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FOR JACINTA
"DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IT IS RATHER A SERIOUS THING TODELAY A SPANISH MAIL-BOAT?"--Page 19]
FOR JACINTA
By HAROLD BINDLOSS
AUTHOR OF "ALTON OF SOMASCO," "THE CATTLE-BARON'S DAUGHTER,""THE DUST OF CONFLICT," "WINSTON OF THE PRAIRIE," ETC.
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANYNEW YORK PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1907BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANYAll rights reserved
Published January, 1908
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE I. JACINTA BROWN 1 II. AN OVERHEATED JOURNAL 13 III. ON THE VERANDA 26 IV. A BIG CONTRACT 37 V. THE TOMATO FINCA 49 VI. AUSTIN'S POINT OF VIEW 60 VII. AT THE BULL FIGHT 72 VIII. JEFFERSON FEELS THE STRAIN 86 IX. AUSTIN MAKES A VENTURE 98 X. JACINTA IS NOT CONTENT 111 XI. THE LAND OF THE SHADOW 121 XII. NOCTURNAL VISITORS 132 XIII. TOIL 142 XIV. JEFFERSON'S REMONSTRANCE 152 XV. STARTING THE PUMP 163 XVI. ELUSIVE GUM 174 XVII. AUSTIN GOES DOWN RIVER 183 XVIII. JACINTA BECOMES INDIGNANT 194 XIX. CONDEMNED UNHEARD 204 XX. JACINTA MAKES NO EXCUSE 215 XXI. THE PICTURES 225 XXII. FUNNEL-PAINT'S PROPOSITION 236 XXIII. FUNNEL-PAINT MOVES AGAIN 245 XXIV. AUSTIN FINDS A CLUE 256 XXV. HOVE OFF 267 XXVI. JEFFERSON FINDS THE GUM 277 XXVII. AUSTIN'S TOAST 288 XXVIII. IN COMMAND 299 XXIX. AUSTIN IS MISSING 310 XXX. JACINTA CAPITULATES 322
FOR JACINTA
CHAPTER I
JACINTA BROWN
It was about seven o'clock in the evening when sobrecargo Austin boardedthe little mail-boat _Estremedura_ as she lay rolling at anchor on thelong, moon-lit heave that worked into the roadstead of Santa Cruz,Palma. Sobrecargo means much the same thing as purser, and Austin was anEnglishman, though the _Estremedura_ was to all intents and purposes aSpanish steamer. She traded round the islands of the Canary archipelagowith mules and camels, tomatoes, bananas, onions, and seasick Englishtourists, as fortune favoured her. Now, as the heavily sealed documentAustin carried in his pocket declared, she was to sail for Las Palmas,Grand Canary, with the Cuban mail, by the gracious permission of theyoung King of Spain.
He had trouble on getting on board of her, for there were a good manybullocks swimming about her side waiting until the red-capped crewshould heave them on board beneath the derrick-boom by means of a ropetwisted round their horns. It probably hurt the bullocks, and now andthen one succumbed to a broken neck during the operation; but theCastilian, who can face his losses placidly, is not, as a rule,particularly merciful to his beast. There were also stray sheep, goats,and donkeys, as well as olive-faced peasants with blankets strappedabout their shoulders, wandering about the after portion of the maindeck, which was supposed to be reserved for the second-class passengers,when Austin stopped a moment by the covered hatch. A big electric lighthung from the spar-deck beams above his head, and he looked about himwith a little ironical smile.
He was a young man of average stature, and there was nothing especiallydistinguished in his appearance, though he had good grey eyes, and apleasant bronzed face. He was somewhat lightly made, though he lookedwiry, and held himself well, and there was a certain languidness in hissmile which seemed to suggest that he was not addicted to troublinggreatly about anything. Because the Scotchman who ran the_Estremedura_'s engines had sold his white uniform jacket with theresplendent buttons a day or two before, he was just then attiredsomewhat incongruously in a white cap with the very large and imposingbadge of the Spanish mail service clasped into the front of it, a brownalpaca jacket, white duck trousers, and pipe-clayed shoes. The lattertwo items were, however, by no means immaculate, since he had, as aspecial favour to the mate, brought off certain sheep and goats in hisdespatch-boat, as well as a camel tied astern of it. Spaniards andEnglishmen do not invariably agree, but they lived like brothers onboard the _Estremedura_, which, however, had its disadvantages. Austinobjected in particular to the community of property.
