“Gracious!” exclaimed Chase.
“I’ll jump out of the window and run if you will,” continued Wilson.
With a common impulse the two boys arose from their seats and moved across the floor on tiptoe; but just as Chase placed his hands on the window-sill preparatory to springing out, the door suddenly opened, and three negroes came in—one bringing a small table, and each of the others carrying a tray filled with dishes and eatables on his head. So sudden was their entrance that the boys did not have time to retreat to their chairs, and Chase remained standing with his hands on the window-sill, gazing steadily out into the sugar-field as if he saw something there that interested him very much, while Wilson, with his hands clasped behind his back, and his head turned on one side, appeared to be lost in admiration of a picture that hung on the wall.
The boys stood in these positions until they were aroused by a tap on the shoulder. They turned to find themselves alone with one of the negroes, and to see the table spread in front of a window, and loaded with a most tempting display of viands. They did not wait for a second invitation. They had taken no breakfast; there was no knowing when and where they would obtain another meal; and there was no reason why they should go hungry even if they were in trouble. No one, to have seen them at the table, would have imagined that they were under any apprehensions of danger, for the way the eggs and toast disappeared was wonderful; but in the midst of their enjoyment, and before their appetites were half appeased, the door was suddenly thrown open and Don Casper entered pale and breathless.
“The patrol!” he almost gasped. “It is just as I feared it would be. You have been seen and followed, and if you are found here, I am ruined. No time is to be lost. Come with me immediately.”
The man spoke so hurriedly and brokenly that the boys could not understand all he said, and consequently they were at a loss to determine what the danger was that threatened them. But the expression on the face of their host warned them that there was something amiss; and without stopping to ask questions, they caught up their hats and followed him from the room. As they were hurrying along the hall, they glanced toward the gate and, through a dense cloud of dust, raised by a multitude of horses’ hoofs, they caught a partial glimpse of a squadron of troopers who were galloping into the yard. And these were not the only soldiers upon the premises, as they found when they reached the door which opened upon the back verandah. There was another squad of cavalrymen approaching along the lane that led to the negro quarters. The house was surrounded.
“Gracias á Dios!” ejaculated the Don, turning ghastly pale.
“What’s the matter?” asked Wilson, innocently. “We have done nothing wrong, and we are not afraid of the patrols.”
“Nothing wrong!” the Don almost shrieked. “Is it nothing to smuggle cases of arms into a country in a state of rebellion?”