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diff --git a/old/12335-h/12335-h.htm b/old/12335-h/12335-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c32888a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12335-h/12335-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12895 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Overland, by John William De Forest</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + H1,H2,H3,H4 { text-align: center; } + body { margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; } + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + .Centered { text-align: center;} + .toc P { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} + HR { width: 33%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size:10pt;} + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Overland, by John William De Forest</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Overland</p> +<p>Author: John William De Forest</p> +<p>Release Date: May 13, 2004 [eBook #12335]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OVERLAND***</p> +<br> +<br> +<center><h3>E-text prepared by Curtis Weyant, Barbara Tozier,<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3></center> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<a name="image-1" id="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<center><img src="images/image1.png" width="314" height="432" alt= +"J.W. De Forest, (Author of 'Overland,' etc.)"></center> + +<h1>OVERLAND</h1> +<h3>A Novel.</h3> +<h3>By J. W. De FOREST,</h3> +<p class="Centered">Author of "Kate Beaumont," "Miss Ravenel's +Conversion," &c.</p> +<p class="Centered">1871</p> + + +<p> </p> +<hr> +<!-- Transcriber's Note: Table of Contents added to allow linking--> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<div class="toc"> +<p><a href="#CH1">CHAPTER I.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH2">CHAPTER II.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH3">CHAPTER III.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH4">CHAPTER IV.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH5">CHAPTER V.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH6">CHAPTER VI.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH7">CHAPTER VII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH9">CHAPTER IX.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH10">CHAPTER X.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH11">CHAPTER XI.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH12">CHAPTER XII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH15">CHAPTER XV.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH17">CHAPTER XVII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH19">CHAPTER XIX.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH20">CHAPTER XX.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH21">CHAPTER XXI.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH22">CHAPTER XXII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH24">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH25">CHAPTER XXV.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH26">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH27">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH28">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH29">CHAPTER XXIX.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH30">CHAPTER XXX.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH31">CHAPTER XXXI.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH32">CHAPTER XXXII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH33">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH34">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH35">CHAPTER XXXV.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH36">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH37">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH38">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH39">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH40">CHAPTER XL.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH41">CHAPTER XLI.</a></p> +<p><a href="#CH42">CHAPTER XLII.</a></p> +</div> +<hr> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH1" id="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<p>In those days, Santa Fé, New Mexico, was an undergrown, +decrepit, out-at-elbows ancient hidalgo of a town, with not a +scintillation of prosperity or grandeur about it, except the name +of capital.</p> +<p>It was two hundred and seventy years old; and it had less than +five thousand inhabitants. It was the metropolis of a vast extent +of country, not destitute of natural wealth; and it consisted of a +few narrow, irregular streets, lined by one-story houses built of +sun-baked bricks. Owing to the fine climate, it was difficult to +die there; but owing to many things not fine, it was almost equally +difficult to live.</p> +<p>Even the fact that Santa Fé had been for a period under +the fostering wings of the American eagle did not make it grow +much. Westward-ho emigrants halted there to refit and buy cattle +and provisions; but always started resolutely on again, +westward-hoing across the continent. Nobody seemed to want to stay +in Santa Fé, except the aforesaid less than five thousand +inhabitants, who were able to endure the place because they had +never seen any other, and who had become a part of its gray, dirty, +lazy lifelessness and despondency.</p> +<p>For a wonder, this old atom of a metropolis had lately had an +increase of population, which was nearly as great a wonder as Sarah +having a son when she was "well stricken in years." A couple of +new-comers—not a man nor woman less than a couple—now +stood on the flat roof of one of the largest of the sun-baked brick +houses. By great good luck, moreover, these two were, I humbly +trust, worthy of attention. The one was interesting because she was +the handsomest girl in Santa Fé, and would have been +considered a handsome girl anywhere; the other was interesting +because she was a remarkable woman, and even, as Mr. Jefferson +Brick might have phrased it, "one of the most remarkable women in +our country, sir." At least so she judged, and judged it too with +very considerable confidence, being one of those persons who say, +"If I know myself, and I think I do."</p> +<p>The beauty was of a mixed type. She combined the blonde and the +brunette fashions of loveliness. You might guess at the first +glance that she had in her the blood of both the Teutonic and the +Latin races. While her skin was clear and rosy, and her curling +hair was of a light and bright chestnut, her long, shadowy +eyelashes were almost black, and her eyes were of a deep hazel, +nearly allied to blackness. Her form had the height of the usual +American girl, and the round plumpness of the usual Spanish girl. +Even in her bearing and expression you could discover more or less +of this union of different races. There was shyness and frankness; +there was mistrust and confidence; there was sentimentality and +gayety. In short, Clara Muñoz Garcia Van Diemen was a +handsome and interesting young lady.</p> +<p>Now for the remarkable woman. Sturdy and prominent old +character, obviously. Forty-seven years old, or thereabouts; lots +of curling iron-gray hair twisted about her round forehead; a few +wrinkles, and not all of the newest. Round face, round and earnest +eyes, short, self-confident nose, chin sticking out in search of +its own way, mouth trembling with unuttered ideas. Good +figure—what Lord Dundreary would call "dem robust," but not +so sumptuous as to be merely ornamental; tolerably convenient +figure to get about in. Walks up and down, man-fashion, with her +hands behind her back—also man-fashion. Such is Mrs. Maria +Stanley, the sister of Clara Van Diemen's father, and best known to +Clara as Aunt Maria.</p> +<p>"And so this is Santa Fé?" said Aunt Maria, rolling her +spectacles over the little wilted city. "Founded in 1581; two +hundred and seventy years old. Well, if this is all that man can do +in that time, he had better leave colonization to woman."</p> +<p>Clara smiled with an innocent air of half wonder and half +amusement, such as you may see on the face of a child when it is +shown some new and rather awe-striking marvel of the universe, +whether a jack-in-a-box or a comet. She had only known Aunt Maria +for the last four years, and she had not yet got used to her +rough-and-ready mannish ways, nor learned to see any sense in her +philosophizings. Looking upon her as a comical character, and +supposing that she talked mainly for the fun of the thing, she was +disposed to laugh at her doings and sayings, though mostly meant in +solemn earnest.</p> +<p>"But about your affairs, my child," continued Aunt Maria, +suddenly gripping a fresh subject after her quick and startling +fashion. "I don't understand them. How is it possible? Here is a +great fortune gone; gone in a moment; gone incomprehensibly. What +does it mean? Some rascality here. Some man at the bottom of +this."</p> +<p>"I presume my relative, Garcia, must be right," commenced +Clara.</p> +<p>"No, he isn't," interrupted Aunt Maria. "He is wrong. Of course +he's wrong. I never knew a man yet but what he was wrong."</p> +<p>"You make me laugh in spite of my troubles," said Clara, +laughing, however, only through her eyes, which had great faculties +for sparkling out meanings. "But see here," she added, turning +grave again, and putting up her hand to ask attention. "Mr. Garcia +tells a straight story, and gives reasons enough. There was the +war," and here she began to count on her fingers, "That destroyed a +great deal. I know when my father could scarcely send on money to +pay my bills in New York. And then there was the signature for +Señor Pedraez. And then there were the Apaches who burnt the +hacienda and drove off the cattle. And then he—"</p> +<p>Her voice faltered and she stopped; she could not say, "He +died."</p> +<p>"My poor, dear child!" sighed Aunt Maria, walking up to the girl +and caressing her with a tenderness which was all womanly.</p> +<p>"That seems enough," continued Clara, when she could speak +again. "I suppose that what Garcia and the lawyers tell us is true. +I suppose I am not worth a thousand dollars."</p> +<p>"Will a thousand dollars support you here?"</p> +<p>"I don't know. I don't think it will."</p> +<p>"Then if I can't set this thing straight, if I can't make +somebody disgorge your property, I must take you back with me."</p> +<p>"Oh! if you would!" implored Clara, all the tender helplessness +of Spanish girlhood appealing from her eyes.</p> +<p>"Of course I will," said Aunt Maria, with a benevolent energy +which was almost terrific.</p> +<p>"I would try to do something. I don't know. Couldn't I teach +Spanish?"</p> +<p>"You <i>shan't</i>" decided Aunt Maria. "Yes, you <i>shall</i>. +You shall be professor of foreign languages in a Female College +which I mean to have founded."</p> +<p>Clara stared with astonishment, and then burst into a hearty fit +of laughter, the two finishing the drying of her tears. She was so +far from wishing to be a strong-minded person of either gender, +that she did not comprehend that her aunt could wish it for her, or +could herself seriously claim to be one. The talk about a +professorship was in her estimation the wayward, humorous whim of +an eccentric who was fond of solemn joking. Mrs. Stanley, +meanwhile, could not see why her utterance should not be taken in +earnest, and opened her eyes at Clara's merriment.</p> +<p>We must say a word or two concerning the past of this young +lady. Twenty-five years previous a New Yorker named Augustus Van +Diemen, the brother of that Maria Jane Van Diemen now known to the +world as Mrs. Stanley, had migrated to California, set up in the +hide business, and married by stealth the daughter of a wealthy +Mexican named Pedro Muñoz. Muñoz got into a Spanish +Catholic rage at having a Yankee Protestant son-in-law, disowned +and formally disinherited his child, and worried her husband into +quitting the country. Van Diemen returned to the United States, but +his wife soon became homesick for her native land, and, like a good +husband as he was, he went once more to Mexico. This time he +settled in Santa Fé, where he accumulated a handsome +fortune, lived in the best house in the city, and owned +haciendas.</p> +<p>Clara's mother dying when the girl was fourteen years old, Van +Diemen felt free to give her, his only child, an American +education, and sent her to New York, where she went through four +years of schooling. During this period came the war between the +United States and Mexico. Foreign residents were ill-treated; Van +Diemen was sometimes a prisoner, sometimes a fugitive; in one way +or another his fortune went to pieces. Four months previous to the +opening of this story he died in a state little better than +insolvency. Clara, returning to Santa Fé under the care of +her energetic and affectionate relative, found that the deluge of +debt would cover town house and haciendas, leaving her barely a +thousand dollars. She was handsome and accomplished, but she was an +orphan and poor. The main chance with her seemed to lie in the +likelihood that she would find a mother (or a father) in Aunt +Maria.</p> +<p>Yes, there was another sustaining possibility, and of a more +poetic nature. There was a young American officer named Thurstane, +a second lieutenant acting as quartermaster of the department, who +had met her heretofore in New York, who had seemed delighted to +welcome her to Santa Fé, and who now called on her nearly +every day. Might it not be that Lieutenant Thurstane would want to +make her Mrs. Thurstane, and would have power granted him to induce +her to consent to the arrangement? Clara was sufficiently a woman, +and sufficiently a Spanish woman especially, to believe in +marriage. She did not mean particularly to be Mrs. Thurstane, but +she did mean generally to be Mrs. Somebody. And why not Thurstane? +Well, that was for him to decide, at least to a considerable +extent. In the mean time she did not love him; she only disliked +the thought of leaving him.</p> +<p>While these two women had been talking and thinking, a lazy +Indian servant had been lounging up the stairway. Arrived on the +roof, he advanced to La Señorita Clara, and handed her a +letter. The girl opened it, glanced through it with a flushing +face, and cried out delightedly, "It is from my grandfather. How +wonderful! O holy Maria, thanks! His heart has been softened. He +invites me to come and live with him in San Francisco. <i>O Madre +de Dios!</i>"</p> +<p>Although Clara spoke English perfectly, and although she was in +faith quite as much of a Protestant as a Catholic, yet in her +moments of strong excitement she sometimes fell back into the +language and ideas of her childhood.</p> +<p>"Child, what are you jabbering about?" asked Aunt Maria.</p> +<p>"There it is. See! Pedro Muñoz! It is his own signature. +I have seen letters of his. Pedro Muñoz! Read it. Oh! you +don't read Spanish."</p> +<p>Then she translated the letter aloud. Aunt Maria listened with a +firm and almost stern aspect, like one who sees some justice done, +but not enough.</p> +<p>"He doesn't beg your pardon," she said at the close of the +reading.</p> +<p>Clara, supposing that she was expected to laugh, and not seeing +the point of the joke, stared in amazement.</p> +<p>"But probably he is in a meeker mood now," continued Aunt Maria. +"By this time it is to be hoped that he sees his past conduct in a +proper light. The letter was written three months ago."</p> +<p>"Three months ago," repeated Clara. "Yes, it has taken all that +time to come. How long will it take me to go there? How shall I +go?"</p> +<p>"We will see," said Aunt Maria, with the air of one who holds +the fates in her hand, and doesn't mean to open it till she gets +ready. She was by no means satisfied as yet that this grandfather +Muñoz was a proper person to be intrusted with the destinies +of a young lady. In refusing to let his daughter select her own +husband, he had shown a very squinting and incomplete perception of +the rights of woman.</p> +<p>"Old reprobate!" thought Aunt Maria. "Probably he has got gouty +with his vices, and wants to be nursed. I fancy I see him getting +Clara without going on his sore marrow-bones and begging pardon of +gods and women."</p> +<p>"Of course I must go," continued Clara, unsuspicious of her +aunt's reflections. "At all events he will support me. Besides, he +is now the head of my family."</p> +<p>"Head of the family!" frowned Aunt Maria. "Because he is a man? +So much the more reason for his being the tail of it. My dear, you +are your own head."</p> +<p>"Ah—well. What is the use of all <i>that</i>?" asked +Clara, smiling away those views. "I have no money, and he has."</p> +<p>"Well, we will see," persisted Aunt Maria. "I just told you so. +We will see."</p> +<p>The two women had scarcely left the roof of the house and got +themselves down to the large, breezy, sparsely furnished parlor, +ere the lazy, dawdling Indian servant announced Lieutenant +Thurstane.</p> +<p>Lieutenant Ralph Thurstane was a tall, full-chested, +finely-limbed gladiator of perhaps four and twenty. Broad forehead; +nose straight and high enough; lower part of the face oval; on the +whole a good physiognomy. Cheek bones rather strongly marked; a +hint of Scandinavian ancestry supported by his name. Thurstane is +evidently Thor's stone or altar; forefathers priests of the god of +thunder. His complexion was so reddened and darkened by sunburn +that his untanned forehead looked unnaturally white and delicate. +His yellow, one might almost call it golden hair, was wavy enough +to be handsome. Eyes quite remarkable; blue, but of a very dark +blue, like the coloring which is sometimes given to steel; so dark +indeed that one's first impression was that they were black. Their +natural expression seemed to be gentle, pathetic, and almost +imploring; but authority, responsibility, hardship, and danger had +given them an ability to be stern. In his whole face, young as he +was, there was already the look of the veteran, that calm +reminiscence of trials endured, that preparedness for trials to +come. In fine, taking figure, physiognomy, and demeanor together, +he was attractive.</p> +<p>He saluted the ladies as if they were his superior officers. It +was a kindly address, but ceremonious; it was almost humble, and +yet it was self-respectful.</p> +<p>"I have some great news," he presently said, in the full +masculine tone of one who has done much drilling. "That is, it is +great to me. I change station."</p> +<p>"How is that?" asked Clara eagerly. She was not troubled at the +thought of losing a beau; we must not be so hard upon her as to +make that supposition; but here was a trustworthy friend going away +just when she wanted counsel and perhaps aid.</p> +<p>"I have been promoted first lieutenant of Company I, Fifth +Regiment, and I must join my company."</p> +<p>"Promoted! I am glad," said Clara.</p> +<p>"You ought to be pleased," put in Aunt Maria, staring at the +grave face of the young man with no approving expression. "I +thought men were always pleased with such things."</p> +<p>"So I am," returned Thurstane. "Of course I am pleased with the +step. But I must leave Santa Fé. And I have found Santa +Fé very pleasant."</p> +<p>There was so much meaning obvious in these last words that +Clara's face colored like a sunset.</p> +<p>"I thought soldiers never indulged in such feelings," continued +the unmollified Aunt Maria.</p> +<p>"Soldiers are but men," observed Thurstane, flushing through his +sunburn.</p> +<p>"And men are weak creatures."</p> +<p>Thurstane grew still redder. This old lady (old in his young +eyes) was always at him about his manship, as if it were a crime +and disgrace. He wanted to give her one, but out of respect for +Clara he did not, and merely moved uneasily in his seat, as men are +apt to do when they are set down hard.</p> +<p>"How soon must you go? Where?" demanded Clara.</p> +<p>"As soon as I can close my accounts here and turn over my stores +to my successor. Company I is at Fort Yuma on the Colorado. It is +the first post in California."</p> +<p>"California!" And Clara could not help brightening up in cheeks +and eyes with fine tints and flashes. "Why, I am going to +California."</p> +<p>"We will see," said Aunt Maria, still holding the fates in her +fist.</p> +<p>Then came the story of Grandfather Muñoz's letter, with a +hint or two concerning the decay of the Van Diemen fortune, for +Clara was not worldly wise enough to hide her poverty.</p> +<p>Thurstane's face turned as red with pleasure as if it had been +dipped in the sun. If this young lady was going to California, he +might perhaps be her knight-errant across the desert, guard her +from privations and hardships, and crown himself with her smiles. +If she was poor, he might—well, he would not speculate upon +that; it was too dizzying.</p> +<p>We must say a word as to his history in order to show why he was +so shy and sensitive. He had been through West Point, confined +himself while there closely to his studies, gone very soon into +active service, and so seen little society. The discipline of the +Academy and three years in the regular army had ground into him the +soldier's respect for superiors. He revered his field officers; he +received a communication from the War Department as a sort of +superhuman revelation; he would have blown himself sky-high at the +command of General Scott. This habit of subordination, coupled with +a natural fund of reverence, led him to feel that many persons were +better than himself, and to be humble in their presence. All women +were his superior officers, and the highest in rank was Clara Van +Diemen.</p> +<p>Well, hurrah! he was to march under her to California! and the +thought made him half wild. He would protect her; he would kill all +the Indians in the desert for her sake; he would feed her on his +own blood, if necessary.</p> +<p>As he considered these proper and feasible projects, the +audacious thought which he had just tried to expel from his mind +forced its way back into it. If the Van Diemen estate were +insolvent, if this semi-divine Clara were as poor as himself, there +was a call on him to double his devotion to her, and there was a +hope that his worship might some day be rewarded.</p> +<p>How he would slave and serve for her; how he would earn +promotion for her sake; how he would fight her battle in life! But +would she let him do it? Ah, it seemed too much to hope. Poor +though she was, she was still a heaven or so above him; she was so +beautiful and had so many perfections!</p> +<p>Oh, the purity, the self-abnegation, the humility of love! It +makes a man scarcely lower than the angels, and quite superior to +not a few reverenced saints.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH2" id="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<p>"I must say," observed Thurstane—"I beg your pardon for +advising—but I think you had better accept your grandfather's +invitation."</p> +<p>He said it with a pang at his heart, for if this adorable girl +went to her grandfather, the old fellow would be sure to love her +and leave her his property, in which case there would be no chance +for a proud and poor lieutenant. He gave his advice under a grim +sense that it was his duty to give it, because the following of it +would be best for Miss Van Diemen.</p> +<p>"So I think," nodded Clara, fortified by this opinion to resist +Aunt Maria, and the more fortified because it was the opinion of a +man.</p> +<p>After a certain amount of discussion the elder lady was +persuaded to loosen her mighty grip and give the destinies a little +liberty.</p> +<p>"Well, it <i>may</i> be best," she said, pursing her mouth as if +she tasted the bitter of some half-suspected and disagreeable +future. "I don't know. I won't undertake positively to decide. But, +if you do go," and here she became authentic and despotic—"if +you do go, I shall go with you and see you safe there."</p> +<p>"Oh! <i>will</i> you?" exclaimed Clara, all Spanish and all +emotion in an instant. "How sweet and good and beautiful of you! +You are my guardian angel. Do you know? I thought you would offer +to go. I said to myself, She came on to Santa Fé for my +sake, and she will go to California. But oh, it is too much for me +to ask. How shall I ever pay you?"</p> +<p>"I will pay myself," returned Aunt Maria. "I have plans for +California."</p> +<p>It was as if she had said, "Go to, we will make California in +our own image."</p> +<p>The young lady was satisfied. Her strong-minded relative was a +mighty mystery to her, just as men were mighty mysteries. Whatever +she or they said could be done and should be done, why of course it +would be done, and that shortly.</p> +<p>By the time that Aunt Maria had announced her decision, another +visitor was on the point of entrance. Carlos Maria Muñoz +Garcia de Coronado was a nephew of Manuel Garcia, who was a cousin +of Clara's grandfather; only, as Garcia was merely his uncle by +marriage, Coronado and Clara were not related by blood, though +calling each other cousin. He was a man of medium stature, slender +in build, agile and graceful in movement, complexion very dark, +features high and aristocratic, short black hair and small black +moustache, eyes black also, but veiled and dusky. He was about +twenty-eight, but he seemed at least four years older, partly +because of a deep wrinkle which slashed down each cheek, and partly +because he was so perfectly self-possessed and elaborately +courteous. His intellect was apparently as alert and adroit as his +physical action. A few words from Clara enabled him to seize the +situation.</p> +<p>"Go at once," he decided without a moment's hesitation. "My dear +cousin, it will be the happy turning point of your fortunes. I +fancy you already inheriting the hoards, city lots, haciendas, +mines, and cattle of our excellent relative Muñoz—long +may he live to enjoy them! Certainly. Don't whisper an objection. +Muñoz owes you that reparation. His conduct has +been—we will not describe it—we will hope that he means +to make amends for it. Unquestionably he will. My dear cousin, +nothing can resist you. You will enchant your grandfather. It will +all end, like the tales of the Arabian Nights, in your living in a +palace. How delightful to think of this long family quarrel at last +coming to a close! But how do you go?"</p> +<p>"If Miss Van Diemen goes overland, I can do something toward +protecting her and making her comfortable," suggested Thurstane. "I +am ordered to Fort Yuma."</p> +<p>Coronado glanced at the young officer, noted the guilty blush +which peeped out of his tanned cheek, and came to a decision on the +instant.</p> +<p>"Overland!" he exclaimed, lifting both his hands. "Take her +overland! My God! my God!"</p> +<p>Thurstane reddened at the insinuation that he had given bad +advice to Miss Van Diemen; but though he wanted to fight the +Mexican, he controlled himself, and did not even argue. Like all +sensitive and at the same time self-respectful persons, he was +exceedingly considerate of the feelings of others, and was a very +lamb in conversation.</p> +<p>"It is a desert," continued Coronado in a kind of scream of +horror. "It is a waterless desert, without a blade of grass, and +haunted from end to end by Apaches. My little cousin would die of +thirst and hunger. She would be hunted and scalped. O my God! +overland!"</p> +<p>"Emigrant parties are going all the while," ventured Thurstane, +very angry at such extravagant opposition, but merely looking a +little stiff.</p> +<p>"Certainly. You are right, Lieutenant," bowed Coronado. "They do +go. But how many perish on the way? They march between the unburied +and withered corpses of their predecessors. And what a journey for +a woman—for a lady accustomed to luxury—for my little +cousin! I beg your pardon, my dear Lieutenant Thurstane, for +disagreeing with you. My advice is—the isthmus."</p> +<p>"I have, of course, nothing, to say," admitted the officer, +returning Coronado's bow. "The family must decide."</p> +<p>"Certainly, the isthmus, the steamers," went on the fluent +Mexican. "You sail to Panama. You have an easy and safe land trip +of a few days. Then steamers again. Poff! you are there. By all +means, the isthmus."</p> +<p>We must allot a few more words of description to this Don Carlos +Coronado. Let no one expect a stage Spaniard, with the air of a +matador or a guerrillero, who wears only picturesque and outlandish +costumes, and speaks only magniloquent Castilian. Coronado was +dressed, on this spring morning, precisely as American dandies then +dressed for summer promenades on Broadway. His hat was a fine +panama with a broad black ribbon; his frock-coat was of thin cloth, +plain, dark, and altogether civilized; his light trousers were cut +gaiter-fashion, and strapped under the instep; his small boots were +patent-leather, and of the ordinary type. There was nothing poetic +about his attire except a reasonably wide Byron collar and a rather +dashing crimson neck-tie, well suited to his dark complexion.</p> +<p>His manner was sometimes excitable, as we have seen above; but +usually he was like what gentlemen with us desire to be. Perhaps he +bowed lower and smiled oftener and gestured more gracefully than +Americans are apt to do. But there was in general nothing Oriental +about him, no assumption of barbaric pompousness, no extravagance +of bearing. His prevailing deportment was calm, grave, and +deliciously courteous. If you had met him, no matter how or where, +you would probably have been pleased with him. He would have made +conversation for you, and put you at ease in a moment; you would +have believed that he liked you, and you would therefore have been +disposed to like him. In short, he was agreeable to most people, +and to some people fascinating.</p> +<p>And then his English! It was wonderful to hear him talk it. No +American could say that he spoke better English than Coronado, and +no American surely ever spoke it so fluently. It rolled off his +lips in a torrent, undefiled by a mispronunciation or a foreign +idiom. And yet he had begun to learn the language after reaching +the age of manhood, and had acquired it mainly during three years +of exile and teaching of Spanish in the United States. His +linguistic cleverness was a fair specimen of his general quickness +of intellect.</p> +<p>Mrs. Stanley had liked him at first sight—that is, liked +him for a man. He knew it; he had seen that she was a person worth +conciliating; he had addressed himself to her, let off his bows at +her, made her the centre of conversation. In ten minutes from the +entrance of Coronado Mrs. Stanley was of opinion that Clara ought +to go to California by way of the isthmus, although she had +previously taken the overland route for granted. In another ten +minutes the matter was settled: the ladies were to go by way of New +Orleans, Panama, and the Pacific.</p> +<p>Shortly afterward, Coronado and Thurstane took their leave; the +Mexican affable, sociable, smiling, smoking; the American civil, +but taciturn and grave.</p> +<p>"Aha! I have disappointed the young gentleman," thought Coronado +as they parted, the one going to his quartermaster's office and the +other to Garcia's house.</p> +<p>Coronado, although he had spent great part of his life in +courting women, was a bachelor. He had been engaged once in New +Mexico and two or three times in New York, but had always, as he +could tell you with a smile, been disappointed. He now lived with +his uncle, that Señor Manuel Garcia whom Clara has +mentioned, a trader with California, an owner of vast estates and +much cattle, and reputed to be one of the richest men in New +Mexico. The two often quarrelled, and the elder had once turned the +younger out of doors, so lively were their dispositions. But as +Garcia had lost one by one all his children, he had at last taken +his nephew into permanent favor, and would, it was said, leave him +his property.</p> +<p>The house, a hollow square built of <i>adobe</i> bricks in one +story, covered a vast deal of ground, had spacious rooms and a +court big enough to bivouac a regiment. It was, in fact, not only a +dwelling, but a magazine where Garcia stored his merchandise, and a +caravansary where he parked his wagons. As Coronado lounged into +the main doorway he was run against by a short, pursy old gentleman +who was rushing out.</p> +<p>"Ah! there you are!" exclaimed the old gentleman, in Spanish. "O +you pig! you dog! you never are here. O Madre de Dios! how I have +needed you! There is no time to lose. Enter at once."</p> +<p>A dyspeptic, worn with work and anxieties, his nervous system +shattered, Garcia was subject to fits of petulance which were +ludicrous. In these rages he called everybody who would bear it +pigs, dogs, and other more unsavory nicknames. Coronado bore it +because thus he got his living, and got it without much labor.</p> +<p>"I want you," gasped Garcia, seizing the young man by the arm +and dragging him into a private room. "I want to speak to you in +confidence—in confidence, mind you, in confidence—about +Muñoz."</p> +<p>"I have heard of it," said Coronado, as the old man stopped to +catch his breath.</p> +<p>"Heard of it!" exclaimed Garcia, in such consternation that he +turned yellow, which was his way of turning pale. "Has the news got +here? O Madre de Dios!"</p> +<p>"Yes, I was at our little cousin's this evening. It is an ugly +affair."</p> +<p>"And <i>she</i> knows it?" groaned the old man. "O Madre de +Dios!"</p> +<p>"She told me of it. She is going there. I did the best I could. +She was about to go overland, in charge of the American, Thurstane. +I broke that up. I persuaded her to go by the isthmus."</p> +<p>"It is of little use," said Garcia, his eyes filmy with despair, +as if he were dying. "She will get there. The property will be +hers."</p> +<p>"Not necessarily. He has simply invited her to live with him. +She may not suit."</p> +<p>"How?" demanded Garcia, open-eyed and open-mouthed with +anxiety.</p> +<p>"He has simply invited her to live with him," repeated Coronado. +"I saw the letter."</p> +<p>"What! you don't know, then?"</p> +<p>"Know what?"</p> +<p>"Muñoz is dead."</p> +<p>Coronado threw out, first a stare of surprise, and then a shout +of laughter.</p> +<p>"And here they have just got a letter from him," he said +presently; "and I have been persuading her to go to him by the +isthmus!"</p> +<p>"May the journey take her to him!" muttered Garcia. "How old was +this letter?"</p> +<p>"Nearly three months. It came by sea, first to New York, and +then here."</p> +<p>"My news is a month later. It came overland by special +messenger. Listen to me, Carlos. This affair is worse than you +know. Do you know what Muñoz has done? Oh, the pig! the dog! +the villainous pig! He has left everything to his +granddaughter."</p> +<p>Coronado, dumb with astonishment and dismay, mechanically +slapped his boot with his cane and stared at Garcia.</p> +<p>"I am ruined," cried the old man. "The pig of hell has ruined +me. He has left me, his cousin, his only male relative, to ruin. +Not a doubloon to save me.'</p> +<p>"Is there <i>no</i> chance?" asked Coronado, after a long +silence.</p> +<p>"None! Oh—yes—one. A little one, a miserable little +one. If she dies without issue and without a will, I am heir. And +you, Carlos" (changing here to a wheedling tone), "you are +mine."</p> +<p>The look which accompanied these last words was a terrible +mingling of cunning, cruelty, hope, and despair.</p> +<p>Coronado glanced at Garcia with a shocking comprehension, and +immediately dropped his dusky eyes upon the floor.</p> +<p>"You know I have made my will," resumed the old man, "and left +you everything."</p> +<p>"Which is nothing," returned Coronado, aware that his uncle was +insolvent in reality, and that his estate when settled would not +show the residuum of a dollar.</p> +<p>"If the fortune of Muñoz comes to me, I shall be very +rich."</p> +<p>"When you get it."</p> +<p>"Listen to me, Carlos. Is there no way of getting it?"</p> +<p>As the two men stared at each other they were horrible. The +uncle was always horrible; he was one of the very ugliest of +Spaniards; he was a brutal caricature of the national type. He had +a low forehead, round face, bulbous nose, shaking fat cheeks, +insignificant chin, and only one eye, a black and sleepy orb, which +seemed to crawl like a snake. His exceedingly dark skin was made +darker by a singular bluish tinge which resulted from heavy doses +of nitrate of silver, taken as a remedy for epilepsy. His face was, +moreover, mottled with dusky spots, so that he reminded the +spectator of a frog or a toad. Just now he looked nothing less than +poisonous; the hungriest of cannibals would not have dared eat +him.</p> +<p>"I am ruined," he went on groaning. "The war, the Yankees, the +Apaches, the devil—I am completely ruined. In another year I +shall be sold out. Then, my dear Carlos, you will have no +home."</p> +<p>"<i>Sangre de Dios!</i>" growled Coronado. "Do you want to drive +me to the devil?</p> +<p>"O God! to force an old man to such an extremity!" continued +Garcia. "It is more than an old man is fitted to strive with. An +old man—an old, sick, worn-out man!"</p> +<p>"You are sure about the will?" demanded the nephew.</p> +<p>"I have a copy of it," said Garcia, eagerly. "Here it is. Read +it. O Madre de Dios! there is no doubt about it. I can trust my +lawyer. It all goes to her. It only comes to me if she dies +childless and intestate."</p> +<p>"This is a horrible dilemma to force us into," observed +Coronado, after he had read the paper.</p> +<p>"So it is," assented Garcia, looking at him with indescribable +anxiety. "So it is; so it is. What is to be done?"</p> +<p>"Suppose I should marry her?"</p> +<p>The old man's countenance fell; he wanted to call his nephew a +pig, a dog, and everything else that is villainous; but he +restrained himself and merely whimpered, "It would be better than +nothing. You could help me."</p> +<p>"There is little chance of it," said Coronado, seeing that the +proposition was not approved. "She likes the American lieutenant +much, and does not like me at all."</p> +<p>"Then—" began Garcia, and stopped there, trembling all +over.</p> +<p>"Then what?"</p> +<p>The venomous old toad made a supreme effort and whispered, +"Suppose she should die?"</p> +<p>Coronado wheeled about, walked two or three times up and down +the room, returned to where Garcia sat quivering, and murmured, "It +must be done quickly."</p> +<p>"Yes, yes," gasped the old man. "She must—it must be +childless and intestate."</p> +<p>"She must go off in some natural way," continued the nephew.</p> +<p>The uncle looked up with a vague hope in his one dusky and filmy +eye.</p> +<p>"Perhaps the isthmus will do it for her."</p> +<p>Again the old man turned to an image of despair, as he mumbled, +"O Madre de Dios! no, no. The isthmus is nothing."</p> +<p>"Is the overland route more dangerous?" asked Coronado.</p> +<p>"It might be made more dangerous. One gets lost in the desert. +There are Apaches."</p> +<p>"It is a horrible business," growled Coronado, shaking his head +and biting his lips.</p> +<p>"Oh, horrible, horrible!" groaned Garcia. "Muñoz was a +pig, and a dog, and a toad, and a snake."</p> +<p>"You old coward! can't you speak out?" hissed Coronado, losing +his patience. "Do you want me both to devise and execute, while you +take the purses? Tell me at once what your plan is."</p> +<p>"The overland route," whispered Garcia, shaking from head to +foot. "You go with her. I pay—I pay everything. You shall +have men, horses, mules, wagons, all you want."</p> +<p>"I shall want money, too. I shall need, perhaps, two thousand +dollars. Apaches."</p> +<p>"Yes, yes," assented Garcia. "The Apaches make an attack. You +shall have money. I can raise it; I will."</p> +<p>"How soon will you have a train ready?"</p> +<p>"Immediately. Any day you want. You must start at once. She must +not know of the will. She might remain here, and let the estate be +settled for her, and draw on it. She might go back to New York. +Anybody would lend her money."</p> +<p>"Yes, events hurry us," muttered Coronado. "Well, get your +cursed train ready. I will induce her to take it. I must unsay now +all that I said in favor of the isthmus."</p> +<p>"Do be judicious," implored Garcia. "With judgment, with +judgment. Lost on the plains. Stolen by Apaches. No killing. No +scandals. O my God, how I hate scandals and uproars! I am an old +man, Carlos. With judgment, with judgment."</p> +<p>"I comprehend," responded Coronado, adding a long string of +Spanish curses, most of them meant for his uncle.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH3" id="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<p>That very day Coronado made a second call on Clara and her Aunt +Maria, to retract, contradict, and disprove all that he had said in +favor of the isthmus and against the overland route.</p> +<p>Although his visit was timed early in the evening, he found +Lieutenant Thurstane already with the ladies. Instead of scowling +at him, or crouching in conscious guilt before him, he made a +cordial rush for his hand, smiled sweetly in his face, and offered +him incense of gratitude.</p> +<p>"My dear Lieutenant, you are perfectly right," he said, in his +fluent English. "The journey by the isthmus is not to be thought +of. I have just seen a friend who has made it. Poisonous serpents +in myriads. The most deadly climate in the world. Nearly everybody +had the <i>vomito</i>; one-fifth died of it. You eat a little +fruit; down you go on your back—dead in four hours. Then +there are constant fights between the emigrants and the sullen, +ferocious Indians of the isthmus. My poor friend never slept with +his revolver out of his hand. I said to him, 'My dear fellow, it is +cruel to rejoice in your misfortunes, but I am heartily glad that I +have heard of them. You have saved the life of the most remarkable +woman that I ever knew, and of a cousin of mine who is the star of +her sex.'"</p> +<p>Here Coronado made one bow to Mrs. Stanley and another to Clara, +at the same time kissing his sallow hand enthusiastically to all +creation. Aunt Maria tried to look stern at the compliment, but +eventually thawed into a smile over it. Clara acknowledged it with +a little wave of the hand, as if, coming from Coronado, it meant +nothing more than good-morning, which indeed was just about his +measure of it.</p> +<p>"Moreover," continued the Mexican, "overland route? Why, it is +overland route both ways. If you go by the isthmus, you must +traverse all Texas and Louisiana, at the very least. You might as +well go at once to San Diego. In short, the route by the isthmus is +not to be thought of."</p> +<p>"And what of the overland route?" asked Mrs. Stanley.</p> +<p>"The overland route is the <i>other</i>," laughed Coronado.</p> +<p>"Yes, I know. We must take it, I suppose. But what is the last +news about it? You spoke this morning of Indians, I believe. Not +that I suppose they are very formidable."</p> +<p>"The overland route does not lead directly through paradise, my +dear Mrs. Stanley," admitted Coronado with insinuating candor. "But +it is not as bad as has been represented. I have never tried it. I +must rely upon the report of others. Well, on learning that the +isthmus would not do for you, I rushed off immediately to inquire +about the overland. I questioned Garcia's teamsters. I catechized +some newly-arrived travellers. I pumped dry every source of +information. The result is that the overland route will do. No +suffering; absolutely none; not a bit. And no danger worth +mentioning. The Apaches are under a cloud. Our American conquerors +and fellow-citizens" (here he gently patted Thurstane on the +shoulder-strap), "our Romans of the nineteenth century, they +tranquillize the Apaches. A child might walk from here to Fort Yuma +without risking its little scalp."</p> +<p>All this was said in the most light-hearted and airy manner +conceivable. Coronado waved and floated on zephyrs of fancy and +fluency. A butterfly or a humming-bird could not have talked more +cheerily about flying over a parterre of flowers than he about +traversing the North American desert. And, with all this frivolous, +imponderable grace, what an accent of verity he had! He spoke of +the teamsters as if he had actually conversed with them, and of the +overland route as if he had been studiously gathering information +concerning it.</p> +<p>"I believe that what you say about the Apaches is true," +observed Thurstane, a bit awkwardly.</p> +<p>Coronado smiled, tossed him a little bow, and murmured in the +most cordial, genial way, "And the rest?"</p> +<p>"I beg pardon," said the Lieutenant, reddening. "I didn't mean +to cast doubt upon any of your statements, sir."</p> +<p>Thurstane had the army tone; he meant to be punctiliously +polite; perhaps he was a little stiff in his politeness. But he was +young, had had small practice in society, was somewhat hampered by +modesty, and so sometimes made a blunder. Such things annoyed him +excessively; a breach of etiquette seemed something like a breach +of orders; hadn't meant to charge Coronado with drawing the long +bow; couldn't help coloring about it. Didn't think much of +Coronado, but stood somewhat in awe of him, as being four years +older in time and a dozen years older in the ways of the world.</p> +<p>"I only meant to say," he continued, "that I have information +concerning the Apaches which coincides with yours, sir. They are +quiet, at least for the present. Indeed, I understand that Red +Sleeve, or Manga Colorada, as you call him, is coming in with his +band to make a treaty."</p> +<p>"Admirable!" cried Coronado. "Why not hire him to guarantee our +safety? Set a thief to catch a thief. Why does not your Government +do that sort of thing? Let the Apaches protect the emigrants, and +the United States pay the Apaches. They would be the cheapest +military force possible. That is the way the Turks manage the +desert Arabs."</p> +<p>"Mr. Coronado, you ought to be Governor of New Mexico," said +Aunt Maria, stricken with admiration at this project.</p> +<p>Thurstane looked at the two as if he considered them a couple of +fools, each bigger than the other. Coronado advanced to Mrs. +Stanley, took her hand, bowed over it, and murmured, "Let me have +your influence at Washington, my dear Madame." The remarkable woman +squirmed a little, fearing lest he should kiss her ringers, but +nevertheless gave him a gracious smile.</p> +<p>"It strikes me, however," she said, "that the isthmus route is +better. We know by experience that the journey from here to Bent's +Fort is safe and easy. From there down the Arkansas and Missouri to +St. Louis it is mostly water carriage; and from St. Louis you can +sail anywhere."</p> +<p>Coronado was alarmed. He must put a stopper on this project. He +called up all his resources.</p> +<p>"My dear Mrs. Stanley, allow me. Remember that emigrants move +westward, and not eastward. Coming from Bent's Fort you had +protection and company; but going towards it would be different. +And then think what you would lose. The great American desert, as +it is absurdly styled, is one of the most interesting regions on +earth. Mrs. Stanley, did you ever hear of the Casas Grandes, the +Casas de Montezuma, the ruined cities of New Mexico? In this +so-called desert there was once an immense population. There was a +civilization which rose, flourished, decayed, and disappeared +without a historian. Nothing remains of it but the walls of its +fortresses and palaces. Those you will see. They are wonderful. +They are worth ten times the labor and danger which we shall +encounter. Buildings eight hundred feet long by two hundred and +fifty feet deep, Mrs. Stanley. The resting-places and wayside +strongholds of the Aztecs on their route from the frozen North to +found the Empire of the Montezumas! This whole region is strewn, +and cumbered, and glorified with ruins. If we should go by the way +of the San Juan—"</p> +<p>"The San Juan!" protested Thurstane. "Nobody goes by the way of +the San Juan."</p> +<p>Coronado stopped, bowed, smiled, waited to see if Thurstane had +finished, and then proceeded.</p> +<p>"Along the San Juan every hilltop is crowned with these +monuments of antiquity. It is like the castled Rhine. Ruins looking +in the faces of ruins. It is a tragedy in stone. It is like Niobe +and her daughters. Moreover, if we take this route we shall pass +the Moquis. The independent Moquis are a fragment of the ancient +ruling race of New Mexico. They live in stone-built cities on lofty +eminences. They weave blankets of exquisite patterns and colors, +and produce a species of pottery which almost deserves the name of +porcelain."</p> +<p>"Really, you ought to write all this," exclaimed Aunt Maria, her +imagination fired to a white heat.</p> +<p>"I ought," said Coronado, impressively. "I owe it to these +people to celebrate them in history. I owe them that much because +of the name I bear. Did you ever hear of Coronado, the conqueror of +New Mexico, the stormer of the seven cities of Cibola? It was he +who gave the final shock to this antique civilization. He was the +Cortes of this portion of the continent. I bear his name, and his +blood runs in my veins."</p> +<p>He held down his head as if he were painfully oppressed by the +sense of his crimes and responsibilities as a descendant of the +waster of aboriginal New Mexico. Mrs. Stanley, delighted with his +emotion, slily grasped and pressed his hand.</p> +<p>"Oh, man! man!" she groaned. "What evils has that creature man +wrought in this beautiful world! Ah, Mr. Coronado, it would have +been a very different planet had woman had her rightful share in +the management of its affairs."</p> +<p>"Undoubtedly," sighed Coronado. He had already obtained an +insight into this remarkable person's views on the woman question, +the superiority of her own sex, the stolidity and infamy of the +other. It was worth his while to humor her on this point, for the +sake of gaining an influence over her, and so over Clara. Cheered +by the success of his history, he now launched into pure +poetry.</p> +<p>"Woman has done something," he said. "There is every reason to +believe that the cities of the San Juan were ruled by queens, and +that some of them were inhabited by a race of Amazons."</p> +<p>"Is it possible?" exclaimed Aunt Maria, flushing and rustling +with interest.</p> +<p>"It is the opinion of the best antiquarians. It is my opinion. +Nothing else can account for the exquisite earthenware which is +found there. Women, you are aware, far surpass men in the arts of +beauty. Moreover, the inscriptions on hieroglyphic rocks in these +abandoned cities evidently refer to Amazons. There you see them +doing the work of men—carrying on war, ruling conquered +regions, founding cities. It is a picture of a golden age, Mrs. +Stanley."</p> +<p>Aunt Maria meant to go by way of the San Juan, if she had to +scalp Apaches herself in doing it.</p> +<p>"Lieutenant Thurstane, what do you say?" she asked, turning her +sparkling eyes upon the officer.</p> +<p>"I must confess that I never heard of all these things," replied +Thurstane, with an air which added, "And I don't believe in most of +them."</p> +<p>"As for the San Juan route," he continued, "it is two hundred +miles at least out of our way. The country is a desert and almost +unexplored. I don't fancy the plan—I beg your pardon, Mr. +Coronado—but I don't fancy it at all."</p> +<p>Aunt Maria despised him and almost hated him for his stupid, +practical, unpoetic common sense.</p> +<p>"I must say that I quite fancy the San Juan route," she +responded, with proper firmness.</p> +<p>"I venture to agree with you," said Coronado, as meekly as if +her fancy were not of his own making. "Only a hundred miles off the +straight line (begging your pardon, my dear Lieutenant), and +through a country which is naturally fertile—witness the +immense population which it once supported. As for its being +unexplored, I have explored it myself; and I shall go with +you."</p> +<p>"Shall you!" cried Aunt Maria, as if that made all safe and +delightful.</p> +<p>"Yes. My excellent Uncle Garcia (good, kind-hearted old man) +takes the strongest interest in this affair. He is resolved that +his charming little relative here, La Señorita Clara, shall +cross the continent in safety and comfort. He offers a special +wagon train for the purpose, and insists that I shall accompany it. +Of course I am only too delighted to obey him."</p> +<p>"Garcia is very good, and so are you, Coronado," said Clara, +very thankful and profoundly astonished. "How can I ever repay you +both? I shall always be your debtor."</p> +<p>"My dear cousin!" protested Coronado, bowing and smiling. "Well, +it is settled. We will start as soon as may be. The train will be +ready in a day or two."</p> +<p>"I have no money," stammered Clara. "The estate is not +settled."</p> +<p>"Our good old Garcia has thought of everything. He will advance +you what you want, and take your draft on the executors."</p> +<p>"Your uncle is one of nature's noblemen," affirmed Aunt Maria. +"I must call on him and thank him for his goodness and +generosity."</p> +<p>"Oh, never!" said Coronado. "He only waits your permission to +visit you and pay you his humble respects. Absence has prevented +him from attending to that delightful duty heretofore. He has but +just returned from Albuquerque."</p> +<p>"Tell him I shall be glad to see him," smiled Aunt Maria. "But +what does he say of the San Juan route?"</p> +<p>"He advises it. He has been in the overland trade for thirty +years. He is tenderly interested in his relative Clara; and he +advises her to go by way of the San Juan."</p> +<p>"Then so it shall be," declared Aunt Maria.</p> +<p>"And how do you go, Lieutenant?" asked Coronado, turning to +Thurstane.</p> +<p>"I had thought of travelling with you," was the answer, +delivered with a grave and troubled air, as if now he must give up +his project.</p> +<p>Coronado was delighted. He had urged the northern and circuitous +route mainly to get rid of the officer, taking it for granted that +the latter must join his new command as soon as possible. He did +not want him courting Clara all across the continent; and he, did +not want him saving her from being lost, if it should become +necessary to lose her.</p> +<p>"I earnestly hope that we shall not be deprived of your +company," he said.</p> +<p>Thurstane, in profound thought, simply bowed his +acknowledgments. A few minutes later, as he rose to return to his +quarters, he said, with an air of solemn resolution, "If I can +possibly go with you, I <i>will</i>."