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Such minor troubles, however, were overcome in time. A razor and a hot bath were by no means the least important items of the rejuvenating process, and when the two men entered the salon where Dom Corria was holding an impromptu reception they looked like a couple of coffee-planters from the Argentine. Schmidt was there already.
"What news of that brave man?" asked Dom Corria, and his deep voice vibrated with real feeling. "First-rate, sir," said Dickey. "The bullet is extracted, and the doctor says 'e'll soon be all right. Leastways, that's wot Iris tells me. I can't talk Portuguese meself, an' pore old Jimmie's langwidge ain't fit to be repeated." The President laughed.
The splendid imagery of Genesis is literally exact. "Let there be light; and there was light . . . and God divided the light from the darkness." Long before the Andorinha had crept round the southern headland of the Macayo estuary she became visible again. About six o'clock a grand review was held in the Plaza, or chief square. Dom Corria, a resplendent personage on horseback, made a fine speech.
"I ought to have waited on the President," he said, seeing that she hesitated, "but several of my men are wounded, and we have so few doctors." She smiled, and Carmela could redeem much of her plainness of feature by the singular charm of her smile. "Dom Corria is a good doctor himself," she said. "His skill will be much appreciated in Brazil at the present moment," said he, rather bewildered.
Here, however, is a short telegram from Paris which is of minor interest." And Verity read again: "PARIS, September 6th. The members of Dom Corria De Sylva's family, seen early this morning at the Hotel Continental, deny that any lady connected with the cause of Brazilian freedom took part in the attempted rescue of the ex-President.
The scheme had proved eminently successful. The Liberationists were crumpled up, and here was Dom Corria making his last stand. He deserved better luck, for he was magnificent in failure. Calm as ever, he tried to be shot or captured when the reserves in camp failed him. Russo and the rest dragged him onward by main force. "They want me only," he urged. "My death will end a useless struggle.
"Captain Coke tells me that we are not making for Pernambuco," he said, meeting the older man's penetrating gaze with a glance as firm and self-contained. "That is what we have arranged," said Dom Corria. "It does not seem to have occurred to you that there is one person on board this ship whose interests are vastly more important than yours, senhor."
He was opposed by a commander of little courage but singular skill in strategy. To restore the balance, Dom Corria took the field in person, and Dom Miguel Barraca hastened from Rio de Janeiro to witness the crushing of his arch-enemy. The position was complicated by the arrival at Pernambuco of a German squadron bearing a telegraphic cartel from the Emperor.
He saw, with a species of fantastic intuition, that the island authorities would actually acclaim them for the tidings they brought. And then, he would find those grave brown eyes of hers fixed on his in agonized inquiry. What of the others? Why had he betrayed his trust? Dom Corria de Sylva had sent him ashore in advance of any among the little band of fugitives.
For Barraca held the sea, and the wealthy and enterprising south was strongly opposed to war, while Dom Corria trusted to the mountains and drew his partisans from the less energetic north. This bald statement has an unconvincing sound in the ears of races which dwell north of the equator, but it must be remembered that Brazil, in more respects than one, is the land of topsy-turveydom.
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