That evening the steamer hummed with life, and the clatter of polyglottongues. Parsee dealers in silver-thread embroideries, German commercialtravellers, Madeiran Portuguese, Canario hillmen, and PeninsularSpaniards, moved amidst the straying livestock, while a little group ofAnglo-Saxons naturally sat apart upon the hatch. There were, as isusual when Englishmen foregather in a country where wine is cheap, emptybottles scattered about. The engineer from the sister ship and anathletic tourist, stripped, at least as far as was permissible, werewrestling in Cumberland fashion on the hatch, with much delicatemanA"uvring of their feet and futile clutches at each other's waists.Macallister, who, when he felt inclined, superintended the_Estremedura_'s machinery, alternately encouraged them sardonically andsolaced himself with one of the bottles. He was a big, gaunt man, andjust then extremely dirty, and when he saw Austin he looked up with amischievous twinkle in his eyes.
"I have been waiting for ye anxiously," he said. "Ye may now have thepleasure of lending me five dollars."
"I'm afraid not!" said Austin decisively. "For one thing, I haven't gotthem. I very seldom have--as you ought to know."
Macallister made a little gesture of resignation. "Well," he said, "yehave always your clothes, and if ye had known us better ye would nothave brought so many of them on board the _Estremedura_. I'm halfexpecting yon Jackson o' Las Palmas, who gave us two dollars for thelast white suit, to come round for some more o' them when we get in."
Austin tried the door of his room close by, and was consoled to find itlocked, as he had left it.
"They cost me five, and I naturally never saw a peseta of the money. Isuppose you kept the Correo buttons?"
"I did not," said Macallister, unabashed. "Ye may observe Miguel, thequartermaster, walking round in them. It was no a bad bargain--a basketo' big grapes an' a watermelon."
Austin bore it patiently. There was, in fact, nothing to be gained byprotesting, and he knew that it was useless to expostulate withMacallister when he spoke his own tongue, which was not an invariablecustom with him. Then the engineer turned and glanced at the wrestlers,who were still stamping up and down the hatch with feet spread wellapart, compassionately.
"They've been at it the whole o' a half hour, an' no a fall to cheer abody yet. One would think it was dancing they were," he said. "It wasn'tto see that I wasted a tumblerful o' anisow on them."
Now, anisado is a preparation of spirit and extract of anise seed, whichis esteemed in that country, and Austin looked hard at his comrade,because he had a jar of it, intended for a Spanish friend, in his room.He was a trifle uneasy, since a lock is not an insuperable obstacle toan engineer. The latter, however, changed the subject.
"It's a kind o' pity about your clothes," he said. "Miss Jacinta Brownis going across with us to-night, an' she was enquiring kindly afterye."
Austin had a good deal of composure, and he often needed it, but theshrewd Scottish eyes saw the momentary pleasure in his face. Then,because he did not appreciate Macallister's badinage on that subject, hewent into his room and bolted the door behind him before he switched onthe light a
nd examined the anisado jar. It seemed quite full when heshook it, and the seal was intact, but on looking closer he saw that theimpression on the latter was not what it had been when he left it. Hewas aware that a certain proportion of sea-water may be added to rumwithout the average consumer noticing any great difference, but he hadsuspicions that a blend of brine and anise was not likely to beappreciated by its recipient, and he was for a moment or two consumedwith righteous indignation. This, however, passed, for he realised thathis expostulations would be heard with laughter. It was all a part ofthe happy-go-lucky life he led, and nobody concerns himself unduly aboutanything under the flag of Spain. The Castilian, as a rule, bears histroubles patiently, which is, perhaps, just as well, since he rarelysees them coming or makes any attempt to get out of the way of them.
Austin accordingly busied himself with his papers, and it was an hourlater when he went on deck. The _Estremedura_ had gone to sea by then,and the lights of the little Spanish town blinked above the broad fringeof surf astern. High above her the great black cordillera cut hard andsharp against the luminous blueness of the night, and the long heave ofthe Atlantic flashed, white-topped, beneath the moon ahead. She swungover it with slanted spars and swaying funnel, while the keentrade-breeze sang in her rigging, and now and then a flying-fishricocheted, gleaming, from sea-top to sea-top beneath her side. She wasvery well kept above decks, a trim, yacht-like vessel, and for a whileAustin leaned over her quarter-rails, smoking a cigarette, and wonderingwhen Miss Jacinta Brown would come up on deck. There was a very deafEnglishman, who insisted on conversing with him in stentorian tones inthe saloon, and he had no desire for his company. In the meanwhile, itwas pleasant to lounge there and watch the moonlight gleam upon thetumbling seas.