</p> +<p>All the next day and evening Coronado was in and out of the Van +Diemen house. Had there been a mail for the ladies, he would have +brought it to them; had it contained a letter from California, he +would have abstracted and burnt it. He helped them pack for the +journey; he made an inventory of the furniture and found storeroom +for it; he was a valet and a spy in one. Meantime Garcia hurried up +his train, and hired suitable muleteers for the animals and +suitable assassins for the travellers. Thurstane was also busy, +working all day and half of the night over his government accounts, +so that he might if possible get off with Clara.</p> +<p>Coronado thought of making interest with the post-commandant to +have Thurstane kept a few days in Santa Fé. But the +post-commandant was a grim and taciturn old major, who looked him +through and through with a pair of icy gray eyes, and returned +brief answers to his musical commonplaces. Coronado did not see how +he could humbug him, and concluded not to try it. The attempt might +excite suspicion; the major might say, "How is this your business?" +So, after a little unimportant tattle, Coronado made his best bow +to the old fellow, and hurried off to oversee his so-called +cousin.</p> +<p>In the evening he brought Garcia to call on the ladies. Aunt +Maria was rather surprised and shocked to see such an excellent man +look so much like an infamous scoundrel. "But good people are +always plain," she reasoned; and so she was as cordial to him as +one can be in English to a saint who understands nothing but +Spanish. Garcia, instructed by Coronado, could not bow low enough +nor smile greasily enough at Aunt Maria. His dull commonplaces +moreover, were translated by his nephew into flowering compliments +for the lady herself, and enthusiastic professions of faith in the +superior intelligence and moral worth of all women. So the two got +along famously, although neither ever knew what the other had +really said.</p> +<p>When Clara appeared, Garcia bowed humbly without lifting his +eyes to her face, and received her kiss without returning it, as +one might receive the kiss of a corpse.</p> +<p>"Contemptible coward!" thought Coronado. Then, turning to Mrs. +Stanley, he whispered, "My uncle is almost broken down with this +parting."</p> +<p>"Excellent creature!" murmured Aunt Maria, surveying the old +toad with warm sympathy. "What a pity he has lost one eye! It quite +injures the benevolent expression of his face."</p> +<p>Although Garcia was very distantly connected with Clara, she +gave him the title of uncle.</p> +<p>"How is this, my uncle?" she said, gaily. "You send your +merchandise trains through Bernalillo, and you send me through +Santa Anna and Rio Arriba."</p> +<p>Garcia, cowed and confounded, made no reply that was +comprehensible.</p> +<p>"It is a newly discovered route," put in Coronado, "lately found +to be easier and safer than the old one. Two hundred and fifty +years in learning the fact, Mrs. Stanley! Just as we were two +hundred and fifty years without discovering the gold of +California."</p> +<p>"Ah!" said Clara. Absent since her childhood from New Mexico, +she knew little about its geography, and could be easily +deceived.</p> +<p>After a while Thurstane entered, out of breath and red with +haste. He had stolen ten minutes from his accounts and stores to +bring Miss Van Diemen a piece of information which was to him +important and distressing.</p> +<p>"I fear that I shall not be able to go with you," he said. "I +have received orders to wait for a sergeant and three recruits who +have been assigned to my company. The messenger reports that they +are on the march from Fort Bent with an emigrant train, and will +not be here for a week. It annoys me horribly, Miss Van Diemen. I +thought I saw my way clear to be of your party. I assure you I +earnestly desired it. This route—I am afraid of it—I +wanted to be with you."</p> +<p>"To protect me?" queried Clara, her face lighting up with a +grateful smile, so innocent and frank was she. Then she turned +grave, again, and added, "I am sorry."</p> +<p>Thankful for these last words, but nevertheless quite miserable, +the youngster worshipped her and trembled for her.</p> +<p>This conversation had been carried on in a quiet tone, so that +the others of the party had not overheard it, not even the watchful +Coronado.</p> +<p>"It is too unfortunate," said Clara, turning to them, +"Lieutenant Thurstane cannot go with us."</p> +<p>Garcia and Coronado exchanged a look which said, +"Thank—the devil!"</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH4" id="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<p>The next day brought news of an obstacle to the march of the +wagon train through Santa Anna and Rio Arriba.</p> +<p>It was reported that the audacious and savage Apache chieftain, +Manga Colorada, or Red Sleeve, under pretence of wanting to make a +treaty with the Americans, had approached within sixty miles of +Santa Fé to the west, and camped there, on the route to the +San Juan country, not making treaties at all, but simply making hot +beefsteaks out of Mexican cattle and cold carcasses out of Mexican +rancheros.</p> +<p>"We shall have to get those fellows off that trail and put them +across the Bernalillo route," said Coronado to Garcia.</p> +<p>"The pigs! the dogs! the wicked beasts! the devils!" barked the +old man, dancing about the room in a rage. After a while he dropped +breathless into a chair and looked eagerly at his nephew for +help.</p> +<p>"It will cost at least another thousand," observed the younger +man.</p> +<p>"You have had two thousand," shuddered Garcia. "You were to do +the whole accursed job with that."</p> +<p>"I did not count on Manga Colorada. Besides, I have given a +thousand to our little cousin. I must keep a thousand to meet the +chances that may come. There are men to be bribed."</p> +<p>Garcia groaned, hesitated, decided, went to some hoard which he +had put aside for great needs, counted out a hundred American +eagles, toyed with them, wept over them, and brought them to +Coronado.</p> +<p>"Will that do?" he asked. "It must do. There is no more."</p> +<p>"I will try with that," said the nephew. "Now let me have a few +good men and your best horses. I want to see them all before I +trust myself with them."</p> +<p>Coronado felt himself in a position to dictate, and it was +curious to see how quick he put on magisterial airs; he was one of +those who enjoy authority, though little and brief.</p> +<p>"Accursed beast!" thought Garcia, who did not dare just now to +break out with his "pig, dog," etc. "He wants me to pay everything. +The thousand ought to be enough for men and horses and all. Why not +poison the girl at once, and save all this money? If he had the +spirit of a man! O Madre de Dios! Madre de Dios! What extremities! +what extremities!"</p> +<p>But Garcia was like a good many of us; his thoughts were worse +than his deeds and words. While he was cogitating thus savagely, he +was saying aloud, "My son, my dear Carlos, come and choose for +yourself."</p> +<p>Turning into the court of the house, they strolled through a +medley of wagons, mules, horses, merchandise, muleteers, teamsters, +idlers, white men and Indians. Coronado soon picked out a couple of +rancheros whom he knew as capital riders, fair marksmen, faithful +and intelligent. Next his eye fell upon a man in Mexican clothing, +almost as dark and dirty too as the ordinary Mexican, but whose +height, size, insolence of carriage, and ferocity of expression +marked him as of another and more pugnacious, more imperial +race.</p> +<p>"You are an American," said Coronado, in his civil manner, for +he had two manners as opposite as the poles.</p> +<p>"I be," replied the stranger, staring at Coronado as a Lombard +or Frankish warrior might have stared at an effeminate and +diminutive Roman.</p> +<p>"May I ask what your name is?"</p> +<p>"Some folks call me Texas Smith."</p> +<p>Coronado shifted uneasily on his feet, as a man might shift in +presence of a tiger, who, as he feared, was insufficiently chained. +He was face to face with a fellow who was as much the terror of the +table-land, from the borders of Texas to California, as if he had +been an Apache chief.</p> +<p>This noted desperado, although not more than twenty-six or seven +years old, had the horrible fame of a score of murders. His +appearance mated well with his frightful history and reputation. +His intensely black eyes, blacker even than the eyes of Coronado, +had a stare of absolutely indescribable ferocity. It was more +ferocious than the merely brutal glare of a tiger; it was an +intentional malignity, super-beastly and sub-human. They were eyes +which no other man ever looked into and afterward forgot. His +sunburnt, sallow, haggard, ghastly face, stained early and for life +with the corpse-like coloring of malarious fevers, was a fit +setting for such optics. Although it was nearly oval in contour, +and although the features were or had been fairly regular, yet it +was so marked by hard, and one might almost say fleshless muscles, +and so brutalized by long indulgence in savage passions, that it +struck you as frightfully ugly. A large dull-red scar on the right +jaw and another across the left cheek added the final touches to +this countenance of a cougar.</p> +<p>"He is my man," whispered Garcia to Coronado. "I have hired him +for the great adventure. Sixty piastres a month. Why not take him +with you to-day?"</p> +<p>Coronado gave another glance at the gladiator and meditated. +Should he trust this beast of a Texan to guard him against those +other beasts, the Apaches? Well, he could die but once; this whole +affair was detestably risky; he must not lose time in shuddering +over the first steps.</p> +<p>"Mr. Smith," he said, "very glad to know that you are with us. +Can you start in an hour for the camp of Manga Colorada? Sixty +miles there. We must be back by to-morrow night. It would be best +not to say where we are going."</p> +<p>Texas Smith nodded, turned abruptly on the huge heels of his +Mexican boots, stalked to where his horse was fastened, and began +to saddle him.</p> +<p>"My dear uncle, why didn't you hire the devil?" whispered +Coronado as he stared after the cutthroat.</p> +<p>"Get yourself ready, my nephew," was Garcia's reply. "I will see +to the men and horses."</p> +<p>In an hour the expedition was off at full gallop. Coronado had +laid aside his American dandy raiment, and was in the full costume +of a Mexican of the provinces—broad-brimmed hat of white +straw, blue broadcloth jacket adorned with numerous small silver +buttons, velvet vest of similar splendor, blue trousers slashed +from the knee downwards and gay with buttons, high, loose +embroidered boots of crimson leather, long steel spurs jingling and +shining. The change became him; he seemed a larger and handsomer +man for it; he looked the caballero and almost the hidalgo.</p> +<p>Three hours took the party thirty miles to a hacienda of +Garcia's, where they changed horses, leaving their first mounting +for the return. After half an hour for dinner, they pushed on +again, always at a gallop, the hoofs clattering over the hard, +yellow, sunbaked earth, or dashing recklessly along smooth sheets +of rock, or through fields of loose, slippery stones. Rare halts to +breathe the animals; then the steady, tearing gallop again; no +walking or other leisurely gait. Coronado led the way and hastened +the pace. There was no tiring him; his thin, sinewy, sun-hardened +frame could bear enormous fatigue; moreover, the saddle was so +familiar to him that he almost reposed in it. If he had needed +physical support, he would have found it in his mental energy. He +was capable of that executive furor, that intense passion of +exertion, which the man of Latin race can exhibit when he has once +fairly set himself to an enterprise. He was of the breed which in +nobler days had produced Gonsalvo, Cortes, Pizarro, and Darien.</p> +<p>These riders had set out at ten o'clock in the morning; at five +in the afternoon they drew bridle in sight of the Apache +encampment. They were on the brow of a stony hill: a pile of bare, +gray, glaring, treeless, herbless layers of rock; a pyramid +truncated near its base, but still of majestic altitude; one of the +pyramids of nature in that region; in short, a butte. Below them +lay a valley of six or eight miles in length by one or two in +breadth, through the centre of which a rivulet had drawn a paradise +of verdure. In the middle of the valley, at the head of a bend in +the rivulet, was a camp of human brutes. It was a bivouac rather +than a camp. The large tents of bison hide used by the northern +Indians are unknown to the Apaches; they have not the bison, and +they have less need of shelter in winter. What Coronado saw at this +distance was, a few huts of branches, a strolling of many horses, +and some scattered riders.</p> +<p>Texas Smith gave him a glance of inquiry which said, "Shall we +go ahead—or fire?"</p> +<p>Coronado spurred his horse down the rough, disjointed, slippery +declivity, and the others followed. They were soon perceived; the +Apache swarm was instantly in a buzz; horses were saddled and +mounted, or mounted without saddling; there was a consultation, and +then a wild dash toward the travellers. As the two parties neared +each other at a gallop, Coronado rode to the front of his squad, +waving his sombrero. An Indian who wore the dress of a Mexican +caballero, jacket, loose trousers, hat, and boots, spurred in like +manner to the front, gestured to his followers to halt, brought his +horse to a walk, and slowly approached the white man. Coronado made +a sign to show that his pistols were in his holsters; and the +Apache responded by dropping his lance and slinging his bow over +his shoulder. The two met midway between the two squads of staring, +silent horsemen.</p> +<p>"Is it Manga Colorada?" asked the Mexican, in Spanish.</p> +<p>"Manga Colorada," replied the Apache, his long, dark, haggard, +savage face lighting up for a moment with a smile of gratified +vanity.</p> +<p>"I come in peace, then," said Coronado. "I want your help; I +will pay for it."</p> +<p>In our account of this interview we shall translate the broken +Spanish of the Indian into ordinary English.</p> +<p>"Manga Colorada will help," he said, "if the pay is good."</p> +<p>Even during this short dialogue the Apaches had with difficulty +restrained their curiosity; and their little wiry horses were now +caracoling, rearing, and plunging in close proximity to the two +speakers.</p> +<p>"We will talk of this by ourselves," said Coronado. "Let us go +to your camp."</p> +<p>The conjoint movement of the leaders toward the Indian bivouac +was a signal for their followers to mingle and exchange greetings. +The adventurers were enveloped and very nearly ridden down by over +two hundred prancing, screaming horsemen, shouting to their +visitors in their own guttural tongue or in broken Spanish, and +enforcing their wild speech with vehement gestures. It was a +pandemonium which horribly frightened the Mexican rancheros, and +made Coronado's dark cheek turn to an ashy yellow.</p> +<p>The civilized imagination can hardly conceive such a tableau of +savagery as that presented by these Arabs of the great American +desert. Arabs! The similitude is a calumny on the descendants of +Ishmael; the fiercest Bedouin are refined and mild compared with +the Apaches. Even the brutal and criminal classes of civilization, +the pugilists, roughs, burglars, and pickpockets of our large +cities, the men whose daily life is rebellion against conscience, +commandment, and justice, offer a gentler and nobler type of +character and expression than these "children of nature." There was +hardly a face among that gang of wild riders which did not outdo +the face of Texas Smith in degraded ferocity. Almost every man and +boy was obviously a liar, a thief, and a murderer. The air of +beastly cruelty was made even more hateful by an air of beastly +cunning. Taking color, brutality, grotesqueness, and filth +together, it seemed as if here were a mob of those malignant and +ill-favored devils whom Dante has described and the art of his age +has painted and sculptured.</p> +<p>It is possible, by the way, that this appearance of moral +ugliness was due in part to the physical ugliness of features, +which were nearly without exception coarse, irregular, exaggerated, +grotesque, and in some cases more like hideous masks than like +faces.</p> +<p>Ferocity of expression was further enhanced by poverty and +squalor. The mass of this fierce cavalry was wretchedly clothed and +disgustingly dirty. Even the showy Mexican costume of Manga +Colorada was ripped, frayed, stained with grease and perspiration, +and not free from sombre spots which looked like blood. Every one +wore the breech-cloth, in some cases nicely fitted and sewed, in +others nothing but a shapeless piece of deerskin tied on anyhow. +There were a few, either minor chiefs, or leading braves, or +professional dandies (for this class exists among the Indians), who +sported something like a full Apache costume, consisting of a +helmet-shaped cap with a plume of feathers, a blanket or +<i>serape</i> flying loose from the shoulders, a shirt and +breech-cloth, and a pair of long boots, made large and loose in the +Mexican style and showy with dyeing and embroidery. These boots, +very necessary to men who must ride through thorns and bushes, were +either drawn up so as to cover the thighs or turned over from the +knee downward, like the leg-covering of Rupert's cavaliers. Many +heads were bare, or merely shielded by wreaths of grasses and +leaves, the greenery contrasting fantastically with the unkempt +hair and fierce faces, but producing at a distance an effect which +was not without sylvan grace.</p> +<p>The only weapons were iron-tipped lances eight or nine feet +long, thick and strong bows of three or three and a half feet, and +quivers of arrows slung across the thigh or over the shoulder. The +Apaches make little use of firearms, being too lazy or too stupid +to keep them in order, and finding it difficult to get ammunition. +But so long as they have to fight only the unwarlike Mexicans, they +are none the worse for this lack. The Mexicans fly at the first +yell; the Apaches ride after them and lance them in the back; +clumsy <i>escopetos</i> drop loaded from the hands of dying +cowards. Such are the battles of New Mexico. It is only when these +red-skinned Tartars meet Americans or such high-spirited Indians as +the Opates that they have to recoil before gunpowder. [Footnote: +Since those times the Apaches have learned to use firearms.]</p> +<p>The fact that Coronado dared ride into this camp of thieving +assassins shows what risks he could force himself to run when he +thought it necessary. He was not physically a very brave man; he +had no pugnacity and no adventurous love of danger for its own +sake; but when he was resolved on an enterprise, he could go +through with it.</p> +<p>There was a rest of several hours. The rancheros fed the horses +on corn which they had brought in small sacks. Texas Smith kept +watch, suffered no Apache to touch him, had his pistols always +cocked, and stood ready to sell life at the highest price. Coronado +walked deliberately to a retired spot with Manga Colorada, +Delgadito, and two other chiefs, and made known his propositions. +What he desired was that the Apaches should quit their present post +immediately, perform a forced march of a hundred and forty miles or +so to the southwest, place themselves across the overland trail +through Bernalillo, and do something to alarm people. No great +harm; he did not want men murdered nor houses burned; they might +eat a few cattle, if they were hungry: there were plenty of cattle, +and Apaches must live. And if they should yell at a train or so and +stampede the loose mules, he had no objection. But no slaughtering; +he wanted them to be merciful: just make a pretence of harrying in +Bernalillo; nothing more.</p> +<p>The chiefs turned their ill-favored countenances on each other, +and talked for a while in their own language. Then, looking at +Coronado, they grunted, nodded, and sat in silence, waiting for his +terms.</p> +<p>"Send that boy away," said the Mexican, pointing to a youth of +twelve or fourteen, better dressed than most Apache urchins, who +had joined the little circle.</p> +<p>"It is my son," replied Manga Colorada. "He is learning to be a +chief."</p> +<p>The boy stood upright, facing the group with dignity, a +handsomer youth than is often seen among his people. Coronado, who +had something of the artist in him, was so interested in noting the +lad's regular features and tragic firmness of expression, that for +a moment he forgot his projects. Manga Colorada, mistaking the +cause of his silence, encouraged him to proceed.</p> +<p>"My son does not speak Spanish," he said. "He will not +understand."</p> +<p>"You know what money is?" inquired the Mexican.</p> +<p>"Yes, we know," grunted the chief.</p> +<p>"You can buy clothes and arms with it in the villages, and +aguardiente."</p> +<p>Another grunt of assent and satisfaction.</p> +<p>"Three hundred piastres," said Coronado.</p> +<p>The chiefs consulted in their own tongue, and then replied, "The +way is long."</p> +<p>"How much?"</p> +<p>Manga Colorada held up five fingers.</p> +<p>"Five hundred?"</p> +<p>A unanimous grunt.</p> +<p>"It is all I have," said Coronado.</p> +<p>The chiefs made no reply.</p> +<p>Coronado rose, walked to his horse, took two small packages out +of his saddle-bags and slipped them slily into his boots, and then +carried the bags to where the chiefs sat in council. There he held +them up and rolled out five <i>rouleaux</i>, each containing a +hundred Mexican dollars. The Indians tore open the envelopes, +stared at the broad pieces, fingered them, jingled them together, +and uttered grunts of amazement and joy. Probably they had never +before seen so much money, at least not in their own possession. +Coronado was hardly less content; for while he had received a +thousand dollars to bring about this understanding, he had risked +but seven hundred with him, and of these he had saved two +hundred.</p> +<p>Four hours later the camp had vanished, and the Indians were on +their way toward the southwest, the moonlight showing their +irregular column of march, and glinting faintly from the heads of +their lances.</p> +<p>At nine or ten in the evening, when every Apache had +disappeared, and the clatter of ponies had gone far away into the +quiet night, Coronado lay down to rest. He would have started +homeward, but the country was a complete desert, the trail led here +and there over vast sheets of trackless rock, and he feared that he +might lose his way. Texas Smith and one of the rancheros had ridden +after the Apaches to see whether they kept the direction which had +been agreed upon. One ranchero was slumbering already, and the +third crouched as sentinel.</p> +<p>Coronado could not sleep at once. He thought over his +enterprise, cross-examined his chances of success, studied the +invisible courses of the future. Leave Clara on the plains, to be +butchered by Indians, or to die of starvation? He hardly considered +the idea; it was horrible and repulsive; better marry her. If +necessary, force her into a marriage; he could bring it about +somehow; she would be much in his power. Well, he had got rid of +Thurstane; that was a great obstacle removed. Probably, that fellow +being out of sight, he, Coronado, could soon eclipse him in the +girl's estimation. There would be no need of violence; all would go +easily and end in prosperity. Garcia would be furious at the +marriage, but Garcia was a fool to expect any other result.</p> +<p>However, here he was, just at the beginning of things, and by no +means safe from danger. He had two hundred dollars in his +boot-legs. Had his rancheros suspected it? Would they murder him +for the money? He hoped not; he just faintly hoped not; for he was +becoming very sleepy; he was asleep.</p> +<p>He was awakened by a noise, or perhaps it was a touch, he +scarcely knew what. He struggled as fiercely and vainly as one who +fights against a nightmare. A dark form was over him, a hard knee +was on his breast, hard knuckles were at his throat, an arm was +raised to strike, a weapon was gleaming.</p> +<p>On the threshold of his enterprise, after he had taken its first +hazardous step with safety and success, Coronado found himself at +the point of death.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH5" id="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<p>When Coronado regained a portion of the senses which had been +throttled out of him, he discovered Texas Smith standing by his +side, and two dead men lying near, all rather vaguely seen at first +through his dizziness and the moonlight.</p> +<p>"What does this mean?" he gasped, getting on his hands and +knees, and then on his feet. "Who has been assassinating?"</p> +<p>The borderer, who, instead of helping his employer to rise, was +coolly reloading his rifle, did not immediately reply. As the +shaken and somewhat unmanned Coronado looked at him, he was afraid +of him. The moonlight made Smith's sallow, disfigured face so much +more ghastly than usual, that he had the air of a ghoul or vampyre. +And when, after carefully capping his piece, he drawled forth the +word "Patchies," his harsh, croaking voice had an unwholesome, +unhuman sound, as if it were indeed the utterance of a feeder upon +corpses.</p> +<p>"Apaches!" said Coronado. "What! after I had made a treaty with +them?"</p> +<p>"This un is a 'Patchie," remarked Texas, giving the nearest body +a shove with his boot. "Thar was two of 'em. They knifed one of +your men. T'other cleared, he did. I was comin' in afoot. I had a +notion of suthin' goin' on, 'n' left the critters out thar, with +the rancheros, 'n' stole in. Got in just in time to pop the cuss +that had you. T'other un vamosed."</p> +<p>"Oh, the villains!" shrieked Coronado, excited at the thought of +his narrow escape. "This is the way they keep their treaties."</p> +<p>"Mought be these a'n't the same," observed Texas. "Some +'Patchies is wild, 'n' live separate, like bachelor beavers."</p> +<p>Coronado stooped and examined the dead Indian. He was a +miserable object, naked, except a ragged, filthy breech-clout, his +figure gaunt, and his legs absolutely scaly with dirt, starvation, +and hard living of all sorts. He might well be one of those +outcasts who are in disfavor with their savage brethren, lead a +precarious existence outside of the tribal organization, and are to +the Apaches what the Texas Smiths are to decent Americans.</p> +<p>"One of the bachelor-beaver sort, you bet," continued Texas. +"Don't run with the rest of the crowd."</p> +<p>"And there's that infernal coward of a ranchero," cried +Coronado, as the runaway sentry sneaked back to the group. "You +cursed poltroon, why didn't you give the alarm? Why didn't you +fight?"</p> +<p>He struck the man, pulled his long hair, threw him down, kicked +him, and spat on him. Texas Smith looked on with an approving grin, +and suggested, "Better shute the dam cuss."</p> +<p>But Coronado was not bloodthirsty; having vented his spite, he +let the fellow go. "You saved my life," he said to Texas. "When we +get back you shall be paid for it."</p> +<p>At the moment he intended to present him with the two hundred +dollars which were cumbering his boots. But by the time they had +reached Garcia's hacienda on the way back to Santa Fé, his +gratitude had fallen off seventy-five per cent, and he thought +fifty enough. Even that diminished his profits on the expedition to +four hundred and fifty dollars. And Coronado, although extravagant, +was not generous; he liked to spend money, but he hated to give it +or pay it.</p> +<p>During the four days which immediately followed his safe return +to Santa Fé, he and Garcia were in a worry of anxiety. Would +Manga Colorada fulfil his contract and cast a shadow of peril over +the Bernalillo route? Would letters or messengers arrive from +California, informing Clara of the death and will of Muñoz? +Everything happened as they wished; reports came that the Apaches +were raiding in Bernalillo; the girl received no news concerning +her grandfather. Coronado, smiling with success and hope, met +Thurstane at the Van Diemen house, in the presence of Clara and +Aunt Maria, and blandly triumphed over him.</p> +<p>"How now about your safe road through the southern counties?" he +said. "Apaches!"</p> +<p>"So I hear," replied the young officer soberly. "It is horribly +unlucky."</p> +<p>"We start to-morrow," added Coronado.</p> +<p>"To-morrow!" replied Thurstane, with a look of dismay.</p> +<p>"I hope you will be with us," said Coronado.</p> +<p>"Everything goes wrong," exclaimed the annoyed lieutenant. "Here +are some of my stores damaged, and I have had to ask for a board of +survey. I couldn't possibly leave for two days yet, even if my +recruits should arrive."</p> +<p>"How very unfortunate!" groaned Coronado. "My dear fellow, we +had counted on you."</p> +<p>"Lieutenant Thurstane, can't you overtake us?" inquired +Clara.</p> +<p>Thurstane wanted to kneel down and thank her, while Coronado +wanted to throw something at her.</p> +<p>"I will try," promised the officer, his fine, frank, manly face +brightening with pleasure. "If the thing can be done, it will be +done."</p> +<p>Coronado, while hoping that he would be ordered by the southern +route, or that he would somehow break his neck, had the superfine +brass to say, "Don't fail us, Lieutenant."</p> +<p>In spite of the managements of the Mexican to keep Clara and +Thurstane apart, the latter succeeded in getting an aside with the +young lady.</p> +<p>"So you take the northern trail?" he said, with a seriousness +which gave his blue-black eyes an expression of almost painful +pathos. Those eyes were traitors; however discreet the rest of his +face might be, they revealed his feelings; they were altogether too +pathetic to be in the head of a man and an officer.</p> +<p>"But you will overtake us," Clara replied, out of a charming +faith that with men all things are possible.</p> +<p>"Yes," he said, almost fiercely.</p> +<p>"Besides, Coronado knows," she added, still trusting in the male +being. "He says this is the surest road."</p> +<p>Thurstane did not believe it, but he did not want to alarm her +when alarm was useless, and he made no comment.</p> +<p>"I have a great mind to resign," he presently broke out.</p> +<p>Clara colored; she did not fully understand him, but she guessed +that all this emotion was somehow on her account; and a surprised, +warm Spanish heart beat at once its alarm.</p> +<p>"It would be of no use," he immediately added. "I couldn't get +away until my resignation had been accepted. I must bear this as +well as I can."</p> +<p>The young lady began to like him better than ever before, and +yet she began to draw gently away from him, frightened by a +consciousness of her liking.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Van Diemen," said Thurstane, in an +inexplicable confusion.</p> +<p>"There is no need," replied Clara, equally confused.</p> +<p>"Well," he resumed, after a struggle to regain his self-control, +"I will do my utmost to overtake you."</p> +<p>"We shall be very glad," returned Clara, with a singular mixture +of consciousness and artlessness.</p> +<p>There was an exquisite innocence and almost childish simplicity +in this girl of eighteen. It was, so to speak, not quite civilized; +it was not in the style of American young ladies; our officer had +never, at home, observed anything like it; and, of course—O +yes, of course, it fascinated him. The truth is, he was so far gone +in loving her that he would have been charmed by her ways no matter +what they might have been.</p> +<p>On the very morning after the above dialogue Garcia's train +started for Rio Arriba, taking with it a girl who had been singled +out for a marriage which she did not guess, or for a death whose +horrors were beyond her wildest fears.</p> +<p>The train consisted of six long and heavy covered vehicles, not +dissimilar in size, strength, and build to army wagons. Garcia had +thought that two would suffice; six wagons, with their mules, etc., +were a small fortune: what if the Apaches should take them? But +Coronado had replied: "Nobody sends a train of two wagons; do you +want to rouse suspicion?"</p> +<p>So there were six; and each had a driver and a muleteer, making +twelve hired men thus far. On horseback, there were six Mexicans, +nominally cattle-drivers going to California, but really guards for +the expedition—the most courageous bullies that could be +picked up in Santa Fé, each armed with pistols and a rifle. +Finally, there were Coronado and his terrible henchman, Texas +Smith, with their rifles and revolvers. Old Garcia perspired with +anguish as he looked over his caravan, and figured up the cost in +his head.</p> +<p>Thurstane, wretched at heart, but with a cheering smile on his +lips, came to bid the ladies farewell.</p> +<p>"What do you think of this?" Aunt Maria called to him from her +seat in one of the covered wagons. "We are going a thousand miles +through deserts and savages. You men suppose that women have no +courage. I call this heroism."</p> +<p>"Certainly," nodded the young fellow, not thinking of her at +all, unless it was that she was next door to an idiot.</p> +<p>Although his mind was so full of Clara that it did not seem as +if he could receive an impression from any other human being, his +attention was for a moment arrested by a countenance which struck +him as being more ferocious than he had ever seen before except on +the shoulders of an Apache. A tall man in Mexican costume, with a +scar on his chin and another on his cheek, was glaring at him with +two intensely black and savage eyes. It was Texas Smith, taking the +measure of Thurstane's fighting power and disposition. A hint from +Coronado had warned the borderer that here was a person whom it +might be necessary some day to get rid of. The officer responded to +this ferocious gaze with a grim, imperious stare, such as one is +apt to acquire amid the responsibilities and dangers of army life. +It was like a wolf and a mastiff surveying each other.</p> +<p>Thurstane advanced to Clara, helped her into her saddle, and +held her hand while he urged her to be careful of herself, never to +wander from the train, never to be alone, etc. The girl turned a +little pale; it was not exactly because of his anxious manner; it +was because of the eloquence that there is in a word of parting. At +the moment she felt so alone in the world, in such womanish need of +sympathy, that had he whispered to her, "Be my wife," she might +have reached out her hands to him. But Thurstane was far from +guessing that an angel could have such weak impulses; and he no +more thought of proposing to her thus abruptly than of ascending +off-hand into heaven.</p> +<p>Coronado observed the scene, and guessing how perilous the +moment was, pushed forward his uncle to say good-by to Clara. The +old scoundrel kissed her hand; he did not dare to lift his one eye +to her face; he kissed her hand and bowed himself out of reach.</p> +<p>"Farewell, Mr. Garcia," called Aunt Maria. "Poor, excellent old +creature! What a pity he can't understand English! I should so like +to say something nice to him. Farewell, Mr. Garcia."</p> +<p>Garcia kissed his fat fingers to her, took off his sombrero, +waved it, bowed a dozen times, and smiled like a scared devil. +Then, with other good-bys, delivered right and left from everybody +to everybody, the train rumbled away. Thurstane was about to +accompany it out of the town when his clerk came to tell him that +the board of survey required his immediate presence. Cursing his +hard fate, and wishing himself anything but an officer in the army, +he waved a last farewell to Clara, and turned his back on her, +perhaps forever.</p> +<p>Santa Fé is situated on the great central plateau of +North America, seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. +Around it spreads an arid plain, sloping slightly where it +approaches the Rio Grande, and bordered by mountains which toward +the south are of moderate height, while toward the north they rise +into fine peaks, glorious with eternal snow. Although the city is +in the latitude of Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, its elevation +and its neighborhood to Alpine ranges give it a climate which is in +the main cool, equable, and healthy.</p> +<p>The expedition moved across the plain in a southwesterly +direction. Coronado's intention was to cross the Rio Grande at +Peña Blanca, skirt the southern edge of the Jemez Mountains, +reach San Isidoro, and then march northward toward the San Juan +region. The wagons were well fitted out with mules, and as Garcia +had not chosen to send much merchandise by this risky route, they +were light, so that the rate of progress was unusually rapid. We +cannot trouble ourselves with the minor incidents of the journey. +Taking it for granted that the Rio Grande was passed, that halts +were made, meals cooked and eaten, nights passed in sleep, days in +pleasant and picturesque travelling, we will leap into the desert +land beyond San Isidoro.</p> +<p>The train was now seventy-five miles from Santa Fé. +Coronado had so pushed the pace that he had made this distance in +the rather remarkable time of three days. Of course his object in +thus hurrying was to get so far ahead of Thurstane that the latter +would not try to overtake him, or would get lost in attempting +it.</p> +<p>Meanwhile he had not forgotten Garcia's little plan, and he had +even better remembered his own. The time might come when he would +be driven to <i>lose</i> Clara; it was very shocking to think of, +however, and so for the present he did not think of it; on the +contrary, he worked hard (much as he hated work) at courting +her.</p> +<p>It is strange that so many men who are morally in a state of +decomposition should be, or at least can be, sweet and charming in +manner. During these three days Coronado was delightful; and not +merely in this, that he watched over Clara's comfort, rode a great +deal by her side, gathered wild flowers for her, talked much and +agreeably; but also in that he poured oil over his whole conduct, +and was good to everybody. Although his natural disposition was to +be domineering to inferiors and irascible under the small +provocations of life, he now gave his orders in a gentle tone, +never stormed at the drivers for their blunders, made light of the +bad cooking, and was in short a model for travellers, lovers, and +husbands. Few human beings have so much self-control as Coronado, +and so little. So long as it was policy to be sweet, he could +generally be a very honeycomb; but once a certain limit of patience +passed, he was like a swarm of angry bees; he became blind, mad, +and poisonous with passion.</p> +<p>"Mr. Coronado, you are a wonder," proclaimed the admiring Aunt +Maria. "You are the only man I ever knew that was patient."</p> +<p>"I catch a grace from those who have it abundantly and to +spare," said Coronado, taking off his hat and waving it at the two +ladies.</p> +<p>"Ah, yes, we women know how to be patient," smiled Aunt Maria. +"I think we are born so. But, more than that, we learn it. +Moreover, our physical nature teaches us. We have lessons of pain +and weakness that men know nothing of. The great, healthy savages! +If they had our troubles, they might have some of our virtues."</p> +<p>"I refuse to believe it," cried Coronado. "Man acquire woman's +worth? Never! The nature of the beast is inferior. He is not +fashioned to become an angel."</p> +<p>"How charmingly candid and humble!" thought Aunt Maria. "How +different from that sulky, proud Thurstane, who never says anything +of the sort, and never thinks it either, I'll be bound."</p> +<p>All this sort of talk passed over Clara as a desert wind passes +over an oasis, bringing no pleasant songs of birds, and sowing no +fruitful seed. She had her born ideas as to men and women, and she +was seemingly incapable of receiving any others. In her mind men +were strong and brave, and women weak and timorous; she believed +that the first were good to hold on to, and that the last were good +to hold on; all this she held by birthright, without ever reasoning +upon it or caring to prove it.</p> +<p>Coronado, on his part, hooted in his soul at Mrs. Stanley's +whimsies, and half supposed her to be of unsound mind. Nor would he +have said what he did about the vast superiority of the female sex, +had he supposed that Clara would attach the least weight to it. He +knew that the girl looked upon his extravagant declarations as +merely so many compliments paid to her eccentric relative, +equivalent to bowings and scrapings and flourishes of the sombrero. +Both Spaniards, they instinctively comprehended each other, at +least in the surface matters of intercourse. Meanwhile the American +strong-minded female understood herself, it is to be charitably +hoped, but understood herself alone.</p> +<p>Coronado did not hurry his courtship, for he believed that he +had a clear field before him, and he was too sagacious to startle +Clara by overmuch energy. Meantime he began to be conscious that an +influence from her was reaching his spirit. He had hitherto +considered her a child; one day he suddenly recognized her as a +woman. Now a woman, a beautiful woman especially, alone with one in +the desert, is very mighty. Matches are made in trains overland as +easily and quickly as on sea voyages or at quiet summer resorts. +Coronado began—only moderately as yet—to fall in +love.</p> +<p>But an ugly incident came to disturb his opening dream of +affection, happiness, wealth, and success. Toward the close of his +fourth day's march, after he had got well into the unsettled region +beyond San Isidore, he discovered, several miles behind the train, +a party of five horsemen. He was on one summit and they on another, +with a deep, stony valley intervening. Without a moment's +hesitation, he galloped down a long slope, rejoined the creeping +wagons, hurried them forward a mile or so, and turned into a ravine +for the night's halt.</p> +<p>Whether the cavaliers were Indians or Thurstane and his four +recruits he had been unable to make out. They had not seen the +train; the nature of the ground had prevented that. It was now past +sundown, and darkness coming on rapidly. Whispering something about +Apaches, he gave orders to lie close and light no fires for a +while, trusting that the pursuers would pass his hiding place.</p> +<p>For a moment he thought of sending Texas Smith to ambush the +party, and shoot Thurstane if he should be in it, pleading +afterwards that the men looked, in the darkness, like Apaches. But +no; this was an extreme measure; he revolted against it a little. +Moreover, there was danger of retribution: settlements not so far +off; soldiers still nearer.</p> +<p>So he lay quiet, chewing a bit of grass to allay his +nervousness, and talking stronger love to Clara than he had yet +thought needful or wise.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH6" id="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<p>Lieutenant Thurstane passed the mouth of the ravine in the dusk +of twilight, without guessing that it contained Clara Van Diemen +and her perils.</p> +<p>He had with him Sergeant Weber of his own company, just returned +from recruiting service at St. Louis, and three recruits for the +company, Kelly, Shubert, and Sweeny.</p> +<p>Weber, a sunburnt German, with sandy eyelashes, blue eyes, and a +scar on his cheek, had been a soldier from his eighteenth to his +thirtieth year, and wore the serious, patient, much-enduring air +peculiar to veterans. Kelly, an Irishman, also about thirty, +slender in form and somewhat haggard in face, with the same quiet, +contained, seasoned look to him, the same reminiscence of +unavoidable sufferings silently borne, was also an old infantry +man, having served in both the British and American armies. Shubert +was an American lad, who had got tired of clerking it in an +apothecary's shop, and had enlisted from a desire for adventure, as +you might guess from his larkish countenance. Sweeny was a +diminutive Paddy, hardly regulation height for the army, as light +and lively as a monkey, and with much the air of one.</p> +<p>Thurstane had obtained orders from the post commandant to lead +his party by the northern route, on condition that he would +investigate and report as to its practicability for military and +other transit. He had also been allowed to draw by requisition +fifty days' rations, a box of ammunition, and four mules. Starting +thirty-six hours after Coronado, he made in two days and a half the +distance which the train had accomplished in four. Now he had +overtaken his quarry, and in the obscurity had passed it.</p> +<p>But Sergeant Weber was an old hand on the Plains, and +notwithstanding the darkness and the generally stony nature of the +ground, he presently discovered that the fresh trail of the wagons +was missing. Thurstane tried to retrace his steps, but starless +night had already fallen thick around him, and before long he had +to come to a halt. He was opposite the mouth of the ravine; he was +within five hundred yards of Clara, and raging because he could not +find her. Suddenly Coronado's cooking fires flickered through the +gloom; in five minutes the two parties were together.</p> +<p>It was a joyous meeting to Thurstane and a disgusting one to +Coronado. Nevertheless the latter rushed at the officer, grasped +him by both hands, and shouted, "All hail, Lieutenant! So, there +you are at last! My dear fellow, what a pleasure!"</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed, by Jove!" returned the young fellow, unusually +boisterous in his joy, and shaking hands with everybody, not +rejecting even muleteers. And then what throbbing, what adoration, +what supernal delight, in the moment when he faced Clara.</p> +<p>In the morning the journey recommenced. As neither Thurstane nor +Coronado had now any cause for hurry, the pace was moderate. The +soldiers marched on foot, in order to leave the government mules no +other load than the rations and ammunition, and so enable them to +recover from their sharp push of over eighty miles. The party now +consisted of twenty-five men, for the most part pretty well armed. +Of the other sex there were, besides Mrs. Stanley and Clara, a +half-breed girl named Pepita, who served as lady's maid, and two +Indian women from Garcia's hacienda, whose specialties were cooking +and washing. In all thirty persons, a nomadic village.</p> +<p>At the first halt Sergeant Weber approached Thurstane with a +timorous air, saluted, and asked, "Leftenant, can we leafe our +knabsacks in the vagons? The gentleman has gifen us +bermission."</p> +<p>"The men ought to learn to carry their knapsacks," said +Thurstane. "They will have to do it in serious service."</p> +<p>"It is drue, Leftenant," replied Weber, saluting again and +moving off without a sign of disappointment.</p> +<p>"Let that man come back here," called Aunt Maria, who had +overheard the dialogue. "Certainly they can put their loads in the +wagons. I told Mr. Coronado to tell them so."</p> +<p>Weber looked at her without moving a muscle, and without showing +either wonder or amusement. Thurstane could not help grinning +good-naturedly as he said, "I receive your orders, Mrs. Stanley. +Weber, you can put the knapsacks in the wagons."</p> +<p>Weber saluted anew, gave Mrs. Stanley a glance of gratitude, and +went about his pleasant business. An old soldier is not in general +so strict a disciplinarian as a young one.</p> +<p>"What a brute that Lieutenant is!" thought Aunt Maria. "Make +those poor fellows carry those monstrous packs? Nonsense and +tyranny! How different from Mr. Coronado! <i>He</i> fairly jumped +at my idea."</p> +<p>Thurstane stepped over to Coronado and said, "You are very kind +to relieve my men at the expense of your animals. I am much obliged +to you."</p> +<p>"It is nothing," replied the Mexican, waving his hand +graciously. "I am delighted to be of service, and to show myself a +good citizen."</p> +<p>In fact, he had been quite willing to favor the soldiers; why +not, so long as he could not get rid of them? If the Apaches would +lance them all, including Thurstane, he would rejoice; but while +that could not be, he might as well show himself civil and gain +popularity. It was not Coronado's style to bark when there was no +chance of biting.</p> +<p>He was in serious thought the while. How should he rid himself +of this rival, this obstacle in the way of his well-laid plans, +this interloper into his caravan? Must he call upon Texas Smith to +assassinate the fellow? It was a disagreeably brutal solution of +the difficulty, and moreover it might lead to loud suspicion and +scandal, and finally it might be downright dangerous. There was +such a thing as trial for murder and for conspiracy to effect +murder. As to causing a United States officer to vanish quietly, as +might perhaps be done with an ordinary American emigrant, that was +too good a thing to be hoped. He must wait; he must have patience; +he must trust to the future; perhaps some precipice would favor +him; perhaps the wild Indians. He offered his cigaritos to +Thurstane, and they smoked tranquilly in company.</p> +<p>"What route do you take from here?" asked the officer.</p> +<p>"Pass Washington, as you call it. Then the Moqui country. Then +the San Juan."</p> +<p>"There is no possible road down the San Juan and the +Colorado."</p> +<p>"If we find that to be so, we will sweep southward. I am, in a +measure, exploring. Garcia wants a route to Middle California."</p> +<p>"I also have a sort of exploring leave. I shall take the liberty +to keep along with you. It may be best for both."</p> +<p>The announcement sounded like a threat of surveillance, and +Coronado's dark cheek turned darker with angry blood. This stolid +and intrusive brute was absolutely demanding his own death. After +saying, with a forced smile, "You will be invaluable to us, +Lieutenant," the Mexican lounged away to where Texas Smith was +examining his firearms, and whispered, "Well, will you do it?"</p> +<p>"I ain't afeared of <i>him</i>," muttered the borderer. "It's +his clothes. I don't like to shute at jackets with them buttons. I +mought git into big trouble. The army is a big thing."</p> +<p>"Two hundred dollars," whispered Coronado.</p> +<p>"You said that befo'," croaked Texas. "Go it some better."</p> +<p>"Four hundred."</p> +<p>"Stranger," said Texas, after debating his chances, "it's a big +thing. But I'll do it for that."</p> +<p>Coronado walked away, hurried up his muleteers, exchanged a word +with Mrs. Stanley, and finally returned to Thurstane. His thin, +dry, dusky fingers trembled a little, but he looked his man +steadily in the face, while he tendered him another cigarito.</p> +<p>"Who is your hunter?" asked the officer. "I must say he is a +devilish bad-looking fellow."</p> +<p>"He is one of the best hunters Garcia ever had," replied the +Mexican. "He is one of your own people. You ought to like him."</p> +<p>Further journeying brought with it topographical adventures. The +country into which they were penetrating is one of the most +remarkable in the world for its physical peculiarities. Its scenery +bears about the same relation to the scenery of earth in general, +that a skeleton's head or a grotesque mask bears to the countenance +of living humanity. In no other portion of our planet is nature so +unnatural, so fanciful and extravagant, and seemingly the +production of caprice, as on the great central plateau of North +America.</p> +<p>They had left far behind the fertile valley of the Rio Grande, +and had placed between it and them the barren, sullen piles of the +Jemez mountains. No more long sweeps of grassy plain or slope; they +were amid the <i>débris</i> of rocks which hedge in the +upper heights of the great plateau; they were struggling through it +like a forlorn hope through <i>chevaux-de-frise</i>. The morning +sun came upon them over treeless ridges of sandstone, and +disappeared at evening behind ridges equally naked and arid. The +sides of these barren masses, seamed by the action of water in +remote geologic ages, and never softened or smoothed by the gentle +attrition of rain, were infinitely more wild and jagged in their +details than ruins. It seemed as if the Titans had built here, and +their works had been shattered by thunderbolts.</p> +<p>Many heights were truncated mounds of rock, resembling gigantic +platforms with ruinous sides, such as are known in this Western +land as <i>mesas</i> or <i>buttes</i>. They were Nature's enormous +mockery of the most ambitious architecture of man, the pyramids of +Egypt and the platform of Baalbek. Terrace above terrace of +shattered wall; escarpments which had been displaced as if by the +explosion of some incredible mine; ramparts which were here high +and regular, and there gaping in mighty fissures, or suddenly +altogether lacking; long sweeps of stairway, winding dizzily +upwards, only to close in an impossible leap: there was no end to +the fantastic outlines and the suggestions of destruction.</p> +<p>Nor were the open spaces between these rocky mounds less +remarkable. In one valley, the course of a river which vanished +ages ago, the power of fire had left its monuments amid those of +the power of water. The sedimentary rock of sandstone, shales, and +marl, not only showed veins of ignitible lignite, but it was +pierced by the trap which had been shot up from earth's flaming +recesses. Dikes of this volcanic stone crossed each other or ran in +long parallels, presenting forms of fortifications, walls of +buildings, ruined lines of aqueducts. The sandstone and marl had +been worn away by the departed river, and by the delicately +sweeping, incessant, tireless wings of the afreets of the air, +leaving the iron-like trap in bold projection.</p> +<p>Some of these dikes stretched long distances, with a nearly +uniform height of four or five feet, closely resembling old +field-walls of the solidest masonry. Others, not so extensive, but +higher and pierced with holes, seemed to be fragments of ruined +edifices, with broken windows and shattered portals. As the trap is +columnar, and the columns are horizontal in their direction, the +joints of the polygons show along the surface of the ramparts, +causing them to look like the work of Cyclopean builders. The +Indians and Mexicans of the expedition, deceived by the similarity +between these freaks of creation and the results of human +workmanship, repeatedly called out, "Casas Grandes! Casas de +Montezuma!"