Felipa

“ Do not let this handful of rascals believe we fear them.'
'Give your opinion, Carlo, when you are asked, and not before. Are the horses ready? Now, Felipa, wrap your scarf well round you; we have a long way to go. Yes, I think it is better to go than to stay.'
'We shall be safe at Santa Teresa, father, are you sure?' sobbed Felipa; whilst Etta, looking at Carlo's fearless expression of face, determined to say nothing, for he had once said girls were always afraid. ”

“ She was a small, dark-skinned, yellow-eyed child, the offspring of the ocean and the heats, tawny, lithe and wild, shy yet fearless—not unlike one of the little brown deer that bounded through the open reaches of the pine-barren behind the house. She did not come to us—we came to her; we loomed into her life like genii from another world, and she was partly afraid and partly proud of us. For were we not her guests? proud thought! and, better still, were we not women? "I have only seen three women in all my life," said Felipa, inspecting us gravely, "and I like women. ”

“ Landor was in the dining room, and Felipa stood in the sitting room receiving the praises of her husband with much tact. If he were the hero of the hour, she was the heroine. The officers from far posts carried their admiration to extravagance, bewitched by the sphinx-riddle written somehow on her fair face, and which is the most potent and bewildering charm a woman can possess. ”

“ Poor little Felipa lived on the edge of the great salt-marsh alone with her grandparents, for her mother was dead. The yellow old couple were slow-witted Minorcans, part pagan, part Catholic, and wholly ignorant; their minds rarely rose above the level of their orange-trees and their fish-nets. ”

“ But at the first sound of her voice Felipa had started up, and, wrenching herself free from old Dominga's arms, threw herself at Christine's feet. "Look at me so," she cried—"me too; do not look at him. He has forgotten poor Felipa; he does not love her any more. But you do not forget, señora; you love me—you love me. Say you do, or I shall die!"
We were all shocked by the pallor and the wild, hungry look of her uplifted face. Edward bent down and tried to lift her in his arms; but when she saw him a sudden fierceness came into her eyes ”

“ Cairness."
"Of course," he laughed tolerantly, "I dare say any wilderness were paradise with him."
Felipa smiled again. "I might be happy," she went on, "but I probably should not live very long. I have Indian blood in my veins; and we die easily in a too much civilization."
That evening they sat talking together long after the late dinner. But a little before midnight Felipa left them upon the porch, smoking and still going over the past. They had so much to say of matters that she in no way understood. The world they spoke of and its language were quite foreign to her. ”

“ As to Catalina, she could only moan and bewail their evil fortune, and wish every bad thing she could imagine to overtake the pirates.
'If I could but go out,' sighed Felipa, 'I could find Carlo. I am sure he must be hidden away in the forest. But come quickly, Etta: see, who is coming in; some of the soldiers? Yes, yes; they are Spanish soldiers, and they are certainly coming to save us.'
'Hush, dear Felipa; don't you see that they are themselves guarded? ”

“ I will run down and ask Pedro what Andreas meant.'
Catalina would have liked to go herself, but did not know how to leave Felipa, who was sobbing from fear of she knew not what horrors. Yet poor Felipa, as she crouched near the window with her hand in that of her nurse, could not help admiring the courage of her English playfellow.
'Carlo admires Etta because she is brave,' she said to Catalina; 'she never thinks of danger for herself. I would so gladly not be afraid, but I cannot help it.'
'Never mind about being brave, my darling; that is for men and not for girls. ”

“ The night of their return to the post, Cairness, crossing the parade ground shortly before retreat, saw Felipa. He had been walking with his eyes on the earth, debating within himself the question of his future, whether he should reënlist, succumb to the habit of the service, which is to ambition and endeavor what opium is to the system, or drop back into the yet more aimless life he had been leading five years before, when a fit of self-disgust had caused him to decide that he was good for nothing but a trooper, if even that. ”