There were, he admitted, a good many compensations in the life he led.The warmth and colour of the South appealed to him, and, though they arenot particularly numerous, there are men like him who retain a somewhatchastened affection for the sea they earn their bread upon. It is truethat he earned very little more than that on board the _Estremedura_,and he had once had his aspirations like other men, as well as aprospect of realising them; but when financial disaster overtook thefamily firm nobody seemed anxious to secure the services of a young manwithout specialised training, who had artistic and somewhat expensivetastes, which was, perhaps, not altogether astonishing. That was howAustin eventually came on board the _Estremedura_, and stayed there,though there were odd hours when he took himself to task for doing so.Still, he did not exactly know where he could go if he left her, and theindifference of the Latins was already infecting him. Men in Spainbelieve that the future is quite able to take care of itself.
By and by, however, a slim, white-clad figure appeared in the entranceto the saloon companion, and he moved in that direction with evidentalacrity. As one result of being the _Estremedura_'s sobrecargo, he wasacquainted with everybody of importance in the archipelago, and amongthem all there was nobody who figured more prominently than Miss JacintaBrown. She was English on both sides, though she had lived in thoseislands most of her twenty-five years, and understood the Spaniards,probably better than they understood themselves, for they are rather animpulsive than an introspective people. She also understood hercountrymen, and ruled over them, as well as Spanish artillery officersand Commandantes. It was not very evident how she did it, for there werea good many Spanish women, at least, almost as pretty, and of muchbetter birth than she, and she apparently received no great assistancefrom her father, for Pancho Brown was a merchant of an unusually solidand unimaginative description. The wives of the English visitors,however, did not, as a rule, like Jacinta. They said she was forward,and it was a pity she had no mother; but when any of them received aninvitation from her it was immediately proclaimed all over the hotel.
She smiled at Austin graciously, and allowed him to place her a deckchair beneath a big lifeboat, where it was out of the wind, after whichhe procured himself another, and sat down and looked at her. Jacinta didnot seem to mind it, and most men would probably have found it difficultto keep their eyes off her. She was little, shapely, and very dainty,though she could, as Austin knew, on occasion be essentially dignified.She had brown hair and eyes, with a little scintillating gleam in them,and her face was slightly tinted with the warm Andalusian olive, thoughthere was only English blood in her. She was dressed in white, as usual,with a simplicity that suggested perfect taste, while, as he watchedher, Austin wondered again exactly where her compelling attractivenesslay. He had met women with more delicate complexions, finer features,softer voices, and more imposing carriage; that is, women who possessedone or two of these advantages, but he had not as yet met any one to becompared to Jacinta, as he expressed it, in the aggregate. Then itseemed that she read his thoughts, which was, as he had noticed, a habitof hers.
"Yes, the dress is a new one. I am rather pleased with it, too," shesaid.
Austin laughed. "If I hadn't had the pleasure of making youracquaintance some time ago, you would have astonished me. As it is----"
"Never mind," said Jacinta. "After all, there is no great credit intelling people of your kind what they are thinking, though I can't helpit now and then. You were wondering what anybody saw in me."
Now Austin was too wise to fancy for a moment that Jacinta was fishingfor compliments. She knew her own value too well to appreciate themunless they were particularly artistic, and he surmised that she hadmerely desired to amuse herself by his embarrassment.
"If I was, it was very unwise of me," he said. "You are Jacinta--and onehas to be content with that. You can't be analysed."
"And you?"
"I am the _Estremedura_'s sobrecargo, which is, perhaps, a significantadmission."
Jacinta nodded comprehension. "I think it is," she said. "Still, sinceyou considered yourself warranted in approving of my dress, what are youdoing in that jacket on a mail run?"
"As usual, there is a reason. When I was across at Arucas my comradeslaid hands upon my garments, and disposed of them at a bargain. They hadnaturally squandered the money by the time I came back. I am now longingfor a few words with the man who, I understand, is coming down topurchase some more at an equally alarming sacrifice."
Jacinta laughed, but she also looked at him with a little gleam in hereyes. "Don't you think it's rather a pity you--are--the _Estremedura_'ssobrecargo?"
"Well," said Austin, reflectively, "I won't pretend to misunderstandyou, but the trouble is that I don't quite see what else I could be. Icannot dig, and I'm not sure that it would be very pleasant to go roundborrowing odd dollars from my friends, even if they were disposed tolend them to me, which is scarcely probable. Most of them would,naturally, tell me to look at them, and see what I might have been ifI'd had their diligence and probity. Besides, I have time to paintlittle pictures which rash tourists buy occasionally, and the life oneleads here has its compensations."
