Henequen

“ Two or three roughly-woven hammocks of henequen, a machete, perchance a hoe, perhaps a hatchet, and, very rarely, a poor shotgun, are all his furniture. A metate to grind his corn, an earthen pot to boil it, another pot to cook the vegetables and the atole, a comal or flat earthenware plate to cook the corn-cakes or tortillas, a pitcher for water, one or two jicaras of gúero, [11] an equal number of gourds cut in halves to make drinking vessels and for other purposes, are the eating utensils. ”

“ They have to look after the cattle and horses, and they have charge of the draw-wells, the tanks, and drinking pools. They have to attend to irrigation, weeding, and sowing of the truck gardens and orchards, and in general to do all work performed on such ranches either for their conservation and improvement or else in personal service to the owners or for the advantage of its products. It is also their duty to rasp a certain amount of henequen fiber from the agave each day. Their wage is from eight to twelve reals per month and five almudes [7] of corn per week. ”

“ Hennequin, brave enough at the bar, was no hero before sword-point or pistol. He was utterly ignorant of the use of either weapon; his death in the encounter with an antagonist so formidable seemed to him certain, and life was so precious,—an honourable and distinguished career opening before him, marriage with the woman he loved. Still he had the Frenchman's point of honour. He had been told that he must fight; well, then, he must. He asked De Mauleon to be one of his seconds, and in asking him, sank in his chair, covered his face with his hands, and burst into tears. ”

“ Shall we let this brave one do all the work alone?” He spurred his steed, but his heavy battle horse could not overtake the Maiden’s light courser. The next instant a single knight of La Hire’s troop flew after her, and in a few seconds his sword was waving at her side. It was Jean Renault. Enthusiasm such as he had never felt before had seized him. He was oblivious to all sense of danger. Scarcely was the last Englishman through the fortress gate before the Maiden and Jean rushed through also. The astonished English soldiers saw the lily banner in their very midst. ”

“ Major Freyne was taken early to his fathers, and his wife being quite unable to decide anything for herself, drifted into matrimony with a somewhat peppery cousin, who resented Gheena's ultimate inheritance of Castle Freyne at her marriage and the prospect of the dower house, Girtnamurragh, for himself.
Gheena was slight, with very bright brown hair, seldom burdened with a hat; a skin browned to a very soft tan, grey-blue eyes, a crooked smile and a determined will.
"Crabbit very nearly got a gull, Darby; he is snapping at jelly-fish now and coming in. And why you men don't say something!" ”

“ Gheena flung propriety on one side. She drove back to the door and told Evelyn that she was going home, as she had forgotten to do something particular, and whispered "Go on" to the willing driver. The pace at which a high-powered car can go, even on narrow roads, was demonstrated to her in the next ten minutes, for to meet the Castle Freyne people would mean disaster. They reached the back gate safely, and Gheena, who had sat silent, could only ask her rescuer to tea, which, she explained, must be taken in the school-room, and that they must hide. ”

“ Early in the morning, while Joan, wearied by her exertions on the day before, was still sleeping, some of the captains sallied out with their troops and made a furious assault upon the fort. The English, seeing only their customary assailants, fell upon them, and after a hard struggle beat them back. At that instant the Maiden, bearing her lily banner, rode to the Burgundian gate. “Halt!” she shouted to the fugitives. “Look you, the Maiden whom God sent to you is here. Follow me to victory.” At once she plunged into the thick of battle. Her presence acted like magic on both sides. ”

“ Overcome by such generosity, Jean pressed the knight’s proffered hand to his lips. His heart was too full for words. La Hire understood his silence, and admired him all the more. “You are from the neighborhood of Rouen, and are acquainted there?” he resumed.
“I know every village thereabouts, noble sir. Alas! they are nearly all ruined.”
“Yes! God and the saints pity them. But, further, do you know the Bishop of Beauvais?” ”

