CHAPTER VIII
THE FIRST TRICK IS LOST
The cavalcade of horsemen swept along a level plain of beach and fromthere turned aside to gain the broom-covered slope which led towards thecliff top. The white column of the lighthouse, which had been theirguide heretofore, disappeared behind the shoulder of the ascent. It wasno more than a couple of miles away. The riders spurred their horses upthe steep, Aylmer and Van Arlen leading. The edge of their anxietiesgrew blunter as they neared their goal. They might be in time to meetand safeguard those they sought before they left the shelter of Spartel.
As they topped the rise and looked across the undulating stretch ofgreen which lay before them, Daoud, riding behind Aylmer, gave atriumphant shout.
"_La bas, alkumdullah!_" he cried fervently. "No harm, thanks to God.The lady is even now coming towards us with her party unharmed."
Their eyes followed the direction of his finger. A great sigh of reliefbroke from Mr. Van Arlen's lips.
A party came slowly towards them, a couple of furlongs distant. Seven oreight were men mounted on barbs, and armed, in spite of prohibitions,with Remington rifles swung across their laps. In front of them, acouple of mules paced doggedly on, carrying two white-clad figures. Attheir bridles were _djelab_-clothed youths, whose adjurations of theircharges were audible even at that distance, so still was the eveningair. Two or three dogs chased each other and supposititious partridgesfrom tuft to tuft.
Van Arlen and Aylmer saw that they were seen, but not recognized. Themuleteers halted and cried loudly to the guard. The horsemen looked up,whirled up their rifles with their right hands, and spurred to thefront.
Daoud's bull voice stormed the cliff echoes.
"Absalaam--Absalaam ibn Said! Son of foolishness! It is I, Daoud, withSid' Aylmer and thine employer!"
The rifle muzzles were lowered; the horsemen drew aside, and the twowhite-clad figures led again. A minute later Aylmer reined in his horse,and raised his helmet at Miss Van Arlen's side. Daoud, with aself-satisfied smile, was understood to explain that owing to hisunparalleled management the expedition had resulted in an unprecedentedsuccess.
The girl's eyes were raised questioningly, first to her father's face,and then doubtfully, almost, indeed, unwillingly, to Aylmer's. She bowedto him coolly, not ungraciously, but with no effect of welcome. He satsilent, watching as she listened to the explanation which the elder mangave in a rapid undertone.
She made no comment till he finished, but at the first mention ofLandon's name she unconsciously, as it seemed, edged her horse in adirection which took her away from Aylmer and closer to her smallnephew, who sat on his gray donkey, staring at the newcomers with thefrank astonishment of childhood. Aylmer noticed the movement. Was itinstinctive maternal impulse which drew her to her charge when she heardthat danger threatened him? Or was it antipathy for himself--theantipathy which long prejudice had given her for all who bore herbrother-in-law's dishonored name? The shadow of doubt clouded his eyes,but his lips grew hard and resolute. Despard, if he had been there,would have recognized the symptoms. It was with that expression thatAylmer had led his guns into action on Colenso's already forgotten dayof blood.
But as Mr. Van Arlen's narrative continued, the girl's features relaxed.She turned and for the second time looked at Aylmer, doubtfully, indeed,but with the doubt of one who reconsiders, whose verdict is shaken byappeal.
"Captain Aylmer has been at considerable trouble to warn us," she said.
Aylmer shook his head.
"No," he said quietly. "The warning I brought you was only part of myobvious duty. Surely you see that?"
There was a queer note of feeling below the restraint in his voice. Sherecognized it and interest grew in her glance. She looked at him keenly.
"After all, you have put yourself out to assist us in what is solely ourown hazard," she protested. But there was something in her look whichseemed to put the emphasis of her words awry. Was she hinting that hemight have minded his own business, or was she pricking his sense ofhonor purposely, to judge him out of his own mouth.
"I thought of your hazard, truly enough," he answered slowly. "I wasthinking, perhaps more earnestly, of my own and my family's reputation.You forget that if you and your father have a heavy reckoning against mycousin, his own kinsmen, whom I represent, consider that theirs is nolighter."
She considered him gravely.
"No," she answered quietly. "No, I did not get that point of view. I didnot even believe it a possible one, amongst Aylmers. There I have to askyour forgiveness."
There was the hint of a smile lurking in her eyes, something that hintedthat she exaggerated in saying this and knew it. But there was perfectseriousness in his reply.
"That is taken for granted. And my position in this matter is taken forgranted, too?"
