Manco, the Peruvian Chief | Page 7

Jose returned.
"What is inside that door?" asked the chief alguazil abruptly.
"Nothing that I know of but an empty cupboard," he answered quietly. "The room is little used, so that I never saw it opened."
"Bring the key, and let us see," said the alguazil.
"I have not the key; and if there is one, my master must have it, and I cannot disturb him for such a fancy," replied Jose. "The dog smells a rat; there are many in the house, and he will soon be quiet."
But the dog would not be quiet, neither was the alguazil satisfied; and at last Jose was obliged to say that he would go and ask my father for the key. I followed him out of the room.
"Jose, I will go to my father and get the key, while you stay with the strangers," I said to him. "Give them plenty of wine, and amuse them as long as you can."
I hurried to my father's room to consult what was to be done; though I intended not to mention that the key had been asked for till he had come into the passage, as of course my mother would be very much alarmed at hearing of it.
I had got him out into the passage, and was mentioning the unwelcome arrival of the Spaniards in as calm a tone as I could command, when it struck me that I might prevent his being implicated in the secretion of the fugitive if I took the whole blame upon myself. I at last told him of the suspicions the behaviour of the horrid dog had aroused in the minds of the officers; and entreated him, by every argument I could think of, to let me manage the affair as best I could.
"They can scarcely inflict any severe punishment on me," I observed, "while they might drag you off to prison, and leave my mother and brother and sisters without a protector."
"I must take the consequences of what I have done," he returned. "At the same time I do not repent having endeavoured to save the poor fellow. The act was right, and that must be my consolation."
But I was not so easily to be turned aside from my purpose; and at last he consented to let me take the key, and to use it if driven so to do, while he remained in his room. I returned, as may be supposed, in no great hurry to the hall; and as I got close to it I heard, amid the loud talking of the Spaniards and Jose, who was doing his best to amuse them, the scratching and snarling of the savage brute at the door.
"My master is incapable of breaking the laws; that I can assure your Excellencies," I heard Jose say. "If the man you seek is inside there, he did not put him in, you may depend on it. If you find anything, it will be a rat or a little mouse, perhaps, for which all this fuss is to be made."
"What you say may be true, friend; but if the key is not brought we must break open the door," observed one of the Spaniards. "The dog is not a pure bloodhound; but he has enough of the race in him to know the difference between an Indian and a rat."
At last I thought it better to go in with the key. When I reached the door of the passage, the brute snarled at me savagely, and I fully believe would have sprung upon me and torn me limb from limb, had not his masters called him off. I trembled so with agitation that I could scarcely apply the key to the keyhole. Luckily the light did not fall on me, or it would have been perceived.
"Come, young Senor, be quick about it; somebody is in there--of that I can be sworn," exclaimed the alguazil.
"There, take the key yourself, and try and open it," I answered, hoping that as he did so the Indian would rush out and make his escape, though his chance was a forlorn one. The officer took the key; some of his men approached with lights, while others held their swords and pistols ready for use. Jose looked very much astonished, though in no way alarmed at the proceedings; but I knew too well what was about to be revealed. The door flew open, and the men and their hateful dog rushed in. The fate of the poor Indian was sealed, I thought. I followed, expecting to see them tearing him to pieces. What, then, was my astonishment and satisfaction to find not a trace of him remaining! The bedding, and even the dishes in which his food had been carried to him, were nowhere to be seen.
"There, I told you so,"