“ The droll tableau and the supreme pride on Felipa's countenance overcame me, and I laughed aloud. A sudden cloud of rage and disappointment came over the poor child's face: she threw her cap on the floor and stamped on it; she tore off her necklace and writhed herself out of her big flowered gown, and running to Drollo, nearly strangled him in her fierce efforts to drag off his shell chains. Then, a half-dressed, wild little phantom, she seized me by the skirts and dragged me toward the looking-glass. "You are not pretty either," she cried. "Look at yourself! look at yourself!" ”

“ I can never be pretty, child; but, if you will try to be more gentle, I could teach you how to dress yourself so that no one would laugh at you again. I could make you a little bright-barred skirt and a scarlet bodice: you could help, and that would teach you to sew. But a little girl who wants all this done for her must be quiet and good."
"I am good," said Felipa; "as good as everything." ”

“ But Felipa was a mistress to his taste. As he bowed himself abjectly from her presence, Cairness came in. He had taken off his rubber coat and big hat, and was full of the vigor of life which makes the strong and [Pg 308] healthy-minded so good to look upon at the beginning of a day. ”

“ And he knew well enough that they would have let their canteens go unfilled, and their horses without fodder, for a long time, rather than have accepted water from his wells or alfalfa from his land. He could understand their feeling, too,—that was the worst of it; but though his love and his loyalty toward Felipa never for one moment wavered, he was learning surely day by day that a woman, be she never so much beloved, cannot make up to a man for long for the companionship of his own kind ”

“ We never saw Felipa without Drollo. "They look a good deal alike," observed Christine—"the same coloring."
"For shame!" I said.
But it was true. The child's bronzed yellow skin and soft eyes were not unlike the dog's, but her head was crowned with a mass of short black curls, while Drollo had only his two great flapping ears and his low smooth head. Give him an inch or two more of skull, and what a creature a dog would be! For love and faithfulness even now what man can match him? ”

“ The man understood, and was dismayed. It is appalling to feel one's self snatched from the shifting foothold of individuality and whirled on in the current of the Force of Things. Felipa did not understand. And she was annoyed. She crashed in with the discord of a deliberate commonplace, and asked what she could do for him, speaking as to an inferior; and he, with a stiff resentment, answered that he wished to see Captain Landor.
She did not return to the ramada, but before long her husband came in search of her.
"That man is going to stay to luncheon," he told her. ”

“ But after a time they withdrew to the sides of the bottle, and were quite still. The tarantula had left a leg lying loose.
Felipa turned from them and waited, clasping her hands and smiling up at Brewster. He, misinterpreting, felt encouraged and begged her to leave the disgusting insects. He had something very different to talk about. She said that she did not want to hear it, and would he bet on the tarantula or the vinagrone?
"Don't bring them into it," he implored. "If you will not come away, I will tell you now, Felipa, that I love you." He was more in earnest than Landor had been. ”

“ I am pretty now: she herself said it," persisted the child. "In these clothes, you know: she herself said it. The clothes of the son of Pedro you will never see more: they are burned."
"Burned?"
"Yes, burned," replied Felipa composedly. "I carried them out on the barren and burned them. Drollo singed his paw. They burned quite nicely. But they are gone, and I am pretty now, and yet they did not take me! What shall I do?" ”

“ But it was Edward who carried her.
"He is very strong," I said.
"Yes; and their long soft hair, with the smell of roses in it too," said Felipa dreamily. But the hair was Christine's.
"I shall love them for ever, and they will love me for ever," continued the child. "Drollo too." She patted the dog's head as she spoke, and then concluded to kiss him on his little inch of forehead; next she offered him all her medicines and lotions in turn, and he smelled at them grimly. "He likes to know what I am taking," she explained.
I went on: "You love them, Felipa, and they are fond of you. ”

“ His disapproval was marked, but she went with him, nevertheless, and sat watching while he picked and probed at the wound.
The Apache never quivered a muscle nor uttered a sound. It was fine stoicism, and appealed to Felipa until she really felt sorry for him. ”