</p> +<p>It would seem, indeed, as if the ancient peoples of this +country, in order to arrive at the idea of a large architecture, +had only to copy the grotesque rock-work of nature. Who knows but +that such might have been the germinal idea of their constructions? +Mrs. Stanley was quite sure of it. In fact, she was disposed to +maintain that the trap walls were really human masonry, and the +production of Montezuma, or of the Amazons invented by +Coronado.</p> +<p>"Those four-sided and six-sided stones look altogether too +regular to be accidental," was her conclusion. Notwithstanding her +belief in a superintending Deity, she had an idea that much of this +world was made by hazard, or perhaps by the Old Harry.</p> +<p>In one valley the ancient demon of water-force had excelled +himself in enchantments. The slopes of the alluvial soil were +dotted with little buttes of mingled sandstone and shale, varying +from five to twenty feet in height, many of them bearing a +grotesque likeness to artificial objects. There were columns, there +were haystacks, there were enormous bells, there were inverted +jars, there were junk bottles, there were rustic seats. Most of +these fantastic figures were surmounted by a flat capital, the +remnant of a layer of stone harder than the rest of the mass, and +therefore less worn by the water erosion.</p> +<p>One fragment looked like a monstrous gymnastic club standing +upright, with a broad button to secure the grip. Another was a +mighty centre-table, fit for the halls of the Scandinavian gods, +consisting of a solid prop or pedestal twelve feet high, swelling +out at the top into a leaf fifteen feet across. Another was a stone +hat, standing on its crown, with a brim two yards in diameter. +Occasionally there was a figure which had lost its capital, and so +looked like a broken pillar, a sugar loaf, a pear. Imbedded in +these grotesques of sandstone were fossils of wood, of fresh-water +shells, and of fishes.</p> +<p>It was a land of extravagances and of wonders. The marvellous +adventures of the "Arabian Nights" would have seemed natural in it. +It reminded you after a vague fashion of the scenery suggested to +the imagination by some of its details or those of the "Pilgrim's +Progress." Sindbad the Sailor carrying the Old Man of the Sea; +Giant Despair scowling from a make-believe window in a fictitious +castle of eroded sandstone; a roc with wings eighty feet long, +poising on a giddy pinnacle to pounce upon an elephant; pilgrim +Christian advancing with sword and buckler against a demon guarding +some rocky portal, would have excited no astonishment here.</p> +<p>Of a sudden there came an adventure which gave opening for +knight-errantry. As Thurstane, Coronado, and Texas Smith were +riding a few hundred yards ahead of the caravan, and just emerging +from what seemed an enormous court or public square, surrounded by +ruined edifices of gigantic magnitude, they discovered a man +running toward them in a style which reminded the Lieutenant of +Timorous and Mistrust flying from the lions. Impossible to see what +he was afraid of; there was a broad, yellow plain, dotted with +monuments of sandstone; no living thing visible but this man +running.</p> +<p>He was an American; at least he had the clothes of one. As he +approached, he appeared to be a lean, lank, narrow-shouldered, +yellow-faced, yellow-haired creature, such as you might expect to +find on Cape Cod or thereabouts. Hollow-chested as he was, he had a +yell in him which was quite surprising. From the time that he +sighted the three horsemen he kept up a steady screech until he was +safe under their noses. Then he fell flat and gasped for nearly a +minute without speaking. His first words were, "That's pooty good +sailin' for a man who ain't used to't."</p> +<p>"Did you run all the way from Down East?" asked Thurstane.</p> +<p>"All the way from that bewt there—the one that looks most +like a haystack."</p> +<p>"Well, who the devil are you?"</p> +<p>"I'm Phineas Glover—Capm Phineas Glover—from Fair +Haven, Connecticut. I'm goin' to Californy after gold. Got lost out +of the caravan among the mountings. Was comin' along alone, 'n' run +afoul of some Injuns. They're hidin' behind that bewt, 'n' they've +got my mewl."</p> +<p>"Indians! How many are there?"</p> +<p>"Only three. 'N' I expect they a'nt the real wild kind, nuther. +Sorter half Injun, half engineer, like what come round in the +circuses. Didn't make much of 'n offer towards carvin' me. But I +judged best to quit, the first boat that put off. Ah, they're there +yit, 'n' the mewl tew."</p> +<p>"You'll find our train back there," said Thurstane. "You had +better make for it. We'll recover your property."</p> +<p>He dashed off at a full run for the butte, closely followed by +Texas Smith and Coronado. The Mexican had the best horse, and he +would soon have led the other two; but his saddle-girth burst, and +in spite of his skill in riding he was nearly thrown. Texas Smith +pulled up to aid his employer, but only for an instant, as Coronado +called, "Go on."</p> +<p>The borderer now spurred after Thurstane, who had got a dozen +rods the lead of him. Coronado rapidly examined his saddle-bags and +then his pockets without finding the cord or strap which he needed. +He swore a little at this, but not with any poignant emotion, for +in the first place fighting was not a thing that he yearned for, +and in the second place he hardly anticipated a combat. The +robbers, he felt certain, were only vagrant rancheros, or the +cowardly Indians of some village, who would have neither the +weapons nor the pluck to give battle.</p> +<p>But suddenly an alarming suspicion crossed his mind. Would Texas +Smith seize this chance to send a bullet through Thurstane's head +from behind? Knowing the cutthroat's recklessness and his almost +insane thirst for blood, he feared that this might happen. And +there was the train in view; the deed would probably be seen, and, +if so, would be seen as murder; and then would come pursuit of the +assassin, with possibly his seizure and confession. It would not +do; no, it would not do here and now; he must dash forward and +prevent it.</p> +<p>Swinging his saddle upon his horse's back, he vaulted into it +without touching pommel or stirrup, and set off at full speed to +arrest the blow which he desired. Over the plain flew the fiery +animal, Coronado balancing himself in his unsteady seat with +marvellous ease and grace, his dark eyes steadily watching every +movement of the bushwhacker. There were sheets of bare rock here +and there; there were loose slates and detached blocks of +sandstone. The beast dashed across the first without slipping, and +cleared the others without swerving; his rider bowed and swayed in +the saddle without falling.</p> +<p>Texas Smith was now within a few yards of Thurstane, and it +could be seen that he had drawn his revolver. Coronado asked +himself in horror whether the man had understood the words "Go on" +as a command for murder. He was thinking very fast; he was thinking +as fast as he rode. Once a terrible temptation came upon him: he +might let the fatal shot be fired; then he might fire another. Thus +he would get rid of Thurstane, and at the same time have the air of +avenging him, while ridding himself of his dangerous bravo. But he +rejected this plan almost as soon as he thought of it. He did not +feel sure of bringing down Texas at the first fire, and if he did +not, his own life was not worth a second's purchase. As for the +fact that he had been lately saved from death by the borderer, that +would not have checked Coronado's hand, even had he remembered it. +He must dash on at full speed, and prevent a crime which would be a +blunder. But already it was nearly too late, for the Texan was +close upon the officer. Nothing could save the doomed man but +Coronado's magnificent horsemanship. He seemed a part of his steed; +he shot like a bird over the sheets and bowlders of rock; he was a +wonder of speed and grace.</p> +<p>Suddenly the outlaw's pistol rose to a level, and Coronado +uttered a shout of anxiety and horror.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH7" id="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<p>At the shout which Coronado uttered on seeing Texas Smith's +pistol aimed at Thurstane, the assassin turned his head, discovered +the train, and, lowering his weapon, rode peacefully alongside of +his intended victim.</p> +<p>Captain Phin Glover's mule was found grazing behind the butte, +in the midst of the gallant Captain's dishevelled baggage, while +the robbers had vanished by a magic which seemed quite natural in +this scenery of grotesque marvels. They had unquestionably seen or +heard their pursuers; but how had they got into the bowels of the +earth to escape them?</p> +<p>Thurstane presently solved the mystery by pointing out three +crouching figures on the flat cap of stone which surmounted the +shales and marl of the butte. Bare feet and desperation of terror +could alone explain how they had reached this impossible refuge. +Texas Smith immediately consoled himself for his disappointment as +to Thurstane by shooting two of these wretches before his hand +could be stayed.</p> +<p>"They're nothin' but Injuns," he said, with a savage glare, when +the Lieutenant struck aside his revolver and called him a murdering +brute.</p> +<p>The third skulker took advantage of the cessation of firing to +tumble down from his perch and fly for his life. The indefatigable +Smith broke away from Thurstane, dashed after the pitiful fugitive, +leaned over him as he ran, and shot him dead.</p> +<p>"I have a great mind to blow your brains out, you beast," roared +the disgusted officer, who had followed closely. "I told you not to +shoot that man." And here he swore heartily, for which we must +endeavor to forgive him, seeing that he belonged to the army.</p> +<p>Coronado interfered. "My dear Lieutenant! after all, they were +robbers. They deserved punishment." And so on.</p> +<p>Texas Smith looked less angry and more discomfited than might +have been expected, considering his hardening life and ferocious +nature.</p> +<p>"Didn't s'p'ose you really keered much for the cuss," he said, +glancing respectfully at the imperious and angry face of the young +officer.</p> +<p>"Well, never mind now," growled Thurstane. "It's done, and can't +be undone. But, by Jove, I do hate useless massacre. Fighting is +another thing."</p> +<p>Sheathing his fury, he rode off rapidly toward the wagons, +followed in silence by the others. The three dead vagabonds +(perhaps vagrants from the region of Abiquia) remained where they +had fallen, one on the stony plain and two on the cap of the butte. +The train, trending here toward the northwest, passed six hundred +yards to the north of the scene of slaughter; and when Clara and +Mrs. Stanley asked what had happened, Coronado told them with +perfect glibness that the robbers had got away.</p> +<p>The rescued man, delighted at his escape and the recovery of his +mule and luggage, returned thanks right and left, with a volubility +which further acquaintance showed to be one of his characteristics. +He was a profuse talker; ran a stream every time you looked at him; +it was like turning on a mill-race.</p> +<p>"Yes, capm, out of Fair Haven," he said. "Been in the coastin' +'n' Wes' Injy trade. Had 'n unlucky time out las' few years. Had a +schuner burnt in port, 'n' lost a brig at sea. Pooty much broke me +up. Wife 'n' dahter gone into th' oyster-openin' business. Thought +I'd try my han' at openin' gold mines in Californy. Jined a caravan +at Fort Leavenworth, 'n' lost my reckonin's back here a ways."</p> +<p>We must return to love matters. However amazing it may be that a +man who has no conscience should nevertheless have a heart, such +appears to have been the case with that abnormal creature Coronado. +The desert had made him take a strong liking to Clara, and now that +he had a rival at hand he became impassioned for her. He began to +want to marry her, not alone for the sake of her great fortune, but +also for her own sake. Her beauty unfolded and blossomed +wonderfully before his ardent eyes; for he was under that mighty +glamour of the emotions which enables us to see beauty in its +completeness; he was favored with the greatest earthly second-sight +which is vouchsafed to mortals.</p> +<p>Only in a measure, however; the money still counted for much +with him. He had already decided what he would do with the +Muñoz fortune when he should get it. He would go to New York +and lead a life of frugal extravagance, economical in comforts (as +we understand them) and expensive in pleasures. New York, with its +adjuncts of Saratoga and Newport, was to him what Paris is to many +Americans. In his imagination it was the height of grandeur and +happiness to have a box at the opera, to lounge in Broadway, and to +dance at the hops of the Saratoga hotels. New Mexico! he would turn +his back on it; he would never set eyes on its dull poverty again. +As for Clara? Well, of course she would share in his gayeties; was +not that enough for any reasonable woman?</p> +<p>But here was this stumbling-block of a Thurstane. In the +presence of a handsome rival, who, moreover, had started first in +the race, slow was far from being sure. Coronado had discovered, by +long experience in flirtation and much intelligent meditation upon +it, that, if a man wants to win a woman, he must get her head full +of him. He decided, therefore, that at the first chance he would +give Clara distinctly to understand how ardently he was in love +with her, and so set her to thinking especially of him, and of him +alone. Meantime, he looked at her adoringly, insinuated +compliments, performed little services, walked his horse much by +her side, did his best in conversation, and in all ways tried to +outshine the Lieutenant.</p> +<p>He supposed that he did outshine him. A man of thirty always +believes that he appears to better advantage than a man of +twenty-three or four. He trusts that he has more ideas, that he +commits fewer absurdities, that he carries more weight of character +than his juvenile rival. Coronado was far more fluent than +Thurstane; had a greater command over his moods and manners, and a +larger fund of animal spirits; knew more about such social trifles +as women like to hear of; and was, in short, a more amusing +prattler of small talk. There was a steady seriousness about the +young officer—something of the earnest sentimentality of the +great Teutonic race—which the mercurial Mexican did not +understand nor appreciate, and which he did not imagine could be +fascinating to a woman. Knowing well how magnetic passion is in its +guise of Southern fervor, he did not know that it is also potent +under the cloak of Northern solemnity.</p> +<p>Unluckily for Coronado, Clara was half Teutonic, and could +comprehend the tone of her father's race. Notwithstanding +Thurstane's shyness and silences, she discovered his moral weight +and gathered his unspoken meanings. There was more in this girl +than appeared on the surface. Without any power of reasoning +concerning character, and without even a disposition to analyze it, +she had an instinctive perception of it. While her talk was usually +as simple as a child's, and her meditations on men and things were +not a bit systematic or logical, her decisions and actions were +generally just what they should be.</p> +<p>Some one may wish to know whether she was clever enough to see +through the character of Coronado. She was clever enough, but not +corrupt enough. Very pure people cannot fully understand people who +are very impure. It is probable that angels are considerably in the +dark concerning the nature of the devil, and derive their +disagreeable impression of him mainly from a consideration of his +actions. Clara, limited to a narrow circle of good intentions and +conduct, might not divine the wide regions of wickedness through +which roved the soul of Coronado, and must wait to see his works +before she could fairly bring him to judgment.</p> +<p>Of course she perceived that in various ways he was insincere. +When he prattled compliments and expressions of devotion, whether +to herself or to others, she made Spanish allowance. It was polite +hyperbole; it was about the same as saying good-morning; it was a +cheerful way of talking that they had in Mexico; she knew thus much +from her social experience. But while she cared little for his +adulations, she did not because of them consider him a scoundrel, +nor necessarily a hypocrite.</p> +<p>Coronado found and improved opportunities to talk in asides with +Clara. Thurstane, the modest, proud, manly youngster, who had no +meannesses or trickeries by nature, and had learned none in his +honorable profession, would not allow himself to break into these +dialogues if they looked at all like confidences. The more he +suspected that Coronado was courting Clara, the more resolutely and +grimly he said to himself, "Stand back!" The girl should be +perfectly free to choose between them; she should be influenced by +no compulsions and no stratagems of his; was he not "an officer and +a gentleman"?</p> +<p>"By Jove! I am miserable for life," he thought when he +suspected, as he sometimes did, that they two were in love. "I'll +get myself killed in my next fight. I can't bear it. But I won't +interfere. I'll do my duty as an honorable man. Of course she +understands me."</p> +<p>But just at this point Clara failed to understand him. It is +asserted by some philosophers that women have less conscience about +"cutting each other out," breaking up engagements, etc., than men +have in such matters. Love-making and its results form such an +all-important part of their existence, that they must occasionally +allow success therein to overbear such vague, passionless ideas as +principles, sentiments of honor, etc. It is, we fear, highly +probable that if Clara had been in love with Ralph, and had seen +her chance of empire threatened by a rival, she would have come out +of that calm innocence which now seemed to enfold her whole nature, +and would have done such things as girls may do to avert +catastrophes of the affections. She now thought to herself, If he +cares for me, how can he keep away from me when he sees Coronado +making eyes at me? She was a little vexed with him for behaving so, +and was consequently all the sweeter to his rival. This when Ralph +would have risked his commission for a smile, and would have died +to save her from a sorrow!</p> +<p>Presently this slightly coquettish, yet very good and lovely +little being—this seraph from one of Fra Angelica's pictures, +endowed with a frailty or two of humanity—found herself the +heroine of a trying scene. Coronado hastened it; he judged her +ready to fall into his net; he managed the time and place for the +capture. The train had been ascending for some hours, and had at +last reached a broad plateau, a nearly even floor of sandstone, +covered with a carpet of thin earth, the whole noble level bare to +the eye at once, without a tree or a thicket to give it detail. It +was a scene of tranquillity and monotony; no rains ever disturbed +or remoulded the tabulated surface of soil; there, as distinct as +if made yesterday, were the tracks of a train which had passed a +year before.</p> +<p>"Shall we take a gallop?" said Coronado. "No danger of ambushes +here."</p> +<p>Clara's eyes sparkled with youth's love of excitement, and the +two horses sprang off at speed toward the centre of the plateau. +After a glorious flight of five minutes, enjoyed for the most part +in silence, as such swift delights usually are, they dropped into a +walk two miles ahead of the wagons.</p> +<p>"That was magnificent," Clara of course said, her face flushed +with pleasure and exercise.</p> +<p>"You are wonderfully handsome," observed Coronado, with an air +of thinking aloud, which disguised the coarse directness of the +flattery. In fact, he was so dazzled by her brilliant color, the +sunlight in her disordered curls, and the joyous sparkling of her +hazel eyes, that he spoke with an ingratiating honesty.</p> +<p>Clara, who was in one of her unconscious and innocent moods, +simply replied, "I suppose people are always handsome enough when +they are happy."</p> +<p>"Then I ought to be lovely," said Coronado. "I am happier than I +ever was before."</p> +<p>"Coronado, you look very well," observed Clara, turning her eyes +on him with a grave expression which rather puzzled him. "This +out-of-door life has done you good."</p> +<p>"Then I don't look very well indoors?" he smiled.</p> +<p>"You know what I mean, Coronado. Your health has improved, and +your face shows it."</p> +<p>Fearing that she was not in an emotional condition to be +bewildered and fascinated by a declaration of love, he queried +whether he had not better put off his enterprise until a more +susceptible moment. Certainly, if he were without a rival; but +there was Thurstane, ready any and every day to propose; it would +not do to let <i>him</i> have the first word, and cause the first +heart-beat. Coronado believed that to make sure of winning the race +he must take the lead at the start. Yes, he would offer himself +now; he would begin by talking her into a receptive state of mind; +that done, he would say with all his eloquence, "I love you."</p> +<p>We must not suppose that the declaration would be a pure fib, or +anything like it. The man had no conscience, and he was almost +incomparably selfish, but he was capable of loving, and he did +love. That is to say, he was inflamed by this girl's beauty and +longed to possess it. It is a low species of affection, but it is +capable of great violence in a man whose physical nature is ardent, +and Coronado's blood could take a heat like lava. Already, although +he had not yet developed his full power of longing, he wanted Clara +as he had never wanted any woman before. We can best describe his +kind of sentiment by that hungry, carnal word <i>wanted</i>.</p> +<p>After riding in silent thought for a few rods, he said, "I have +lost my good looks now, I suppose."</p> +<p>"What do you mean, Coronado?"</p> +<p>"They depend on my happiness, and that is gone."</p> +<p>"Coronado, you are playing riddles."</p> +<p>"This table-land reminds me of my own life. Do you see that it +has no verdure? I have been just as barren of all true happiness. +There has been no fruit or blossom of true affection for me to +gather. You know that I lost my excellent father and my sainted +mother when I was a child. I was too young to miss them; but for +all that the bereavement was the same; there was the less love for +me. It seems as if there had been none."</p> +<p>"Garcia has been good to you—of late," suggested Clara, +rather puzzled to find consolation for a man whose misery was so +new to her.</p> +<p>Remembering what a scoundrel Garcia was, and what a villainous +business Garcia had sent him upon, Coronado felt like smiling. He +knew that the old man had no sentiments beyond egotism, and a +family pride which mainly, if not entirely, sprang from it. Such a +heart as Garcia's, what a place to nestle in! Such a creature as +Coronado seeking comfort in such a breast as his uncle's was very +much like a rattlesnake warming himself in a hole of a rock.</p> +<p>"Ah, yes!" sighed Coronado. "Admirable old gentleman! I should +not have forgotten him. However, he is a solace which comes rather +late. It is only two years since he perceived that he had done me +injustice, and received me into favor. And his affection is +somewhat cold. Garcia is an old man laden with affairs. Moreover, +men in general have little sympathy with men. When we are saddened, +we do not look to our own sex for cheer. We look to yours."</p> +<p>Almost every woman responds promptly to a claim for pity.</p> +<p>"I am sorry for you, Coronado," said Clara, in her artless way. +"I am, truly."</p> +<p>"You do not know, you cannot know, how you console me."</p> +<p>Satisfied with the results of his experiment in boring for +sympathy, he tried another, a dangerous one, it would seem, but +very potent when it succeeds.</p> +<p>"This lack of affection has had sad results. I have searched +everywhere for it, only to meet with disappointment. In my +desperation I have searched where I should not. I have demanded +true love of people who had no true love to give. And for this +error and wrong I have been terribly punished. The mere failure of +hope and trust has been hard enough to bear. But that was not the +half. Shame, self-contempt, remorse have been an infinitely heavier +burden. If any man was ever cured of trusting for happiness to a +wicked world, it is Coronado."</p> +<p>In spite of his words and his elaborately penitent expression, +Clara only partially understood him. Some kind of evil life he was +obviously confessing, but what kind she only guessed in the vaguest +fashion. However, she comprehended enough to interest her warmly: +here was a penitent sinner who had forsaken ways of wickedness; +here was a struggling soul which needed encouragement and +tenderness. A woman loves to believe that she can be potent over +hearts, and especially that she can be potent for good. Clara fixed +upon Coronado's face a gaze of compassion and benevolence which was +almost superhuman. It should have shamed him into honesty; but he +was capable of trying to deceive the saints and the Virgin; he +merely decided that she was in a fit frame to accept him.</p> +<p>"At last I have a faint hope of a sure and pure happiness," he +said. "I have found one who I know can strengthen me and comfort +me, if she will. I am seeking to be worthy of her. I am worthy of +her so far as adoration can make me. I am ready to surrender my +whole life—all that I am and that I can be—to her."</p> +<p>Clara had begun to guess his meaning; the quick blood was +already flooding her cheek; the light in her eyes was tremulous +with agitation.</p> +<p>"Clara, you must know what I mean," continued Coronado, suddenly +reaching his hand toward her, as if to take her captive. "You are +the only person I ever loved. I love you with all my soul. Can your +heart ever respond to mine? Can you ever bring yourself to be my +wife?"</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH8" id="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<p>When Coronado proposed to Clara, she was for a moment stricken +dumb with astonishment and with something like terror.</p> +<p>Her first idea was that she must take him; that the mere fact of +a man asking for her gave him a species of right over her; that +there was no such thing possible as answering, No. She sat looking +at Coronado with a helpless, timorous air, very much as a child +looks at his father, when the father, switching his rattan, says, +"Come with me."</p> +<p>On recovering herself a little, her first words—uttered +slowly, in a tone of surprise and of involuntary +reproach—were, "Oh, Coronado! I did not expect this."</p> +<p>"Can't you answer me?" he asked in a voice which was honestly +tremulous with emotion. "Can't you say yes?"</p> +<p>"Oh, Coronado!" repeated Clara, a good deal touched by his +agitation.</p> +<p>"Can't you?" he pleaded. Repetitions, in such cases, are so +natural and so potent.</p> +<p>"Let me think, Coronado," she implored. "I can't answer you now. +You have taken me so by surprise!"</p> +<p>"Every moment that you take to think is torture to me," he +pleaded, as he continued to press her.</p> +<p>Perhaps she was on the point of giving way before his +insistence. Consider the advantages that he had over her in this +struggle of wills for the mastery. He was older by ten years; he +possessed both the adroitness of self-command and the energy of +passion; he had a long experience in love matters, while she had +none. He was the proclaimed heir of a man reputed wealthy, and +could therefore, as she believed, support her handsomely. Since the +death of her father she considered Garcia the head of her family in +New Mexico; and Coronado had had the face to tell her that he made +his offer with the approval of Garcia. Then she was under supposed +obligations to him, and he was to be her protector across the +desert.</p> +<p>She was as it were reeling in her saddle, when a truly Spanish +idea saved her.</p> +<p>"Muñoz!" she exclaimed. "Coronado, you forget my +grandfather. He should know of this."</p> +<p>Although the man was unaccustomed to start, he drew back as if a +ghost had confronted him; and even when he recovered from his +transitory emotion, he did not at first know how to answer her. It +would not do to say, "Muñoz is dead," and much less to add, +"You are his heir."</p> +<p>"We are Americans," he at last argued. "Spanish customs are dead +and buried. Can't you speak for yourself on a matter which concerns +you and me alone?"</p> +<p>"Coronado, I think it would not be right," she replied, holding +firmly to her position. "It is probable that my grandfather would +be better pleased to have this matter referred to him. I ought to +consider him, and you must let me do so."</p> +<p>"I submit," he bowed, seeing that there was no help for it, and +deciding to make a grace of necessity. "It pains me, but I submit. +Let me hope that you will not let this pass from your mind. Some +day, when it is proper, I shall speak again."</p> +<p>He was not wholly dissatisfied, for he trusted that henceforward +her head would be full of him, and he had not much hoped to gain +more in a first effort.</p> +<p>"I shall always be proud and gratified at the compliment you +have paid me," was her reply to his last request.</p> +<p>"You deserve many such compliments," he said, gravely courteous +and quite sincere.</p> +<p>Then they cantered back in silence to meet the advancing +train.</p> +<p>Yes, Coronado was partly satisfied. He believed that he had +gained a firmer footing among the girl's thoughts and emotions than +had been gained by Thurstane. In a degree he was right. No +sensitive, and pure, and good girl can receive her first offer +without being much moved by it. The man who has placed himself at +her feet will affect her strongly. She may begin to dread him, or +begin to like him more than before; but she cannot remain utterly +indifferent to him. The probability is that, unless subsequent +events make him disagreeable to her, she will long accord him a +measure of esteem and gratitude.</p> +<p>For two or three days, while Clara was thinking much of +Coronado, he gave her less than usual of his society. Believing +that her mind was occupied with him, that she was wondering whether +he were angry, unhappy, etc., he remained a good deal apart, +wrapped himself in sadness, and trusted that time would do much for +him. Had there been no rival, the plan would have been a good one; +but Ralph Thurstane being present, it was less successful.</p> +<p>Ralph had already become more of a favorite than any one knew, +even the young lady herself; and now that he found chances for long +talks and short gallops with her, he got on better than ever. He +was just the kind of youngster a girl of eighteen would naturally +like to have ride by her side. He was handsome; at any rate, he was +the handsomest man she had seen in the desert, and the desert was +just then her sphere of society. You could see in his figure how +strong he was, and in his face how brave he was. He was a good +fellow, too; "tendir and trew" as the Douglas of the ballad; +sincere, frank, thoroughly truthful and honorable. Every way he +seemed to be that being that a woman most wants, a potential and +devoted protector. Whenever Clara looked in his face her eyes said, +without her knowledge, "I trust you."</p> +<p>Now, as we have already stated, Thurstane's eyes were uncommonly +fine and expressive. Of the very darkest blue that ever was seen in +anybody's head, and shaded, moreover, by remarkably long chestnut +lashes, they had the advantages of both blue eyes and black ones, +being as gentle as the one and as fervent as the other. +Accordingly, a sort of optical conversation commenced between the +two young people. Every time that Clara's glance said, "I trust +you," Thurstane's responded, "I will die for you." It was a +perilous sort of dialogue, and liable to involve the two souls +which looked out from these sparkling, transparent windows. Before +long the Lieutenant's modest heart took courage, and his stammering +tongue began to be loosed somewhat, so that he uttered things which +frightened both him and Clara. Not that the remarks were audacious +in themselves, but he was conscious of so much unexpressed meaning +behind them, and she was so ready to guess that there might be such +a meaning!</p> +<p>It seems ridiculous that a fellow who could hold his head +straight up before a storm of cannon shot, should be positively +bashful. Yet so it was. The boy had been through West Point, to be +sure; but he had studied there, and not flirted; the Academy had +not in any way demoralized him. On the whole, in spite of swearing +under gross provocation, and an inclination toward strictness in +discipline, he answered pretty well for a Bayard.</p> +<p>His bashfulness was such, at least in the presence of Clara, +that he trembled to the tips of his fingers in merely making this +remark: "Miss Van Diemen, this journey is the pleasantest thing in +my whole life."</p> +<p>Clara blushed until she dazzled him and seemed to burn herself. +Nevertheless she was favored with her usual childlike artlessness +of speech, and answered, "I am glad you find it agreeable."</p> +<p>Nothing more from Ralph for a minute; he was recovering his +breath and self-possession.</p> +<p>"You cannot think how much safer I feel because you and your men +are with us," said Clara.</p> +<p>Thurstane unconsciously gripped the handle of his sabre, with a +feeling that he could and would massacre all the Indians of the +desert, if it were necessary to preserve her from harm.</p> +<p>"Yes, you may rely upon my men, too," he declared. "They have a +sort of adoration for you."</p> +<p>"Have they?" asked Clara, with a frank smile of pleasure. "I +wonder at it. I hardly notice them. I ought to, they seem so +patient and trusty."</p> +<p>"Ah, a lady!" said Thurstane. "A good soldier will die any time +for a lady."</p> +<p>Then he wondered how she could have failed to guess that she +must be worshipped by these rough men for her beauty.</p> +<p>"I have overheard them talking about you," he went on, gratified +at being able to praise her to her face, though in the speech of +others. "Little Sweeny says, in his Irish brogue, 'I can march +twic't as fur for the seein' av her!'"</p> +<p>"Oh! did he?" laughed Clara. "I must carry Sweeny's musket for +him some time."</p> +<p>"Don't, if you please," said Thurstane, the disciplinarian +rising in him. "You would spoil him for the service."</p> +<p>"Can't I send him a dish from our table?"</p> +<p>"That would just suit his case. He hasn't got broken to +hard-tack yet."</p> +<p>"Miss Van Diemen," was his next remark, "do you know what you +are to do, if we are attacked?"</p> +<p>"I am to get into a wagon."</p> +<p>"Into which wagon?"</p> +<p>"Into my aunt's."</p> +<p>"Why into that one?"</p> +<p>"So as to have all the ladies together."</p> +<p>"When you have got into the wagon, what next?"</p> +<p>"Lie down on the floor to protect myself from the arrows."</p> +<p>"Very good," laughed Thurstane. "You say your tactics well."</p> +<p>This catechism had been put and recited every day since he had +joined the train. The putting of it was one of the Lieutenant's +duties and pleasures; and, notwithstanding its prophecy of peril, +Clara enjoyed it almost as much as he.</p> +<p>Well, we have heard these two talk, and much in their usual +fashion. Not great souls as yet: they may indeed become such some +day; but at present they are only mature in moral power and in +capacity for mighty emotions. Information, mental development, and +conversational ability hereafter.</p> +<p>In one way or another two or three of these +tête-à-têtes were brought about every day. +Thurstane wanted them all the time; would have been glad to make +life one long dialogue with Miss Van Diemen; found an aching void +in every moment spent away from her. Clara, too, in spite of +maidenly struggles with herself, began to be of this way of +feeling. Wonderful place the Great American Desert for falling in +love!</p> +<p>Coronado soon guessed, and with good reason, that the seed which +he had sown in the girl's mind was being replaced by other germs, +and that he had blundered in trusting that she would think of him +while she was talking with Thurstane. The fear of losing her +increased his passion for her, and made him hate his rival with +correlative fervor.</p> +<p>"Why don't you find a chance at that fellow?" he muttered to his +bravo, Texas Smith.</p> +<p>"How the h—l kin I do it?" growled the bushwhacker, +feeling that his intelligence and courage were unjustly called in +question. "He's allays around the train, an' his sojers allays +handy. I hain't had nary chance."</p> +<p>"Take him off on a hunt."</p> +<p>"He ain't a gwine. I reckon he knows himself. I'm afeard to +praise huntin' much to him; he might get on my trail. Tell you +these army chaps is resky. I never wanted to meddle with them kind +o' close. You know I said so. I said so, fair an' square, I +did."</p> +<p>"You might manage it somehow, if you had the pluck."</p> +<p>"Had the pluck!" repeated Texas Smith. His sallow, haggard face +turned dusky with rage, and his singularly black eyes flamed as if +with hell-fire. A Malay, crazed with opium and ready to run +<i>amok</i>, could not present a more savage spectacle than this +man did as he swayed in his saddle, grinding his teeth, clutching +his rifle, and glaring at Coronado. What chiefly infuriated him was +that the insult should come from one whom he considered a +"greaser," a man of inferior race. He, Texas Smith, an American, a +<i>white man</i>, was treated as if he were an "Injun" or a +"nigger." Coronado was thoroughly alarmed, and smoothed his ruffled +feathers at once.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon," he said, promptly. "My dear Mr. Smith, I +was entirely wrong. Of course I know that you have courage. +Everybody knows it. Besides, I am under the greatest obligations to +you. You saved my life. By heavens, I am horribly ashamed of my +injustice."</p> +<p>A minute or so of this fluent apologizing calmed the +bushwhacker's rage and soothed his injured feelings.</p> +<p>"But you oughter be keerful how you talk that way to a white +man," he said. "No white man, if he's a gentleman, can stan' being +told he hain't got no pluck."</p> +<p>"Certainly," assented Coronado. "Well, I have apologized. What +more can I do?"</p> +<p>"Square, you're all right now," said the forgiving Texan, +stretching out his bony, dirty hand and grasping Coronado's. "But +don't say it agin. White men can't stan' sech talk. Well, about +this feller—I'll see, I'll see. Square, I'll try to do what's +right."</p> +<p>As Coronado rode away from this interview, he ground his teeth +with rage and mortification, muttering, "A <i>white</i> man! a +<i>white</i> man! So I am a black man. Yes, I am a greaser. Curse +this whole race of English-speaking people!"</p> +<p>After a while he began to think to the purpose. He too must +work; he must not trust altogether to Texas Smith; the scoundrel +might flinch, or might fail. Something must be done to separate +Clara and Thurstane. What should it be? Here we are almost ashamed +of Coronado. The trick that he hit upon was the stalest, the most +threadbare, the most commonplace and vulgar that one can imagine. +It was altogether unworthy of such a clever and experienced +conspirator. His idea was this: to get lost with Clara for one +night; in the morning to rejoin the train. Thurstane would be +disgusted, and would unquestionably give up the girl entirely when +Coronado should say to him, "It was a very unlucky accident, but I +have done what a gentleman should, and we are engaged."</p> +<p>This coarse, dastardly, and rather stupid stratagem he put into +execution as quickly as possible. There were some dangers to be +guarded against, as for instance Apaches, and the chance of getting +lost in reality.</p> +<p>"Have an eye upon me to-day," he suggested to Texas. "If I leave +the train with any one, follow me and keep a lookout for Indians. +Only stay out of sight."</p> +<p>Now for an opportunity to lead Clara astray. The region was +favorable; they were in an arid land of ragged sandstone spurs and +buttes; it would be necessary to march until near sunset, in order +to find water and pasturage. Consequently there was both time and +scenery for his project. Late in the afternoon the train crossed a +narrow <i>mesa</i> or plateau, and approached a sublime terrace of +rock which was the face of a second table-land. This terrace was +cleft by several of those wonderful grooves which are known as +cañons, and which were wrought by that mighty water-force, +the sculpturer of the American desert. In one place two of these +openings were neighbors: the larger was the route and the smaller +led nowhere.</p> +<p>"Let the train pass on," suggested Coronado to Clara. "If you +will ride with me up this little cañon, you will find some +of the most exquisite scenery imaginable. It rejoins the large one +further on. There is no danger."</p> +<p>Clara would have preferred not to go, or would have preferred to +go with Thurstane.</p> +<p>"My dear child, what do you mean?" urged Aunt Maria, looking out +of her wagon. "Mr. Coronado, I'll ride there with you myself."</p> +<p>The result of the dialogue which ensued was that, after the +train had entered the gorge of the larger cañon, Coronado +and Clara turned back and wandered up the smaller one, followed at +a distance by Texas Smith. In twenty minutes they were separated +from the wagons by a barrier of sandstone several hundred feet +high, and culminating in a sharp ridge or frill of rocky points, +not unlike the spiny back of a John Dory. The scenery, although +nothing new to Clara, was such as would be considered in any other +land amazing. Vast walls on either side, consisting mainly of +yellow sandstone, were variegated with white, bluish, and green +shales, with layers of gypsum of the party-colored marl series, +with long lines of white limestone so soft as to be nearly earth, +and with red and green foliated limestone mixed with blood-red +shales. The two wanderers seemed to be amid the landscapes of a +Christmas drama as they rode between these painted precipices +toward a crimson, sunset.</p> +<p>It was a perfect solitude. There was not a breath of life +besides their own in this gorgeous valley of desolation. The +ragged, crumbling battlements, and the loftier points of harder +rock, would not have furnished subsistence for a goat or a mouse. +Color was everywhere and life nowhere: it was such a region as one +might look for in the moon; it did not seem to belong to an +inhabited planet.</p> +<p>Before they had ridden half an hour the sun went down suddenly +behind serrated steeps, and almost immediately night hastened in +with his obscurities. Texas Smith, riding hundreds of yards in the +rear and concealing himself behind the turning points of the +cañon, was obliged to diminish his distance in order to keep +them under his guard. Clara had repeatedly expressed her doubts as +to the road, and Coronado had as often asserted that they would +soon see the train. At last the ravine became a gully, winding up a +breast of shadowy mountain cumbered with loose rocks, and +impassable to horses.</p> +<p>"We are lost," confessed Coronado, and then proceeded to console +her. The train could not be far off; their friends would +undoubtedly seek them; at all events, would not go on without them. +They must bivouac there as well as might be, and in the morning +rejoin the caravan.</p> +<p>He had been forethoughted enough to bring two blankets on his +saddle, and he now spread them out for her, insisting that she +should try to sleep. Clara cried frankly and heartily, and begged +him to lead her back through the cañon. No; it could not be +traversed by night, he asserted; they would certainly break their +necks among the bowlders. At last the girl suffered herself to be +wrapped in the blankets, and made an endeavor to forget her +wretchedness and vexation in slumber.</p> +<p>Meantime, a few hundred yards down the ravine, a tragedy was on +the verge of action. Thurstane, missing Coronado and Clara, and +learning what direction they had taken, started with two of his +soldiers to find them, and was now picking his way on foot along +the cañon. Behind a detached rock at the base of one of the +sandstone walls Texas Smith lay in ambush, aiming his rifle first +at one and then at another of this stumbling trio, and cursing the +starlight because it was so dim that he could not positively +distinguish which was the officer.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH9" id="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<p>For the second time within a week, Texas Smith found himself +upon the brink of opportunity, without being able (as he had +phrased it to Coronado) to do what was right.</p> +<p>He levelled at Thurstane, and then it did not seem to be +Thurstane; he had a dead sure sight at Kelly, and then perceived +that that was an error; he drew a bead on Shubert, and still he +hesitated. He could distinguish the Lieutenant's voice, but he +could not fix upon the figure which uttered it.</p> +<p>It was exasperating. Never had an assassin been better +ambuscaded. He was kneeling behind a little ridge of sandstone; +about a foot below its edge was an orifice made by the rains and +winds of bygone centuries; through this, as through an embrasure, +he had thrust his rifle. Not a chance of being hit by a return +shot, while after the enemy's fire had been drawn he could fly down +the ravine, probably without discovery and certainly without +recognition. His horse was tethered below, behind another rock; and +he felt positive that these men had not come upon it. He could +mount, drive their beasts before him into the plain, and then +return to camp. No need of explaining his absence; he was the head +hunter of the expedition; it was his business to wander.</p> +<p>All this was so easy to do, if he could only take the first +step. But he dared not fire lest he should merely kill a soldier, +and so make an uproar and rouse suspicions without the slightest +profit. It was not probable that Coronado would pay him for +shooting the wrong man, and setting on foot a dangerous +investigation. So the desperado continued to peer through the dim +night, cursing his stars and everybody's stars for not shining +better, and seeing his opportunity slip rapidly away. After +Thurstane and the others had passed, after the chance of murder had +stalked by him like a ghost and vanished, he left his ambush, +glided down the ravine to his horse, waked him up with a vindictive +kick, leaped into the saddle, and hastened to camp. To inquiries +about the lost couple he replied in his sullen, brief way that he +had not seen them; and when urged to go to their rescue, he of +course set off in the wrong direction and travelled but a short +distance.</p> +<p>Meantime Ralph had found the captives of the cañon. +Clara, wrapped in her blankets, was lying at the foot of a rock, +and crying while she pretended to sleep. Coronado, unable to make +her talk, irritated by the faint sobs which he overheard, but +stubbornly resolved on carrying out his stupid plot, had retired in +a state of ill-humor unusual with him to another rock, and was +consoling himself by smoking cigarito after cigarito. The two +horses, tied together neck and crupper, were fasting near by. As +Coronado had forgotten to bring food with him, Clara was also +fasting.</p> +<p>Think of Apaches, and imagine the terror with which she caught +the sounds of approach, the heavy, stumbling steps through the +darkness. Then imagine the joy with which she recognized +Thurstane's call and groped to meet him. In the dizziness of her +delight, and amid the hiding veils of the obscurity, it did not +seem wrong nor unnatural to fall against his arm and be supported +by it for a moment. Ralph received this touch, this shock, as if it +had been a ball; and his nature bore the impress of it as long as +if it had made a scar. In his whole previous life he had not felt +such a thrill of emotion; it was almost too powerful to be +adequately described as a pleasure.</p> +<p>Next came Coronado, as happy as a disappointed burglar whose cue +it is to congratulate the rescuing policeman. "My dear Lieutenant! +You are heaven's own messenger. You have saved us from a horrible +night. But it is prodigious; it is incredible. You must have come +here by enchantment. How in God's name could you find your way up +this fearful cañon?"</p> +<p>"The cañon is perfectly passable on foot," replied the +young officer, stiffly and angrily. "By Jove, sir! I don't see why +you didn't make a start to get out. This is a pretty place to lodge +Miss Van Diemen."</p> +<p>Coronado took off his hat and made a bow of submission and +regret, which was lost in the darkness.</p> +<p>"I must say," Thurstane went on grumbling, "that, for a man who +claims to know this country, your management has been very +singular."</p> +<p>Clara, fearful of a quarrel, slightly pressed his arm and +checked this volcano with the weight of a feather.</p> +<p>"We are not all like you, my dear Lieutenant," said Coronado, in +a tone which might have been either apologetical or ironical. "You +must make allowance for ordinary human nature."</p> +<p>"I beg pardon," returned Thurstane, who was thinking now chiefly +of that pressure on his arm. "The truth is, I was alarmed for your +safety. I can't help feeling responsibility on this expedition, +although it is your train. My military education runs me into it, I +suppose. Well, excuse my excitement. Miss Van Diemen, may I help +you back through the gully?"</p> +<p>In leaning on him, being guided by him, being saved by him, +trusting in him, the girl found a pleasure which was irresistible, +although it seemed audacious and almost sinful. Before the +cañon was half traversed she felt as if she could go on with +him through the great dark valley of life, confiding in his +strength and wisdom to lead her aright and make her happy. It was a +temporary wave of emotion, but she remembered it long after it had +passed.</p> +<p>Around the fires, after a cup of hot coffee, amid the odors of a +plentiful supper, recounting the evening's adventure to Mrs. +Stanley, Coronado was at his best. How he rolled out the English +language! Our mother tongue hardly knew itself, it ran so fluently +and sounded so magniloquently and lied so naturally. He praised +everybody but himself; he praised Clara, Thurstane, and the two +soldiers and the horses; he even said a flattering word or two for +Divine Providence. Clara especially, and the whole of her heroic, +more than human sex, demanded his enthusiastic admiration. How she +had borne the terrors of the night and the desert! "Ah, Mrs. +Stanley! only you women are capable of such efforts."</p> +<p>Aunt Maria's Olympian head nodded, and her cheerful face, +glowing with tea and the camp fires, confessed "Certainly!"</p> +<p>"What nonsense, Coronado!" said Clara. "I was horribly +frightened, and you know it."</p> +<p>Aunt Maria frowned with surprise and denial. "Absurd, child! You +were not frightened at all. Of course you were not. Why, even if +you had been slightly timorous, you had your cousin to protect +you."</p> +<p>"Ah, Mrs. Stanley, I am a poor knight-errant," said Coronado. +"We Mexicans are no longer formidable. One man of your Anglo-Saxon +blood is supposed to be a better defence than a dozen of us. We +have been subdued; we must submit to depreciation. I must confess, +in fact, that I had my fears. I was greatly relieved on my cousin's +account when I heard the voice of our military chieftain here."</p> +<p>Then came more flattery for Ralph, with proper rations for the +two privates. Those faithful soldiers—he must show his +gratitude to them; he had forgotten them in the basest manner. +"Here, Pedronillo, take these cigaritos to privates Kelly and +Shubert, with my compliments. Begging <i>your</i> permission, +Lieutenant. <i>Thank</i> you."</p> +<p>"Pooty tonguey man, that Seenor," observed Captain Phineas +Glover to Mrs. Stanley, when the Mexican went off to his +blankets.</p> +<p>"Yes; a very agreeable and eloquent gentleman," replied the +lady, wishing to correct the skipper's statement while seeming to +assent to it.</p> +<p>"Jess so," admitted Glover. "Ruther airy. Big talkin' man. Don't +raise no sech our way."</p> +<p>Captain Glover was not fully aware that he himself had the fame +of possessing an imagination which was almost too much for the +facts of this world.</p> +<p>"S'pose it's in the breed," he continued. "Or likely the climate +has suthin' to do with it: kinder thaws out the words 'n' sets the +idees a-bilin'. Niggers is pooty much the same. Most niggers kin +talk like a line runnin' out, 'n' tell lies 's fast 's our Fair +Haven gals open oysters—a quart a minute."</p> +<p>"Captain Glover, what do you mean?" frowned Aunt Maria. "Mr. +Coronado is a friend of mine."</p> +<p>"Oh, I was speakin' of niggers," returned the skipper promptly. +"Forgot we begun about the Seenor. Sho! niggers was what I was +talkin' of. B' th' way, that puts me in mind 'f one I had for cook +once. Jiminy! how that man would cook! He'd cook a slice of halibut +so you wouldn't know it from beefsteak."</p> +<p>"Dear me! how did he do it?" asked Aunt Maria, who had a fancy +for kitchen mysteries.</p> +<p>"Never could find out," said Glover, stepping adroitly out of +his difficulty. "Don't s'pose that nigger would a let on how he did +it for ten dollars."</p> +<p>"I should think the receipt would be worth ten dollars," +observed Aunt Maria thoughtfully.</p> +<p>"Not 'xactly here," returned the captain, with one of his dried +smiles, which had the air of having been used a great many times +before. "Halibut too skurce. Wal, I was goin' to tell ye 'bout this +nigger. He come to be the cook he was because he was a big eater. +We was wrecked once, 'n' had to live three days on old shoes 'n' +that sort 'f truck. Wal, this nigger was so darned ravenous he ate +up a pair o' long boots in the time it took me to git down one 'f +the straps."</p> +<p>"Ate up a pair of boots!" exclaimed Aunt Maria, amazed and +almost incredulous.