CHAPTER XXXV.

THE HAPPY WEDDING DAY.

We will now return to that fateful night when Estella at the very moment she had thought to become Howard's bride had been torn from her lover's side by her father and passed over to the care of the wicked Mazenas.

To her the terrible interruption came so quickly that she scarcely realized what was occurring. She remembered trying to shield Howard from her father's wrath, the rapid reports of firearms and confusion in the darkness afterward, but that was all. When she came to her senses she was in a negro's hut, and Mazenas was giving directions to an orderly concerning a wagon that was to take her away. It was then that Mazenas threatened to strike her if she did not remain quiet, and she drew her dagger to defend herself.

The orderly helped the lieutenant to disarm her, and it was not long before they were on the road in the wagon. A large flat boat conveyed the vehicle over the river, and long ere day broke Estella found herself a prisoner in the then utterly deserted stone structure.

"Your father told me to take good care of you and I will," smiled Lieutenant Mazenas, meaningly. "So you were about to marry that American! I'll put a stop to that for good and without delay."

"Perhaps not," she faintly returned.

"But I will. Do you know that I have your father's written permission to compel you to marry me?" he went on.

She started, then quickly recovered.

"No man can compel me to marry him."

"We shall see. If you will not consent I will force you to marry me."

"Never!"

"Bah! Estella, you do not know me. We are alone here, and you are in my absolute power. For your reputation's sake, you should consent to become my bride."

She turned as white as a ghost at his words, so full of bitter meaning. She had been standing in the centre of the apartment, but now she fairly staggered to a seat.

"You--you monster!" she murmured.

"I am no monster, Estella, only a desperate man; one who has sworn to make you his own, by fair means or foul. You can take your choice. But mine you shall be--I have sworn it! In twenty-four hours, willing or unwilling, you shall be my bride! Now I must leave you, but I warn you to think well over what I have said."

Then he left her, and she sat there, dazed, stupefied, as one who has listened to a death sentence. He would doom her to a living death!

"Merciful Heaven, protect me!" she moaned. "Oh, why was I not killed in that dreadful battle that separated me from Howard?"

She had heard a report that Howard had been slain, and she was more than half inclined to believe it. She had seen him surrounded by his enemies, and escape seemed impossible.

"Father would have killed him by the sword! Oh, papa, papa, if you but knew! If you could feel what is in your only child's heart at this moment, you would not be so cruel!"

Presently she heard a noise below, and looking out of the barred window she saw that several bodies of Spanish troops were arriving--some on foot and others on horseback. The fortress began to fill up, and she heard loud voices, songs and blasphemous utterances, the soldiers venting their feelings as pleased them.

After a while the sounds below ceased, and from the next room she heard the murmur of earnest voices. She recognized the tones of Lieutenant Mazenas, and crept to the closed door between the apartments, that she might hear what was being said.

"It was a bold stroke, Mazenas," she heard, in a resonant voice. "As a lawyer, I never heard of anything more brilliant or daring."

"Oh, I have a good head on my shoulders, Barker," was the reply of the conceited Spanish officer. "I saw that I must do something, and I did it. But it was a master stroke to induce old Corona to place his property in my care, and subject to my control."

"It was, indeed, a master stroke," replied Samuel Barker. "But that wasn't half as brilliant as to hire two Spanish guerillas to follow Nocolo and the old general, and strike them down when they least expected it. Now you say both are dead, and their fate will be considered due to the chances of war."

As she listened Estella's blood seemed to freeze in her veins. Her father dead, too! She was alone in the world! A low moan escaped her lips, and she sank down upon her knees. Oh, what a fearful monster this being in the next room was! Her husband! Never! She would die a hundred deaths ere that should occur.

"So you see this leaves the game entirely in our hands," said Lieutenant Mazenas to the lawyer. "Now the question is, how are we to divide when we come to settle up?"

"Half and half would be fair, Mazenas," was the cool answer.

"Half and half! Do you think I am an idiot, Barker, to do all the work, and then share evenly?" burst out the lieutenant, angrily. "I will allow you your original share of the Sherwood estate, and that is all."

"I won't accept."

"No?"

"I'll force you to give me half," returned Samuel Barker, stubbornly.

A cry of rage followed. Then Estella heard the overturning of a bench, and the fall of a heavy body to the floor.

"Let--let me up!" she heard Barker gasp. "Don't--don't! Would you murder me, Mazenas?"

"You have brought it on yourself!" hissed the lieutenant. "I've gotten rid of the others; now I intend to get rid of you!"

Again came the sounds of a struggle, then a cry for help. Estella essayed to scream out, but her voice failed her. In another moment she knew it was all over. There was a gasp, and a gurgle, and Lieutenant Mazenas leaped to his feet.

"He's out of the way," he muttered. "I wonder where I can place the body? But, pshaw! no one here knows him! I'll let him lie where he is, and throw a mass of straw over him." He paused for a moment. "I wonder if she heard anything? I had better go in and see."

He threw a quantity of straw over the dead body, and then walked out into the gloomy corridor. He was just about to enter Estella's room when a soldier came for him.

"You are wanted below, lieutenant," he said, saluting--"wanted without delay by Captain Guito."

"Very well," he replied; and for the time being his second visit to Estella was deferred.

The horrible deed in the adjoining apartment had been too much for Estella's nerves, and when satisfied that Lieutenant Mazenas had really murdered his companion in cold blood, her senses forsook her, and she did not recover consciousness until several hours later.

In the meantime all was bustle and activity below. Over two hundred Spanish soldiers were on hand, and they speedily put the old stone structure in condition for use should an attack by the rebels occur. The defeat of the day before had frightened them, and they had become extremely cautious.

