As Rodriguez’s eyes encountered the startled look in his daughter’s face, an expression of stern annoyance came into his own as he snapped the huge lids shut and rose to his feet.
“Why do you keep all that money here?” she asked anxiously.
Her father looked worried at the question.
“All the money I have is in those chests, daughter,” he answered in a low voice. “It has been buried, but when Garcia deserted me, Lopez and I dug it up and brought it in here. I fear these native banks, and if I should be robbed by the insurgents I would leave you and Juan penniless. My lands are valuable, but these,” pointing to the chests, “contain the most of my wealth. My ambition is to take my children abroad, away from this turmoil and strife where they can see the world and be educated in a way befitting the blood in their veins.”
Maria put her arms about the old man’s neck and kissed him fondly. “Father,” she began, her eyes smiling with happiness, “I came in to speak to you of the two young men who have just left us. Tell them of your troubles and I know they will be able to solve the difficulty.”
Rodriguez smiled sadly.
“Your knights, child, I see have already been endowed with magic powers,” he answered lovingly, patting her smooth black hair, “but we have a cruel and unscrupulous enemy against us, and I am sure by now he knows of the existence of this treasure. Garcia and I were the only ones who knew where it was buried, and I trusted him as a brother but he has deserted and betrayed me. Lopez is from the people, but his honesty and loyalty are beyond doubt. Captain Blynn knows that this money is here and has promised to send a company of soldiers to take it to safety in the government vaults at Palilo. I had hoped he would be here before now,” he ended in a worried tone.
“Why bury it?” Maria exclaimed. “Our American friends would gladly take it on the gunboat, where it will be perfectly safe.”
Rodriguez’s face lighted up.
“I will ask them to-morrow,” she added as she kissed her father in parting, “and now don’t lose any sleep over your troublesome gold.” She turned, a happy smile on her face, and glided noiselessly to the door, to enter her own room; she stopped and the smile froze on her face and the fear within her made her faint; she clutched reeling at the door and steadied herself. The face of a man had been pressed against the dark glass of the window in her room, and she knew instantly that he had seen through the opened door the three coveted chests of treasure. She passed her hands across her face in horror, hoping that it was but a trick of the imagination, conjured up by her anxiety. But no, the face had been too vividly distinct. As she had entered the darkness of her room, for an instant the light from her father’s lamp had been reflected on the intruder’s face, and in that terrible moment she had recognized her father’s former confidant, but now his enemy, Garcia. She stood panic-stricken, at a loss how to act. To give the alarm might insure her father’s death. Perhaps the enemy had made their way within and were at that very moment concealed in the great vacant rooms, lying hidden in the darkness waiting until the household were all asleep, and then murder and robbery would be their aim. If she told her father now, she knew that he would fearlessly and at once give the alarm and call for his armed men to protect him. Then a thought made the blood freeze in her veins, as her active mind sought for the means Garcia had employed to pass her father’s sentries. There could be but one solution. Garcia had sowed dissension among her father’s retainers. How many of his men could now be trusted? While she stood in terrified silence, a loud knock on the outside door caused her young body to tremble in mortal terror. What could it mean? Who would come at this hour in the morning? She saw her father make ready to answer, for the servants all slept in a house adjoining.