</p> +<p>"Yes, by thunder!" insisted the captain, "grease, nails, 'n' +all. An' then went at the patent leather forepiece 'f his cap."</p> +<p>"What privations!" said Aunt Maria, staring fit to burst her +spectacles.</p> +<p>"Oh, that's nothin'," chuckled Glover. "I'll tell ye suthin' +some time that 'll astonish ye. But jess now I'm sleepy, 'n' I +guess I'll turn in."</p> +<p>"Mr. Cluvver, it is your durn on card do-night," interposed +Meyer, the German sergeant, as the captain was about to roll +himself in his blankets.</p> +<p>"So 'tis," returned Glover in well feigned astonishment. "Don't +forgit a feller, do ye, Sergeant? How 'n the world do ye keep the +'count so straight? Oh, got a little book there, hey, with all our +names down. Wal, that's shipshape. You'd make a pooty good mate, +Sergeant. When does my watch begin?"</p> +<p>"Right away. You're always on the virst relief. You'll fall in +down there at the gorner of the vagon bark."</p> +<p>"Wal—yes—s'pose I will," sighed the skipper, as he +rolled up his blankets and prepared for two hours' sentry duty.</p> +<p>Let us look into the arrangements for the protection of the +caravan. With Coronado's consent Thurstane had divided the eighteen +Indians and Mexicans, four soldiers, Texas Smith, and Glover, +twenty-four men in all, into three equal squads, each composed of a +sergeant, corporal, and six privates. Meyer was sergeant of one +squad, the Irish veteran Kelly had another, and Texas Smith the +third. Every night a detachment went on duty in three reliefs, each +relief consisting of two men, who stood sentry for two hours, at +the end of which time they were relieved by two others.</p> +<p>The six wagons were always parked in an oblong square, one at +each end and two on each side; but in order to make the central +space large enough for camping purposes, they were placed several +feet apart; the gaps being closed with lariats, tied from wheel to +wheel, to pen in the animals and keep out charges of Apache +cavalry. On either flank of this enclosure, and twenty yards or so +distant from it, paced a sentry. Every two hours, as we have said, +they were relieved, and in the alternate hours the posts were +visited by the sergeant or corporal of the guard, who took turns in +attending to this service. The squad that came off duty in the +morning was allowed during the day to take naps in the wagons, and +was not put upon the harder camp labor, such as gathering firewood, +going for water, etc.</p> +<p>The two ladies and the Indian women slept at night in the +wagons, not only because the canvas tops protected them from wind +and dew, but also because the wooden sides would shield them from +arrows. The men who were not on guard lay under the vehicles so as +to form a cordon around the mules. Thurstane and Coronado, the two +chiefs of this armed migration, had their alternate nights of +command, each when off duty sleeping in a special wagon known as +"headquarters," but holding himself ready to rise at once in case +of an alarm.</p> +<p>The cooking fires were built away from the park, and outside the +beats of the sentries. The object was twofold: first, to keep +sparks from lighting on the wagon covers; second, to hide the +sentries from prowling archers. At night you can see everything +between yourself and a fire, but nothing beyond it. As long as the +wood continued to blaze, the most adroit Indian skulker could not +approach the camp without exposing himself, while the guards and +the garrison were veiled from his sight by a wall of darkness +behind a dazzle of light.</p> +<p>Such were the bivouac arrangements, intelligent, systematic, and +military. Not only had our Lieutenant devised them, but he saw to +it that they were kept in working order. He was zealously and +faithfully seconded by his men, and especially by his two veterans. +There is no human machine more accurate and trustworthy than an old +soldier, who has had year on year of the discipline and drill of a +regular service, and who has learned to carry out instructions to +the letter.</p> +<p>The arrangements for the march were equally thorough and +judicious. Texas Smith, as the Nimrod of the party, claimed the +right of going where he pleased; but while he hunted, he of course +served also as a scout to nose out danger. The six Mexicans, who +were nominally cattle-drivers, but really Coronado's minor bravos, +were never suffered to ride off in a body, and were expected to +keep on both sides of the train, some in advance and some in rear. +The drivers and muleteers remained steadily with their wagons and +animals. The four soldiers were also at hand, trudging close in +front or in rear, accoutrements always on and muskets always +loaded.</p> +<p>In this fashion the expedition had already journeyed over two +hundred and twenty miles. Following Colonel Washington's trail, it +had crossed the ranges of mountains immediately west of Abiquia, +and, striking the Rio de Chaco, had tracked its course for some +distance with the hope of reaching the San Juan. Stopped by a +cañon, a precipitous gully hundreds of feet deep, through +which the Chaco ran like a chased devil, the wagons had turned +westward, and then had been forced by impassable ridges and lack of +water into a southwest direction, at last gaining and crossing Pass +Washington.</p> +<p>It was now on the western side of the Sierra de Chusca, in the +rude, barren country over which Fort Defiance stands sentry. Ever +since the second day after leaving San Isidore it had been on the +great western slope of the continent, where every drop of water +tends toward the Pacific. The pilgrims would have had cause to +rejoice could they have travelled as easily as the drops of water, +and been as certain of their goal. But the rivers had made roads +for themselves, and man had not yet had time to do likewise.</p> +<p>The great central plateau of North America is a Mer de Glace in +stone. It is a continent of rock, gullied by furious rivers; +plateau on plateau of sandstone, with sluiceways through which +lakes have escaped; the whole surface gigantically grotesque with +the carvings of innumerable waters. What is remarkable in the +scenery is, that its sublimity is an inversion of the sublimity of +almost all other grand scenery. It is not so much the heights that +are prodigious as the abysses. At certain points in the course of +the Colorado of the West you can drop a plumb line six thousand +feet before it will reach the bosom of the current; and you can +only gain the water level by turning backward for scores of miles +and winding laboriously down some subsidiary cañon, itself a +chasm of awful grandeur.</p> +<p>Our travellers were now amid wild labyrinths of ranges, and +buttes, and cañons, which were not so much a portion of the +great plateau as they were the <i>débris</i> that +constituted its flanks. Although thousands of feet above the level +of the sea, they still had thousands of feet to ascend before they +could dominate the desert. Wild as the land was, it was thus far +passable, while toward the north lay the untraversable. What course +should be taken? Coronado, who had crimes to commit and to conceal, +did not yet feel that he was far enough from the haunts of man. As +soon as possible he must again venture a push northward.</p> +<p>But not immediately. The mules were fagged with hard work, weak +with want of sufficient pasture, and had suffered much from thirst. +He resolved to continue westward to the pueblas of the Moquis, that +interesting race of agricultural and partially civilized Indians, +perhaps the representatives of the architects of the Casas Grandes +if not also descended from the mound-builders of the Mississippi +valley. Having rested and refitted there, he might start anew for +the San Juan.</p> +<p>Thus far they had seen no Indians except the vagrants who had +robbed Phineas Glover. But they might now expect to meet them; they +were in a region which was the raiding ground of four great tribes: +the Utes on the north, the Navajos on the west, the Apaches on the +south, and the Comanches on the east. The peaceful and industrious +Moquis, with their gay and warm blankets, their fields of corn and +beans, and their flocks of sheep, are the quarry which attracts +this ferocious cavalry of the desert, these Tartars and Bedouin of +America.</p> +<p>Thurstane took more pains than ever with the guard duty. +Coronado, unmilitary though he was, and heartily as he abominated +the Lieutenant, saw the wisdom of submitting to the latter's +discipline, and made all his people submit. A practical-minded man, +he preferred to owe the safety of his carcass to his rival rather +than have it impaled on Apache lances. Occasionally, however, he +made a suggestion.</p> +<p>"It is very well, this night-watching," he once observed, "but +what we have most to fear is the open daylight. These mounted +Indians seldom attack in the darkness."</p> +<p>Thurstane knew all this, but he did not say so; for he was a +wise, considerate commander already, and he had learned not to +chill an informant. He looked at Coronado inquiringly, as if to +say, What do you propose?</p> +<p>"Every cañon ought to be explored before we enter it," +continued the Mexican.</p> +<p>"It is a good hint," said Ralph. "Suppose I keep two of your +cattle-drivers constantly in advance. You had better instruct them +yourself. Tell them to fire the moment they discover an ambush. I +don't suppose they will hit anybody, but we want the warning."</p> +<p>With two horsemen three or four hundred yards to the front, two +more an equal distance in the rear, and, when the ground permitted, +one on either flank, the train continued its journey. Every +wagon-driver and muleteer had a weapon of some sort always at hand. +The four soldiers marched a few rods in advance, for the ground +behind had already been explored, while that ahead might contain +enemies. The precautions were extraordinary; but Thurstane +constantly trembled for Clara. He would have thought a regiment +hardly sufficient to guard such a treasure.</p> +<p>"How timorous these men are," sniffed Aunt Maria, who, having +seen no hostile Indians, did not believe there were any. "And it +seems to me that soldiers are more easily scared than anybody +else," she added, casting a depreciating glance at Thurstane, who +was reconnoitring the landscape through his field glass.</p> +<p>Clara believed in men, and especially in soldiers, and more +particularly in lieutenants. Accordingly she replied, "I suppose +they know the dangers and we don't."</p> +<p>"Pshaw!" said Aunt Maria, an argument which carried great weight +with her. "They don't know half what they claim to. It is a clever +man who knows one-tenth of his own business." (She was right +there.) "They don't know so much, I verily and solemnly believe, as +the women whom they pretend to despise."</p> +<p>This peaceful and cheering conversation was interrupted by a +shot ringing out of a cañon which opened into a range of +rock some three hundred yards ahead of the caravan. Immediately on +the shot came a yell as of a hundred demons, a furious trampling of +the feet of many horses, and a cloud of the Tartars of the American +desert.</p> +<p>In advance of the rush flew the two Mexican vedettes, screaming, +"Apaches! Apaches!"</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH10" id="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<p>When the Apache tornado burst out of the cañon upon the +train, Thurstane's first thought was, "Clara!"</p> +<p>"Get off!" he shouted to her, seizing and holding her startled +horse. "Into the wagon, quick! Now lie down, both of you."</p> +<p>He thundered all this out as sternly as if he were commanding +troops. Because he was a man, Clara obeyed him; and notwithstanding +he was a man, Mrs. Stanley obeyed him. Both were so bewildered with +surprise and terror as to be in a kind of animal condition of +spirit, knowing just enough to submit at once to the impulse of an +imperious voice. The riderless horse, equally frightened and +equally subordinate, was hurried to the rear of the leading wagon +and handed over to a muleteer.</p> +<p>By the time this work was done the foremost riders of the +assailants were within two hundred yards of the head of the train, +letting drive their arrows at the flying Mexican vedettes and +uttering yells fit to raise the dead, while their comrades behind, +whooping also, stormed along under a trembling and flickering of +lances. The little, lean, wiry horses were going at full speed, +regardless of smooth faces of rock and beds of loose stones. The +blackguards were over a hundred in number, all lancers and archers +of the first quality.</p> +<p>The vedettes never pulled up until they were in rear of the +hindermost wagon, while their countrymen on the flanks and rear +made for the same poor shelter. The drivers were crouching almost +under their seats, and the muleteers were hiding behind their +animals. Thus it was evident that the entire brunt of the opening +struggle would fall upon Thurstane and his people; that, if there +was to be any resistance at all, these five men must commence it, +and, for a while at least, "go it alone."</p> +<p>The little squad of regulars, at this moment a few yards in +front of the foremost wagon, was drawn up in line and standing +steady, precisely as if it were a company or a regiment. Sergeant +Meyer was on the right, veteran Kelly on the left, the two recruits +in the centre, the pieces at a shoulder, the bayonets fixed. As +Thurstane rode up to this diminutive line of battle, Meyer was +shouting forth his sharp and decisive orders. They were just the +right orders; excited as the young officer was, he comprehended +that there was nothing to change; moreover, he had already learned +how men are disconcerted in battle by a multiplicity of directions. +So he sat quietly on his horse, revolver in hand, his blue-black +eyes staring angrily at the coming storm.</p> +<p>"Kelly, reserfe your fire!" yelled Meyer. "Recruits, +ready—bresent—aim—aim low—fire!"</p> +<p>Simultaneously with the report a horse in the leading group of +charging savages pitched headlong on his nose and rolled over, +sending his rider straight forward into a rubble of loose shales, +both lying as they fell, without movement. Half a dozen other +animals either dropped on their haunches or sheered violently to +the right and left, going off in wild plunges and caracolings. By +this one casualty the head of the attacking column was opened and +its seemingly resistless impetus checked and dissipated, almost +before Meyer could shout, "Recruits, load at will, load!"</p> +<p>A moment previous this fiery cavalry had looked irresistible. It +seemed to have in it momentum, audacity, and dash enough to break a +square of infantry or carry a battery of artillery. The horses +fairly flew; the riders had the air of centaurs, so firm and +graceful was their seat; the long lances were brandished as easily +as if by the hands of footmen; the bows were managed and the arrows +sent with dazzling dexterity. It was a show of brilliant +equestrianism, surpassing the feats of circus riders. But a single +effective shot into the centre of the column had cleft it as a rock +divides a torrent. It was like the breaking of a water-spout.</p> +<p>The attack, however, had only commenced. The Indians who had +swept off to right and left went scouring along the now motionless +train, at a distance of sixty or eighty yards, rapidly enveloping +it with their wild caperings, keeping in constant motion so as to +evade gunshots, threatening with their lances or discharging +arrows, and yelling incessantly. Their main object so far was +undoubtedly to frighten the mules into a stampede and thus separate +the wagons. They were not assaulting; they were watching for +chances.</p> +<p>"Keep your men together, Sergeant," said Thurstane. "I must get +those Mexicans to work."</p> +<p>He trotted deliberately to the other end of the train, ordering +each driver as he passed to move up abreast of the leading wagon, +directing the first to the right, the second to the left, and so +on. The result of this movement would of course be to bring the +train into a compact mass and render it more defensible. The +Indians no sooner perceived the advance than they divined its +object and made an effort to prevent it. Thurstane had scarcely +reached the centre of the line of vehicles when a score or so of +yelling horsemen made a caracoling, prancing charge upon him, +accompanying it with a flight of arrows. Our young hero presented +his revolver, but they apparently knew the short range of the +weapon, and came plunging, curveting onward. Matters were growing +serious, for an arrow already stuck in his saddle, and another had +passed through his hat. Suddenly there was a bang, bang of +firearms, and two of the savages went down.</p> +<p>Meyer had observed the danger of his officer, and had ordered +Kelly to fire, blazing away too himself. There was a headlong, +hasty scramble to carry off the fallen warriors, and then the +assailants swept back to a point beyond accurate musket shot. +Thurstane reached the rear of the train unhurt, and found the six +Mexican cattle-drivers there in a group, pointing their rifles at +such Indians as made a show of charging, but otherwise doing +nothing which resembled fighting. They were obviously +panic-stricken, one or two of them being of an ashy-yellow, their +nearest possible approach to pallor. There, too, was Coronado, +looking not exactly scared, but irresolute and helpless.</p> +<p>"What does this mean?" Thurstane stormed in Spanish. "Why don't +you shoot the devils?"</p> +<p>"We are reserving our fire," stammered Coronado, half alarmed, +half ashamed.</p> +<p>Thurstane swore briefly, energetically, and to the point. +"Damned pretty fighting!" he went on. "If <i>we</i> had reserved +our fire, we should all have been lanced by this time. Let +drive!"</p> +<p>The cattle-drivers carried short rifles, of the then United +States regulation pattern, which old Garcia had somehow contrived +to pick up during the war perhaps buying them of drunken soldiers. +Supported by Thurstane's pugnacious presence and hurried up by his +vehement orders, they began to fire. They were shaky; didn't aim +very well; hardly aimed at all, in fact; blazed away at +extraordinary elevations; behaved as men do who have become +demoralized. However, as the pieces had a range of several hundred +yards, the small bullets hissed venomously over the heads of the +Indians, and one of them, by pure accident, brought down a horse. +There was an immediate scattering, a multitudinous glinting of +hoofs through the light dust of the plain, and then a rally in +prancing groups, at a safe distance.</p> +<p>"Hurrah!" shouted Thurstane, cheering the Mexicans. "That's very +well. You see how easy it is. Now don't let them sneak up again; +and at the same time don't waste powder."</p> +<p>Then turning to one who was near him, and who had just reloaded, +he said in a calm, strong, encouraging tone—that voice of the +thoroughly good officer which comes to the help of the shaken +soldier like a reinforcement—"Now, my lad, steadily. Pick out +your man; take your time and aim sure. Do you see him?"</p> +<p>"Si, señor," replied the herdsman. His coolness restored +by this steady utterance and these plain, common-sense directions, +he selected a warrior in helmet-shaped cap, blue shirt, and long +boots, brought his rifle slowly to a level, took sight, and fired. +The Indian bent forward, caught the mane of his plunging pony, hung +there for a second or two, and then rolled to the ground, amid a +yell of surprise and dismay from his comrades. There was a hasty +rush to secure the body, and then another sweep backward of the +loose array.</p> +<p>"Good!" called Thurstane, nodding and smiling at the successful +marksman. "That is the way to do it. You are a match for half a +dozen of them as long as you will keep cool."</p> +<p>The besieged travellers could now look about quietly and see how +matters stood with them. The six wagons were by this time drawn up +in two ranks of three each, so as to form a compact mass. As the +one which contained the ladies had been the leader and the others +had formed on it to right and left, it was in the centre of the +first rank, and consequently pretty well protected by its +neighbors. The drivers and muleteers had recovered their +self-possession, and were all sitting or standing at their posts, +with their miscellaneous arms ready for action. Not a human being +had been hit as yet, and only three of the mules wounded, none of +them seriously. The Apaches were all around the train, but none of +them nearer than two hundred yards, and doing nothing but canter +about and shout to each other.</p> +<p>"Where is Texas Smith?" demanded Thurstane, missing that mighty +hunter, and wondering if he were a coward and had taken refuge in a +wagon.</p> +<p>"He went off shutin' an hour ago," explained Phineas Glover. +"Reckon he's astern somewhere."</p> +<p>Glover, by the way, had been useful. In the beginning of the +affray he had brought his mule alongside of the headmost wagon, and +there he had done really valuable service by blazing away +alarmingly, though quite innocuously, at the gallopading enemy.</p> +<p>"It's a bad lookout for Texas," observed the Lieutenant "I +shouldn't want to bet high on his getting back to us."</p> +<p>Coronado looked gloomy, fearing lest his trusted assassin was +lost, and not knowing where he could pick up such another.</p> +<p>"And how are the ladies?" asked Thurstane, turning to +Glover.</p> +<p>"Safe 's a bug in a rug," was the reply. "Seen to that little +job myself. Not a bugger in the hull crew been nigh 'em."</p> +<p>Thurstane cantered around to the front of the wagon which +contained the two women, and called, "How are you?"</p> +<p>At the sound of his voice there was a rustle inside, and Clara +showed her face over the shoulder of the driver.</p> +<p>"So you were not hurt?" laughed the young officer. "Ah! that's +bully."</p> +<p>With a smile which was almost a boast, she answered, "And I was +not very frightened."</p> +<p>At this, Aunt Maria struggled from between two rolls of bedding +into a sitting posture and ejaculated, "Of course not!"</p> +<p>"Did they hit you?" asked Clara, looking eagerly at +Thurstane.</p> +<p>"How brave you are!" he replied, admiring her so much that he +did not notice her question.</p> +<p>"But I do hope it is over," added the girl, poking her head out +of the wagon. "Ah! what is that?"</p> +<p>With this little cry of dismay she pointed at a group of savages +who had gathered between the train and the mouth of the +cañon ahead of it.</p> +<p>"They are the enemy," said Thurstane. "We may have another +little tussle with them. Now lie down and keep close."</p> +<p>"Acquit yourselves like—men!" exhorted Aunt Maria, +dropping back into her stronghold among the bedding.</p> +<p>Sergeant Meyer now approached Thurstane, touched his cap, and +said, "Leftenant, here is brifate Sweeny who has not fired his +beece once. I cannot make him fire."</p> +<p>"How is that, Sweeny?" demanded the officer, putting on the +proper grimness. "Why haven't you fired when you were ordered?"</p> +<p>Sweeny was a little wizened shaving of an Irishman. He was not +only quite short, but very slender and very lean. He had a curious +teetering gait, and he took ridiculously short steps in marching, +as if he were a monkey who had not learned to feel at ease on his +hind legs. His small, wilted, wrinkled face, and his expression of +mingled simplicity and shrewdness, were also monkey-like. At +Thurstane's reprimand he trotted close up to him with exactly the +air of a circus Jocko who expects a whipping, but who hopes to +escape it by grinning.</p> +<p>"Why haven't you fired?" repeated his commander.</p> +<p>"Liftinint, I dasn't," answered Sweeny, in the rapid, jerking, +almost inarticulate jabber which was his usual speech.</p> +<p>Now it is not an uncommon thing for recruits to dread to +discharge their arms in battle. They have a vague idea that, if +they bang away, they will attract the notice of some antagonist who +will immediately single them out for retaliation.</p> +<p>"Are you afraid anybody will hit you?" asked Thurstane.</p> +<p>"No, I ain't, Liftinint," jabbered Sweeny. "I ain't afeard av +them niggers a bit. They may shoot their bow arrays at me all day +if they want to. I'm afeard of me gun, Liftinint. I fired it wonst, +an' it kicked me to blazes."</p> +<p>"Come, come! That won't do. Level it now. Pick out your man. +Aim. Fire."</p> +<p>Thus constrained, Sweeny brought his piece down to an +inclination of forty-five degrees, shut his eyes, pulled trigger, +and sent a ball clean over the most distant Apaches. The recoil +staggered him, but he recovered himself without going over, and +instantly roared out a horse-laugh.</p> +<p>"Ho! ho! ho!" he shouted. "That time I reckon I fetched won av +'em."</p> +<p>"Sweeny," said Thurstane, "you must have hit either the sun or +the moon, I don't know which."</p> +<p>Sweeny looked discomfited; the next breath he bethought himself +of a saving joke: "Liftinint, it 'ud sarve erry won av 'em right;" +then another neigh of laughter.</p> +<p>"I ain't afeard av the ball," he hastened to asseverate; "it's +the kick av it that murthers me. Liftinint, why don't they put the +britch to the other end av the gun? They do in the owld +counthry."</p> +<p>"Load your beece," ordered Sergeant Meyer, "and go to your bost +again, to the left of Shupert."</p> +<p>The fact of Sweeny's opening fire did not cause a resumption of +the close fighting. Quiet still continued, and the leaders of the +expedition took advantage of it to discuss their situation, while +the Indians gathered into little groups and seemed also to be +holding council.</p> +<p>"There are over a hundred warriors," said Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Apaches," added one of the Mexican herdsmen.</p> +<p>"What band?"</p> +<p>"Manga Colorada or Delgadito."</p> +<p>"I supposed they were in Bernalillo."</p> +<p>"That was three weeks ago," put in Coronado.</p> +<p>He was in profound thought. These fellows, who had agreed to +harry Bernalillo, and who had for a time carried out their bargain, +why had they come to intercept him in the Moqui country, a hundred +and twenty miles away? Did they want to extort more money, or were +they ignorant that this was his train? And, supposing he should +make himself known to them, would they spare him personally and +such others as he might wish to save, while massacring the rest of +the party? It would be a bold step; he could not at once decide +upon it; he was pondering it.</p> +<p>We must do full justice to Coronado's coolness and readiness. +This atrocious idea had occurred to him the instant he heard the +charging yell of the Apaches; and it had done far more than any +weakness of nerves to paralyze his fighting ability. He had +thought, "Let them kill the Yankees; then I will proclaim myself +and save <i>her</i>; then she will be mine." And because of these +thoughts he had stood irresolute, aiming without firing, and +bidding his Mexicans do the same. The result was that six good +shots and superb horsemen, who were capable of making a gallant +fight under worthy leadership, had become demoralized, and, but for +the advent of Thurstane, might have been massacred like sheep.</p> +<p>Now that three or four Apaches had fallen, Coronado had less +hope of making his arrangement. He considered the matter carefully +and judiciously, but at last he decided that he could not trust the +vindictive devils, and he turned his mind strenuously toward +resistance. Although not pugnacious, he had plenty of the desperate +courage of necessity, and his dusky black eyes were very resolute +as he said to Thurstane, "Lieutenant, we trust to you."</p> +<p>The young veteran had already made up his mind as to what must +be done.</p> +<p>"We will move on," he said. "We can't camp here, in an open +plain, without grass or water. We must get into the cañon so +as to have our flanks protected. I want the wagons to advance in +double file so as to shorten the train. Two of my men in front and +two in rear; three of your herdsmen on one flank and three on the +other; Captain Glover alongside the ladies, and you and I +everywhere; that's the programme. If we are all steady, we can do +it, sure."</p> +<p>"They are collecting ahead to stop us," observed Coronado.</p> +<p>"Good!" said Thurstane. "All I want is to have them get in a +heap. It is this attacking on all sides which is dangerous. Suppose +you give your drivers and muleteers a sharp lecture. Tell them they +must fight if the Indians charge, and not skulk inside and under +the wagons. Tell them we are going to shoot the first man who +skulks. Pitch into them heavy. It's a devilish shame that a dozen +tolerably well-armed men should be so helpless. It's enough to +justify the old woman's contempt for our sex."</p> +<p>Coronado rode from wagon to wagon, delivering his reproofs, +threats, and instructions in the plainest kind of Spanish. At the +signal to march, the drivers must file off two abreast, commencing +on the right, and move at the fastest trot of the mules toward the +cañon. If any scoundrel skulked, quitted his post, or failed +to fight, he would be pistolled instanter by him, Coronado +<i>sangre de Dios</i>, etc.!</p> +<p>While he was addressing Aunt Maria's coachman, that level-headed +lady called out, "Mr. Coronado, your very voice is cheering."</p> +<p>"Mrs. Stanley, you are an example of heroism to our sex," +replied the Mexican, with an ironical grin.</p> +<p>"What a brave, noble, intelligent man?" thought Aunt Maria. "If +they were only all like him!"</p> +<p>This business took up five minutes. Coronado had just finished +his round when a loud yell was raised by the Apaches, and twenty or +thirty of them started at full speed down the trail by which the +caravan had come. Looking for the cause of this stampede, the +emigrants beheld, nearly half a mile away, a single horseman +rushing to encounter a score. It was Texas Smith, making an +apparently hopeless rush to burst through the environment of +Parthians and reach the train.</p> +<p>"Shall we make a sally to save him?" demanded Coronado, glancing +at Thurstane.</p> +<p>The officer hesitated; to divide his small army would be +perilous; the Apaches would attack on all sides and with +advantage.</p> +<p>But the sight of one man so overmatched was too much for him, +and with a great throb of chivalrous blood in his heart, he +shouted, "Charge!"</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH11" id="CH11"><!-- CH11 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<p>An hour before the attack Texas Smith had ridden off to stalk a +deer; but the animal being in good racing condition in consequence +of the thin fare of this sterile region, the hunting bout had +miscarried; and our desperado was returning unladen toward the +train when he heard the distant charging yell of the Apaches.</p> +<p>Scattered over the plateau which he was traversing, there were a +few thickets of mesquite, with here and there a fantastic butte of +sandstone. By dodging from one of these covers to another, he +arrived undiscovered at a point whence he could see the caravan and +the curveting mêlée which surrounded it. He was nearly +half a mile from his comrades and over a quarter of a mile from his +nearest enemies.</p> +<p>What should he do? If he made a rush, he would probably be +overpowered and either killed instantly or carried off for torture. +If he waited until night for a chance to sneak into camp, the +wandering redskins would be pretty apt to surprise him in the +darkness, and there would be small chance indeed of escaping with +his hair. It was a nasty situation; but Texas, accustomed to +perils, was as brave as he was wicked; and he looked his darkling +fate in the face with admirable coolness and intelligence. His +decision was to wait a favorable moment, and when it came, charge +for life.</p> +<p>When he perceived that the mass of the Indians had gathered on +the trail between the wagons and the cañon, he concluded +that his chance had arrived; and with teeth grimly set, rifle +balanced across his saddle-bow, revolver slung to his wrist, he +started in silence and at full speed on his almost hopeless rush. +If you will cease to consider the man as a modern bushwhacker, and +invest him temporarily with the character, ennobled by time, of a +borderer of the Scottish marches, you will be able to feel some +sympathy for him in his audacious enterprise.</p> +<p>He was mounted on an American horse, a half-blood gray, +large-boned and powerful, who could probably have traversed the +half-mile in a minute had there been no impediment, and who was +able to floor with a single shock two or three of the little +animals of the Apaches. He was a fine spectacle as he thundered +alone across the plain, upright and easy in his seat, balancing his +heavy rifle as if it were a rattan, his dark and cruel face settled +for fight and his fierce black eyes blazing.</p> +<p>Only a minute's ride, but that minute life or death. As he had +expected, the Apaches discovered him almost as soon as he left the +cover of his butte, and all the outlying members of the horde +swarmed toward him with a yell, brandishing their spears and +getting ready their bows as they rode. It would clearly be +impossible for him to cut his way through thirty warriors unless he +received assistance from the train. Would it come? His evil +conscience told him, without the least reason, that Thurstane would +not help. But from Coronado, whose life he had saved and whose evil +work he had undertaken to do—from this man, "greaser" as he +was, he did expect a sally. If it did not come, and if he should +escape by some rare chance, he, Texas Smith, would murder the +Mexican the first time he found him alone, so help him God!</p> +<p>While he thought and cursed he flew. But his goal was still five +hundred yards away, and the nearest redskins were within two +hundred yards, when he saw a rescuing charge shoot out from the +wagons. Coronado led it. In this foxy nature the wolf was not +wanting, and under strong impulse he could be somewhat of a +Pizarro. He had no starts of humanity nor of real chivalry, but he +had family pride and personal vanity, and he was capable of the +fighting fury. When Thurstane had given the word to advance, +Coronado had put himself forward gallantly.</p> +<p>"Stay here," he said to the officer; "guard the train with your +infantry. I am a caballero, and I will do a caballero's work," he +added, rising proudly in his stirrups. "Come on, you villains!" was +his order to the six Mexicans.</p> +<p>All abreast, spread out like a skirmish line, the seven horsemen +clattered over the plain, making for the point where Texas Smith +was about to plunge among the whirling and caracoling Apaches.</p> +<p>Now came the crisis of the day. The moment the sixty or seventy +Apaches near the mouth of the cañon saw Coronado set out on +his charge, they raised a yell of joy over the error of the +emigrants in dividing their forces, and plunged straight at the +wagons. In half a minute two wild, irregular, and yet desperate +combats were raging.</p> +<p>Texas Smith had begun his battle while Coronado was still a +quarter of a mile away. Aiming his rifle at an Apache who was +riding directly upon him, instead of dodging and wheeling in the +usual fashion of these cautious fighters, he sent the audacious +fellow out of his saddle with a bullet-hole through the lungs. But +this was no salvation; the dreaded long-range firearm was now +empty; the savages circled nearer and began to use their arrows. +Texas let his rifle hang from the pommel and presented his +revolver. But the bowshots were more than its match. It could not +be trusted to do execution at forty yards, and at that distance the +Indian shafts are deadly. Already several had hissed close by him, +one had gashed the forehead of his horse, and another had pierced +his clothing.</p> +<p>All that Texas wanted, however, was time. If he could pass a +half minute without a disabling wound, he would have help. He +retreated a little, or rather he edged away toward the right, +wheeling and curveting after the manner of the Apaches, in order to +present an unsteady mark for their archery. To keep them at a +distance he fired one barrel of his revolver, though without +effect. Meantime he dodged incessantly, now throwing himself +forward and backward in the saddle, now hanging over the side of +his horse and clinging to his neck. It was hard and perilous work, +but he was gaining seconds, and every second was priceless. +Notwithstanding his extreme peril, he calculated his chances with +perfect coolness and with a sagacity which was admirable.</p> +<p>But this intelligent savage had to do with savages as clever as +himself. The Apaches saw Coronado coming up on their rear, and they +knew that they must make short work of the hunter, or must let him +escape. While a score or so faced about to meet the Mexicans, a +dozen charged with screeches and brandished lances upon the Texan. +Now came a hand-to-hand struggle which looked as if it must end in +the death of Smith and perhaps of several of his assailants. But +cavalry fights are notoriously bloodless in comparison to their +apparent fury; the violent and perpetual movement of the combatants +deranges aim and renders most of the blows futile; shots are fired +at a yard distance without hitting, and strokes are delivered which +only wound the air.</p> +<p>One spear stuck in Smith's saddle; another pierced his +jacket-sleeve and tore its way out; only one of the sharp, +quickly-delivered points drew blood. He felt a slight pain in his +side, and he found afterward that a lance-head had raked one of his +ribs, tearing up the skin and scraping the bone for four or five +inches. Meantime he shot a warrior through the head, sent another +off with a hole in the shoulder, and fired one barrel without +effect. He had but a single charge left (saving this for himself in +the last extremity), when he burst through the prancing throng of +screeching, thrusting ragamuffins, and reached the side of +Coronado.</p> +<p>Here another hurly-burly of rearing and plunging combat awaited +him. Coronado, charging as an old Castilian hidalgo might have +charged upon the Moors, had plunged directly into the midst of the +Apaches who awaited him, giving them little time to use their +arrows, and at first receiving no damage. The six rifles of his +Mexicans sent two Apaches out of their saddles, and then came a +capering, plunging joust of lances, both parties using the same +weapon. Coronado alone had sabre and revolver; and he handled them +both with beautiful coolness and dexterity; he rode, too, as well +as the best of all these other centaurs. His superb horse whirled +and reared under the guidance of a touch of the knees, while the +rider plied firearm with one hand and sharply-ground blade with the +other. Thurstane, an infantryman, and only a fair equestrian, would +not have been half so effective in this combat of caballeros.</p> +<p>Coronado's first bullet knocked a villainous-looking +tatterdemalion clean into the happy hunting grounds. Then came a +lance thrust; he parried it with his sabre and plunged within range +of the point; there was a sharp, snake-like hiss of the light, +curved blade; down went Apache number two. At this rate, providing +there were no interruptions, he could finish the whole twenty. He +went at his job with a handy adroitness which was almost +scientific, it was so much like surgery, like dissection. His mind +was bent, with a sort of preternatural calmness and cleverness, +upon the business of parrying lance thrusts, aiming his revolver, +and delivering sabre cuts. It was a species of fighting +intellection, at once prudent and destructive. It was not the +headlong, reckless, pugnacious rage of the old Anglo-Saxon and +Scandinavian berserker. It was the practical, ready, rational furor +of the Latin race.</p> +<p>Presently he saw that two of his rancheros had been lanced, and +that there were but four left. A thrill of alarm, a commencement of +panic, a desire to save himself at all hazards, crisped his heart +and half paralyzed his energy. Remembering with perfect +distinctness that four of his barrels were empty, he would perhaps +have tried to retreat at the risk of being speared in the back, had +he not at this critical moment been joined by Texas Smith.</p> +<p>That instinctive, ferocious, and tireless fighter, while seeming +to be merely circling and curveting among his assailants, contrived +to recharge two barrels of his revolver, and was once more ready +for business. Down went one Apache; then the horse of another fell +to reeling and crouching in a sickly way; then a charge of half a +dozen broke to right and left in irresolute prancings. At sight of +this friendly work Coronado drew a fresh breath of courage, and +executed his greatest feat yet of horsemanship and swordsmanship. +Spurring after and then past one of the wheeling braves, he swept +his sabre across the fellow's bare throat with a drawing stroke, +and half detached the scowling, furious, frightened head from the +body.</p> +<p>There was a wide space of open ground before him immediately. +The Apaches know nothing of sabre work; not one of those present +had ever before seen such a blow or such an effect; they were not +only panic-stricken, but horror-stricken. For one moment, right +between the staring antagonists, a bloody corpse sat upright on a +rearing horse, with its head fallen on one shoulder and hanging by +a gory muscle. The next moment it wilted, rolled downward with +outstretched arms, and collapsed upon the gravel, an inert +mass.</p> +<p>Texas Smith uttered a loud scream of tigerish delight. He had +never, in all his pugnacious and sanguinary life, looked upon +anything so fascinating. It seemed to him as if <i>his</i> +heaven—the savage Walhalla of his Saxon or Danish berserker +race—were opened before him. In his ecstasy he waved his +dirty, long fingers toward Coronado, and shouted, "Bully for you, +old hoss!"</p> +<p>But he had self-possession enough, now that his hand was free +for an instant from close battle, to reload his rifle and revolver. +The four rancheros who still retained their saddles mechanically +and hurriedly followed his example. The contest here was over; the +Apaches knew that bullets would soon be humming about their ears, +and they dreaded them; there was a retreat, and this retreat was a +run of an eighth of a mile.</p> +<p>"Hurrah for the waggins!" shouted Texas, and dashed away toward +the train. Coronado stared; his heart sank within him; the train +was surrounded by a mob of prancing savages; there was more +fighting to be done when he had already done his best. But not +knowing where else to go, he followed his leader toward this new +battle, loading his revolver as he rode, and wishing that he were +in Santa Fé, or anywhere in peace.</p> +<p>We must go back a little. As already stated, the main body of +the Apaches had perceived the error of the emigrants in separating, +and had promptly availed themselves of it to charge upon the train. +To attack it there were seventy ferocious and skilful warriors; to +defend it there were twelve timorous muleteers and drivers, four +soldiers, and Ralph.</p> +<p>"Fall back!" shouted the Lieutenant to his regulars when he saw +the equestrian avalanche coming. "Each man take a wagon and hold +it."</p> +<p>The order was obeyed in a hurry. The Apaches, heartened by what +they supposed to be a panic, swarmed along at increased speed, and +gave out their most diabolical screeches, hoping no doubt to scare +men into helplessness, and beasts into a stampede. But the train +was an immovable fortress, and the fortress was well garrisoned. +Although the mules winced and plunged a good deal, the drivers +succeeded in holding them to their places, and the double column of +carriages, three in each rank, preserved its formation. In every +vehicle there was a muleteer, with hands free for fighting, bearing +something or other in the shape of a firelock, and inspired with +what courage there is in desperation. The four flankers, +necessarily the most exposed to assault, had each a United States +regular, with musket, bayonet, and forty rounds of buck and ball. +In front of the phalanx, directly before the wagon which contained +the two ladies, sat as brave an officer as there was in the +American army.</p> +<p>The Apaches had also committed their tactical blunder. They +should all have followed Coronado, made sure of destroying him and +his Mexicans, and then attacked the train. But either there was no +sagacious military spirit among them, or the love of plunder was +too much for judgment and authority, and so down they came on the +wagons.</p> +<p>As the swarthy swarm approached, it spread out until it covered +the front of the train and overlapped its flanks, ready to sweep +completely around it and fasten upon any point which should seem +feebly or timorously defended. The first man endangered was the +lonely officer who sat his horse in front of the line of kicking +and plunging mules. Fortunately for him, he now had a weapon of +longer range than his revolver; he had remembered that in one of +the wagons was stored a peculiar rifle belonging to Coronado; he +had just had time to drag it out and strap its cartridge-box around +his waist.</p> +<p>He levelled at the centre of the clattering, yelling column. It +fluctuated; the warriors who were there did not like to be aimed +at; they began to zigzag, caracole, and diverge to right or left; +several halted and commenced using their bows. At one of these +archers, whose arrow already trembled on the string, Thurstane let +fly, sending him out of the saddle. Then he felt a quick, sharp +pain in his left arm, and perceived that a shaft had passed clean +through it.</p> +<p>There is this good thing about the arrow, that it has not weight +enough to break bones, nor tearing power enough to necessarily +paralyze muscle. Thurstane could still manage a revolver with his +wounded arm, while his right was good for almost any amount of +slashing work. Letting the rifle drop and swing from the pommel, he +met the charge of two grinning and scowling lancers. One thrust he +parried with his sabre; from the other he saved his neck by +stooping; but it drove through his coat collar, and nearly unseated +him. For a moment our bleeding and hampered young gladiator seemed +to be in a bad way. But he was strong; he braced himself in his +stirrups, and he made use of both his hands. The Indian whose spear +was still free caught a bullet through the shoulder, dropped his +weapon, and circled away yelling. Then Thurstane plunged at the +other, reared his tall horse over him, broke the lance-shaft with a +violent twist, and swung his long cavalry sabre. It was in vain +that the Apache crouched, spurred, and skedaddled; he got away +alive, but it was with a long bloody gash down his naked back; the +last seen of him he was going at full speed, holding by his pony's +mane. The Lieutenant remained master of the whole front of the +caravan.</p> +<p>Meantime there was a busy popping along the flankers and through +the hinder openings in the second line of wagons. The Indians +skurried, wheeled, pranced, and yelled, let fly their arrows from a +distance, dashed up here and there with their lances, and as +quickly retreated before the threatening muzzles. The muleteers, +encouraged by the presence of the soldiers, behaved with +respectable firmness and blazed away rapidly, though not +effectively. The regulars reserved their fire for close quarters, +and then delivered it to bloody purpose.</p> +<p>Around Sweeny, who garrisoned the left-hand wagon of the +rearmost line, the fight was particularly noisy. The Apaches saw +that he was little, and perhaps they saw that he was afraid of his +gun. They went for him; they were after him with their sharpest +sticks; they counted on Sweeny. The speck of a man sat on the front +seat of the wagon, outside of the driver, and fully exposed to the +tribulation. He was in a state of the highest Paddy excitement. He +grinned and bounced like a caravan of monkeys. But he was not much +scared; he was mainly in a furious rage. Pointing his musket first +at one and then at another, he returned yell for yell, and was in +fact abusive.</p> +<p>"Oh, fire yer bow-arreys!" he screamed. "Ye can't hit the side +av a waggin. Ah, ye bloody, murtherin' nagers! go 'way wid yer long +poles. I'd fight a hundred av the loikes av ye wid ownly a +shillelah."</p> +<p>One audacious thrust of a lance he parried very dexterously with +his bayonet, at the same time screeching defiantly and scornfully +in the face of his hideous assailant. But this fellow's impudent +approach was too much to be endured, and Sweeny proceeded at once +to teach him to keep at a more civil distance.</p> +<p>"Oh, ye pokin' blaggard!" he shouted, and actually let drive +with his musket. The ball missed, but by pure blundering one of the +buck-shot took effect, and the brave retreated out of the +mêlée with a sensation as if his head had been split. +Some time later he was discovered sitting up doggedly on a rock, +while a comrade was trying to dig the buckshot out of his thick +skull with an arrow-point.</p> +<p>"I'll tache 'em to moind their bizniss," grinned Sweeny +triumphantly, as he reloaded. "The nasty, hootin' nagers! They've +no rights near a white man, anyhow."</p> +<p>On the whole, the attack lingered. The Apaches had done some +damage. One driver had been lanced mortally. One muleteer had been +shot through the heart with an arrow. Another arrow had scraped +Shubert's ankle. Another, directed by the whimsical genius of +accident, had gone clean through the drooping cartilage of Phineas +Glover's long nose, as if to prepare him for the sporting of +jewelled decorations. Two mules were dead, and several wounded. The +sides of the wagons bristled with shafts, and their canvas tops +were pierced with fine holes. But, on the other hand, the Apaches +had lost a dozen horses, three or four warriors killed, and seven +or eight wounded.</p> +<p>Such was the condition of affairs around the train when +Coronado, Texas Smith, and the four surviving herdsmen came +storming back to it.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH12" id="CH12"><!-- CH12 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<p>The Apaches were discouraged by the immovability of the train, +and by the steady and deadly resistance of its defenders. From +first to last some twenty-five or twenty-seven of their warriors +had been hit, of whom probably one third were killed or mortally +wounded.</p> +<p>At the approach of Coronado those who were around the wagons +swept away in a panic, and never paused in their flight until they +were a good half mile distant. They carried off, however, every +man, whether dead or injured, except one alone. A few rods from the +train lay a mere boy, certainly not over fifteen years old, his +forehead gashed by a bullet, and life apparently extinct. There was +nothing strange in the fact of so young a lad taking part in +battle, for the military age among the Indians is from twelve to +thirty-six, and one third of their fighters are children.</p> +<p>"What did they leave that fellow for?" said Coronado in +surprise, riding up to the senseless figure.</p> +<p>"I'll fix him," volunteered Texas Smith, dismounting and drawing +his hunting knife. "Reckon he hain't been squarely finished."</p> +<p>"Stop!" ordered Coronado. "He is not an Apache. He is some +pueblo Indian. See how much he is hurt."</p> +<p>"Skull ain't broke," replied Texas, fingering the wound as +roughly as if it had been in the flesh of a beast. "Reckon he'll +flop round. May do mischief, if we don't fix him."</p> +<p>Anxious to stick his knife into the defenceless young throat, he +nevertheless controlled his sentiments and looked up for +instructions. Since the splendid decapitation which Coronado had +performed, Texas respected him as he had never heretofore hoped to +respect a "greaser."</p> +<p>"Perhaps we can get information out of him," said Coronado. +"Suppose you lay him in a wagon."</p> +<p>Meanwhile preparations had been made for an advance. The four +dead or badly wounded draft mules were disentangled from the +harness, and their places supplied with the four army mules, whose +packs were thrown into the wagons. These animals, by the way, had +escaped injury, partly because they had been tethered between the +two lines of vehicles, and partly because they had been well +covered by their loads, which were plentifully stuck-with +arrows.</p> +<p>"We are ready to march," said Thurstane to Coronado. "I am sorry +we can't try to recover your men back there."</p> +<p>"No use," commented Texas Smith. "The Patchies have been at 'em. +They're chuck full of spear holes by this time."</p> +<p>Coronado shouted to the drivers to start. Commencing on the +right, the wagons filed off two by two toward the mouth of the +cañon, while the Indians, gathered in a group half a mile +away, looked on without a yell or a movement. The instant that the +vehicle which contained the ladies had cleared itself of the +others, Thurstane and Coronado rode alongside of it.</p> +<p>"So! you are safe!" said the former. "By Heavens, if they +<i>had</i> hurt you!"</p> +<p>"And you?" asked Clara, very quickly and eagerly, while scanning +him from head to foot.</p> +<p>Coronado saw that look, anxious for Thurstane alone; and, master +of dissimulation though he was, his face showed both pain and +anger.</p> +<p>"Ah—oh—oh dear!" groaned Mrs. Stanley, as she made +her appearance in the front of the vehicle. "Well! this is rather +more than I can bear. This is just as much as a woman can put up +with. Dear me! what is the matter with your arm, Lieutenant?"</p> +<p>"Just a pin prick," said Thurstane.</p> +<p>Clara began to get out of the wagon, with the purpose of going +to him, her eyes staring and her face pale.</p> +<p>"Don't!" he protested, motioning her back. "It is nothing."</p> +<p>And, although the lacerated arm hurt him and was not easy to +manage, he raised it over his head to show that the damage was +trifling.</p> +<p>"Do get in here and let us take care of you," begged Clara.</p> +<p>"Certainly!" echoed Aunt Maria, who was a compassionate woman at +heart, and who only lacked somewhat in quickness of sympathy, +perhaps by reason of her strong-minded notions.</p> +<p>"I will when I need it," said Ralph, flattered and gratified. +"The arm will do without dressing till we reach camp. There are +other wounded. Everybody has fought. Mr. Coronado here has done +deeds worthy of his ancestors."