the same 
 moment, a white curtain, listlessly hanging from 
 a canopied balcony of the Alcalde's house, began 
 
INTERNATIONAL COUETESIES. 195 
 
 to exhibit a like rhythmical and regular agitation. 
 Then everything was motionless again ; an interval 
 of perfect peace settled upon the garden. It was 
 broken by the apparition of Brace under the balcony, 
 and the black-veiled and flowered head of Dona 
 Isabel from the curtain above. 
 
 " Crazy boy ! " 
 
 " Seiiorita ! " 
 
 " Hush ! I am coming down ! " 
 
 "You? But Dona Ursula !" 
 
 " There is no more Dona Ursula ! " 
 
 " Well your duena, whoever she is ! " 
 
 " There is no duena ! " 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Hush up your tongue, idiot boy ! " (this in 
 English). 
 
 The little black head and the rose on top of it 
 disappeared. Brace drew himself up against the 
 wall and waited. The time seemed interminable. 
 Impatiently looking up and down he at last saw 
 Dona Isabel at a distance, quietly and unconcernedly 
 moving among the roses, and occasionally stooping 
 as if to pick them. In an instant he was at her 
 side. 
 
 " Let me help you," he said. 
 
 She opened her little brownish palm, 
 
 " Look ! " In her hand were a few leaves of some 
 herb. " It is for you." 
 
 Brace seized and kissed the hand. 
 
 " Is it some love-test ? " 
 
 " It is for what you call a julep-cocktail," she 
 replied gravely. " He will remain in a glass with 
 
 13* 
 
196 THE CRUSADE OF THE ( - EXCELSIOR." 
 
 aguardiente; you shall drink him with a straw* 
 My sister has said that ever where the Americans 
 go they expect him to arrive." 
 
 " I prefer to take him straight," said Brace, 
 laughing, as he nibbled a limp leaf, bruised by 
 the hand of the young girl. " He's pleasanter, and, 
 on the whole, more wildly intoxicating this way! 
 But what about your duena ? and how comes this 
 blessed privilege of seeing you alone ? " 
 
 Dona Isabel lifted her black eyes suddenly to 
 Brace. 
 
 " You do not comprehend, then ? Is it not, then, 
 the custom of the Americans ? Is it not, then, 
 that there is no duena in your country ? " 
 
 " There are certainly no duenas in my country. 
 But who has changed the custom here ? " 
 
 " Is it not true that in your country any married 
 woman shall duefia the young senorita ? " continued 
 Dona Isabel, without replying ; " that any caballero 
 and senorita shall see each other in the patio, and 
 not under a balcony ? that they may speak with 
 the lips, and not the fan ? " 
 
 " Well yes," said Brace. 
 
 "Then my brother has arranged it as so. He 
 have much hear the Dona Barbara Brimmer when 
 she make talk of these things frequently, and he is 
 informed and impressed much. He will truly have 
 that you will come of the corridor, and not the 
 garden, for me, and that I shall have no duena but 
 the Dona Barbara. This does not make you happy, 
 you American idiot boy ! " 
 
 It did not. The thought of carrying on a flirta- 
 
INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES. 197 
 
 tion under the fastidious Boston eye of Mrs. 
 Brimmer, instead of under the discreet and 
 mercenarily averted orbs of Dona Ursula, did not 
 commend itself pleasantly to Brace. 
 
 " Oh, yes," he returned quickly. " We will go 
 into the corridor, in the fashion of my country " 
 
 " Yes," said Dona Isabel dubiously. 
 
 "After we have walked in the garden in the 
 fashion of yours. That's only fair, isn't it? " 
 
 " Yes," said Dona Isabel gravely ; " that's what 
 the Comandante will call f internation-al courtesy.' " 
 
 The young man slipped his arm around the 
 young diplomatist's waist, and they walked on in 
 decorous silence under the orange-trees. 
 
 " It seems to me," said Brace presently, " that 
 Mrs. Brimmer has a good deal to say up your 
 way ? " 
 
 " Ah, yes ; but what will you ? It is my brother 
 who has love for her." 
 
 " But," said Brace, stopping suddenly, (t doesn't 
 he know that she has a husband living ? " 
 
 Dona Isabel lifted her lashes in child-like wonder. 
 
 " Always ! you idiot American boy. That is why. 
 Ah, Mother of God ! my brother is discreet. He is 
 not a maniac, like you, to come after a silly 
 muchacha like me." 
 
 The response which Brace saw fit to make to 
 this statement elicited a sharp tap upon the knuckles 
 from Dona Isabel. 
 
 " Tell to me," she said suddenly, " is not that a 
 custom of your country ? " 
 
 "What? That?" 
 
198 THE CKUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOE." 
 
 " No, insensate. To attend a married senora ? " 
 
 u Not openly." 
 
 " Ah, that is wrong," said Dona Isabel medita- 
 tively, moving the point of her tiny slipper on the 
 gravel. " Then it is the young girl that shall come 
 in the corridor and the married lady on the 
 balcony ? " 
 
 " Well, yes." 
 
 Good-bye, ape ! " 
 
 She ran swiftly down the avenue of palms to a 
 small door at the back of the house, turned, blew a 
 kiss over the edge of her fan to Brace, and dis- 
 appeared. He hesitated a moment or two, then 
 quickly re-scaling the wall, dropped into the lane 
 outside, followed it to the gateway of the casa, and 
 entered the patio as Dona Isabel decorously ad- 
 vanced from a darkened passage to the corridor. 
 Although the hour of siesta had passed, her sister, 
 Miss Chubb, the Alcalde, and Mrs. Brimmer were 
 still lounging here on sofas and hammocks. 
 
 It would have been difficult for a stranger at a 
 first glance to discover the nationality of the ladies. 
 Mrs. Brimmer and her friend Miss Chubb had 
 entirely succumbed to the extreme dishabille of 
 the Spanish toilette not without a certain languid 
 grace on the part of Mrs. Brimmer, whose easy 
 contour lent itself to the stayless bodice, or a certain 
 bashful, youthful naivete on the part of Miss Chubb, 
 the rounded dazzling whiteness of whose neck and 
 shoulders half pleased and half frightened her in 
 her low, white, plain camisa under the lace 
 mantilla. 
 
INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES. 199 
 
 " It is such, a pleasure to see you again, Mr. 
 Brace," said Mrs. Brimmer, languidly observing the 
 young man through the sticks of her fan ; u I was 
 telling Don Ramon that I feared Dona Ursula had 
 frightened you away. I told him that your experi- 
 ence of American society might have caused you 
 to misinterpret the habitual reserve of the Castilian," 
 she continued with the air of being already an alien 
 of her own country, "and I should be only too 
 happy to undertake the chaperoning of both these 
 young ladies in their social relations with our 
 friends. And how is dear Mr. Banks? and Mr. 
 Crosby ? whom I so seldom see now. I suppose, 
 however, business has its superior attractions." 
 
 But Don Ramon, with impulsive gallantry, would 
 not nay, could not for a moment tolerate a 
 heresy so alarming. It was simply wildly im- 
 passible. For why ? In the presence of Dona 
 Barbara it exists not in the heart of man ! 
 
 " You cannot, of course, conceive it, Don Ramon," 
 said Mrs. Brimmer with an air of gentle suffering ; 
 " but I fear it is sadly true of the American gentle- 
 men. They become too absorbed in their business. 
 They forget their duty to our sex in their selfish 
 devotion to affairs in which we are debarred from 
 joining them, and yet they wonder that we prefer 
 the society of men who are removed by birth, 
 tradition, and position from this degrading kind of 
 selfishness." 
 
 " But that was scarcely true of your own husband. 
 He was not only a successful man in business, but 
 we can see that he was equally successful in his 
 
200 THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR/' 
 
 relations to at least one of the fastidious sex," said 
 Brace, maliciously glancing at Don Ramon. 
 
 Mrs. Brimmer received the innuendo with in- 
 vulnerable simplicity. 
 
 " Mr. Brimmer is, I am happy to say, not a 
 business man. He entered into certain contracts 
 having more or less of a political complexion, and 
 carrying with them the genius, but not the material 
 results, of trade. That he is not a business man 
 and a successful one my position here at the 
 present time is a sufficient proof," she said 
 triumphantly. " And I must also protest," shs 
 added with a faint sigh, " against Mr. Brimmer 
 being spoken of in the past tense, by anybody. 
 It is painfully premature and ominous ! " 
 
 She drew her mantilla across her shoulders with, 
 an expression of shocked sensitiveness which com- 
 pleted the humiliation of Brace and the subjugation 
 of Don Ramon. But, unlike most of her sex, she 
 was wise in the moment of victory. She cast a 
 glance over her fan at Brace, and turned languidly 
 to Dona Isabel. 
 
 "Mr. Brace must surely want some refreshment 
 after his long ride. Why don't you seize this 
 opportunity to show him the garden and let him 
 select for himself the herbs he requires for that 
 dreadful American drink ; Miss Chubb and your 
 sister will remain with me to receive the Co- 
 mandante's secretary and the Doctor when they 
 come." 
 
 " She's more than my match," whispered Brace to 
 Dona Isabel, as they left the corridor together. " I 
 
INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES, 201 
 
 give in. I don't understand her : she frightens 
 me." 
 
 " That is of your conscience ! It is that you 
 would understand the Dona Leonor your dear Miss 
 Keene better ! Ah ! silence, imbecile ! this Dona 
 Barbara is even as thou art a talking parrot. She 
 will have that the Comandante's secretary, Manuel, 
 shall marry Mees Chubb, and that the Doctor shall 
 marry my sister. But she knows not that Manuel 
 listen so that you shall get sick at your heart and 
 swallow your moustachio ! that Manuel loves the 
 beautiful Leonor, and that Leonor loves not him, 
 but Don Diego; and that my sister loathes the 
 little Doctor. And this Dona Barbara that makes 
 your liver white, would be a feeder of chickens with 
 such barley as this ! Ah ! come along ! " 
 
 The arrival of the Doctor and the Comandante's 
 secretary created another diversion, and the pairing 
 off of the two couples indicated by Dona Isabel for 
 a stroll in the garden, which was now beginning to 
 recover from the still heat of mid-day. This left Don 
 Kamon and Mrs. Brimmer alone in the corridor ; 
 Mrs. Brimmer's indefinite languor, generally accepted 
 as some vague aristocratic condition of mind and 
 body, not permitting her to join them. 
 
 There was a moment of dangerous silence ; the 
 voices of the young people were growing fainter in 
 the distance. Mrs. Brimmer's eyes, in the shadow 
 of her fan, were becoming faintly phosphorescent. 
 Don Ramon's melancholy face, which had grown 
 graver in the last few moments, approached nearer 
 to her own. 
 
202 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOK." 
 
 " You are unhappy, Dona Barbara. The coming 
 of this young cavalier, your countryman, revives 
 your anxiety for your home. You are thinking of 
 this husband who comes not. Is it not so ? " 
 
 " I am thinking," said Mrs. Brimmer, with a 
 sudden revulsion of solid Boston middle-class 
 propriety, shown as much in the dry New England 
 asperity of voice that stung even through her 
 drawling of the Castilian speech, as in anything 
 she said : " I am thinking that, unless Mr. 
 Brimmer comes soon, I and Miss Chubb shall 
 have to abandon the hospitality of your house, 
 Don Ramon. Without looking upon myself as a 
 widow, or as indefinitely separated from Mr. 
 Brimmer, the few words let fall by Mr. Brace 
 show me what might be the feelings of my 
 countrymen on the subject. However charming 
 and considerate your hospitality has been and I 
 do not deny that it has been most grateful to me 
 I feel I cannot continue to accept it in those 
 equivocal circumstances. I am speaking to a 
 gentleman who, with the instincts and chivalrous 
 obligations of his order, must sympathise with my 
 own delicacy in coming to this conclusion, and who 
 will not take advantage of my confession that I do 
 it with pain." 
 
 She spoke with a dry alacrity and precision so 
 unlike her usual languor, and the suggestions of 
 the costume, and even the fan she still kept shading 
 her faintly glowing eyes, that the man before her 
 was more troubled by her manner than her words, 
 which he had but imperfectly understood. 
 
INTERNATIONAL COUETESIES. 203 
 
 " You will leave here this house ? "he stammered. 
 
 " It is necessary," she returned. 
 
 " But you shall listen to me first ! " he said 
 hurriedly. "Hear me, Dona Barbara I have a 
 secret I will to you confess " 
 
 " You must confess nothing/' said Mrs. Brimmer, 
 dropping her feet from the hammock, and sitting 
 up primly, " I mean nothing I may not hear." 
 
 The Alcalde cast a look upon her at once blank 
 and imploring. 
 
 " Ah, but you will hear," he said, after a pause. 
 s( There is a ship coming here. In two weeks she 
 will arrive. None know it but myself, the Coman- 
 dante, and the Padre. It is a secret of the Govern- 
 ment. She will come at night ; she will depart in 
 the morning, and no one else shall know. It has 
 ever been that she brings no one to Todos Santos, 
 that she takes no one from Todos Santos. That is 
 the law. But I swear to you that she shall take 
 you, your children, and your friend to Acapulco in 
 secret, where you will be free. You will join your 
 husband ; you will be happy. I will remain, and 
 I will die," 
 
 It would have been impossible for any woman but 
 Mrs. Brimmer to have regarded the child-like 
 earnestness and melancholy simplicity of this 
 grown-up man without a pang. Even this superior 
 woman experienced a sensible awkwardness, as she 
 slipped from the hammock and regained an 
 upright position. 
 
 " Of course," she began, " your offer is exceed- 
 ingly generous ; and although I should not, perhaps, 
 
204 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 take a step of this kind without the sanction of 
 Mr. Brimmer, and am not sure that he would not 
 regard it as rash and premature, I will talk it over 
 with Miss Chubb, for whom I am partially respon- 
 sible. Nothing," she continued, with a sudden 
 access of feeling, " would induce me, for any selfish 
 consideration, to take any step that would imperil 
 the future of that child, towards whom I feel as 
 a sister." A slight suffusion glistened under her 
 pretty brown lashes. " If anything should happen 
 to her, I would never forgive myself ; if I should 
 be the unfortunate means of severing any ties that 
 she may have formed, I could never look her in 
 the face again. Of course, I can well understand 
 that our presence here must be onerous to you, 
 and that you naturally look forward to any sacrifice 
 even that of the interests of your country, and 
 the defiance of its laws to relieve you from a 
 position so embarrassing as yours has become. I 
 only trust, however, that the ill effect you allude 
 to as likely to occur to yourself after our departure 
 may be exaggerated by your sensitive nature. It 
 would be an obligation added to the many that we 
 owe you, which Mr. Brimmer would naturally find 
 he could not return and that I can safely say, he 
 would not hear of for a single moment." 
 
 While speaking, she had unconsciously laid aside 
 her fan, lifted her mantilla from her head with 
 both hands, and, drawing it around her shoulders 
 and under her lifted chin, had crossed it over her 
 bosom with a certain prim, automatic gesture, as 
 if it had been the starched kerchief of some remote 
 
INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES. 205 
 
 Puritan ancestress. With her arms still uncon- 
 sciously crossed, she stooped rigidly, picked up her 
 fan with three fingers, as if it had been a prayer- 
 book, and, with a slight inclination of her bared 
 head, with its accurately parted brown hair, passed 
 slowly out of the corridor. 
 
 Astounded, bewildered, yet conscious of some 
 vague wound, Don Eamon remained motionless, 
 staring after her straight, retreating figure. 
 Unable to follow closely either the meaning of her 
 words or the logic of her reasoning, he nevertheless 
 comprehended the sudden change in her manner, 
 her voice, and the frigid resurrection of a nature he 
 had neither known nor suspected. He looked 
 blankly at the collapsed hammock, as if he expected 
 to find in its depths those sinuous graces, languid 
 fascinations and the soft, half-sensuous contour cast 
 off by this vanishing figure of propriety. 
 
 In the eight months of their enforced intimacy 
 and platonic seclusion he had learned to love this 
 na'ive, insinuating woman, whose frank simplicity 
 seemed equal to his own, without thought or 
 reserve, secrecy, or deceit. He had gradually been 
 led to think of the absent husband with what he 
 believed to be her own feelings as of some im- 
 palpable, fleshless ancestor from whose remote 
 presence she derived power, wealth, and importance, 
 but to whom she owed only respect and certain 
 obligations of honour equal to his own. He had 
 never heard her speak of her husband with love, 
 with sympathy, with fellowship, with regret. She 
 had barely spoken of him at all, and then rather as 
 
206 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 an attractive factor in her own fascinations, than a 
 bar to a free indulgence in them. He was as little 
 in her way as his children. With what grace she 
 had adapted herself to his Don Ramon's life 
 she who frankly confessed she had no sympathy 
 with her husband's ! with what languid enthusiasm 
 she had taken up the customs of his country, while 
 deploring the habits of her own ! With what 
 goddess-like indifference she had borne this in- 
 terval of waiting ! And yet this woman who had 
 seemed the embodiment of romance had received 
 the announcement of his sacrifice the only revela- 
 tion he allowed himself to make of his hopeless 
 passion with the frigidity of a duenna ! Had he 
 wounded her in some other unknown way ? Was 
 she mortified that he had not first declared his 
 passion he who had never dared to speak to her 
 of love before ! Perhaps she even doubted it ! In 
 his ignorance of the world he had, perhaps, com- 
 mitted some grave offence ! He should not have 
 let her go ! He should have questioned, implored 
 her thrown himself at her feet ! Was it too late 
 yet? 
 
 He passed hurriedly into the formal drawing- 
 room, whose bizarre colouring was still darkened by 
 the closed blinds and dropped awnings that had 
 shut out the heat of day. She was not there. 
 He passed the open door of her room ; it was empty. 
 At the end of the passage a faint light stole from a 
 door opening into the garden, that was still ajar. 
 She must have passed out that way. He opened 
 it, and stepped out into the garden. 
 
INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES. 207 
 
 The sound of voices beside a ruined fountain a 
 hundred yards away indicated the vicinity of the 
 party ; but a single glance showed him that she was 
 not among them. So much the better he would 
 find her alone. Cautiously slipping beside the wall 
 of the house, under the shadow of a creeper, he 
 gained the long avenue without attracting atten- 
 tion. She was not there. Had she effectively 
 evaded contact with the others by leaving the 
 garden through the little gate in the wall that 
 entered the Mission enclosure ? It was partly open, 
 as if some one had just passed through. He 
 followed, took a few steps, and stopped abruptly. In 
 the shadow of one of the old pear-trees a man and 
 woman were standing. An impulse of wild jealousy 
 seized him ; he was about to leap forward, but the 
 next moment the measured voice of the Comandante, 
 addressing Mrs. Markham, fell upon his ear. He 
 drew back with a sudden flush upon his face. The 
 Comandante of Todos Santos, in grave, earnest 
 accents, was offering actually to Mrs. Markham the 
 same proposal that he, Don Eamon, had made to 
 Mrs. Brimmer but a moment ago. 
 
 " No one," said the Comandante sententiously, 
 " will know it but myself. You will leave the ship 
 at Acapulco; you will rejoin your husband in good 
 time ; you will be happy, my child ; you will forget 
 the old man who drags out the few years of loneli- 
 ness still left to him in Todos Santos." 
 
 Forgetting himself, Don Kamon leaned breath- 
 lessly forward to hear Mrs. Markham's reply. Would 
 she answer the Comandante as Dona Barbara had 
 
208 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 answered him? Her words rose distinctly in the 
 evening air. 
 
 " You're a gentleman, Don Miguel Briones ; and 
 the least respect I can show a man of your kind is 
 not to pretend that I don't understand the sacrifice 
 you're making. I shall always remember it as about 
 the biggest compliment I ever received, and the 
 biggest risk that any man except one ever ran 
 for me. But as the man who ran that bigger risk 
 isn't here to speak for himself, and generally trusts 
 his wife, Susan Markham, to speak for him it's all 
 the same as if he thanked you. There's my hand, 
 Don Miguel : shake it. Well if you prefer it 
 kiss it then. There don't be a fool but let's go 
 back to Miss Keene." 
 
 CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 
 
 WHILE these various passions had been kindled by 
 her compatriots in the peaceful ashes of Todos 
 Santos, Eleanor Keene had moved among them in- 
 differently, and, at times, unconsciously. The 
 stranding of her young life on that unknown shore 
 had not drawn her towards her fellow-exiles, and 
 the circumstances which afterwards separated her 
 from daily contact with them completed the social 
 estrangement. She found herself more in sympathy 
 with the natives, to whom she had shown no 
 familiarity, than with her own people, who had 
 mixed with them more or less contemptuously. She 
 found the naivete of Dona Isabel more amusing than 
 
A GLAM OF StfKSHlNE. 209 
 
 tte doubtful simplicity of that married ingenue Mrs. 
 Brimmer, although she still met the young girl's 
 advances with a certain reserve. She found herself 
 often pained by the practical brusqueness with 
 which Mrs. Markham put aside the Comandante's 
 delicate attentions, and she was moved with a 
 strange pity for his child-like trustfulness, which 
 she knew was hopeless. As the months passed, on 
 the few occasions that she still met the Excelsior's 
 passengers she was surprised to find how they had 
 faded from her memory, and to discover in them 
 the existence of qualities that made her wonder how 
 she could have ever been familiar with them. She 
 reproached herself with this fickleness ; she won- 
 dered if she would have felt thus if they had com- 
 pleted their voyage to San Francisco together : and 
 she recalled, with a sad smile, the enthusiastic plans 
 they had formed during the passage to perpetuate 
 their fellowship by anniversaries and festivals. But 
 she, at last, succumbed, and finally accepted their 
 open alienation as preferable to the growing awk- 
 wardness of their chance encounters. 
 
 For a few weeks following the flight of Captain 
 Bunker and her acceptance of the hospitality and 
 protection of the Council, she became despondent. 
 The courage that had sustained her, and the energy 
 she had shown in the first days of their abandon- 
 ment, suddenly gave way, for no apparent reason. 
 She bitterly regretted the brother whom she scarcely 
 remembered; she imagined his suspense and anguish 
 on her account, and suffered for both ; she felt the dumb 
 pain of home sickness fora home she had never known. 
 
 14 
 
210 THE CRtJSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 Her loneliness became intolerable. Her condition 
 at last affected Mrs. Markham, whose own idleness 
 had been beguiled by writing to her husband an ex- 
 haustive report of her captivity, which had finally 
 swelled to a volume on Todos Santos, its resources, 
 inhabitants, and customs. " (rood Heavens ! " she 
 said, "you must do something, child, to occupy 
 your mind if it is only a flirtation with that con- 
 ceited Secretary." But this terrible alternative was 
 happily not required. The Comandante had still 
 retained as part of the old patriarchal government 
 of the Mission, the Presidio school, for the primary 
 instruction of the children of the soldiers depen- 
 dants of the garrison. Miss Keene, fascinated by 
 several little pairs of beady black eyes that had 
 looked up trustingly to hers from the playground 
 on the glacis, offered to teach English to the Co- 
 mandante's flock. The offer was submitted to the 
 spiritual head of Todos Santos, and full permission 
 given by Padre Esteban to the fair heretic. Singing 
 was added to the instruction, and in a few months 
 the fame of the gracious Doiia Leonor's pupils 
 stirred to emulation even the boy choristers of the 
 Mission. 
 
 Her relations with James Hurlstone during this 
 interval were at first marked by a strange and 
 unreasoning reserve. Whether she resented the 
 singular coalition forced upon them by the Council, 
 and felt the awkwardness of their unintentional 
 imposture when they met, she did not know, but 
 she generally avoided his society. This was not 
 difficult, as he himself had shown no desire to in- 
 
A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 211 
 
 trude his confidences upon her; and even in her 
 shyness she could not help thinking that if he had 
 treated the situation lightly or humorously as she 
 felt sure Mr. Brace or Mr. Crosby would have done 
 it would have been less awkward and unpleasant. 
 But his gloomy reserve seemed to the high-spirited 
 girl to colour their innocent partnership with the 
 darkness of conspiracy. 
 
 " If your conscience troubles you, Mr. Hurlstone, 
 in regard to the wretched infatuation of those 
 people," she had once said, "undeceive them, if 
 you can, and I will assist you. And don't let the 
 affair of Captain Bunker worry you either. I have 
 already confessed to the Comandante that he escaped 
 through my carelessness." 
 
 "You could not have done otherwise, without 
 sacrificing the poor Secretary, who must have 
 helped you," Hurlstone returned quietly. 
 
 Miss Keene bit her lip and dropped the subject. 
 At their next meeting Hurlstone himself resumed it. 
 
 " I hope you don't allow that absurd decree of the 
 Council to disturb you ; I imagine they're quite 
 convinced of their folly. I know that the Padre is ; 
 and I know that he thinks you've earned a right to 
 the gratitude of the Council in your gracious task 
 at the Presidio school, that is far beyond any 
 fancied political service." 
 
 "I really haven't thought about it at all, said 
 Miss Keene coolly. " I thought it was you who 
 were annoyed." 
 
 " I ? not at all," returned Hurlstone quickly. " I 
 have been able to assist the Padre in arranging the 
 
 14* 
 
212 THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOB." 
 
 ecclesiastical archives of the church, and in suggest- 
 ing some improvement in codifying the ordinances 
 of the last forty years. No ; I believe I'm earning 
 my living here, and I fancy they think so." 
 
 " Then it isn't that that troubles you ? " said Miss 
 Keene carelessly, but glancing at him under the 
 shade of her lashes. 
 
 " No," he said coldly, turning away. 
 
 Yet unsatisfactory as these brief interviews were, 
 they revived in Miss Keene the sympathising 
 curiosity and interest she had always felt for this 
 singular man, and which had been only held in 
 abeyance at the beginning of their exile ; in fact, 
 she found herself thinking of him more during the 
 interval when they seldom saw each other, and 
 apparently had few interests in common, than when 
 they were together on the Excelsior. Gradually 
 she slipped into three successive phases of feeling 
 towards him, each of them marked with an equal 
 degree of peril to her peace of mind. She began 
 with a profound interest in the mystery of his 
 secluded habits, his strange abstraction, and a 
 recognition of the evident superiority of a nature 
 capable of such deep feeling uninfluenced by those 
 baser distractions which occupied Brace, Crosby, 
 and Winslow. This phase passed into a settled 
 conviction that some woman was at the root of his 
 trouble, and responsible for it. With an instinctive 
 distrust of her own sex she was satisfied that it must 
 be either a misplaced or unworthy attachment, and 
 that the unknown woman was to blame. This 
 second phase which hovered between compassion 
 
A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 213 
 
 and resentment suddenly changed to the latter 
 the third phase of her feelings. Miss Keene became 
 convinced that Mr. Hurlstone had a settled aversion 
 to herself. Why and wherefore she did not attempt 
 to reason, yet she was satisfied that from the first 
 he disliked her. His studious reserve on the 
 Excelsior, compared with the attentions of the 
 others, ought then to have convinced her of the 
 fact ; and there was no doubt now that his present 
 discontent could be traced to the unfortunate cir- 
 cumstances that brought them together. Having 
 given herself up to that idea, she vacillated between 
 a strong impulse to inform him that she knew his 
 real feelings and an equally strong instinct to avoid 
 him hereafter entirely. The result was a feeble 
 compromise. On the ground that Mr. Hurlstone 
 could " scarcely be expected to admire her inferior 
 performances," she declined to invite him with 
 Father Esteban to listen to her pupils. Father 
 Esteban took a huge pinch of snuff, examined Miss 
 Keene attentively, and smiled a sad smile. The 
 next day he begged Hurlstone to take a volume of 
 old music to Miss Keene with his compliments. 
 Hurlstone did so, and for some reason exerted him- 
 self to be agreeable. As he made no allusion to 
 her rudeness, she presumed he did not know of it, 
 and speedily forgot it herself. When he suggested 
 a return visit to the boy choir, with whom he 
 occasionally practised, she blushed and feared she 
 had scarcely the time. But she came with Mrs. 
 Markham, some consciousness, and a visible colour ! 
 And then, almost without her knowing how or 
 
214 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 why, and entirely unexpected and unheralded, came 
 a day so strangely and unconsciously happy, so 
 innocently sweet and joyous, that it seemed as if 
 all the other days of her exile had only gone before 
 to create it, and as if it and it alone were a 
 sufficient reason for her being there. A day full of 
 gentle intimations, laughing suggestions, child-like 
 surprises and awakenings ; a day delicious for the 
 very incompleteness of its vague happiness. And 
 this remarkable day was simply marked in Mrs. 
 Markham's diary as follows: "Went with E. to 
 Indian village ; met Padre and J. H. J. H. actually 
 left shell and crawled on beach with E. E. 
 chatty." 
 
 The day itself had been singularly quiet and 
 gracious, even for that rare climate of balmy days 
 and recuperating nights. At times the slight 
 breath of the sea which usually stirred the morning 
 air of Todos Santos was suspended, and a hush of 
 expectation seemed to arrest land and water. When 
 Miss Keene and Mrs. Markham left the Presidio, 
 the tide was low, and their way lay along the beach 
 past the Mission walls. A walk of two or three miles 
 brought them to the Indian village properly a 
 suburban quarter of Todos Santos a collection of 
 adobe huts and rudely-cultivated fields. Padre 
 Esteban and Mr. Hurlstone were awaiting them in 
 the palm-thatched verandah of a more pretentious 
 cabin, that served as a schoolroom. " This is Don 
 Diego's design," said the Padre, beaming with a 
 certain paternal pride on Hurlstone, " built by him- 
 self and helped by the heathen ; but look you : my 
 
A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 215 
 
 gentleman is not satisfied with it, and wishes now 
 to bring his flock to the Mission school, and have 
 them mingle with the pure-blooded races on an 
 equality. That is the revolutionary idea of this 
 sans culotte reformer," continued the good Father, 
 shaking his yellow finger with gentle archness at 
 the young man. " Ah, we shall yet have a revolu- 
 tion in Todos Santos unless you ladies take him in 
 hand. He has already brought the half-breeds over 
 to his side, and those heathens follow him like 
 dumb cattle anywhere. There, take him away and 
 scold him, Dona Leonor, while I speak to the 
 Sefiora Markham of the work that her good heart 
 and skilful fingers may do for my poor muchachos." 
 
 Eleanor Keene lifted her beautiful eyes to Hurl- 
 stone with an artless tribute in their depths that 
 brought the blood faintly into his cheek. She was 
 not thinking of the priest's admonishing words ; 
 she was thinking of the quiet, unselfish work that 
 this gloomy misanthrope had been doing while his 
 companions had been engaged in lower aims and 
 listless pleasures, and while she herself had been 
 aimlessly fretting and diverting herself. What were 
 her few hours of applauded instruction with the 
 pretty Murillo-like children of the Fort compared 
 to his silent and unrecognised labour ! Yet, even 
 at this moment, an uneasy doubt crossed her 
 mind. 
 
 " I suppose Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb 
 interest themselves greatly in your in the Padre's 
 charities ? " 
 
 The first playful smile she had seen on Hurl- 
 
216 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOK." 
 
 stone's face lightened in his eyes and lips, and was 
 becoming. 
 
 " I am afraid my barbarians are too low and too 
 near home for Mrs. Brimmer's missionary zeal. She 
 and Miss Chubb patronise the Mexican school with 
 cast-off dresses, old bonnets retrimmed, flannel 
 petticoats, some old novels and books of poetry 
 of which the Padre makes an auto-da-fe and their 
 own patronising presence on fete days. Providence 
 has given them the vague impression that leprosy, 
 and contagious skin disease, are a peculiarity of the 
 southern aborigine, and they have left me severely 
 alone." 
 
 "I wish you would prevail upon the Padre to 
 let me help you," said Miss Keene, looking down. 
 
 " But you already have the Commander's chickens 
 which you are bringing up as swans, by-the-way," 
 said Hurlstone mischievously. "You wouldn't 
 surely abandon the nest again ? " 
 
 "You are laughing at me," said Miss Keene, 
 putting on a slight pout to hide the vague pleasure 
 that Hurlstone's gayer manner was giving her. 
 But, really I've been thinking that the Presidio 
 children are altogether too pretty and picturesque 
 for me, and that I enjoy them too much to do 
 them any good. It's like playing with them, you 
 know ! " 
 
 Hurlstone laughed, but suddenly looking down 
 upon her face he was struck with its youthfulness. 
 She had always impressed him before through her 
 reserve and independence as older, and more 
 matured in character. He did not know how lately 
 
A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 217 
 
 she was finding her lost youth as he asked her, quite 
 abruptly, if she ever had any little brothers and 
 sisters. 
 
 The answer to this question involved the simple 
 story of Miss Keene's life, which she gave with 
 naive detail. She told him of her early childhood, 
 and the brother who was only an indistinct memory ; 
 of her school days, and her friendships up to the 
 moment of her first step into the great world that 
 was so strangely arrested at Todos Santos. He was 
 touched with the almost pathetic blankness of this 
 virgin page. Encouraged by his attention, and 
 perhaps feeling a sympathy she had lately been 
 longing for, she confessed to him the thousand little 
 things which she had reserved from even Mrs. 
 Markham during her first apathetic weeks at Todos 
 Santos. 
 
 " I'm sure I should have been much happier if I had 
 had any one to talk to," she added, looking up into 
 his face with a naivete" of faint reproach ; " it's very 
 different from men, you know. They can always 
 distract themselves with something. Although," 
 she continued hesitatingly, *' I have sometimes 
 thought you would have been happier if you had 
 had somebody to tell your troubles to I don't 
 mean the Padre ; for, good as he is, he is a foreigner 
 you know, and wouldn't look upon things as we 
 do but some one in sympathy with you." 
 
 She stopped, alarmed at the change of expression 
 in his face. A quick flush had crossed his cheek ; 
 for an instant he had looked suspiciously into her 
 questioning eyes. But the next moment the idea 
 
218 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR," 
 
 of his quietly selecting this simple, unsophisticated 
 girl as the confidant of his miserable marriage, and 
 the desperation that had brought him there, struck 
 him as being irresistibly ludicrous ; and he smiled. 
 It was the first time that the habitual morbid 
 intensity of his thoughts on that one subject had 
 ever been disturbed by reaction ; it was the first 
 time that a clear ray of reason had pierced the 
 gloom in which he had enwrapped it. Seeing him 
 smile, the young girl smiled too. Then they smiled 
 together vaguely and sympathetically, as over some 
 unspoken confidence. But, unknown and un- 
 suspected by himself, that smile had completed 
 his emancipation and triumph. The next moment, 
 when he sought with a conscientious sigh to re-enter 
 his old mood, he was half shocked to find it gone. 
 Whatever gradual influence the outcome of these 
 few months of rest and repose may have already 
 been at work to dissipate his clouded fancy, he was 
 only vaguely conscious that the laughing breath of 
 the young girl had blown it away for ever. 
 
 The perilous point passed, unconsciously to both 
 of them, they fell into freer conversation, tacitly 
 avoiding the subject of Mr. Hurlstone's past reserve 
 only as being less interesting. Hurlstone did 
 not return Miss Keene's confidences not because 
 he wished to deceive her, but that he preferred to 
 entertain her ; while she did not care to know his 
 secret now that it no longer affected their sympathy 
 in other things. It was a pleasant innocent selfish- 
 ness, that, however, led them along, step by step, 
 to more uncertain and difficult ground. 
 
A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 219 
 
 In their idle happy walk they had strayed towards 
 the beach, and had come upon a large stone cross 
 with its base half hidden in sand, and covered with 
 small tenacious sweet-scented creepers, bearing a 
 pale lilac blossom, that exhaled a mingled odour of 
 sea and shore. Hurlstone pointed out the cross as 
 one of the earliest outposts of the Church on the 
 edge of the unclaimed heathen wilderness. It was 
 hung with strings of gaudy shells and feathers, 
 which Hurlstone explained were votive offerings in 
 which their pagan superstitions still mingled with 
 their new faith. 
 
 " I don't like to worry that good old Padre, he 
 continued, with a light smile, " but I'm afraid that 
 they prefer this cross to the chapel, for certain 
 heathenish reasons of their own. I am quite sure 
 that they still hold some obscure rites here under 
 the good Father's very nose, and that, in the guise 
 of this emblem of our universal faith, they worship 
 some deity we have no knowledge of." 
 
 " It's a shame," said Miss Keene quickly. 
 
 To her surprise, Hurlstone did not appear so 
 shocked as she, in her belief of his religious 
 sympathy with the Padre, had imagined. 
 
