The great square in which the evolutions were to take place was lined on its four sides by the carriages of the wealthy Olanchoans, except at the two gates, where there was a wide space left open to admit the soldiers.The branches of the trees on the edges of the bare parade ground were black with men and boys, and the balconies and roofs of the houses that faced it were gay with streamers and flags, and alive with women wrapped for the occasion in their colored shawls.Seated on the grass between the carriages, or surging up and down behind them, were thousands of people, each hurrying to gain a better place of vantage, or striving to hold the one he had, and forming a restless, turbulent audience in which all individual cries were lost in a great murmur of laughter, and calls, and cheers.The mass knit together, and pressed forward as the President's band swung jauntily into the square and halted in one corner, and a shout of expectancy went up from the trees and housetops as the President's body-guard entered at the lower gate, and the broken place in its ranks showed that it was escorting the State carriage.The troopers fell back on two sides, and the carriage, with the President riding at its head, passed on, and took up a position in front of the other carriages, and close to one of the sides of the hollow square.At Stuart's orders Clay, MacWilliams, and Langham had pushed their horses into the rear rank of cavalry, and remained wedged between the troopers within twenty feet of where Madame Alvarez was sitting.She was very white, and the powder on her face gave her an added and unnatural pallor.As the people cheered her husband and herself she raised her head slightly and seemed to be trying to catch any sound of dissent in their greeting, or some possible undercurrent of disfavor, but the welcome appeared to be both genuine and hearty, until a second shout smothered it completely as the figure of old General Rojas, the Vice-President, and the most dearly loved by the common people, came through the gate at the head of his regiment.There was such greeting for him that the welcome to the President seemed mean in comparison, and it was with an embarrassment which both felt that the two men drew near together, and each leaned from his saddle to grasp the other's hand.Madame Alvarez sank back rigidly on her cushions, and her eyes flashed with anticipation and excitement.She drew her mantilla a little closer about her shoulders, with a nervous shudder as though she were cold.Suddenly the look of anxiety in her eyes changed to one of annoyance, and she beckoned Clay imperiously to the side of the carriage.
``Look,'' she said, pointing across the square.``If I am not mistaken that is Miss Langham, Miss Hope.The one on the black horse--it must be she, for none of the native ladies ride.It is not safe for her to be here alone.Go,'' she commanded, ``bring her here to me.Put her next to the carriage, or perhaps she will be safer with you among the troopers.''
Clay had recognized Hope before Madame Alvarez had finished speaking, and dashed off at a gallop, skirting the line of carriages.Hope had stopped her horse beside a victoria, and was talking to the native women who occupied it, and who were scandalized at her appearance in a public place with no one but a groom to attend her.
``Why, it's the same thing as a polo match,'' protested Hope, as Clay pulled up angrily beside the victoria.``I always ride over to polo alone at Newport, at least with James,'' she added, nodding her head toward the servant.
The man approached Clay and touched his hat apologetically, ``Miss Hope would come, sir,'' he said, ``and I thought I'd better be with her than to go off and tell Mr.Langham, sir.Iknew she wouldn't wait for me.''
``I asked you not to come,'' Clay said to Hope, in a low voice.
``I wanted to know the worst at once,'' she answered.``I was anxious about Ted--and you.''
``Well, it can't be helped now,'' he said.``Come, we must hurry, here is our friend, the enemy.'' He bowed to their acquaintances in the victoria and they trotted briskly off to the side of the President's carriage, just as a yell arose from the crowd that made all the other shouts which had preceded it sound like the cheers of children at recess.
``It reminds me of a football match,'' whispered young Langham, excitedly, ``when the teams run on the field.Look at Alvarez and Rojas watching Mendoza.''
Mendoza advanced at the front of his three troops of cavalry, looking neither to the left nor right, and by no sign acknowledging the fierce uproarious greeting of the people.
Close behind him came his chosen band of cowboys and ruffians.
They were the best equipped and least disciplined soldiers in the army, and were, to the great relief of the people, seldom seen in the city, but were kept moving in the mountain passes and along the coast line, on the lookout for smugglers with whom they were on the most friendly terms.They were a picturesque body of blackguards, in their hightopped boots and silver-tipped sombreros and heavy, gaudy saddles, but the shout that had gone up at their advance was due as much to the fear they inspired as to any great love for them or their chief.
``Now all the chessmen are on the board, and the game can begin,'' said Clay.``It's like the scene in the play, where each man has his sword at another man's throat and no one dares make the first move.'' He smiled as he noted, with the eye of one who had seen Continental troops in action, the shuffling steps and slovenly carriage of the half-grown soldiers that followed Mendoza's cavalry at a quick step.Stuart's picked men, over whom he had spent many hot and weary hours, looked like a troop of Life Guardsmen in comparison.Clay noted their superiority, but he also saw that in numbers they were most woefully at a disadvantage.