</p> +<p>"Ah, Mr. Coronado!" smiled Aunt Maria, delighted that her +favorite had distinguished himself.</p> +<p>"Captain Glover, what's the matter with your nose?" was the +lady's next outcry.</p> +<p>"Wal, it's been bored," replied Glover, tenderly fingering his +sore proboscis. "It's been, so to speak, eyelet-holed. I'm glad I +hadn't but one. The more noses a feller kerries in battle, the wuss +for him. I hope the darned rip'll heal up. I've no 'casion to hev a +line rove through it 'n' be towed, that I know of."</p> +<p>"How did it feel when it went through?" asked Aunt Maria, full +of curiosity and awe.</p> +<p>"Felt's though I'd got the dreadfullest influenzee thet ever +snorted. Twitched 'n' tickled like all possessed."</p> +<p>"Was it an arrow?" inquired the still unsatisfied lady.</p> +<p>"Reckon 'twas. Never see it. But it kinder whished, 'n' I felt +the feathers. Darn 'em! When I felt the feathers, tell ye I was +'bout half scairt. Hed 'n idee 'f th' angel 'f death, 'n' so +on."</p> +<p>Of course Aunt Maria and Clara wanted to do much nursing +immediately; but there were no conveniences and there was no time; +and so benevolence was postponed.</p> +<p>"So you are hurt?" said Thurstane to Texas Smith, noticing his +torn and bloody shirt.</p> +<p>"It's jest a scrape," grunted the bushwhacker. "Mought'a'been +worse."</p> +<p>"It was bad generalship trying to save you. We nearly paid high +for it."</p> +<p>"That's so. Cost four greasers, as 'twas. Well, I'm worth four +greasers."</p> +<p>"You're a devil of a fighter," continued the Lieutenant, +surveying the ferocious face and sullen air of the cutthroat with a +soldier's admiration for whatever expresses pugnacity.</p> +<p>"Bet yer pile on it," returned Texas, calmly conscious of his +character. "So be you."</p> +<p>The savage black eyes and the imperious blue ones stared into +each other without the least flinching and with something like +friendliness.</p> +<p>Coronado rode up to the pair and asked, "Is that boy alive +yet?"</p> +<p>"It's about time for him to flop round," replied Texas +indifferently. "Reckon you'll find him in the off hind wagon. I +shoved him in thar."</p> +<p>Coronado cantered to the off hind wagon, peeped through the rear +opening of its canvas cover, discovered the youth lying on a pile +of luggage, addressed him in Spanish, and learned his story. He +belonged to a hacienda in Bernalillo, a hundred miles or more west +of Santa Fé. The Apaches had surprised the hacienda and +plundered it, carrying him off because, having formerly been a +captive among them, he could speak their language, manage the bow, +etc.</p> +<p>For all this Coronado cared nothing; he wanted to know why the +band had left Bernalillo; also why it had attacked his train. The +boy explained that the raiders had been driven off the southern +route by a party of United States cavalry, and that, having lost a +number of their braves in the fight, they had sworn vengeance on +Americans.</p> +<p>"Did you hear them say whose train this was?" demanded +Coronado.</p> +<p>"No, Señor."</p> +<p>"Do you think they knew?"</p> +<p>"Señor, I think not."</p> +<p>"Whose band was this?"</p> +<p>"Manga Colorada's."</p> +<p>"Where is Delgadito?"</p> +<p>"Delgadito went the other side of the mountain. They were both +going to fight the Moquis."</p> +<p>"So we shall find Delgadito in the Moqui valley?"</p> +<p>"I think so, Señor."</p> +<p>After a moment of reflection Coronado added, "You will stay with +us and take care of mules. I will do well by you."</p> +<p>"Thanks, Señor. Many thanks."</p> +<p>Coronado rejoined Thurstane and told his news. The officer +looked grave; there might be another combat in store for the train; +it might be an affair with both bands of the Apaches.</p> +<p>"Well," he said, "we must keep our eyes open. Every one of us +must do his very utmost. On the whole, I can't believe they can +beat us."</p> +<p>"Nombre de Dios!" thought Coronado. "How will this accursed job +end? I wish I were out of it."</p> +<p>They were now traversing the cañon from which they had +been so long debarred. It was a peaceful solitude; no life but +their own stirred within its sandstone ramparts; and its windings +soon carried them out of sight of their late assailants. For four +hours they slowly threaded it, and when night came on they were +still in it, miles away from their expected camping ground. No +water and no grass; the animals were drooping with hunger, and all +suffered with thirst; the worst was that the hurts of the wounded +could not be properly dressed. But progress through this labyrinth +of stones in the darkness was impossible, and the weary, anxious, +fevered travellers bivouacked as well as might be.</p> +<p>Starting at dawn, they finished the cañon in about an +hour, traversed an uneven plateau which stretched beyond its final +sinuous branch gullies, and found themselves on the brow of a lofty +terrace, overlooking a sublime panorama. There was an immense +valley, not smooth and verdurous, but a gigantic nest of savage +buttes and crags and hills, only to be called a valley because it +was enclosed by what seemed a continuous line of eminences. On the +north and east rose long ranges and elevated table-lands; on the +west, the savage rolls and precipices of the Sierra del Carrizo; +and on the south, a more distant bordering of hazy mountains, +closing to the southwest, a hundred miles away, in the noble snowy +peaks of Monte San Francisco.</p> +<p>With his field-glass, Thurstane examined one after another of +the mesas and buttes which diversified this enormous depression. At +last his attention settled on an isolated bluff or mound, with a +flattened surface three or four miles in length, the whole mass of +which seemed to be solid and barren rock. On this truncated pyramid +he distinguished, or thought he distinguished, one or more of the +pueblos of the Moquis. He could not be quite sure, because the +distance was fifteen miles, and the walls of these villages are of +the same stone with the buttes upon which they stand.</p> +<p>"There is our goal, if I am not mistaken," he said to Coronado. +"When we get there we can rest."</p> +<p>The train pushed onward, slowly descending the terrace, or +rather the succession of terraces. After reaching a more level +region, and while winding between stony hills of a depressing +sterility, it came suddenly, at the bottom of a ravine, upon fresh +green turf and thickets of willows, the environment of a small +spring of clear water. There was a halt; all hands fell to digging +a trench across the gully; when it had filled, the animals were +allowed to drink; in an hour more they had closely cropped all the +grass. This was using up time perilously, but it had to be done, +for the beasts were tottering.</p> +<p>Moving again; five miles more traversed; another spring and +patch of turf discovered; a rough ravine through a low sandstone +ridge threaded; at last they were on one of the levels of the +valley. Three of the Moqui towns were now about eight miles +distant, and with his glass Thurstane could distinguish the +horizontal lines of building. The trail made straight for the +pueblos, but it was almost impassable to wagons, and progress was +very slow. It was all the slower because of the weakness of the +mules, which throughout all this hair-brained journey had been +severely worked, and of late had been poorly fed.</p> +<p>Presently the travellers turned the point of a naked ridge which +projected laterally into the valley. There they came suddenly upon +a wide-spread sweep of turf, contrasting so brilliantly with the +bygone infertilities that it seemed to them a paradise, and +stretching clear on to the bluff of the pueblos.</p> +<p>There, too, with equal suddenness, they came upon peril. Just +beyond the nose of the sandstone promontory there was a bivouac of +half naked, dark-skinned horsemen, recognizable at a glance as +Apaches. It was undoubtedly the band of Delgadito.</p> +<p>The camp was half a mile distant. The Indians, evidently +surprised at the appearance of the train, were immediately in +commotion. There was a rapid mounting, and in five minutes they +were all on horseback, curveting in circles, and brandishing their +lances, but without advancing.</p> +<p>"Manga Colorada hasn't reached here yet," observed +Thurstane.</p> +<p>"That's so," assented Texas Smith. "They hain't heerd from the +cuss, or they'd a bushwhacked us somewhar. Seein' he dasn't follow +our trail, he had to make a big turn to git here. But he'll be +droppin' along, an' then we'll hev a fight. I reckon we'll hev one +any way. Them cusses ain't friendly. If they was, they'd a piled in +helter-skelter to hev a talk an' ask fur whiskey."</p> +<p>"We must keep them at a distance," said Thurstane.</p> +<p>"You bet! The first Injun that comes nigh us. I'll shute him. +They mustn't be 'lowed to git among us. First you know you'd hear a +yell, an' find yourself speared in the back. An' them that's +speared right off is the lucky ones."</p> +<p>"Not one of us must fall into their hands," muttered the +officer, thinking of Clara.</p> +<p>"Cap, that's so," returned Texas grimly. "When I fight Injuns, I +never empty my revolver. I keep one barl for myself. You'd better +do the same. Furthermore, thar oughter be somebody detailed to +shute the women folks when it comes to the last pinch. I say this +as a friend."</p> +<p>As a friend! It was the utmost stretch of Texas Smith's humanity +and sympathy. Obviously the fellow had a soft side to him.</p> +<p>The fact is that he had taken a fancy to Thurstane since he had +learned his fighting qualities, and would rather have done him a +favor than murder him. At all events his hatred to "Injuns" was +such that he wanted the lieutenant to kill a great many of them +before his own turn came.</p> +<p>"So you think we'll have a tough job of it?" inferred Ralph.</p> +<p>"Cap, we ain't so many as we was. An' if Manga Colorada comes +up, thar'll be a pile of red-skins. It may be they'll outlast us; +an' so I say as a friend, save one shot; save it for yourself, +Cap."</p> +<p>But the Apaches did not advance. They watched the train +steadily; they held a long consultation which evidently referred to +it; at last they seemed to decide that it was in too good order to +fall an easy prey; there was some wild capering along its flanks, +at a safe distance; and then, little by little, the gang resettled +in its bivouac. It was like a swarm of hornets, which should sally +out to reconnoitre an enemy, buzz about threateningly for a while, +and sail back to their nest.</p> +<p>The plain, usually dotted with flocks of sheep, was now a +solitude. The Moquis had evidently withdrawn their woolly wealth +either to the summit of the bluff, or to the partially sheltered +pasturage around its base. The only objects which varied the +verdant level were scattered white rocks, probably gypsum or oxide +of manganese, which glistened surprisingly in the sunlight, +reminding one of pearls sown on a mantel of green velvet. But +already the travellers could see the peach orchards of the Moquis, +and the sides of the lofty butte laid out in gardens supported by +terrace-walls of dressed stone, the whole mass surmounted by the +solid ramparts of the pueblos.</p> +<p>At this moment, while the train was still a little over two +miles from the foot of the bluff, and the Apache camp more than +three miles to the rear, Texas Smith shouted, "The cusses hev got +the news."</p> +<p>It was true; the foremost riders, or perhaps only the +messengers, of Manga Colorada had readied Delgadito; and a hundred +warriors were swarming after the train to avenge their fallen +comrades.</p> +<p>Now ensued a race for life, the last pull of the mules being +lashed out of them, and the Indians riding at the topmost speed of +their wiry ponies.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH13" id="CH13"><!-- CH13 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<p>When the race for life and death commenced between the emigrants +and the Apaches, it seemed as if the former would certainly be able +to go two miles before the latter could cover six.</p> +<p>But the mules were weak, and the soil of the plain was a thin +loam into which the wheels sank easily, so that the heavy wagons +could not be hurried beyond a trot, and before long were reduced to +a walk. Thus, while the caravan was still half a mile from its city +of refuge, the foremost hornets of Delgadito's swarm were already +circling around it.</p> +<p>The chief could not charge at once, however, for the warriors +whom he had in hand numbered barely a score, and their horses, +blown with a run of over five miles, were unfit for sharp fighting +work. For a few minutes nothing happened, except that the caravan +continued its silent, sullen retreat, while the pursuers cantered +yelling around it at a safe distance. Not a shot was fired by the +emigrants; not a brave dashed up to let fly his arrows. At last +there were fifty Apaches; then there was a hurried council; then a +furious rush. Evidently the savages were ashamed to let their +enemies escape for lack of one audacious assault.</p> +<p>This charge was led by a child. A boy not more than fourteen +years of age, screaming like a little demon and discharging his +arrows at full speed with wicked dexterity, rode at the head of +this savage <i>hourra</i> of the Cossacks of the American desert. +As the fierce child came on, Coronado saw him and recognized him +with a mixture of wonder, dread, and hate. Here was the son of the +false-hearted savage who had accepted his money, agreed to do his +work, and then turned against him. Should he kill him? It would +open an account of blood between himself and the father. Never +mind; vengeance is sweet; moreover, the youngster was +dangerous.</p> +<p>Coronado raised his revolver, steadied it across his left arm, +took a calm aim, and fired. The handsome, headlong, terrible boy +swayed forward, rolled slowly over the pommel of his saddle, and +fell to the ground motionless. In the next moment there was a +general rattle of firearms from the train, and the mass of the +charging column broke up into squads which went off in aimless +caracolings. Barring a short struggle by half a dozen braves to +recover the young chief's body, the contest was over; and in two +minutes more the Apaches were half a mile distant, looking on in +sulky silence while the train crawled toward the protecting +bluff.</p> +<p>"Hurrah!" shouted Thurstane. "That was quick work. Delgadito +doesn't take his punishment well."</p> +<p>"Reckon they see we had friends," observed Captain Glover. "Jest +look at them critters pile down the mounting. Darned if they don't +skip like nanny-goats."</p> +<p>Down the huge steep slope, springing along rocky, sinuous paths +or over the walls of the terraces, came a hundred or a hundred and +fifty men, running with a speed which, considering the nature of +the footing, was marvellous. Before many in the train were aware of +their approach, they were already among the wagons, rushing up to +the travellers with outstretched hands, the most cordial, cheerful, +kindly-eyed people that Thurstane had seen in New Mexico. Good +features, too; that is, they were handsomer than the usual Indian +type; some even had physiognomies which reminded one of Italians. +Their hair was fine and glossy for men of their race; and, stranger +still, it bore an appearance of careful combing. Nearly all wore +loose cotton trousers or drawers reaching to the knee, with a kind +of blouse of woollen or cotton, and over the shoulders a gay +woollen blanket tied around the waist. In view of their tidy +raiment and their general air of cleanliness, it seemed a mistake +to class them as Indians. These were the Moquis, a remnant of one +of the semi-civilizations of America, perhaps a colony left behind +by the Aztecs in their migrations, or possibly by the +temple-builders of Yucatan.</p> +<p>Impossible to converse with them. Not a person in the caravan +spoke the Moqui tongue, and not a Moqui spoke or understood a word +of Spanish or English. But it was evident from their faces and +gestures that they were enthusiastically friendly, and that they +had rushed down from their fastness to aid the emigrants against +the Apaches. There was even a little sally into the plain, the +Moquis running a quarter of a mile with amazing agility, spreading +out into a loose skirmishing line of battle, brandishing their bows +and defying the enemy to battle. But this ended in nothing; the +Apaches sullenly cantered away; the others soon checked their +pursuit.</p> +<p>Now came the question of encampment. To get the wagons up the +bluff, eight hundred feet or so in height, along a path which had +been cut in the rock or built up with stone, was obviously +impossible. Would there be safety where they were, just at the base +of the noble slope? The Moquis assured them by signs that the +plundering horse-Indians never came so near the pueblos. Camp then; +the wagons were parked as usual in a hollow square; the +half-starved animals were unharnessed and allowed to fly at the +abundant grass; the cramped and wearied travellers threw themselves +on the ground with delight.</p> +<p>"What a charming people these Monkeys are!" said Aunt Maria, +surveying the neat and smiling villagers with approval.</p> +<p>"Moquis," Coronado corrected her, with a bow.</p> +<p>"Oh, Mo-kies," repeated Aunt Maria, this time catching the sound +exactly. "Well, I propose to see as much of them as possible. Why +shouldn't the women and the wounded sleep in the city?"</p> +<p>"It is an excellent idea," assented Coronado, although he +thought with distaste that this would bring Clara and Thurstane +together, while he would be at a distance.</p> +<p>"I suppose we shall get an idea from it of the ancient city of +Mexico, as described by Prescott," continued the enthusiastic +lady.</p> +<p>"You will discover a few deviations in the ground plan," +returned Coronado, for once ironical.</p> +<p>Aunt Maria's suggestion with regard to the women and the wounded +was adopted. The Moquis seemed to urge it; so at least they were +understood. Within a couple of hours after the halt a procession of +the feebler folk commenced climbing the bluff, accompanied by a +crowd of the hospitable Indians. The winding and difficult path +swarmed for a quarter of a mile with people in the gayest of +blankets, some ascending with the strangers and some coming down to +greet them.</p> +<p>"I should think we were going up to the Temple of the Sun to be +sacrified," said Clara, who had also read Prescott.</p> +<p>"To be worshipped," ventured Thurstane, giving her a look which +made her blush, the boldest look that he had yet ventured.</p> +<p>The terraces, as we have stated, were faced with partially +dressed stone. They were in many places quite broad, and were +cultivated everywhere with admirable care, presenting long green +lines of corn fields or of peach orchards. Half-way up the ascent +was a platform of more than ordinary spaciousness which contained a +large reservoir, built of chipped stone strongly cemented, and +brimming with limpid water. From this cistern large earthen pipes +led off in various directions to irrigate the terraces below.</p> +<p>"It seems to me that we are discovering America," exclaimed Aunt +Maria, her face scarlet with exercise and enthusiasm.</p> +<p>Presently she asked, in full faith that she was approaching a +metropolis, "What is the name of the city?"</p> +<p>"This must be Tegua," replied Thurstane. "Tegua is the most +eastern of the Moqui pueblos. There are three on this bluff. +Mooshaneh and two others are on a butte to the west. Oraybe is +further north."</p> +<p>"What a powerful confederacy!" said Aunt Maria. "The United +States of the Moquis!"</p> +<p>After a breathless ascent of at least eight hundred feet, they +reached the undulated, barren, rocky surface of a plateau. Here the +whole population of Tegua had collected; and for the first time the +visitors saw Moqui women and children. Aunt Maria was particularly +pleased with the specimens of her own sex; she went into ecstasies +over their gentle physiognomies and their well-combed, carefully +braided, glossy hair; she admired their long gowns of black +woollen, each with a yellow stripe around the waist and a border of +the same at the bottom.</p> +<p>"Such a sensible costume!" she said. "So much more rational and +convenient than our fashionable fripperies!"</p> +<p>Another fact of great interest was that the Moquis were lighter +complexioned than Indians in general. And when she discovered a +woman with fair skin, blue eyes, and yellow hair—one of those +albinos who are found among the inhabitants of the +pueblos—she went into an excitement which was nothing less +than ethnological.</p> +<p>"These are white people," she cried, losing sight of all the +brown faces. "They are some European race which colonized America +long before that modern upstart, Columbus. They are undoubtedly the +descendants of the Northmen who built the old mill at Newport and +sculptured the Dighton Rock."</p> +<p>"There is a belief," said Thurstane, "that some of these pueblo +people, particularly those of Zuni, are Welsh. A Welsh prince named +Madoc, flying before the Saxons, is said to have reached America. +There are persons who hold that the descendants of his followers +built the mounds in the Mississippi Valley, and that some of them +became the white Mandans of the upper Missouri, and that others +founded this old Mexican civilization. Of course it is all +guess-work. There's nothing about it in the Regulations."</p> +<p>"I consider it highly probable," asserted Aunt Maria, forgetting +her Scandinavian hypothesis. "I don't see how you can doubt that +that flaxen-haired girl is a descendant of Medoc, Prince of +Wales."</p> +<p>"Madoc," corrected Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Well, Madoc then," replied Aunt Maria rather pettishly, for she +was dreadfully tired, and moreover she didn't like Thurstane.</p> +<p>A few minutes' walk brought them to the rampart which surrounded +the pueblo. Its foundation was a solid blind wall, fifteen feet or +so in height, and built of hewn stone laid in clay cement. Above +was a second wall, rising from the first as one terrace rises from +another, and surmounted by a third, which was also in terrace +fashion. The ground tier of this stair-like structure contained the +storerooms of the Moquis, while the upper tiers were composed of +their two-story houses, the entire mass of masonry being upward of +thirty feet high, and forming a continuous line of fortification. +This rampart of dwellings was in the shape of a rectangle, and +enclosed a large square or plaza containing a noble reservoir. +Compact and populous, at once a castle and a city, the place could +defy all the horse Indians of North America.</p> +<p>"Bless me! this is sublime but dreadful," said Aunt Maria when +she learned that she must ascend to the landing of the lower wall +by a ladder. "No gate? Isn't there a window somewhere that I could +crawl through? Well, well! Dear me! But it's delightful to see how +safe these excellent people have made themselves."</p> +<p>So with many tremblings, and with the aid of a lariat fastened +around her waist and vigorously pulled from above by two Moquis, +Aunt Maria clutched and scraped her way to the top of the +foundation terrace.</p> +<p>"I shall never go down in the world," she remarked with a +shuddering glance backward. "I shall pass the rest of my days +here."</p> +<p>From the first platform the travellers were led to the second +and third by stone stairways. They were now upon the inside of the +rectangle, and could see two stories of doors facing the plaza and +the reservoir in its centre, the whole scene cheerful with the gay +garments and smiling faces of the Moquis.</p> +<p>"Beautiful!" said Aunt Maria. "That court is absolutely swept +and dusted. One might give a ball there. I should like to hear +Lucretia Mott speak in it."</p> +<p>Her reflections were interrupted by the courteous gestures of a +middle-aged, dignified Moqui, who was apparently inviting the party +to enter one of the dwellings.</p> +<p>Pepita and the other two Indian women, with the wounded +muleteers, were taken to another house. Aunt Maria, Clara, +Thurstane, and Phineas Glover entered the residence of the chief, +and found themselves in a room six or seven feet high, fifteen feet +in length and ten in breadth. The floor was solid, polished clay; +the walls were built of the large, sunbaked bricks called adobes; +the ceilings were of beams, covered by short sticks, with adobes +over all. Skins, bows and arrows, quivers, antlers, blankets, +articles of clothing, and various simple ornaments hung on pegs +driven into the walls or lay packed upon shelves.</p> +<p>"They are a musical race, I see," observed Aunt Maria, pointing +to a pair of painted drumsticks tipped with gay feathers, and a +reed wind-instrument with a bell-shaped mouth like a clarionet. "Of +course they are. The Welsh were always famous for their bards and +their harpers. Does anybody in our party speak Welsh? What a pity +we are such ignoramuses! We might have an interesting conversation +with these people. I should so like to hear their traditions about +the voyage across the Atlantic and the old mill at Newport."</p> +<p>Her remarks were interrupted by a short speech from the chief, +whom she at first understood as relating the adventures of his +ancestors, but who finally made it clear that he was asking them to +take seats. After they were arranged on a row of skins spread along +the wall, a shy, meek, and pretty Moqui woman passed around a vase +of water for drinking and a tray which contained something not +unlike a bundle of blue wrapping paper.</p> +<p>"Is this to wipe our hands on?" inquired Aunt Maria, bringing +her spectacles to bear on the contents of the tray.</p> +<p>"It smells like corn bread," said Clara.</p> +<p>So it was. The corn of the Moquis is blue, and grinding does not +destroy the color. The meal is stirred into a thin gruel and cooked +by pouring over smooth, flat, heated stones, the light shining +tissues being rapidly taken off and folded, and subsequently made +up in bundles.</p> +<p>The party made a fair meal off the blue wrapping paper. Then the +meek-eyed woman reappeared, removed the dishes, returned once more, +and looked fixedly at Thurstane's bloody sleeve.</p> +<p>"Certainly!" said Aunt Maria. "Let her dress your arm. I have no +doubt that unpretending woman knows more about surgery than all the +men doctors in New York city. Let her dress it."</p> +<p>Thurstane partially threw off his coat and rolled up his shirt +sleeve. Clara gave one glance at the huge white arm with the small +crimson hole in it, and turned away with a thrill which was new to +her. The Moqui woman washed the wound, applied a dressing which +looked like chewed leaves, and put on a light bandage.</p> +<p>"Does it feel any better?" asked Aunt Maria eagerly.</p> +<p>"It feels cooler," said Thurstane.</p> +<p>Aunt Maria looked as if she thought him very ungrateful for not +saying that he was entirely well.</p> +<p>"An' my nose," suggested Glover, turning up his lacerated +proboscis.</p> +<p>"Yes, certainly; your poor nose," assented Aunt Maria. "Let the +lady cure it."</p> +<p>The female surgeon fastened a poultice upon the tattered +cartilage by passing a bandage around the skipper's sandy and +bristly head.</p> +<p>"Works like a charm 'n' smells like peach leaves," snuffled the +patient. "It's where it's handy to sniff at—that's a +comfort."</p> +<p>After much dumb show, arrangements were made for the night. One +of the inner rooms was assigned to Mrs. Stanley and Clara, and +another to Thurstane and Glover. Bedding, provisions, and some +small articles as presents for the Moquis were sent up from the +train by Coronado.</p> +<p>But would the wagons, the animals, and the human members of the +party below be safe during the night? Young as he was, and wounded +as he was, Thurstane was so badgered by his army habit of incessant +responsibility that he could not lie down to rest until he had +visited the camp and examined personally into probabilities of +attack and means of defence. As he descended the stony path which +scored the side of the butte, his anxiety was greatly increased by +the appearance of a party of armed Moquis rushing like deer down +the steep slope, as if to repel an attack.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH14" id="CH14"><!-- CH14 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +<p>Thurstane found the caravan in excellent condition, the mules +being tethered at the reservoir half-way up the acclivity, and the +wagons parked and guarded as usual, with Weber for officer of the +night.</p> +<p>"We are in no tanger, Leftenant," said the sergeant. "A large +barty of these bueplo beeble has shust gone to the vront. They haf +daken atfandage of our bresence to regover a bortion of the blain. +I haf sent Kelly along to look after them a leetle und make them +keep a goot watch. We are shust as safe as bossible. Und to-morrow +we will basture the animals. It is a goot blace for a gamp, +Leftenant, und we shall pe all right in a tay or two."</p> +<p>"Does Shubert's leg need attention?"</p> +<p>"No. It is shust nothing. Shupert is for tuty."</p> +<p>"And you feel perfectly able to take care of yourselves +here?"</p> +<p>"Berfectly, Leftenant."</p> +<p>"Forty rounds apiece!"</p> +<p>"They are issued, Leftenant."</p> +<p>"If you are attacked, fire heavily; and if the attack is sharp, +retreat to the bluff. Never mind the wagons; they can be +recovered."</p> +<p>"I will opey your instructions, Leftenant."</p> +<p>Thurstane was feverish and exhausted; he knew that Weber was as +good a soldier as himself; and still he went back to the village +with an anxious heart; such is the tenderness of the military +conscience as to <i>duty</i>.</p> +<p>By the time he reached the upper landing of the wall of the +pueblo it was sunset, and he paused to gaze at a magnificent +landscape, the <i>replica</i> of the one which he had seen at +sunrise. There were buttes, valleys, and cañons, the vast +and lofty plateaus of the north, the ranges of the Navajo country, +the Sierra del Carrizo, and the ice peaks of Monte San Francisco. +It was sublime, savage, beautiful, horrible. It seemed a revelation +from some other world. It was a nightmare of nature.</p> +<p>Clara met him on the landing with the smile which she now often +gave him. "I was anxious about you," she said. "You were too weak +to go down there. You look very tired. Do come and eat, and then +rest. You will make yourself sick. I was quite anxious about +you."</p> +<p>It was a delightful repetition. How his heart and his eyes +thanked her for being troubled for his sake! He was so cheered that +in a moment he did not seem to be tired at all. He could have +watched all that night, if it had been necessary for her safety, or +even for her comfort. The soul certainly has a great deal to do +with the body.</p> +<p>While our travellers sleep, let us glance at the singular people +among whom they have found refuge.</p> +<p>It is said hesitatingly, by scholars who have not yet made +comparative studies of languages, that the Moquis are not <i>red +men</i>, like the Algonquins, the Iroquois, the Lenni-Lenape, the +Sioux, and in general those whom we know as <i>Indians</i>. It is +said, moreover, that they are of the same generic stock with the +Aztecs of Mexico, the ancient Peruvians, and all the other +city-building peoples of both North and South America.</p> +<p>It was an evil day for the brown race of New Mexico when horses +strayed from the Spanish settlements into the desert, and the +savage red tribes became cavalry. This feeble civilization then +received a more cruel shock than that which had been dealt it by +the storming columns of the conquistadors. The horse transformed +the Utes, Apaches, Comanches, and Navajos from snapping-turtles +into condors. Thenceforward, instead of crawling in slow and feeble +bands to tease the dense populations of the pueblos, they could +come like a tornado, and come in a swarm. At no time were the +Moquis and their fellow agriculturists and herdsmen safe from +robbery and slaughter. Such villages as did not stand upon buttes +inaccessible to horsemen, and such as did not possess fertile lands +immediately under the shelter of their walls, were either abandoned +or depopulated by slow starvation.</p> +<p>It is thus that we may account for many of the desolate cities +which are now found in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Not of course +for all; some, we know, were destroyed by the early Spaniards; +others may have been forsaken because their tillable lands became +exhausted; others doubtless fell during wars between different +tribes of the brown race. But the cavalry of the desert must +necessarily have been a potent instrument of destruction.</p> +<p>It is a pathetic spectacle, this civilization which has +perished, or is perishing, without the poor consolation of a +history to record its sufferings. It comes near to being a +repetition of the silent death of the flint and bronze races, the +mound-raisers, and cave-diggers, and cromlech-builders of +Europe.</p> +<p>Captain Phineas Glover, rising at an early hour in the morning, +and having had his nosebag of medicament refilled and refitted, set +off on an appetizer around the ramparts of the pueblo, and came +back marvelling.</p> +<p>"Been out to shake hands with these clever critters," he said. +"Best behavin' 'n' meekest lookin' Injuns I ever see. Put me in +mind o' cows 'n' lambs. An' neat! 'Most equal to Amsterdam Dutch. +Seen a woman sweepin' up her husband's tobacco ashes 'n' carryin' +'em out to throw over the wall. Jest what they do in Broek. Ever +been in Broek? Tell ye 'bout it some time. But how d'ye s'pose this +town was built? <i>I</i> didn't see no stun up here that was fit +for quarryin'. So I put it to a lot of fellers where they got their +buildin' m'ter'ls. Wal, after figurin' round a spell, 'n' makin' +signs by the schuner load, found out the hull thing. Every stun in +this place was whittled out 'f the ruff-scuff at the bottom of the +mounting, 'n' fetched up here in blankets on men's shoulders. All +the mud, too, to make their bricks, was backed up in the same way. +Feller off with his blanket 'n' showed me how they did it. Beats +all. Wust of it was, couldn't find out how long it took 'em, nor +how the job was lotted out to each one."</p> +<p>"I suppose they made their women do it," said Aunt Maria grimly. +"Men usually put all the hard work on women."</p> +<p>"Wal, women folks do a heap," admitted Glover, who never +contradicted anybody. "But there's reason to entertain a hope that +they didn't take the brunt of it here. I looked over into the +gardens down b'low the town, 'n' see men plantin' corn, 'n' tendin' +peach trees, but didn't see no women at it. The women was all in +the houses, spinnin', weavin', sewin', 'n' fixin' up +ginerally."</p> +<p>"Remarkable people!" exclaimed Aunt Maria. "They are at least as +civilized as we. Very probably more so. Of course they are. I must +learn whether the women vote, or in any way take part in the +government. If so, these Indians are vastly our superiors, and we +must sit humbly at their feet."</p> +<p>During this talk the worn and wounded Thurstane had been lying +asleep. He now appeared from his dormitory, nodded a hasty +good-morning, and pushed for the door.</p> +<p>"Train's all right," said Glover. "Jest took a squint at it. +Peaceful's a ship becalmed. Not a darned Apache in sight."</p> +<p>"You are sure?" demanded the young officer.</p> +<p>"Better get some more peach-leaf pain-killer on your arm 'n' set +straight down to breakfast."</p> +<p>"If the Apaches have vamosed, Coronado might join us," suggested +Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Never!" answered Mrs. Stanley with solemnity. "His ancestor +stormed Cibola and ravaged this whole country. If these people +should hear his name pronounced, and suspect his relationship to +their oppressor, they might massacre him."</p> +<p>"That was three hundred years ago," smiled the wretch of a +lieutenant.</p> +<p>"It doesn't matter," decided Mrs. Stanley.</p> +<p>And so Coronado, thanks to one of his splendid inventions, was +not invited up to the pueblo.</p> +<p>The travellers spent the day in resting, in receiving a +succession of pleasant, tidy visitors, and in watching the ways of +the little community. The weather was perfect, for while the season +was the middle of May, and the latitude that of Algeria and Tunis, +they were nearly six thousand feet above the level of the sea, and +the isolated butte was wreathed with breezes. It was delightful to +sit or stroll on the landings of the ramparts, and overlook the +flourishing landscape near at hand, and the peaceful industry which +caused it to bloom.</p> +<p>Along the hillside, amid the terraced gardens of corn, pumpkins, +guavas, and peaches, many men and children were at work, with here +and there a woman.</p> +<p>The scene had not only its charms, but its marvels. Besides the +grand environment of plateaus and mountains in the distance, there +were near at hand freaks of nature such as one might look for in +the moon. Nowhere perhaps has the great water erosion of bygone +aeons wrought more grotesquely and fantastically than in the Moqui +basin. To the west rose a series of detached buttes, presenting +forms of castles, towers, and minarets, which looked more like the +handiwork of man than the pueblo itself. There were piles of +variegated sandstone, some of them four hundred feet in height, +crowned by a hundred feet of sombre trap. Internal fire had found +vent here; its outflowings had crystallized into columnar trap; the +trap had protected the underlying sandstone from cycles of +water-flow; thus had been fashioned these sublime donjons and +pinnacles.</p> +<p>They were not only sublime but beautiful. The sandstone, reduced +by ages to a crumbling marl, was of all colors. There were layers +of green, reddish-brown, drab, purple, red, yellow, pinkish, slate, +light-brown, orange, white, and banded. Nature, not contented with +building enchanted palaces, had frescoed them. At this distance, +indeed, the separate tints of the strata could not be discerned, +but their general effect of variegation was distinctly visible, and +the result was a landscape of the Thousand and One Nights.</p> +<p>To the south were groups of crested mounds, some of them +resembling the spreading stumps of trees, and others broad-mouthed +bells, all of vast magnitude. These were of sandstone marl, the +caps consisting of hard red and green shales, while the swelling +boles, colored by gypsum, were as white as loaf-sugar. It was +another specimen of the handiwork of deluges which no man can +number.</p> +<p>Far away to the southwest, and yet faintly seen through the +crystalline atmosphere, were the many-colored knolls and rolls and +cliffs of the Painted Desert. Marls, shales, and sandstones, of all +tints, were strewn and piled into a variegated vista of sterile +splendor. Here surely enchantment and glamour had made undisputed +abode.</p> +<p>All day the wounded and the women reposed, gazing a good deal, +but sleeping more. During the afternoon, however, our wonder-loving +Mrs. Stanley roused herself from her lethargy and rushed into an +adventure such as only she knew how to find. In the morning she had +noticed, at the other end of the pueblo from her quarters, a large +room which was frequented by men alone. It might be a temple; it +might be a hall for the transaction of public business; such were +the diverse guesses of the travellers. Into the mysteries of this +apartment Aunt Maria resolved to poke.</p> +<p>She reached it; nobody was in it; suspicious circumstance! Aunt +Maria put an end to this state of questionable solitude by +entering. A dark room; no light except from a trap door; a very +proper place for improper doings. At one end rose a large, square +block of red sandstone, on which was carved a round face environed +by rays, probably representing the sun. Aunt Maria remembered the +sacrificial altars of the Aztecs, and judged that the old +sanguinary religion of Tenochtitlan was not yet extinct. She became +more convinced of this terrific fact when she discovered that the +red tint of the stone was deepened in various places by stains +which resembled blood.</p> +<p>Three or four horrible suggestions arose in succession to jerk +at her heartstrings. Were these Moquis still in the habit of +offering human sacrifices? Would a woman answer their purpose, and +particularly a white woman? If they should catch her there, in the +presence of their deity, would they consider it a leading of +Providence? Aunt Maria, notwithstanding her curiosity and courage, +began to feel a desire to retreat.</p> +<p>Her reflections were interrupted and her emotions accelerated by +darkness. Evidently the door had been shut; then she heard a +rustling of approaching feet and an awful whispering; then +projected hands impeded her gropings toward safety. While she stood +still, too completely blinded to fly and too frightened to scream, +a light gleamed from behind the altar and presently rose into a +flame. The sacred fire!—she knew it as soon as she saw it; +she remembered Prescott, and recognized it at a glance.</p> +<p>By its flickering rays she perceived that the apartment was full +of men, all robed in blankets of ebony blackness, and all gazing at +her in solemn silence. Two of them, venerable elders with long +white hair, stood in front of the others, making genuflexions and +signs of adoration toward the carved face on the altar. Presently +they advanced to her, one of them suddenly seizing her by the +shoulders and pinioning her arms behind her, while the other drew +from beneath his robe a long sharp knife of the glassy flint known +as obsidian.</p> +<p>At this point the horrified Aunt Maria found her voice, and +uttered a piercing scream.</p> +<p>At the close of her scream she by a supreme effort turned on her +side, raised her hands to her face, rubbed her eyes open, stared at +Clara, who was lying near her, and mumbled, "I've had an awful +nightmare."</p> +<p>That was it. There was no altar, nor holy fire, nor high priest, +nor flint lancet. She hadn't been anywhere, and she hadn't even +screamed, except in imagination. She was on her blanket, alongside +of her niece, in the house of the Moqui chief, and as safe as need +be.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH15" id="CH15"><!-- CH15 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> +<p>But the visionary terror had scarcely gone when a real one came. +Coronado appeared—Coronado, the descendant of the great +Vasquez—Coronado, whom the Moquis would destroy if they heard +his name—of whom they would not leave two limbs or two +fingers together. From her dormitory she saw him walk into the main +room of the house in his airiest and cheeriest manner, bowing and +smiling to right, bowing and smiling to left, winning Moqui hearts +in a moment, a charmer of a Coronado. He shook hands with the +chief; he shook hands with all the head men; next a hand to +Thurstane and another to Glover. Mrs. Stanley heard him addressed +as Coronado; she looked to see him scattered in rags on the floor; +she tried to muster courage to rush to his rescue.</p> +<p>There was no outcry of rage at the sound of the fatal name, and +she could not perceive that a Moqui countenance smiled the less for +it.</p> +<p>Coronado produced a pipe, filled it, lighted it, and handed it +to the chief. That dignitary took it, bowed gravely to each of the +four points of the compass, exhaled a few whiffs, and passed it to +his next blanketed neighbor, who likewise saluted the four cardinal +points, smoked a little, and sent it on. Mrs. Stanley drew a sigh +of relief; the pipe of peace had been used, and there would be no +bloodshed; she saw the whole bearing of her favorite's audacious +manoeuvre at a glance.</p> +<p>Coronado now glided into the obscure room where she and Clara +were sitting on their blankets and skins. He kissed his hand to the +one and the other, and rolled out some melodious +congratulations.</p> +<p>"You reckless creature!" whispered Aunt Maria. "How dared you +come up here?"</p> +<p>"Why so?" asked the Mexican, for once puzzled.</p> +<p>"Your name! Your ancestor!"</p> +<p>"Ah!!" and Coronado smiled mysteriously. "There is no danger. We +are under the protection of the American eagle. Moreover, +hospitalities have been interchanged."</p> +<p>Next the experiences of the last twenty-four hours, first Mrs. +Stanley's version and then Coronado's, were related. He had little +to tell: there had been a quiet night and much slumber; the Moquis +had stood guard and been every way friendly; the Apaches had left +the valley and gone to parts unknown.</p> +<p>The truth is that he had slept more than half of the time. +Journeying, fighting, watching, and anxiety had exhausted him as +well as every one else, and enabled him to plunge into slumber with +a delicious consciousness of it as a restorative and a luxury.</p> +<p>Now that he was himself again, he wondered at what he had been. +For two days he had faced death, fighting like a legionary or a +knight-errant, and in short playing the hero. What was there in his +nature, or what had there been in his selfish and lazy life, that +was akin to such fine frenzies? As he remembered it all, he hardly +knew himself for the same old Coronado.</p> +<p>Well, being safe again, he was a devoted lover again, and he +must get on with his courtship. Considering that Clara and +Thurstane, if left much together here in the pueblo, might lead +each other into the temptation of a betrothal, he decided that he +must be at hand to prevent such a catastrophe, and so here he was. +Presently he began to talk to the girl in Spanish; then he begged +the aunt's pardon for speaking what was to her an unknown tongue; +but he had, he said, some family matters for his cousin's ear; +would Mrs. Stanley be so good as to excuse him?</p> +<p>"Certainly," returned that far-sighted woman, guessing what the +family matters might be, and approving them. "By the way, I have +something to do," she added. "I must attend to it immediately."</p> +<p>By this time she remembered all about her nightmare, and she was +in a state of inflammation as to the Moqui religion. If the dream +were true, if the Moquis were in the habit of sacrificing +strong-minded women or any kind of women, she must know it and put +a stop to it. Stepping into the central room, where Thurstane and +Glover were smoking with a number of Indians, she said in her +prompt, positive way, "I must look into these people's religion. +Does anybody know whether they have any?"</p> +<p>The Lieutenant had a spark or two of information on the subject. +Through the medium of a Navajo who had strolled into the pueblo, +and who spoke a little Spanish and a good deal of Moqui, he had +been catechising the chief as to manners, customs, etc.</p> +<p>"I understand," he said, "that they have a sacred fire which +they never suffer to go out. They are believed to worship the sun, +like the ancient Aztecs. The sacred fire seems to confirm the +suspicion."</p> +<p>"Sacred fire! vestal virgins, too, I suppose! can they be +Romans?" reasoned Aunt Maria, beginning to doubt Prince Madoc.</p> +<p>"The vestal virgins here are old men," replied Ralph, wickedly +pleased to get a joke on the lady.</p> +<p>"Oh! The Moquis are not Romans," decided Mrs Stanley. "Well, +what do these old men do?"</p> +<p>"Keep the fire burning."</p> +<p>"What if it should go out? What would happen?"</p> +<p>"I don't know," responded the sub-acid Thurstane.</p> +<p>"I didn't suppose you did," said Aunt Maria pettishly. "Captain +Glover, I want you to come with me."</p> +<p>Followed by the subservient skipper, she marched to the other +end of the pueblo. There was the mysterious apartment; it was not +really a temple, but a sort of public hall and general lounging +place; such rooms exist in the Spanish-speaking pueblos of Zuni and +Laguna, and are there called <i>estufas</i>. The explorers soon +discovered that the only entrance into the estufa was by a trapdoor +and a ladder. Now Aunt Maria hated ladders: they were awkward for +skirts, and moreover they made her giddy; so she simply got on her +knees and peeped through the trap-door. But there was a fire +directly below, and there was also a pretty strong smell of pipes +of tobacco, so that she saw nothing and was stifled and disgusted. +She sent Glover down, as people lower a dog into a mine where gases +are suspected. After a brief absence the skipper returned and +reported.</p> +<p>"Pooty sizable room. Dark's a pocket 'n' hot's a footstove. +Three or four Injuns talkin' 'n' smokin'. Scrap 'f a fire +smoulder'in a kind 'f standee fireplace without any top."</p> +<p>"That's the sacred fire," said Aunt Maria. "How many old men +were watching it?"</p> +<p>"Didn't see <i>any</i>."</p> +<p>"They must have been there. Did you put the fire out?"</p> +<p>"No water handy," explained the prudent Glover.</p> +<p>"You might have—expectorated on it."</p> +<p>"Reckon I didn't miss it," said the skipper, who was a chewer of +tobacco and a dead shot with his juice.</p> +<p>"Of course nothing happened."</p> +<p>"Nary."</p> +<p>"I knew there wouldn't," declared the lady triumphantly. "Well, +now let us go back. We know something about the religion of these +people. It is certainly a very interesting study."</p> +<p>"Didn't appear to me much l'k a temple," ventured Glover. "Sh'd +say t'was a kind 'f gineral smokin' room 'n' jawin' place. Git +together there 'n' talk crops 'n' 'lections 'n' the like."</p> +<p>"You must be mistaken," decided Aunt Maria. "There was the +sacred fire."</p> +<p>She now led the willing captain (for he was as inquisitive as a +monkey) on a round of visits to the houses of the Moquis. She poked +smiling through their kitchens and bedrooms, and gained more +information than might have been expected concerning their spinning +and weaving, cheerfully spending ten minutes in signs to obtain a +single idea.</p> +<p>"Never shear their sheep till they are dead!" she exclaimed when +that fact had been gestured into her understanding. "Absurd! +There's another specimen of masculine stupidity. I'll warrant you, +if the women had the management of things, the good-for-nothing +brutes would be sheared every day."</p> +<p>"Jest as they be to hum," slily suggested Glover, who knew +better.</p> +<p>"Certainly," said Aunt Maria, aware that cows were milked +daily.</p> +<p>The Moquis were very hospitable; they absolutely petted the +strangers. At nearly every house presents were offered, such as +gourds full of corn, strings of dried peaches, guavas as big as +pomegranates, or bundles of the edible wrapping paper, all of which +Aunt Maria declined with magnanimous waves of the hand and copious +smiles. Curious and amiable faces peeped at the visitors from the +landings and doorways.</p> +<p>"How mild and good they all look!" said Aunt Maria. "They put me +in mind somehow of Shenstone's pastorals. How humanizing a pastoral +life is, to be sure! On the whole, I admire their way of not +shearing their sheep alive. It isn't stupidity, but goodness of +heart. A most amiable people!"</p> +<p>"Jest so," assented Glover. "How it must go ag'in the grain with +'em to take a skelp when it comes in the way of dooty! A man +oughter feel willin' to be skelped by sech tender-hearted +critters."</p> +<p>"Pshaw!" said Aunt Maria. "I don't believe they ever scalp +anybody—unless it is in self-defence."</p> +<p>"Dessay. Them fellers that went down to fight the Apaches was +painted up's savage's meat-axes. Probably though 'twas to use up +some 'f their paint that was a wastin'. Equinomical, I sh'd +say."</p> +<p>Mrs. Stanley did not see her way clear to comment either upon +the fact or the inference. There were times when she did not +understand Glover, and this was one of the times. He had queer +twistical ways of reasoning which often proved the contrary of what +he seemed to want to prove; and she had concluded that he was a +dark-minded man who did not always know what he was driving at; at +all events, a man not invariably comprehensible by clear +intellects.</p> +<p>Her attention was presently engaged by a stir in the pueblo. +Great things were evidently at hand; some spectacle was on the +point of presentation; what was it? Aunt Maria guessed marriage, +and Captain Glover guessed a war-dance; but they had no argument, +for the skipper gave in. Meantime the Moquis, men, women, and +children, all dressed in their gayest raiment, were gathering in +groups on the landings and in the square. Presently there was a +crowd, a thousand or fifteen hundred strong; at last appeared the +victims, the performers, or whatever they were.</p> +<p>"Dear me!" murmured Aunt Maria. "Twenty weddings at once! I hope +divorce is frequent."</p> +<p>Twenty men and twenty women advanced to the centre of the plaza +in double file and faced each other.</p> +<p>The dance began; the performers furnished their own music; each +rolled out a deep <i>aw aw aw</i> under his visor.</p> +<p>"Sounds like a swarm of the biggest kind of blue-bottle flies +inside the biggest kind 'f a sugar hogset," was Glover's +description.</p> +<p>The movement was as monotonous as the melody. The men and women +faced each other without changing positions; there was an alternate +lifting of the feet, in time with the <i>aw aw</i> and the rattling +of the gourds; now and then there was a simultaneous about +face.</p> +<p>After a while, open ranks; then rugs and blankets were brought; +the maidens sat down and the men danced at them; trot trot, aw aw, +and rattle rattle.</p> +<p>Every third girl now received a large empty gourd, a grooved +board, and the dry shoulder-bone of a sheep. Laying the board on +the gourd, she drew the bone sharply across the edges of the wood, +thus producing a sound like a watchman's rattle.</p> +<p>They danced once on each side of the square; then retired to a +house and rested fifteen minutes; then recommenced their trot. +Meanwhile maidens with large baskets ran about among the +spectators, distributing meat, roasted ears of corn, sheets of +bread, and guavas.</p> +<p>So the gayety went on until the sun and the visitors alike +withdrew.</p> +<p>"After all, I think it is more interesting than our marriages," +declared Aunt Maria. "I wonder if we ought to make presents to the +wedded couples. There are a good many of them."