Charlotte B. Herr

“ Shrill voices of women mingled with the crackling of freshly kindled fires. A canoe, pushed hastily into the water, grated harshly on the pebbles. Still the maiden did not stir. Leaning against the rocky ledge, her chin in her hands, she gazed listlessly out over the shining sea. If any interests lived for her among the dark-skinned people beneath the cliffs, for the moment at least she gave no sign.
Then, suddenly, above the ordinary din of the Indian village, rose the hoarse shouting of men. Wildenai lifted her eyes,—eyes that widened first with wonder, then with fear. ”

“ To all of it the princess listened with fast-beating heart and a desire, ever growing, to make herself a place in this splendid stranger's world. Was not she then, also, the daughter of a king? Yet how different and how unimportant beside that wonderful woman of whom he spoke! For father she boasted the great chief Torquam, feared by every tribe in the north and rich because of the gold hidden in many a canyon among the distant mountains; yet her woman's instinct told her that to this proud Englishman her people were at best little more than a curiosity, almost, indeed, a cause for laughter. ”

“ Far beneath her the noisy breakers spilled in liquid silver on the beach. Above their musical booming no other sound could be heard. Then suddenly she saw him. A tiny boat it was, tossing dangerously close to the great rounded boulder which, together with a still larger one from which it had at some distant time been broken off, formed the outermost boundary of the curving Beach of Moons. The dark figure standing erect in the boat strove with the aid of an oar to keep it from being dashed to pieces against the giant rock. ”

“ The world is always loveliest while it lies waiting for the sun!”
That day, perhaps, from among them all, lived longest within the memory of young Harold,—the porpoises playing fearlessly around her canoe as the princess, with graceful, effortless strokes, paddled around one after another of the pointed tongues of rock; the flying fish, skimming the surface of the ocean until, by virtue of their speed alone, they rose like gleaming bows of silver from the foam. ”

“ Hurrying along the beach at sunset only a few days later, Wildenai caught the first glimpse of the returning vessel as it stole around a distant point. For the space of a second her heart stood still, then throbbed wildly, but whether with joy or pain she could not herself have told. One question only demanded all her thought. Should she let Lord Harold know? Perhaps the great white captain would not remember their bay. Perhaps,—her breath came fast,—perhaps the ship, unseen by anyone, would pass and Lord Harold remain behind content. ”

“ Nor did any member of the tribe forget in his own crude fashion to deck himself for the occasion. The warriors adorned their heads with feathers and daubed their cheeks and lips with ochre. The women clothed themselves in loose-hanging tunics of doeskin girt with strings of wampum, and hung about their tawny shoulders the lovely greens and blues of uncut turquoise. Meanwhile, also, the great chief Torquam donned his ceremonial dress, a string of eagle feathers held by the crimsoned quills of the porcupine and extending down his back until almost it touched the ground. ”

“ Then, noting her puzzled, downcast face, with the impulsive changeableness which had so endeared him to her, he caught one little brown hand and raised it to his lips.
“But I do love thee even as thou art, my Wildenai,” he told her with the careless assurance of one much older speaking to a child. “Is not a wild rose sweet as any garden bloom? Nay, methinks 'tis often sweeter!”
Again he laughed and the little princess laughed with him now, for into her heart at his words had come a happiness so unlooked for and so wildly sweet as wholly to bewilder her. ”

“ Yet instantly he laid it aside as the slender form of his daughter darkened the doorway.
“Ah, Wildenai, little wild rose, welcome art thou as sunshine after rain!” His eyes lighted with the tenderness never seen there by any other than this motherless girl. He stretched his hand to her and the princess came silently and knelt before him.
“My father,” she said firmly, though in so low a tone that Torquam bent to hear. “Oh, father, thou art always wise! Thou only knowest best. I come to thee to tell that I will wed Cabrillo. I will wed with him whenever thou dost choose!” ”

