CHAPTER XIII.

"YOU HAVE SIGNED HIS DEATH-WARRANT! HE SHALL DIE WITHIN THE HOUR!"

Like one transfixed with sudden terror, Estella listened to the cruel words of Lieutenant Mazenas, and they burned deeply into her young heart. She must either marry this man, or her lover, the light of her life, would be put to an immediate and cruel death.

"You--you wretch!" she gasped, when she could manage to speak. "Do you call yourself a man, to come here with such a base proposition?"

He frowned, and then laughed an unnatural laugh.

"Remember, my fair, untamed beauty that in war all is fair, and so it is in love. Besides, I am asking no more at your hands than your father has already promised."

"You are a villain, Lieutenant Mazenas, to thus seek to enslave me to you. To bring about Howard Sherwood's death, even under the guise of a war measure, would be nothing short of murder."

"He is a spy--he deserves death," muttered the Spanish soldier, not liking her final words.

"He is no spy--in the sense that is meant in the army. He is an American newspaper correspondent. The most you can do with him is to expel him from the country."

"We can shoot him; it will be done, too, unless you become my wife," he answered, doggedly. "Come, fair Estella, why repulse me longer. See what I offer you, see----"

"Enough! There can be no thought of love between you and me. I hate and despise you, Lieutenant Mazenas! I would not marry you even to save my own life----"

"But how about saving the life of Howard Sherwood?"

"He would not ask so great a sacrifice at my hands. He is too manly, too noble; he has too deep a regard for me."

Again the Spaniard muttered an oath under his breath. "Dios! can nothing move her?" he asked himself.

"Then he shall die!" he cried. "I will have him shot at sunrise!"

"No, no! Spare his life!" she gasped, and then suddenly fell upon her knees before him. "Oh, say you will not do this awful deed!"

He gazed at her with a half-smile of triumph upon his lean, yellow features. Was she beginning to weaken? It would appear so.

"I told you to take your choice," he said. "Marry me, and he shall go free. Nay, more than that--I will give him a passport which will enable him to enter the army lines at pleasure, so he can gather what information he will for publication, and I will pay his way."

"Ah! then you would turn traitor even to your own side!" she sneered. "Marry you? Never! never! never!"

She repeated the word, as if to thus fortify herself against him. In a rage he stamped upon the matted floor with his cavalry boots.

"You have signed his death-warrant!" he cried. "He shall die within the hour! I swear it!"

The distant roll of musketry broke in upon the thrilling scene. The lieutenant started and leaped to the doorway to listen, while Estella ran to the window.

"Diablo!" muttered the soldier. "An engagement! Those dirty rebels have kept their word. We must rout them for good!"

He turned to Estella, and came so close that she shrank from him.

"Remember what I said," he hissed in her ear. "This battle now starting in the direction of Jocanjo may delay the carrying out of my plan. But it will surely be carried out, unless you change your mind, and consent to be my wife."

With these parting words he hastened from the room, and a moment later was on his horse and galloping away at the top of the animal's speed. With her heart beating furiously, she listened to his retreat. Then, struck by a sudden thought she rang the bell for a servant.

"Send Tomasso to me instantly, and have a horse saddled for him," she ordered.

The servant ran off, and soon a tall and not bad-looking man appeared, one of the plantation overseers.

"Tomasso," said Estella, "I know I can trust you in everything. You saw Lieutenant Mazenas ride away, did you not?"

"Yes, sweet mistress," was the overseer's reply. His admiration for Estella was almost as great as his love for Cara, the maid, who had promised to one day be his wife.

"Quick! take a horse and ride after him, and watch him closely. He has in his charge a prisoner named Howard Sherwood, an American. If possible learn where Mr. Sherwood is kept, and at once report to me."

"I will do it," said the man, eagerly. "I think I know where the American was taken, but I am not sure."

After a few more words, Tomasso hurried away, and, looking from the window, Estella saw him ride off in the direction Lieutenant Mazenas had gone.