“ The tale of his woes was told by degrees to all Dunkillen. Mrs. Keefe came to ask Gheena to change her mind because the boy was a wounded soldier. Mrs. De Burgho Keane called to say that any girl ought to be glad to find a husband now that all the men were being killed. At the end of a fortnight Mr. Freyne read the war news, and decided that the German tactics of attack were the best he could use, but he said nothing.
Gheena had had a swim. She came in glowing to dress warmly, and bask in the hot sunshine right in under the shelter of the cliffs. ”

“ In the course of the day, write or dictate a few civil words of apology to M. Hennequin. Ma foi! every one will praise you for a generosity so becoming in a man who has given such proofs of courage and skill to an avocat who has never handled a sword nor fired a pistol."
That same day De Mauleon remitted to Hennequin an apology for heated words freely retracted, which satisfied all his friends. For the service thus rendered by De Mauleon, Hennequin declared himself everlastingly indebted. In fact, he entirely owed to that friend his life, his marriage, his honour, his career. ”

“ The old Professor spilt his fourth cup of tea as the remark reached him; then recovering, he observed that the marriage of a maid to her grandfather was forbidden in the prayer-books, and asked for more tea placidly.
"Well, someone," said Gheena. "Darby, how many wild things did the pack do to-day in the rain?"
"They just clung to the horses' heels," said Darby gruffly, his voice sounding hoarse and strained; "that was all, Gheena. By the time the war is over they will be a model pack. If one could breed a fox-hound with Grandjer's nose!" ”

“ Darby put his hand on Gheena's shoulder. With a little wry smile he felt her shrink. "Now we'll go to see him," he said cheerily—"you and I, Gheena, at once."
Limping behind her light quiet movements as they went to the car, laying his sticks aside as he got in; the wry smile clung to his lips as they drove to Mrs. Maloney's, where a faint reek of disinfectants wafted to them through the door. Basil Stafford, very white, was sitting in a big chair.
"Bullet touched up the old wound," he said. "And you'll stay to tea with me, won't you?" He avoided looking at Gheena. ”

“ Gheena trailed her wool across the carpet to the far end of the long room.
"Some one said—they saw submarines about," whispered Violet; "one of the coastguards told me—a periscope just outside the bay. And also that they're all on the watch for supplies going out from here—and that they are afraid of people signalling. Gheena—what is that Stafford man doing here—idling?"
"He is not a German," said Gheena stoutly.
"Go on knitting, he's watching us. If a German is brought up altogether in England he has no accent—nothing. He goes out late at night. ”

“ God has given the enemy into our hands.”
“But, in the meantime—”
“There is no meantime, noble sir. What fear you? Have you forgotten that I promised to take you back safe to your wife?”
“Well, let the attack begin.”
96
“Forward, attack!” cried Joan, as she left the tent, waving her banner. The troops advanced, but the apprehensions of the Duke proved to be well founded. The breach was too high. A ladder must be raised. In the meantime, among the daring ones who had rushed forward, was Jean. “Halt, boy,” shouted La Hire, at the same time pulling him back. ”

“ Hennage's profession had never even warranted recourse to his two most priceless possessions—his hands. Yet, despite this fact, and the further fact that he had never accomplished anything more reprehensible than staking his coin against that of his neighbor, Mr. Hennage had acquired the reputation of being the worst man in San Pasqual. In the language of the country, he was a hard hombre, for he looked it. When one gazed at Mr. Hennage he observed a human bulldog, a man who would finish anything he started. ”

“ A few weeks later the rabble of Rouen stood before an iron cage suspended from a tower. Derisive epithets and cruel insults passed from lip to lip and were greeted with indecent laughter. In a corner of the cage sat a cowering figure bound with fetters. Her face could not be seen, for her head was bowed in anguish. One of the mob thrust his lance toward her to make her look up. He was successful. She slowly raised her head, and the crowd looked upon eyes full of sorrow, eyes full of purity and beauty,—the eyes of Joan. The Duke of Luxemburg had completed his infamous bargain. ”

“ I pray you go and mingle as far as you can with that crowd of uncouth and vulgar burghers whose treachery seems to pierce even through their ill-fitting doublets. I pray you also to keep your eyes and ears open ... an my conjectures are correct, much goes on in Ghent of which the Holy Inquisition should have cognisance. We are out on a special campaign against cunning traitors, and Ghent is our first objective. When we turn our soldiery loose into the city, yours, seigniors, will be the first spoils.... Ghent is rich in treasure and money ... those first spoils will be worth the winning. ”

