CHAPTER X.

"OH, FATHER IN HEAVEN, PROTECT THY CHILD, WHO IS NOW LEFT UTTERLY ALONE!"

"Who says I am an American spy?" demanded Howard Sherwood, before Estella had a chance to reply to the Spanish officer's question.

"Who says so, my fine fellow?" sneered Captain Nocolo. "Never mind who. You are caught--that is enough."

"I am a newspaper correspondent----"

"Bah! we have your history, never fear." Captain Nocolo turned to his men. "Look to it that he does not escape."

The soldiers at once surrounded Howard again, and thus he and Estella were separated.

"Howard----" began the beautiful girl, but the captain interrupted her.

"Excuse me, but you must not converse with him now," he said, catching her by the arm.

"And why not. He and I are friends----"

"No doubt, no doubt," was the suggestive answer. "But I cannot allow you to talk. Men, take him to the sugar-house."

With scant ceremony the soldiers caught hold of Howard, and, despite the young war correspondent's objections, dragged him along to a side road, and out of hearing of Estella's voice.

"Captain Nocolo, this is--is infamous!" burst from the girl's quivering lips. It tore her heart with anguish to behold her noble lover so ill-used, especially as he had been captured through his desire to shield her from injury.

"Perhaps you do not know that man as well as I," returned the Spanish captain, with a frown. "I have his history, girl, and a bad one it is."

At this announcement Estella turned sick at heart. Was it possible that Howard was not all he pretended to be? Was he really a spy, or worse? She dismissed the idea almost immediately. The man who loved her, and had won her heart, could not be anything but upright and honest in intent and action.

"I know enough to tell you that you are making a mistake," she said, boldly. "He is an American citizen, and has done no wrong, and you are only making trouble for your government."

"My government? And why not your government--our government, Miss Corona?" said the Spaniard, quickly. "Is it possible you have turned rebel, too? But, bah! why ask, when we caught you in his company."

"I am a Cuban, and I live and will die for Cuba!" exclaimed Estella, proudly. "Where are you going to take him?"

"To the guard-house at Jiguani, to keep company with a half-hundred rebels already captured. Come!"

As the captain concluded, he took Estella by the arm and tried to lead her in a direction opposite to that taken by Howard and the guards.

She attempted to resist, but found herself no match for this thin, dyspeptic-looking, but wiry fellow. The more she resisted, the tighter he held her.

"Let me go, Captain Nocolo," she finally cried, as she found herself bound, she knew not whither.

"Ah, my darling Estella!" he murmured in her ear, at the same time assuring himself that no one else was within sight, "it was indeed good fortune that threw you in my way. When last we parted at Havana, two years ago, I was unutterably sad; but now----"

"Let me go, I say!" she interrupted. "You have no right to detain me, to lead me off----"

"I will not harm you, beautiful Estella," he went on, gazing insolently into her face with his cold, penetrating glances. "But when a soldier runs across so fair a being as you, she must perforce pay toll ere she proceeds on her way."

As he finished he caught her around the waist. His action was suggestive. He meant to steal a kiss from her ripe lips.

"Dare to touch me, and you shall suffer for it!" she panted. "Your insult shall not pass lightly!"

"Ah, Estella, you speak heedlessly. Remember what I know against you. What if I should report that I found you in the company of that American spy? What would the authorities say? What would your own father say?"

She staggered back as though struck a blow, but as quickly recovered.

"It would be far more to my credit to be found in the company of such an honorable man than in the company of such as you, Captain Nocolo."

At these words his dark eyes blazed forth with sudden anger, and he caught her by both wrists.

"You shall pay dearly for that insult!" he hissed. "I will not rest with one kiss--I will take a dozen, and more!"

He attempted to press her to his breast, when, without warning, he received a heavy blow on the back of the head, and with a groan he fell forward, all but unconscious.

"The brute! I will teach him a lesson!" came in the well-known voice of Cara as, dropping her stick of granadilla wood, she rushed to Estella's support. "It is well I hid in the sugar-cane when they came up, otherwise they would have made me a victim, too."

"Cara!" burst from Estella's bloodless lips. "Is he--he dead?"

