d word to the Viceroy and Don Felipe de Tobar. I love this
lady and was false to my charge. Don Alvaro promised me death for
punishment, and I crave it. I care not for life without----"

"And did he tell thee why he broke his word?" asked Mercedes, taking his
hands in her own and looking up at her father. "It was my fault. I made
him. In despair I strove to throw myself over the cliff on yonder
mountain and he caught me in his arms. With me in his arms--Which of
you, my lords," she said, throwing back her head with superb pride,
"would not have done the same? Don Felipe de Tobar is dead. He was a
gallant gentleman, but I loved him not. My father, you will not part us
now?"

"No," said the old man, "I will not try. I care not now what his birth
or lineage, he hath shown himself a man of noblest soul. You heard the
wish of de Tobar. It shall be so. This is the betrothal of my daughter,
gentlemen. Art satisfied, Captain? She is noble enough, she hath lineage
and race enough for both of you. My interest with our royal master will
secure you that patent of nobility you will adorn, for bravely have you
won it."

CHAPTER XXII

IN WHICH SIR HENRY MORGAN SEES A CROSS, CHERISHES A HOPE, AND MAKES A
CLAIM

[Illustration]

These noble and generous words of the Viceroy put such heart into the
young Spanish soldier that, forgetting his wounds and his weakness, he
rose to his feet. Indeed, the blow that struck him down had stunned him
rather than anything else, and he would not have been put out of the
combat so easily had it not been that he was exhausted by the hardships
of those two terrible days through which he had just passed. The
terrific mountain climb, the wild ride, the fierce battle, his consuming
anxiety for the woman he loved--these things had so wearied him that he
had been unequal to the struggle. The stimulants which had been
administered to him by his loving friends had been of great service also
in reviving his strength, and he faced the Viceroy, his hand in that of
Mercedes, with a flush of pleasure and pride upon his face.

Yet, after all, it was the consciousness of having won permission to
marry the woman whom he adored and who loved him with a passion that
would fain overmatch his own, were that possible, that so quickly
restored him to strength. With the realization of what he had gained
there came to him such an access of vigor as amazed those who a few
moments before had thought him dead or d