The Flying Halcyon. A mystery of the Pacific Ocean ... New version

Front matter

ROUTLEDGE'S NEW SERIES OF SIX- SHILLING NOVELS. THE QUEEN OF ECUADOR. By R. M. Manley. THE PASSING SHOW. By Colonel Savage. BY RIGHT, NOT LAW. By R. H. Sherard. THE FLYING HALCYON. By Colonel Savage. STUCK UP. By Nat Gould. THE MYSTERY OF STEPHEN CLAVERTON & CO. SOMETHING OCCURRED. By B. L. Farjeon. TWIXT TWO ETERNITIES. By Mrs. R. K. Causton. GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, Limited, LONDON, MANCHESTER, AND NEW YORK. By the Author of "MY OFFICIAL WIFE." In Crown 8vo, sancy boards. IT E LITTLE LADY OP LAGUNITAS. A Franco-Californian Romance. PF.INCE SCHAMYL'S WOO'NG. A Story of the Caucasus — Russo-Turkish War. THE MASKED VENUS. A Story of Many Lands. DELILAH OP HARLEM. A Story of the New York City of To-Day. FOR LIFE AND LOVE. A Story ofthe Rio Grande. THE ANARCHIST. A Story of To- Day. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA.

A Tale of Tw» Countries. THE FLYING HALCYON. THE PASSING SHOW. IV_Y OFFICIAL WIFE. A MYSTERY OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN BY RICHARD HENRY SAVAGE Author of " My Official Wife " NEW VERSION COPYRIGHT LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, Limited BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL MANCHESTER AND NEW YORK 1894 {All Rights Reserved. ) heavier than a saluting battery. It cannot be helped ! I am glad you are next on the list, though." The speaker turned his eyes very kindly on his academy chum. In the morning of life, with everything bright before them, no two handsomer lads had ever donned the middy's jacket and sported the gold foul anchor than the young men now slowly reaching, at thirty-four, the coveted rank of Lieutenant-Commander. " You certainly will not resign ? " queried Wainwright, gazing at Goodloe, who was staring moodily out of the window.

" Promotion is certainly very slow, but you were born for the Navy. I do not wish to gain a file on you !" "The truth is that I hardly know what to do now, Harry," cried Goodloe. " I always thought that a man should be the sole master of his own destinies, but life as we live it is not the old story-book version. I am not free to choose. I do not wish to leave the Service, and yet I cannot throw the responsibility of my decision on any friendly adviser ; if I could, it would be you, old fellow ! " Goodloe smoked away in silence, until his alarmed class mate said hesitatingly : " See here, Basil, it's not about money, is it ? I should be insulted if you did not let me know, if you are in trouble." It was true that the millionaire Pennsylvania coal baron, who fondly cherished his son, Harry, as the future head of the Navy, stinted him in no reasonable use of the great wealth, buttressed on his "black diamond" hills.

Chapter II. Mateo Pesquiera's Messace

Basil Goodloe's heart was beating excitedly as he eyed the gay throngs pouring over the Place de l'Opera in Lutetia's chief stronghold of pleasure. The coupe soon traversed the brilliant " Vanity Fair," and reached Madame Delmar's beautiful home on the Boulevard Haussmann. Though he was going into the beloved presence, the officer thought, with a growing envy, of his departing friend's new rank. He could picture in his mind the trim cruiser " Ranger," every bluejacket at his station, sweeping out under the star flag, past the sea gates of our Pacific world. On that same snowy quarter-deck it was his legal place to stand and order the national ensign dipped in return for the salutation of the great castellated fort, with its grim cliff battery, showing the huge steel cannon behind their innocent looking grassy mounds.

The rows of gleaming guns, the long lines of bronzed seamen, with their springy sub-officers, the rise of the dainty craft in the long green swell, and the fresh embraces of a salt wind sweeping from far Japan, all thronged in his mind. " Well, I am glad, even as it is, that my mantle falls on Harry," he said, dismissing the cherished picture. " The MATEO PESQULERA'S MESSAGE. 23 present holds me now— the suture— whither will it lead me?" The obsequious concierge threw open both the doors at the sight of the " blue and gold " naval undress uniform, for Madame la Capitaine Delmar was a frequent guest of the fair widow, and many young French naval officers thronged Mrs. Delmar's parlours, not alone to pay their respects to a powerful Capitaine's wife, but also to steal glimpses of " La Belle Mexicaine," her lovely niece.

