The Harlequin Opal: A Romance. Volume 2 of 3. Hume Fergus

Maraquando, she is not here. Why ask me such a strange question?"

      "Not here!" cried Jack, who also knew Tejada well; "but she must be here, Señor Tejada; she has been carried off from Tlatonac, taken on board yonder vessel," – pointing to The Pizarro– "and is now in Acauhtzin with Don Hypolito."

      "I swear to you, Señor Duval, that you wrong us. You wrong Don Hypolito," replied Don José, earnestly. "I am aware that our leader loves Doña Dolores, and desires to marry her, but he would not carry her off so basely. No, Señor," continued Tejada, proudly; "we are men of honour, we do not make war on women. When Don Hypolito conquers, he will ask for the honour of Doña Dolores' hand in due form. She is not here, I swear."

      "Great Heavens!" cried Jack, in despair. "Can this be true?"

      "Don José," said Rafael, eagerly, "I know you to be a man of honour. I do not doubt your word; but I feel sure that my cousin is here."

      "Señor!"

      "I do not say that you know, or are deceiving me," went on Rafael, rapidly. "But look you, Don José. There is a zambo called Pepe, who acted as a spy for your party at Tlatonac. The other night he decoyed my cousin from the cathedral on board The Pizarro. A fisherman saw Pepe rowing to the war-ship, with a female in his boat."

      "Bueno! That is so," interrupted Tejada, bluntly; "but the woman was a poblana – one Marina."

      "Marina!" cried Duval, savagely. "Then I have been tricked. We have all been wrong! Doña Dolores must be with the Indians."

      "I trust, Señor, your fears are groundless; but if Doña Dolores is with the Indians, she will be quite safe. They reverence her as the guardian of the Chalchuih Tlatonac."

      "Does Don Hypolito know anything about the Indians?" asked Rafael, hurriedly.

      "That question, Señor, I am not at liberty to answer."

      Rafael cast one swift and penetrating glance at the impassive face of the old man, and turned away with a suppressed oath.

      "Carrai!" he muttered, fiercely, to Philip, who stood by, a silent spectator. "I believe Xuarez is in league with the Indians, and has made them carry her off. If she is not here, she is at that hidden temple; but, in either case, Don Hypolito is mixed up with the case."

      "In my humble opinion, she is at Acauhtzin," said Philip, quietly. "Don José does not know all the black dealings of Xuarez's heart. Cheer up, my dear Jack, we will soon see Don Hypolito, and wring the truth from him."

      Jack muttered something indistinctly, and turned away, whereon Philip, taking him kindly by the arm, led him down to the saloon, with the intention of giving him such consolation as he was able.

      "If she is here, Xuarez must know," said Philip, earnestly; "and if he knows, he will not be able to deceive me. I can read most faces, and it will be strange indeed if Don Hypolito's is the first to baffle me."

      "Don José denies everything."

      "Yes; because Don José knows nothing. That old man is a pompous old ass, like the Intendante. Many things could take place under his nose without his being any the wiser. Drink this glass of wine, my dear lad, and keep up your spirits. We will find Dolores yet."

      Duval was so overcome by the loss of Dolores that he submitted to Philip's orders like a child, and obediently drank the wine poured out for him. In most emergencies, Jack would have been ready to act at once with a cool head, and iron nerve; but Dolores was very dear to him, and her loss had rendered him useless for the moment – in other words, the shock had paralysed his will.

      After Philip had succeeded in putting some heart into the poor fellow, he insisted on his coming on deck, and they ascended thereto just in time to see the return of the officer sent by Tejada to Don Hypolito. The messenger walked straight up to Don José, and gave the reply of Xuarez, on hearing which, Tejada turned towards the waiting Intendante.

      "His Excellency Don Hypolito Xuarez will see you at his palace."

      Don Alonzo almost choked with rage at hearing these terms applied to a rebel like Xuarez, but managed to bow with tolerably good grace. He moved towards the side of the yacht, and scrambled down into the boat in a somewhat ungraceful fashion for an ambassador. Colonel Garibay, Don Rafael, and the Englishmen followed, together with Tejada and his staff.

      Tim, who had been fraternising with the rebels, showed his note-book to Jack, filled with shorthand notes.

      "I've got no end of information," he said gleefully; "and when I get back to Tlatonac, it goes to the Morning Planet straight."

      "That is if we ever do get back," said Jack, gloomily.

      "Of course we will, you pessimist; and, what's more, we'll take back Doña Dolores with us."

      "Do you think she is here, then, after all?" asked Duval, with reviving hope.

      Tim winked in a vulgar fashion.

      "A word in your ear, Jack," he said, jerking his head in the direction of the pompous Tejada. "That old man's a liar. The pretty colleen is here, and Don José knows it? but she's not with Don Hypolito."

      "Then where do you think she is?"

      "With Rafael's sweetheart, no less; the old man's daughter."

      "Doña Carmencita?"

      "You've hit it."

      Jack would have questioned Tim further, so as to learn his grounds for such a belief, but just then the boat touched the stone steps of the wharf. The embassy stepped ashore, and waited till the soldiers of Tlatonac arrived. Don Alonzo, with a due regard for the dignity of the Republic, refused to move until his bodyguard came on shore. In a few minutes, the soldiers landed, under the command of Captain Velez, and thus escorted, the ambassador of the Republic moved slowly forward, beneath the mighty arch which led into the heart of the rebel capital.

      "We've got in, Señor," whispered Rafael to Philip with sudden doubt; "but I hope we shall be able to get out."

      Philip pointed back to the Union Jack, which could be seen in the distance at the yacht's masthead.

      "While that flag is there I have no fear, Don Rafael."

      CHAPTER III

      DON HYPOLITO XUAREZ

      A visionary? Wherefore not? All men

      Who change the world are dreamers in their youth.

      Thought comes before fulfilment! – in the earth,

      The hidden seedling hints the future flower!

      So is it with this man! For years his brain

      Hath dallied with a thousand fantasies,

      Which had no being save within himself.

      But now his dreams take shape! – with purpose firm,

      He aids their due fulfilment, till therefrom

      New heavens and earth are formed, and ancient things

      Crashing to ruin, as foundations serve

      Whereon to build earth's future destinies.

      There was no doubt that Don Hypolito laid due stress on ceremonial observances as necessary to consolidate his pretensions. On the ground that Gomez had broken the constitutional rules by which he held his position, Xuarez proclaimed himself saviour and President of the Cholacacan Republic. Not being in possession of Tlatonac, he constituted Acauhtzin his capital for the time being, and there assumed all the airs of a ruler. He called himself by the title of President, his personal staff and intimate friends constituted a kind of revolutionary Junta, and the building in which this illegal assemblage met for conference was dignified with the name of the Palacio Nacional. In all respects the machinery of the lawful Government was copied at Acauhtzin, and that town was regarded by the Opposidores as the true capital of the country until such time as Xuarez should enforce his pretensions by marching in triumph into the head city of the Republic. As in the Middle Ages two Popes ruled – the one at Rome, the other at Avignon – so the allegiance of Cholacaca was claimed by two Presidents: Gomez at Tlatonac, Xuarez at Acauhtzin.

      The