The roll of musketry still continued, but instead of drawing closer, it seemed more distant, showing that the battleground was shifting farther from the plantation. For this Estella was thankful, for she knew that once the estate was reached destruction would quickly follow, for the torches of the combatants would speedily lay buildings and fields in waste.

Yet her lover's impending fate was just then of more consequence to her than the possible destruction of her father's vast property. She felt that sooner or later Lieutenant Mazenas would keep his word. She shuddered at the thought of marriage with this man, yet to think of Howard being shot in consequence of her refusal, made her soul sick with horror. For the time being even the fate of her father was forgotten.

"Heaven be merciful!" she moaned, as she walked the floor and wrung her hands. "What shall I do? I cannot, cannot, cannot remain here, when so much depends upon my action!"

Cara came in and tried to soothe her, and in return Estella poured her tale of woe into the maid's sympathetic ear.

"Rest easy; Tomasso will watch for you," said Cara; but this did not satisfy Estella. For a few moments she seemed engaged in deep reflection; then she suddenly ran to the door.

"Cara, have a horse saddled for me!" she cried. "I am going out----"

"But it is night--after ten o'clock!" cried the maid.

"Even the perils of darkness shall not stay me! I must find Howard--to delay would be a crime!"

She ran up stairs to change her dress, and Cara acted upon her command. Five minutes later Estella was off, riding toward the town. She knew that she could learn from the keeper where Howard was confined. She never dreamed that she was so near her lover.

The night was not very dark, and she could plainly discern objects some distance ahead of her; and as the horse she was riding knew the road well, she had no fear on that score. But the country was in a tumult, and both armies were followed by a set of vagabonds--guerillas who were out, not for patriotism, but for gold.

The top of a hill reached, Estella guided her horse down toward the valley on the other side. As she descended she fancied she saw a camp-fire glimmering through the plantain trees ahead. As she went on she heard voices in the darkness.

"Where are you going?" suddenly demanded a harsh voice, and a tall, gaunt man sprang from the bushes and grasped her horse by the bridle.

"You must not detain me!" cried Estella, and she cut the man over the hand with her riding-whip.

He muttered an oath, but did not let go his hold.

"Come here!" he bawled to several companions, and immediately Estella was surrounded.

The heart of the fair girl sank within her as she looked into the repulsive faces of the men who had thus rudely detained her. That they were neither insurgents nor Spanish soldiers, she saw at a glance. They wore the dress of gipsies, but evidently they were outcasts.

"Lead the horse to the fire, Murillo," said one of the men. "Make the woman stay where she is."

"What would you of me?" demanded Estella. "If it is your intention to rob me, take my purse, and let me depart." And taking her purse from her pocket, she flung it on the ground.

Two of the men ran for it, and the one who secured it uttered a hoarse laugh as he stowed the dainty bead-worked receptacle in his bosom.

"Very good, for a start!" he chuckled. "But we want more--that diamond at your throat, and those precious drops in your ears. And, mayhap, my lady has a gold watch in her breast."

"And the horse is what we need," put in another of the rascals. "We have but three, while there are four of us."

"Take all I have with me, but leave the horse," cried Estella, bitterly; but they would not listen to her words. While two of the men watched her, and prevented her from leaping to the ground, a third led the horse down a side trail to the camp-fire in the valley.

"You are rich," said the leader. "Mayhap it would be well to hold you for a ransom," and he winked wickedly at his companions.

"Ay! Ay! hold her, by all means!" exclaimed the other men. "She will be worth a fortune to us!"

"Where shall we take her?"

"To the cave. That is the safest place hereabouts," was the reply.

"Very well--the cave it is. Put out the fire, and make haste."

The men held a hasty consultation among themselves, and in such low tones that Estella could not hear what was said. Then the camp-fire was scattered and trampled upon, and the camp equipments taken up.

"Now we are off!" cried the leader, and with a nimble leap he sprang up behind Estella on the horse, and clasped the frightened girl around the waist.