Thomas Dixon
Comrades: A Story of Social Adventure in California
CHAPTER XXXV
LOVE AND LOCKSMITHS
Barbara sat in the little rose bower on the lawn puzzling her brain for the thousandth time over impossible schemes to communicate with Norman.
From day to day she had watched with increasing fear the rapid growth of Wolf's cruel instincts under the conditions of tyranny he had established.
She had appealed in vain to every man in authority. Everywhere the same answer. The regent's power inspired a terror which no appeal could penetrate.
She started with a sudden thought. Among the guards who stood watch at Wolf's door was the nineteen-year-old boy who had acted as usher and shown Norman to a seat in the Socialist Hall the night they met.
She had caught a peculiar look in his face the last time she entered Wolf's office. Could it be possible he was in love with her in the helpless, heroic, boy fashion of his age? She would put him to the test. It was worth trying.
She found him on guard in the corridor outside Wolf's door, approached him cautiously, touched his hand timidly, and whispered:
"Jimmy, I'm in great distress."
"I wish I could help you, Miss Barbara," he answered in low, earnest tones, sweeping the corridor with a quick look.
"Even at the risk of your life?"
"I'd jump at the chance to die for you!" was the simple answer.
Barbara's voice choked and her little hand caught the boy's gratefully. His conquest was too easy, his love too big and generous! "I wish I could do it, Jimmy, without letting you risk your life, but I must see Norman."
"I'll help you if I can, Miss Barbara, but I don't know how. The jailer won't let me in without an order from the regent."
"I'll go in now," she went on, "get a piece of paper from his desk, forge the order, and sign his name. I can imitate his handwriting. I'll give it to you immediately, and watch until you get back to your post."
"I'll do it!" the boy answered, his eyes shining.
"Tell Norman," Barbara whispered, "that I have found Saka in the hills. He has built a skiff and has it ready to sail with his message for relief."
"I understand."
She entered Wolf's office unannounced and surprised him with her girlish buoyancy of spirit.
With a light laugh she sprang on his big desk, sat down among his papers, and deftly closed her hand over one of his small official order-pads.
"I cannot see Norman, to-day?" she asked.
"Not to-day, my dear. A little later, yes, but not to-day!"
He laughed carelessly and turned in his armchair to a messenger:
"Take that order to the captain of the guard and tell him to report to me at seven o'clock to-night."
While he spoke, the girl slipped from her place on the desk and thrust the order pad in her pocket.
"Then I'm wasting breath to plead with you?"
"Decidedly. But I congratulate you on the rational way you are beginning to look at things."
As she moved to the door she smiled over her shoulder: "Time will work wonders, perhaps!"
"I told you so," he laughed.
She hurried to her room and wrote the order signing Wolf's name without a moment's hesitation:
"Admit the guard bearing this order for the delivery of a personal message to the prisoner, Norman Worth.
"Wolf —Regent."
She stood at the window and watched the boy enter the jail. He stayed an interminable time! Each tick of the tiny watch in her hand seemed an hour. One minute, two, three, four, five minutes slowly dragged. Merciful God, would he never return? A thousand questions began to strangle her. Had Wolf suspected and played with her? Had the jailer recognized the trick and arrested the boy? Had Wolf discovered the boy's absence from his post?
She looked at her watch again. He had been gone seven minutes! The door of the jail suddenly opened and the boy appeared.
Her hand was tingling with a curious pain. She looked, and the nails of her fingers had cut the flesh as she had stood in agony counting the seconds.
The boy walked with leisurely precision as though on an ordinary errand for the regent. Barbara waited until he resumed his position on guard at the door and quickly reached his side.
He pressed a note into her hand, whispering:
"The jailer held me up at first – but I found him!"
Barbara glanced down the corridor with a quick look threw her arms around the boy's neck and kissed him tenderly.
He smiled, drew a deep breath, and said:
"Now, I'm ready to die!"
"No. To live and fight," she cried. "Fight our way back to freedom. You must help me!"
She turned and flew to her room. The note in her hand was burning the soft flesh.
She locked her door and read:
"Heart of My Heart:
"Iron bars have held my body but my soul has been with you! I've seen you walking among the flowers a hundred times and tried to force my message through the walls. I enclose a telegram to my father and one to the Governor of California. Send Saka to Santa Barbara with them. The troops should arrive in forty-eight hours. All I ask of God now is the chance to fight. I love you!
"Always yours,Norman."
She kissed the note, tore it into fragments, and burned the pieces.
When night had fallen, Jimmy safely passed the patrol lines, delivered his message to Saka, helped him launch the skiff, watched the little sail spread before a fair wind, and returned to his post.
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE SHINING EMBLEM
When Wolf's patrol telephoned two days later that a company of troops had suddenly landed on the other side of the island, he called the captain of the guard:
"A detail of men to move the gold aboard the ship. Order the steam up. I'll divide with you. We must beat those soldiers back until we can sail. Fight them at every possible stand as they cross the hills. I'll join you if the guard is driven in."
The captain hurried to execute Wolf's orders, while the regent began with feverish haste to transfer the treasures of the colony to the ship.
Norman sat on his cot in prison, awaiting anxiously the first sound of the troops.
He suddenly leaped to his feet.
"They are coming!"
Listening a moment intently, he cried:
"There it is again – the scream of fifes from the hills! – now, they are driving in the pickets – hear the crack of those rifles! – God in heaven, isn't it music!"
He sank back on the cot with a sob of joy.
In a rush the troops surrounded the jail. The sheriff lifted his hand and shouted:
"In the name of the peace and dignity of the State of California – "
Wolf answered with a defiant wave and charged at the head of his guard. The soldiers poured into their ranks a deadly fire. At the first volley the leader fell. The charging column hesitated, halted, threw down their arms, and surrendered.
In five minutes Colonel Worth entered the jail and father and son silently embraced. Barbara followed and Norman clasped her in his arms.
A shout rose from the troops and the group within moved to the prison window. The colour-sergeant had hauled down the red ensign of Socialism from the flag-staff on the lawn and lifted the Stars and Stripes in its place.
Norman's hand sought his father's. They clasped a moment tremblingly, and, still looking through the barred window at the shining emblem in the sky, the young man slowly said:
"It is beautiful, isn't it Governor!"