She looked at him questioningly again and then at her father. The lattersmiled.
"Captain Aylmer has his own grudge against this child's father. Heoffers us his co-operation."
"And I ask for the friendly treatment of an ally," added Aylmer,quietly.
Her look was still doubtful and, unconsciously, perhaps, she frowned.
"Considering what we already owe you--" she began. He interrupted with agesture.
"You owe me nothing," he said. "If you reckon profit and loss in yourdealings with Aylmers, you have a wide balance against you. All I wantis your friendly tolerance, while I pay in instalments."
She still seemed to ponder his proposal, to review it with the interestof a curiosity which has been imperfectly fed.
"What is your ultimate goal, then?" she asked.
He hesitated. A queer glint of passion shone in his eyes to sink intoshadow again.
"My goal is the trapping of Landon into an English gaol, for espionageand robbery. Or--" He shrugged his shoulders meaningly.
"Or?"
"Or his death," he said, in very distinct, level tones.
"Ah!" The exclamation came from her almost unconsciously. Her face shonewith a sudden alertness, her expression warmed, her eyes grew bright.
"You would not hesitate--at that?" she demanded.
Mr. Van Arlen made a little inarticulate murmur of protest; his hand wasstretched towards her with appeal.
She disregarded it. Her eyes were fixed piercingly on Aylmer's face.
He met her glance with matter-of-factness.
"I should not hesitate, if need arose," he said.
She drew a long breath. Her features relaxed.
"Thank you," she said gravely. "Now I know where we stand. Andthen--that is all?"
This time it was his eyes which held hers with insistence, almost withmenacing, she told herself.
"No," he said quietly. "That is--not all. But that, for the present, isenough."
For a moment her heart seemed to halt in its beat, the blood rushed toher face, the pulse of anger which leaped through her gave her a queersense of choking. For she understood. Incredible, monstrous, as hispurpose appeared in the light of her loathing of those who bore hisname, she had not misread it. His words? They were possibly nebulous.But his eyes? No. No woman could misunderstand that look. Steadfast,patient, determined--the unswerving gaze of the pioneer who sees theunseen goal with the eye of faith, and sees it won.
She wheeled her mule with a fierce drag of the rein; her spur found itsflank and forced it forward. She felt morally stunned by this--thisinsolence; mere words could not meet it. For the moment she feltherself deprived of weapons by the unexpectedness of the attack.
Her movement set the whole party in motion. Her father reined up to herside. She stole a half glance at his face. There was a queer, partlygrim, partly puzzled expression on it, but she read, too, a glint ofhumor? Her exasperation rose. Her father, even? Had he gone over to theenemy; could she no longer reckon that his support would not crumblefrom resentment into laughter? Oh, this imperturbable Englishman shouldpay for this! If there was one shaft of gall left in her woman's armory,he should pay! The insolence
of the man--the unparalleled insolence!
Behind her she heard his voice, addressed to Absalaam in trivialinquiry. She felt an overwhelming desire to forestall the answer withindignant words of bitter loathing. His impassibility excited her--theserenity with which he passed back, as it were, to little things afterlaunching such a bomb. She gave a shiver of passion, or, perhaps, fearhad its place in her emotion. There was something relentless in hisattitude, something uncompromising.
Absalaam's answer was forestalled, but not by her. Little John Aylmer'svoice rang out, shrill with the joy of discovery.
"The brown man!" he cried rapturously. "The brown man!"
The other John Aylmer looked up. A couple of men had come into suddenview round a corner of the track. A clump of Spanish broom had hiddentheir approach; they gave an exclamation of alarm as they met theglances of the riders not thirty yards away.
One Aylmer recognized at once. He was the man of the pier, the would-bekidnapper whose purpose he himself had frustrated at the moment ofsuccess.
The other man made a movement to cover his face with the hood of his_djelab_, but by some apparent unadroitness let it fall further back.And so revealed his identity.
It was Landon--brought to a sudden halt by surprise.
Through a pregnant instant of silence they confronted one another. ThenAylmer spurred forward with a shout.
"Don't let them escape!" he roared. "A hundred dollars to the man whotakes him!"
The two fugitives turned and ran desperately down the path, seekingwildly for an opening in the surrounding jungle. Surprise and terrorappeared to have dazed them, for they passed several avenues of escapeheedlessly, made half-hearted attempts to turn, and still blundered onbetween the caging walls of green. Aylmer thundered behind them, drawingnearer with every stride. He leaned forward in the saddle; his armreached out within a yard of Landon's flying draperies; he spurredfiercely into his horse's flanks.