“ The crafty Aquipaguetin was with them, and as the days went by he kept thinking of the story Hennepin had told him of other white men sent out by La Salle with merchandise and arms to the mouth of the Wisconsin. Why should he not meet these men himself and receive their first lavish presents? Finally he could no longer restrain himself, and taking with him about ten men he paddled down the river after Hennepin and the Picard. The two white men had had many adventures. In their hunting they had not been fortunate, and many times they had come near to starvation. ”

“ Gheena decided to go to see Mrs. Weston.
"It was the dog Crabbit what knocked down the stones, and not a rabbit," remarked the Professor, looking up. "Miss Freyne's dog."
"I said, add a 'c.'" Stafford scrambled lightly up the cliff. "I heard voices up there."
Darby, leaning on his stick, was hobbling away with Gheena and keeping pace easily enough with her active feet.
Gheena whisked round suddenly as they came to the little bridge over the sunk fence.
"If a man has been dreadfully hard up and gets enough money suddenly, he must have found some way of getting it," she said excitedly. ”

“ With the energy and skill of the amateur strategist, she immediately explained how completely everything had been muddled.
"How, if the English had done one thing and another and France and Russia the rest, the whole of the German army would be scrambling away back to Berlin to get into the Kaiser's coal cellars."
"Just rush and dash," declaimed Gheena loftily, "not this retreating and losing."
Basil Stafford remarked, "And perhaps of men," rather slyly; to which Gheena answered, "Yes," with a glance of fiery meaning, and he grinned—softly. ”

“ The time was enough to allow her to slip her arms out of the coat and unfasten her skirt; she had knickerbockers underneath.
When the perturbed Germans grunted gruffly and discussed their difficulty, Gheena sprang.
She dived very prettily to the accompaniment of muffled bad language, and as she came up, heard hoarse whispers concerning immediate death if she did not return.
The threats were nothing, but the sound of a splash made the girl shudder. They dared not show a light or fire a shot, but a strong swimmer would catch her easily. ”

“ He then collected a large army, and prepared to make war upon Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan sent one of his best generals, at the head of a small but very compact and well-disciplined force, against him. The name of this general was Jena. Kushluk was not at all intimidated by the danger which now threatened him. His own army was much larger than that of Jena, and he accordingly advanced to meet his enemy without fear. He was, however, beaten in the battle, and, when he saw that the day was lost, he fled, followed by a small party of horsemen, who succeeded in saving themselves with him. ”

“ The frigid accost of Hennequin more especially galled him; it wounded not only his pride but his heart; it had the venom of ingratitude, and it is the peculiar privilege of ingratitude to wound hearts that have learned to harden themselves to the hate or contempt of men to whom no services have been rendered. In some private affair concerning his property, De Mauleon had had occasion to consult Hennequin, then a rising young avocat. ”

“ He left a gap which let in sunshine behind him, but with this clearness came frost.
Dearest George grew openly disagreeable. He growled over money. He hinted at the complete suppression of hunting.
Gheena was twenty. Five long years of dependence stretched before her—five years, during which the horses she loved would grow stout and shapeless upon grass, and she would fret and fume under the burden of authority. The two-seater which she had hoped for was out of the question now.
Mr. Freyne could be disagreeable. He could look over his wife's accounts and growl over Gheena's new clothes. ”

“ A lion was born."
Yigenek embraced his father, and then all the beys embraced him. After that, they all attacked the castle and plundered it. Yigenek and his father embraced and rejoiced in finding one another. They howled like the wolves of lonely mountains and expressed their gratitude to Allah. They pulled down the chapel of the castle and turned it into a mosque. They had a sermon delivered there in the name of beloved Allah. They put aside a rare bird, fine fabrics, a beautiful girl, a gold-embroidered dress and one-fifth of their spoils as gifts to Bayindir Khan. ”