And the ardent Gallic mind had slyly magnified Mademoi selle Anita Delmar's " dot " till it towered over them as solid, even if as distant, as the pyramids. Ushered within the grand salon, Goodloe found Pauline Delmar there, awaiting him with impatience. And by her side the " one woman in the world " awaited her lover. While bending over the stately mother's hand in chivalric salutation, Basil Goodloe stole a glance at Anita's ex pressive eyes. They were filled with entreaty and repressed tenderness. " I have asked Madame Delmar to entertain our messen ger, Senor Andreas Vargas, for half an hour, while we tell you all the strange story of our Mexican partner. You can then converse guardedly with him," said the widow, as she welcomed her visitor. " I am so grateful for your coming. I should have telegraphed at once for Captain Delmar, but the fleet is now ' in grand manœuvres,' and he cannot leave his division.

You are so good to come to us ! " Basil, exchanging a few words with Miss Anita, said earnestly, as he gazed at her mother : " Pray, command me in any way in which I can be of use to you, Mrs. Delmar." " Then, my friend, I will read you first, Mateo Pesquiera's letter ! " said the mother. "After that, I will give you the grave news which the helpless Pesquiera dared not pen ! Though there is no Mexican Legation here, yet, their national spies abound in Paris, and we may be watched even now. I learn to-night for the first time, that the stake of this impending contest may be millions ! " As Mrs. Delmar rose and sought the desired letter in her cabinet, Basil Goodloe could well imagine the matchless beauty, which, at the culmination of the slavery days' glory, made Pauline Woodford, the star of Louisville's famed queens of beauty.

The years of her motherhood had given but regal touches of ripeness to her stately form, and her own dark beauty was to-day the heritage of the glowing heiress ofthe dead scientist. " I will read you the General's letter, Commander," said the widow, while Basil stole sly glances at his eagerly curious divinity. "Guaymas, March 15, 1SS1. " My Dear Madame, " This letter will be handed to you by Senor Andres Vargas, my foster brother. His father, Colonel Vargas, was Governor Pesquiera's chief military commander, and was killed in battle with the implacable Yaquis. It was from him that my father gained the first clue to those treasure stores which for years your husband and himself concealed from others' knowledge. Andres would be the first destined victim to Marquez's swift vengeance, if he remained in his power, as the tyrant would try to force from him what I alone know.

My doom, if any sudden MATEO PESQUIERA'S MESSAGE. 25 trouble comes, would be at first only prison, his would be instant death ! He will deliver to you the valuable deposit which I wrote of last year. I enclose a sealed list and description of it. Half of the proceeds I wish to be deposited in the bank of France in Dolores' name, with you as her trustee. The other half is naturally yours. Senor Vargas knows not the location of the mine, neither one other important secret business matter which is for yoa and your daughter alone. I have provided for the safety of that by the deposit of a sealed letter to your address, with the Archbishop of San Francisco, to be delivered only in the case of my death. The beloved Archbishop Alemany was always a dear and tried friend of my lamented father. I have sent to him the pictures of yourself and your daughter which you sent last year.

If you can do so, you should come on at once to San Francisco. Beware of the sly Mexican Consul there ! You will know when you arrive there of all current events in Sonora. If my enemy Marquez overthrows me, it will only be by intrigues at the city of Mexico. I dare not fly, for that would be to imperil all our fortunes. With the greatest prudence, I may pass safely through a term of temporary confinement, and if forced to save myself at the last, I can treat with him. I can not hope to conquer him. - If I should die, your letters with the Bishop will then tell you all. If I am alive, and merely confined, you should at once try and reach me in any way you can, for, through you alone, could I hope to effect a reasonable adjustment, or, with my jailer, effect my final escape. " You can use the entire deposit of funds I have made at the Bank of France in my behalf and to effect my escape.