 " They're a harmless race," he said carelessly. 
 " The place is much frequented by the children 
 especially the young girls ; a good many of these 
 offerings came from them." 
 
 The better to examine these quaint tributes, 
 Miss Keene had thrown herself, with an impulsive, 
 girlish abandonment, on the mound by the cross, 
 and Hurlstone sat down beside her. Their eyes met 
 
220 THE CRUSADE OF THE "' EXCELSIOK." 
 
 in an innocent pleasure of each other's company. 
 She thought him very handsome in the dark, half- 
 official Mexican dress, that necessity alone had 
 obliged him to assume, and much more dis- 
 tinguished-looking than his companions in their 
 extravagant foppery : he thought her beauty more 
 youthful and artless than he had imagined it to be, 
 and with his older and graver experiences felt a 
 certain protecting superiority that was pleasant and 
 reassuring. 
 
 Nevertheless, seated so near each other, they were 
 very quiet. Hurlstone could not tell whether it was 
 the sea or the flowers, but the dress of the young 
 girl seemed to exhale some subtle perfume of her 
 own freshness that half took away his breath. She 
 had scraped up a handful of sand, and was allowing 
 it to escape through her slim fingers in a slender 
 rain on the ground. He was watching the operation 
 with what he began to fear was fatuous imbecility. 
 
 " Miss Keene ? I beg your pardon 
 
 "Mr. Hurlstone? Excuse me, you were 
 
 saying 
 
 They had both spoken at the same moment, and 
 smiled forgivingly at each other. Hurlstone 
 gallantly insisted upon the precedence of her 
 thought the scamp had doubted the coherency of 
 his own. 
 
 "I used to think," she began "you won't be 
 angry, will you ? " 
 Decidedly not." 
 
 " I used to think you had an idea of becoming a 
 priest," 
 
A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 221 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " Because you are sure you won't be angry ? 
 because I thought you hated women ! " 
 
 " Father Esteban is a priest," said Hurlstone, 
 with a faint smile, " and you know he thinks kindly 
 of your sex." * 
 
 " Yes ; but perhaps his life was never spoiled by 
 some wicked woman like like yours." 
 
 For an instant he gazed intently into her eyes. 
 
 " Who told you that ? " 
 
 " No one." 
 
 She was evidently speaking the absolute truth. 
 There was no deceit or suppression in her clear 
 gaze ; if anything, only the faintest look of wonder 
 at his astonishment. And he this jealously 
 guarded secret, the curse of his whole wretched 
 life, had been guessed by this simple girl, without 
 comment, without reserve, without horror ! And 
 there had been no scene, no convulsion of Nature, 
 no tragedy ; he had not thrown himself into yonder 
 sea ; she had not fled from him shrinking, but was 
 sitting there opposite to him in gentle smiling 
 expectation, the golden light of Todos Santos 
 around them, a bit of bright ribbon shining in 
 her dark hair, and he, miserable, outcast, and 
 recluse, had not even changed his position, but 
 was looking up without tremulousness or excite- 
 ment, and smiling, too. 
 
 He raised himself suddenly on his knee, 
 
 " And what if it were all true ? * he demanded. 
 
 " I should be very sorry for you, and glad it were 
 all over now," she said softly. 
 
222 THE CRUSA1)E OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 A faint pink flush covered her cheek the next 
 moment, as if she had suddenly become aware of 
 another meaning in her speech, and she turned her 
 head hastily towards the village. To her relief she 
 discerned that a number of Indian children had 
 approached them from behind, and had halted a 
 few paces from the cross. Their hands were full of 
 flowers and shells as they stood hesitatingly 
 watching the couple. 
 
 " They are some of the school children," said 
 Hurlstone, in answer to her inquiring look ; 
 " but I can't understand why they come here so 
 openly." 
 
 " Oh, don't scold them ! " said Eleanor, forgetting 
 her previous orthodox protest ; " let us go away, and 
 pretend we don't notice them." 
 
 But as she was about to rise to her feet the 
 hesitation of the little creatures ended in a sudden 
 advance of the whole body, and before she com- 
 prehended what they were doing they had pressed 
 the whole of their floral tributes in her lap. The 
 colour rose again quickly to her laughing face as she 
 looked at Hurlstone. 
 
 " Do you usually get up this pretty surprise for 
 visitors ? " she said hesitatingly. 
 
 " I assure you I have nothing to do with it," he 
 answered, with frank amazement; "it's quite spon- 
 taneous. And look they are even decorating me." 
 
 It was true ; they had thrown a half-dozen strings 
 of shells on Hurlstone's unresisting shoulders, and, 
 unheeding the few words he laughingly addressed 
 them in their own dialect, they ran off a few paces, 
 
A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 223 
 
 and remained standing, as if gravely contemplating 
 their work. Suddenly, with a little outcry of terror, 
 they turned, fled wildly past them, and disappeared 
 in the bushes. 
 
 Miss Keene and Hurlstone rose at the same 
 moment, but the young girl, taking 'a step forward, 
 suddenly staggered, and was obliged to clasp one of 
 the arms of the cross to keep herself from falling. 
 Hurlstone sprang to her side. 
 
 " Are you ill ? " he asked hurriedly. " You are 
 quite white. What is the matter ? " 
 
 A smile crossed her colourless face. 
 
 " I am certainly very giddy ; everything seems to 
 tremble." 
 
 "Perhaps it is the flowers," he said anxiously. 
 " Their heavy perfume in this close air affects you. 
 Throw them away, for Heaven's sake ! " 
 
 But she clutched them tighter to her heart as she 
 leaned for a moment, pale yet smiling, against the 
 cross." 
 
 " No, no ! " she said earnestly ; " it was not that. 
 But the children were frightened, and their alarm 
 terrified me. There, it is over now." 
 
 She let him help her to her seat again as he 
 glanced hurriedly around him. It must have been 
 sympathy with her, for he was conscious of a slight 
 vertigo himself. The air was very close and still. 
 Even the pleasant murmur of the waves had ceased. 
 
 " How very low the tide is ! " said Eleanor Keene, 
 resting her elbow on her knees, and her round chin 
 upon her hand. (i I wonder if that could have 
 frightened those dear little midgets ? " The tide, 
 
224 THE CBUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 in fact, had left the shore quite bare and muddy for 
 nearly a quarter of a mile to seaward. 
 
 Hurlstone arose, with grave eyes, but a voice that 
 was unchanged. 
 
 " Suppose we inquire ? Lean on my arm, and 
 we'll go up the hill towards the Mission garden. 
 Bring your flowers with you." 
 
 The colour had quite returned to her cheek as she 
 leant on his proffered arm. Yet perhaps she was 
 really weaker than she knew, for he felt the soft 
 pressure of her hand and the gentle abandonment 
 of her figure against his own as they moved on. 
 But for some pre-occupying thought, he might have 
 yielded more completely to the pleasure of that 
 innocent contact and have drawn her closer towards 
 him ; yet they moved steadily on, he contenting 
 himself from time to time with a hurried glance at 
 the downcast fringes of the eyes beside him. 
 Presently he stopped, his attention disturbed by 
 what appeared to be the fluttering of a black- 
 winged, red-crested bird, in the bushes before 
 him. The next moment he discovered it to be 
 the little rose-covered head of Dona Isabel, who 
 was running towards them. Eleanor withdrew her 
 arm from Hurlstone's. 
 
 u Ah, imbecile ! " said Dona Isabel, pouncing 
 upon Eleanor Keene like an affectionate panther. 
 " They have said you were on the seashore, and 
 I fly for you as a bird. Tell to me quick," she 
 whispered, hastily putting her own little brown ear 
 against Miss Keene's mouth, " immediatamente, are 
 you much happy ? " 
 
A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 225 
 
 " Where is Mr. Brace ? " said Miss Keene, trying 
 to effect a diversion, as she laughed and struggled 
 to get free from her tormentor. 
 
 " He, the idiot boy ! Naturally, when he is for 
 use, he comes not. But as a maniac ever! I 
 would that I have him no more. You will to me 
 presently give your brother ! I have since to-day 
 a presentimiento that him I shall love ! Ah ! " 
 
 She pressed her little brown fist, still tightly 
 clutching her fan, against her low bodice, as if 
 already transfixed with a secret and absorbing 
 passion. 
 
 " Well, you shall have Dick then," said Miss 
 Keene, laughing ; " but was it for that you were 
 seeking me ? " 
 
 " Mother of God ! you know not then what has 
 happened ? You are a blind a deaf to but one 
 thing all the time ? Ah ! " she said quickly, 
 unfolding her fan and modestly diving her little 
 head behind it, " I have ashamed for you, Miss 
 Keene." 
 
 " But what has happened ? " said Hurlstone, 
 interposing to relieve his companion. " We 
 fancied something " 
 
 " Something ! he says something ! ah ! that 
 something was a temblor ! An earthquake ! The 
 earth has shaken himself. Look ! " 
 
 She pointed with her fan to the shore, where the 
 sea had suddenly returned in a turbulence of foam 
 and billows that was breaking over the base of the 
 cross they had just quitted. 
 
 Miss Keene drew a quick sigh. Dona Isabel had 
 
 15 
 
226 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 ducked again modestly behind her fan, but this 
 time dragging with her other arm Miss Keene's 
 head down to share its discreet shadow as she 
 whispered, 
 
 " And infatuated one ! you two never noticed 
 it!" 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CLOUDS AND CHANGE. 
 
 THE earthquake shock, although the first ex- 
 perienced by the Americans, had been a yearly 
 phenomenon to the people of Todos Santos, and 
 was so slight as to leave little impression on either 
 the low adobe walls of the pueblo or the indolent 
 population. "If it's a provision of Nature for 
 shaking up these Rip Van Winkle Latin races now 
 and then, it's a dead failure, as far as Todos Santos 
 is concerned," Crosby had said, with a yawn. 
 (< Brace, who's got geology on the brain ever since 
 he struck cinnabar ore, says he isn't sure the Injins 
 ain't right when they believe that the Pacific Ocean 
 used to roll straight up to the Presidio, and there 
 wasn't any channel and that reef of rocks was 
 upheaved in their time. But what's the use of it ? 
 it [never really waked them up." " Perhaps they're 
 waiting for another kind of earthquake," Winslow 
 had responded sententiously. 
 
 In six weeks it had been forgotten, except by 
 three people Miss Keene, James Hurlstone, and 
 Padre Esteban. Since Hurlstone had parted with 
 
CLOUDS AND CHANGE. 227 
 
 Miss Keene on that memorable afternoon, he had 
 apparently lapsed into his former reserve. Without 
 seeming to avoid her timid advances, he met her 
 seldom, and then only in the presence of the Padre 
 or Mrs. Markham. Although uneasy at the 
 deprivation of his society, his present shyness did 
 not affect her as it had done at first : she knew it 
 was no longer indifference ; she even fancied she 
 understood it from what had been her own feelings. 
 If he no longer raised his eyes to hers as frankly 
 as he had that day, she felt a more delicate pleasure 
 in the consciousness of his lowered eyelids when 
 they met, and the instinct that told her when his 
 melancholy glance followed her unobserved. The 
 sex of these lovers if we may call them so who 
 had never exchanged a word of love seemed to 
 be changed. It was Miss Keene who now sought 
 him with a respectful and frank admiration ; it 
 was Hurlstone who now tried to avoid it with a 
 feminine dread of reciprocal display. Once she 
 had even adverted to the episode of the cross. 
 They were standing under the arch of the refectory 
 door, waiting for Padre Esteban, and looking 
 towards the sea. 
 
 " Do you think we were ever in any real danger, 
 down there, on the shore, thct day ? " she said timidly. 
 
 " No ; not from the sea," he replied, looking at 
 her with a half-defiant resolution. 
 
 " From what, then ? " she asked, with a naivete 
 that was yet a little conscious. 
 
 " Do you remember the children giving you their 
 offerings that day ? " he asked abruptly. 
 
 15* 
 
228 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 " I do," she replied, with smiling eyes. 
 
 " Well, it appears that it is the custom for the 
 betrothed couples to come to the cross to exchange 
 their vows. They mistook us for lovers." 
 
 All the instinctive delicacy of Miss Keene's woman- 
 hood resented the rude infelicity of this speech, and 
 the flippant manner of its utterance. She did not 
 blush, but lifted her clear eyes calmly to his. 
 
 " It was an unfortunate mistake," she said coldly, 
 " the more so as they were your pupils. Ah ! here 
 is Father Esteban," she added, with a marked tone 
 of relief, as she crossed over to the priest's side. 
 
 When Father Esteban returned to the refectory 
 that evening, Hurlstone was absent. When it grew 
 later, becoming uneasy, the good Father sought him 
 in the garden. At the end of the avenue of pear- 
 trees there was a break in the sea-wall, and here, 
 with his face to the sea, Hurlstone was leaning 
 gloomily. Father Esteban's tread was noiseless, and 
 he had laid his soft hand on the young man's 
 shoulder before Hurlstone was aware of his presence. 
 He started slightly, his gloomy eyes fell before the 
 priest's. 
 
 " My son," said the old man gravely, " this must 
 go on no longer." 
 
 " I don't understand you," Hurlstone replied 
 coldly. 
 
 " Do not try to deceive yourself, nor me. Above 
 all, do not try to deceive her. Either you are or are 
 not in love with this countrywoman of yours. If 
 you are not, my respect for her and my friendship 
 for you prompts me to save you both from a foolish 
 
CLOUDS AND CHANGE. 229 
 
 intimacy that may ripen into a misplaced affection ; 
 if you are already in love with her " 
 
 " I have never spoken a word of love to her ! " 
 interrupted Hurlstone quickly. " I have even tried 
 to avoid her since " 
 
 " Since you found that you loved her ! Ah, 
 foolish boy! and you think that because the lips 
 speak not, the passions of the heart are stilled ! Do 
 you think your silence in her presence is not a pro- 
 testation, that she, even she, child as she is, can read, 
 with the cunning of her sex ? " 
 
 " Well if I am in love with her, what then ? " 
 said Hurlstone doggedly. " It is no crime to love a 
 pure and simple girl. Am I not free ? You your- 
 self, in yonder church, told me - 
 
 " Silence, Diego," said the priest sternly. 
 " Silence, before you utter the thought that shall 
 disgrace you to speak and me to hear ! " 
 
 " Forgive me, Father Esteban," said the young 
 man hurriedly, grasping both hands of the priest. 
 " Forgive me I am mad distracted but I swear 
 to you I only meant - " 
 
 " Hush ! " interrupted the priest more gently. 
 " So ; that will do." He stopped, drew out his 
 snuff-box, rapped the lid, and took a pinch of snuff 
 slowly. " We will not recur to that point. Then 
 you have told her the story of your life ? " 
 
 " No ; but I will. She shall know all everything 
 before I utter a word of love to her." 
 
 " Ah ! bueno ! muy bueno I " said the Padre, 
 wiping his nose ostentatiously. " Ah ! let me see ! 
 Then, when we have shown her that we cannot 
 
230 THE CRUSADE OF THE ''EXCELSIOR." 
 
 possibly marry her, we will begin to make love to 
 her ! Eh, eh ! that is the American fashion. Ah, 
 pardon ! " he continued, in response to a gesture 
 of protestation from Hurlstone ; st I am wrong. It 
 is when we have told her that we cannot marry her 
 as a Protestant, that we will make love as a Catholic. 
 Is that it?" 
 
 " Hear me," said Hurlstone passionately. " You 
 have saved me from madness and, perhaps, death. 
 Your care your kindness your teachings have 
 given me life again. Don't blame me, Father 
 Esteban, if, in casting off my old self, you have 
 given me hopes of a new and fresher life of 
 
 " A newer and fresher love, you would say," said 
 the Padre, with a sad smile. " Be it so. You will, 
 at least, do justice to the old priest, when you 
 remember that he never pressed you to take vows 
 that would have prevented this for ever." 
 
 " I know it," said Hurlstone, taking the old man's 
 hand. " And you will remember, too, that I was 
 happy and contented before this came ' upon me. 
 Tell me what I shall do. Be my guide my friend, 
 Father Esteban. Put me where I was a few months 
 ago before I learned to love her." 
 
 " Do you mean it, Diego ? " said the old man, 
 grasping his hand tightly, and fixing his eyes upon 
 him. 
 
 I do." 
 
 " Then listen to me, for it is my turn to speak. 
 When, eight months ago, you sought the shelter of 
 that blessed roof, it was for refuge from a woman 
 that had cursed your life. It was given you. You 
 
CLOUDS AND CHANGE. 231 
 
 would leave it now to commit an act that would 
 bring another woman, as mad as yourself, clamour- 
 ing at its doors for protection from you. For what 
 you are proposing to this innocent girl is what you 
 accepted from the older and wickeder woman. You 
 have been cursed because a woman divided for you 
 what was before Grod an indivisible right ; and you, 
 Diego, would now redivide that with another, whom 
 you dare to say you love ! You would use the oppor- 
 tunity of her helplessness and loneliness here, to 
 convince her ; you would tempt her with sympathy, 
 for she is unhappy ; with companionship, for she has 
 no longer the world to choose from with everything 
 that should make her sacred from your pursuit." 
 
 " Enough," said Hurlstone hoarsely ; " say no 
 more. Only I implore you tell me what to do now 
 to save her. I will if you tell me to do it leave 
 her for ever." 
 
 " Why should you go ? " said the priest quietly. 
 " Her absence will be sufficient." 
 
 " Her absence ? " echoed Hurlstone. 
 
 " Hers alone. The conditions that brought you 
 here are unchanged. You are still in need of an 
 asylum from the world and the wife you have 
 repudiated. Why should you abandon it? For 
 the girl, there is no cause why she should remain 
 beyond yourself. She has a brother whom she 
 loves who wants her who has the right to claim 
 her at any time. She will go to him." 
 
