登陆注册
15455000000021

第21章 CHAPTER V. A FAMOUS BARBECUE.(4)

The struggle left the impress on his face. He passed a boundary in it. Certain boyish feelings and graces would never again be possible to him. He went into the house, weary, and longing for companionship that would comfort or strengthen him. Only Isabel was in the parlor. She appeared to be asleep among the sofa cushions, but she opened her eyes wide as he took a chair beside her.

"I have been waiting to kiss you again, Juan; do you think this trouble will last very long?"

"It will be over directly, Iza. Do not fret yourself about it, angel mio. The Americans are great fighters, and their quarrel is just. Well, then, it will be settled by the good God quickly."

"Rachela says that Santa Anna has sent off a million of men to fight the Americans. Some they will cut in pieces, and some are to be sent to the mines to work in chains."

"God is not dead of old age, Iza. Santa Anna is a miraculous tyrant. He has committed every crime under heaven, but I think he will not cut the Americans in pieces."

"And if the Americans should even make him go back to Mexico!"

"I think that is very possible."

"What then, Juan?"

"He would pay for some of his crimes here the rest he would settle for in purgatory. And you, too, Iza, are you with the Americans?"

"Luis Alveda says they are right."

"Oh-h! I see! So Luis is to be my brother too. Is that so, little dear?"

"Have you room in your heart for him? Or has this Dare Grant filled it?"

"If I had twenty sisters, I should have room for twenty brothers, if they were like Dare and Luis. But, indeed, Luis had his place there before I knew Dare."

"And perhaps you may see him soon; he is with Senor Sam Houston. Senor Houston was here not a week ago. Will you think of that? And the mother and uncle of Luis are angry at him; he will be disinherited, and we shall be very poor, I think. But there is always my father, who loves Luis."

"Luis will win his own inheritance. I think you will be very rich."

"And, Juan, if you see Luis, say to him, `Iza thinks of you continually.'"

At this moment Rachela angrily called her charge--"Are you totally and forever wicked, disobedient one? Two hours I have been kept waiting. Very well! The, Sisters are the only duenna for you; and back to the convent you shall go to-morrow. The Senora is of my mind, also."

"My father will not permit it. I will go to my father. And think of this, Rachela: I am no longer to be treated like a baby." But she kissed Juan `farewell,' and went away without further dispute.

The handsome room looked strangely lonely and desolate when the door had closed behind her. Jack rose, and roughly shook himself, as if by that means he hoped to throw off the oppression and melancholy that was invading even his light heart. Hundreds of moths were dashing themselves to death against the high glass shade that covered the blowing candles from them. He stood and looked at their hopeless efforts to reach the flame. He had an unpleasant thought; one of those thoughts which have the force of a presentiment. He put it away with annoyance, muttering, "It is time enough to meet misfortune when it comes."

The sound of a footstep made him stand erect and face the door.

It was only a sleepy peon with a request that he would go to his father's study. A different mental atmosphere met him there. The doctor was walking up and down the room, and Dare and Antonia sat together at the open window.

"Your father wants to hear about our journey, Jack. Take my chair and tell him what happened. Antonia and I will walk within hearing; a roof makes me restless such a night as this"; for the waning moon had risen, and the cool wind from the Gulf was shaking a thousand scents from the trees and the flowering shrubs.

The change was made with the words, and the doctor sat down beside his son. "I was asking, Jack, how you knew so much about Texan affairs, and how you came so suddenly to take part in them?"

"Indeed, father, we could not escape knowing. The Texan fever was more or less in every young man's blood. One night Dare had a supper at his rooms, and there were thirty of us present. A man called Faulkner--a fine fellow from Nacogdoches--spoke to us. How do you think he spoke, when his only brother, a lad of twenty, is working in a Mexican mine loaded with chains?"

"For what?"

"He said one day that `the natural boundaries of the United States are the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.' He was sent to the mines for the words. Faulkner's only hope for him is in the independence of Texas. He had us on fire in five minutes--all but Sandy McDonald, who loves to argue, and therefore took the Mexican side."

"What could he say for it?"

"He said it was a very unjustlike thing to make Mexico give her American settlers in Texas two hundred and twenty-four millions of acres because she thought a change of government best for her own interests."

"The Americans settled in Texas under the solemn guarantee of the constitution of eighteen twenty-four. How many of them would have built homes under a tyrannical despotism like that Santa Anna is now forcing upon them?" asked the doctor, warmly.

"McDonald said, `There is a deal of talk about freedom among you Americans, and it just means nothing at all.' You should have seen Faulkner! He turned on him like a tornado. `How should you know anything about freedom, McDonald?' he cried.

