第68章

A MORE IMPORTANT ARRIVAL.

The Commander was the first to recover his presence of mind.

Taking the despatch from the hands of the unlooked-for husband of the woman he loved, he opened it with an immovable face and habitual precision.Then, turning with a military salute to the strangers, he bade them join him in half an hour at the Presidio;and, bowing gravely to the assembled company, stepped from the corridor.But Mrs.Markham was before him, stopped him with a gesture, and turned to her husband.

"James Markham--where's your hand?"

Markham, embarrassed but subjugated, disengaged it timidly from his wife's waist.

"Give it to that gentleman--for a gentleman he is, from the crown of his head to the soles of his boots! There! Shake his hand!

You don't get such a chance every day.You can thank him again, later."As the two men's hands parted, after this perfunctory grasp, and the Commander passed on, she turned again to her husband.

"Now, James, I am ready to hear all about it.Perhaps you'll tell me where you HAVE been?"There was a moment of embarrassing silence.The Doctor and Secretary had discreetly withdrawn; the Alcalde, after a brief introduction to Mr.Brimmer, and an incomprehensible glance from the wife, had retired with a colorless face.Dona Isabel had lingered last to blow a kiss across her fan to Eleanor Keene that half mischievously included her brother.The Americans were alone.

Thus appealed to, Mr.Markham hastily began his story.But, as he progressed, a slight incoherency was noticeable: he occasionally contradicted himself, and was obliged to be sustained, supplemented, and, at times, corrected, by Keene and Brimmer.Substantially, it appeared that they had come from San Francisco to Mazatlan, and, through the influence of Mr.Brimmer on the Mexican authorities, their party, with an escort of dragoons, had been transported across the gulf and landed on the opposite shore, where they had made a forced march across the desert to Todos Santos.Literally interpreted, however, by the nervous Markham, it would seem that they had conceived this expedition long ago, and yet had difficulties because they only thought of it the day before the steamer sailed; that they had embarked for the isthmus of Nicaragua, and yet had stopped at Mazatlan; that their information was complete in San Francisco, and only picked up at Mazatlan; that "friends"--sometimes contradictorily known as "he" and "she"--had overpowering influence with the Mexican Government, and alone had helped them, and yet that they were utterly dependent upon the efforts of Senor Perkins, who had compromised matters with the Mexican Government and everybody.

"Do you mean to say, James Markham, that you've seen Perkins, and it was he who told you we were here?""No--not HIM exactly."

"Let me explain," said Mr.Brimmer hastily."It appears," he corrected his haste with practical businesslike precision, "that the filibuster Perkins, after debarking you here, and taking the Excelsior to Quinquinambo, actually established the Quinquinambo Government, and got Mexico and the other confederacies to recognize its independence.Quinquinambo behaved very handsomely, and not only allowed the Mexican Government indemnity for breaking the neutrality of Todos Santos by the seizure, but even compromised with our own Government their claim to confiscate the Excelsior for treaty violation, and paid half the value of the vessel, besides giving information to Mexico and Washington of your whereabouts.

We consequently represent a joint commission from both countries to settle the matter and arrange for your return.""But what I want to know is this: Is it to Senor Perkins that we ought to be thankful for seeing you here at all?" asked Mrs.

Markham impatiently.

"No, no--not that, exactly," stammered Markham."Oh, come now, Susannah"--"No," said Richard Keene earnestly; "by Jove! some thanks ought to go to Belle Montgomery"--He checked himself in sudden consternation.

There was a chilly silence.Even Miss Keene looked anxiously at her brother, as the voice of Mrs.Brimmer for the first time broke the silence.

"May we be permitted to know who is this person to whom we owe so great an obligation?""Certainly," said Brimmer, "She was--as I have already intimated--a friend; possibly, you know," he added, turning lightly to his companions, as if to corroborate an impression that had just struck him, "perhaps a--a--a sweetheart of the Senor Perkins.""And how was she so interested in us, pray?" said Mrs.Markham,"Well, you see, she had an idea that a former husband was on board of the Excelsior."He stopped suddenly, remembering from the astonished faces of Keene and Markham that the secret was not known to them, while they, impressed with the belief that the story was a sudden invention of Brimmer's, with difficulty preserved their composure.But the women were quick to notice their confusion, and promptly disbelieved Brimmer's explanation.

"Well, as there's no Mister Montgomery here, she's probably mistaken," said Mrs.Markham, with decision, "though it strikes MEthat she's very likely had the same delusion on board of some other ship.Come along, James; perhaps after you've had a bath and some clean clothes, you may come out a little more like the man I once knew.I don't know how Mrs.Brimmer feels, but I feel more as if Irequired to be introduced to you--than your friend's friend, Mrs.

Montgomery.At any rate, try and look and behave a little more decent when you go over to the Presidio."With these words she dragged him away.Mr.Brimmer, after a futile attempt to appear at his ease, promptly effected the usual marital diversion of carrying the war into the enemy's camp.