Hear Andres, and then decide for yourself. He should not be allowed to come back, for even at San Francisco he would not be safe. He is too well known there, as he was educated at Santa Clara College, in California. The wily Marquez has bankers, business agents, and many spies in San Francisco, who would thwart his every effort. You are personally unknown to them, also your child. I would also suggest a change of name. I fear to advise you to come to Guaymas, but the fortune which you might lose by my death is a grave ioducement to take the risk. You however need a friend, brave, loyal, wise, and he must be a stranger at Guaymas ! Andres will notify you of every past movement here. We have also arranged ciphers for future telegrams. If I am seized, personally, it will be to be only carefully guarded at present and watched.

I shall not try an armed revolution. The Central Government is far too strong, and your fortune would be sunk forever in my own ruin. Hear him, and and then act for yourself. I am actuated by no personal fear. Be wise, and above all, beware whom you trust. Silence and discretion ! " Loyally and devotedly, dear Madame, Your partner, " Mateo Pesquiera." " That is the whole letter ! " said Pauline Delmar, " and the verbal message is still stranger in its purport. Before I weary you with it, I will tell you that Senor Vargas arrived here this afternoon, and secretly received, before MATEO PESQULERA'S MESSAGE. 27 coming to me, a cipher cable dispatch from the only true Mexican friend now left us, the Bishop of Guaymas. It read : — " Mateo is now closely imprisoned at the Castle in Ures. No immediate danger.

Marquez in full power. He has been regularly appointed Governor. Help needed." " Now, Commander ! " said the widow, " I am in search of that one friend who will be brave, loyal, and wise ! I will unfold all my heart secrets to you. I know that I can trust your honour. But I fear you can do but little. You are tied down to your profession. I dare not trust to any stranger. I also doubt all hirelings. 1 have, alas ! neither brother nor son ! Death cruelly robbed me of my dear husband. The sad Civil War swept away all the men of the Woodford race in the bloody border feuds of dark Kentucky. I am helpless and alone in the world ! " There were unshed tears lurking in the beautiful widow's wistful eyes as she murmured, "I only feel now what I lost in Achille's death ! " Basil Goodloe instantly forgot all the prudent counsels of that astute young sea lawyer, Harry Wainwright, who was now joyously speeding towards Calais, with a hastily caught up outfit of bad French novels, worse Cognac and the most execrable cigars.

A truly Parisian outfit ! Goodloe's eyes met the pleading glances of the excited Anita, who was now leaning forward with the glowing roses on her fair cheeks blushing their very brightest crimson. "Mrs. Delmar! I can not pledge myself to be wise or brave beyond other men, but I can at least be true in this your hour of need," the young Commander slowly said. THE FLYLNG HALCYON. 28 " I have just received my year's leave of absence, and I will at once escort you to San Francisco, if you desire, and as I have two tried friends there, men of my own class, I may be able to help you to rescue your partner. I apprehend from his letter that he wishes to finally save his own fortune by making terms, and to secure you also in all your rights, thus giving to your daughter her hidden heritage. Tell me all the hidden details of the message !

" Mrs. Delmar rose and clasped Goodloe's hands in joy. " Dear friend ! my heart grows light when I hear you speak thus ! But can I accept your counsels, your proffered heart service ? You have a home, devoted friends, and you have been years away ! How can I ever repay you ? " There was a semblance of a blush on the gallant Good loe's sea-browned cheeks, as he said simply, " My beautiful old ' Graystone ' is sadly lonely now. My parents are not divided in death, for they sleep quietly side by side in the lonely churchyard of the Manor ! And I was an only child ! So I am free to go on this quest with you, for the hearthstone at the Hall has been cold these many years. My noble father died when I was away on the China station, and my home coming was only to see my dear mother's eyes close in resignation, when she followed him two years later.

It is a dear old home, but the night winds there are now fraught only with memories and sighs ! " Goodloe saw a gleam of answering sympathy in the lonely widow's kindly eyes. " I shall then tell you all ! You can think all this strange story over to-night, and by to-morrow, give us calmly your final decision ! But, while I insist that I shall be your banker, and give you carte blanche in what you decide to do for us, what suture recompense can I hope to give you?" " Let the suture decide that ! When I have established the slightest claim on your kindness, it will be time for such thoughts ! " said Goodloe, gravely. " We must not lead the high fates ! Let us now labour only to secure your vast interests and rescue Senor Pesquiera from his victorious political foe ! " It was not strange that Mrs. Pauline Delmar, in her many harassing anxieties, failed to see the glad light quickly springing into Anita's eyes.

