The Dust of Conflict. Harold Bindloss

tion>

       Harold Bindloss

      The Dust of Conflict

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066206956

Table of Contents

       I — VIOLET WAYNE’S CONFIDENCE

       II — DAVIDSON MEETS HIS MATCH

       III — TONY CANNOT DECIDE

       IV — THE VERDICT

       V — APPLEBY MAKES A FRIEND

       VI — THE SCHOONER “VENTURA”

       VII — THE DESCENT OF SANTA MARTA

       VIII — APPLEBY’S PRISONER

       IX — THE BREAKING OF THE NET

       X — AN UNEXPECTED MEETING

       XI — THE ALCALDE’S BALL

       XII — PANCHO’S WARNING

       XIII — THE SECOND ATTEMPT

       XIV — APPLEBY PROVES OBDURATE

       XV — TONY’S LAST OPPORTUNITY

       XVI — DANE COP

       XVII — TONY IS PAINFULLY ASTONISHED

       XVIII — NETTIE ASKS A QUESTION

       XIX — POSITIVE PROOF

       XX — FOUND GUILTY

       XXI — TONY’S DECISION

       XXII — MORALES MAKES A PROPOSAL

       XXIII — APPLEBY TAKES A RISK

       XXIV — RESPITED

       XXV — MORALES SITS STILL

       XXVI — THE SEIZING OF SAN CRISTOVAL

       XXVII — HARDING’S APPROBATION

       XXVIII — TONY MAKES AMENDS

       XXIX — TONY PERSISTS

       XXX — MORALES PRESERVES HIS FAME

       XXXI — STRUCK OFF THE ROLL

       XXXII — APPLEBY LEAVES SANTA MARTA

       XXXIII — VIOLET REGAINS HER LIBERTY

       I—VIOLET WAYNE’S CONFIDENCE

       Table of Contents

      THE November afternoon was drawing towards its close when Bernard Appleby stood with a gun on his shoulder in an English country lane. It was a costly hammerless gun, but it had been lent to him, and the fact that his right shoulder was sore and there was a raw place on one of his fingers was not without its significance. Appleby, indeed, seldom enjoyed an opportunity of shooting pheasants, and had been stationed at what proved to be a particularly warm corner of the big beech wood. Here he had, however, acquitted himself considerably better than might have been expected, for he had a steady eye and the faculty of making a quick and usually accurate decision, as well as a curious coolness in action, which was otherwise somewhat at variance with an impulsive disposition. These qualities are useful in more serious affairs than game shooting, and it was fortunate for Appleby, who was a poor man, that he possessed them, because they comprised his whole worldly advantages.

      A little farther up the lane his kinsman, Anthony Palliser, was talking to a keeper, and though Appleby could not hear what they said, there was something in the man’s manner which puzzled him. It was certainly not respectful, and Appleby could almost have fancied that he was threatening his companion. This, however, appeared improbable, for Anthony Palliser was a man of some little importance in that part of the country, and endowed with an indolent good humor which had gained him the good will of everybody. Still, Appleby had seen that complaisance can be carried too far, and knowing rather better than most people how little stiffness there was in Palliser’s character, watched him somewhat curiously until the keeper moved away.

      Then Palliser came up and joined him, and they turned homewards down the lane. They were not unlike in appearance, and of much the same age—Appleby twenty-six, Palliser a year younger. Both were healthy young Englishmen, but there was an indefinite something in the poise of Appleby’s head, and the very way he put his feet down, which suggested who possessed the most character. He had clear blue eyes which met one fearlessly, and into which there crept at times a little reckless twinkle, crisp brown hair, and lips which could set firmly together, while he held himself well, considering that he labored for the most part at a desk.

      “What do you think of keeper Davidson?” asked Palliser.

      “A surly brute!” said Appleby. “Ill-conditioned, but tenacious. Have you any reason for asking?”

      He fancied for a moment that Palliser had something to tell him, but the younger man smiled somewhat mirthlessly. “I don’t like the fellow, and wonder why my respected uncle tolerates him,” he said. “He is certainly tenacious. You have a trick of weighing up folks correctly, Bernard.”