 " But how ? " 
 
 " That has been my secret, and will be my 
 sacrifice to you, Diego, my son. I have foreseen all 
 
232 THE CKtJSADE OP THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 this ; I have expected it from the day that girl sent 
 you her woman's message, that was half a challenge, 
 from her school I have known it from the day you 
 walked together on the sea shore. I was blind 
 before that for I am weak in my way, too, and I 
 had dreamed of other things. God has willed it 
 otherwise." He paused, and returning the pressure 
 of Hurlstone's hand, went on. " My secret and my 
 sacrifice for you is this. For the last two hundred 
 years the Church has had a secret and trusty 
 messenger from the See at Guadalajara in a ship 
 that touches here for a few hours only every three 
 years. Her arrival and departure is known only to 
 myself and my brothers of the Council. By this 
 wisdom and the provision of God, the integrity of 
 the Holy Church and the conversion of the heathen 
 have been maintained without interruption and 
 interference. You know now, my son, why your 
 comrades were placed under surveillance ; why it 
 was necessary that the people should believe in a 
 political conspiracy among yourselves, rather than 
 the facts as they existed, which might have bred a 
 dangerous curiosity among them. I have given you 
 our secret, Diego that is but a part of my 
 sacrifice. When that ship arrives, and she is 
 expected daily, I will secretly place Miss Keene 
 and her friend on board, with explanatory letters to 
 the Archbishop, and she will be assisted to rejoin her 
 brother. It will be against the wishes of the 
 Council, but my will," continued the old man, with 
 a gesture of imperiousness, '* is the will of the 
 Church, and the law that overrides all." 
 
CLOUDS AND CHANGE. 233 
 
 He had stopped with a strange fire in his eyes. 
 It still continued to burn as he went on rapidly : 
 
 " You will understand the sacrifice I am making 
 in telling you this, when you know that I could 
 have done all that I propose without your leave or 
 hindrance. Yes, Diego ; I had but to stretch out 
 my hand thus, and that foolish firebrand of a 
 heretic muchacha would have vanished from Todos 
 Santos for ever. I could have left you in your 
 fool's paradise, and one morning you would have 
 found her gone. I should have condoled with you, 
 and consoled you, and you would have forgotten 
 her as you did the other. I should not have 
 hesitated ; it is the right of the Church through 
 all time to break those carnal ties without heed of 
 the suffering flesh, and I ought to have done so. 
 This, and this alone, would have been worthy of 
 Las Casas and Junipero Serra ! But I am weak and 
 old I am no longer fit for His work. Far better 
 that the ship which takes her away should bring 
 back my successor, and one more worthy Todos 
 Santos than I." 
 
 He stopped, his eyes dimmed, he buried his face 
 in his hands. 
 
 " You have done right, Father Esteban," said 
 Hurlstone, gently putting his arms round the 
 priest's shoulders, " and I swear to you your 
 secret is as safe as if you had never revealed it 
 to me. Perhaps," he added, with a sigh, " I should 
 have been happier if I had not known it if she 
 had passed out of my life as mysteriously as she 
 had entered it ; but you will try to accept my 
 
234 THE CRUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR." 
 
 sacrifice as some return for yours. I shall see her 
 no more." 
 
 " But will you swear it ? " said the priest eagerly. 
 " Will you swear that you will not even seek her to 
 say farewell ; for in that moment the wretched girl 
 may shake your resolution ? " 
 
 " I shall not see her," repeated the young man 
 slowly. 
 
 " But if she asks an interview ? " persisted the 
 priest, " on the pretence of having your advice ? " 
 
 " She will not," returned Hurlstone, with a half- 
 bitter recollection of their last parting. " You do 
 not know her pride." 
 
 " Perhaps," said the priest musingly. " But I 
 have your word, Diego. And now let us return to 
 the Mission, for there is much to prepare, and you 
 shall assist me." 
 
 Meantime, Hurlstone was only half right in his 
 estimate of Miss Keene's feelings, although the 
 result was the same. The first shock to her delicacy 
 in his abrupt speech, had been succeeded by a 
 renewal of her uneasiness concerning his past life 
 or history. While she would, in her unselfish 
 attachment for him, have undoubtingly accepted 
 any explanation he might have chosen to give her, 
 his continued reserve and avoidance of her left full 
 scope to her imaginings. Eejecting any hypothesis 
 of his history, except that of some unfortunate love 
 episode, she began to think that perhaps he still 
 loved this nameless woman. Had anything occurred 
 to renew his affection ? It was impossible, in their 
 isolated condition, that he would hear from her 
 
CLOUDS AND CHANGE. 235 
 
 but perhaps the priest might have been a confidant 
 of his past, and had recalled the old affection in 
 rivalry of her? Or had she herself been unfortunate 
 through any idle word to reopen the wound ? Had 
 there been any suggestion ? she checked herself 
 suddenly at a thought that benumbed and chilled 
 her ! perhaps that happy hour at the cross might 
 have reminded him of some episode with another ? 
 That was the real significance of his rude speech. 
 With this first taste of the poison of jealousy upon 
 her virgin lips, she seized the cup and drank it 
 eagerly. Ah, well he should keep his blissful 
 recollections of the past undisturbed by her. 
 Perhaps he might even see though she had no 
 past that her present life might be as disturbing 
 to him ! She recalled, with a foolish pleasure, his 
 solitary faint sneer at the devotion of the Com- 
 mander's secretary. Why shouldn't she, hereafter, 
 encourage that devotion as well as that sneer from 
 this complacently beloved Mr. Hurl stone ? Why 
 should he be so assured of her past ? The fair and 
 gentle reader who may be shocked at this revelation 
 of Eleanor Keene's character, will remember that 
 she has not been recorded as an angel in these 
 pages but as a very human, honest, inexperienced 
 girl, for the first time struggling with the most 
 diplomatic, Machiavellian, and hypocritical of all 
 the passions. 
 
 In pursuance of this new resolution, she deter- 
 mined to accept an invitation from Mrs. Markham 
 to accompany her and the Commander to a recep^ 
 tion at the Alcalde's house the happy secretary 
 
236 THE CRUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOR" 
 
 being of the party. Mrs. Markham, who was under 
 promise to the Comandante not to reveal his plan 
 for the escape of herself and Miss Keene until the 
 arrival of the expected .transport, had paid little 
 attention to the late vagaries of her friend, and had 
 contented herself by once saying, with a marked 
 emphasis, that the more free they kept themselves 
 from any entanglements with other people, the more 
 prepared they would be for a change. 
 
 " Perhaps it's just as well not to be too free, even 
 with those Jesuits over at the Mission. Your brother, 
 you know, might not like it." 
 
 " Those Jesuits I " repeated Miss Keene in- 
 dignantly. " Father Esteban, to begin with, is a 
 Franciscan, and Mr. Hurlstone is as orthodox as you 
 or I." 
 
 " Don't be too sure of that, my dear," returned 
 Mrs. Markham sententiously. " Heaven only knows 
 what disguises they assume. Why, Hurlstone and 
 the priest are already as thick as two peas ; and you 
 can't make me believe they didn't know of each 
 other before we came here. He was the first one 
 ashore, you remember, before the mutiny ; and 
 where did he turn up ? at the Mission, of course ! 
 And have you forgotten that sleep-walking affair 
 all Jesuitical ! Why, poor dear Markham used to 
 say we were surrounded by ramifications of that 
 society everywhere. The very waiter at your 
 hotel table might belong to the Order." 
 
 The hour of the siesta was just past, and the 
 corridor and gardens of the Alcalde's house were 
 grouped with friends and acquaintances as the party 
 
CLOUDS AND CHANGE. 237 
 
 from the Presidio entered. Mrs. Brimmer, who had 
 apparently effected a temporary compromise with 
 her late instincts of propriety, was still doing the 
 honours of the Alcalde's house, and had once more 
 assumed the Mexican dishabille, even to the slight 
 exposure of her small feet, stockingless, in white 
 satin slippers. The presence of the Comandante 
 and his secretary guaranteed the two ladies of their 
 party a reception at least faultless in form and 
 respect, whatever may have been the secret feelings 
 of the hostess and her friends. The Alcalde 
 received Mrs. Markham and Mis Keene with un- 
 ruffled courtesy, and conducted them to the place of 
 honour beside him. 
 
 As Eleanor Keene, slightly flushed and beautiful 
 in her unwonted nervous excitement, took her seat, 
 a flutter went around the corridor, and, with the 
 single exception of Dona Isabel, an almost imper- 
 ceptible drawing together of the other ladies, in 
 offensive alliance. Miss Keene had never abandoned 
 her own style of dress; and that afternoon her 
 delicate and closely-fitting white muslin, gathered 
 in at the waist with a broad blue belt of ribbon, 
 seemed to accentuate somewhat unflatteringly the 
 tropical neglige of Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb. 
 Brace, who was in attendance, with Crosby, on the 
 two Ramirez girls, could not help being uneasily 
 conscious of this, in addition to the awkwardness of 
 meeting Miss Keene after the transfer of his affec- 
 tions elsewhere. Nor was his embarrassment 
 relieved by Crosby's confidences to him, in a half- 
 audible whisper, 
 
238 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 " I say, old man, after all, the regular straight- 
 out American style lays over all their foreign flops 
 and fandoodles. I wonder what old Brimmer would 
 say to his wife's full-dress night-gown eh ? " 
 
 But at this moment the long-drawn, slightly 
 stridulous utterances of Mrs. Brimmer rose through 
 the other greetings like a lazy east wind. 
 
 " 1 shall never forgive the Commander for making 
 the Presidio so attractive to you, dear Miss Keene, 
 that you cannot really find time to see your own 
 countrymen. Though, of course, you're not to 
 blame for not coming to see two frights as we must 
 look not having been educated to be able to do up 
 our dresses in that faultless style and perhaps not 
 having the entire control over an establishment like 
 you ; yet, I suppose that, even if the Alcalde did 
 give us carte blanche of the laundry here, we couldn't 
 do it, unaided even by Mrs. Markham. Yes, dear : 
 you must let me compliment you on your skill, and 
 the way you make things last. As for me and 
 Miss Chubb, we've only found our things fit to be 
 given away to the poor of the Mission. But I 
 suppose even that charity would look as shabby to 
 you as our clothes, in comparison with the really 
 good missionary work you and Mr. Hurlstone or is 
 it Mr. Brace ? I always confound your admirers, 
 my dear are doing now. At least, so says that 
 good Father Esteban." 
 
 But with the exception of the Alcalde and Miss 
 Chubb, Mrs. Brimmer's words fell on unheeding 
 ears, and Miss Keene did not prejudice the triumph 
 of her own superior attractions by seeming to 
 
CLOUDS AND CHANGE. 239 
 
 notice Mrs. Brimmer's innuendo. She answered 
 briefly, and entered into lively conversation with 
 Crosby and the secretary, holding the hand of Dona 
 Isabel in her own, as if to assure her that she was 
 guiltless of any design against her former admirer. 
 This was quite unnecessary, as the gentle Isabel, 
 after bidding Brace, with a rap on the knuckles, 
 to " go and play," contented herself with curling 
 up like a kitten beside Miss Keene, and left that 
 gentleman to wander somewhat aimlessly in the 
 patio. 
 
 Nevertheless, Miss Keene, whose eyes and ears 
 were nervously alert, and who had indulged a faint 
 hope of meeting Padre Esteban, and hearing news 
 of Hurlstone, glanced from time to time towards the 
 entrance of the patio. A singular presentiment 
 that some outcome of this present visit would 
 determine her relations with Hurlstone had already 
 possessed her. Consequently she was conscious, 
 before it had attracted the attention of the others, 
 of some vague stirring in the plaza beyond. 
 Suddenly the clatter of hoofs was heard before the 
 gateway. There was a moment's pause of dis- 
 mounting, a gruff order given in Spanish, and the 
 next moment three strangers entered the patio. 
 
 They were dressed in red shirts, their white 
 trousers tucked in high boots, and wore slouched 
 hats. They were so travel- stained, dusty, and un- 
 shaven, that their features were barely distinguish- 
 able. One, who appeared to be the spokesman of 
 the party, cast a perfunctory glance around the 
 corridor, and, in fluent Spanish, began with the 
 
240 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 mechanical air of a man repeating some 
 formula : 
 
 " We are the bearers of a despatch to the Co- 
 mandante of Todos Santos from the Governor of 
 Mazatlan. The officer and the escort who came 
 with us are outside the gate. We have been told 
 that the Comandante is in this house. The case is 
 urgent, or we would not intrude " 
 
 He was stopped by the voice of Mrs. Markham 
 from the corridor " Well, I don't understand 
 Spanish much I may be a fool, or crazy, or perhaps 
 both but if that isn't James Markham's voice, I'll 
 bet a cooky ! " 
 
 The three strangers turned quickly toward the 
 corridor. The next moment the youngest of their 
 party advanced eagerly towards Miss Keene, who had 
 arisen with a half-frightened joy, and with a cry 
 of " Why, it's Nell ! " ran towards her. The third 
 man came slowly forward as Mrs. Brimmer slipped 
 hastily from the hammock and stood erect. 
 
 "In the name of goodness, Barbara," said Mr. 
 Brimmer, closing upon her, in a slow, portentous 
 whisper, " where are your stockings ? " 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A MORE; IMPORTANT ARRIVAL. 
 
 THE Commander was the first to recover his presence 
 of mind. Taking the despatch from the hands of 
 the unlooked-for husband of the woman he loved, 
 he opened it with an immovable face and habitual 
 
A MORE IMPORTANT ARRIVAL. 241 
 
 precision. Then, turning with a military salute to 
 the strangers, be bade them join him in half-an- 
 hour at the Presidio; and, bowing gravely to the 
 assembled company, stepped from the corridor. But 
 Mrs. Markham was before him, stopped him with a 
 gesture, and turned to her husband. 
 
 " James Markham where's your hand ? " 
 
 Markham, embarrassed, but subjugated, disen- 
 gaged it timidly from his wife's waist. 
 
 " Grive it to that gentleman for a gentleman he 
 is, from the crown of his head to the soles of his 
 boots ! There ! Shake his hand ! You don't get 
 such a chance every day. You can thank him 
 again, later." 
 
 As the two men's hands parted, after this per- 
 functory grasp, and the Commander passed on, she 
 turned again to her husband. 
 
 " Now, James, I am ready to hear all about 
 it. Perhaps you'll tell me where you have been ? " 
 
 There was a moment of embarrassing silence. The 
 Doctor and secretary had discreetly withdrawn ; 
 the Alcalde, after a brief introduction to Mr. 
 Brimmer, and an incomprehensible glance from the 
 wife, had retired with a colourless face. Dona 
 Isabel had lingered last to blow a kiss across her fan 
 to Eleanor Keene that half mischievously included 
 her brother. The Americans were alone. 
 
 Thus appealed to, Mr. Markham hastily began 
 his story. But, as he progressed, a slight in- 
 coherency was noticeable : he occasionally contra- 
 dicted himself, and was obliged to be sustained, 
 supplemented, and, at times, corrected, by Keene 
 
 16 
 
242 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 and Brimmer. Substantially, it appeared that they 
 had come from San Francisco to Mazatlan, and, 
 through the influence of Mr. Brimmer on the 
 Mexican authorities, their party, with an escort of 
 dragoons, had been transported across the gulf and 
 landed on the opposite shore, where they had made 
 a forced march across the desert to Todos Santos. 
 Literally interpreted, however, by the nervous Mark- 
 ham, it would seem that they had conceived this 
 expedition long ago, and yet had difficulties because 
 they only thought of it the day before the steamer 
 sailed ; that they had embarked for the isthmus of 
 Nicaragua, and yet had stopped at Mazatlan ; that 
 their information was complete in San Francisco, and 
 only picked up at Mazatlan ; that " friends " some- 
 times contradictorily known as " he " and " she "- 
 had overpowering influence with the Mexican Govern- 
 ment, and alone had helped them, and yet that they 
 were utterly dependent upon the efforts of Senor 
 Perkins, who had compromised matters with the 
 Mexican Government and everybody. 
 
 " Do you mean to say, James Markham, that you've 
 seen Perkins, and it was he who told you we were 
 here?" 
 
 " No not him exactly." 
 
 " Let me explain," said Mr. Brimmer hastily. 
 " It appears," he corrected his haste with practical 
 business-like precision, " that the filibuster Perkins, 
 after debarking you here, and taking the Excelsiw 
 to Quinquinambo, actually established the 
 Quinquinambo Government, and got Mexico and 
 the other Confederacies to recognise its indepen- 
 
A MORE IMPORTANT ARRIVAL. 243 
 
 dence. Quinquinambo behaved very handsomely, 
 and not only allowed the Mexican Government 
 indemnity for breaking the neutrality of Todos 
 Santos by the seizure, but even compromised with 
 our own Ofovernment their claim to confiscate the 
 Excelsior for treaty violation, and paid half the value 
 of the vessel, besides giving information to Mexico 
 and Washington of your whereabouts. We 
 consequently represent a joint commission from both 
 countries to settle the matter and arrange for your 
 return." 
 
 " But what I want to know is this : Is it to 
 Senor Perkins that we ought to be thankful for 
 seeing you here at all ? " asked Mrs Markham 
 impatiently. 
 
 " No, no not that, exactly," stammered 
 Markham. " Oh, come now, Susannah " 
 
 " No," said Eichard Keene earnestly ; " by 
 Jove ! some thanks ought to go to Belle Mont- 
 gomery " he checked himself in sudden consterna- 
 tion. 
 
 There was a chilly silence. Even Miss Keene 
 looked anxiously at her brother, as the voice of Mrs. 
 Brimmer for the first time broke the silence. 
 
 " May we be permitted to know who is this 
 person to whom we owe so great an obligation ? " 
 
 " Certainly," said Brimmer. " She was as I 
 have already intimated a friend ; possibly, you 
 know," he added, turning lightly to his companions, 
 as if to corroborate an impression that had just 
 struck him, " perhaps a a a sweetheart of the 
 Senor Perkins." 
 
214 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 " And how was she so interested in us, pray ? " 
 said Mrs. Markham. 
 
 " Well, you see, she had an idea that a former 
 husband was on board of the Excelsior." 
 
 He stopped suddenly, remembering from the 
 astonished faces of Keene and Markham that the 
 secret was not known to them, while they, im- 
 pressed with the belief that the story was a sudden 
 invention of Brimmer's, with difficulty preserved 
 their composure. But the women were quick to 
 notice their confusion, and promptly disbelieved 
 Brimmer's explanation. 
 
 "Well, as there's no Mister Montgomery here, 
 she's probably mistaken," said Mrs. Markham, with 
 decision, "though it strikes me that she's very 
 likely had the same delusion on board of some other 
 ship. Come along, James ; perhaps after you've 
 had a bath and some clean clothes, you may come 
 out a little more like the man I once knew. I don't 
 know, how Mrs. Brimmer feels, but I feel more as if 
 I required to be introduced to you than your 
 friend's friend, Mrs. Montgomery. At any rate, try 
 and look and behave a little more decent when you 
 go over to the Presidio." 
 
