Читать «Cup of Gold (Золотая чаша)» онлайн - страница 86

She withdrew her head as though she renounced them for being only men.

In the afternoon a fire broke out. Tall flames lanced into the sky. A section caught, a street; half the city was burning.

Henry Morgan went to the Palace of the Governor to establish his quarters, and there, in the doorway, stood Don Juan Perez de Guzman, with a naked rapier in his hand.

"I am the Governor," he said brokenly. "My people looked to me to defend them against this scourge. I have failed-but perhaps I can manage to kill you."

Henry Morgan looked at the ground. Something about this hysterical man unnerved him. "I did not set the fire," he said. "Some of your own slaves did that out of revenge, I think."

Don Juan moved forward with his drawn rapier. "Defend yourself!" he cried.

Captain Morgan did not change his position.

The sword dropped from the Governor's hand. "I am a coward-a coward," he cried. "Why did I not strike without speaking? Why did you not oppose me? Ah, I am a coward! I waited too long. I should never have spoken at all, but driven my point into your throat. I wanted to die a moment ago-to die as a kind of atonement for my failure-and to take you with me as a peace offering to my conscience. Panama is gone-and I should be gone, too. It is as though a finger continued to live after the body had died. But I cannot die now. I haven't the courage. And I cannot kill you. I realize how I pretended. Ah! if I had only acted quickly! If I had not spoken-" He walked away toward the gate and the open country.

Henry Morgan watched him drunkenly lurching out of the city.

The black night came. Nearly all of the city was in flame, a garden of red fire. The tower of the Cathedral crashed down and threw a heaven of sparks into the air. Panama was dying in a bed of flame, and the buccaneers were murdering the people in the streets.

All night the captain sat in the audience chamber while his men brought in the gathered plunder. They piled golden bars on the floor like cordwood, bars so heavy that two men carried each of them with difficulty. There were little stacks of jewels like glittering haycocks, and in a corner the precious vestments of the church were heaped, the stock of a heavenly old clothes market.

Henry Morgan sat in a tall chair carved in the likeness of many serpents.

"Have you found La Santa Roja? "

"No, sir. The women of the town are more like devils. "

Prisoners were brought in to be put to the torture with a thumbscrew taken from the Spanish prison.

"Kneel! Your wealth? [Silence] Turn, Joe! "

"Mercy! Mercy! I will lead you; I swear it. A cistern near my house. "

Another-

"Kneel! Your wealth? Turn, Joe! "

"I will lead you. "

As regular, ruthless, and unfeeling they were as master slaughterers in a cow pen.

"Have you found La Santa Roja? I will hang all of you if she is harmed. "

"No one has seen her, sir. The men, except a few, are drunk. "

All through the night-With each confession of wealth concealed, the victim was led out by a party of searchers, and soon they would return, bearing cups and silver plates, jewels, and clothing of colored silk. The glowing treasure in the Hall of Audience was becoming one enormous heap.