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“He is the honorable Senor Mariano Vercara e Hijos[36 - Mariano Vercara e Hijos – Мариано Веркара-и-Ихос], Jefe Politico of San Antonio,” Torres replied.
“Good night,” Francis laughed. “But I am only a passenger. You must talk to the Captain.”
“You are wanted[37 - you are wanted – вас разыскивают] for the murder of Alfaro Solano,” was Torres’ answer. “You didn’t fool me, Henry Morgan. And you are the murderer. I know that some one else. His name is Francis Morgan, and he is not a murderer, but a gentleman.”
“Oh!” Francis exclaimed. “But you recognized me, Senor Torres!”
“I was fooled,” Torres admitted sadly. “But only for a moment. Will you come with us?”
“Yes,” Francis answered. “I suppose you’ll hang me at daybreak.”
“Justice is swift in Panama,” the Jefe Politico replied. “We will not hang you at daybreak. Ten o’clock in the morning is more comfortable, don’t you think?”
“Oh, I don’t care,” Francis retorted. “Eleven or twelve.”
“You will come with us, Senor,” Mariano Vercara e Hijos said. “Take his weapons.”
Francis found himself in a cell with walls five feet thick. It was half past eight in the evening. The trial began at eight. The execution was scheduled at ten next morning.
“The Jefe was right,” Francis acknowledged to himself. “Panama justice moves swiftly.”
The letter given him by Leoncia and addressed to Henry Morgan damned him. The rest was easy. Half a dozen witnesses identified him as the murderer. The Jefe Politico himself so testified. Torres was in love with Leoncia, and his jealousy knew no limits.
Leoncia was sobbing on his shoulder, in his arms: “It is a cursed country, a cursed country.”
Francis remembered Henry, in his canvas pants, bare-footed, under his sombrero.
“They just knew I was guilty and wanted to punish me. Why delay? They knew Henry Morgan had killed Alfaro. They knew I was Henry Morgan,” he said
She was in his arms, her lips raised to his; and his own lips to hers.
“I love you, I love you,” she whispered.
“No, no,” he said. “Henry and I are too alike. It is Henry you love, and I am not Henry.”
She drew Henry’s ring from her finger, and threw it on the floor. Francis slipped Henry’s ring back on her finger and kissed her hand. When she passed out the door she turned and whispered:
“I love you.”
At ten o’clock they brought Francis to the gallows. All San Antonio was present, including Leoncia, Enrico Solano, and his five tall sons. In vain Leoncia’s father and brothers protested that Francis was not the man. The Jefe Politico smiled.
They had tied Francis’ legs, and were tying his arms, when the voice of a singer was heard. Henry Morgan was entering. He pushed aside the guards at the gate.
The Jefe shrugged his shoulders and announced that he was ready to hang both men. But Francis, from the scaffold, shouted:
“You cannot hang a man without trial! He must have his trial!”
And when Francis had descended from the scaffold, the Comisario, with the Jefe, arrested Henry Morgan for the murder of Alfaro Solano.
Chapter IV
“We must work quickly,” Francis said to the Solanos.
“We must save him!” Leoncia cried out.
“All Gringos look alike to the Jefe,” Francis said. She was splendidly beautiful and wonderful, he thought. “We must get him out tonight.”
“Now listen,” Leoncia said. “We Solanos cannot permit this… this execution. Our pride… our honor. We cannot permit it. Father, suggest something.”
And while Enrico Solano and his sons talked plans and projects, a house servant came, whispered in Leoncia’s ear, and led her away.
Around the corner, Alvarez Torres greeted her, bowed low with a sombrero in hand.
“The trial is over, Leoncia,” he said softly. “Tomorrow at ten o’clock is the time. It is all very sad, most very sad. He was an honorable man. His one fault was his temper.”
“He never killed my uncle!” Leoncia cried.
“And it is regrettable,” Torres said gently and sadly, avoiding any disagreement. “The judge, the people, the Jefe Politico, unfortunately, all believe that he did. But I came to offer my service. You may command. Speak. I am your slave.”