 With these words she dragged him away. Mr. 
 Brimmer, after a futile attempt to appear at his 
 ease, promptly effected the usual marital diversion 
 of carrying the war into the enemy's camp. 
 
 "For Heaven's sake, Barbara," he said, with 
 ostentatious indignation, " go and dress yourself 
 properly. Had you neither money nor credit to 
 purchase clothes ? I declare I didn't know you at 
 
A MORE IMPORTANT ARRIVAL. 245 
 
 first ; and when I did, I was shocked ; before Mrs. 
 Markham, too ; " 
 
 "Mrs. Markham, I fear, has quite enough to 
 occupy her now," said Mrs Brimmer shortly, as she 
 turned away, with hysterically moist eyes, leaving 
 her husband to follow her. 
 
 Oblivious of this comedy, Eichard Keene and 
 Eleanor had already wandered back, hand in hand, 
 to their days of childhood. But even in the joy 
 that filled the young girl's heart in the presence of 
 her only kinsman, there was a strange reservation. 
 The meeting that she had looked forward to with 
 eager longing had brought all she expected ; more 
 than that, it seemed to have been providentially 
 anticipated at the moment of her greatest need, 
 and yet it was incomplete. She was ashamed that 
 after the first recognition, a wild desire to run to 
 Hurlstone and tell him her happiness was her only 
 thought. She was shocked that the bright joyous 
 face of this handsome loveable boy could not shut 
 out the melancholy austere features of Hurlstone, 
 which seemed to rise reproachfully between them. 
 When, for the third and fourth time, they had 
 recounted their past history, exchanged their 
 confidences and feelings, Dick, passing his arm 
 around his sister's waist, looked down smilingly in 
 her eyes. 
 
 " And so, after all, little Nell, everybody has been 
 good to you, and you have been happy ! " 
 
 " Everybody has been kind to me, Dick ; far 
 kinder than I deserved. Even if I had really been 
 the great lady that little Dona Isabel thought I was, 
 
246 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 or the important person the Commander believed 
 me to be, I couldn't have been treated more kindly. 
 I have met with nothing but respect and attention. 
 I have been very happy, Dick ; very happy." 
 
 And with a little cry she threw herself on her 
 brother's neck and burst into a childlike flood of 
 inconsistent tears. 
 
 Meantime the news of the arrival of the relief- 
 party had penetrated even the peaceful cloisters of 
 the Mission, and Father Esteban had been 
 summoned in haste to the Council. He returned 
 with an eager face to Hurlstone, who had been 
 anxiously awaiting him. When the Padre had 
 imparted the full particulars of the event to his 
 companion, he added gravely, 
 
 " You see, my son, how Providence, which has 
 protected you since you first claimed the Church's 
 sanctuary, has again interfered to spare me the 
 sacrifice of using the power of the Church in purely 
 mundane passions. I meekly accept the rebuke of 
 His better-ordained ways, and you, Diego, may 
 comfort yourself that this girl is restored directly 
 to her brother's care, without any deviousness of 
 plan or human responsibility. You do not speak, 
 my son ! " continued the priest anxiously ; " can it 
 be possible that, in the face of this gracious approval 
 of Providence to your resolution, you are regretting 
 it?" 
 
 The young man replied, with a half-reproachful 
 gesture, 
 
 " Do you, then, think me still so weak ? No, 
 Father Esteban ; I have steeled myself against my 
 
A MORE IMPOETAKT AKRIVAL. 247 
 
 selfishness for her sake. I could have resigned her 
 to the escape you had planned, believing her happier 
 for it, and ignorant of the real condition of the man 
 she had learnt to to pity. But," he added, 
 turning suddenly and almost rudely upon the priest, 
 " do you know the meaning of this irruption of the 
 outer world to me ? Do you reflect that these men 
 probably know my miserable story ? that, as one of 
 the passengers of the Excelsior, they will be obliged 
 to seek me and to restore me," he added, with a 
 bitter laugh, "to my home, my kindred to the 
 world I loathe ? " 
 
 "But you need not, follow them. Remain here." 
 
 " Here ! with the door thrown open to any tale- 
 bearer, or perhaps my wife herself ? Never ! Hear 
 me, Father," he went on hurriedly; "these men 
 come from San Francisco have been to Mazatlan. 
 Can you believe that it is possible that they have 
 never heard of this woman's search for me ? No ! 
 The quest of hate is as strong as the quest of love, 
 and more merciless to the hunted." 
 
 " But if that were so, foolish boy, she would have 
 accompanied them." 
 
 " You are wrong ! It would have been enough 
 for her to have sent my exposure by them to have 
 driven me from this refuge." 
 
 " This is but futile fancy, Diego," said Father 
 Esteban, with a simulated assurance he was far 
 from feeling. "Nothing has yet been said nothing 
 may be said. Wait, my child.' 
 
 " Wait ! " he echoed bitterly. " Ay, wait until the 
 poor girl shall hear perhaps from her brother's 
 
248 THE CKUSADE OF THE " EXCELSIOK." 
 
 lips the story of my marriage as bandied about by 
 others ; wait for her to know that the man who 
 would have made her love him was another's and 
 unworthy of her respect ? No ! it is 7 who must 
 leave this place, and at once." 
 
 " You ? " echoed the Padre. " How ? " 
 
 " By the same means you would have used for 
 her departure. I must take her place in that ship 
 you are expecting. You will give me letters to your 
 friends. Perhaps, when this is over, I may return 
 if I still live." 
 
 Padre Esteban became thoughtful. 
 
 " You will not refuse me ? " said the young man 
 taking the Padre's hand. "It is for the best, 
 believe me. I will remain secret here until then. 
 You will invent some excuse illness, or what you 
 like to keep them from penetrating here. Above 
 all, to spare me from the misery of ever reading 
 my secret in her face." 
 
 Father Esteban remained still absorbed in 
 thought. 
 
 " You will take a letter from me to the Arch- 
 bishop, and put yourself under his care ? " he 
 asked at last, after a long pause. " You will 
 promise me that ? " 
 
 "I do!" 
 
 " Then we shall see what can be done. They talk, 
 those Americanos," continued the priest, " of making 
 their way up the coast to Punta St. Jago, where the 
 ship they have already sent for to take them away 
 can approach the shore ; and the Comandante has 
 orders to furnish them escort and transport to that 
 
A MOKE IMPOETANT ARRIVAL. 249 
 
 point. It is a foolish indiscretion of the Govern- 
 ment, and I warrant without the sanction of the 
 Church. Already there is curiosity, discontent, and 
 wild talk among the people. Ah ! thou sayest truly, 
 my son," said the old man gloomily ; " the doors of 
 Todos Santos are open. The Comandante will speed 
 these heretics quickly on their way ; but the doors 
 by which they came and whence they go will 'never 
 close again. But (rod's will be done ! And if the 
 open doors bring thee back, my son, I shall not 
 question his will ! " 
 
 It would seem, however, as if Hurlstone's fears 
 had been groundless. For in the excitement of the 
 succeeding days, and the mingling of the party from 
 San Antonio with the newcomers, the recluse had 
 been forgotten. So habitual had been his isolation 
 from the others that, except for the words of praise 
 and gratitude hesitatingly dropped by Miss Keene 
 to her brother, his name was not mentioned, and it 
 might have been possible for the relieving party to 
 have left him behind unnoticed. Mr. Brimmer, 
 for domestic reasons, was quite willing to allow the 
 episode of Miss Montgomery's connection with their 
 expedition to drop for the present. Her name was 
 only recalled once by Miss Keene. When Dick had 
 professed a sudden and violent admiration for the 
 coquettish Dona Isabel, Eleanor had looked up in 
 her brother's face with a half- troubled air. 
 
 " Who was this queer Montgomery woman, 
 Dick ? " she said. 
 
 Dick laughed a frank, reassuring, heart-free 
 laugh. 
 
250 THE CBUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR/' 
 
 "Perfectly stunning, Nell. Such a figure in 
 tights ! You ought to have seen her dance my ! " 
 
 " Hush ! I dare say she was horrid ! " 
 
 " Not at all ! She wasn't such a bad fellow, if you 
 left out her poetry and gush, which I didn't go in 
 
 for much though the other fellows " he stopped, 
 
 from a sudden sense of loyalty to Brimmer and 
 Markham. " No ; you see, Nell, she was regularly ridi- 
 culously struck after that man Perkins whom she'd 
 never seen a kind of school-girl worship for a pirate. 
 You know how you women go in for those fellows 
 with a mystery about 'em." 
 
 " No, I don't ! " said Miss Keene sharply, with a 
 slight rise of colour ; " and I don't see what that's 
 got to do with you and her." 
 
 " Everything ! She was in correspondence with 
 Perkins, and knew about the Excelsior affair, and 
 wanted to help him get out of it with clean hands, 
 don't you see ! That's why she made up to us. 
 There, Nell ; she ain't your style, of course ; but you 
 owe a heap to her for giving us points as to where 
 you were. But that's all over now; she left us at 
 Mazatlan, and went on to Nicaragua to meet 
 Perkins somewhere there for the fellow has always 
 got some Central American revolution on hand, it 
 appears. Until they garotte or shoot him some 
 day, he'll go on in the liberating business for ever." 
 
 " Then there wasn't any Mr. Montgomery, of 
 course ? " said Eleanor. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Montgomery," said Dick, hesitating. 
 " Well, you see, Nell, I think that, knowing how 
 correct and all that sort of thing Brimmer is, she 
 
A MORE IMPORTANT ARRIVAL. 251 
 
 sort-of invented the husband to make her interest 
 look more proper." 
 
 " It's shameful ! " said Miss Keene indignantly. 
 
 " Come, Nell ; one would think you had a personal 
 dislike to her. Let her go ; she won't trouble you 
 nor, I reckon, anybody, much longer. 
 
 " What do you mean, Dick ? " 
 
 " I mean that she has regularly exhausted and 
 burnt herself out with her hysterics and excite- 
 ments, and the drugs she's taken to subdue them 
 to say nothing of the Panama fever she got last 
 spring. If she don't go regularly crazy at last she'll 
 have another attack of fever, hanging round the 
 isthmus waiting for Perkins." 
 
 Meanwhile, undisturbed by excitement or intru- 
 sion of the outer world, the days had passed quietly 
 at the Mission. But one evening, at twilight, a 
 swift-footed, lightly-clad Indian glided into the sac- 
 risty as if he had slipped from the outlying fog, and 
 almost immediately as quietly glided away again 
 and disappeared. The next moment Father Este- 
 ban's gaunt and agitated face appeared at Hurlstone's 
 door. 
 
 " My son, Grod has been merciful, and cut short 
 your probation. The signal of the ship has just 
 been made. Her boat will be waiting on the beach 
 two leagues from here an hour hence. Are you 
 ready ? and are you still resolved ? " 
 
 " I am," said Hurlstone, rising. " I have been 
 prepared since you first assented." 
 
 The old man's lips quivered slightly, and the great 
 brown hand laid upon the table trembled for an 
 
252 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 instant ; with a strong effort lie recovered himself, 
 and said hurriedly, 
 
 " Concho's mule is saddled and ready for you at 
 the foot of the garden. You will follow the beach a 
 league beyond the Indians' cross. In the boat will 
 await you the trusty messenger of the Church. 
 You will say to him, < Guadalajara,' and give him 
 these letters. One is to the captain. You will 
 require no other introduction." He laid the papers 
 on the table, and turning to Hurlstone, lifted his 
 tremulous hands in the air. " And now, my son, 
 may the grace of God " 
 
 He faltered and stopped, his uplifted arms falling 
 helplessly on Hurlstone's shoulders. For an instant 
 the young man supported him in his arms, then 
 placed him gently in the chair he had just quitted, 
 and for the first time in their intimacy dropped upon 
 his knee before him. The old man, with a faint 
 smile, placed his hand upon his companion's head. 
 A breathless pause followed ; Father Esteban's lips 
 moved silently. Suddenly the young man rose, 
 pressed his lips hurriedly to the Father's hand, and 
 passed out into the night. 
 
 The moon was already suffusing the dropping veil 
 of fog above him with that nebulous, mysterious 
 radiance he had noticed the first night he had 
 approached the Mission. When he reached the 
 cross he dismounted, and gathering a few of the 
 sweet-scented blossoms that crept around its base, 
 placed them in his breast. Then, remounting, 
 he continued his way until he came to the spot 
 designated by Concho as a fitting place to leave 
 
A MORE IMPORTANT ARRIVAL. 253 
 
 his tethered mule. This done, he proceeded on 
 foot about a mile further along the hard, wet sand, 
 his eyes fixed on the narrow strip of water and 
 shore before him that was yet uninvaded by the fog 
 on either side. 
 
 The misty, nebulous light, the strange silence, 
 broken only by the occasional low hurried whisper 
 of some spent wave that sent its film of spume 
 across his path, or filled his footprints behind him, 
 possessed him with vague presentiments and 
 imaginings. At times he fancied he heard voices 
 at his side ; at times indistinct figures loomed 
 through the mist before him. At last what seemed 
 to be his own shadow faintly impinged upon the 
 mist at one side impressed him so strongly that 
 he stopped ; the apparition stopped too. Continu- 
 ing a few hundred paces further, he stopped again ; 
 but this time the ghostly figure passed on, 
 and convinced him it was no shadow, but some 
 one actually following him. With an angry chal- 
 lenge he advanced towards it. It quickly retreated 
 inland, and was lost. Irritated and suspicious he 
 turned back towards the water, and was amazed to 
 see before him not twenty yards away, the object 
 of his quest a boat, with two men in it, kept in 
 position by the occasional lazy dip of an oar. In 
 the pursuit of his mysterious shadow he had 
 evidently overlooked it. As his own figure emerged 
 from the fog, the boat pulled towards him. The 
 priest's password was upon his lips, when he per- 
 ceived that the two men were common foreign 
 sailors ; the messenger of the Church was evidently 
 
254 THE CEUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 not there. Could it Lave been he who had haunted 
 him ? He paused irresolutely. " Is there none 
 other coming ? " he asked. The two men looked at 
 each other. One said, " Quien sabe ! " and shrugged 
 his shoulders, Hurlstone without further hesitation 
 leaped aboard. 
 
 The same dull wall of vapour, at times thick- 
 ening to an almost impenetrable barrier, and again 
 half-suffocating him in its soft embrace which he 
 had breasted on the night he swam ashore, carried 
 back his thoughts to that time, now so remote and 
 unreal. And when, after a few moments' silent 
 rowing, the boat approached a black hulk that 
 seemed to have started forward out of the gloom to 
 meet them, his vague recollection began to take a 
 more definite form. As he climbed up the com- 
 panion-ladder and boarded the vessel, an inexplic- 
 able memory came over him. A petty officer on 
 the gangway advanced silently and ushered him, 
 half-dazed and bewildered, into the cabin. He 
 glanced hurriedly around : the door of a state-room 
 opened, and disclosed the indomitable and affable 
 Senor Perkins ! A slight expression of surprise, 
 however, crossed the features of the Liberator of 
 Quinquinambo as he advanced with outstretched 
 hand. 
 
 "This is really a surprise, my dear fellow! I 
 had no idea that you were in this affair. But I am 
 delighted to welcome you once more to the 
 Excelsior ! " 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE RETUEN OF THE " EXCELSIOE." 
 
 AMAZED and disconcerted, Hurlstone, nevertheless, 
 retained his presence of mind. 
 
 " There must be some mistake," he said coolly ; 
 " I am certainly not the person you seem to be 
 expecting." 
 
 " Were you not sent here by Winslow ? " de- 
 manded Perkins. 
 
 " No. The person you are looking for is probably 
 one I saw on the shore. He no doubt became 
 alarmed at my approach, and has allowed me quite 
 unwittingly to take his place in the boat." 
 
 Perkins examined Hurlstone keenly for a mo- 
 ment, stepped to the door, gave a brief order, and 
 returned. 
 
 " Then, if you did not intend the honour of this 
 visit for me," he resumed, with a smile, u may I 
 ask, my dear fellow, whom you expected to meet, 
 and on what ship ? There are not so many at 
 Todos Santos, if my memory serves me right, as to 
 create confusion." 
 
 " I must decline to answer that question," said 
 Hurlstone curtly. 
 
 The Senor smiled with an accession of his old 
 gentleness. 
 
 " My dear young friend," he said, " have you 
 forgotten that on a far more important occasion to 
 
256 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 you, I showed no desire to pry into your secret ? " 
 Hurlstone made a movement of deprecation. " Nor 
 have I any such desire now. But for the sake of 
 our coming to an understanding as friends, let me 
 answer the question for you. You are here, my 
 dear fellow, as a messenger from the Mission of 
 Todos Santos to the Ecclesiastical Commission from 
 Guadalajara, whose ship touches here every three 
 years. It is now due. You have mistaken this 
 vessel for theirs." 
 
 Hurlstone remained silent. 
 
 " It is no secret," contined Seiior Perkins blandly; 
 " nor shall I pretend to conceal my purpose here, 
 which is on the invitation of certain distressed 
 patriots of Todos Santos, to assist them in their 
 deliverance from the effete tyranny of the Church 
 and its Government. I have been fortunate enough 
 to anticipate the arrival of your vessel, as you were 
 fortunate enough to anticipate the arrival of my 
 messenger. I am doubly fortunate, as it gives me 
 the pleasure of your company this evening, and 
 necessitates no further trouble than the return of 
 the boat for the other gentleman which has already 
 gone. Doubtless you may know him." 
 
 " I must warn you again, Seiior Perkins," said 
 Hurlstone sternly, " that I have no connection with 
 any political party; nor have I any sympathy with 
 your purpose against the constituted authorities." 
 
 " I am willing to believe that you have no politi- 
 cal affinities at all, my dear Mr. Hurlstone," 
 returned Perkins, with unruffled composure, " and, 
 consequently, we will not argue as to what is the 
 
THE RETURN OF THE '-EXCELSIOR." 257 
 
 constituted authority of Todos Santos. Perhaps 
 to-morrow it may be on board this ship, and I may 
 still have the pleasure of making you at home 
 here!" 
 
 " Until then," said Hurlstone dryly, " at least 
 you will allow me to repair my error by returning 
 to the shore." 
 
