CARLOTTA, A CUBAN GIRL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2310, 9 June 1898, Page 49

CARLOTTA, A CUBAN GIRL.

By Elizabeth Harnan.

The ;sun blazed down pitilessly on the glaring sea and on the sandy beach. The -, palms which lowered high above the Senorita Carlotta JDelgado's white cottage looked dried by the heat, but within 'the cottage there was an almost mysterious coolness, so strikingly in contrast was it with the outside air. The shutters were closed ; a bowl of roses on a polished table in the drawing room breathed forth a delicate, refreshing fragrance. Seated near the table, in a high-backed, elaborately carved chair, was the Senorita Carlotta. She was small, but her slight figure was so erect, the poise of her head &o perfect, that she looked a proud young queen. Her black eyes stared fixedly straight before that they might not see the Spanish officer, Captain de Seguera, who stood at the other side of the table.

" Your little home is as cool as a grotto,' said the captain. "It seems like a heaven here." '." Not to me," said Carlotta, with a meaning glance. •

" That will come in time, Senorita," said the captain, indulgently.. " Surely you will learn to love one who is so considerate of you." " Considerate! " Carlotta exclaimed. "You, whose .people killed my only brother, and broke my mother's heart, so tLat she died too!*? • - , "Ah, mother's hearts are broken every day in war times, Senorita — and- girls' hearcs • are daily won. It was not I who killed your - "brother— and I have befriended you. Your ■ house stands alone ; the sea is on one side, and on the other, between it and the homes " of any of your 'countrymen, are many miles, . and— sterner barrier ! — a Spanish camp. You are in my power, yet see how I yield to your whims ! Many another man in my position has stolen a bride, and often, when you spurn me so contemtuously, I am tempted to carry you off by force, but I truly love you, not only for a week, but forever, and I want to take you home to Spain with me, my rretty little Cuban, to show you to my mother, and that I could not do if you were not my wife. - But my patience is not inexhaustible. I will ' try a few weeks longer to gain your consent, and then "he paused significantly. " Coward! You call that love? " said Carlotta, as she rose and faced him. "Do you think to win me by threats? I know that you have .the physical strength to drag me to your camp, but there is no strength in heaven or earth that could force my lips to say the words that would bind me to you! Overpowered I may be, but perjured — never ! I loathe you and all your people! With all my heart and soul and strength I love Cuba Libre ! " , I

"And Aiberico Collaco, Cuban colonel," said De Seguera, scornfully. "And Aiberico Collaco, said Carlotta, proudly. The Spanish captain was white with anger, and an evil light '.shone in his eyes, but he bowed- low before her with finished courtesy. , - '" Good -morning, Senorita," he said, "I ■will come again. Time may remove some of the obstacles between us." " It is well that this man Callaco has been captured," said a Spanish general to his adjutant a week later. "My nephew, Vincente de Seguera, sent a messenger to me with papers proving him rich, influential, and dangerous. His courage and ability have been amply proved. I put Vincente in command of the. detachment that I sent out, at his' suggestion, to take or kill the young scoundrel. They found him, accompanied only by one "soldier, near a stream .-where he had been bathing. Fortunately, lie was entirely unarmed, not having yet put on his belt, to which ,his machete was attached. Vincente found the belt, after he had Collaco bound, and kept hVas a memento, of the occasion. Ah, if we. can cage the leaders, we will stand a better chance of sub-

duing the followers! But what strength of purpose these dogs have I If our men fought with half their fury and determination, we would. nob have to spend so much time in doctoring reports before sending them to the press! " „ -"-' " But we must not forget that our soldiers have little to gain, and that these Cubans are fighting for their homes, for theix \»ives and children," said the Adjutant;. " And their country," said tbo General, scornfully. "They, the slaves, the labourers, the taxpayers, the chain-gang of Spain, presume to call Cuba theirs I But we have put this Collaco out of the way ! The damp stones of his dungeon in the Morro Castle may cool his ardour, and lizards and fiHmy crawling things, to share his meagre rations may bring him to the conclusion long before we have him shot that devotion to > Cuba Libre is not so fine a thing as it seemed -; » few weeks ago, when he and xiift victorious jffc£i««Ak marcke_djiajlyj]jr s^^

villages, or crawled like snakes through these accursed jungles, to shoot down our unsuspecting soldiers from under the cover of tree trunks and dense fern growths ! " De Seguera, with an excellent pretence tf sympathy, and substituting the name of a brother officer for his own, told Carlotta of Oollaco's imprisonment.

'■ And what reward do you expect for this from the Spanish Government, Captain de Seguero?" said Oarlotta. ''Do you delude yourself with the fancy that my woman's heart has not divined the truth? "

"Do not blame me, Senorita," said De Seguera, meeting her eyes unwaveringly. " 1 knew nothing of it until he was brought to Havana. Being there at the time, as you know, I confess that I had a natural curiosity to see .the man who had won the heart that

was so cold to me, and I visited him in prison. For your sake, I asked and obtained permission to take a message and a token from Callaco to one who was most deeply interested in him. He gave me this," handing lier Collaco's belt and machete. " I told him frankly that I wanted to marry you. He thought deeply for a moment, and then said : ' Tell her, captain, that I cannot bear to think of her living there alone with her one old servant ; that it is her duty to put herself under your honourable protection, and that I wish her to marry you. It is my love for her that prompts the wish.' " "It is false ! " cried Carlotta.