He dropped suddenly and gracefully on one knee before her. He caught her hand.
“I knew you when you were small, Leoncia, and I loved you always. No, listen! Please. My heart must speak. I have been patient. I was silent.”
She listened patiently. Henry… And Francis… Why is this Gringo in her heart? Was she a wanton? One man or another? Or any man? No! No! She was not unfaithful. And yet?… Perhaps it was because Francis and Henry were so much alike. Her poor woman’s heart couldn’t distinguish between them. And she could follow Henry anywhere over the world, but now she is ready to follow Francis even farther. She loved Henry. But she loved Francis, too. There was a difference in her love for the two men.
Torres continued:
“Oh, Leoncia! I have dreamed of you… and for you. You are the Queen of my Dreams. And you will marry me, my Leoncia! We will forget this mad Gringo. I shall be gentle, kind. I shall love you always. He won’t stand between us.”
Leoncia was silent. How to save Henry?
“Speak!” Torres urged.
“Hush! Hush!” she said softly. “How can I listen to you, when the man I loved is yet alive?”
Loved! The past tense of it! She said “loved”. She loved him, but no longer. Torres was glad. The one thing is clear: if he wants to win Leoncia quickly, Henry Morgan must die quickly.
“Come,” she said. “We will join the others. They are planning now, or trying to find some plan, to save Henry Morgan.”
“I have a plan,” Torres began. He smiled, and twisted his mustache. “There is one way, and it is simple. That is just what it is. We will go and take Henry out of jail in brutal and direct fashion. It is the one thing they will not expect. Therefore, it will succeed. There are enough rascals on the beach with which we can storm the jail. Hire them, pay them well, and that’s all!”
Leoncia nodded. Old Enrico’s eyes flashed. And all looked to Francis for his opinion or agreement. He shook his head slowly.
“That way is hopeless,” he said. “Why will you risk your necks in a mad attempt like that?”
“You mean you doubt me?” Torres bristled. “Solanos are my oldest and most honored friends.”
Old Enrico began to speak.
“Senor Torres, you are indeed an old friend of the family. Your late father and I were comrades, almost brothers. But truly your plan is hopeless. To storm the jail is truly madness. Just look at the thickness of the walls.”
Torres briefly apologized and departed for San Antonio.
“What have you against Senor Torres? Why did you reject his plan and anger him?” Leoncia demanded of Francis.
“Nothing,” was the answer, “except that we do not need him. He is a fool and he will spoil any plan. And we just don’t need him. Now his plan is all right. We’ll go straight to the jail and take Henry out. And we don’t need to trust to rascals. Six men of us can do it.”
“There is a dozen guards at the jail,” Ricardo[38 - Ricardo – Риккардо], Leoncia’s youngest brother, a lad of eighteen, objected.
Leoncia frowned at him; but Francis said,
“That’s true,” he agreed. “But we will eliminate the guards.”
“The five-foot walls,” said Martinez Solano[39 - Martinez Solano – Мартинес Солано], twin brother to Alvarado[40 - Alvarado – Альварадо].
“That’s what I mean. Do you, Senor Solano, have plenty of saddle horses[41 - saddle horses – верховые лошади]? Good. And you, Alesandro[42 - Alesandro – Алесандро], can you bring me a couple of sticks of dynamite? Good. And do you have some bottles of rye whiskey?”
Chapter V
It the mid-afternoon, Henry, at his barred cell-window, stared out into the street. The street was dusty and filthy. Next, he saw a light wagon. The wagon was drawn by a horse. In the seat a gray-headed, gray-bearded man strove vainly to check the horse[43 - to check the horse – сдержать лошадь].
Henry smiled. Just opposite the window, the old man made a last effort. The driver fell backward into the seat. Then the wagon was a wreck. The gendarmes came out of the jail. The old man went hurriedly to the wagon and examined some cases, large and small. One of the gendarmes addressed him.
“Me? Alas senors, I am an old man, and far from home. I am Leopoldo Narvaez[44 - Leopoldo Narvaez – Леопольдо Нарваэс]. I have driven from Bocas del Toro. It has taken me five days. My home is in Colon. But tell me, is there Tomas Romero[45 - Tomas Romero – Томас Ромеро] in this city?”