 "For the moment I hardly think it would be 
 wise," replied Perkins gently. " Allowing that you 
 escaped the vigilance of my friends on the shore, 
 whose suspicions you have aroused, and who might 
 do you some injury, you would feel it your duty to 
 inform those who sent you of the presence of my 
 ship, and thus precipitate a collision between my 
 friends and yours, which would be promotive of ill- 
 feeling, and perhaps bloodshed. You know my 
 peaceful disposition, Mr. Hurlstone ; you can hardly 
 expect me to countenance an act of folly that would 
 be in violation of it." 
 
 "In other words, having decoyed me here on 
 board your ship, you intend to detain me," said 
 Hurlstone insultingly. 
 
 " * Decoy,' " said Perkins, in gentle deprecation, 
 " f decoy ' is hardly the word I expected from a 
 gentleman who has been so unfortunate as to take, 
 unsolicited and of his own free will, another person's 
 place in a boat. But," he continued, assuming an 
 easy argumentative attitude, " let us look at it from 
 your view-point. Let us imagine that your ship 
 had anticipated mine, and that my messenger had 
 unwittingly gone on board of her. What do you 
 think they would have done to him ? " 
 
 17 
 
258 THE CKUSADE OF THE <; EXCELSIOE." 
 
 "They would have hung him at the yard-arm, as 
 he deserved," said Hurlstone unflinchingly. 
 
 " You are wrong," said Perkins gently. " They 
 would have given him the alternative of betraying 
 his trust, and confessing everything which he 
 would probably have accepted. Pardon me ! this 
 is no insinuation against you," he interrupted " but 
 I regret to say that my experience with the effete 
 Latin races of this continent has not inspired me 
 with confidence in their loyalty to trust. Let me 
 give you an instance," he continued, smiling : <f the 
 ship you are expecting is supposed to be an inviol- 
 able secret of the Church, but it is known to me 
 to my friends ashore and even to you, my poor 
 friend, a heretic ! More than that, I am told that 
 the Comandante, the Padre, and Alcalde are actually 
 arranging to deport some of the American women 
 by this vessel, which has been hitherto sacred to the 
 emissaries of the Church alone. But you probably 
 know this it is doubtless part of your errand. I 
 only mention it to convince you that I have certainly 
 no need either to know your secrets, to hang you 
 from the yard-arm if you refused to give them up, 
 or to hold you as hostage for my messenger, who, as 
 I have told you, can take care of himself. I shall 
 not ask you for that secret despatch you undoubtedly 
 carry next your heart, because I don't want it. You 
 are at liberty to keep it until you can deliver it, or 
 drop it out of that port-hole into the sea as you 
 choose. But I hear the boat returning," continued 
 Perkins, rising gently from his seat as the sound of 
 oars came faintly alongside, "and no doubt with 
 
THE RETURN OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 259 
 
 Winslow's messenger. I am sorry you won't let 
 me bring you together. I daresay he knows all about 
 you, and it really need not alter your opinions." 
 
 " One moment," said Hurlstone, stunned, yet in- 
 credulous of Perkins' revelations. " You said that 
 both the Comandante and Alcalde had arranged to 
 send away certain ladies are you not mistaken ? " 
 
 " I think not," said Perkins quietly, looking over 
 a pile of papers on the table before him. " Yes, 
 here it is," he continued, reading from a memo- 
 randum, " { Don Kamon Kamirez arranged with 
 Pepe for the secret carrying off of Dona Barbara 
 Brimmer.' Why, that was six weeks ago, and here 
 we have the Comandante suborning one Marcia, a 
 dragoon, to abduct Mrs. Markham by Jove, my old 
 friend ! and Doiia Leonor our beauty, was she 
 not ? Yes, here it is : in black and white. Eead 
 it, if you like and pardon me for one moment, 
 while I receive this unlucky messenger." 
 
 Left to himself, Hurlstone barely glanced at the 
 memorandum, which seemed to be the rough 
 minutes of some society. He believed Perkins ; 
 but was it possible that the Padre could be ignorant 
 of the designs of his fellow-councillors ? And if 
 he were not if he had long before been in com- 
 plicity with them for the removal of Eleanor, might 
 he not also have duped him, Hurlstone, and sent 
 him on this mission as a mere blind ; and more 
 infamously perhaps even thus decoyed him on 
 board the wrong ship ? No it was impossible ! 
 His honest blood quickly flew to his cheek at that 
 momentary disloyal suspicion. 
 
 17* 
 
260 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 Nevertheless, the Senor's bland revelations filled 
 him with vague uneasiness. She was safe with 
 her brother now; but what if he and the other 
 Americans were engaged in this ridiculous con- 
 spiracy, this pot-house rebellion that Father 
 Esteban had spoken of, and which he had always 
 treated with such contempt ? It seemed strange 
 that Perkins had said nothing of the arrival of the 
 relieving party from the Gulf, and its probable 
 effect on the malcontents. Did he know it ? or was 
 the news now being brought by this messenger 
 whom he, Hurlstone, had supplanted ? If so, when 
 and how had Perkins received the intelligence that 
 brought him to Todos Santos ? The young man 
 could scarcely repress a bitter smile as he 
 remembered the accepted idea of Todos Santos' 
 inviolability that inaccessible port that had within 
 six weeks secretly summoned Perkins to its assist- 
 ance ! And it was there he believed himself secure ! 
 What security had he at all? Might not this 
 strange, unimpassioned, omniscient man already 
 know his secret as he had known the others' ? 
 
 The interview of Perkins with the messenger in 
 the next cabin was a long one, and, apparently, a 
 stormy one on the part of the newcomer. Hurlstone 
 could hear his excited foreign voice, shrill with the 
 small vehemence of a shallow character ; but there 
 was no change in the slow, measured tones of the 
 Senor. He listlessly began to turn over the papers 
 on the table. Presently he paused. He had taken 
 up a sheet of paper on which Senor Perkins had 
 evidently been essaying some composition in verse. 
 
THE RETURN OF THE "EXCELSIOR/' 261 
 
 It seemed to have been of a lugubrious character. 
 The titular line at the top of the page, " Dirge," 
 had been crossed out for the substituted " In 
 Memoriam." He read carelessly 
 
 " Muse unmet but not unwept 
 I seek thy sacred haunt in vain. 
 Too late, alas ! the tryst is kept 
 We may not meet again ! 
 
 I sought thee 'midst the orange bloom, 
 To find that thou hadst grasped the palm 
 
 Of martyr, and the silent tomb 
 Had hid thee in its calm. 
 
 By fever racked, thou languished 
 On Nicaragua's " 
 
 Hurlstone threw the paper aside. Although he had 
 not forgotten the Senor's reputation for sentimental 
 extravagance, and on another occasion might have 
 laughed at it, there was something so monstrous in 
 this hysterical, morbid composition of the man who 
 was even then contemplating bloodshed and crime, 
 that he was disgusted. Like most sentimental 
 egotists, Hurlstone was exceedingly intolerant of 
 that quality in others, and he turned for relief to 
 his own thoughts of Eleanor Keene and his own 
 unfortunate passion. He could not have written 
 poetry at such a moment ! 
 
 But the cabin door opened, and Sefior Perkins 
 appeared. Whatever might have been the excited 
 condition of his unknown visitor, the Senor's round, 
 clean-shaven face was smiling and undisturbed by 
 
262 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 emotion. As his eye fell on the page of manuscript 
 Hurlstone had just cast down, a slight shadow 
 crossed his beneficent expanse of forehead, and 
 deepened in his soft dark eyes; but the next 
 moment it was chased away by his quick-recurring 
 smile. Even thus transient and superficial was his 
 feeling, thought Hurlstone. 
 
 " I have some news for you," said Perkins affably, 
 " which may alter your decision about returning. 
 My friends ashore," he continued, "judging from 
 the ingenuous specimen which has just visited 
 me, are more remarkable for their temporary zeal 
 and spasmodic devotion than for prudent reserve or 
 lasting discretion. They have submitted a list to 
 me of those whom they consider dangerous to 
 Mexican liberty, and whom, they are desirous of 
 hanging. I regret to say that the list is illogical, 
 and the request inopportune. Our friend Mr. Banks 
 is put down as an ally of the Government and an 
 objectionable business rival of that eminent patriot 
 and well-known drover, Senor Martinez, who just 
 called upon me. Mr. Crosby's humour is considered 
 subversive of a proper respect for all patriotism ; 
 but I cannot understand why they have added your 
 name as especially ' dangerous.' " 
 
 Hurlstone made a gesture of contempt. 
 
 " I suppose they pay me the respect of con- 
 sidering me a friend of the old priest. So be it ! 
 I hope they will let the responsibility fall on me 
 alone." 
 
 " The Padre is already proscribed as one of the 
 Council," said Senor Perkins quietly. 
 
THE EETURN OF THE "EXCELSIOB." 263 
 
 " Do you mean to say," said Hurlstone im- 
 petuously, " that you will permit a hair of that 
 innocent old man's head to be harmed by those 
 wretches ? " 
 
 " You are generous, but hasty, my friend," said 
 Senor Perkins, in gentle deprecation. " Allow me 
 to put your question in another way. Ask me if I 
 intend to perpetuate the Catholic Church in Todos 
 Santos by adding another martyr to its roll, and I 
 will tell you No ! I need not say that I am 
 equally opposed to any proceedings against Banks, 
 Crosby, and yourself, for diplomatic reasons, apart 
 from the kindly memories of our old associations on 
 this ship. I have therefore been obliged to return 
 to tie excellent Martinez his little list, with the 
 rem&rk that I should hold him personally responsible 
 if ary of you are molested. There is, however, no 
 danger. Messrs. Banks and Crosby are with the 
 othei Americans, whom we have guaranteed to 
 protect, at the Mission, in the care of your friend 
 the Padre. You are surprised ! Equally so was 
 the Padre. Had you delayed your departure an 
 hour you would have met them, and I should have 
 been debarred the pleasure of your company." 
 
 " By to-morrow," continued Perkins, placing the 
 tips of his fingers together reflectively, " the 
 government of Todos Santos will have changed 
 hands, and without bloodshed. You look in- 
 credulous ! My dear young friend, it has been a 
 part of my professional pride to show the world that 
 these revolutions can be accomplished as peacefully 
 as our own changes of administration. But for a 
 
264 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 few infelicitous accidents, this would have been the 
 case of the late liberation of Quinquinambo. The 
 only risk run is to myself the leader, and that is 
 as it should be. But all this personal explanation 
 is, doubtless, uninteresting to you, my young friend. 
 I meant only to say that, if you prefer not to 
 remain here, you can accompany me when I leave 
 the ship at nine o'clock with a small reconnoitring 
 party, and I will give you safe escort back to jour 
 friends at the Mission." 
 
 This amicable proposition produced a sucden 
 revulsion of feeling in Hurls tone. To return 
 to those people from whom he was fleeing, 
 in what was scarcely yet a serious emergency, 
 was not to be thought of ! Yet, where could he 
 go ? How could he be near enough to assist her 
 without again openly casting his lot among tlem ? 
 And would they not consider his return an a?t of 
 cowardice ? He could not restrain a gesture of 
 irritation as he rose impatiently to his feet. 
 
 " You are agitated, my dear fellow. It is not 
 unworthy of your youth ; but, believe me, it is un- 
 necessary," said Perkins in his most soothing 
 manner. " Sit down. You have an hour yet to 
 make your decision. If you prefer to remain, you 
 will accompany the ship to Todos Santos and join 
 me." 
 
 "I don't comprehend you," interrupted Hurl- 
 stone suspiciously. 
 
 " I forgot," said Perkins, with a bland smile, 
 " that you are unaware of our plan of campaign. 
 After communicating with the insurgents, Hand here 
 
THE RETURN OF THE '-EXCELSIOR." 265 
 
 with a small force to assist them. I do this to 
 anticipate any action and prevent the interference 
 of the Mexican coaster, now due, which always 
 touches here through ignorance of the channel 
 leading to the Bay of Todos Santos and the Presidio. 
 I then send the Excelsior, that does know the 
 channel, to Todos Santos, to appear before the 
 Presidio, take the enemy in flank, and co-operate 
 with us. The arrival of the Excelsior there is the 
 last move of this little game, if I may so call it : 
 it is ' checkmate to the King,' the clerical Govern- 
 ment of Todos Santos." 
 
 A little impressed, in spite of himself, with the 
 calm forethought and masterful security of the 
 Sefior, Hurls tone thanked him with a greater show 
 of respect than he had hitherto evinced. The Seiior 
 looked gratified, but unfortunately placed that re- 
 spect the next moment in peril. 
 
 " You were possibly glancing over these verses," 
 he said, with a hesitating and almost awkward diffi- 
 dence, indicating the manuscript Hurlstone had just 
 thrown aside. " It is merely the first rough draft 
 of a little tribute I had begun to a charming friend. 
 I sometimes," he interpolated, with an apologetic 
 smile, " trifle with the Muse. Perhaps I ought not 
 to use the word ' trifle ' in connection with a com- 
 position of a threnodial and dirge-like character," 
 he continued deprecatingly. " Certainly not in the 
 presence of a gentleman as accomplished and edu- 
 cated as yourself, to whom recreation of this kind 
 is undoubtedly familiar. My occupations have 
 been, unfortunately, of a nature not favourable to 
 
266 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 the culture of verse. As a college man yourself, 
 my dear sir, you will probably forgive the lucubra- 
 tions of an old graduate of William and Mary's, who 
 has forgotten his ' ars poetica.' The verses you have 
 possibly glanced at are crude, I am aware, and 
 perhaps show the difficulty of expressing at once 
 the dictates of the heart and the brain. They refer 
 to a dear friend, now at peace. You have perhaps, 
 in happier and more careless hours, heard me speak 
 of Mrs. Euphemia MacCorkle, of Illinois ? " 
 
 Hurlstone remembered indistinctly to have heard, 
 even in his reserved exclusiveness on the Excelsior, 
 the current badinage of the passengers concerning 
 Senor Perkins' extravagant adulation of this un- 
 known poetess. As a part of the staple monotonous 
 humour of the voyage, it had only disgusted him. 
 With a feeling that he was unconsciously sharing 
 the burlesque belief of the passengers, he said, with 
 a polite attempt at interest : 
 
 " Then the lady is no more ? " 
 
 " If that term can be applied to one whose work 
 is immortal," corrected Senor Perkins gently. "All 
 that was finite of this gifted woman was lately for- 
 warded by Adams' Express Company from San 
 Juan, to receive sepulture among her kindred at 
 Keokuk, Iowa." 
 
 " Did she say she was from that place ? " asked 
 Hurlstone, with half-automatic interest. 
 
 " The Consul says she gave that request to the 
 priest." 
 
 " Then you were not with "her when she died ? " 
 said Hurlstone absently. 
 
THE RETURN OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 267 
 
 " I was never with her, neither then nor before," 
 returned Senor Perkins gravely. Seeing Hurlstone's 
 momentary surprise, he went on, " the late ''Mrs. 
 MacCorkle and I never met we were personally 
 unknown to each other. You may have observed 
 the epithet * unmet ' in the first line of the first 
 stanza ; you will then understand that the privation 
 of actual contact with this magnetic soul would 
 naturally impart more difficulty into elegiac ex- 
 pression." 
 
 "Then you never really saw the lady you 
 admire ? " said Hurlstone vacantly. 
 
 "Never. The story is a romantic one," said 
 Perkins, with a smile that was half complacent, 
 and yet half embarrassed. " May I tell it to you. 
 Thanks. Some three years ago, I contributed 
 some verses to the columns of a Western paper, 
 edited by a friend of mine. The subject chosen 
 was my favourite one, 'The Liberation of Man- 
 kind,' in which I may possibly have expressed 
 myself with some poetic fervour on a theme so 
 dear to my heart. I may remark without vanity, 
 that it received high encomiums perhaps at some 
 more opportune moment you may be induced to 
 cast your eyes over a copy I still retain but no 
 praise touched me so deeply as a tribute in verse 
 in another journal from a gifted unknown, who 
 signed herself ( Euphemia.' The subject of the 
 poem, which was dedicated to myself, was on the 
 liberation of women from er I may say certain 
 domestic shackles; treated perhaps vaguely, but 
 with grace and vigour. I replied a week later in 
 
268 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 a larger poem, recording more fully my theories 
 and aspirations regarding a struggling Central 
 American confederacy, addressed to ( Euphemia.' 
 She rejoined with equal elaboration and detail 
 referring to a more definite form of tyranny in 
 the relations of marriage, and alluding with some 
 feeling to uncongenial experiences of her own. An 
 instinct of natural delicacy, veiled under the hyper- 
 bole of 'want of space,' prevented my editorial 
 friend from encouraging the repetition of this 
 charming interchange of thought and feeling. 
 But I procured the fair stranger's address : we 
 began a correspondence, at once imaginative and 
 sympathetic in expression, if not always poetical 
 in form. I was called to South America by the 
 Macedonian cry of ' Quinquinambo ! ' I still 
 corresponded with her. When I returned to Quin- 
 quinambo I received letters from her, dated from 
 San Francisco. I feel that my words could only 
 fail, my dear Hurlstone, to convey to you the 
 strength and support I derived from those im- 
 passioned breathings of aid and sympathy at that 
 time. Enough for me to confess that it was mainly 
 due to the deep womanly interest that she took in 
 the fortunes of the passengers of the Excelsior that 
 I gave the Mexican authorities early notice of their 
 whereabouts. But, pardon me," he stopped 
 hesitatingly, with a slight flush, as he noticed 
 the utterly inattentive face and attitude of 
 Hurlstone " I am boring you ? I am forgetting 
 that this is only important to myself," he added, 
 with a sigh. " I only intended to ask your advice 
 
THE RETURN 0? THE ; < EXCELSIOR." 269 
 
 in regard to the disposition of certain manuscripts 
 and effects of hers which are unconnected with our 
 acquaintance. I thought, perhaps, I might entrust 
 them to your delicacy and consideration. They are 
 here, if you choose to look them over, and here is also 
 what I believe to be a daguerreotype of the lady 
 herself, but in which I fail to recognise her soul and 
 genius." 
 
 He laid a bundle of letters and a morocco case on 
 the table with a carelessness that was intended to 
 hide a slight shade of disappointment in his face 
 and rose. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Hurlstone, in confused 
 and remorseful apology ; " but I frankly confess 
 that my thoughts were preoccupied. Pray forgive 
 me. If you will leave these papers with me, I 
 promise to devote myself to them another time." 
 
 " As you please," said the Senor, with a slight 
 return of his old affability. " But don't bore your- 
 self now. Let us go on deck." 
 