To the sweet girl, the man whose strong arm saved her from the green cruel depths of the ocean, was peerless in his might among men ! And so Basil Goodloe became a knight to bounden fealty sworn ! " I shall send Senor Vargas for safety down to Toulon, where he can join Captain Delmar as his personal guest on the ' Insurgente,' after we have deliberated," thoughtfully said Mrs. Delmar, " and Madame Delmar can offer him a quiet home later, after we go away. He can obtain the captain's advice and views and can move freely everywhere, save to appear openly at the city of Mexico or in San Francisco, as an agent of Mateo Pesquiera. As for my dead husband's imperilled associate, he shall be aided, if human devotion can help him ! " The spirited daughter of Kentucky spoke with flashing eyes, for beauty and courage were the twin heritages of her own gallant race.

Seated at a table with maps and memoranda ready, the three allies carefully followed the story which had been told by Vargas. " It seems that my husband acquired a wonderful in fluence in his early travels among the Yaqui Indians, before our marriage. That mystic tribe, which is one of the linger ing offshoots of the Aztecs have never yielded to the sway of Mexicans. Their wild territory in Sonora is practically still unexplored, and it covers the whole valley of the great Yaqui river, which flows into the Gulf of California, only twenty miles from Guaymas. The mountain ranges and fastnesses around them are veritable treasure houses, and this strange, unconquered people still defiantly hold the modern Mexicans at arm's length. They yet remember the bloody incursions of the followers of murderous Cortez, who came in with the cross of fire and the bloody sword.

From 1735 to 1841, the whole Mexican military power has fiercely waged a futile war against this gallant native people. They are as brave as the Aracaunians, as true woodsmen as the Circassian mountaineers, and as noble in the defence of their native land. The old Aztec secrets, guarded by their tribal love, are still carefully handed down through families of haughty chiefs. Their unknown land has never been mapped out, they are proof against all modern progress, powder, and commercial wiles, and are still sternly resent ful towards the blood-stained hands held out by 'Christian' officials. Their skill in partisan warfare is only equalled by their dauntless courage and their unmatched wiles. " With traditional arts and a semi-civilization of their own, with a rude knowledge of mining and farming, they live gloomily in the shadows of a mystic past.

Pesquiera the great Governor, alone, of all the Mexican intruders, ever guided even an orderly retreat from their dark groves, and Achille Delmar was the only white man of his time who was able to be passed on in safety from Yaqui village to village. His gentle nature, his skill in medicine and amateur surgery, his knowledge of our practical scientific marvels, and his perfect trust in them, made him beloved by the high-souled copper-hued chiefs of the strange old race. " In gratitude, to him alone was given the priceless secret of the existence of a wonderful deposit of the richest gold ore, not far from the sea port of Guaymas ! Its very existence was long successfully concealed, for their hoary grandfathers had told the young princes of the Yaques cf the accursed lust of the Spanish race for their useless gold !

To Achille Delmar alone was ever intrusted this precious local secret, and he, only, obtained the one right recognized by the whole nation, to bear away the yellow treasure in peace. " With a commendable sagacity, my husband never imparted his compact to any one but his friend Governor Pesquiera, and even with him, he made the solemn pact that the Yaquis should never be harried by army incursions as long as they held their mountain lines on north and south, as a peaceful dividing line. The Indians, with an unsullied tribal honor, at once ceased all reprisals, and the Mexican Government has, ever since then, been glad to accept this tacit truce. To Pesquiera's son and my husband's heirs the secret of the gold caverns has alone descended ! The tribes have carefully hidden the entrances to th. mines in their own mysterious ways !