Among the number was a man who, in years gone by had been a clergyman in Madrid but had been suspended from the church for gambling. With this fellow Lieutenant Mazenas had struck up a close friendship and the religious outcast readily agreed to perform any ceremony the Spanish villain might desire. He would ask no foolish questions he said and assured Mazenas that all would go well.

The military operations about the old house having been completed Lieutenant Mazenas again sought Estella's room. He found her lying upon a bench her cheeks wet with tears.

"Tears are useless," he grumbled. "Do be a reasonable girl, Estella."

"Back! back!" she cried. "Don't touch me--murderer! I heard all that occurred in the next room! And so you also instigated the death of my poor father! Oh, you treacherous wretch! How I wish I had you in my power for but one minute. I would show you how a Cuban girl can avenge her wrongs!"

He laughed sardonically.

"Since you have heard what occurred in the next room you must realize that I am not a man to be trifled with. Oh, you need not look out of the window for help--there is none at hand."

He walked to the window and she turned away. Oh, if she had but known that Howard had in that moment espied her, and was now on his way to rescue her!

"I have a clergyman here," he went on. "He says he will marry us at once. Now you can take the choice I gave you. Which shall it be--marriage or dishonor?"

A cry straight from her soul burst from her bloodless lips. Leaping forward she caught his pistol from his belt.

"I prefer--death!" she cried, and placed the weapon to her forehead.

But at that critical moment loud exclamations came to her ears--exclamations that thrilled her to the heart and made her lower the weapon, while the man before her turned pale with fear.

"Cuba libre! Cuba libre!"

And then came the voice of Howard at the very gate to the old stone house, urging the men on. With a crash the gates went down, and there followed revolver shots and sword strokes, groans, appeals for mercy, and shouts of triumph.

"The rebels!" uttered Lieutenant Mazenas, and hurried to the door.

"Stop!" The command came from Estella. "Stand where you are, Lieutenant Mazenas. You shall not go below to lead your men."

The pistol was pointed at his heart. He looked into her face, and saw there no mercy--only stern, unrelenting justice. He fairly cowered before her.

"Unlock the door," she went on. "But do not dare to take one step beyond it."

With a muttered oath, he did as bidden. Then, of a sudden, he caught up the bench, and, using it as a shield, rushed at her.

"I will yet tame you!" he hissed. "You shall see----"

"What will she see?" demanded a cold voice from the doorway.

Hastily turning, Lieutenant Mazenas found himself confronted by Howard, with drawn sword.

"Howard!"

"Estella, my darling! Thank God, I have found you at last!"

"Caramba," muttered the lieutenant.

Then he drew his own weapon and made a lunge at the young war correspondent.

The sparks flew thick and fast from the two blades as the two deadly enemies circled around the apartment. It was a duel to the death, it was easy to see that.

Twice did Howard have his opponent at a disadvantage, and each time was the lieutenant badly wounded. But, like a dying bull in the ring, he still kept on, cursing to himself and growing more wild and bloodthirsty each instant.

Then, like a flash, Howard accidentally slipped, and fell upon one knee. In an instant the lieutenant's sword was at the young war correspondent's throat.

"I have you! Die, you American dog!"

The thrust was made, but it never reached its mark. Estella aimed the pistol and fired a fatal shot, and with a groan, Mazenas rolled over, and just as a body of the victorious rebels surged into the room, he breathed his last.

* * * * *

A few words more and we will bring our story to a close.

With the death of Mazenas, Howard Sherwood found himself free of the last of his enemies. With Estella safe in his charge, he returned to the city, where the happy girl was welcomed with open arms by her stricken father, whom, however, the attending physicians now pronounced out of danger. General Corona had learned a bitter lesson, but he took that lesson like a man, and in his future actions did all in his power to atone for the misery he had caused his only child and her noble lover.

After taking the old stone house, the main body of the insurgent army moved onward. Not caring to leave Estella unprotected, and with her sick father to care for, Howard resigned the position he had so gallantly filled, and remained with the father and daughter. They returned to the old stone mansion owned by General Corona, and it was decided that they would remain until the residence on the plantation could be rebuilt.

The kind treatment received by the old general at the rebel hospital, and the discovery that the insurgents had not intended to fire his cane-fields, produced a change of heart in the old man, and in less than a week after he was out of danger he was talking as vigorously for Cuban liberty as he had previously argued against it.

"It must come," he said. "It may not come with this war, but it is bound to come some time, so I may as well be on the right side first as last. Cuba libre!"

On his return to Santiago Howard hunted up Thomas Herringford and placed his suit against Nocolo, Mazenas & Co., in charge of the old lawyer for settlement. This, with all the evidence at hand, was an easy matter, and six weeks later the young war correspondent resigned his position with the press association, to take charge of an estate valued at several hundred thousand dollars.

Closely following this important event came one of still greater importance. This was Howard's marriage to Estella, now always called, even by her stern old parent, the little Cuban rebel.

Never was a more magnificent marriage seen in that vicinity. The house was a mass of flowers from first floor to dome; a splendid orchestra furnished delicious music, and hundreds of guests were there, from the highest public officials to the humble but ever-faithful Cara and Tomasso, who had been man and wife for nearly two months.

The beautiful bride was attired in the finest of white satin and never did she look more entrancing, nor did Howard ever look more manly and handsome as when he came to claim her from her father. It was the crowning moment of their young lives.

"The clouds for us have all dispersed, Estella, my darling," he exclaimed, when it was all over, and they were alone. "You are mine, all mine now, in very truth!"

"Yes, Howard," she whispered, as she hid her head upon his bosom. "I am all yours, and I ask no more--my lover, my husband, my king!"

[THE END.]