“ I work enough for them--work that pays for my victuals; but I will not help in their robberies.'
'Forgive me, Harry,' said Etta frankly. 'We are afraid of every one now; yet we heard truly how you defended Carlo. Felipa, where is the parchment? You must write to your uncle at once, and let the writing be very small, for Andreas must carry it in his mouth; he says that is the only safe hiding-place.'
Felipa sat down to write a few words to her uncle Don Alvarez, Governor of Chagres Castle; whilst Catalina, who could not write at all, looked on, giving her advice freely. ”

“ The child had the full-curved, half-open mouth of the tropics, and a low Greek forehead. "Why isn't she pretty?" I said.
"She is hideous," replied Christine: "look at her elbows."
Now, Felipa's arms were unpleasant; they were brown and lean, scratched and stained, and they terminated in a pair of determined little paws that could hold on like grim Death. I shall never forget coming upon a tableau one day out on the barren—a little Florida cow and Felipa, she holding on by the horns, and the beast with its small fore feet stubbornly set in the sand; girl pulling one way, cow the other ”

“ As for Etta, her admiration found vent in words.
'Look, Felipa, that is an English boy! How handsome he is! He does not look wicked, does he? Perhaps he is Henry Morgan's son. How I wish these were not wicked pirates! I would talk to them of England, and perhaps they might know my relations and would some day take me back. But the man looks every inch of him like an evil buccaneer.'
'Etta, what nonsense you are talking!' said Carlo; 'the youth is most likely as wicked as the rest. Andreas saw him last night. Yes, he must be the Captain's son. ”

“ It was all done in an instant, so quickly that Felipa hardly knew she had changed her aim, and that it was Alchesay who had come forward only just in time.
The cook came running, six-shooter in hand, but Alchesay was driving them away and lowering the canvas flaps. Felipa told the cook that it was all right, and went on with her dressing. Although she had no gifts for guessing the moods and humors of her father's race, she understood her mother's considerably better, [Pg 93] and so she did not even call a "gracias" after Alchesay. ”

“ The Indian slaves, who had been scattered like thistle-down in a wind during this memorable night, now began to creep back to their various stations and occupations at Santa Teresa; and from them poor Catalina learnt, with more or less exaggeration, all that had taken place during the memorable night, and that it was the Marquis himself who had really betrayed them into the enemy's hands.
The faithful servant would not abuse her master; but, taking Felipa's head in her arms, she sobbed over her as if this shower of tears would make matters better ”

“ Felipa's foot was well again, and spring had come. Soon we must leave our lodge on the edge of the pine-barren, our outlook over the salt-marsh, with the river sweeping up twice a day, bringing in the briny odors of the ocean; soon we should see no more the eagles far above us or hear the night-cry of the great owls, and we must go without the little fairy flowers of the barren, so small that a hundred of them scarcely made a tangible bouquet, yet what beauty! ”

“ An expression of superstitious gravity, half real, half simulated, came over Dona Felipa's face, although her vivacity of gesticulation and emphasis did not relax. She cast a hurried glance around her, and leaned a little forward towards the cousins.
“When there are no more young people in the casa because they are dead,” she continued, in a lower voice, “Don Gregorio he is very melank-oaly, and he have no more company for many years. Then there was a rodeo near the hacienda, and there came five or six caballeros to stay with him for the feast. ”

“ Till now Del Campo had certainly not regretted the step, for he wished to keep Felipa with him till she should marry a man of his own choosing. In those days young girls were promised in marriage to men whom they had never seen, and very often their lovers were old and unattractive, though they were of course wealthy or had some other recommendation in the eyes of the parents of the high-born Spanish maidens. ”

“ They caught sight of Felipa, and both drew rein simultaneously. She was leaning against a post of the wire fence. The baby was carried on her hip, tucked under her arm, the sunbonnet was hanging by the strings around her neck, and her head, with its straight loose hair, was uncovered. The little girl stood beside her, clutching the white wrapper which had trailed in [Pg 314] the spring-house acequia, and from under which a muddy red slipper showed. That she was imposing still, said much for the quality of her beauty. ”