" " It is a strange story, this record of a quaint friendship I" remarked Goodloe, as Mrs. Delmar paused. " Strange, indeed ! " rejoined the beautiful widow. " The Yaquis are the last unconquered descendants of the old Aztecas. They have held the beautiful lake country and mountains, between the Metape, Yaqui and Mayo Rivers, since their ancestors, the old classic Mexicans, separated in 1160 from the main body of the strange northern migration. " They worship to-day the same awful god whose wooden image was set up at Culiacan in the twelfth century, when the five other tribes pushed eastward to the valley of Mexico ! "From what distant northern country they came, whether from Asia, in their three thousand mile march, ... no one to-day knows but the union of the Aztecas and Toltecans who were pushed down a thousand years before them, gave to tropical Mexico a new dominant race.

The old stone temple builders never reached further north than Yucatan. Their primal route has never been traced. " Now, Colonel Vargas alone accompanied my husband in his mysterious secret dealings with the mystic guardians of our strangely acquired fortune. It was like rubbing Aladdin's magical lamp ! Governor Pesquiera, always sagacious and watchful, concealed this source of secret income during his life, to prevent local envy or forced con tributions to the greedy national authorities at the City of Mexico. Achille," she sighed, "as he grew older, promised to impart to me the details of the whole weighty secret. But I only know, alas ! that the product was in rudely smelted gold bars, and that the two partners gradually MAIEO PESQUIERA'S MESSAGE. 33 changed these at Guaymas for silver eagle dollars, which were then at a great premium for the Chinese and East Indian trade.

In this prudent way, a part of the treasure was used, and all the remaining gold bullion was gradually sent out to Europe by the foreign trading firms. " After the great Governor's death, my dear husband, wrote me that his son Mateo was the only living sharer of the precious secret. Busied here, in Paris, with Anita's education, I can only recall his brief references to secret meetings with the chiefs ; to the annual supplies quietly furnished to the tribes through Governor Pesquiera ; and to his own necessary solitary visits to the trackless wilds of the Yaqui fastnesses to smelt out roughly the selected ores quietly gathered in the silent hills by these friendly gnomes." " But can any one else now carry on this strange inter course for you?" doubtfully queried Goodloe. The relation sounded like a fairy tale !

This mysterious, tacit partnership of a modern French savant with the stern unyielding red men of the Yaqui caves. " The gravest part of all is to come now ! " said Pauline Delmar, " Mateo has always hidden or kept concealed a vast hoard of silver dollars which he quietly assembled for regular final export on our joint account. This is temporarily safe, he sends word — for it has finally been successfully removed from the mainland to one of the wild lonely Islands of the Gulf. My letters with the Archbishop will give me a clue to effect its safe removal at a later day, even should the worst come ! But the great prize for which Jose Marquez struggles is another secret hoard of the rough gold bars of the Yaquis ! Sly, old General Pesquiera forced i. my husband, who was entirely in his power, to allow a large sum in gold to remain always hidden in Guaymas to ensure Pesquiera's future comfort in Europe, should he be driven out by any sudden tumult or local conspiracy.

He furnished troops — and gave a safe conduct to the simple goods needed by the Yaqui chiefs. He also kept all official hostile movements away from the secretly agreed on neutral line. In return for this help, without which, Achille could not have carried on this friendly intercourse, he '"orced my husband to let his own half of this reserved gold hoard lie in his hands, as a guarantee of no injurious foreign scheming, and of Achille's personal silence. It was held as a bond of mutual confidence. Often, poor Achille has told me, 'My Anita's "dot" will be that of a royal princess ! It is safe in the hands of myself and Pesquiera, as a joint secret deposit of equal shares.' Alas ! Death has now sealed both their lips. The friends died loyal and true to their weird allies, faithful to each other, and the secret of the hidden deposit is locked up now in Mateo Pesquiera's bosom.

" He says that the wild tumult raised by Marquez follows a coolly plotted conspiracy at the City of Mexico. Even as guarded as the friends were in their movements, their heavy money handling at last aroused the jealousy of the local foreign merchants, and also the bitter popular hatred of Pesquiera, who was on all sides openly accused of officially robbing the taxes. To invest all these finds there safely was impossible ! Land, horses, and cattle are worth almost nothing in the undeveloped State of Sonora. They could not both of them leave Mexico and abandon the priceless ' Golden Fleece ' they were quietly sharing every year ! Hiding some of their profits and keeping the rest of the silver treasured up, ready to buttress up Pesquiera's personal power, they tried also to secure, as another means of concealing their wealth, the whole pearl product of the Gulf.