“There are many Romeros in Panama,” laughed Pedro Zurita[46 - Pedro Zurita – Педро Зурита], the assistant jailer[47 - assistant jailer – помощник начальника тюрьмы]. Do you mean the rich Tomas Romero who owns many cattle on the hills?”
“Yes, senor, it must be he. I shall find him. If my precious goods can be safely stored, I shall seek him now.”
He took out from his pocket two silver pesos and handed them to the jailer. Pedro Zurita and the gendarmes began to carry the boxes into the jail.
“Careful, senors, careful,” the old man said, greatly anxious. “Handle it gently. It is fragile, most fragile. “
Then he added gratefully: “A thousand thanks, senors. Tomorrow I shall return, and take my goods. Good-bye, senors!”
In the guardroom, fifty feet away from Henry’s cell, the gendarmes were robbing Leopoldo Narvaez. Pedro Zurita made a survey of the large box.
“Leave it alone, Pedro,” one of the gendarmes laughed at him.
The assistant jailer sighed, walked away and sat down, looked back at the box, and sighed again.
“Take the hatchet there and open the box,” he said. “Open the box, Ignacio[48 - Ignacio – Игнасио], we will look, we will only look. Then we will close the box again.”
“Whiskey! The old man was a fool,” laughed gendarmes. “That whiskey was his, all his, and he has never taken one little sip!”
In few minutes everybody was drunk. Pedro Zurita became sentimental.
“My prisoners,” he maundered. “I love them as brothers. Life is sad. My prisoners are my children. Behold! I weep. Let us share with them. Ignacio, carry a bottle of this elixir to the Gringo Morgan. He will drink and be happy today.”
Henry was crossing his big cell to the window when the heard a key in the door. Ignacio came in, completely drunk, bottle in hand, which he gravely presented to Henry.
“With the high compliments of our good jailer, Pedro Zurita,” he mumbled. “He says to drink and forget that he must hang you tomorrow.”
“Tell Senor Pedro Zurita to go to hell along with his whiskey,” Henry replied.
The gendarme suddenly become sober.
“Very well, senor,” he said, and locked the door.
In a rush Henry was at the window just in time to encounter Francis face to face. Francis was thrusting a revolver to him through the bars.
“Henry,” Francis said. “Stand back in your cell, because there will be a hole in this wall. The Angelique is waiting for you. Now, stand back.”
Henry backed into a rear corner of his cell, and the door was clumsily unlocked and opened.
“Kill the Gringo!” cried the gendarmes.
Ignacio fired wildly from his gun. The next moment he went down under the Henry’s bullet. Henry waited for the explosion.
It came. The window and the wall beneath it became all one aperture. Francis dragged him out through the hole.
“The horses are waiting,” Francis told Henry. “And Leoncia is waiting with them. In fifteen minutes we’re on the beach, where the boat is waiting.”
“Funny thing that whiskey. An old man broke a wagon right in front of the jail,” Henry said.
“A noble Narvaez, eh, senor?” Francis asked.
“It was you!”
Francis smiled.
Chapter VI
Jefe Politico of San Antonio, leaned back in his chair with a smile. The old judge gave judgment according to program. And the Jefe was two hundred dollars richer. His smile was even broader as he greeted Alvarez Torres.
“Listen,” said Torres. “We can kill both Morgans: Henry tomorrow, Francis today.”
The Jefe remained silent.
“I have advised him to storm the jail. The Solanos are with him. They will surely attempt to do it this evening. They could not do it sooner. Francis Morgan will be killed in the fight.”
“Why must we kill Francis?” the Jefe asked. “Henry must be hanged. But let Francis go back to New York.”
“Francis must be kept away from New York for a month or forever. I understood Senor Regan quite well. Money matters, you know.”
“But you have not told me how much you have received, nor how much you will receive,” the Jefe said.
“It is a private agreement. This Senor Regan is a hard man, a very hard man. But I will divide fairly with you.”