The _Estremedura_'s whistle hooted just then, and as Jacinta lookedround a lordly four-masted ship, carrying everything to her royals,swept up out of the night. She was driving down the trade-breeze a goodtwelve knots an hour, and the foam flew up in cascades as her bows wentdown, swirled in a broad, snowy smother along the slender streak ofrushing hull. Above it four tapered spires of sailcloth swung backagainst the moonlight at every stately roll, and she showed as anexquisite cameo cut in ebony on a ground of silver and blue. Still, itwas not the colour that formed the strength of that picture, but thesuggestion of effort and irresistible force that was stamped on it. Shedrove by majestically, showing a breadth of wet plates that flashed in aleeward roll, and Jacinta's eyes rested on the bent figure high on thelifted poop grappling with her wheel.
"Ah!" she said. "I suppose it's sometimes brutal, but that is man'swork, isn't it?"
Austin laughed again, though there was a faint warmth in his cheek. "Ofcourse, I see the inference," he said. "Still, it really isn't necessaryfor everybody to hold a big vessel's wheel, and I would a good dealsooner you said something nice to m
e. Nobody likes to be told the truthabout themselves, you know, and I understand now why folks threw bigstones at the goat-skinned prophets long ago."
"Well," said Jacinta, "we will talk of somebody else. I wonder if youknow that Jefferson has been left a fortune, or, at least, part of one?"
"I didn't. Still, I'm glad to hear it. I like the man. In fact, he's thestraightest one I've come across in his occupation, which, by the way,is, perhaps, somewhat of an admission, considering that he's anAmerican."
"I like most Americans. For one thing, they're usually in earnest."
"And you like Spaniards, who certainly aren't."
"We will waive the question. It's rather a coincidence that Jeffersonshould have fallen in love about the same time."
"Do I know the lady, who is, presumably, in earnest, too? I don't likewomen who have a purpose openly, though that does not apply to you. Youhave usually a good many, but nobody knows anything about them until youhave accomplished them."
Jacinta ignored the compliment. "I don't think you know her, but she isa friend of mine. I went to school with her for two years in England."
"Then, of course, she's nice."
"That," said Jacinta, "is naturally a matter of opinion. She is,however, not in the least like me."
"In that case it's difficult to see how she can be nice at all."
Jacinta smiled somewhat sardonically. "Well," she said, "Muriel isbigger than I am, and more solid--in every way--as well as quiet andprecise. Being the daughter of the clergyman of a forlorn little placein England, she has, of course, had advantages which have been denied tome. There are people who have to undertake their own training, or dowithout any, you know. She very seldom says anything she does not mean,and always knows exactly what she is going to do."
"I'm not sure that sounds particularly attractive."
Jacinta lifted her head and looked at him. "Still, she is worth--oh,ever so much more--than a good many such frivolous people as you or I.You will see her yourself to-morrow. She is coming across with us to LasPalmas, and, of course, if you would like to please me----"
"That goes without saying. To-morrow we will endeavour to turn this shipupside down. It usually has to be done when we have the honour ofcarrying a lady from any part of provincial England."
"I really don't want very much," and Jacinta smiled, at him. "Just thebig forward room for her, and the seat next me at the top of your table.The nicest things have a way of getting there. Then she is fond offruit--and if you could get any of the very big Moscatel, and some ofthat membrillo jelly. A few bunches of roses would look nice at our endof the table, too."
"Well," said Austin, with a little whimsical gesture of resignation,"there is, as you know, a Spanish Commandante and his wife in thatforward room, but I suppose we shall have to turn them out. The otherthings will naturally follow, but I'm afraid Major-domo Antonio willcall us dreadful names to-morrow."
Jacinta rose. "You are as nice as I expected you would be," she said."Now it is getting chilly, and I have a letter to write."
She smiled at him and went forward, walking, though she was English,with a curious buoyant gracefulness as Spanish women do, while Austinsat still and considered the position. He was quite aware that he wouldhave trouble with the Spanish Commandante as well as his Major-domo onthe morrow, but that was, after all, of no great importance. WhenJacinta wanted anything she usually obtained it, and it was not a littleto be counted among her friends, since she frequently contrived to do agood deal for them. There were men as well as women in those islands whoowed more than they were aware of to Jacinta Brown.
Austin sighed as he remembered it, for he was a penniless sobrecargo,and she, in those islands, at least, a lady of station. It must besufficient for him to do what little he could to please her, and he had,in fact, once or twice done a good deal. He took life easily, but therewas in him a vein of chivalry, which for the most part, however, foundsomewhat whimsical expression. Then he recollected that he had stillcertain documents to attend to, and going down again locked himself intohis room.