</p> +<p>She was quite amazed when she learned that this was not a +wedding, but a rain-dance, and that the maidens whom she had +admired were boys dressed up in female raiment, the customs of the +Moquis not allowing women to take part in public spectacles.</p> +<p>"What exquisite delicacy!" was her consolatory comment. "Well, +well, this is the golden age, truly."</p> +<p>When further informed that in marriage among the Moquis it is +woman who takes the initiative, the girl pointing out the young man +of her heart and the girl's father making the offer, which is never +refused, Mrs. Stanley almost shed tears of gratification. Here was +something like woman's rights; here was a flash of the glorious +dawn of equality between the sexes; for when she talked of equality +she meant female preëminence.</p> +<p>"And divorces?" she eagerly asked.</p> +<p>"They are at the pleasure of the parties," explained Thurstane, +who had been catechising the chief at great length through his +Navajo.</p> +<p>"And who, in case of a divorce, cares for the children?"</p> +<p>"The grandparents."</p> +<p>Aunt Maria came near clapping her hands. This was better than +Connecticut or Indiana. A woman here might successively marry all +the men whom she might successively fancy, and thus enjoy a +perpetual gush of the affections and an unruffled current of +happiness.</p> +<p>To such extreme views had this excellent creature been led by +brooding over what she called the wrongs of her sex and the legal +tyranny of the other.</p> +<p>But we must return to Coronado and Clara. The man had come up to +the pueblo on purpose to have a plain talk with the girl and learn +exactly what she meant to do with him. It was now more than a week +since he had offered himself, and in that time she had made no sign +which indicated her purpose. He had looked at her and sighed at her +without getting a response of any sort. This could not go on; he +must know how she felt towards him; he must know how much, she +cared for Thurstane. How else could he decide what to do with her +and with <i>him</i>?</p> +<p>Thus, while the other members of the party were watching the +Moqui dances, Coronado and Clara were talking matters of the heart, +and were deciding, unawares to her, questions of life and +death.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH16" id="CH16"><!-- CH16 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> +<p>It must be remembered that when Mrs. Stanley carried off skipper +Glover to help her investigate the religion of the Moquis, she left +Coronado alone with Clara in one of the interior rooms of the +chief's house.</p> +<p>Thurstane, to be sure, was in the next room and in sight; but he +had with him the chief, two other leading Moquis, and his chance +Navajo interpreter; they were making a map of the San Juan country +by scratching with an arrow-point on the clay floor; everybody was +interested in the matter, and there was a pretty smart jabbering. +Thus Coronado could say his say without being overheard or +interrupted.</p> +<p>For a little while he babbled commonplaces. The truth is that +the sight of the girl had unsettled his resolutions a little. While +he was away from her, he could figure to himself how he would push +her into taking him at once, or how, if she refused him, he would +let loose upon her the dogs of fate. But once face to face with +her, he found that his resolutions had dispersed like a globule of +mercury under a hammer, and that he needed a few moments to scrape +them together again. So he prattled nothings while he meditated; +and you would have thought that he cared for the nothings. He had +that faculty; he could mentally ride two horses at once; he would +have made a good diplomatist.</p> +<p>His mind glanced at the past while it peered into the future. +What a sinuous underground plot the superficial incidents of this +journey covered! To his fellow-travellers it was a straight line; +to him it was a complicated and endless labyrinth. How much more he +had to think of than they! Only he knew that Pedro Muñoz was +dead, that Clara Van Diemen was an heiress, that she was in danger +of being abandoned to the desert, that Thurstane was in danger of +assassination. Nothing that he had set out to do was yet done, and +some of it he must absolutely accomplish, and that shortly. How +much? That depended upon this girl. If she accepted him, his course +would be simple, and he would be spared the perils of crime.</p> +<p>Meantime, he looked at Clara even more frankly and calmly than +she looked at him. He showed no guilt or remorse in his face, +because he felt none in his heart. It must be understood distinctly +that the man was almost as destitute of a conscience as it is +possible for a member of civilized society to be. He knew what the +world called right and wrong; but the mere opinion of the world had +no weight with him; that is, none as against his own opinion. His +rule of life was to do what he wanted to do, providing he could +accomplish it without receiving a damage. You can hardly imagine a +being whose interior existence was more devoid of complexity and of +mixed motives than was Coronado's. Thus he was quite able to +contemplate the possible death of Clara, and still look her calmly +in the face and tell her that he loved her.</p> +<p>The girl returned his gaze tranquilly, because she had no +suspicions of his profound wickedness. By nature confiding and +reverential, she trusted those who professed friendship, and +respected those who were her elders, especially if they belonged in +any manner to her own family. Considering herself under obligations +to Coronado, and not guessing that he was capable of doing her a +harm, she was truly grateful to him and wished him well with all +her heart. If her eye now and then dropped under his, it was +because she feared a repetition of his offer of marriage, and hated +to pain him with a refusal.</p> +<p>The commonplaces lasted longer than the man had meant, for he +could not bring himself promptly to take the leap of fate. But at +last came the dance; the chief and his comrades led Thurstane away +to look at it; now was the time to talk of this fateful +betrothal.</p> +<p>"Something is passing outside," observed Clara. "Shall we go to +see?"</p> +<p>"I am entirely at your command," replied Coronado, with his +charming air of gentle respect. "But if you can give me a few +minutes of your time, I shall be very grateful."</p> +<p>Clara's heart beat violently, and her cheeks and neck flushed +with spots of red, as she sank back upon her seat. She guessed what +was coming; she had been a good deal afraid of it all the time; it +was her only cause of dreading Coronado.</p> +<p>"I venture to hope that you have been good enough to think of +what I said to you a week ago," he went on. "Yes, it was a week +ago. It seems to me a year."</p> +<p>"It seems a long time," stammered Clara. So it did, for the days +since had been crammed with emotions and events, and they gave her +young mind an impression of a long period passed.</p> +<p>"I have been so full of anxiety!" continued Coronado. "Not about +our dangers," he asserted with a little bravado. "Or, rather, not +about mine. For you I have been fearful. The possibility that you +might fall into the hands of the Apaches was a horror to me. But, +after all, my chief anxiety was to know what would be your final +answer to me. Yes, my beautiful and very dear cousin, strange as it +may seem under our circumstances, this thought has always +outweighed with me all our dangers."</p> +<p>Coronado, as we have already declared, was really in love with +Clara. It seems incredible, at first glance, that a man who had no +conscience could have a heart. But the assertion is not a fairy +story; it is founded in solid philosophy. It is true that +Coronado's moral education had been neglected or misdirected; that +he was either born indifferent to the idea of duty, or had become +indifferent to it; and that he was an egotist of the first water, +bent solely upon favoring and gratifying himself. But while his +nature was somewhat chilled by these things, he had the hottest of +blood in his veins, he possessed a keen perception of the +beautiful, and so he could desire with fury. His love could not be +otherwise than selfish; but it was none the less capable of ruling +him tyrannically.</p> +<p>Just at this moment his intensity of feeling made him physically +imposing and almost fascinating. It seemed to remove a veil from +his usually filmy black eyes, and give him power for once to throw +out all of truth that there was in his soul. It communicated to his +voice a tremor which made it eloquent. He exhaled, as it were, an +aroma of puissant emotion which was intoxicating, and which could +hardly fail to act upon the sensitive nature of woman. Clara was so +agitated by this influence, that for the moment she seemed to +herself to know no man in the world but Coronado. Even while she +tried to remember Thurstane, he vanished as if expelled by some +enchantment, and left her alone in life with her tempter. Still she +could not or would not answer; though she trembled, she remained +speechless.</p> +<p>"I have asked you to be my wife," resumed Coronado, seeing that +he must urge her. "I venture now to ask you again. I implore you +not to refuse me. I cannot be refused. It would make me utterly +wretched. It might perhaps bring wretchedness upon you. I hope not. +I could not wish you a pain, though you should give me many. My +very dear Clara, I offer you the only love of my life, and the only +love that I shall ever offer to any one. Will you take it?"</p> +<p>Clara was greatly moved. She could not doubt his sincerity; no +one who heard him could have doubted it; he <i>was</i> sincere. To +her, young, tender-hearted, capable of loving earnestly, beginning +already to know what love is, it seemed a horrible thing to spurn +affection. If it had not been for Thurstane, she would have taken +Coronado for pity.</p> +<p>"Oh, my cousin!" she sighed, and stopped there.</p> +<p>Coronado drew courage from the kindly title of relationship, +and, leaning gently towards her, attempted to take her hand. It was +a mistake; she was strangely shocked by his touch; she perceived +that she did not like him, and she drew away from him.</p> +<p>"Thank you for that word," he whispered. "Is it the kindest that +you can give me? Is there—?"</p> +<p>"Coronado!" she interrupted. "This is all an error. See here. I +am not an independent creature. I am a young girl. I owe some duty +somewhere. My father and mother are gone, but I have a grandfather. +Coronado, he is the head of my family, and I ought not to marry +without his permission. Why can you not wait until we are with +Muñoz?"</p> +<p>There she suddenly dropped her head between the palms of her +hands. It struck her that she was hypocritical; that even with the +consent of Muñoz she would not marry Coronado; that it was +her duty to tell him so.</p> +<p>"My cousin, I have not told the whole truth," she added, after a +terrible struggle. "I would not marry any one without first laying +the case before my grandfather. But that is not all. Coronado, I +cannot—no, I cannot marry you."</p> +<p>The man without a conscience, the man who was capable of +planning and ordering murder, turned pale under this +announcement.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding its commonness, notwithstanding that it has been +described until the subject is hackneyed, notwithstanding that it +has become a laughing-stock for many, even including poets and +novelists, there is probably no heart-pain keener than +disappointment in love. The shock of it is like a deep stab; it not +merely tortures, but it instantly sickens; the anguish is much, but +the sense of helplessness is more; the lover who is refused feels +not unlike the soldier who is wounded to death.</p> +<p>This sorrow compares in dignity and terror with the most sublime +sorrows of which humanity is capable. The death of a parent or +child, though rendered more imposing to the spectator by the +ceremonies of the sepulchre, does not chill the heart more deeply +than the death of love. It lasts also; many a human being has +carried the marks of it for life; and surely duration of effect is +proof of power. We are serious in making these declarations, +strange as they may seem to a satirical age. What we have said is +strictly true, notwithstanding the mockery of those who have never +loved, or the incredulity of those who, having loved, have never +lost. But probably only the wretchedly initiated will believe.</p> +<p>Coronado, though selfish, infamous, and atrocious, was so far +susceptible of affection that he was susceptible of suffering. The +simple fact of pallor in that hardened face was sufficient proof of +torture.</p> +<p>However, it stood him in hand to recover his self-possession and +plead his suit. There was too much at stake in this cause for him +to let it go without a struggle and a vehement one. Although he had +seen at once that the girl was in earnest, he tried to believe that +she was not so, and that he could move her.</p> +<p>"My dear cousin!" he implored in a voice that was mellow with +agitation, "don't decide against me at once and forever. I must +have some hope. Pity me."</p> +<p>"Ah, Coronado! Why will you?" urged Clara, in great trouble.</p> +<p>"I must! You must not stop me!" he persisted eagerly. "My life +is in it. I love you so that I don't know how I shall end if you +will not hearken to me. I shall be driven to desperation. Why do +you turn away from me? Is it my fault that I care for you? It is +your own. You are <i>so</i> beautiful!"</p> +<p>"Coronado, I wish I were very ugly," murmured Clara, for the +moment sincere in so wishing.</p> +<p>"Is there anything you dislike in me? I have been as kind as I +knew how to be."</p> +<p>"It is true, Coronado. You have overwhelmed me with your +goodness. I could go on my knees to thank you."</p> +<p>"Then—why?"</p> +<p>"Ah! why will you force me to say hard things? Don't you see +that it tortures me to refuse you?"</p> +<p>"Then why refuse me? Why torture us both?"</p> +<p>"Better a little pain now than much through life."</p> +<p>"Do you mean to say that you never can—?" He could not +finish the question.</p> +<p>"It is so, Coronado. I never could have said it myself. But you +have said it. I never shall love you."</p> +<p>Once more the man felt a cutting and sickening wound, as of a +bullet penetrating a vital part. Unable for the moment to say +another word, he rose and walked the room in silence.</p> +<p>"Coronado, you don't know how sorry I am to grieve you so," +cried the girl, almost sobbing. "It seems, too, as if I were +ungrateful. I can only beg your pardon for it, and pray that Heaven +will reward you."</p> +<p>"Heaven!" he returned impatiently. "You are my heaven. You are +the only heaven that I know."</p> +<p>"Oh, Coronado! Don't say that. I am a poor, sinful, unworthy +creature. Perhaps I could not make any one happy long. Believe me, +Coronado, I am not worthy to be loved as you love me."</p> +<p>"You are!" he said, turning on her passionately and advancing +close to her. "You are worthy of my life-long love, and you shall +have it. You shall have it, whether you wish it or not. You shall +not escape it. I will pursue you with it wherever you go and as +long as you live."</p> +<p>"Oh! You frighten me. Coronado, I beg of you not to talk to me +in that way. I am afraid of you."</p> +<p>"What is the cause of this?" he demanded, hoping to daunt her +into submission. "There is something in my way. What is it? Who is +it?"</p> +<p>Clara's paleness turned in an instant to scarlet.</p> +<p>"Who is it?" he went on, his voice suddenly becoming hoarse with +excitement. "It is some one. Is it this American? This boy of a +lieutenant?"</p> +<p>Clara, trembling with an agitation which was only in part +dismay, remained speechless.</p> +<p>"Is it?" he persisted, attempting to seize her hands and looking +her fiercely in the eyes. "Is it?"</p> +<p>"Coronado, stand back!" said Clara. "Don't you try to take my +hands!"</p> +<p>She was erect, her eyes flashing, her cheeks spotted with +crimson, her expression strangely imposing.</p> +<p>The man's courage drooped the moment he saw that she had turned +at bay. He walked to the other side of the room, pressed his +temples between his palms to quiet their throbbing, and made an +effort to recover his self-possession. When he returned to her, +after nearly a minute of silence, he spoke quite in his natural +manner.</p> +<p>"This must pass for the present," he said. "I see that it is +useless to talk to you of it now."</p> +<p>"I hope you are not angry with me, Coronado."</p> +<p>"Let it go," he replied, waving his hand. "I can't speak more of +it now."</p> +<p>She wanted to say, "Try never to speak of it again;" but she did +not dare to anger him further, and she remained silent.</p> +<p>"Shall we go to see the dance?" he asked.</p> +<p>"I will, if you wish it."</p> +<p>"But you would rather stay alone?"</p> +<p>"If you please, Coronado."</p> +<p>Bowing with an air of profound respect, he went his way alone, +glanced at the games of the Moquis, and hurried back to camp, +meditating as he went.</p> +<p>What now should be done? He was in a state of fury, full of +plottings of desperation, swearing to himself that he would show no +mercy. Thurstane must die at the first opportunity, no matter if +his death should kill Clara. And she? There he hesitated; he could +not yet decide what to do with her; could not resolve to abandon +her to the wilderness.</p> +<p>But to bring about any part of his projects he must plunge still +deeper into the untraversed. To him, by the way, as to many others +who have had murder at heart, it seemed as if the proper time and +place for it would never be found. Not now, but by and by; not +here, but further on. Yes, it must be further on; they must set out +as soon as possible for the San Juan country; they must get into +wilds never traversed by civilized man.</p> +<p>To go thither in wagons he had already learned was impossible. +The region was a mass of mountains and rocky plateaux, almost +entirely destitute of water and forage, and probably forever +impassable by wheels. The vehicles must be left here; the whole +party must take saddle for the northern desert; and then must come +death—or deaths.</p> +<p>But while Coronado was thus planning destruction for others, a +noiseless, patient, and ferocious enmity was setting its ambush for +him.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH17" id="CH17"><!-- CH17 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> +<p>Shortly after the safe arrival of the train at the base of the +Moqui bluff, and while the repulsed and retreating warriors of +Delgadito were still in sight two strange Indians cantered up to +the park of wagons.</p> +<p>They were fine-looking fellows, with high aquiline features, the +prominent cheek-bones and copper complexion of the red race, and a +bold, martial, trooper-like expression, which was not without its +wild good-humor and gayety. One was dressed in a white woollen +hunting-shirt belted around the waist, white woollen trousers or +drawers reaching to the knee, and deerskin leggins and moccasins. +The other had the same costume, except that his drawers were brown +and his hunting-shirt blue, while a blanket of red and black +stripes drooped from his shoulders to his heels. Their coarse black +hair was done up behind in thick braids, and kept out of their +faces by a broad band around the temples. Each had a lance eight or +ten feet long in his hand, and a bow and quiver slung at his +waist-belt. These men were Navajos (Na-va-hos).</p> +<p>Two jolly and impudent braves were these visitors. They ate, +smoked, lounged about, cracked jokes, and asked for liquor as +independently as if the camp were a tavern. Rebuffs only made them +grin, and favors only led to further demands. It was hard to say +whether they were most wonderful for good-nature or +impertinence.</p> +<p>Coronado was civil to them. The Navajos abide or migrate on the +south, the north, and the west of the Moqui pueblas. He was in a +manner within their country, and it was still necessary for him to +traverse a broad stretch of it, especially if he should attempt to +reach the San Juan. Besides, he wanted them to warn the Apaches out +of the neighborhood and thus avert from his head the vengeance of +Manga Colorada. Accordingly he gave this pair of roystering +troopers a plentiful dinner and a taste of aguardiente. Toward +sunset they departed in high good-humor, promising to turn back the +hoofs of the Apache horses; and when in the morning Coronado saw no +Indians on the plain, he joyously trusted that his visitors had +fulfilled their agreement.</p> +<p>Somewhere or other, within the next day or two, there was a +grand council of the two tribes. We know little of it; we can guess +that Manga Colorada must have made great concessions or splendid +promises to the Navajos; but it is only certain that he obtained +leave to traverse their country. Having secured this privilege, he +posted himself fifteen or twenty miles to the southwest of Tegua, +behind a butte which was extensive enough to conceal his wild +cavalry, even in its grazings. He undoubtedly supposed that, when +the train should quit its shelter, it would go to the west or to +the south. In either case he was in a position to fall upon it.</p> +<p>Did the savage know anything about Coronado? Had he attacked his +wagons without being aware that they belonged to the man who had +paid him five hundred dollars and sent him to harry Bernalillo? Or +had he attacked in full knowledge of this fact, because he had been +beaten off the southern trail, and believed that he had been lured +thither to be beaten? Had he learned, either from Apaches or +Navajos, whose hand it was that slew his boy? We can only ask these +questions.</p> +<p>One thing alone is positive: there was a debt of blood to be +paid. An Indian war is often the result of a private vendetta. The +brave is bound, not only by natural affection and family pride, but +still more powerfully by sense of honor and by public opinion, to +avenge the slaughter of a relative. Whether he wishes it or not, +and frequently no doubt when he does not wish it, he must black his +face, sing his death-song, set out alone if need be, encounter +labors, hardships, and dangers, and never rest until his sanguinary +account is settled. The tyranny of Mrs. Grundy in civilized cities +and villages is nothing to the despotism which she exercises among +those slaves of custom, the red men of the American wildernesses. +Manga Colorada, bereaved and with blackened face, lay in wait for +the first step of the emigrants outside of their city of +refuge.</p> +<p>We must return to Coronado. Although Clara's rejection of his +suit left him vindictively and desperately eager for a catastrophe +of some sort, a week elapsed before he dared take his mad plunge +into the northern desert. It was a hundred miles to the San Juan; +the intervening country was a waste of rocks, almost entirely +destitute of grass and water; the mules and horses must recruit +their full strength before they could undertake such a journey. +They must not only be strong enough to go, but they must have vital +force left to return.</p> +<p>It is astonishing what labors and dangers the man was willing to +face in his vain search for a spot where he might commit a crime in +safety. Such a spot is as difficult to discover as the Fountain of +Youth or the Terrestrial Paradise. More than once Coronado sickened +of his seemingly hopeless and ever lengthening pilgrimage of sin. +Not because it was sinful—he had little or no conscience, +remember—only because it was perplexing and perilous.</p> +<p>It was in vain that Thurstane protested against the crazy trip +northward. Coronado sometimes argued for his plan; said the route +improved as it approached the river; hoped the party would not be +broken up in this manner; declared that he could not spare his dear +friend the lieutenant. Another time he calmly smoked his cigarito, +looked at Thurstane with filmy, expressionless eyes, and said, "Of +course you are not obliged to accompany us."</p> +<p>"I have not the least intention of quitting you," was the rather +indignant reply of the young fellow.</p> +<p>At this declaration Coronado's long black eyebrows twitched, and +his lips curled with the smile of a puma, showing his teeth +disagreeably.</p> +<p>"My dear lieutenant, that is so like you!" he said. "I own that +I expected it. Many thanks."</p> +<p>Thurstane's blue-black eyes studied this enigmatic being +steadily and almost angrily. He could not at all comprehend the +fellow's bland obstinacy and recklessness.</p> +<p>"Very well," he said sullenly. "Let us start on our wild-goose +chase. What I object to is taking the women with us. As for myself, +I am anxious to reach the San Juan and get something to report +about it."</p> +<p>"The ladies will have a day or two of discomfort," returned +Coronado; "but you and I will see that they run no danger."</p> +<p>Nine days after the arrival of the emigrants at Tegua they set +out for the San Juan. The wagons were left parked at the base of +the butte under the care of the Moquis. The expedition was +reorganized as follows: On horseback, Clara, Coronado, Thurstane, +Texas Smith, and four Mexicans; on mules, Mrs. Stanley, Glover, the +three Indian women, the four soldiers, and the ten drivers and +muleteers. There were besides eighteen burden mules loaded with +provisions and other baggage. In all, five women, twenty-two men, +and forty-five animals.</p> +<p>The Moquis, to whom some stores and small presents were +distributed, overflowed with hospitable offices. The chief had a +couple of sheep slaughtered for the travellers, and scores of women +brought little baskets of meal, corn, guavas, etc. As the strangers +left the pueblo both sexes and all ages gathered on the landings, +grouped about the stairways and ladders which led down the rampart, +and followed for some distance along the declivity of the butte, +holding out their simple offerings and urging acceptance. Aunt +Maria was more than ever in raptures with Moquis and women.</p> +<p>The chief and several others accompanied the cavalcade for eight +or ten miles in order to set it on the right trail for the river. +But not one would volunteer as a guide; all shook their heads at +the suggestion. "Navajos! Apaches! Comanches!"</p> +<p>They had from the first advised against the expedition, and they +now renewed their expostulations. Scarcely any grass; no water +except at long distances; a barren, difficult, dangerous country: +such was the meaning of their dumb show. On the summit of a lofty +bluff which commanded a vast view toward the north, they took their +leave of the party, struck off in a rapid trot toward the pueblo, +and never relaxed their speed until they were out of sight.</p> +<p>The adventurers now had under their eyes a large part of the +region which they were about to traverse. For several miles the +landscape was rolling; then came elevated plateaux rising in +successive steps, the most remote being apparently sixty miles +away; and the colossal scene was bounded by isolated peaks, at a +distance which could not be estimated with anything like accuracy. +Ranges, buttes, pinnacles, monumental crags, gullies, shadowy +chasms, the beds of perished rivers, the stony wrecks left by +unrecorded deluges, diversified this monstrous, sublime, and savage +picture. Only here and there, separated by vast intervals of +barrenness, could be seen minute streaks of verdure. In general the +landscape was one of inhospitable sterility. It could not be +imagined by men accustomed only to fertile regions. It seemed to +have been taken from some planet not yet prepared for human, nor +even for beastly habitation. The emotion which it aroused was not +that which usually springs from the contemplation of the larger +aspects of nature. It was not enthusiasm; it was aversion and +despair.</p> +<p>Clara gave one look, and then drew her hat over her eyes with a +shudder, not wishing to see more. Aunt Maria, heroic and constant +as she was or tried to be, almost lost faith in Coronado and +glanced at him suspiciously. Thurstane, sitting bolt upright in his +saddle, stared straight before him with a grim frown, meanwhile +thinking of Clara. Coronado's eyes were filmy and incomprehensible; +he was planning, querying, fearing, almost trembling; when he gave +the word to advance, it was without looking up. There was a general +feeling that here before them lay a fate which could only be met +blindfold.</p> +<p>Now came a long descent, avoiding precipices and impracticable +slopes, winding from one stony foot-hill to another, until the +party reached what had seemed a plain. It was a plain because it +was amid mountains; a plain consisting of rolls, ridges, ravines, +and gullies; a plain with hardly an acre of level land. All day +they journeyed through its savage interstices and struggled with +its monstrosities of trap and sandstone. Twice they halted in +narrow valleys, where a little loam had collected and a little +moisture had been retained, affording meagre sustenance to some +thin grass and scattered bushes. The animals browsed, but there was +nothing for them to drink, and all began to suffer with thirst.</p> +<p>It was seven in the evening, and the sun had already gone down +behind the sullen barrier of a gigantic plateau, when they reached +the mouth of the cañon which had once contained a river, and +discovered by the merest accident that it still treasured a shallow +pool of stagnant water. The fevered mules plunged in headlong and +drank greedily; the riders were perforce obliged to slake their +thirst after them. There was a hastily eaten supper, and then came +the only luxury or even comfort of the day, the sound and delicious +sleep of great weariness.</p> +<p>Repose, however, was not for all, inasmuch as Thurstane had +reorganized his system of guard duty, and seven of the party had to +stand sentry. It was Coronado's <i>tour</i>; he had chosen to take +his watch at the start; there would be three nights on this +stretch, and the first would be the easiest. He was tired, for he +had been fourteen hours in the saddle, although the distance +covered was only forty miles. But much as he craved rest, he kept +awake until midnight, now walking up and down, and now smoking his +eternal cigarito.</p> +<p>There was a vast deal to remember, to plan, to hope for, to +dread, and to hate. Once he sat down beside the unconscious +Thurstane, and meditated shooting him through the head as he lay, +and so making an end of that obstacle. But he immediately put this +idea aside as a frenzy, generated by the fever of fatigue and +sleeplessness. A dozen times he was assaulted by a lazy or cowardly +temptation to give up the chances of the desert, push back to the +Bernalillo route, leave everything to fortune, and take +disappointment meekly if it should come. When the noon of night +arrived, he had decided upon nothing but to blunder ahead by sheer +force of momentum, as if he had been a rolling bowlder instead of a +clever, resolute Garcia Coronado.</p> +<p>The truth is, that his circumstances were too mighty for him. He +had launched them, but he could not steer them as he would, and +they were carrying him he knew not whither. At one o'clock he awoke +Texas Smith, who was now his sergeant of the guard; but instead of +enjoining some instant atrocity upon him, as he had more than once +that night purposed, he merely passed the ordinary instructions of +the watch; then, rolling himself in his blankets, he fell asleep as +quickly and calmly as an infant.</p> +<p>At daybreak commenced another struggle with the desert. It was +still sixty miles to the San Juan, over a series of savage +sandstone plateaux, said to be entirely destitute of water. If the +animals could not accomplish the distance in two days, it seemed as +if the party must perish. Coronado went at his work, so to speak, +head foremost and with his hat over his eyes. Nevertheless, when it +came to the details of his mad enterprise, he managed them +admirably. He was energetic, indefatigable, courageous, cheerful. +All day he was hurrying the cavalcade, and yet watching its ability +to endure. His "Forward, forward," alternated with his "Carefully, +carefully." Now "<i>Adelante</i>" and now "<i>Con juicio</i>"</p> +<p>About two in the afternoon they reached a little nook of sparse +grass, which the beasts gnawed perfectly bare in half an hour. No +water; the horses were uselessly jaded in searching for it; beds of +trap and gullies of ancient rivers were explored in vain; the +horrible rocky wilderness was as dry as a bone. Meanwhile, the +fatigue of scrambling and stumbling thus far had been enormous. It +had been necessary to ascend plateau after plateau by sinuous and +crumbling ledges, which at a distance looked impracticable to +goats. More than once, in face of some beetling precipice, or on +the brink of some gaping chasm, it seemed as if the journey had +come to an end. Long detours had to be made in order to connect +points which were only separated by slight intervals. The whole +region was seamed by the jagged zigzags of cañons worn by +rivers which had flowed for thousands of years, and then for +thousands of years more had been non-existent. If, at the +commencement of one of these mighty grooves, you took the wrong +side, you could not regain the trail without returning to the point +of error, for crossing was impossible.</p> +<p>A trail there was. It is by this route that the Utes and +Payoches of the Colorado come to trade with the Moquis or to +plunder them. But, as may be supposed, it is a journey which is not +often made even by savages; and the cavalcade, throughout the whole +of its desperate push, did not meet a human being. Amid the +monstrous expanse of uninhabited rock it seemed lost beyond +assistance, forsaken and cast out by mankind, doomed to a death +which was to have no spectator. Could you have seen it, you would +have thought of a train of ants endeavoring to cross a quarry; and +you would have judged that the struggle could only end in +starvation, or in some swifter destruction.</p> +<p>The most desperate venture of the travellers was amid the wrecks +of an extinct volcano. It seemed here as if the genius of fire had +striven to outdo the grotesque extravagances of the genii of the +waters. Crags, towers, and pinnacles of porphyry were mingled with +huge convoluted masses of light brown trachyte, of tufa either pure +white or white veined with crimson, of black and gray columnar +basalts, of red, orange, green, and black scoria, with adornments +of obsidian, amygdaloids, rosettes of quartz crystal and opalescent +chalcedony. A thousand stony needles lifted their ragged points as +if to defy the lightning. The only vegetation was a spiny cactus, +clinging closely to the rocks, wearing their grayish and yellowish +colors, lending no verdure to the scene, and harmonizing with its +thorny inhospitality.</p> +<p>As the travellers gazed on this wilderness of scorched summits, +glittering in the blazing sunlight, and yet drawing from it no +life—as stark, still, unsympathizing, and cruel as +death—they seemed to themselves to be out of the sweet world +of God, and to be in the power of malignant genii and demons. The +imagination cannot realize the feeling of depression which comes +upon one who finds himself imprisoned in such a landscape. Like +uttermost pain, or like the extremity of despair, it must be felt +in order to be known.</p> +<p>"It seems as if Satan had chosen this land for himself," was the +perfectly serious and natural remark of Thurstane.</p> +<p>Clara shuddered; the same impression was upon her mind; only she +felt it more deeply than he. Gentle, somewhat timorous, and very +impressionable, she was almost overwhelmed by the terrific +revelations of a nature which seemed to have no pity, or rather +seemed full of malignity. Many times that day she had prayed in her +heart that God would help them. Apparently detached from earth, she +was seeking nearness to heaven. Her look at this moment was so +awe-struck and piteous, that the soul of the man who loved her +yearned to give her courage.</p> +<p>"Miss Van Diemen, it shall all turn out well," he said, striking +his fist on the pommel of his saddle.</p> +<p>"Oh! why did we come here?" she groaned.</p> +<p>"I ought to have prevented it," he replied, angry with himself. +"But never mind. Don't be troubled. It shall all be right. I pledge +my life to bring it all to a good end."</p> +<p>She gave him a look of gratitude which would have repaid him for +immediate death. This is not extravagant; in his love for her he +did not value himself; he had the sublime devotion of immense +adoration.</p> +<p>That night another loamy nook was found, clothed with a little +thin grass, but waterless. Some of the animals suffered so with +thirst that they could not graze, and uttered doleful whinneys of +distress. As it was the Lieutenant's tour on guard, he had plenty +of time to study the chances of the morrow.</p> +<p>"Kelly, what do you think of the beasts?" he said to the old +soldier who acted as his sergeant.</p> +<p>"One more day will finish them, Leftenant."</p> +<p>"We have been fifteen hours in the saddle. We have made about +thirty-five miles. There are twenty-five miles more to the river. +Do you think we can crawl through?"</p> +<p>"I should say, Leftenant, we could just do it."</p> +<p>At daybreak the wretched animals resumed their hideous struggle. +There was a plateau for them to climb at the start, and by the time +this labor was accomplished they were staggering with weakness, so +that a halt had to be ordered on the windy brink of the acclivity. +Thurstane, according to his custom, scanned the landscape with his +field-glass, and jotted down topographical notes in his journal. +Suddenly he beckoned to Coronado, quietly put the glass in his +hands, nodded toward the desert which lay to the rear, and +whispered, "Look."</p> +<p>Coronado looked, turned slightly more yellow than his wont, and +murmured "Apaches!"</p> +<p>"How far off are they?"</p> +<p>"About ten miles," judged Coronado, still gazing intently.</p> +<p>"So I should say. How do you know they are Apaches?"</p> +<p>"Who else would follow us?" asked the Mexican, remembering the +son of Manga Colorada.</p> +<p>"It is another race for life," calmly pronounced Thurstane, +facing about toward the caravan and making a signal to mount.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH18" id="CH18"><!-- CH18 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> +<p>Yes, it was a life and death race between the emigrants and the +Apaches for the San Juan. Positions of defence were all along the +road, but not one of them could be held for a day, all being +destitute of grass and water.</p> +<p>"There is no need of telling the ladies at once," said Thurstane +to Coronado, as they rode side by side in rear of the caravan. "Let +them be quiet as long as they can be. Their trouble will come soon +enough."</p> +<p>"How many were there, do you think?" was the reply of a man who +was much occupied with his own chances. "Were there a hundred?"</p> +<p>"It's hard to estimate a mere black line like that. Yes, there +must be a hundred, besides stragglers. Their beasts have suffered, +of course, as well as ours. They have come fast, and there must be +a lot in the rear. Probably both bands are along."</p> +<p>"The devils!" muttered Coronado. "I hope to God they will all +perish of thirst and hunger. The stubborn, stupid devils! Why +should they follow us <i>here</i>?" he demanded, looking furiously +around upon the accursed landscape.</p> +<p>"Indian revenge. We killed too many of them."</p> +<p>"Yes," said Coronado, remembering anew the son of the chief. +"Damn them! I wish we could have killed them all."</p> +<p>"That is just what we must try to do," returned Thurstane +deliberately.</p> +<p>"The question is," he resumed after a moment of business-like +calculation of chances—"the question is mainly this, whether +we can go twenty-five miles quicker than they can go thirty-five. +We must be the first to reach the river."</p> +<p>"We can spare a few beasts," said Coronado. "We must leave the +weakest behind."</p> +<p>"We must not give up provisions."</p> +<p>"We can eat mules."</p> +<p>"Not till the last moment. We shall need them to take us +back."</p> +<p>Coronado inwardly cursed himself for venturing into this +inferno, the haunting place of devils in human shape. Then his mind +wandered to Saratoga, New York, Newport, and the other earthly +heavens that were known to him. He hummed an air; it was the +<i>brindisi</i> of Lucrezia Borgia; it reminded him of pleasures +which now seemed lost forever; he stopped in the middle of it. +Between the associations which it excited—the images of +gayety and splendor, real or feigned—a commingling of kid +gloves, bouquets, velvet cloaks, and noble names—between +these glories which so attracted his hungry soul and the present +environment of hideous deserts and savage pursuers, what a contrast +there was! There, far away, was the success for which he longed; +here, close at hand, was the peril which must purchase it. At that +moment he was willing to deny his bargain with Garcia and the +devil. His boldest desire was, "Oh that I were in Santa +Fé!"</p> +<p>By Coronado's side rode a man who had not a thought for himself. +A person who has not passed years in the army can hardly imagine +the sense of <i>responsibility</i> which is ground into the +character of an officer. He is a despot, but a despot who is +constantly accountable for the welfare of his subjects, and who +never passes a day without many grave thoughts of the despots above +him. Superior officers are in a manner his deities, and the Army +Regulations have for him the weight of Scripture. He never forgets +by what solemn rules of duty and honor he will be judged if he +falls short of his obligations. This professional conscience +becomes a destiny to him, and guides his life to an extent +inconceivable by most civilians. He acquires a habit of watching +and caring for others; he cannot help assuming a charge which falls +in his way. When he is not governed by the rule of obedience, he is +governed by the rule of responsibility. The two make up his duty, +and to do his duty is his existence.</p> +<p>At this moment our young West Pointer, only twenty-three or four +years old, was gravely and grimly anxious for his four soldiers, +for all these people whom circumstance had placed under his +protection, and even for his army mules, provisions, and +ammunition. His only other sentiment was a passionate desire to +prevent harm or even fear from approaching Clara Van Diemen. These +two sentiments might be said to make up for the present his entire +character. As we have already observed, he had not a thought for +himself.</p> +<p>Presently it occurred to the youngster that he ought to cheer on +his fellow-travellers.</p> +<p>Trotting up with a smile to Mrs. Stanley and Clara, he asked, +"How do you bear it?"</p> +<p>"Oh, I am almost dead," groaned Aunt Maria. "I shall have to be +tied on before long."</p> +<p>The poor woman, no longer youthful, it must be remembered, was +indeed badly jaded. Her face was haggard; her general get-up was in +something like scarecrow disorder; she didn't even care how she +looked. So fagged was she that she had once or twice dozed in the +saddle and come near falling.</p> +<p>"It was outrageous to bring us here," she went on pettishly. +"Ladies shouldn't be dragged into such hardships."</p> +<p>Thurstane wanted to say that he was not responsible for the +journey; but he would not, because it did not seem manly to shift +all the blame upon Coronado.</p> +<p>"I am very, very sorry," was his reply. "It is a frightful +journey."</p> +<p>"Oh, frightful, frightful!" sighed Aunt Maria, twisting her +aching back.</p> +<p>"But it will soon be over," added the officer. "Only twenty +miles more to the river."</p> +<p>"The river! It seems to me that I could live if I could see a +river. Oh, this desert! These perpetual rocks! Not a green thing to +cool one's eyes. Not a drop of water. I seem to be drying up, like +a worm in the sunshine."</p> +<p>"Is there no water in the flasks?" asked Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Yes," said Clara. "But my aunt is feverish with fatigue."</p> +<p>"What I want is the sight of it—and rest," almost +whimpered the elder lady.</p> +<p>"Will our horses last?" asked Clara. "Mine seems to suffer a +great deal."</p> +<p>"They <i>must</i> last," replied Thurstane, grinding his teeth +quite privately. "Oh, yes, they will last," he immediately added. +"Even if they don't, we have mules enough."</p> +<p>"But how they moan! It makes me cringe to hear them."</p> +<p>"Twenty miles more," said Thurstane. "Only six hours at the +longest. Only half a day."</p> +<p>"It takes less than half a day for a woman to die," muttered the +nearly desperate Aunt Maria.</p> +<p>"Yes, when she sets about it," returned the officer. "But we +haven't set about it, Mrs. Stanley. And we are not going to."</p> +<p>The weary lady had no response ready for words of cheer; she +leaned heavily over the pommel of her saddle and rode on in +silence.</p> +<p>"Ain't the same man she was," slyly observed Phineas Glover with +a twist of his queer physiognomy.</p> +<p>Thurstane, though not fond of Mrs. Stanley, would not now laugh +at her expense, and took no notice of the sarcasm. Glover, fearful +lest he had offended, doubled the gravity of his expression and +tacked over to a fresh subject.</p> +<p>"Shouldn't know whether to feel proud 'f myself or not, 'f I'd +made this country, Capm. Depends on what 'twas meant for. If 'twas +meant to live in, it's the poorest outfit I ever did see. If 'twas +meant to scare folks, it's jest up to the mark. 'Nuff to frighten a +crow into fits. Capm, it fairly seems more than airthly; puts me in +mind 'f things in the Pilgrim's Progress—only worse. Sh'd say +it was like five thousin' Valleys 'f the Shadow 'f Death tangled +together. Tell ye, believe Christian 'd 'a' backed out 'f he'd had +to travel through here. Think Mr. Coronado 's all right in his top +hamper, Capm? Do, hey? Wal, then I'm all wrong; guess I'm 's +crazy's a bedbug. Wouldn't 'a'ketched me steerin' this course of my +own free will 'n' foreknowledge. Jest look at the land now. Don't +it look like the bottomless pit blowed up 'n' gone to smash? Tell +ye, 'f the Old Boy himself sh'd ride up alongside, shouldn't be a +mite s'prised to see him. Sh'd reckon he had a much bigger right to +be s'prised to ketch me here."</p> +<p>After some further riding, shaking his sandy head, staring about +him and whistling, he broke out again.</p> +<p>"Tell ye, Capm, this beats my imagination. Used to think I c'd +yarn it pooty consid'able. But never can tell this. Never can do no +manner 'f jestice to it. Look a there now. There's a nateral +bridge, or 'n unnateral one. There's a hole blowed through a forty +foot rock 's clean 's though 'twas done with Satan's own +field-piece, sech 's Milton tells about. An' there's a steeple +higher 'n our big one in Fair Haven. An' there's a church, 'n' a +haystack. If the devil hain't done his biggest celebratin' 'n' +carpenterin' 'n' farmin' round here, d'no 's I know where he has +done it. Beats <i>me</i>, Capm; cleans me out. Can't do no jestice +to it. Can't talk about it. Seems to me 's though I was a +fool."</p> +<p>Yes, even Phineas Glover's small and sinewy soul (a psyche of +the size, muscular force, and agility of a flea) had been seized, +oppressed, and in a manner smashed by the hideous sublimity of this +wilderness of sandstone, basalt, and granite.</p> +<p>Two hours passed, during which, from the nature of the ground, +the travellers could neither see nor be seen by their pursuers. +Then came a breathless ascent up another of the monstrous sandstone +terraces. Thurstane ordered every man to dismount, so as to spare +the beasts as much as possible. He walked by the side of Clara, +patting, coaxing, and cheering her suffering horse, and +occasionally giving a heave of his solid shoulder against the +trembling haunches.</p> +<p>"Let me walk," the girl presently said. "I can't bear to see the +poor beast so worried."</p> +<p>"It would be better, if you can do it," he replied, remembering +that she might soon have to call upon the animal for speed.</p> +<p>She dismounted, clasped her hands over his arm, and clambered +thus. From time to time, when some rocky step was to be surmounted, +he lifted her bodily up it.</p> +<p>"How can you be so strong?" she said, looking at him wonderingly +and gratefully.</p> +<p>"Miss Van Diemen, you give me strength," he could not help +responding.</p> +<p>At last they were at the summit of the rugged slope. The animals +were trembling and covered with sweat; some of them uttered piteous +whinnyings, or rather bleatings, like distressed sheep; five or six +lay down with hollow moans and rumblings. It was absolutely +necessary to take a short rest.</p> +<p>Looking ahead, Thurstane saw that they had reached the top of +the tableland which lies south of the San Juan, and that nothing +was before them for the rest of the day but a rolling plateau +seamed with meandering fissures of undiscoverable depth. +Traversable as the country was, however, there was one reason for +extreme anxiety. If they should lose the trail, if they should get +on the wrong side of one of those profound and endless chasms, they +might reach the river at a point where descent to it would be +impossible, and might die of thirst within sight of water. For +undoubtedly the San Juan flowed at the bottom of one of those +amazing cañons which gully this Mer de Glace in stone.</p> +<p>An error of direction once committed, the enemy would not give +them time to retrieve it, and they would be slaughtered like mad +dogs with the foam on their mouths.</p> +<p>Thurstane remembered that it would be his terrible duty in the +last extremity to send a bullet through the heart of the woman he +worshipped, rather than let her fall into the hands of brutes who +would only grant her a death of torture and dishonor. Even his +steady soul failed for a moment, and tears of desperation gathered +in his eyes. For the first time in years he looked up to heaven and +prayed fervently.</p> +<p>From the unknown destiny ahead he turned to look for the fate +which pursued. Walking with Coronado to the brink of the colossal +terrace, and sheltering himself from the view of the rest of the +party, he scanned the trail with his glass. The dark line had now +become a series of dark specks, more than a hundred and fifty in +number, creeping along the arid floor of the lower plateau, and +reminding him of venomous insects.</p> +<p>"They are not five miles from us," shuddered the Mexican. +"Cursed beasts! Devils of hell!"</p> +<p>"They have this hill to climb," said Thurstane, "and, if I am +not mistaken, they will have to halt here, as we have done. Their +ponies must be pretty well fagged by this time."</p> +<p>"They will get a last canter out of them," murmured Coronado. +His soul was giving way under his hardships, and it would have been +a solace to him to weep aloud. As it was, he relieved himself with +a storm of blasphemies. Oaths often serve to a man as tears do to a +woman.</p> +<p>"We must trot now," he said presently.</p> +<p>"Not yet. Not till they are within half a mile of us. We must +spare our wind up to the last minute."</p> +<p>They were interrupted by a cry of surprise and alarm. Several of +the muleteers had strayed to the edge of the declivity, and had +discovered with their unaided eyesight the little cloud of death in +the distance. Texas Smith approached, looked from under his shading +hand, muttered a single curse, walked back to his horse, inspected +his girths, and recapped his rifle. In a minute it was known +throughout the train that Apaches were in the rear. Without a word +of direction, and in a gloomy silence which showed the general +despair, the march was resumed. There was a disposition to force a +trot, which was promptly and sternly checked by Thurstane. His +voice was loud and firm; he had instinctively assumed +responsibility and command; no one disputed him or thought of +it.</p> +<p>Three mules which could not rise were left where they lay, +feebly struggling to regain their feet and follow their comrades, +but falling back with hollow groanings and a kind of human despair +in their faces. Mile after mile the retreat continued, always at a +walk, but without halting. It was long before the Apaches were seen +again, for the ascent of the plateau lost them a considerable +space, and after that they were hidden for a time by its +undulations. But about four in the afternoon, while the emigrants +were still at least five miles from the river, a group of savage +horsemen rose on a knoll not more than three miles behind, and +uttered a yell of triumph. There was a brief panic, and another +attempt to push the animals, which Thurstane checked with levelled +pistol.</p> +<p>The train had already entered a gully. As this gully advanced it +rapidly broadened and deepened into a cañon. It was the +track of an extinct river which had once flowed into the San Juan +on its way to the distant Pacific. Its windings hid the desired +goal; the fugitives must plunge into it blindfold; whatever fate it +brought them, they must accept it. They were like men who should +enter the cavern of unknown goblins to escape from demons who were +following visibly on their footsteps.</p> +<p>From time to time they heard ferocious yells in their rear, and +beheld their fiendish pursuers, now also in the cañon. It +was like Christian tracking the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and +listening to the screams and curses of devils. At every +reappearance of the Apaches they had diminished the distance +between themselves and their expected prey, and at last they were +evidently not more than a mile behind. But there in sight was the +river; there, enclosed in one of its bends, was an alluvial plain; +rising from the extreme verge of the plain, and overhanging the +stream, was a bluff; and on this bluff was what seemed to be a +fortress.</p> +<p>Thurstane sent all the horsemen to the rear of the train, took +post himself as the rearmost man, measured once more with his eye +the space between his charge and the enemy, cast an anxious glance +at the reeling beast which bore Clara, and in a firm ringing voice +commanded a trot.