" Here is the rich burden which has made loyal Andres Vargas sleepless since it was entrusted to him!" Mrs. Delmar then rose and led the astonished naval officer to a desk from whence she took out a carefully made wooden casket. Opening it, she extracted several packages of folded papers, where, in folds of fleecy cotton, laid a mass of suberb pearls of graded sizes, some fit to shine in an Empress crown, and all worthy to rise and fall on the peerless bosom of beauty. " They are all duly listed, and marked, and the package has been carefully valued ! " said the widow. " It shall be your care, my friend, to deliver them to my banker to-morrow, and to order their realization forthwith in the markets of London, Paris, and Amsterdam. I have to-night my faithful guardians here, two of Captain Delmar's most trusty old sailor veterans," concluded the speaker, noting Goodloe's apprehensive glances.

It was a great risk to take ! For Paris, polite Paris, has its dangers to friend and foe ! " What is your present plan of action ? " said Basil, then most adroitly seating himself beside pretty Anita, whose girlish mind was at that particular moment wistfully calculating the exact number of these lovely blue-white pearls which would be needed to encircle her own neck three times ! n " Of course, my friend," said Mrs. Delmar, " Mateo Pesquiera ardently wishes his liberty and the preservation of his strange birthright. He hopes that I will now be able to smuggle in, unobserved by Marquez, some resolute stranger who will manage to reach his guarded prison chamber. I shall at once go on to San Francisco so as to be able to act promptly should the worst befall. But a policy of firmness, a waiting patience, and, perhaps, the judicious use of my money at the City of Mexico, may bring about his enlarge ment.

He trusts moreover to the Yaquis, who still sacrifice to their grim idols of a thousand years, the palpitating hearts of war prisoners, as a barrier to keep the Mexicans away from the mines for years ! If our stern enemy, Marquez, should die, the storm would soon blow over. Mateo dares not trust his able enemy with any semi confidence. Jose Marquez would coolly shoot him, under due forms of law, and then enjoy alone the whole inheri tance ! " Moreover, Mateo's sweet child, Dolores, is now in the convent at Guaymas, under the care of the good Sisters, and secretly guarded by the dreaded power of Mother Church, wielded by calm Bishop Dominguez. The first practical labour now before us is the removal of the secret hoard of coined Mexican dollars, now hidden on the Gulf islands ; the next, will be to ensure the safety of Dolores, who will be properly cared for by the Archbishop of San Francisco ; and lastly, if we reach poor Pesquiera to try and use the treasure already removed to bring about Marquez's downfall.

Last, and most important, the strictest secret watch must be kept over the hidden golden ingots, and if no favourable scheme succeeds to liberate our friend, at once, to effect the skilful bearing off of the bars, and to adroitly bargain from a safe shore for the release of Mateo. This would be only our last resort, for his assisted flight might be construed by the National Government as a con fession of crime, and a perpetual outlawry be then decreed against our poor friend. My hands are tied, if I try to act alone. But can I accept your generous offer?" " When do you wish to leave? "asked Goodloe. " As soon as you have safely deposited the pearls. Twenty-four hours then is all I wish," answered Mrs. Delmar. " I will fight to the bitter end for Anita's dowry." "Then let us leave Senor Vargas here openly.

I will also go on the same trains and boat to New York with you. I can easily, there, take up my role of a naval officer on his usual leave. At San Francisco we will deliberate and decide on the next steps." " Now, my noble friend," said the grateful mother, I place all in your hands. " I will call in Andres Vargas. He will describe to you in detail the general situation at Guaymas, and, as he will not be an active member of our invading army," she smiled brightly, "you need not tell him all our future plans of action. We will inform him later by letter of our assumed names, and he can then leisurely move on to Toulon, and after that, staunch Captain Delmar will wisely direct him." " One moment, please ! " said Goodloe, for his merry friend Wainwright's face suddenly rose up before him. In brief words, he recounted the future availability of his naval academy chum as an independent commander.