同类推荐
  • 海幢阿字无禅师语录

    海幢阿字无禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 春明梦录

    春明梦录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 长安志

    长安志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 大乘五蕴论

    大乘五蕴论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 诸上善人咏

    诸上善人咏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 相思谋:妃常难娶

    相思谋:妃常难娶

    某日某王府张灯结彩,婚礼进行时,突然不知从哪冒出来一个小孩,对着新郎道:“爹爹,今天您的大婚之喜,娘亲让我来还一样东西。”说完提着手中的玉佩在新郎面前晃悠。此话一出,一府宾客哗然,然当大家看清这小孩与新郎如一个模子刻出来的面容时,顿时石化。此时某屋顶,一个绝色女子不耐烦的声音响起:“儿子,事情办完了我们走,别在那磨矶,耽误时间。”新郎一看屋顶上的女子,当下怒火攻心,扔下新娘就往女子所在的方向扑去,吼道:“女人,你给本王站住。”一场爱与被爱的追逐正式开始、、、、、、、
  • 洪荒古祭

    洪荒古祭

    【简介无能】祭渊临,一个身份诡秘之人。自幼时被测出废材体质,毫无血脉传承而被欺辱。可天道有情,让他遇到了可以改变自己一生的人。更甚,知晓了自己的身世,自此,他便不断修炼,誓要成为最强王者,将那些迫害自己的人,一一打入深渊。
  • 属于她们的三段路

    属于她们的三段路

    青涩的少年少女,或许爱意与离别都是在一天一点的累积.三个如同亲人般的女孩唤醒了花季的爱情,最好的结局呢,到时是什么呢?我想着她们,那两个总是爱着我护着我一直为了我的好女孩,同时我也在怀念你;我还记得离开她们的时候自己落下的泪,如今在旅途中的我最大的心愿竟然是遇见你;没想到三个里面最坚强的人竟然是我,过去的记忆太残忍了,所以你要原谅我不得不先松开手;对她们/他们而言,最好的结局,便是我们爱过了,而如今也爱着.
  • 你比阳光灿烂

    你比阳光灿烂

    卸下了青春偶像光环,她被重新打回原型,开始了一场现实的青春洗礼,直到他偶然出现,教会她如何变成天使。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 师兄离我远一点

    师兄离我远一点

    辛辛苦苦,好不容易到了经理位置也有了一个爱我的男盆友,周末愉快的和闺蜜男盆友旅游,可是居然在去的路上被一口包子咽住,然后被闺蜜一巴掌拍死了...我擦我这是被打死的还有咽死的,死的也太TM冤了吧(╯‵□′)╯︵┴─┴对老天竖中指,突然一阵金色的雷霹了过来,就这样穿越了...第一次写文请小心入坑
  • 汉末之召唤英豪

    汉末之召唤英豪

    汉末三国!一个著名金戈铁马的时代;出现了无数风流人物,看腻了魏蜀吴三分天下?来看唐太宗战魏武帝!看腻了三英战吕布?这有西楚霸王项羽、挑滑车高宠、独拒小商河的杨再兴、武悼天王冉闵、大明第一武将常遇春等超级猛将,在这里,杨坚和赵匡胤孰强孰弱?曹操还能一统中原河北?历史人物大集合!(本书不是爽文啊。。。)
  • 盛世婚宠:腹黑老公霸道爱

    盛世婚宠:腹黑老公霸道爱

    一场阴谋,她回来这里;不料没来得及反击,又落入了另一个圈套…。……床上醒过来的某人要她为他的贞洁负责?有没有开玩笑?苏小萱承认,他妖孽一般的长相确实让人垂涎三尺,可是她真的不是故意把他睡了的!从民政局出来,看着手里的结婚证书,苏小萱的心情很是复杂。……最初,她以为自己逮了只小绵羊;无数次“惨痛的教训”之后,她开始每天抹着泪在心里默念:萧宸是只大灰狼!萧宸是只大灰狼!!
  • 虚空血影

    虚空血影

    鸿蒙岂是终点,虚空演绎传说。且看古影非仙非神非妖的独特成长之路。
  • 无主晚熟的挣扎

    无主晚熟的挣扎

    冲破心灵的束缚,力求灵魂的完美,对她她她的解脱
  • 邻居男友莫傲慢

    邻居男友莫傲慢

    许暮歌从来不信缘分,偏偏陆昀深就是一个深受缘分驱使的人。他们在虚拟世界里相识,在现实世界里相遇,可却是相逢对面不相识。同在鹦鹉洲公寓18楼的两人,成了对门的邻居,从一开始的相互看不顺眼,经由台风做媒放下了彼此的芥蒂。某女吃饱喝足后倚在厨房门口调戏某男,“陆昀深,没想到你还是美男大厨,真是,人不可貌相,入得厨房、出得厅堂、带得出门、能挤地铁......你可愿意租借出售,我恰好缺一个男友,近水楼台先得月,我能不能先摘了你?”某男低着头认真洗着碗,头也不回地应了一句,“真巧,我也缺了一个女朋友,冰箱里的酸奶全归你了,消灭了再来谈条件。”