 He passed out of the cabin as Hurlstone glanced, 
 half mechanically, at the package before him. 
 Suddenly his cheek reddened ; he stopped, looked 
 hurriedly at the retreating form of Perkins, and 
 picked up a manuscript from the packet. It was 
 in his wife's handwriting. A sudden idea flashed 
 across his mind, and seemed to illuminate the 
 obscure monotony of the story he had just heard. 
 He turned hurriedly to the morocco case, and 
 opened it with trembling fingers. It was a 
 daguerreotype, faded and silvered ; but the features 
 were those of his wife ! 
 
CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 HOSTAGE. 
 
 THE revolution of Todos Santos had to all appear- 
 ances been effected as peacefully as the gentle 
 Liberator of Quinquinambo could have wished. 
 Two pronunciamentos, rudely printed and posted 
 in the Plaza, and saluted by the fickle garrison 
 of one hundred men, who had, however, im- 
 mediately reappointed their old commander as 
 Generalissimo under the new regime, seemed to 
 leave nothing to be desired. A surging mob of 
 vacant and wondering peons, bearing a singular re- 
 semblance to the wild cattle and horses which 
 intermingled with them in blind and unceasing 
 movement across the Plaza and up the hilly 
 street, and seemingly as incapable of self-govern- 
 ment, were alternately dispersed and stampeded 
 or allowed to gather again as occasion required. 
 Some of these heterogeneous bands were afterwards 
 found the revolution accomplished gazing stupidly 
 on the sea, or ruminating in bovine wantonness on 
 the glacis before the Presidio. 
 
 Eleanor Keene, who, with her countrywomen, had 
 been hurried to the refuge of the Mission, was more 
 disturbed and excited at the prospect of meeting 
 Hurlstone again than by any terror of the insurrec- 
 tion. But Hurlstone was not there, and Father 
 Esteban received her with a coldness she could not 
 
HOSTAGE. 271 
 
 attribute entirely to her countrymen's supposed 
 sympathy with the insurgents. When Eichard 
 Keene, who would not leave his sister until he had 
 seen her safe under the Mission walls, ventured at 
 her suggestion to ask after the American recluse, 
 Father Esteban replied dryly that, being a Christian 
 gentleman, Hurlstone was the only one who had the 
 boldness to seek out the American filibuster Perkins, 
 on his own ship, and remonstrate with him for his 
 unholy crusade. For the old priest had already 
 become aware of Hurlstone's blunder, and he hated 
 Eleanor as the primary cause of the trouble. But 
 for her, Diego would be still with him in this 
 emergency. 
 
 " Never mind, Nell," said Dick, noticing the dis- 
 appointed eyes of his sister as they parted, " you'll 
 all be safe here until we return. Between you and 
 me, Banks, Brimmer, and I think that Brace and 
 Winslow have gone too far in this matter, and we're 
 going to stop it, unless the whole thing is over now, 
 as they say.'* 
 
 " Don't believe that, said Crosby. " It's like their 
 infernal earthquakes, there's always a second shock, 
 and a tidal wave to follow. I pity Brace, Winslow, 
 and Perkins if they get caught in it." 
 
 There seemed to be some reason for his scepticism, 
 for later the calm of the Mission Garden was broken 
 upon by the monotonous tread of banded men on 
 the shell-strewn walks, and the door of the refectory 
 opened to the figure of Senor Perkins. A green silk 
 sash across his breast ; a gold-laced belt, supporting 
 a light dress-sword and a pair of pistols, buckled 
 
272 THE CKUSADE THE " EXCELSlOK." 
 
 around the jaunty waist of his ordinary black frock- 
 coat, were his scant martial suggestions. But his 
 hat, albeit exchanged for a soft felt one, still 
 reposed on the back of his benevolent head, and 
 seemed to accent more than ever the contrast 
 between his peaceful shoulders and the military 
 smartness of his lower figure. He bowed with .easy 
 politeness to the assembled fugitives ; but, before he 
 could address them, Father Esteban had risen to his 
 feet 
 
 " I thought that this house, at least, was free 
 from the desecrating footsteps of lawlessness and 
 impiety," said the priest sternly. " How dare you 
 enter here ? " 
 
 " Nothing but the desire to lend my assistance to 
 the claims of beauty, innocence, helplessness and - 
 if you will allow me to add," with a low bow to the 
 priest " sanctity, caused this intrusion. For I 
 regret to say that, through the ill-advised counsels 
 of some of my fellow-patriots, the Indian tribes 
 attached to this Mission are in revolt, and threaten 
 even this sacred building." 
 
 " It is false ! " said Father Esteban indignantly. 
 " Even under the accursed manipulation of your 
 emissaries, the miserable heathen would not dare to 
 raise a parricidal hand against the Church that 
 fostered him ! " 
 
 Sefior Perkins smiled gently, but sadly. 
 
 " Your belief, reverend sir, does you infinite 
 credit. But, to save time, let me give way to a 
 gentleman who, I believe, possesses your confidence. 
 He will confirm my statement." 
 
HOSTAGE. 273 
 
 He drew aside, and allowed Hurlstone, who had 
 been standing unperceived behind, to step forward. 
 The Padre uttered an exclamation of pleasure. Miss 
 Keene coloured quickly. Hurlstone cast a long and 
 lingering glance at her, which seemed to the em- 
 barrassed girl full of a new, strange meaning, and 
 then advanced quickly with outstretched hands 
 towards Father Esteban. 
 
 " He speaks truly," he said hurriedly, " and in 
 the interests of humanity alone. The Indians have 
 been tampered with treacherously, against his 
 knowledge and consent. He only seeks now to 
 prevent the consequences of this folly by placing 
 you and these ladies out of reach of harm aboard of 
 the Excelsior." 
 
 " A very proper and excellent idea," broke in Mrs. 
 Brimmer, with genteel precision. " You see these 
 people evidently recognise the fact of Mr. Brimmer's 
 previous ownership of the Excelsior, and the respect 
 that is due to him. I, for one, shall accept the 
 offer, and insist upon Miss Chubb accompanying me." 
 
 " I shall be charmed to extend the hospitality of 
 the Excelsior to you on any pretext," said the Senor 
 gallantly, " and, indeed, should insist upon personally 
 accompanying you and my dear friends Mrs. Markham 
 and Miss Keene ; but, alas ! I am required elsewhere ! 
 I leave," he continued, turning towards Hurlstone, 
 who was already absorbed in a whispered consulta- 
 tion with Padre Esteban " I leave a sufficient 
 escort with you to protect your party to the boats 
 which have brought us here. You will take them to 
 the Excelsior, and join me with the ship off Todos 
 
 18 
 
274 THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR." 
 
 Santos in the morning. Adieu, my friends ! Good- 
 night, and farewell ! " 
 
 The priest made a vehement movement of protest- 
 ation, but he was checked by Hurlstone, as, with a 
 low bow, Seiior Perkins passed out into the darkness. 
 The next moment his voice was heard raised in 
 command, and the measured tramp of his men 
 gradually receded, and was lost in the distance. 
 
 "Does he think," said the priest indignantly, 
 "that I, Padre Esteban, would desert my sacred 
 trust, and leave His Holy Temple a prey to 
 sacrilegious trespass ? Never, while I live, Diego ! 
 Call him back and tell him so ! " 
 
 " Eather listen to me, Father Esteban," said the 
 young man earnestly. " I have a plan by which 
 this may be avoided. From my knowledge of these 
 Indians, I am convinced that they have been basely 
 tricked and cajoled by some one. I believe that 
 they are still amenable to reason and argument, and 
 I am so certain that I am ready to go down among 
 them and make the attempt. The old Chief and 
 part of his band are still encamped on the shore ; 
 we could hear them as we passed in the boats. I 
 will go and meet them. If I succeed in bringing 
 them to reason I will return : if I find them in- 
 tractable, I will at least divert their attention from 
 the Mission long enough for you to embark these 
 ladies with their escort, which you will do at the 
 end of two hours if I do not return." 
 
 "In two hours?" broke in Mrs. Brimmer, in 
 sharp protest. "I positively object. I certainly 
 understood that Senor Perkins' invitation, which, 
 
HOSTAGE. 275 
 
 under the circumstances, I shall consider equal to a 
 command from Mr. Brimmer, was to be accepted 
 at once and without delay ; and I certainly shall not 
 leave Miss Chubb exposed to imminent danger for 
 two hours to meet the caprice of an entire stranger 
 to Mr. Brimmer." 
 
 " I am willing to stay with Father Esteban, if he 
 will let me," said Eleanor Keene quietly, "for I 
 have faith in Mr. Hurls tone's influence and courage, 
 and believe he will be successful." 
 
 The young man thanked her with another demon- 
 strative look that brought the warm blood to her 
 cheek. 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Markham promptly ; " I 
 suppose if Nell stays I must see the thing through 
 and stay with her even if I haven't orders from 
 Jimmy." 
 
 " There is no necessity that either Mr. or Mrs. 
 Brimmer should be disappointed in their wishes," 
 said Hurlstone grimly. " Luckily there are two 
 boats ; Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb can take one 
 of them with half the escort, and proceed at once 
 to the Excelsior. I will ride with them as far as 
 the boat. And now," he continued, turning to the 
 old priest, with sparkling eyes, " I have only to ask 
 your blessing, and the good wishes of these ladies, 
 to go forth on my mission of peace. If I am 
 successful," he added, with a light laugh, " confess 
 that a layman and a heretic may do some service 
 for the Church." As the old man laid his half- 
 detaining, half-benedictory, hands upon his 
 shoulders, the young man seized the opportunity 
 
 18* 
 
276 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR" 
 
 to whisper in his ear, " Eemember your promise 
 to tell her all I have told you," and, with another 
 glance at Miss Keene, he marshalled Mrs. Brimmer 
 and Miss Chubb before him, and hurried them to 
 the boat. 
 
 Miss Keene looked after him with a vague 
 felicity in the change that seemed to have come 
 on him, a change that she could'as little account for 
 as her own happiness. Was it the excitement of 
 danger that had overcome his reserve, and set 
 free his compressed will and energy ? She longed 
 for her brother to see him thus alert, strong, and 
 chivalrous. In her girlish faith, she had no fear 
 for his safety ; he would conquer, he would succeed ; 
 he would come back to them victorious ! Looking 
 up from her happy abstraction, at the side of Mrs. 
 Markham, who had calmly gone to sleep in an arm- 
 chair, she saw Father Esteban's eyes fixed upon 
 her. With a warning gesture of the hand towards 
 Mrs. Markham, he rose, and, going to the door of 
 the sacristy, beckoned to her. The young girl 
 noiselessly crossed the room, and followed him into 
 the sanctuary. 
 
 Half-an-hour later, and while Mrs. Markham was 
 still asleep, Father Esteban appeared at the door 
 of the sacristy ostentatiously taking snuff, and 
 using a large red handkerchief to wipe his more 
 than usually humid eyes. Eleanor Keene, with her 
 chin resting on her hand, remained sitting as he 
 had left her, with her abstracted eyes fixed vacantly 
 on the lamp before the statue of the Virgin and 
 the half -lit gloom of the nave. 
 
HOSTAGE. 277 
 
 Padre Esteban had told her all I She now knew 
 Hurlstone's history even as he had hesitatingly 
 imparted it to the old priest in this very church 
 perhaps upon the very seat where she sat. She 
 knew the peace that he had sought for and found 
 within these walls, broken only by his passion for her ! 
 She knew his struggles against the hopelessness of 
 this new-born love, even the desperate remedy that 
 had been adopted against herself, and the later 
 voluntary exile of her lover. She knew the 
 providential culmination of his trouble in the news 
 brought unconsciously by Perkins ; which, but a 
 few hours ago, he had verified by the letters, records, 
 and even the certificate of death that had thus 
 strangely been placed in his hands ! She knew all 
 this so clearly now, that, with the instinct of a sym- 
 pathetic nature, she even fancied she had heard it 
 before. She knew that all the obstacles to an 
 exchange of their effection had been removed ; that 
 her lover only waited his opportunity to hear from 
 her own lips the answer that was even now strug- 
 gling at her heart. And yet she hesitated and 
 drew back, half-frightened in the presence of her 
 great happiness. How she longed, and yet dreaded, 
 to meet him ! What if anything should happen to 
 him ? what if he should be the victim of some 
 treachery ? what if he did not come ? what if 
 " Good Heavens ! what was that ? " 
 
 She was near the door of the sacristy, gazing into 
 the dim and shadowy church. Either she was going 
 mad, or else the grotesque Indian hangings of the 
 walls were certainly moving towards her. She rose 
 
278 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOK." 
 
 in speechless terror, as what she had taken for an 
 uncouthly swathed and draped barbaric pillar 
 suddenly glided to the window. Crouching against 
 the wall, she crept breathlessly towards the entrance 
 to the garden. Casting a hurried glance above her, 
 she saw the open belfry that was illuminated by the 
 misty radiance of the moon, darkly shadowed by 
 hideously gibbering faces that peered at her through 
 the broken tracery. With a cry of horror she 
 threw open the garden-door ; but the next moment 
 was swallowed up in the tumultuous tide of wild and 
 half-naked Indians who surged against the walls of 
 the church, and felt herself lifted from her feet, 
 with inarticulate cries, and borne along the garden. 
 Even in her mortal terror, she could recognise that 
 the cries were not those of rage, but of vacant 
 satisfaction ; that although she was lifted on lithe 
 shoulders, the grasp of her limbs was gentle, and 
 the few dark faces she could see around her were 
 glistening in child-like curiosity. Presently she 
 felt herself placed upon the back of a mule, that 
 seemed to be swayed hither and thither in the 
 shifting mass, and the next moment the misty, 
 tossing cortege moved forward with a new and more 
 definite purpose. She called aloud for Father 
 Esteban and Mrs. Markham ; her voice appeared to 
 flow back upon her from the luminous wall of fog 
 that closed around her. Then the inarticulate, 
 irregular outcries took upon themselves a measured 
 rhythm, the movement of the mass formed itself 
 upon the monotonous chant, the intervals grew 
 shorter, the mule broke into a trot, and then the 
 
HOSTAGE. 279 
 
 whole vast multitude fell into a weird, rhythmical, 
 jogging quick step at her side. 
 
 Whatever was the intent of this invasion of the 
 Mission and her own strange abduction, she was 
 relieved by noticing that they were going in the 
 same direction as that taken by Hurlstone an hour 
 before. Either he was cognisant of their move- 
 ments, and, being powerless to prevent their attack 
 on the Church, had stipulated they were to bring 
 her to him in safety, or else he was calculating to 
 intercept them on the way. The fog prevented her 
 from forming any estimation of the numbers that 
 surrounded her, or if the Padre and Mrs. Markham 
 were possibly preceding her as captives in the van- 
 guard. She felt the breath of the sea, and knew 
 they were, travelling along the shore; the mono- 
 tonous chant and jogging motion gradually dulled 
 her active terror to an apathetic resignation, in which 
 occasionally her senses seemed to swoon and swim in 
 the dreamy radiance through which they passed; 
 at times it seemed a dream or nightmare with which 
 she was hopelessly struggling ; at times she was 
 taking part in an unhallowed pageant, or some 
 heathen sacrificial procession of which she was 
 the destined victim. 
 
 She had no consciousness of how long the 
 hideous journey lasted. Her benumbed senses 
 were suddenly awakened by a shock ; the chant 
 had ceased, the moving mass in which she was 
 imbedded rolled forward once more as if by its own 
 elasticity, and then receded again with a jar that 
 almost unseated her. Then the inarticulate murmur 
 
280 THE CRUSADE OP THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 was overborne by a voice. It was his ! She turned 
 blindly towards it ; but before she could utter the 
 cry that rose to her lips, she was again lifted from 
 the saddle, carried forward, and gently placed upon 
 what seemed to be a moss-grown bank. Opening 
 her half-swimming eyes she recognised the Indian 
 cross. The crowd seemed to recede before her. 
 Her eyes closed again as a strong arm passed 
 around her waist. 
 
 "Speak to me, Miss Keene Eleanor my dar- 
 ling ! " said Hurlstone's voice. " my God ! they 
 have killed her." 
 
 With an effort she moved her head and tried to 
 smile. Their eyes, and then their lips met ; she 
 fainted. 
 
 When she struggled to her senses again, she was 
 lying in the stern-sheets of the Excelsior' 's boat, 
 supported on Mrs. Markham's shoulder. For an 
 instant the floating veil of fog around her, and the 
 rhythmical movement of the boat, seemed a part of 
 her mysterious ride, and she raised her head with a 
 faint cry for Hurlstone. 
 
 "It's all right, my dear," said Mrs. Markham 
 soothingly ; " he's ashore with the Padre, and every- 
 thing else is all right too. But it's rather ridiculous 
 to think that those idiotic Indians believed the only 
 way they could show Mr. Hurlstone that they 
 meant us no harm was to drag us all up to their 
 Mission, as they call that half heathen cross of 
 theirs for safety against who, do you think, dear ? 
 the dreadful Americans ! And imagine all the 
 while the Padre and I were just behind you, bring- 
 
HOSTAGE. 281 
 
 ing up the rear of the procession only they 
 wouldn't let us join you because they wanted to 
 show you special honour as " she sank her voice 
 to a whisper in Eleanor's ear " as the future Mrs. 
 Hurlstone ! It appears they must have noticed 
 something about you two, the last time you were 
 there, my dear. And to think you never told 
 me anything about it ! " 
 
 When they reached the Excelsior, they found 
 that Mrs. Brimmer, having already settled herself 
 in the best cabin, was inclined to extend the 
 hospitalities of the ship with the air of a hostess. 
 But the arrival of Hurlstone at midnight with some 
 delegated authority from Senor Perkins, and the 
 unexpected getting under way of the ship, disturbed 
 her complacency. 
 
 " We are going through the channel into the bay 
 of Todos Santos," was the brief reply vouchsafed her 
 by Hurlstone. 
 
 " But why can't we remain here and wait for Mr. 
 Brimmer ? " she asked indignantly. 
 
 " Because," responded Hurlstone grimly, " the 
 Excelsior is expected off the Presidio to-morrow 
 morning to aid the insurgents." 
 
 "You don't mean to say that Miss Chubb and 
 myself are to be put in the attitude of arraying 
 ourselves against the constituted authorities and, 
 perhaps, Mr. Brimmer himself?" asked Mrs. 
 Brimmer in genuine alarm. 
 
