CHAPTER IX.

"ESTELLA, MY QUEEN, HENCEFORTH NOTHING SHALL SEPARATE US!"

"No, no! I will never consent! Rather than consent to such an unholy alliance I will seek safety in flight!"

It was half an hour later when unhappy Estella sprang up uttering the above words. She had turned the whole situation over in her mind, and had reached the determination that, rather than be forced into this detestable marriage, she would run away.

"I can join the Rebel army," she went on. "They need help in their hospitals, and I know a good deal about nursing, thanks to my lessons in medicine at Vassar. I will wait until the last minute, and then fly!"

The very thought of personal liberty seemed to give her strength; and when Cara came in she found her young mistress bustling around in a far brighter mood than she had expected.

"We must do some shopping, and then be back by eleven o'clock," said Estella. "We take the train for home at twelve."

"There will be no train before six o'clock to-night--maybe not until even later," replied the maid. "I heard them talking about it down stairs. The rebels have torn up a portion of the roadbed."

To Estella this was good news. She wished to remain in Santiago as long as possible. She might perchance see Howard, and then----She did not speculate further; she only hoped for the meeting.

The two went out and did their shopping in the quaint stores that abound on the main thoroughfare, and then Estella paid a visit to a leading jeweler's establishment. When she came forth she had in her bosom a beautiful bejeweled dagger. It had taken all of her money, but she felt more secure with the weapon in her possession. There was no telling what might occur should she run away.

Noon came, and the general appeared with the information that the first train would not start until half-past eight in the evening. He said no more about Lieutenant Mazenas, being full of war news, and of the fact that the rebels had attacked so many trains.

"They may attack this train to-night," he said. "If they do, I will join in fighting them off!"

He would not allow Estella to go out after luncheon, and so the afternoon wore away slowly until it was near six o'clock. Suddenly Cara, who stood by the window of the room, uttered a cry of recognition.

"Señor Sherwood!" she whispered, that the general, who was writing at a table, might not hear. Estella sprang to the open casement and was in time to see Howard turning a far corner. He was not looking toward her, but in the opposite direction.

"Gone!" she murmured, as he disappeared. "I wonder how long he will remain in Santiago?" she speculated, never dreaming that he intended to leave by row-boat that very evening.

"Did you speak, Estella?" asked the general, abstractedly.

"No, papa," was the reply, and the girl held up a warning finger to Cara, who nodded.

"I fancy," General Corona continued, still scratching away with his pen, "the lieutenant will soon have his hands full. He is guarding a section of the railroad, you see."

"Then he ought not to think of marrying until the war is over," returned Estella; and the general, who was just then too busy to argue, allowed the subject to drop.

At first Estella was tempted to leave the hotel, in the hope of meeting Howard, but she reflected that her father might grow suspicious, and then, too, the young war correspondent had been walking so rapidly it would now be next to impossible to overtake him.

"And he may not want to see me," she thought, but, woman-like, she would have been willing to risk that.

Dinner was served, and at the time mentioned they were at the railroad station, where were gathered some fifty people, anxious and brave enough to take the trip into the interior. Soon the train came along, the engineer's cab and tender protected by sheets of iron, and guarded front and rear by a dozen picked Spanish soldiers. It did not take the crowd long to get aboard and find what they considered were the safest places.

Without a whistle or the ringing of a bell, the locomotive and the two cars started on their way, the people on the platform wishing those on board a safe journey to their various destinations. Whether the train would go through safely was highly problematical.

Estella and her father occupied a seat in the first car, with Cara opposite to them. The general was highly excited, and soon went forward on the platform, to speak to the soldiers stationed there.

The train stopped for a minute on the outskirts of the city, and then went on at an increased rate of speed, word having been received that the line was clear for the next eight miles.

Alas! the information proved erroneous. Scarcely a mile had been passed when there came a quiver and a shock, and the locomotive and cars left the track, and ran off into the edge of a swamp.

The locomotive went over on its side, but no one was seriously hurt. The cars remained standing, the wheels sunk deeply in the water and mud.

In the darkness Estella looked about vainly for her father, who had still been outside, talking to the Spanish soldiers. The soldiers themselves had gone off, and the sounds of a conflict in an adjacent sugar-cane field told that they were essaying to punish the rebels who had thus balked the government's desire to run a train through to Bayamo. Shots arose, and wild cries for mercy, as the bullets were answered by a fierce use of the deadly machete.

"We must get away from here!" cried Cara, in terror. "Come, dear mistress!"

"But, papa----" began Estella.

"Your father has joined the soldiers in the fight," responded a stranger, who stood near. "I saw him draw a pistol and leap from the car with them."

For the instant Estella's face blanched, as for the first time she realized what war and carnage really meant. Then silently she took Cara's hand and they left the car by the back way, leaped to the dry ground beyond, and walked after those who were headed back to the city.

She had gone a distance of less than quarter of a mile when a shout arose in the direction of a road which runs down to the bay. The shout was followed by pistol-shots, and in an instant later a man came flying up the road, hatless, and dripping to the skin.

"Howard Sherwood!"

The figure came to a sudden halt, as though stopped by the challenge of a sentry.

"Estella!"

"Where are you going? Where have you been?"

"I tried to get out of the city by crossing the bay--we were discovered--I swam from the row-boat to shore," he panted. "They are even now on my track--do you hear them? What are you doing here?"

"We were on a train that was thrown from the track," rejoined Estella. "But you have no time to waste if you would escape. See the torches approaching! Fly! fly instantly!"

"But, Estella----"

"There is not time for a word, much as I wish to speak to you," she interrupted.

"But you are alone, unprotected--the others have left you behind. And there is no telling what those rascally soldiers will do," he went on, with a groan. "Would that I had a good gun and a sword--I would stand here against a dozen of the cowards!"

"There is the cane-field," hesitated Estella. "You might hide there. Over to the north the rebels are fighting the soldiers from the train. You might join them and thus reach a place of safety."

"And leave you alone here, and at night? Never, Estella! I love you too well for that, even though you are to marry another," he replied, fervidly.

"Oh, Howard!" A happy flush came to her face. "Then you still love me?"

"Love you, Estella! You are my heart's idol!"

"Then listen!" She bent her ruby lips close to his ear. "I told you I was to marry another man. The marriage was arranged against my wish, by my father. I have made up my mind that, rather than marry him, I will run away. Oh, take me with you, Howard!"

He stared at her like one in a dream, then caught her to his breast, all wet as he was, and kissed her madly, passionately.

"Estella, my queen!" he murmured. "You cannot realize how happy you have made me! And you will fly with me? Then come, darling! Henceforth nothing shall separate us!"

"Surrender!" came in a loud, mocking voice close behind them, and, wheeling about, Howard found himself confronted by three Spanish officers.

They closed in upon him immediately, and at the point of the sword he was made a prisoner, and his hands were bound tightly behind him.

"We thought we would capture you," said the leader of the Spaniards, sarcastically, "although you both swim and run well!"

"Captain Nocolo!" cried Estella, as the light of a torch flared over the man's face.

"Estella Corona!" was the surprised reply. "What means this--that we find you in the company of this American spy?"