Chapter 29

THE FAIR TRAITRESS

Rafaela leaped up and lifted her chair, permitting Jack to emerge from his unique hiding place. He was overcome with gratitude at the thought of what she had done for him, and hesitated to speak.

"Speak," she said, frowning, and stamped her foot. "Tell me, is this true?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jack in surprise.

"That you are an assassin sent by that horrible President Obregon?"

Jack was hurt, and showed his feelings.

"I told you the truth," he said.

"Oh, I want to believe you," cried the girl, twisting her hands. "But father was so positive."

Donna Ana sidled close and whispered:

"Shall I call your father? It is not too late."

That decided Rafaela.

"Nonsense," she declared, sharply, glaring at her duenna. "Cannot you see this young man is telling the truth? I," she declared proudly, "can tell a truthful person from a liar at once. And I declare to you this young man is truthful."

Jack smothered a smile. The girl was as changeable as a weathercock. And calling him "young man" in that lofty tone, too. Why, she was little more than a youngster herself--couldn't be as old as he.

"Come now," said the girl suddenly, seizing him by the hand. "We have no time to lose. Now is your opportunity."

"Opportunity?"

"Yes, yes"--impatiently. "While the government troops attack, you must release your father and escape."

Jack was amazed. Would this surprising girl never cease astonishing him?

"Do you mean you will help me--actually?"

"Have I not said so?" asked Rafaela impatiently. "And it seems to me I have already been of some trifling aid--actually?"

The sarcasm was not lost on Jack. But he ignored it. Finding he still held the hand she had extended when urging him to follow her, he squeezed it.

"You're--you're fine," he said, enthusiastically.

Rafaela tossed her head, smiling in superior fashion.

"You are not a very accomplished courtier, Mr. Jack Hampton," she said, withdrawing her hand.

Jack would have protested. He was rapidly falling under the spell of her charm. But she halted him with an imperious gesture.

"We are wasting precious time," she said. "Come." Then, turning to Donna Ana, she said sharply: "You will stay here until I return. And if you betray me--" Again she made a threatening gesture, and again the old duenna cowered. Thereupon, the girl hastened from the room and Jack followed.

Up the spiral stone stairway of the tower ran Rafaela, passing the first landing where burned an electric light. Jack was close at her heels. At length they reached the top landing, and stood before the single door there. It was of stout oak, heavy and ponderous.

"This is your father's room," whispered Rafaela.

So near to a successful conclusion of his adventure, Jack's heart beat so rapidly that once again he experienced that sensation of suffocation which had seized him on landing from the airplane.

He tried the door knob. The barrier was locked.

"Locked," he whispered. "What shall we do?"

In the dim light on the landing, they stared at each other in dismay. Here was a contingency which had occurred to neither.

The whispering, the careful trying of the door, the sound of their footsteps--these had aroused Mr. Hampton from his reading on the other side of the door.

"Who's there?" he called sharply.

Jack set his mouth close to the keyhole.

"Dad," he whispered tensely. "It's Jack. Don't make a noise. I've come to rescue you."

There was a moment of silence, then the sound of rapid footsteps crossing the room.

"Jack?" Mr. Hampton also had stooped to the keyhole. "It can't be. Yet that voice! My boy, my boy. But how in the world did you come here?"

"Too long to tell, Dad," whispered Jack. "But have you the key to this door?"

"Key? No."

"Then," said Jack, despairingly, "it looks as if we were balked at the end. This door is too stout to break down without bringing the enemy on us. It's thick and bound with iron straps besides."

"Who is with you?"

"Bob. No. I mean Miss Calomares. She's helping me."

"This is too much for me," declared Mr. Hampton.

"Dad, we'll have to break down the door. The government troops are attacking. Even if we do make a lot of noise, it may go unnoticed. Have you a heavy chair you can use?"

"Yes," answered his father. "But, wait. Government troops attacking, hey? Then that is the meaning of those shots which caused Don Fernandez to leave me so hurriedly."

"No, Dad, those first shots were when they sounded the alarm on discovering me."

"They discovered you?" Mr. Hampton groaned in mock dismay. "Oh, this is too much. But, Jack, what I started to say was that as Don Fernandez dashed down the steps, I heard him drop something in his haste that rang on the stones. Maybe that was the key."

"I'll look."

Jack stood upright, and communicated to the impatient Rafaela what his father had said. She had been unable to hear. Fortunately, he carried an electric torch. Swinging this so that the light fell on the steps, he started downward. Before he had gone three steps, the girl's quick eyes saw the key gleam in the light. She snatched it up with an exclamation, turned, inserted it in the keyhole, and the door swung in.

Jack leaped through the opening, and the tall and handsome man, to whom he bore so striking a resemblance, enfolded him in his arms.

"My boy, my boy. I can hardly believe it."

"But it's true, Dad."

They drew apart and stood looking at each other. There was more than a suspicion of moisture in each pair of eyes.

Mr. Hampton's gaze fell on Rafaela, with whom he had had a number of pleasant conversations during his captivity. He dropped a hand on her shoulder.

"My dear girl," he said. "You never did a kinder deed. I hope you will not have cause to regret it."

"Oh," said she with an arch smile. "Papa would be furious if he discovered what I have done. But I can manage him."

The older man smiled. He had observed the managerial process at work.

"But you must not delay," added Rafaela, anxiously. "Even now the firing seems to be farther away. My father keeps many soldiers here. And he is, doubtless, driving away the attacking party. You must go quickly before he returns, and while all is confusion."

"She is right, Dad," said Jack. "Let's go. Anything you want to take with you?"

"No, nothing. But how are we to escape, Jack? How did you arrive?"

"I arrived by airplane," said Jack. "But whether we can get away by the same means is another matter."

Mr. Hampton looked dazed.

"The younger generation moves too fast for me," he said. "But will you please explain?"

"It's a long story, Dad," said Jack, "and I haven't the time. But it's Bob's airplane. The fellows who kidnapped you stole the machine in Long Island several days before that. Well, Mr. Temple and the boys came out to New Mexico, and we recovered the plane and, and--well, there you are."

"Yes, I see," said Mr. Hampton. "It's as clear as a New York fog. But it's enough to know that Bob--didn't you mention his name--is here with the machine. Let's go and find him."

He started for the door. But at that moment Rafaela, who stood closer to it, halted him with upraised hand.

"Listen," she whispered.

Cautious footsteps could be heard ascending the stairs.

"Quick, Jack," whispered Mr. Hampton, "you mustn't be seen. Nor you, Miss Calomares. Here, hide behind this bed. And he pushed the two behind the hangings of a great four-poster. Then removing the key from the outside of the door, he hurriedly but noiselessly swung the ponderous frame shut, and locked it on the inside.

"Calomares won't recall losing the key," he said grimly to himself. "There may be a chance yet."

He listened with his ear at the keyhole. The cautious footsteps mounted higher. They reached the landing. Then there was a low knock on the panel, and a voice called low and urgently:

"Mr. Hampton. Mr. Hampton. This is Bob."