</p> +<p>The order and the movement which followed it were answered by +the Indians with a yell. The monstrous and precipitous walls of the +cañon clamored back a fiendish mockery of echoes which +seemed to call for the prowlers of the air to arrive quickly and +devour their carrion.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH19" id="CH19"><!-- CH19 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> +<p>The scene was like one of Doré's most extravagant designs +of abysses and shadows. The gorge through which swept this silent +flight and screaming chase was not more than two hundred feet wide, +while it was at least fifteen hundred feet deep, with walls that +were mainly sheer precipices.</p> +<p>As the fugitives broke into a trot, the pursuers quickened their +pace to a slow canter. No faster; they were too wise to rush within +range of riflemen who could neither be headed off nor flanked; and +their hardy mustangs were nearly at the last gasp with thirst and +with the fatigue of this tremendous journey. Four hundred yards +apart the two parties emerged from the sublime portal of the +cañon and entered upon the little alluvial plain.</p> +<p>To the left glittered the river; but the trail did not turn in +that direction; it led straight at the bluff in the elbow of the +current. The mules and horses followed it in a pack, guided by +their acute scent toward the nearest water, a still invisible +brooklet which ran at the base of the butte. Presently, while yet a +mile from the stream, they were seized by a mania. With a loud +beastly cry they broke simultaneously into a run, nostrils +distended and quivering, eyes bloodshot and protruding, heads +thrust forward with fierce eagerness, ungovernably mad after water. +There was no checking the frantic stampede which from this moment +thundered with constantly increasing speed across the plain. No +order; the stronger jostled the weaker; loads were flung to the +ground and scattered; the riders could scarcely keep their seats. +Spun out over a line of twenty rods, the cavalcade was the image of +senseless rout.</p> +<p>Of course Thurstane was furious at this seemingly fatal +dispersion; and he trumpeted forth angry shouts of "Steady there in +front! Close up in the rear!"</p> +<p>But before long he guessed the truth—water! "They will +rally at the drinking place," he thought. "Forward the mules!" he +yelled. "Steady, you men here! Hold in your horses. Keep in rear of +the women. I'll shoot the man who takes the lead."</p> +<p>But even Spanish bits could do no more than detain the horses a +rod or two behind the beasts of burden, and the whole panting, +snorting mob continued to rush over the loamy level with +astonishing swiftness.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the leading Apaches, not now more than fifty in +number, were swept along by the same whirlwind of brute instinct. +They diverged a little from the trail; their object apparently was +to overlap the train and either head it off or divide it; but their +beasts were too frantic to be governed fully. Before long there +were two lines of straggling flight, running parallel with each +other at a distance of perhaps one hundred yards, and both storming +toward the still unseen rivulet. A few arrows were thrown; four or +five unavailing shots were fired in return; the hiss of shaft and +<i>ping</i> of ball crossed each other in air; but no serious and +effective fight commenced or could commence. Both parties, guided +and mastered by their lolling beasts, almost without conflict and +almost without looking at each other, converged helplessly toward a +verdant, shallow depression, through the centre of which loitered a +clear streamlet scarcely less calm than the heaven above. Next they +were all together, panting, plunging, splashing, drinking, mules +and horses, white men and red men, all with no other thought than +to quench their thirst.</p> +<p>The Apaches, who had probably made their cruel journey without +flasks, seemed for the moment insatiable and utterly reckless. Many +of them rolled off their tottering ponies into the rivulet, and +plunging down their heads drank like beasts. There were a few +minutes of the strangest peace that ever was seen. It was in vain +that two or three of the hardier or fiercer Chiefs and braves +shouted and gestured to their comrades, as if urging them to +commence the attack. Manga Colorada, absorbed by a thirst which was +more burning than revenge, did not at first see the slayer of his +boy, and when he did could not move toward him because of fevered +mustangs, who would not budge from their drinking, or who were +staggering blind with hunger. Thurstane, keeping his horse beside +Clara's, watched the lean figure and restless, irritable face of +Delgadito, not ten yards distant. Mrs. Stanley had halted +helplessly so near an Apache boy that he might have thrust her +through with his lance had he not been solely intent upon +water.</p> +<p>It was fortunate for the emigrants that they had reached the +stream a few seconds the sooner. Their thirst was first satiated; +and then men and animals began to draw away from their enemies; for +even the mules of white men instinctively dread and detest the red +warriors. This movement was accelerated by Thurstane, Coronado, +Texas Smith, and Sergeant Meyer calling to one and another in +English and Spanish, "This way! this way!" There seemed to be a +chance of massing the party and getting it to some distance before +the Indians could turn their thoughts to blood.</p> +<p>But the manoeuvre was only in part accomplished when battle +commenced. Little Sweeny, finding that his mule was being crowded +by an Apache's horse, uttered some indignant yelps. "Och, ye bloody +naygur! Get away wid yerself. Get over there where ye b'long."</p> +<p>This request not being heeded, he made a clumsy punch with his +bayonet and brought the blood. The warrior uttered a grunt of pain, +cast a surprised angry stare at the shaveling of a Paddy, and +thrust with his lance. But he was probably weak and faint; the +weapon merely tore the uniform. Sweeny instantly fired, and brought +down another Apache, quite accidentally. Then, banging his mule +with his heels, he splashed up to Thurstane with the explanation, +"Liftinant, they're the same bloody naygurs. Wan av um made a poke +at me, Liftinant."</p> +<p>"Load your beece!" ordered Sergeant Meyer sternly, "und face the +enemy."</p> +<p>By this time there was a fierce confusion of plungings and +outcries. Then came a hiss of arrows, followed instantaneously by +the scream of a wounded man, the report of several muskets, a +pinging of balls, more yells of wounded, and the splash of an +Apache in the water. The little streamlet, lately all crystal and +sunshine, was now turbid and bloody. The giant portals of the +cañon, although more than a mile distant, sent back echoes +of the musketry. Another battle rendered more horrible the stark, +eternal horror of the desert.</p> +<p>"This way!" Thurstane continued to shout. "Forward, you women; +up the hill with you. Steady, men. Face the enemy. Don't throw away +a shot. Steady with the firing. Steady!"</p> +<p>The hostile parties were already thirty or forty yards apart; +and the emigrants, drawing loosely up the slope, were increasing +the distance. Manga Colorada spurred to the front of his people, +shaking his lance and yelling for a charge. Only half a dozen +followed him; his horse fell almost immediately under a rifle ball; +one of the braves picked up the chief and bore him away; the rest +dispersed, prancing and curveting. The opportunity for mingling +with the emigrants and destroying them in a series of single +combats was lost.</p> +<p>Evidently the Apaches, and their mustangs still more, were unfit +for fight. The forty-eight hours of hunger and thirst, and the +prodigious burst of one hundred and twenty miles up and down rugged +terraces, had nearly exhausted their spirits as well as their +strength, and left them incapable of the furious activity necessary +in a cavalry battle. The most remarkable proof of their physical +and moral debilitation was that in all this mêlée not +more than a dozen of them had discharged an arrow.</p> +<p>If they would not attack they must retreat, and that speedily. +At fifty yards' range, armed only with bows and spears, they were +at the mercy of riflemen and could stand only to be slaughtered. +There was a hasty flight, scurrying zigzag, right and left, rearing +and plunging, spurring the last caper out of their mustangs, the +whole troop spreading widely, a hundred marks and no good one. +Nevertheless Texas Smith's miraculous aim brought down first a +warrior and then a horse.</p> +<p>By the time the Apaches were out of range the emigrants were +well up the slope of the hill which occupied the extreme elbow of +the bend in the river. It was a bluff or butte of limestone which +innumerable years had converted into marl, and for the most part +into earth. A thin turf covered it; here and there were thickets; +more rarely trees. Presently some one remarked that the sides were +terraced. It was true; there were the narrow flats of soil which +had once been gardens; there too were the supporting walls, more or +less ruinous. Curious eyes now turned toward the seeming mound on +the summit, querying whether it might not be the remains of an +antique pueblo.</p> +<p>At this instant Clara uttered a cry of anxiety, "Where is +Pepita?"</p> +<p>The girl was gone; a hasty looking about showed that; but +whither? Alas! the only solution to this enigma must be the +horrible word, "Apaches." It seemed the strangest thing +conceivable; one moment with the party, and the next vanished; one +moment safe, and the next dead or doomed. Of course the kidnapping +must have been accomplished during the frenzied riot in the stream, +when the two bands were disentangling amid an uproar of plungings, +yells, and musket shots. The girl had probably been stunned by a +blow, and then either left to float down the brook or dragged off +by some muscular warrior.</p> +<p>There was a halt, an eager and prolonged lookout over the plain, +a scanning of the now distant Indians through field glasses. Then +slowly and sadly the train resumed its march and mounted to the +summit of the butte.</p> +<p>Here, in this land of marvels, there was a new marvel. +Incredible as the thing seemed, so incredible that they had not at +first believed their eyes, they were at the base of the walls of a +fortress. A confused, general murmur broke forth of "Ruins! +Pueblos! Casas Grandes! Casas de Montezuma!"</p> +<p>The architecture, unlike that of Tegua, but similar to that of +the ruins of the Gila, was of adobes. Large cakes of mud, four or +five feet long and two feet thick, had been moulded in cases, dried +in the sun, and laid in regular courses to the height of twenty +feet. Centuries (perhaps) of exposure to weather had so cracked, +guttered, and gnawed this destructible material, that at a distance +the pile looked not unlike the natural monuments which fire and +water have builded in this enchanted land, and had therefore not +been recognized by the travellers as human handiwork.</p> +<p>What they now saw was a rampart which ran along the brow of the +bluff for several hundred yards. Originally twenty feet high, it +had been so fissured by the rains and crumbled by the winds, that +it resembled a series of peaks united here and there in a plane +surface. Some of the gaps reached nearly to the ground, and through +these it could be seen that the wall was five feet across, a single +adobe forming the entire thickness. All along the base the dampness +of the earth had eaten away the clay, so that in many places the +structure was tottering to its fall.</p> +<p>Filing to the left a few yards, the emigrants found a deep +fissure through which the animals stumbled one by one over mounds +of crumbled adobes. Thurstane, entering last, looked around him in +wonder. He was inside a quadrilateral enclosure, apparently four +hundred yards in length by two hundred and fifty in breadth, the +walls throughout being the same mass of adobe work, fissured, +jagged, gray, solemn, and in their utter solitariness sublime.</p> +<p>But this was not the whole ruin; the fortress had a citadel. In +one corner of the enclosure stood a tower-like structure, +forty-five or fifty feet square and thirty in altitude, surmounted +on its outer angle by a smaller tower, also four-sided, which rose +some twelve or fourteen feet higher. It was not isolated, but built +into an angle of the outer rampart, so as to form with it one solid +mass of fortification. The material was adobe; but, unlike the +other ruins, it was in good condition; some species of roofing had +preserved the walls from guttering; not a crevice deformed their +gray, blank, dreary faces.</p> +<p>Instinctively and without need of command the emigrants had +pushed on toward this edifice. It was to be their fortress; in it +and around it they must fight for life against the Apaches; here, +where a nameless people had perished, they must conquer or perish +also. Thurstane posted Kelly and one of the Mexicans on the +exterior wall to watch the movements of the savage horde in the +plain below. Then he followed the others to the deserted +citadel.</p> +<p>Two doorways, one on each of the faces which looked into the +enclosure, offered ingress. They were similar in size and shape, +seven feet and a half in height by four in breadth, and tapering +toward the summit like the portals of the temple-builders of +Central America. Inside were solid mud floors, strewn with gray +dust and showing here and there a gleam of broken pottery, the +whole brooded over by obscurity. It was discoverable, however, that +the room within was of considerable height and size.</p> +<p>There was a hesitation about entering. It seemed as if the +ghosts of the nameless people forbade it. This had been the abode +of men who perhaps inhabited America before the coming of Columbus. +Here possibly the ancestors of Montezuma had stayed their +migrations from the mounds of the Ohio to the pyramids of Cholula +and Tenochtitlan. Or here had lived the Moquis, or the Zunians, or +the Lagunas, before they sought refuge from the red tribes of the +north upon the buttes south of the Sierra del Carrizo. Here at all +events had once palpitated a civilization which was now a +ghost.</p> +<p>"This is to be our home for a little while," said Thurstane to +Clara. "Will you dismount? I will run in and turn out the snakes, +if there are any. Sergeant, keep your men and a few others ready to +repel an attack. Now, fellows, off with the packs."</p> +<p>Producing a couple of wax tapers, he lighted them, handed one to +Coronado, and led the way into the silent Casa de Montezuma. They +were in a hall about ten feet high, fifteen feet broad, and forty +feet long, which evidently ran across the whole front of the +building. The walls were hard-finished and adorned with etchings in +vermilion of animals, geometrical figures, and nondescript +grotesques, all of the rudest design and disposed without regard to +order. A doorway led into a small central room, and from that +doorways opened into three more rooms, one on each side.</p> +<p>The ceilings of all the rooms were supported by unhewn beams, +five or six inches thick, deeply inserted into the adobe walls. In +the ceiling of the rearmost hall (the one which had no direct +outlet upon the enclosure) was a trapdoor which offered the only +access to the stories above. A rude but solid ladder, consisting of +two beams with steps chopped into them, was still standing here. +With a vague sense of intrusion, half expecting that the old +inhabitants would appear and order them away, Thurstane and +Coronado ascended. The second story resembled the first, and above +was another of the same pattern. Then came a nearly flat roof; and +here they found something remarkable. It was a solid sheathing or +tiling, made of slates of baked and glazed pottery, laid with great +exactness, admirably cemented and projecting well over the eaves. +This it was which had enabled the adobes beneath to endure for +years, and perhaps for centuries, in spite of the lapping of rains +and the gnawing of winds.</p> +<p>On the outermost corner of the structure, overlooking the +eddying, foaming bend of the San Juan, rose the isolated tower. It +contained a single room, walled with hard-finish and profusely +etched with figures in vermilion. No furniture anywhere, nor +utensils, nor relics, excepting bits of pottery, precisely such as +is made now by the Moquis, various in color, red, white, grayish, +and black, much of it painted inside as well as out, and all +adorned with diamond patterns and other geometrical outlines.</p> +<p>"I have seen Casas Grandes in other places," said Coronado, "but +nothing like this. This is the only one that I ever found entire. +The others are in ruins, the roofs fallen in, the beams charred, +etc."</p> +<p>"This was not taken," decided the Lieutenant, after a tactical +meditation. "This must have been abandoned by its inhabitants. +Pestilence, or starvation, or migration."</p> +<p>"We can beat off all the Apaches in New Mexico," observed +Coronado, with something like cheerfulness.</p> +<p>"We can whip everything but our own stomachs," replied +Thurstane.</p> +<p>"We have as much food as those devils."</p> +<p>"But water?" suggested the forethoughted West Pointer.</p> +<p>It was a horrible doubt, for if there was no water in the +enclosure, they were doomed to speedy and cruel death, unless they +could beat the Indians in the field and drive them away from the +rivulet.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH20" id="CH20"><!-- CH20 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> +<p>When Thurstane came out of the Casa Grande he would have given +some years of his life to know that there was water in the +enclosure.</p> +<p>Yet so well disciplined was the soul of this veteran of +twenty-three, and so thoroughly had he acquired the wise soldierly +habit of wearing a mask of cheer over trouble, that he met Clara +and Mrs. Stanley with a smile and a bit of small talk.</p> +<p>"Ladies, can you keep house?" he said. "There are sixteen rooms +ready for you. The people who moved out haven't left any trumpery. +Nothing wanted but a little sweeping and dusting and a stair +carpet."</p> +<p>"We will keep house," replied Clara with a laugh, the girlish +gayety of which delighted him.</p> +<p>Assuming a woman's rightful empire over household matters, she +began to direct concerning storage, lodgment, cooking, etc. Sharp +as the climbing was, she went through all the stories and inspected +every room, selecting the chamber in the tower for herself and Mrs. +Stanley.</p> +<p>"I never can get up in this world," declared Aunt Maria, staring +in dismay at the rude ladder. "So this is what Mr. Thurstane meant +by talking about a stair carpet! It was just like him to joke on +such a matter. I tell you I never can go up."</p> +<p>"Av coorse ye can get up," broke in little Sweeny impatiently. +"All ye've got to do is to put wan fut above another an' howld on +wid yer ten fingers."</p> +<p>"I should like to see <i>you</i> do it," returned Aunt Maria, +looking indignantly at the interfering Paddy.</p> +<p>Sweeny immediately shinned up the stepped beam, uttered a neigh +of triumphant laughter from the top, and then skylarked down +again.</p> +<p>"Well, <i>you</i> are a man," observed the strong-minded lady, +somewhat discomfited. "Av coorse I'm a man," yelped Sweeny. "Who +said I wasn't? He's a lying informer. Ha ha, hoo hoo, ho ho!"</p> +<p>Thus incited, pulled at moreover from above and boosted from +below, Aunt Maria mounted ladder after ladder until she stood on +the roof of the Casa Grande.</p> +<p>"If I ever go down again, I shall have to drop," she gasped. "I +never expected when I came on this journey to be a sailor and climb +maintops."</p> +<p>"Lieutenant Thurstane is waving his hand to us," said Clara, +with a smile like sunlight.</p> +<p>"Let him wave," returned Mrs. Stanley, weary, disconsolate, and +out of patience with everything. "I must say it's a poor place to +be waving hands."</p> +<p>Meantime Thurstane had beckoned a couple of muleteers to follow +him, and set off to beat the enclosure for a spring, or for a spot +where it would be possible to sink a well with good result. +Although the search seemed absurd on such an isolated hill, he had +some hopes; for in the first place, the old inhabitants must have +had a large supply of water, and they could not have brought it up +a steep slope of two hundred feet without great difficulty; in the +second place, the butte was of limestone, and in a limestone region +water makes for itself strange reservoirs and outlets.</p> +<p>His trust was well-grounded. In a sharply indented hollow, +twenty feet below the general surface of the enclosure, and not +more than thirty yards from the Casa Grande, he found a copious +spring. About it were traces of stone work, forming a sort of +ruinous semicircle, as though a well had been dug, the neighboring +earth scooped out, and the sides of the opening fenced up with +masonry. By the way, he was not the first to discover the treasure, +for the acute senses of the mules had been beforehand with him, and +a number of them were already there drinking.</p> +<p>Calling Meyer, he said, "Sergeant, get a fatigue party to work +here. I want a transverse trench cut below the spring for the +animals, and a guard at the spring itself to keep it clear for the +people."</p> +<p>Next he hurried away to the spot where he had posted Kelly to +watch the Apaches.</p> +<p>Climbing the wall, he looked about for the Apaches, and +discovered them about half a mile distant, bivouacked on the bank +of the rivulet.</p> +<p>"They have been reinforced, sir," said Kelly. "Stragglers are +coming up every few minutes."</p> +<p>"So I perceive. Have you seen anything of the girl Pepita?"</p> +<p>"There's a figure there, sir, against that sapling, that hasn't +moved for half an hour. I've an idea it's the girl, sir, tied to +the sapling."</p> +<p>Thurstane adjusted his glass, took a long steady look, and said +sombrely, "It's the girl. Keep an eye on her. If they start to do +anything with her, let me know. Signal with your cap."</p> +<p>As he hurried back to the Casa Grande he tried to devise some +method of saving this unfortunate. A rescue was impossible, for the +savages were numerous, watchful, and merciless, and in case they +were likely to lose her they would brain her. But she might be +ransomed: blankets, clothing, and perhaps a beast or two could be +spared for that purpose; the gold pieces that he had in his +waist-belt should all go of course. The great fear was lest the +brutes should find all bribes poor compared with the joys of a +torture dance. Querying how he could hide this horrible affair from +Clara, and shuddering at the thought that but for favoring chances +she might have shared the fate of Pepita he ran on toward the Casa, +waving his hand cheerfully to the two women on the roof Meantime +Clara had been attending to her housekeeping and Mrs. Stanley had +been attending to her feelings. The elder lady (we dare not yet +call her an old lady) was in the lowest spirits. She tried to brace +herself; she crossed her hands behind her back, man-fashion; she +marched up and down the roof man-fashion. All useless; the +transformation didn't work; or, if she was a man, she was a scared +one.</p> +<p>She could not help feeling like one of the spirits in prison as +she glanced at the awful solitude around her. Notwithstanding the +river, there still was the desert. The little plain was but an +oasis. Two miles to the east the San Juan burst out of a defile of +sandstone, and a mile to the west it disappeared in a similar +chasm. The walls of these gorges rose abruptly two thousand feet +above the hurrying waters. All around were the monstrous, arid, +herbless, savage, cruel ramparts of the plateau. No outlook +anywhere; the longest reach of the eye was not five miles; then +came towering precipices. The travellers were like ants gathered on +an inch of earth at the bottom of a fissure in a quarry. The +horizon was elevated and limited, resting everywhere on harsh lines +of rock which were at once near the spectator and far above him. +The overhanging plateaux strove to shut him out from the sight of +heaven.</p> +<p>What variety there was in the grim monotony appeared in shapes +that were horrible to the weary and sorrowful. On the other side of +the San Juan towered an assemblage of pinnacles which looked like +statues; but these statues were a thousand feet above the stream, +and the smallest of them was at least four hundred feet high. To a +lost wanderer, and especially to a dispirited woman, such magnitude +was not sublime, but terrifying. It seemed as if these shapes were +gods who had no mercy, or demons who were full of malevolence. +Still higher, on a jutting crag which overhung the black river, was +a castle a hundred fold huger than man ever built, with ramparts +that were dizzy precipices and towers such as no daring could +scale. It faced the horrible group of stony deities as if it were +their pandemonium.</p> +<p>The whole landscape was a hideous Walhalla, a fit abode for the +savage giant gods of the old Scandinavians. Thor and Woden would +have been at home in it. The Cyclops and Titans would have been too +little for it. The Olympian deities could not be conceived of as +able or willing to exist in such a hideous chaos. No creature of +the Greek imagination would have been a suitable inhabitant for it +except Prometheus alone. Here his eternal agony and boundless +despair might not have been out of place.</p> +<p>There was no comfort in the river. It came out of unknown and +inhospitable mystery, and went into a mystery equally unknown and +inhospitable. To what fate it might lead was as uncertain as whence +it arrived. A sombre flood, reddish brown in certain lights, +studded with rocks which raised ghosts of unmoving foam, flowing +with a speed which perpetually boiled and eddied, promising nothing +to the voyager but thousand-fold shipwreck, a breathless messenger +from the mountains to the ocean, it wheeled incessantly from stony +portal to stony portal, a brief gleam of power and cruelty. The +impression which it produced was in unison with the sublime +malignity and horror of the landscape.</p> +<p>Depressed by fatigue, the desperate situation of the party, and +the menace of the frightful scene around her, Mrs. Stanley could +not and would not speak to Thurstane when he mounted the roof, and +turned away to hide the tears in her eyes.</p> +<p>"You see I am housekeeping," said Clara with a smile. "Look how +clean the room in the tower has been swept. I had some brooms made +of tufted grass. There are our beds in the corners. These +hard-finished walls are really handsome."</p> +<p>She stopped, hesitated a moment, looked at him anxiously, and +then added, "Have you seen Pepita?"</p> +<p>"Yes," he replied, deciding to be frank. "I think I have +discovered her tied to a tree."</p> +<p>"Oh! to be tortured!" exclaimed Clara, wringing her hands and +beginning to cry.</p> +<p>"We will ransom her," he hurried on. "I am going down to hold a +parley with the Apaches."</p> +<p>"<i>You</i>!" exclaimed the girl, catching his arm. "Oh no! Oh, +why did we come here!"</p> +<p>Fearing lest he should be persuaded to evade what he considered +his duty, he pressed her hand fervently and hurried away. Yes, he +repeated, it was <i>his</i> duty; to parley with the Apaches was a +most dangerous enterprise; he did not feel at liberty to order any +other to undertake it.</p> +<p>Finding Coronado, he said to him, "I am going down to ransom +Pepita. You know the Indians better than I do. How many people +shall I take?"</p> +<p>A gleam of satisfaction shot across the dark face of the Mexican +as he replied, "Go alone."</p> +<p>"Certainly," he insisted, in response to the officer's stare of +surprise. "If you take a party, they'll doubt you. If you go alone, +they'll parley. But, my dear Lieutenant, you are magnificent. This +is the finest moment of your life. Ah! only you Americans are +capable of such impulses. We Spaniards haven't the nerve."</p> +<p>"I don't know their scoundrelly language."</p> +<p>"Manga Colorada speaks Spanish. I dare say you'll easily come to +an understanding with him. As for ransom, anything that we have, of +course, excepting food, arms, and ammunition. I can furnish a +hundred dollars or so. Go, my dear Lieutenant; go on your noble +mission. God be with you."</p> +<p>"You will see that I am covered, if I have to run for it."</p> +<p>"I'll see to everything. I'll line the wall with +sharpshooters."</p> +<p>"Post your men. Good-by."</p> +<p>"Good-by, my dear Lieutenant."</p> +<p>Coronado did post his men, and among them was Texas Smith. Into +the ear of this brute, whom he placed quite apart from the other +watchers, he whispered a few significant words.</p> +<p>"I told ye, to begin with, I didn't want to shute at brass +buttons," growled Texas. "The army's a big thing. I never wanted to +draw a bead on that man, and I don't want to now more 'n ever. Them +army fellers hunt together. You hit one, an' you've got the rest +after ye; an' four to one's a mighty slim chance."</p> +<p>"Five hundred dollars down," was Coronado's only reply.</p> +<p>After a moment of sullen reflection the desperado said, "Five +hundred dollars! Wal, stranger, I'll take yer bet."</p> +<p>Coronado turned away trembling and walked to another part of the +wall. His emotions were disordered and disagreeable; his heart +throbbed, his head was a little light, and he felt that he was +pale; he could not well bear any more excitement, and he did not +want to see the deed done. Rifle in hand, he was pretending to keep +watch through a fissure, when he observed Clara following the line +of the wall with the obvious purpose of finding a spot whence she +could see the plain. It seemed to him that he ought to stop her, +and then it seemed to him that he had better not. With such a +horrible drumming in his ears how could he think clearly and decide +wisely?</p> +<p>Clara disappeared; he did not notice where she went; did not +think of looking. Once he thrust his head through his crevice to +watch the course of Thurstane, but drew it back again on +discovering that the brave lad had not yet reached the Apaches, and +after that looked no more. His whole strength seemed to be absorbed +in merely listening and waiting. We must remember that, although +Coronado had almost no conscience, he had nerves.</p> +<p>Let us see what happened on the plain through the anxious eyes +of Clara.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH21" id="CH21"><!-- CH21 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> +<p>In the time-eaten wall Clara had found a fissure through which +she could watch the parley between Thurstane and the Apaches. She +climbed into it from a mound of disintegrated adobes, and stood +there, pale, tremulous, and breathless, her whole soul in her +eyes.</p> +<p>Thurstane, walking his horse and making signs of amity with his +cap, had by this time reached the low bank of the rivulet, and +halted within four hundred yards of the savages. There had been a +stir immediately on his appearance: first one warrior and then +another had mounted his pony; a score of them were now prancing +hither and thither. They had left their lances stuck in the earth, +but they still carried their bows and quivers.</p> +<p>When Clara first caught sight of Thurstane he was beckoning for +one of the Indians to approach. They responded by pointing to the +summit of the hill, as if signifying that they feared to expose +themselves to rifle shot from the ruins. He resumed his march, +forded the shallow stream, and pushed on two hundred yards.</p> +<p>"O Madre de Dios!" groaned Clara, falling into the language of +her childhood. "He is going clear up to them."</p> +<p>She was on the point of shrieking to him, but she saw that he +was too far off to hear her, and she remained silent, just staring +and trembling.</p> +<p>Thurstane was now about two hundred yards from the Apaches. +Except the twenty who had first mounted, they were sitting on the +ground or standing by their ponies, every face set towards the +solitary white man and every figure as motionless as a statue. +Those on horseback, moving slowly in circles, were spreading out +gradually on either side of the main body, but not advancing. +Presently a warrior in full Mexican costume, easily recognizable as +Manga Colorada himself, rode straight towards Thurstane for a +hundred yards, threw his bow and quiver ten feet from him, +dismounted and lifted both hands. The officer likewise lifted his +hands, to show that he too was without arms, moved forward to +within thirty feet of the Indian, and thence advanced on foot, +leading his horse by the bridle.</p> +<p>Clara perceived that the two men were conversing, and she began +to hope that all might go well, although her heart still beat +suffocatingly. The next moment she was almost paralyzed with +horror. She saw Manga Colorada spring at Thurstane; she saw his +dark arms around him, the two interlaced and reeling; she heard the +triumphant yell of the Indian, and the response of his fellows; she +saw the officer's startled horse break loose and prance away. In +the same instant the mounted Apaches, sending forth their war-whoop +and unslinging their bows, charged at full speed toward the +combatants.</p> +<p>Thurstane had but five seconds in which to save his life. Had he +been a man of slight or even moderate physical and moral force, +there would not have been the slightest chance for him. But he was +six feet high, broad in the shoulders, limbed like a gladiator, +solidified by hardships and marches, accustomed to danger, never +losing his head in it, and blessed with lots of pugnacity. He was +pinioned; but with one gigantic effort he loosened the Indian's +lean sinewy arms, and in the next breath he laid him out with a +blow worthy of Heenan.</p> +<p>Thurstane was free; now for his horse. The animal was frightened +and capering wildly; but he caught him and flung himself into the +saddle without minding stirrups; then he was riding for life. +Before he had got fairly under headway the foremost Apaches were +within fifty paces of him, yelling like demons and letting fly +their arrows. But every weapon is uncertain on horseback, and +especially every missile weapon, the bow as well as the rifle. +Thus, although a score of shafts hissed by the fugitive, he still +kept his seat; and as his powerful beast soon began to draw ahead +of the Indian ponies, escape seemed probable.</p> +<p>He had, however, to run the gauntlet of another and even a +greater peril. In a crevice of the ruined wall which crested the +hill crouched a pitiless assassin and an almost unerring shot, +waiting the right moment to send a bullet through his head. Texas +Smith did not like the job; but he had said "You bet," and had thus +pledged his honor to do the murder; and moreover, he sadly wanted +the five hundred dollars. If he could have managed it, he would +have preferred to get the officer and some "Injun" in a line, so as +to bring them down together. But that was hopeless; the fugitive +was increasing his lead; now was the time to fire—now or +never.</p> +<p>When Clara beheld Manga Colorada seize Thurstane, she had turned +instinctively and leaped into the enclosure, with a feeling that, +if she did not see the tragedy, it would not be. In the next breath +she was wild to know what was passing, and to be as near to the +officer and his perils as possible. A little further along the wall +was a fissure which was lower and broader than the one she had just +quitted. She had noticed it a minute before, but had not gone to it +because a man was there. Towards this man she now rushed, calling +out, "Oh, do save him!"</p> +<p>Her voice and the sound of her footsteps were alike drowned by a +rattle of musketry from other parts of the ruin. She reached the +man and stood behind him; it was Texas Smith, a being from whom she +had hitherto shrunk with instinctive aversion; but now he seemed to +her a friend in extremity. He was aiming; she glanced over his +shoulder along the levelled rifle; in one breath she saw Thurstane +and saw that the weapon was pointed at <i>him</i>. With a shriek +she sprang forward against the kneeling assassin, and flung him +clean through the crevice upon the earth outside the wall, the +rifle exploding as he fell and sending its ball at random.</p> +<p>Texas Smith was stupefied and even profoundly disturbed. After +rolling over twice, he picked himself up, picked up his gun also, +and while hastily reloading it clambered back into his lair, more +than ever confounded at seeing no one. Clara, her exploit +accomplished, had instantly turned and fled along the course of the +wall, not at all with the idea of escaping from the bushwhacker, +but merely to meet Thurstane. She passed a dozen men, but not one +of them saw her, they were all so busy in popping away at the +Apaches. Just as she reached the large gap in the rampart, her hero +cantered through it, erect, unhurt, rosy, handsome, magnificent. +The impassioned gesture of joy with which she welcomed him was a +something, a revelation perhaps, which the youngster saw and +understood afterwards better than he did then. For the present he +merely waved her towards the Casa, and then turned to take a hand +in the fighting.</p> +<p>But the fighting was over. Indeed the Apaches had stopped their +pursuit as soon as they found that the fugitive was beyond arrow +shot, and were now prancing slowly back to their bivouac. After one +angry look at them from the wall, Thurstane leaped down and ran +after Clara.</p> +<p>"Oh!" she gasped, out of breath and almost faint. "Oh, how it +has frightened me!"</p> +<p>"And it was all of no use," he answered, passing her arm into +his and supporting her.</p> +<p>"No. Poor Pepita! Poor little Pepita! But oh, what an escape you +had!"</p> +<p>"We can only hope that they will adopt her into the tribe," he +said in answer to the first phrase, while he timidly pressed her +arm to thank her for the second.</p> +<p>Coronado now came up, ignorant of Texas Smith's misadventure, +and puzzled at the escape of Thurstane, but as fluent and +complimentary as usual.</p> +<p>"My dear Lieutenant! Language is below my feelings. I want to +kneel down and worship you. You ought to have a statue—yes, +and an altar. If your humanity has not been successful, it has been +all the same glorious."</p> +<p>"Nonsense," answered Thurstane. "Every one of us has done well +in his turn! It was my tour of duty to-day. Don't praise me. I +haven't accomplished anything."</p> +<p>"Ah, the scoundrels!" declaimed Coronado. "How could they +violate a truce! It is unknown, unheard of. The miserable traitors! +I wish you could have killed Manga Colorada."</p> +<p>From this dialogue he hurried away to find and catechise Texas +Smith. The desperado told his story: "Jest got a bead on +him—had him sure pop—never see a squarer +mark—when somebody mounted me—pitched me clean out of +my hole."</p> +<p>"Who?" demanded Coronado, a rim of white showing clear around +his black pupils.</p> +<p>"Dunno. Didn't see nobody. 'Fore I could reload and git in it +was gone."</p> +<p>"What the devil did you stop to reload for?"</p> +<p>"Stranger, I <i>allays</i> reload."</p> +<p>Coronado flinched under the word <i>stranger</i> and the stare +which accompanied it.</p> +<p>"It was a woman's yell," continued Texas.</p> +<p>Coronado felt suddenly so weak that he sat down on a mouldering +heap of adobes. He thought of Clara; was it Clara? Jealous and +terrified, he for an instant, only for an instant, wished she were +dead.</p> +<p>"See here," he said, when he had restrung his nerves a little. +"We must separate. If there is any trouble, call on me. I'll stand +by you."</p> +<p>"I reckon you'd better," muttered Smith, looking at Coronado as +if he were already drawing a bead on him.</p> +<p>Without further talk they parted. The Texan went off to rub down +his horse, mend his accoutrements, squat around the cooking fires, +and gamble with the drivers. Perhaps he was just a bit more +fastidious than usual about having his weapons in perfect order and +constantly handy; and perhaps too he looked over his shoulder a +little oftener than common while at his work or his games; but on +the whole he was a masterpiece of strong, serene, ferocious +self-possession. Coronado also, as unquiet at heart as the devil, +was outwardly as calm as Greek art. They were certainly a couple of +almost sublime scoundrels.</p> +<p>It was now nightfall; the day closed with extraordinary +abruptness; the sun went down as though he had been struck dead; it +was like the fall of an ox under the axe of the butcher. One minute +he was shining with an intolerable, feverish fervor, and the next +he had vanished behind the lofty ramparts of the plateau.</p> +<p>It was Sergeant Meyer's tour as officer of the day, and he had +prepared for the night with the thoroughness of an old soldier. The +animals were picketed in the innermost rooms of the Casa Grande, +while the spare baggage was neatly piled along the walls of the +central apartment. Thurstane's squad was quartered in one of the +two outer rooms, and Coronado's squad in the other, each man having +his musket loaded and lying beside him, with the butt at his feet +and the muzzle pointing toward the wall. One sentry was posted on +the roof of the building, and one on the ground twenty yards or so +from its salient angle, while further away were two fires which +partially lighted up the great enclosure. The sergeant and such of +his men as were not on post slept or watched in the open air at the +corner of the Casa.</p> +<p>The night passed without attack or alarm. Apache scouts +undoubtedly prowled around the enclosure, and through its more +distant shadows, noting avenues and chances for forlorn hopes. But +they were not ready as yet to do any nocturnal spearing, and if +ever Indians wanted a night's rest they wanted it. The garrison was +equally quiet. Texas Smith, too familiar with ugly situations to +lie awake when no good was to be got by it, chose his corner, +curled up in his blanket and slept the sleep of the just. +Overwhelming fatigue soon sent Coronado off in like manner. Clara, +too; she was querying how much she should tell Thurstane; all of a +sudden she was dreaming.</p> +<p>When broad daylight opened her eyes she was still lethargic and +did not know where she was. A stretch; a long wondering stare about +her; then she sprang up, ran to the edge of the roof, and looked +over. There was Thurstane, alive, taking off his hat to her and +waving her back from the brink. It was a second and more splendid +sun-rising; and for a moment she was full of happiness.</p> +<p>At dawn Meyer had turned out his squad, patrolled the enclosure, +made sure that no Indians were in or around it, and posted a single +sentry on the southeastern angle of the ruins, which commanded the +whole of the little plain. He discovered that the Apaches, fearful +like all cavalry of a night attack, had withdrawn to a spot more +than a mile distant, and had taken the precaution of securing their +retreat by garrisoning the mouth of the cañon. Having made +his dispositions and his reconnoissance, the sergeant reported to +Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Turn out the animals and let them pasture," said the officer, +waking up promptly to the situation, as a soldier learns to do. +"How long will the grass in the enclosure last them?"</p> +<p>"Not three days, Leftenant."</p> +<p>"To-morrow we will begin to pasture them on the slope. How about +fishing?"</p> +<p>"I cannot zay, Leftenant."</p> +<p>"Take a look at the Buchanan boat and see if it can be put +together. We may find a chance to use it."</p> +<p>"Yes, Leftenant."</p> +<p>The Buchanan boat, invented by a United States officer whose +name it bears, is a sack of canvas with a frame of light sticks; +when put together it is about twelve feet long by five broad and +three deep, and is capable of sustaining a weight of two tons. +Thurstane, thinking that he might have rivers to cross in his +explorations, had brought one of these coracles. At present it was +a bundle, weighing one hundred and fifty pounds, and forming the +load of a single mule. Meyer got it out, bent it on to its frame, +and found it in good condition.</p> +<p>"Very good," said Thurstane. "Roll it up again and store it +safely. We may want it to-morrow."</p> +<p>Meantime Clara had thought out her problem. In her indignation +at Texas Smith she had contemplated denouncing him before the whole +party, and had found that she had not the courage. She had wanted +to make a confidant of her relative, and had decided that nothing +could be more unwise. Aunt Maria was good, but she lacked practical +sense; even Clara, girl as she was, could see the one fact as well +as the other. Her final and sagacious resolve was to tell the tale +to Thurstane alone.</p> +<p>Mrs. Stanley, still jaded through with her forced march, fell +asleep immediately after breakfast. Clara went to the brink of the +roof, caught the officer's eye, and beckoned him to come to +her.</p> +<p>"We must not be seen," she whispered when he was by her side. +"Come inside the tower. There has been something dreadful. I must +tell you."</p> +<p>Then she narrated how she had surprised and interrupted Texas +Smith in his attempt at murder; for the time she was all Spanish in +feeling, and told the story with fervor, with passion; and the +moment she had ended it she began to cry. Thurstane was so +overwhelmed by her emotion that he no more thought of the danger +which he had escaped than if it had been the buzzing of a mosquito. +He longed to comfort her; he dared to put his hand upon her waist; +rather, we should say, he could not help it. If she noticed it she +had no objection to it, for she did not move; but the strong and +innocent probability is that she really did not notice it.</p> +<p>"Oh, what can it mean?" she sobbed. "Why did he do it? What will +you do?"</p> +<p>"Never mind," he said, his voice tender, his blue-black eyes +full of love, his whole face angelic with affection. "Don't be +troubled. Don't be anxious. I will do what is right. I will put him +under arrest and try him, if it seems best. But I don't want you to +be troubled. It shall all come out right. I mean to live till you +are safe."</p> +<p>After a time he succeeded in soothing her, and then there came a +moment in which she seemed to perceive that his arm was around her +waist, for she drew a little away from him, coloring splendidly. +But he had held her too long to be able to let her go thus; he took +her hands and looked in her face with the solemnity of a love which +pleads for life.</p> +<p>"Will you forgive me?" he murmured. "I must say it. I cannot +help it. I love you with all my soul. I dare not ask you to be my +wife. I am not fit for you. But have pity on me. I couldn't help +telling you."</p> +<p>He just saw that she was not angry; yes, he was so shy and +humble that he could not see more; but that little glimpse of +kindliness was enough to lure him forward. On he went, hastily and +stammeringly, like a man who has but a moment in which to speak, +only a moment before some everlasting farewell.</p> +<p>"Oh, Miss Van Diemen! Is there—can there ever be—any +hope for me?"</p> +<p>It was one of the questions which arise out of great abysses +from men who in their hopelessness still long for heaven. No +prisoner at the bar, faintly trusting that in the eyes of his judge +he might find mercy, could be more anxious than was Thurstane at +that moment. The lover who does not yet know that he will be loved +is a figure of tragedy.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH22" id="CH22"><!-- CH22 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> +<p>Although Thurstane did not perceive it, his question was +answered the instant it was asked. The answer started like +lightning from Clara's heart, trembled through all her veins, +flamed in her cheeks, and sparkled in her eyes.</p> +<p>Such a moment of agitation and happiness she had never before +known, and had never supposed that she could know. It was +altogether beyond her control. She could have stopped her breathing +ten times easier than she could have quelled her terror and her +joy. She was no more master of the power and direction of her +feelings, than the river below was master of its speed and course. +One of the mightiest of the instincts which rule the human race had +made her entirely its own. She was not herself; she was Thurstane; +she was love. The love incarnate is itself, and not the person in +whom it is embodied.</p> +<p>There was but one answer possible to Clara. Somehow, either by +look or word, she must say to Thurstane, "Yes." Prudential +considerations might come afterward—might come too late to be +of use; no matter. The only thing now to be done, the only thing +which first or last must be done, the only thing which fate +insisted should be done, was to say "Yes."</p> +<p>It was said. Never mind how. Thurstane heard it and understood +it. Clara also heard it, as if it were not she who uttered it, but +some overruling power, or some inward possession, which spoke for +her. She heard it and she acquiesced in it. The matter was settled. +Her destiny had been pronounced. The man to whom her heart belonged +had his due.</p> +<p>Clara passed through a minute which was in some respects like a +lifetime, and in some respects like a single second. It was crowded +and encumbered with emotions sufficient for years; it was the +scholastic needle-point on which stood a multitude of angels. It +lasted, she could not say how long; and then of a sudden she could +hardly remember it. Hours afterwards she had not fully disentangled +from this minute and yet monstrous labyrinth a clear recollection +of what he had said and what she had answered. Only the splendid +exit of it was clear to her, and that was that she was his +affianced wife.</p> +<p>"But oh, my friend—one thing!" she whispered, when she had +a little regained her self-possession. "I must ask +Muñoz."</p> +<p>"Your grandfather? Yes."</p> +<p>"But what if he refuses?" she added, looking anxiously in his +eyes. She was beginning to lay her troubles on his shoulders, as if +he were already her husband.</p> +<p>"I will try to please him," replied the young fellow, gazing +with almost equal anxiety at her. It was the beautiful union of the +man-soul and woman-soul, asking courage and consolation the one of +the other, and not only asking but receiving.</p> +<p>"Oh! I think you must please him," said Clara, forgetting how +Muñoz had driven out his daughter for marrying an American. +"He can't help but like you."</p> +<p>"God bless you, my darling!" whispered Thurstane, worshipping +her for worshipping him.</p> +<p>After a while Clara thought of Texas Smith, and shuddered out, +"But oh, how many dangers! Oh, my friend, how will you be +safe?"</p> +<p>"Leave that to me," he replied, comprehending her at once. "I +will take care of that man."</p> +<p>"Do be prudent."</p> +<p>"I will. For <i>your</i> sake, my dear child, I promise it. +Well, now we must part. I must rouse no suspicions."</p> +<p>"Yes. We must be prudent."</p> +<p>He was about to leave her when a new and terrible thought struck +him, and made him look at her as though they were about to part +forever.</p> +<p>"If Muñoz leaves you his fortune," he said firmly, "you +shall be free."</p> +<p>She stared; after a moment she burst into a little laugh; then +she shook her finger in his face and said, blushing, "Yes, free to +be—your wife."</p> +<p>He caught the finger, bent his head over it and kissed it, ready +to cry upon it. It was the only kiss that he had given her; and +what a world-wide event it was to both! Ah, these lovers! They find +a universe where others see only trifles; they are gifted with the +second-sight and live amid miracles.</p> +<p>"Do be careful, oh my dear friend!" was the last whisper of +Clara as Thurstane quitted the tower. Then she passed the day in +ascending and descending between heights of happiness and abysses +of anxiety. Her existence henceforward was a Jacob's ladder, which +had its foot on a world of crime and sorrow, and its top in heavens +passing description.</p> +<p>As for Thurstane, he had to think and act, for something must be +done with Texas Smith. He queried whether the fellow might not have +seen Clara when she pushed him out of the crevice, and would not +seize the first opportunity to kill her. Angered by this +supposition, he at first resolved to seize him, charge him with his +crime, and turn him loose in the desert to take his chance among +the Apaches. Then it occurred to him that it might be possible to +change this enemy into a partisan. While he was pondering these +matters his eye fell upon the man. His army habit of authority and +of butting straight at the face of danger immediately got the +better of his wish to manage the matter delicately, and made him +forget his promises to be prudent. Beckoning Texas to follow him, +he marched out of the plaza through the nearest gap, faced about +upon his foe with an imperious stare, and said abruptly, "My man, +do you want to be shot?"</p> +<p>Texas Smith had his revolver and long hunting-knife in his +waist-belt. He thought of drawing both at once and going at +Thurstane, who was certainly in no better state for battle, having +only revolver and sabre. But the chance of combat was even; the +certainty of being slaughtered after it by the soldiers was +depressing; and, what was more immediately to the point, he was +cowed by that stare of habitual authority.</p> +<p>"Capm—I don't," he said, watching the officer with the eye +of a lynx, for, however unwilling to fight as things were, he meant +to defend himself.</p> +<p>"Because I could have you set up by my sergeant and executed by +my privates," continued Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Capm, I reckon you're sound there," admitted Texas, with a +slight flinch in his manner.</p> +<p>"Now, then, do you want to fight a duel?" broke out the angry +youngster, his pugnacity thoroughly getting the better of his +wisdom. "We both have pistols."</p> +<p>"Capm," said the bravo, and then came to a pause—"Capm, I +ain't a gentleman," he resumed, with the sulky humility of a +bulldog who is beaten by his master. "I own up to it, Capm. I ain't +a gentleman."