"He is wounded, he is ill," said De Seguera, ignoring her interruption, "he is in the most loathsome dungeon in that ' House of Horrors,' as some of our prisoners have been heard to call the Morro Castle ; he is forced to do the most revolting labour. Imagine him toiling up long, steep stairways carrying buckets filled with scraps from the meals of negro prisoners and straw from their discarded beds to empty over the sea wall ! " He paused a moment, studying her face, but save for her deadly pallor she showed no sign of feeling. " Senorita," he went on, " at the end cf three exhausting, degrading weeks — just three weeks from this day, he is sentenced to be shot. If you will consent to marry me, I promise that before noon to-morrow he shall be set free." Carlotta looked at him a moment with infinite contempt in her eyes. " And you think, Captain de Seguera," die said, " that Colonel Aiberico Collaco would have me make a prisoner — ah, far worse than

a prisoner — of myself, that he might be free? Is that the noble custom of the men of old Spain? Believe me, though it will be hard for your "mind to grasp, that I win his best commendation by preserving my own 'honour, even though, in so doing, I sacrifice his life."

De Seguera bowed. "You have set the seal on his doom, Senorita," he said, " and on your own. You will go with me when, at the end of this week, our regiment leaves for Havana." It was the evening of the day before De Seguera was to make good his threat of taking Carlotta away. The sea and the air were calm. A half moon, floated aniorig tbe scattered clouds and ciss wavering lights and shadows on the little white cottage on the lawn. Carlotta stood in the dark drawing room, buckling Collaco's belt about her waist. The weight of the machete dragged it down over her left hip. "Are you ready, Senorita?" whispered the old servant from the hall. " Yes, Maria," Carlotta answered, going to her and noiselessly opening the door that led to the porch. "Have you seen the boat? " "No," said Mafia, "I am afraid " " You have nothing to fear," said Carlotta. "The captain of that good ship will never fail us. What thanks we owe to heaven for being able to send him word! Keniember, the boat from the ship was not to come for us until 9 o'clock, and it is now only halfpast 8. The ship will probably stay well away from land, and the little boat will not be noticed in this uncertain light. Coxne, Maria, we must steal softly down to the water's edge — and now I will tell you a little plan of mine ; we will go out to meet the boat that is to come for us! Unless the

Spaniards have found them since this morning, my oars are where I hid them over a month ago, and the boat I am sure they have never found ; even you, Maria, thought that it had been washed away in a storm, but ft is safe! I put big stones in it, and sunk it under the overhanging cliff. We will have to work to get it out, but oh, what joy to do anything that speeds the moment of my escape from this murderous Spaniard ! " They glided under the trees down a short, steep path to the shore. Though Maria was old, she was strong, and she would not allow her mistress to help her in getting out the boat. "You may do this," said Carlotta, "and I will row. Even my dear brother yras not

you have it ready ! the oars in the locks. Now, you must climb" in first. No, you need not protest — it was ever the way in our family for the master to put his servants in a place of safety before he thought to save himself. What noise was that?"

She threw out her hand, commanding silence, and listened, trembling.

" All, Senorita," said Captain de Seguera, stepping from behind a clump of trees, " I have watched this pretty play for half an hour ; the devoted servant, the beautiful, brave young mistress, seeking to escape from a devoted lover! Surely you did not think that to-night I would leave you unguarded? Come 1 It will be safer to take you with me now than wait until to-morrow."

He went towards her, a confident, masterful smile on his face.

•' Aiberico I " Carlotta shrieked, -as she Started back,' instinctively calling on the man she loved.

There was a noise of crashing branches. Carlotta stood with staring eyes. Was this a miracle, or a vision conjured up by her excited brain? Aiberico Coilaco stood before her!

" Yes, it is I, Captain de Seguera ! " he said, facing the astounded Spaniard. "By having sentenced me to do manual labour, you paved the way for my escape! Tc brain the guard with his own gun — to leap from the sea-wall — were deeds easily done. From the terror in the Seriorita's voice when she called me, I judge that I am here none too snnn ! "

' You forget that you are unarmed, my boastful colonel ! " said De Seguera, drawing his pistol, his self-possession returning. There was a blending of relief and insolent assurance in his manner.

" But I am ! " cried Oarlotta. The machete flashed in the sudden moonlight. She struck De Seguera's hand a fierce blow, dashing his pistol to the ground. "It is yours, Aiberico," she said, thrusting the machete into his hand. " Take it ! He was going to drag me with him, Aiberico! " " The boat is coming ! " cried old Maria. "It is nearly heie ! "

Without a word, but with ths god-like fury of a man who avenges a great wrong done the woman he loves, Collaco thrust fche blade into De Seguera's heart. With a yell of pain the Spaniard fell, and Collaco, spent by his long journey, weak .from Jus wound and insufficient food, fell beside him.

"He has fainted ! " Carlotta exclaimed, bending over him. " But the boat is here ! Oh, good men, help me ? Lift this Cuban officer into your boat — quickly — before te can recover and forbid you ! We must take him away for a little while, even • though against his will — and when he is well again - — " she ian from his side, drew the machete from De Seguera's breast, and held it high above her head. "When he is well again, with my own hands I will buckle this about his waist, and wish him Godspeed when he comes back to fight for Cuba Libre!"