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], 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], twin brother to Alvarado[40].
“That’s what I mean. Do you, Senor Solano, have plenty of saddle horses[41]? Good. And you, Alesandro[42], 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].
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]. 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] in this city?”
“There are many Romeros in Panama,” laughed Pedro Zurita[46], the assistant jailer[47]. 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], 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
Ricardo – Риккардо
Martinez Solano – Мартинес Солано
Alvarado – Альварадо
saddle horses – верховые лошади
Alesandro – Алесандро
to check the horse – сдержать лошадь
Leopoldo Narvaez – Леопольдо Нарваэс
Tomas Romero – Томас Ромеро
Pedro Zurita – Педро Зурита
assistant jailer – помощник начальника тюрьмы
Ignacio – Игнасио