 " It looks so," said Hurlstone, a little maliciously ; 
 " but, no doubt, your husband and the Senor will 
 arrange it amicably." 
 
282 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 To Mrs. Markham and Miss Keene tie explained 
 more satisfactorily that the unexpected disaffection 
 of the Indians had obliged Perkins to so far change 
 his plans as to disembark his entire force from the 
 Excelsior, and leave her with only the complement 
 of men necessary to navigate her through the 
 channel of -Todos Santos, where she would peacefully 
 await his orders, or receive his men in case of 
 defeat. 
 
 Nevertheless, as the night was nearly spent, Mrs. 
 Markham and Eleanor preferred to await the coming 
 day on deck, and watch the progress of the Excelsioi* 
 through the mysterious channel. In a few moments 
 the barque began to feel the combined influence of 
 the tide and the slight morning breeze, and, after 
 rounding an invisible point, she presently rose and 
 fell on the larger ocean swell. The pilot, whom 
 Hurlstone recognised as the former third mate of the 
 Excelsior, appeared to understand the passage per- 
 fectly; and even Hurlstone and the ladies, who 
 had through eight months' experience become 
 accustomed to the luminous obscurity of Todos 
 Santos, could detect the faint looming of the 
 headland at the entrance. The same soothing 
 silence, even the same lulling of the unseen surf, 
 which broke in gentle undulations over the bar, and 
 seemed to lift the barque in rocking buoyancy over 
 the slight obstruction, came back to them as on the 
 day of their fateful advent. The low orders of the 
 pilot, the cry of the leadsman in the chains, were 
 but a part of the restful past. 
 
 Under the combined influence of the hour and 
 
HOSTAGE. 283 
 
 climate, the conversation fell into monosyllables, 
 and Mrs Markham dozed. The lovers sat silently 
 together, but the memory of a kiss was between 
 them. It spanned the gulf of the past with an airy 
 bridge, over which their secret thoughts and fancies 
 passed and repassed with a delicious security ; 
 henceforth they could not flee from that memory, 
 even if they wished ; they read it in each other's 
 lightest glance ; they felt it in the passing touch 
 of each other's hands ; it lingered, with vague 
 tenderness, on the most trivial interchange of 
 thought. Yet they spoke a little of the future. 
 Eleanor believed that her brother would not object 
 to their union ; he had spoken of entering into 
 business at Todos Santos, and perhaps when peace 
 and security were restored they might live together. 
 Hurlstone did not tell her that a brief examination 
 of his wife's papers had shown him that the property 
 he had set aside for her maintenance, and from 
 which she had regularly drawn an income, had 
 increased in value, and left him a rich man. He 
 only pressed her hand, and whispered that her 
 wishes should be his. They had become tenderly 
 silent again, as the Excelsior, now fairly in the bay, 
 appeared to be slowly drifting, with listless sails and 
 idle helm, in languid search of an anchorage. 
 Suddenly they were startled by a cry from the 
 look-out. 
 
 " Sail ho ! " 
 
 There was an incredulous start on the deck. The 
 mate sprang into the forerigging with an oath of 
 protestation. But at the same moment the tall 
 
284 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 masts and spars of a vessel suddenly rose like a 
 phantom out of the fog at their side. The half- 
 disciplined foreign crew uttered a cry of rage and 
 trepidation, and huddled like sheep in the waist, 
 with distracted gestures ; even the two men at the 
 wheel forsook their post to run in dazed terror to 
 the taffrail. Before the mate could restore order to 
 this chaos, the Excelsior had drifted, with a 
 scarcely perceptible concussion, against the counter 
 of the strange vessel. In an instant a dozen figures 
 appeared on its bulwarks, and dropped unimpeded 
 upon the Excelsior's deck. As the foremost one 
 approached the mate, the latter shrank back in 
 consternation. 
 
 " Captain Bunker ! " 
 
 " Yes," said the figure, advancing with a mocking 
 laugh ; " Captain Bunker it is. Captain Bunker, 
 formerly of this American barque Excelsior, and now 
 of the Mexican ship La Trinidad. Captain Bunker 
 ez larnt every foot of that passage in an open boat 
 last August, and didn't forget it yesterday in a big 
 ship ! Captain Bunker ez has just landed a company 
 of dragoons to relieve the Presidio. What d'ye say 
 to that, Mr McCarthy eh ? " 
 
 "I say," answered McCarthy, raising his voice 
 with a desperate effort to recover his calmness, " I 
 say that Perkins landed with double that number of 
 men yesterday around that point, and that he'll be 
 aboard here in half-an-hour to make you answer for 
 this insult to his ship and his Government." 
 
 " His Government ! " echoed Bunker with a 
 hoarser laugh : " hear him ! his Government ! 
 
LIBEKATED. 285 
 
 His Government died at four o'clock this morning, 
 when his own ringleaders gave him up to the 
 authorities. Ha ! Why, this yer revolution is 
 played out, old man ; and Generalissimo Leonidas 
 Perkins is locked up in the Presidio." 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LIBERATED. 
 
 THE revolution was, indeed, ended. The unexpected 
 arrival of a relieving garrison in the bay of Todos 
 Santos had completed what the dissensions in the 
 insurgents' councils had begun ; the discontents, 
 led by Brace and Winslow, had united with the 
 Government against Perkins and his aliens ; but a 
 compromise had been effected by the treacherous 
 giving up of the Liberator himself in return for an 
 amnesty granted to his followers. The part that 
 Bunker had played in bringing about this moral 
 catastrophe was, however, purely adventitious. 
 When he had recovered his health, and subsequent 
 events had corroborated the truth of his story, the 
 Mexican Grovernment, who had compromised with 
 Quinquinambo, was obliged to recognise his claims 
 by offering him command of the missionary ship, 
 and permission to rediscover the channel, the secret 
 of which had been lost for half a century to the 
 Government. He had arrived at the crucial 
 moment when Perkins' command were scattered 
 along the seashore, and the dragoons had invested 
 Todos Santos without opposition. 
 
286 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOR." 
 
 Such was the story substantially told to Hurl- 
 stone and confirmed on his debarkation with the 
 ladies at Todos Santos, the Excelsior being now in 
 the hands of the authorities. Hurlstone did not 
 hesitate to express to Padre Esteban his disgust at 
 the treachery which had made a scapegoat of Senor 
 Perkins. But to his surprise the cautious priest 
 only shrugged his shoulders as he took a com- 
 placent pinch of snuff. 
 
 " Have a care, Diego ! You are of necessity 
 grateful to this man for the news he has brought 
 nay, more, for possibly being the instrument 
 elected by Providence to precipitate the denoue- 
 ment of that miserable woman's life bat let it not 
 close your eyes to his infamous political career. I 
 admit that he was opposed to the revolt of the 
 heathen against us, but it was his emissaries and 
 his doctrines that poisoned with heresy the fountains 
 from which they drank. Enough ! Be grateful ! 
 but do not expect me to intercede for Baal and 
 Astaroth ! " 
 
 " Intercede ! " echoed Hurlstone, alarmed at the 
 sacerdotal hardness that had overspread the old 
 priest's face. " Surely the Council will not be 
 severe with the man who was betrayed into their 
 power by others equally guilty ? " 
 
 Padre Esteban avoided Hurlstone's eyes as he 
 answered with affected coolness, i6 Quien sabe ? 
 There will be expulsados, no doubt. The Excelsior, 
 which is confiscated, will be sent to Mexico with 
 them." 
 
LIBERATED. 287 
 
 " I must see Senor Perkins," said Hurlstone 
 suddenly. 
 
 The priest hesitated. 
 
 " When ? " he asked cautiously. 
 
 At once." 
 
 " Good." He wrote a hurried line on a piece of 
 paper, folded it, sealed it, and gave it to Hurlstone. 
 " You will hand that to the Comandante. He will 
 give you access to the prisoner." 
 
 In less than half-an-hour Hurlstone presented 
 himself before the Commander. The events of the 
 last twenty-four hours had evidently affected Don 
 Miguel, for although he received Hurlstone courte- 
 ously, there was a singular reflection of the priest's 
 harshness in his face as he glanced over the missive. 
 He took out his watch. 
 
 " I give you ten minutes with the prisoner, Don 
 Diego. More, I cannot." 
 
 A little awed by the manner of the Commander, 
 Hurlstone bowed and followed him across the 
 courtyard. It was filled with soldiers, and near the 
 gateway a double file of dragoons, with loaded 
 carbines, were standing at ease. Two sentries were 
 ranged on each side of an open door which gave 
 upon the courtyard. The Commander paused before 
 it, and with a gesture invited him to enter. It 
 was a large square apartment, lighted only by the 
 open door and a grated enclosure above it. Seated 
 in his shirt-sleeves, before a rude table, Senor 
 Perkins was quietly writing. The shadow of Hurl- 
 stone's figure falling across his paper caused him to 
 look up. 
 
288 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOB." 
 
 Whatever anxiety Hurlstone had begun to feel, 
 it was quickly dissipated by the hearty, affable, and 
 even happy greeting of the prisoner. 
 
 " Ah ! what ! my young friend Hurlstone ! Again 
 an unexpected pleasure," he said, extending his 
 white hands. " And again you find me wooing the 
 Muse, in, I fear, hesitating numbers." He pointed 
 to the sheet of paper before him, which showed some 
 attempts at versification ; " but I confess to a 
 singular fascination in the exercise of poetic com- 
 position, in instants of leisure like this a fasci- 
 nation which, as a man of imagination yourself, you 
 can appreciate." 
 
 " And I am sorry to find you here, Senor Perkins," 
 began Hurlstone frankly, " but I believe it will not 
 be for long." 
 
 " My opinion," said the Senor, with a glance of 
 gentle contemplation at the distant Comandante, 
 " as far as I may express it, coincides with your 
 own. 
 
 " I have come," continued Hurlstone earnestly, 
 " to offer you my services. I am ready," he raised 
 his voice, with a view of being overheard, " to bear 
 testimony that you had no complicity in the baser 
 part of the late conspiracy the revolt of the savages, 
 and that you did your best to counteract the evil, 
 although in doing so you have sacrificed yourself. I 
 shall claim the right of speaking from my 
 own knowledge of the Indians, and from their 
 admission to me that they were led away by 
 the vague representations of Martinez, Brace, and 
 Winslow." 
 
LIBEEATED. 289 
 
 " Pardon pardon me," said Senor Perkins depre- 
 catingly, " you are mistaken. My general instruc- 
 tions, no doubt, justified these young gentlemen in 
 taking, I shall not say extreme, but injudicious 
 measures." He glanced meaningly in the direction 
 of the Commander, as if to warn Hurlstone from 
 continuing, and said gently " But let us talk of 
 something else. I thank you for your gracious 
 intentions, but you remember that we agreed only 
 yesterday that you knew nothing of politics, and 
 did not concern yourself with them. I do not know 
 but you are wise. Politics and the science of self- 
 government, although dealing with general principles, 
 is apt to be defined by the individual limitations of 
 the enthusiast. What is good for himself he too 
 often deems is applicable to the general public, 
 instead of wisely understanding that what is good 
 for them must be good for himself. But," said the 
 Senor lightly, " we are again transgressing. We 
 were to choose another topic. Let it be yourself, 
 Mr. Hurlstone. You are looking well, sir ; indeed, 
 I may say I never saw you looking so well ! Let 
 me congratulate you. Health is the right of youth. 
 May you keep both ! " 
 
 He shook Hurlstone's hand again with singular 
 fervour. 
 
 There was a slight bustle and commotion at the 
 door of the guard-room, and the Commander's 
 attention was called in that direction. Hurlstone 
 profited by the opportunity to say in a hurried 
 whisper ifcuacrott Libra^ 
 
 " Tell me what I can do for you ? " and he hesitated 
 
 19 
 
290 THE CRUSADE OF THE ' EXCELSIOR." 
 
 to voice his renewed uneasiness " tell me if if 
 if your case is urgent ? " 
 
 Seiior Perkins lifted his shoulders and smiled with 
 grateful benevolence. 
 
 " You have already promised me to deliver those 
 papers and manuscript of my deceased friend, and to 
 endeavour to find her relations. I do not think it is 
 urgent, however." 
 
 " I do not mean that," said Hurlstone eagerly. 
 
 " I " but Perkins stopped him with a sign that 
 
 the Commander was returning. 
 
 Don Miguel approached them with disturbed and 
 anxious looks. 
 
 " I have yielded to the persuasions of two ladies, 
 Dona Leonor and the Senora Markham, to ask you 
 to see them for a moment," he said to Serior 
 Perkins. " Shall it be so ? I have told them the 
 hour is nearly spent." 
 
 " You have told them nothing more ? " asked the 
 Seiior, in a whisper unheard by Hurlstone." 
 
 No." 
 
 " Let them come, then." 
 
 The Commander made a gesture to the sentries 
 at the guard-room, who drew back to allow Mrs. 
 Markham and Eleanor to pass. A little child, 
 one of Eleanor's old Presidio pupils, who, recog- 
 nising her, had followed her into the guard-room, 
 now emerged with her, and momentarily discon- 
 certed at the presence of the Commander, ran, 
 with the unerring instinct of childhood, to the 
 Senor for protection. The filibuster smiled, and 
 lifting the child with a paternal gesture to his 
 
LIBERATED, 291 
 
 shoulder by one hand, he extended the other to 
 the ladies. 
 
 " The Commander," said Mrs. Markham briskly, 
 " says it's against the rules ; that visiting time is 
 up ; and you've already got a friend with you, and 
 all that sort of thing ; but I told him that I was 
 bound to see you, if only to say that if there's any 
 meanness going on, Susannah and James Markham 
 ain't in it ! No ! But we're going to see you put 
 right and square in the matter ; and if we can't do 
 it here, we'll do it, if we have to follow you to 
 Mexico ! that's all ! " 
 
 " And I," said Eleanor, grasping the Senor's hand, 
 and half blushing as she glanced at Hurlstone, " see 
 that I have already a friend here who will help me 
 to put in action all the sympathy I feel." 
 
 Senor Perkins drew himself up, and cast a faint 
 look of pride towards the Commander. 
 
 " To hear such assurances from beautiful and 
 eloquent lips like those before me," he said, with 
 his old oratorical wave of the hand, but a passing 
 shadow across his mild eyes, " is more than sufficient. 
 In my experience of life I have been favoured, at 
 various emergencies, by the sympathy and outspoken 
 counsel of your noble sex ! the last time by Mrs. 
 Euphemia MacCorkle, of Peora, Illinois, a lady of 
 whom you have heard me speak alas ! now lately 
 deceased. A few lines at present lying on yonder 
 table a tribute to her genius will be forwarded to 
 you, dear Mrs. Markham. But let us change the 
 theme. You are looking well and you too, Miss 
 Keene. From the roses that bloom on your cheeks 
 
292 THE CKUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOK. 
 
 nourished by the humid air of Todos Santos I am 
 gratified in thinking you have forgiven me your 
 enforced detention here." 
 
 At a gesture from the Commander he ceased, 
 stepped back, bowed gravely, and the ladies 
 recognised that their brief audience had terminated. 
 As they passed through the gateway, looking back 
 they saw Perkins still standing with the child on- 
 his shoulder and smiling affably upon them. Then 
 the two massive doors of the gateway swung to with 
 a crash, the bolts were shot, and the courtyard was 
 impenetrable. 
 
 A few moments later, the three friends had 
 passed the outermost angle of the fortifications, and 
 were descending towards the beach. By the time 
 they had reached the sands they had fallen into a 
 vague silence. 
 
 A noise like the cracking and fall of some slight 
 scaffolding behind them arrested their attention. 
 Hurlstone turned quickly. A light smoke, drifting 
 from the courtyard, was mingling with the fog. A 
 faint cry of " Dios y Libertad ! " rose with it. 
 
 With a hurried excuse to his companions, Hurl- 
 stone ran rapidly back, and reached the gate as it 
 slowly rolled upon its hinges to a file of men that 
 issued from the courtyard. The first object that 
 met his eyes was the hat of Senor Perkins lying on 
 the ground near the wall, with a terrible suggestion 
 in its helpless and pathetic vacuity. A few paces 
 further lay its late owner, with twenty Mexican 
 bullets in his breast, his benevolent forehead bared 
 
LIBERATED. 293 
 
 meekly to the sky, as if even then mutely appealing 
 to the higher judgment. He was dead ! The soul 
 of the Liberator of Quinquinambo, and of various 
 other peoples more or less distressed and more or 
 less ungrateful, was itself liberated ! 
 
 With the death of Senor Perkins ended the 
 Crusade of the Excelsior. Under charge of Captain 
 Bunker the vessel was sent to Mazatlan by the 
 authorities, bearing the banished and proscribed 
 Americans, Banks, Brace, Winslow, and Crosby; 
 and, by permission of the Council, also their friends, 
 Markham and Brimmer, and the ladies, Mrs. 
 Brimmer, Chubb, and Markham. Hurlstone and 
 Miss Keene alone were invited to remain, but, 
 on later representations, the Council graciously 
 included Eichard Keene in the invitation, with 
 the concession of the right to work the mines and 
 control the ranches he and Hurlstone had purchased 
 from their proscribed countrymen. The complacency 
 of the Council of Todos Santos may be accounted 
 for when it is understood that on the day the firm 
 of Hurlstone and Keene was really begun under the 
 title of Mr. and Mrs. Hurlstone, Eichard had pre- 
 vailed upon the Alcalde to allow him to add the 
 piquante Dona Isabel also to the firm under the 
 title of Mrs. Keene. Although the port of Todos 
 Santos was henceforth open to all commerce, the 
 firm of Hurlstone & Keene long retained the 
 monopoly of trade, and was a recognised power of 
 intelligent civilisation and honest progress on the 
 Pacific coast. And none contributed more to that 
 
294 THE CRUSADE OF THE "EXCELSIOB. 
 
 result than the clever and beautiful hostess of 
 Excelsior Lodge, the charming country home of 
 James Hurlstone, Esq., senior partner of the firm. 
 Under the truly catholic shelter of its verandah 
 Padre Esteban and the heretic stranger mingled 
 harmoniously, and the dissensions of local and 
 central Government were forgotten. " I said that 
 you were a dama de grandeza, you remember," said 
 the youthful Mrs. Keene, " and, you see, you are ! " 
 
 THE END. 
 
PK1NTED BY 
 
 KELLY AND CO., GATE STREET, LONDON 
 AND KINGSTON-ON THAMES. 
 
.