"No, darling; such brutes are not so easily killed. But come, let us fly!"

"Fly? In which direction? Where can my father be?"

"The fighting over in that field has ceased. Perhaps it will be best for us to return to the train," responded the maid.

"But what of Señor Sherwood?"

"They took him off and put him in a wagon, I believe. Come, come! ere Captain Nocolo recovers."

Thus urged, Estella gave a last look at the prostrate form before her, and then quitted the vicinity. Arm-in-arm with her faithful maid, they made their way over the dark road to the railroad tracks, and thence to where the train lay derailed.

As Cara had said, the battle in the cane-field had terminated, and now only an occasional shot could be heard. When they reached the cars they found the guards returning, bringing with them their wounded comrades, and several prisoners of war. The prisoners were chained hand to hand and foot to foot, and made to stand in a group, and endure the most brutal treatment without a protest. One man, who had had his arm broken, and who pleaded for surgical aid, was hit on the head with the stock of a gun, and knocked senseless.

"Oh, this is awful!" murmured Estella. "Why do they thus treat prisoners? They are human beings, like ourselves."

"The Spanish soldiery hate all Cubans," whispered Cara. "They would kill and torture all, had they the chance."

"Where can my father be?" questioned Estella, turning from the awful sight with a shudder.

"Let us look among the crowd," suggested the maid, and they started off; but the search, which lasted for fully half an hour, was without success.

"He is not here; can it be he was slain!" murmured Estella, as a strange horror began to fasten itself upon her young heart. "Cara, what think you? Tell me the truth!"

"Let us go to the battlefield and look," suggested the maid, evasively. "We can borrow a lantern, and no one will molest us women while we walk among the dead."

"Yes! yes! we will go! I cannot endure this suspense any longer!" exclaimed Estella, as she pressed a hand to her burning brow.

The lantern was readily procured from a train hand, and they set off, directed by one of the soldiers. In ten minutes they were in the midst of such a scene of carnage that Estella's heart was depressed with horror.

On all sides of them, amid the trampled cane-stalks, lay the dead, some on their backs, some on their knees, as if trying to crawl away to some spot to die. Many were the pools of human blood, and in more places than one the sugar-cane was dyed with human blood.

"Horrible! horrible! I cannot bear it!" gasped Estella, as her brain began to reel. "I must leave it, Cara. Come!"

"I see nothing of your father," said the maid, holding the lantern aloft and gazing around. "Look! Look!" she added, suddenly, and pointed ahead.

"What is it?" asked Estella.

"A soldier, alive! See! he is beckoning to us. Poor man, let us go to him!"

"Yes, yes! Perhaps he was left for dead!" replied Estella, readily.

They ran to the side of the soldier, and found he was badly wounded in the side, from which his life's blood was oozing rapidly.

"A drink!" he murmured, so faintly that Estella could scarcely hear him. "A drink!"

There was a little spring close at hand, and Estella ran and procured a tin-cupfull of water. He tried to drink, but could not, and the effort brought on a fit of coughing.

"I am done for!" he sighed, and for the moment he closed his eyes. Then he opened them again. "It was a fair fight, I suppose," he rambled. "Did he die, as I am to die?"

"He! Who?" asked Estella.

"The man who faced me. Let me see! Ah, yes, he called himself General Corona; he was brave, too, but he didn't escape entirely, I know that. I thrust at him with my sword, and he fell--but I fell first----" He gave a gasp. "Maybe he is dead, and we'll meet in the other land. Yes, I pressed him close--the thrust was near his heart--Cuba libre! Cuba lib----!"

The last word ended in a cough. Estella sprang forward to raise up the soldier, but alas! there was no use of so doing. He was dead.

The cane-field seemed to swim before the beautiful girl's eyes. What had the soldier said--that he had fought her father--pierced him to the heart with his sword! Could it be true, and was her only remaining parent now dead? She gave a piteous cry, and buried her face upon Cara's bosom.

"He is dead!" she moaned. "I feel it--I know it! Oh, Father in Heaven be merciful to me--protect Thy child, who is now left utterly alone!"