The two men leaped right and left into the green thicket as divers leapinto the blue. And in the same instant something rose out of theearth--something thin, snake-like, starting suddenly into being, as itwere, from the concealing smother of the dust into a rigid line kneehigh. Aylmer's horse stumbled, shot forward, and went down heavily. Hisrider was flung far beyond him, moved spasmodically once, and then laystill. The squadron of charging horsemen were trapped in their turn. Notone escaped. The goad of Aylmer's bribe had sent every man of themcharging in the wake of his leadership. The taut-held rope accounted forthem all, or for all save one. Absalaam, a consummate horseman, reinedin on the brink of disaster, rearing his stallion high into the air.
The road was an inferno of yelling men and blood-stained horses.
The few Moors who were not stunned and incapacitated by their fall hadto endure the perils of half a hundred wildly struggling hoofs. Scarcelysix out of the score who had thundered so carelessly after their easyquarry fought a way for themselves out of the melee unharmed.
And of those six there was not one who did not come to a sudden haltwith uplifted fingers as they gained the open road. A revolver barrelwas pointed at each man's breast.
Ten or a dozen men had emerged from the thicket. They used no words;their fingers, significantly pressed upon the triggers, were eloquentenough. Only one spoke--Landon, who strolled slowly and panting a littleinto the circle which the menace of his underlings had formed.
He halted opposite Claire Van Arlen.
"Eh, sister-in-law!" he chuckled smilingly.
Her face was white, but her hand, which gripped the reins, was steady.And her gaze burnt upon his face in loathing and contempt.
"Rather neat?" said Landon, amiably. "I plume myself. My resources werelimited, you see. I may congratulate myself upon having used them to thevery best advantage."
Still she was silent and still her eyes flung him their message ofhate. He gave a pleasant little laugh. He made a significant jerk of thehead in the direction of the chaos behind him.
"And the virtuous cousin," he said. "What a fall is there, is there not?A hundred dollars! He actually appraised my poor liberty so high!"
For a moment the expression in her glance changed as she turned it inthe direction of the still struggling horses and their riders. He saw itand laughed again.
"You divide your anxieties," he said. "Let me relieve you of one!"
He stretched out his hand and laid it gently upon his son's shoulder."Are you coming with your father--to ride the black horse upon thesands?" he asked.
The child looked at him debatingly. His face lit up at the question, andthen shadowed again as he turned his glance upon the motionless whitefigure on the mule beside him.
"Auntie won't have it--and Selim," he deplored.
"Won't they?" said Landon, good-humoredly. "I think they will."
He stared up in the girl's face with insolent satisfaction.
"In fact," he went on, "they've got to. Vulgarly, my boy, they may notlike it, so they must lump it."
He made a gesture of command.
"Come, my son!" he said, motioning him to dismount.
A tension broke. She lifted up her riding-whip and struck hard at him,struck with the concentrated strength of passion and despair. He leapedaside, but the end of the lash reached him and left a staring weal ofred upon his cheek.
He cursed aloud; he made as if he would spring at her.
A warning cry came from behind him; half a dozen revolver shots rang outupon the evening air.
Absalaam, sitting stark upon his stallion, covered by the revolverswhich encircled him, had struck his spurs against his horse's flank. Thefire in the animal's blood had responded in a great leap forward. Landonwheeled round to see, towering above him, man and horse, loominggigantic against the glare of the sunset. Instinctively, automatically,he threw up the muzzle of his own revolver, and fired full at the Moor'sbroad chest.
The other bullets flew wide, but that one, so near was the human target,had no room to miss. Absalaam fell limply, heavily from the saddle, fellat his mistress's feet. The horse tore past a dozen restraining handsinto liberty.
There was shouting, confusion, the rattle of other shots. And then thevoice of the brown _djelabed_ man thundered out high above the uproar.
"In God's name, Sidi, have haste. Four of them have fled into thethicket! God alone knows what help they may bring their fellows and howsoon!"
And Landon, who had been flung to his knees in the dust, rose swiftly,without another word snatched his son from the saddle, and led the wayinto the jungle.
In five short minutes he had come, conquered, and gone. He had won everytrick, every trick! Claire passed her hand across her brow as she staredat the huddle of wounded and--she shuddered in agony as the thoughtthrilled--perchance the dead! What lay within that ring of brokenbodies--what? With white lips and fear-brimmed eyes she slipped from hersaddle to see.