“ With wildly beating heart the young girl watched the vessel tack to clear the long curve of the coast. But once before in all her life had she seen such another monster winged canoe, and that had been when Senor Don Cabrillo first cast anchor in the Bay of Moons below, now almost a year ago. For many a week had the young man lingered, renewing the friendship with the Mariposa cemented more than eighteen years before when his father, hindered by storms in his adventurous journey up the coast, cast anchor off the shore,—the first white man to see their island. ”

“ She even laughed carelessly.
“Men are so impatient,” she teased, “But we'll go today.”
Nevertheless, it was not until the rose of sunset rested among the hills that at last they found themselves on the crest of the tall cliff which commanded so wide a stretch of the ocean and the shimmering valleys below.
“It reminds one of the Bay of Naples,” observed Blair, pausing to scan the rocky coastline against which, far beneath them, the foaming breakers threw themselves. He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked far out to sea. “What a wonderful place for a watch tower it would have made!” ”

“ He was the first to speak when they struck again into the main trail.
“I wished for something about a rose, a wild rose,—want to guess?” He eyed her mischievously.
“Hush,—mustn't tell!” she laughed. “Your wish won't come true if you tell.” Then, for no reason at all, she blushed.
Never, in truth, during her twenty-three years of working, and scrimping, and going without, had life shown to the little art teacher so fair and generous a side, seemed so extravagantly joyous an affair as during that magic week. The spending of money, it was easy to see, meant little or nothing to Blair. ”

“ Strings of Japanese lanterns bobbed merrily above the narrow village streets. Everywhere were laughter and movement and color from the bathing beaches, dotted with gay umbrellas—even to the last yacht anchored round the point.
To the man making slow progress down the crowded wharf from the afternoon boat this holiday world into which he thus suddenly stepped, presented an appearance so different from that he had pictured as almost to bewilder him. At sight of the jaunty little motorbus waiting to haul him up the winding grade to the hotel, he actually hesitated. ”

“ That very afternoon she would finish her sketch of the cavern. Then tomorrow she would go back to Pasadena and the long gray round of work. Desolately she wandered up the secret trail to Wildenai's bower. Never had her sympathy for the deserted princess been so keen. Perhaps, she mournfully considered, if the spirit of the Indian maiden still lingered there it might feel sympathy for her as well. Perhaps she, too, would find comfort in the spot where that other woman had paid an equal price for her impulsiveness. ”

“ For this was not the clumsy Spanish galleon she remembered. The prow was not nearly so high, nor was the incoming vessel as large in any respect as had been that other. Yet, though fear died, wonder grew. What new variety of strangers, then, was about to visit them? For that the ship intended to anchor she was by this time sure. Steadily it bore on until within a scant half mile of the crescent shaped beach where lay the royal village of the tribe. At length, as if in fear to trust themselves closer to the rocky shore, the crew were seen to bring the vessel sharply about. ”

“ That night, while the rain tapped softly at her tepee, the princess dreamed of a wondrous land beyond the sea where proudly she walked by her white chief's side and fair women with braided, golden hair spoke kind words of welcome, smiling at her out of sweet blue eyes. ”

“ Into this boat immediately several sailors swung themselves and after a short delay, amidst the shouting of the Indians, now running in wild excitement up and down the beach, the men picked up their oars and started for the land.
“Alla-hoa, Wildenai!”
Up the stony trail leading to her cavern scrambled an Indian runner, a lithe youth who flung himself breathless at her feet.
“Thy father, oh princess, sends me to summon thee to his lodge. Strangers,—paleface strangers,—enemies, who can tell, are coming. See,—the ship!” ”

“ He seemed amused. “But what hast thou to pray for, oh fair princess?”
Her cheeks glowing with quick color, she replied: “It were not fitting that any maiden tell for what she prays!”
The words were spoken with such gravity that the young man flushed under the rebuke.
When she left him at the doorway of the cavern that evening she said as she made a gay little gesture of farewell: “Today the land, but tomorrow we shall find still more beautiful things that lie hidden under the deep waters. You shall see!” ”

