An American

by Belle Willey Gue

CHAPTER XI

Tessa was very much distressed as to the condition of Manuello and, feeling that he depended upon her alone, cast about in her mind as to how she could assist him; to begin with, she was anxious about the heavy handcuffs hanging to his poor wrist, as she put it in her gentle thoughts of the man whom she suspected of being a murderer; if, however, the charge against him were true, she felt that the crime was committed in the heat of a jealous passion, and being what she was, herself, she excused it for that reason, for a Cuban girl is apt to love as madly and as unreasonably as any man ... to her, Manuello was almost a demi-god ... it had been a hard trial for the little woman to give him up to Estrella, even, and, now that he was in dire need and the girl of his first choice had deliberately deserted him, it seemed to her as if she had the right to let her own wild love guide her in all that she did with regard to him.

She was slowly retracing her steps to her own home with the intention of getting some supplies and managing to evade the vigilance of the rest of her family sufficiently to carry them to the man she loved ... her eyes were directed to the path along which she walked, idly, yet, all at once, those dark eyes lighted up with sudden joy and she hastily swooped down, like a fluffy little bird upon a morsel of food, and took into her hand a small and intricate-patterned key; she hoped that this was the key that would unlock the hated manacles from Manuello's wrist and, regarding this as a good omen, she concealed the little deliverer in her bosom, tying it in the corner of the kerchief that was crossed upon her breast.

When Tessa had secured what necessities she found available on the spur of the moment, she at once concealed them as far as possible and prepared to ascend the side of the hill toward the ruined hut where Manuello had directed her to come; her heart was fluttering wildly for this was her first secret mission, as she had always had someone near her during her short life on earth: she wound her way among the cactus plants that covered the ground in almost all directions, with an unerring instinct that was of more value to her than any education could have been for the moment, for one unaccustomed to the wild cacti in Cuba might, easily, become bewildered, as it is necessary to walk almost in circles among the thick clumps of prickly foliage.

Tessa was young, but the women of Cuba, like those of most tropical countries, mature early in life, and she already had the strong maternal instinct that is a part of normal womanhood; this instinct now directed her to watch over Manuello as if he were, indeed, her child, instead of the man to whom she had given the first wild love of her fiery nature; for women are made that way ... no matter what their own body may demand of them, it is as natural for them to put all personal feeling aside and allow a higher, more unselfish love to rule them entirely, as it is for a man to, first gratify his own desires, and, then, if so be he can without inconvenience to himself in any way, minister to the wants of the woman in the case, all well and good, but if, on the contrary, to care for the woman would, in any way, cause him to exercise self-control and self-sacrifice, why, of course, he seeks another woman as soon as he can well rid himself of the one who has flouted him; I am now speaking of the general run of men ... there are exceptions to this rule, of course, just as there are exceptions to the rule just stated regarding women ... not all women are as little Tessa was, but most of them are and it is indeed fortunate for the world of men and women that this is as it is ... wonderful beyond the ways of human beings is the love of a pure woman ... wonderful and worthy of the highest respect and devotion of any man is the almost angelic love that women often bestow on most unworthy objects.

It was so in this case, for, while the girl was winding among the cacti that hindered her advance up the hill, the man was lying in a miserable heap in the corner of the deserted hut, cursing not only his own hard luck, but even the girl on whom he depended for sustenance and care; with maledictions on his tongue and the heavy manacles on his wrist, and with the increasing pain and torment of his undressed wound, the poor fellow was far from appearing much as had the gay peasant who had congratulated himself on having escaped from prison, and, at the same time, having rid himself of his rival in the affections of Estrella, who, now, seemed lost to him.

When the girl reached the ruined hut she found the object of her loving care under the circumstances described above, and it took all of her courage to face the situation alone and unaided by surgical skill for they both realized that discovery would be almost certain to be fatal to the man who now lay groaning and cursing by turns, even while his ministering angel in human form knelt at his side and unlocked the handcuffs from his wrist, for, luckily, she had happened upon the very means of deliverance from the manacles for which they had both longed; then Tessa gathered dead palm branches with which she fashioned a rude bed for the sufferer, after which she raised his head upon a small pillow which she had thoughtfully brought with her, for she was a sturdy little peasant and could act as a beast of burden without harm to herself; having fixed him up as comfortably as she could, under the hard circumstances, she insisted upon his eating and drinking some of the refreshments she had carried up the hill for him; she had used what skill she had in bathing and binding the wounded leg, and, as the bullet had gone clear through, there was little else to do so far as that was concerned; then they began to consult as to what method of procedure would be best for them to take; in this, of course, Manuello thought only of himself, as was natural to a man of his type, while little Tessa, as was also natural to one of her trusting and loving disposition, also thought only of his comfort and safety.

"I must come to you each day until the wound heals, my dear Friend," said the earnest little woman. "I must bring you what you will need and I must be very careful not to be detected in doing this. I wish ..." she ended, earnestly, "I wish that dear Estrella could come and see you for it would do you more good than anything that I can do for you."

"You are a darling little girl, Tessa," said her turbulent patient. "You ought to satisfy any reasonable man; Estrella don't care anything at all about me, and I am beginning to think that I can get along without her as long as I can have you."

The adoring look in his dark eyes as he said these words was like manna in the wilderness to little Tessa, for she could not help being pleased to think that, after all, maybe Manuello would fix his affections upon her small person, since Estrella had so often flouted him and shown him plainly by her great preference for Victorio that she did not love him; the name she had just used in her thoughts brought up the hateful suspicion aroused in her by the remarks of the Irishman who had seemed, at first glance, to be a Spaniard, but who, as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, proved his nationality beyond the shadow of a doubt.