“ The princess laughed softly.
“He does not know you yet,” she defended her pet. “He will soon learn to love you, too.”
“I will catch fish with thee next time thou goest,” declared young Harold later as they ate together. “There's no reason I can see why I should stay mewed up forever in this cave. I fear not Indians! No, not even Torquam, thy father, himself.”
For an instant Wildenai seemed alarmed. Then she laughed.
“You are afraid of nothing. I knew it!” she exclaimed with pride. “Nor would there be much danger. ”

“ Wildenai made obeisance and for a brief moment the two surveyed each other in silence. Then,
“It is well thou art come, my beloved one,” spoke the chief. “Stranger pale-faces will soon be amongst us.”
“Wildenai feels no fear, my father,” quietly answered the girl.
“If they come in friendship,” quickly Torquam replied, “then indeed may all be well. But the ship is not of the Senor's fleet, and if so be that we must fight, thou wert better hidden in the cave. We shall see.” ”

“ Blair wandered the length of the cavern and back before he replied.
“You think him a coward, I suppose.” He still looked as though he wanted to laugh, yet something in his tone seared her outraged pride. He might as well have touched an iron to quivering flesh. “You ought to remember, however,—I mean every woman ought to remember,—that when a girl lets a man know that she cares for him she generally forfeits, then and there, whatever interest she may have had for him. Wildenai risked too much. ”

“ Her voice was low as the sighing of the wind among the oak trees. “I would be freed from my promise to wed with Don Cabrillo.”
An Indian is not given to caresses. Much more used was Torquam's hand to wield the war-club or the hatchet. Yet it was with fingers gentle as any woman's that he stroked the smooth black head at his knee.
“Doubtest thou then, my motherless one, the judgment of him who loves thee?” he asked. ”

“ The Apache told him, too,—thou see'st thou hast not played the listening game alone, for, hiding behind the fo'castle door myself, I heard him say it,—that here lay that famous island, San—how is't they call it? San Catlina—I know not how 'tis spoken,—some Spanish lingo not fit for English tongues! At any rate 'twas here your Spanish robber, Don Cabrillo, and, for the matter of that, his precious son as well, stopped to seek direction ere they found the land of gold. The savage sware besides they were a gentle tribe, not given to war and murder like the rest. ”

“ My father will kill you if he should find you here!”
Swiftly she concealed the boat in a tiny cove behind the boulder, a hiding place he would never have seen though it was apparently perfectly familiar to her.
“Sometimes my own canoe I keep there too,” she whispered. “Now come!” and she hurried him along the beach and up an easier trail beyond the rocks to her cavern bower above.
Nor did she pause for an instant's rest until they had passed safely behind the manzanita branches which concealed the entrance. Here, motioning him to do the same, she dropped upon a pile of skins. ”

“ The Indian slowly shook his head.
“The noble white chief asks what is unknown to any man,” he answered. “The young Cabrillo once landed, 'tis true, on Punagwandah. Many moons ago it was. Where he is now, how should Torquam know?”
In his bitter disappointment the hand of the Englishman sought the hilt of his sword. Instantly a ring of warriors closed darkly about the chief.
Drake laughed.
“Nay then, 'tis but by chance I asked thee, thinking thou mightst tell me. It matters not. The gift I promised thee will come, as I said, tonight.”
He turned to go and young Harold rose to follow. ”

“ But when, at length, the quiet of sleep had descended upon the village, once again she sought her father. He, too, within the open doorway of his lodge, watched intently the distant ship. Without surprise he saw his daughter enter and, as she knelt upon the blanket beside him, he stretched a hand and drew her close.
“It grows cold. The wind is rising. 'Twere best to wait inside.” He spoke in the musical Indian tongue. For a moment he stroked her hair in silence, then—
“What think'st thou by now of the English, Wildenai, my little wild rose?” he asked. ”