</p> +<p>He was a "poor white" by birth; he remembered still the +"high-toned gentlemen" who used to overawe his childhood; he +recognized in Thurstane that unforgotten air of domination, and he +was thoroughly daunted by it. Moreover, there was his acquired and +very rational fear of the army—a fear which had considerably +increased upon him since he had joined this expedition, for he had +noted carefully the disciplined obedience of the little squad of +regulars, and had been much struck with its obvious potency for +offence and defence.</p> +<p>"You won't fight?" said the officer. "Well, then, will you stop +hunting me?"</p> +<p>"Capm, I'll go that much."</p> +<p>"Will you pledge yourself not to harm any one in this party, man +or woman?"</p> +<p>"I'll go that much, too."</p> +<p>"I don't want to get any tales out of you. You can keep your +secrets. Damn your secrets!"</p> +<p>"Capm, you're jest the whitest man I ever see."</p> +<p>"Will you pledge yourself to keep dark about this talk that +we've had?"</p> +<p>"You bet!" replied Texas Smith, with an indescribable air of +humiliation. "I'm outbragged. I shan't tell of it."</p> +<p>"I shall give orders to my men. If anything queer happens, you +won't live the day out."</p> +<p>"The keerds is stocked agin me, Capm. I pass. You kin play it +alone."</p> +<p>"Now, then, walk back to the Casa, and keep quiet during the +rest of this journey."</p> +<p>The most humbled bushwhacker and cutthroat between the two +oceans, Texas Smith stepped out in front of Thurstane and returned +to the cooking-fire, not quite certain as he marched that he would +not get a pistol-ball in the back of his head, but showing no +emotion in his swarthy, sallow, haggard countenance.</p> +<p>Although Thurstane trusted that danger from that quarter was +over, he nevertheless called Meyer aside and muttered to him, +"Sergeant, I have some confidential orders for you. If murder +happens to me, or to any other person in this party, have that +Texan shot immediately."</p> +<p>"I will addend to it, Leftenant," replied Meyer with perfect +calmness and with his mechanical salute.</p> +<p>"You may give Kelly the same instructions, confidentially."</p> +<p>"Yes, Leftenant."</p> +<p>Texas Smith, fifteen or twenty yards away, watched this dialogue +with an interest which even his Indian-like stoicism could hardly +conceal. When the sergeant returned to the cooking-fire, he gave +him a glance which was at once watchful and deprecatory, made place +for him to sit down on a junk of adobe, and offered him a +corn-shuck cigarito. Meyer took it, saying, "Thank you, Schmidt," +and the two smoked in apparently amicable silence.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, Texas knew that his doom was sealed if murder +should occur in the expedition; for, as to the protection of +Coronado, he did not believe that that could avail against the +uniform; and as to finding safety in flight, the cards there were +evidently "stocked agin him." Indeed, what had quelled him more +than anything else was the fear lest he should be driven out to +take his luck among the Apaches. Suppose that Thurstane had taken a +fancy to swap him for that girl Pepita? What a bright and cheerful +fire there would have been for him before sundown! How thoroughly +the skin would have been peeled off his muscles! What neat carving +at his finger joints and toe joints! Coarse, unimaginative, +hardened, and beastly as Texas Smith was, his flesh crawled a +little at the thought of it. Presently it struck him that he had +better do something to propitiate a man who could send him to +encounter such a fate.</p> +<p>"Sergeant," he said in his harsh, hollow croak of a voice.</p> +<p>"Well, Schmidt?"</p> +<p>"Them creeturs oughter browse outside."</p> +<p>"So. You are right, Schmidt."</p> +<p>"If the Capm'll let me have three good men, I'll take 'em +out."</p> +<p>Meyer's light-blue eyes, twinkling from under his sandy +eyelashes, studied the face of the outlaw.</p> +<p>"I should zay it was a goot blan, Schmidt," he decided. "I'll +mention it to the leftenant."</p> +<p>Thurstane, on being consulted, gave his consent. Meyer detailed +Shubert and two of the Mexican cattle-drivers to report to Smith +for duty. The Texan mounted his men on horses, separated one-third +of the mules from the others, drove them out of the enclosure, and +left them on the green hillside, while he pushed on a quarter of a +mile into the plain and formed his line of four skirmishers. When a +few of the Apaches approached to see what was going on, he levelled +his rifle, knocked over one of the horses, and sent the rest off +capering. After four or five hours he drove in his mules and took +out another set. The Indians could only interrupt his pastoral +labors by making a general charge; and that would expose them to a +fire from the ruin, against which they could not retaliate. They +thought it wise to make no trouble, and all day the foraging went +on in peace.</p> +<p>Peace everywhere. Inside the fortress sleeping, cooking, mending +of equipments, and cleaning of arms. Over the plain mustangs +filling themselves with grass and warriors searching for roots. Not +a movement worth heeding was made by the Apaches until the herders +drove in their first relay of mules, when a dozen hungry braves +lassoed the horse which Smith had shot, dragged him away to a safe +distance, and proceeded to cut him up into steaks. On seeing this, +the Texan cursed himself to all the hells that were known to +him.</p> +<p>"It's the last time they'll catch me butcherin' for 'em," he +growled. "If I can't hit a man, I won't shute."</p> +<p>One more night in the Casa de Montezuma, with Thurstane for +officer of the guard. His arrangements were like Meyer's: the +animals in the rear rooms of the Casa; Coronado's squad in one of +the outer rooms, and Meyer's in the other; a sentry on the roof, +and another in the plaza. The only change was that, owing to +scarcity of fuel, no watch-fires were built. As Thurstane expected +an attack, and as Indian assaults usually take place just before +daybreak, he chose the first half of the night for his tour of +sleep. At one he was awakened by Sweeny, who was sergeant of his +squad, Kelly being with Meyer and Shubert with Coronado.</p> +<p>"Well, Sweeny, anything stirring?" he asked.</p> +<p>"Divil a stir, Liftinant."</p> +<p>"Did nothing happen during your guard?"</p> +<p>"Liftinant," replied Sweeny, searching his memory for an +incident which should prove his watchfulness—"the moon went +down."</p> +<p>"I hope you didn't interfere."</p> +<p>"Liftinant, I thought it was none o' my bizniss."</p> +<p>"Send a man to relieve the sentry on the roof, and let him come +down here."</p> +<p>"I done it, Liftinant, before I throubled ye. Where shall we +slape? Jist by the corner here?"</p> +<p>"No. I'll change that. Two just inside of one doorway and two +inside the other. I'll stay at the angle myself."</p> +<p>Three hours passed as quietly as the wool-clad footsteps of the +Grecian Fate. Then, stealing through the profound darkness, came +the faintest rustle imaginable. It was not the noise of feet, but +rather that of bodies slowly dragging through herbage, as if men +were crawling or rolling toward the Casa. Thurstane, not quite sure +of his hearing, and unwilling to disturb the garrison without +cause, cocked his revolver and listened intently.</p> +<p>Suddenly the sentry in the plaza fired, and, rushing in upon +him, fell motionless at his feet, while the air was filled in an +instant with the whistling of arrows, the trampling of running men, +and the horrible quavering of the war-whoop.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH23" id="CH23"><!-- CH23 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> +<p>At the noise of the Apache charge Thurstane sprang in two bounds +to Coronado's entrance, and threw himself inside of it with a shout +of "Indians!"</p> +<p>It must be remembered that, while a doorway of the Casa was five +feet in depth, it was only four feet wide at the base and less than +thirty inches at the top, so that it was something in the way of a +defile and easily defensible. The moment Thurstane was inside, he +placed himself behind one of the solid jambs of the opening, and +presented both sabre and revolver.</p> +<p>Immediately after him a dozen running Indians reached the +portal, some of them plunging into it and the others pushing and +howling close around it. Three successive shots and as many quick +thrusts, all delivered in the darkness, but telling at close +quarters on naked chests and faces, cleared the passage in half a +minute. By this time Texas Smith, Coronado, and Shubert had leaped +up, got their senses about them, and commenced a fire of rifle +shot, pistol shot, and buck-and-ball. In another half minute +nothing remained in the doorway but two or three corpses, while +outside there were howls as of wounded. The attack here was +repulsed, at least for the present.</p> +<p>But at the other door matters had gone differently, and, as it +seemed, fatally ill. There had been no one fully awakened to keep +the assailants at bay until the other defenders could rouse +themselves and use their weapons. Half a dozen Apaches, holding +their lances before them like pikes, rushed over the sleeping +Sweeny and burst clean into the room before Meyer and his men were +fairly on their feet. In the profound darkness not a figure could +be distinguished; and there was a brief trampling and yelling, +during which no one was hurt. Lances and bows were useless in a +room fifteen feet by ten, without a ray of light. The Indians threw +down their long weapons, drew their knives, groped hither and +thither, struck out at random, and cut each other. Nevertheless, +they were masters of the ground. Meyer and his people, crouching in +corners, could not see and dared not fire. Sweeny, awakened by a +kneading of Apache boots, was so scared that he lay perfectly +still, and either was not noticed or was neglected as dead. His +Mexican comrade had rushed along with the assailants, got ahead of +them, gained the inner rooms, and hastened up to the roof. In +short, it was a completely paralyzed defence.</p> +<p>Had the mass of the Apaches promptly followed their daring +leaders, the garrison would have been destroyed. But, as so often +happens in night attacks, there was a pause of caution and +investigation. Fifty warriors halted around the doorway, some +whooping or calling, and others listening, while the five or six +within, probably fearful of being hit if they spoke, made no +answer. The sentinel on the roof fired down without seeing any one, +and had arrows sent back at him by men who were as blinded as +himself. The darkness and mystery crippled the attack almost as +completely as the defence.</p> +<p>Sweeny was the first to break the charm. A warrior who attempted +to enter the doorway struck his boot against a pair of legs, and +stooped down to feel if they were alive. By a lucky intuition of +scared self-defence, the little Paddy made a furious kick into the +air with both his solid army shoes, and sent the invader reeling +into the outer darkness. Then he fired his gun just as it lay, and +brought down one of the braves inside with a broken ankle. The +blaze of the discharge faintly lighted up the room, and Meyer let +fly instantly, killing another of the intruders. But the Indians +also had been able to see. Those who survived uttered their yell +and plunged into the corners, stabbing with their knives. There was +a wild, blind, eager scuffling, mixed with another shot or two, +oaths, whooping, screams, tramplings, and aimless blows with +musket-butts.</p> +<p>Reinforcements arrived for both parties, four or five more +Apaches stealing into the room, while Thurstane and Shubert came +through from Coronado's side. Hitherto, it did not seem that the +garrison had lost any killed except the sentry who had fallen +outside; but presently the lieutenant heard Shubert cry out in that +tone of surprise, pain, and anger, which announces a severe +wound.</p> +<p>The scream was followed by a fall, a short scuffle, repeated +stabbings, and violent breathing mixed with low groans. Thurstane +groped to the scene of combat, put out his left hand, felt a naked +back, and drove his sabre strongly and cleanly into it. There was a +hideous yell, another fall, and then silence.</p> +<p>After that he stood still, not knowing whither to move. The +trampling of feet, the hasty breathing of struggling men, the dull +sound of blows upon living bodies, the yells and exclamations and +calls, had all ceased at once. It seemed to him as if everybody in +the room had been killed except himself. He could not hear a sound +in the darkness besides the beating of his own heart, and an +occasional feeble moan rising from the floor. In all his soldierly +life he had never known a moment that was anything like so +horrible.</p> +<p>At last, after what seemed minutes, remembering that it was his +duty as an officer to be a rallying point, he staked his life on +his very next breath and called out firmly, "Meyer!"</p> +<p>"Here!" answered the sergeant, as if he were at roll-call.</p> +<p>"Where are you?"</p> +<p>"I am near the toorway, Leftenant. Sweeny is with me."</p> +<p>"'Yis I be," interjected Sweeny.</p> +<p>Thurstane, feeling his way cautiously, advanced to the entrance +and found the two men standing on one side of it.</p> +<p>"Where are the Indians?" he whispered.</p> +<p>"I think they are all out, except the tead ones, Leftenant."</p> +<p>Thurstane gave an order: "All forward to the door."</p> +<p>Steps of men stealing from the inner room responded to this +command.</p> +<p>"Call the roll, Sergeant," said Thurstane.</p> +<p>In a low voice Meyer recited the names of the six men who +belonged to his squad, and of Shubert. All responded except the +last.</p> +<p>"I am avraid Shupert is gone, Leftenant," muttered the sergeant; +and the officer replied, "I am afraid so."</p> +<p>All this time there had been perfect silence outside, as if the +Indians also were in a state of suspense and anxiety. But +immediately after the roll-call had ceased, a few arrows whistled +through the entrance and struck with short sharp spats into the +hard-finished partition within.</p> +<p>"Yes, they are all out," said Thurstane. "But we must keep quiet +till daybreak."</p> +<p>There followed a half hour which seemed like a month. Once +Thurstane stole softly through the Casa to Coronado's room, found +all safe there, and returned, stumbling over bodies both going and +coming. At last the slow dawn came and sent a faint, faint radiance +through the door, enabling the benighted eyes within to discover +one dolorous object after another. In the centre of the room lay +the boy Shubert, perfectly motionless and no doubt dead. Here and +there, slowly revealing themselves through the diminishing +darkness, like horrible waifs left uncovered by a falling river, +appeared the bodies of four Apaches, naked to the breechcloth and +painted black, all quiet except one which twitched convulsively. +The clay floor was marked by black pools and stains which were +undoubtedly blood. Other fearful blotches were scattered along the +entrance, as if grievously wounded men had tottered through it, or +slain warriors had been dragged out by their comrades.</p> +<p>While the battle is still in suspense a soldier looks with but +faint emotion, and almost without pity, upon the dead and wounded. +They are natural; they belong to the scene; what else should he +see? Moreover, the essential sentiments of the time and place are, +first, a hard egoism which thinks mainly of self-preservation, and +second, a stern sense of duty which regulates it. In the fiercer +moments of the conflict even these feelings are drowned in a wild +excitement which may lie either exultation or terror. Thus it is +that the ordinary sympathies of humanity for the suffering and for +the dead are suspended.</p> +<p>Looking at Shubert, our lieutenant simply said to himself, "I +have lost a man. My command is weakened by so much." Then his mind +turned with promptness to the still living and urgent incidents of +the situation. Could he peep out of the doorway without getting an +arrow through the head? Was the roof of the Casa safe from +escalade? Were any of his people wounded?</p> +<p>This last question he at once put in English and Spanish. Kelly +replied, "Slightly, sir," and pointed to his left shoulder, pretty +smartly laid open by the thrust of a knife. One of the Indian +muleteers, who was sitting propped up in a corner, faintly raised +his head and showed a horrible gash in his thigh. At a sign from +Thurstane another muleteer bound up the wound with the sleeve of +Shubert's shirt, which he slashed off for the purpose. Kelly said, +"Never mind me, sir; it's no great affair, sir."</p> +<p>"Two killed and two wounded," thought the lieutenant. "We are +losing more than our proportion."</p> +<p>As soon as it was light enough to distinguish objects clearly, a +lively fire opened from the roof of the Casa. Judging that the +attention of the assailants would be distracted by this, Thurstane +cautiously edged his head forward and peeped through the doorway. +The Apaches were still in the plaza; he discovered something like +fifty of them; they were jumping about and firing arrows at the +roof. He inferred that this could not last long; that they would +soon be driven away by the musketry from above; that, in short, +things were going well.</p> +<p>After a time, becoming anxious lest Clara should expose herself +to the missiles, he went to Coronado's room, sent one of the +Mexicans to reinforce Meyer, and then climbed rapidly to the tower, +taking along sabre, rifle, and revolver. He was ascending the last +of the stepped sticks, and had the trap-door of the isolated room +just above him, when he heard a shout, "Come up here, +somebody!"</p> +<p>It was the snuffling utterance of Phineas Glover, who slept on +the roof as permanent guard of the ladies. Tumbling into the room, +Thurstane found the skipper and two muleteers defending the doorway +against five Apaches, who had reached the roof, three of them +already on their feet and plying their arrows, while the two others +were clambering over the ledge. Clara and Mrs. Stanley were +crouched on their beds behind the shelter of the wall.</p> +<p>The young man's first desperate impulse was to rush out and +fight hand to hand. But remembering the dexterity of Indians in +single combat, he halted just in time to escape a flight of +missiles, placed himself behind the jamb of the doorway, and fired +his rifle. At that short distance Sweeny would hardly have missed; +and the nearest Apache, leaning forward with outspread arms, fell +dead. Then the revolver came into play, and another warrior dropped +his bow, his shoulder shattered. Glover and the muleteers, steadied +by this opportune reinforcement, reloaded and resumed their +file-firing. Guns were too much for archery; three Indians were +soon stretched on the roof; the others slung themselves over the +eaves and vanished.</p> +<p>"Darned if they didn't reeve a tackle to git up," exclaimed +Glover in amazement.</p> +<p>It appeared that the savages had twisted lariats into long +cords, fastened rude grapples to the end of them, flung them from +the wall below the Casa, and so made their daring escalade.</p> +<p>"Look out!" called Thurstane to the investigating Yankee. But +the warning came too late; Glover uttered a yell of surprise, pain, +and rage; this time it was not his nose, but his left ear.</p> +<p>"Reckon they'll jest chip off all my feeturs 'fore they git done +with me," he grinned, feeling of the wounded part. "Git my +figgerhead smooth all round."</p> +<p>To favor the escalade, the Apaches in the plaza had renewed +their war-whoop, sent flights of arrows at the Casa, and made a +spirited but useless charge on the doorways. Its repulse was the +signal for a general and hasty flight. Just as the rising sun +spread his haze of ruddy gold over the east, there was a despairing +yell which marked the termination of the conflict, and then a rush +for the gaps in the wall of the enclosure. In one minute from the +signal for retreat the top of the hill did not contain a single +painted combatant. No vigorous pursuit; the garrison had had enough +of fighting; besides, ammunition was becoming precious. Texas Smith +alone, insatiably bloodthirsty and an independent fighter, skulked +hastily across the plaza, ambushed himself in a crevice of the +ruin, and took a couple of shots at the savages as they mounted +their ponies at the foot of the hill and skedaddled loosely across +the plain.</p> +<p>When he returned he croaked out, with an unusual air of +excitement, "Big thing!"</p> +<p>"What is a pig ding?" inquired Sergeant Meyer.</p> +<p>"Never see Injuns make such a fight afore."</p> +<p>"Nor I," assented Meyer.</p> +<p>"Stranger, they fowt first-rate," affirmed Smith, half admiring +the Apaches. "How many did we save?"</p> +<p>"Here are vour in our room, und the leftenant says there are +three on the roof, und berhabs we killed vour or vive outside."</p> +<p>"A dozen!" chuckled Texas, "besides the wounded. Let's hev a +look at the dead uns."</p> +<p>Going into Meyer's room, he found one of the Apaches still +twitching, and immediately cut his throat. Then he climbed to the +roof, gloated over the three bodies there, dragged them one by one +to the ledge, and pitched them into the plaza.</p> +<p>"That'll settle 'em," he remarked with a sigh of intense +satisfaction, like that of a baby when it has broken its rattle. +Coming down again, he looked all the corpses over again, and said +with an air of disappointment which was almost sentimental, "On'y a +dozen!"</p> +<p>"I kin keer for the Injuns," he volunteered when the question +came up of burying the dead. "I'd rather keer for 'em than +not."</p> +<p>Before Thurstane knew what was going on, Texas had finished his +labor of love. A crevice in the northern wall of the enclosure +looked out upon a steep slope of marl, almost a precipice, which +slanted sheer into the boiling flood of the San Juan. To this +crevice Texas dragged one naked carcass after another, bundled it +through, launched it with a vigorous shove, and then watched it +with a pantherish grin, licking his chops as it were, as it rolled +down the steep, splashed into the river, and set out on its swift +voyage toward the Pacific.</p> +<p>"I s'pose you'll want to dig a hole for <i>him</i>" he said, +coming into the Casa and looking wistfully at the body of poor +young Shubert.</p> +<p>Sergeant Meyer motioned him to go away. Thurstane was entering +in his journal an inventory of the deceased soldier's effects +having already made a minute of the date and cause of his death. +These with other facts, such as name, age, physical description, +birthplace, time of service, amount of pay due, balance of +clothing-account and stoppages, must be more or less repeated on +various records, such as the descriptive book of the company, the +daily return, the monthly return, the quarterly return, the +muster-roll from which the name would be dropped, and the final +statements which were to go to the Adjutant-General and the +Paymaster-General. Even in the desert the monstrous accountability +system of the army lived and burgeoned.</p> +<p>Nothing of importance happened until about noon, when the +sentinel on the outer wall announced that the Apaches were +approaching in force, and Thurstane gave orders to barricade one of +the doors of the Casa with some large blocks of adobe, saying to +himself, "I ought to have done it before."</p> +<p>This work well under way, he hastened to the brow of the hill +and reconnoitred the enemy.</p> +<p>"They are not going to attack," said Coronado. "They are going +to torture the girl Pepita."</p> +<p>Thurstane turned away sick at heart, observing, "I must keep the +women in the Casa."</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH24" id="CH24"><!-- CH24 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> +<p>When Thurstane, turning his back on the torture scene, had +ascended to the roof of the Casa, he found the ladies excited and +anxious.</p> +<p>"What is the matter?" asked Clara at once, taking hold of his +sleeve with the tips of her fingers, in a caressing, appealing way, +which was common with her when talking to those she liked.</p> +<p>Ordinarily our officer was a truth-teller; indeed, there was +nothing which came more awkwardly to him than deception; he hated +and despised it as if it were a personage, a criminal, an Indian. +But here was a case where he must stoop to falsification, or at +least to concealment.</p> +<p>"The Apaches are just below," he mumbled. "Not one of you women +must venture out. I will see to everything. Be good now."</p> +<p>She gave his sleeve a little twitch, smiled confidingly in his +face, and sat down to do some much-needed mending.</p> +<p>Having posted Sweeny at the foot of the ladders, with +instructions to let none of the women descend, Thurstane hastened +back to the exterior wall, drawn by a horrible fascination. With +his field-glass he could distinguish every action of the tragedy +which was being enacted on the plain. Pepita, entirely stripped of +her clothing, was already bound to the sapling which stood by the +side of the rivulet, and twenty or thirty of the Apaches were +dancing around her in a circle, each one approaching her in turn, +howling in her ears and spitting in her face. The young man had +read and heard much of the horrors of that torture-dance, which +stamps the American Indian as the most ferocious of savages; but be +had not understood at all how large a part insult plays in this +ceremony of deliberate cruelty; and, insulting a woman! he had not +once dream'ed it. Now, when he saw it done, his blood rushed into +his head and he burst forth in choked incoherent curses.</p> +<p>"I can't stand this," he shouted, advancing upon Coronado with +clenched fists. "We must charge."</p> +<p>The Mexican shook his head in a sickly, scared way, and pointed +to the left. There was a covering party of fifty or sixty warriors; +it was not more than a quarter of a mile from the eastern end of +the enclosure; it was in position to charge either upon that, or +upon the flank of any rescuing sally.</p> +<p>"We can do it," insisted the lieutenant, who felt as if he could +fight twenty men.</p> +<p>"We can't," replied Coronado. "I won't go, and my men shan't +go."</p> +<p>Thurstane thought of Clara, covered his face with his hands, and +sobbed aloud. Texas Smith stared at him with a kind of contemptuous +pity, and offered such consolation as it was in his nature to +give.</p> +<p>"Capm, when they've got through this job they'll travel."</p> +<p>The hideous prelude continued for half an hour. The Apaches in +the dance were relieved by their comrades in the covering party, +who came one by one to take their turns in the round of prancing, +hooting, and spitting. Then came a few minutes of rest; then insult +was followed by outrage.</p> +<p>The girl was loosed from the sapling and lifted until her head +was even with the lower branches, three warriors holding her while +two others extended her arms and fixed them to two stout limbs. +What the fastenings were Thurstane could guess from the fact that +he saw blows given, and heard the long shrill scream of a woman in +uttermost agony. Then there was more hammering around the +sufferer's feet, and more shrill wailing. She was spiked through +the palms and the ankles to the tree. It was a crucifixion.</p> +<p>"By ——!" groaned Thurstane, "I never will spare an +Indian as long as I live."</p> +<p>"Capm, I'm with you," said Texas Smith. "I seen my mother fixed +like that. I seen it from the bush whar I was a hidin'. I was a boy +then. I've killed every Injun I could sence."</p> +<p>Now the dance was resumed. The Apaches pranced about their +victim to the music of her screams. The movement quickened; at last +they ran around the tree in a maddened crowd; at every shriek they +stamped, gestured, and yelled demoniacally. Now and then one of +them climbed the girl's body and appeared to stuff something into +her mouth. Then the lamentable outcries sank to a gasping and +sobbing which could only be imagined by the spectators on the +hill.</p> +<p>"Can't you hit some of them?" Thurstane asked Texas Smith.</p> +<p>"Better let 'em finish," muttered the borderer. "The gal can't +be helped. She's as good as dead, Capm."</p> +<p>After another rest came a fresh scene of horror. Several of the +Apaches, no doubt chiefs or leading braves, caught up their bows +and renewed the dance. Running in a circle at full speed about the +tree, each one in turn let fly an arrow at the victim, the object +being to send the missile clear through her.</p> +<p>"That's the wind-up," muttered Texas Smith. "It's my turn +now."</p> +<p>He leaped from the wall to the ground, ran sixty or eighty yards +down the hill, halted, aimed, and fired. One of the warriors, a +fellow in a red shirt who had been conspicuous in the torture +scene, rolled over and lay quiet. The Apaches, who had been +completely absorbed by their frantic ceremony, and who had not +looked for an attack at the moment, nor expected death at such a +distance, uttered a cry of surprise and dismay. There was a +scramble of ten or fifteen screaming horsemen after the audacious +borderer. But immediately on firing he had commenced a rapid +retreat, at the same time reloading. He turned and presented his +rifle; just then, too, a protecting volley burst from the rampart; +another Apache fell, and the rest retreated.</p> +<p>"Capm, it's all right," said Texas, as he reascended the ruin. +"We're squar with 'em."</p> +<p>"We might have broken it up," returned Thurstane sullenly.</p> +<p>"No, Capm. You don't know 'em. They'd got thar noses p'inted to +torture that gal. If they didn't do it thar, they'd a done it a +little furder off. They was bound to do it. Now it's done, they'll +travel."</p> +<p>Warned by their last misadventure, the Indians presently retired +to their usual camping ground, leaving their victim attached to the +sapling.</p> +<p>"I'll fotch her up," volunteered Texas, who had a hyena's +hankering after dead bodies. "Reckon you'd like to bury her."</p> +<p>He mounted, rode slowly, and with prudent glances to right and +left, down the hill, halted under the tree, stood up in his saddle +and worked there for some minutes. The Apaches looked on from a +distance, uttering yells of exultation and making opprobrious +gestures. Presently Texas resumed his seat and cantered gently back +to the ruins, bearing across his saddle-bow a fearful burden, the +naked body of a girl of eighteen, pierced with more than fifty +arrows, stained and streaked all over with blood, the limbs +shockingly mangled, and the mouth stuffed with rags.</p> +<p>While nearly every other spectator turned away in horror, he +glared steadily and calmly at the corpse, repeating, "That's Injin +fun, that is. That's what they brag on, that is."</p> +<p>"Bury her outside the wall," ordered Thurstane with averted +face. "And listen, all you people, not a word of this to the +women."</p> +<p>"We shall be catechised," said Coronado.</p> +<p>"You must do the lying," replied the officer. He was so shaken +by what he had witnessed that he did not dare to face Clara for an +hour afterward, lest his discomposure should arouse her suspicions. +When he did at last visit the tower, she was quiet and smiling, for +Coronado had done his lying, and done it well.</p> +<p>"So there was no attack," she said. "I am so glad!"</p> +<p>"Only a little skirmish. You heard the firing, of course."</p> +<p>"Yes. Coronado told us about it. What a horrible howling the +Indians made! There were some screams that were really +frightful."</p> +<p>"It was their last demonstration. They will probably be gone in +the morning."</p> +<p>"Poor Pepita! She will be carried off," said Clara, a tear or +two stealing down her cheek.</p> +<p>"Yes, poor Pepita!" sighed Thurstane.</p> +<p>The muleteer who had been killed in the assault was already +buried. At sundown came the funeral of the soldier Shubert. The +body, wrapped in a blanket, was borne by four Mexicans to the grave +which had been prepared for it, followed by his three comrades with +loaded muskets, and then by all the other members of the party, +except Mrs. Stanley, who looked down from her roof upon the +spectacle. Thurstane acted as chaplain, and read the funeral +service from Clara's prayer-book, amidst the weeping of women and +the silence of men. The dead young hero was lowered into his last +resting-place. Sergeant Meyer gave the order: "Shoulder +arms—ready—present—aim—fire!" The ceremony +was ended; the muleteers filled the grave; a stone was placed to +mark it; so slept a good soldier.</p> +<p>Now came another night of anxiety, but also of quiet. In the +morning, when eager eyes looked through the yellow haze of dawn +over the plain, not an Apache was to be seen.</p> +<p>"They are gone," said Coronado to Thurstane, after the two had +made the tour of the ruins and scrutinized every feature of the +landscape. "What next?"</p> +<p>Thurstane swept his field-glass around once more, searching for +some outlet besides the horrible cañon, and searching in +vain.</p> +<p>"We must wait a day or so for our wounded," he said. "Then we +must start back on our old trail. I don't see anything else before +us."</p> +<p>"It is a gloomy prospect," muttered Coronado, thinking of the +hundred miles of rocky desert, and of the possibility that Apaches +might be ambushed at the end of it.</p> +<p>He had been so anxious about himself for a few days that he had +cared for little else. He had been humble, submissive to Thurstane, +and almost entirely indifferent about Clara.</p> +<p>"We ought at least to try something in the way of explorations," +continued the lieutenant. "To begin with, I shall sound the river. +I shall be thought a devil of a failure if I don't carry back some +information about the topography of this region."</p> +<p>"Can you paddle your boat against the current?" asked +Coronado.</p> +<p>"I doubt it. But we can make a towing cord of lariats and let it +out from the shore; perhaps swing it clear across the river in that +way—with some paddling, you know."</p> +<p>"It is an excellent plan," said Coronado.</p> +<p>The day passed without movement, excepting that Texas Smith and +two Mexicans explored the cañon for several miles, returning +with a couple of lame ponies and a report that the Apaches had +undoubtedly gone southward. At night, however, the animals were +housed and sentries posted as usual, for Thurstane feared lest the +enemy might yet return and attempt a surprise.</p> +<p>The next morning, all being quiet, the Buchanan boat was +launched. A couple of fairish paddles were chipped out of bits of +driftwood, and a towline a hundred feet long was made of lariats. +Thurstane further provisioned the cockle-shell with fishing tackle, +a sounding line, his own rifle, Shubert's musket and accoutrements, +a bag of hard bread, and a few pounds of jerked beef.</p> +<p>"You are not going to make a voyage!" stared Coronado.</p> +<p>"I am preparing for accidents. We may get carried down the +river."</p> +<p>"I thought you proposed to keep fast to the shore."</p> +<p>"I do. But the lariats may break."</p> +<p>Coronado said no more. He lighted a cigarito and looked on with +an air of dreamy indifference. He had hit upon a plan for getting +rid of Thurstane.</p> +<p>The next question was, who could handle a boat? The lieutenant +wanted two men to keep it out in the current while he used the +sounding line and recorded results.</p> +<p>"Guess I'll do 's well 's the nex' hand," volunteered Captain +Glover. "Got a sore ear, 'n' a hole in my nose, but reckon I'm 'n +able-bodied seaman for all that. <i>Hev</i> rowed some in my time. +Rowed forty mile after a whale onct, 'n' caught the +critter—fairly rowed him down. Current's putty lively. Sh'd +say 't was tearin' off 'bout five knots an hour. But guess I'll try +it. Sh'd kinder like to feel water under me agin."</p> +<p>"Captain, you shall handle the ship," smiled Thurstane. "I'll +mention you by name in my report. Who next?"</p> +<p>"Me," yelped Sweeny.</p> +<p>"Can you row, Sweeny?"</p> +<p>"I can, Liftinant."</p> +<p>"You may try it."</p> +<p>"Can I take me gun, Liftinant?" demanded Sweeny, who was +extravagantly fond and proud of his piece, all the more perhaps +because he held it in awe.</p> +<p>"Yes, you can take it, and Glover can have Shubert's. Though, +'pon my honor, I don't know why we should carry firearms. It's old +habit, I suppose. It's a way we have in the army."</p> +<p>The lieutenant had no sort of anxiety on the score of his +enterprise. His plan was to swing out into the current, and, if the +boat proved perfectly manageable, to cut loose from the towline and +paddle across, sounding the whole breadth of the channel. It seemed +easy enough and safe enough. When he left the Casa Grande after +breakfast he contrived to kiss Clara's hand, but it did not once +occur to him that it would be proper to bid her farewell. He was +very far indeed from guessing that in the knot of the lariat which +was fast to the bow of his coracle there was a fatal gash. It was +not suspicion of evil, but merely a habit of precaution, a +prudential tone of mind which he had acquired in service, that led +him at the last moment to say (making Coronado tremble in his +boots), "Mr. Glover, have you thoroughly overhauled the cord?"</p> +<p>"Give her a look jest before we went up to breakfast," replied +the skipper. "She'll hold."</p> +<p>Coronado, who stood three feet distant, blew a quiet little +whiff of smoke through his thin purple lips, meanwhile dreamily +contemplating the speaker.</p> +<p>"Git in, you paddywhack," said Glover to Sweeny. "Grab yer +paddle. T'other end; that's the talk. Now then. All aboard that's +goin'. Shove off."</p> +<p>In a few seconds, impelled from the shore by the paddles, the +boat was at the full length of the towline and in the middle of the +boiling current.</p> +<p>"Will it never break?" thought Coronado, smoking a little faster +than usual, but not moving a muscle.</p> +<p>Yes. It had already broken. At the first pause in the paddling +the mangled lariat had given way.</p> +<p>In spite of the renewed efforts of the oarsmen, the boat was +flying down the San Juan.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH25" id="CH25"><!-- CH25 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> +<p>When Thurstane perceived that the towline had parted and that +the boat was gliding down the San Juan, he called sharply, +"Paddle!"</p> +<p>He was in no alarm as yet. The line, although of rawhide, was +switching on the surface of the rapid current; it seemed easy +enough to recover it and make a new fastening. Passing from the +stern to the bow, he knelt down and dipped one hand in the water, +ready to clutch the end of the lariat.</p> +<p>But a boat five feet long and twelve feet broad, especially when +made of canvas on a frame of light sticks, is not handily paddled +against swift water; and the Buchanan (as the voyagers afterward +named it) not only sagged awkwardly, but showed a strong tendency +to whirl around like an egg-shell as it was. Moreover, the loose +line almost instantly took the direction of the stream, and swept +so rapidly shoreward that by the time Thurstane was in position to +seize it, it was rods away.</p> +<p>"Row for the bank," he ordered. But just as he spoke there came +a little noise which was to these three men the crack of doom. The +paddle of that most unskilful navigator, Sweeny, snapped in two, +and the broad blade of it was instantly out of reach. Next the +cockle-shell of a boat was spinning on its keel-less bottom, and +whirling broadside on, bow foremost, stern foremost, any way, down +the San Juan.</p> +<p>"Paddle away!" shouted Thurstane to Glover. "Drive her in shore! +Pitch her in!"</p> +<p>The old coaster sent a quick, anxious look down the river, and +saw at once that there was no chance of reaching the bank. Below +them, not three hundred yards distant, was an archipelago of rocks, +the <i>débris</i> of fallen precipices and pinnacles, +through which, for half a mile or more, the water flew in +whirlpools and foam. They were drifting at great speed toward this +frightful rapid, and, if they entered it, destruction was sure and +instant. Only the middle of the stream showed a smooth current; and +there was less than half a minute in which to reach it. Without a +word Glover commenced paddling as well as he could away from the +bank.</p> +<p>"What are you about?" yelled Thurstane, who saw Clara on the +roof of the Casa Grande, and was crazed at the thought of leaving +her there. She would suspect that he had abandoned her; she would +be massacred by the Apaches; she would starve in the desert, +etc.</p> +<p>Glover made no reply. His whole being was engaged in the +struggle of evading immediate death.</p> +<p>One more glance, one moment of manly, soldierly reflection, +enabled Thurstane to comprehend the fate which was upon him, and to +bow to it with resignation. Turning his back upon the foaming reefs +which might the next instant be his executioners, he stood up in +the boat, took off his cap, and waved a farewell to Clara. He was +so unconscious of anything but her and his parting from her that +for some time he did not notice that the slight craft had narrowly +shaved the rocks, that it had barely crawled into the middle +current, and that he was temporarily safe. He kept his eyes fixed +upon the Casa and upon the girl's motionless figure until a +monstrous, sullen precipice slid in between. He was like one who +breathes his last with straining gaze settled on some loved face, +parting from which is worse than death. When he could see her no +longer, nor the ruin which sheltered her, and which suddenly seemed +to him a paradise, he dropped his head between his hands, utterly +unmanned.</p> +<p>"'Twon't dew to give it up while we float, Major," said Glover, +breveting the lieutenant by way of cheering him.</p> +<p>"I don't give it up," replied Thurstane; "but I had a duty to do +there, and now I can't do it."</p> +<p>"There's dooties to be 'tended to here, I reckon," suggested +Glover.</p> +<p>"They will be done," said the officer, raising his head and +settling his face. "How can we help you?"</p> +<p>"Don't seem to need much help. The river doos the paddlin'; wish +it didn't. No 'casion to send anybody aloft. I'll take a seat in +the stern 'n' mind the hellum. Guess that's all they is to be +done."</p> +<p>"You dum paddywhack," he presently reopened, "what d'ye break +yer paddle for?"</p> +<p>"I didn't break it," yapped Sweeny indignantly. "It broke +itself."</p> +<p>"Well, what d'ye say y' could paddle for, when y' couldn't?"</p> +<p>"I can paddle. I paddled as long as I had anythin' but a +sthick."</p> +<p>"Oh, you dum landlubber!" smirked Glover. "What if I should +order ye to the masthead?"</p> +<p>"I wouldn't go," asseverated Sweeny. "I'll moind no man who +isn't me suparior officer. I've moindin' enough to do in the arrmy. +I wouldn't go, onless the liftinint towld me. Thin I'd go."</p> +<p>"Guess y' wouldn't now."</p> +<p>"Yis I wud."</p> +<p>"But they an't no mast."</p> +<p>"I mane if there was one."</p> +<p>This kind of babble Glover kept up for some minutes, with the +sole object of amusing and cheering Thurstane, whose extreme +depression surprised and alarmed him. He knew that the situation +was bad, and that it would take lots of pluck to bring them through +it.</p> +<p>"Capm, where d'ye think we're bound?" he presently inquired. +"Whereabouts doos this river come out?"</p> +<p>"It runs into the Colorado of the West, and that runs into the +head of the Gulf of California."</p> +<p>"Californy! Reckon I'll git to the diggins quicker 'n I +expected. Goin' at this rate, we'll make about a hundred 'n' twenty +knots a day. What's the distance to Californy?"</p> +<p>"By the bends of the river it can't be less than twelve hundred +miles to the gulf."</p> +<p>"Whew!" went Glover. "Ten days' sailin'. Wal, smooth water all +the way?"</p> +<p>"The San Juan has never been navigated. So far as I know, we are +the first persons who ever launched a boat on it."</p> +<p>"Whew! Why, it's like discoverin' Ameriky. Wal, what d'ye guess +about the water? Any chance 'f its bein' smooth clear through?"</p> +<p>"The descent to the gulf must be two or three thousand feet, +perhaps more. We can hardly fail to find rapids. I shouldn't be +astonished by a cataract."</p> +<p>Glover gave a long whistle and fell into grave meditation. His +conclusion was: "Can't navigate nights, that's a fact. Have to come +to anchor. That makes twenty days on't. Wal, Capm, fust thing is to +fish up a bit 'f driftwood 'n' whittle out 'nother paddle. Want a +boat-pole, too, like thunder. We're awful short 'f spars for a long +voyage."</p> +<p>His lively mind had hardly dismissed this subject before he +remarked: "Dum cur'ous that towline breaking. I overhauled every +foot on't. I'd a bet my bottom fo'pence on its drawin' ten ton. +Haul in the slack end 'n' let's hev a peek at it."</p> +<p>The tip of the lariat, which was still attached to the boat, +being handed to him, he examined it minutely, closed his eyes, +whistled, and ejaculated, "Sawed!"</p> +<p>"What?" asked Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Sawed," repeated Glover. "That leather was haggled in tew with +a jagged knife or a sharp flint or suthin 'f that sort. Done a +purpose, 's sure 's I'm a sinner."</p> +<p>Thurstane took the lariat, inspected the breakage carefully, and +scowled with helpless rage.</p> +<p>"That infernal Texan!" he muttered.</p> +<p>"Sho!" said Glover. "That feller? Anythin' agin ye? Wal, Capm, +then all I've got to say is, you come off easy. That feller 'd cut +a sleepin' man's throat. I sh'd say thank God for the riddance. +Tell ye I've watched that cuss. Been blastedly afeard 'f him. Hev +so, by George! The further I git from him the safer I feel."</p> +<p>"Not a nice man to leave <i>there</i>" muttered Thurstane, whose +anxiety was precisely not for himself, but for Clara. The young +fellow could not be got to talk much; he was a good deal upset by +his calamity. The parting from Clara was an awful blow; the thought +of her dangers made him feel as if he could jump overboard; and, +lurking deep in his soul, there was an ugly fear that Coronado +might now win her. He was furious moreover at having been tricked, +and meditated bedlamite plans of vengeance. For a time he stared +more at the mangled lariat than at the amazing scenery through +which he was gliding.</p> +<p>And yet that scenery, although only a prelude, only an overture +to the transcendent oratorios of landscape which were to follow, +was in itself a horribly sublime creation. Not twenty minutes after +the snapping of the towline the boat had entered one of those +stupendous cañons which form the distinguishing +characteristic of the great American table-land, and make it a +region unlike any other in the world.</p> +<p>Remember that the cañon is a groove chiselled out of rock +by a river. Although a groove, it is never straight for long +distances. The river at its birth was necessarily guided by the +hollows of the primal plateau; moreover, it was tempted to labor +along the softest surfaces. Thus the cañon is a sinuous +gully, cut down from the hollows of rocky valleys, and following +their courses of descent from mountain-chain toward ocean.</p> +<p>In these channels the waters have chafed, ground, abraded, +eroded for centuries which man cannot number. Like the Afreets of +the Arabian Nights, they have been mighty slaves, subject to a far +mightier master. That potent magician whose lair is in the centre +of the earth, and whom men have vaguely styled the attraction of +gravitation, has summoned them incessantly toward himself. In their +struggle to render him obedience, they have accomplished results +which make all the works of man insignificant by comparison.</p> +<p>To begin with, vast lakes, which once swept westward from the +bases of the Rocky Mountains, were emptied into the Pacific. Next +the draining currents transformed into rivers, cut their way +through the soil which formerly covered the table-lands and +commenced their attrition upon the underlying continent of +sandstone. It was a grinding which never ceased; every pebble and +every bowlder which lay in the way was pressed into the endless +labor; mountains were used up in channelling mountains.</p> +<p>The central magician was insatiable and pitiless; he demanded +not only the waters, but whatever they could bring; he hungered +after the earth and all that covered it. His obedient Afreets +toiled on, denuding the plateaux of their soil, washing it away +from every slope and peak, pouring it year by year into the +cañons, and whirling it on to the ocean. The rivers, the +brooklets, the springs, and the rains all joined in this eternal +robbery. Little by little an eighth of a continent was stripped of +its loam, its forests, its grasses, its flowers, its vegetation of +every species. What had been a land of fertility became an arid and +rocky desert.</p> +<p>Then the minor Afreets perished of the results of their own +obedience. There being no soil, the fountains disappeared; there +being no evaporation, the rains diminished. Deprived of sustenance, +nearly all the shorter streams dried up, and the channels which +they had hewn became arid gullies. Only those rivers continued to +exist which drew their waters from the snowy slopes of the Rocky +Mountains or from the spurs and ranges which intersect the +plateaux. The ages may come when these also will cease to flow, and +throughout all this portion of the continent the central magician +will call for his Afreets in vain.</p> +<p>For some time we must attend much to the scenery of the desert +thus created. It has become one of the individuals of our story, +and interferes with the fate of the merely human personages. +Thurstane could not long ignore its magnificent, oppressive, and +potent presence. Forgetting somewhat his anxieties about the loved +one whom he had left behind, he looked about him with some such +amazement as if he had been translated from earth into regions of +supernature.</p> +<p>The cañon through which he was flying was a groove cut in +solid sandstone, less than two hundred feet wide, with precipitous +walls of fifteen hundred feet, from the summit of which the rock +sloped away into buttes and peaks a thousand feet higher. On every +side the horizon was half a mile above his head. He was in a chasm, +twenty-five hundred feet below the average surface of the earth, +the floor of which was a swift river.</p> +<p>He seemed to himself to be traversing the abodes of the Genii. +Although he had only heard of "Vathek," he thought of the Hall of +Eblis. It was such an abyss as no artist has ever hinted, excepting +Doré in his picturings of Dante's "Inferno." Could Dante +himself have looked into it, he would have peopled it with the most +hopeless of his lost spirits. The shadow, the aridity, the +barrenness, the solemnity, the pitilessness, the horrid cruelty of +the scene, were more than might be received into the soul. It was +something which could not be imagined, and which when seen could +not be fully remembered. To gaze on it was like beholding the +mysterious, wicked countenance of the father of all evil. It was a +landscape which was a fiend.</p> +<p>The precipices were not bare and plain faces of rock, destitute +of minor finish and of color. They had their horrible decorations; +they showed the ingenuity and the artistic force of the Afreets who +had fashioned them; they were wrought and tinted with a demoniac +splendor suited to their magnitude. It seemed as if some goblin +Michel Angelo had here done his carving and frescoing at the +command of the lords of hell. Layers of brown, gray, and orange +sandstone, alternated from base to summit; and these tints were +laid on with a breadth of effect which was prodigious: a hundred +feet in height and miles in length at a stroke of the brush.</p> +<p>The architectural and sculptural results were equally monstrous. +There were lateral shelves twenty feet in width, and thousands of +yards in length. There were towers, pilasters, and formless +caryatides, a quarter of a mile in height. Great bulks projected, +capped by gigantic mitres or diadems, and flanked by cavernous +indentations. In consequence of the varying solidity of the stone, +the river had wrought the precipices into a series of innumerable +monuments, more or less enormous, commemorative of combats. There +had been interminable strife here between the demons of earth and +the demons of water, and each side had set up its trophies. It was +the Vatican and the Catacombs of the Genii; it was the museum and +the mausoleum of the forces of nature.</p> +<p>At various points tributary gorges, the graves of fluvial gods +who had perished long ago, opened into the main cañon. In +passing these the voyagers had momentary glimpses of sublimities +and horrors which seemed like the handiwork of that "anarch old," +who wrought before the shaping of the universe. One of these +sarcophagi was a narrow cleft, not more than eighty feet broad, cut +from surface to base of a bed of sandstone one-third of a mile in +depth. It was inhabited by an eternal gloom which was like the +shadow of the blackness of darkness. The stillness, the absence of +all life whether animal or vegetable, the dungeon-like closeness of +the monstrous walls, were beyond language.</p> +<p>Another gorge was a ruin. The rock here being of various degrees +of density, the waters had essayed a thousand channels. All the +softer veins had been scooped out and washed away, leaving the +harder blocks and masses piled in a colossal grotesque confusion. +Along the sloping sides of the gap stood bowlders, pillars, +needles, and strange shapes of stone, peering over each other's +heads into the gulf below. It was as if an army of misshapen +monsters and giants had been petrified with horror, while staring +at some inconceivable desolation and ruin. There was no hope for +this concrete despair; no imaginable voice could utter for it a +word of consolation; the gazer, like Dante amid the tormented, +could only "look and pass on."</p> +<p>At one point two lateral cañons opened side by side upon +the San Juan. The partition was a stupendous pile of rock fifteen +hundred feet in altitude, but so narrow that it seemed to the +voyagers below like the single standing wall of some ruined +edifice. Although the space on its summit was broad enough for a +cathedral, it did not appear to them that it would afford footing +to a man, while the enclosing fissures looked narrow enough to be +crossed at a bound. On either side of this isolated bar of +sandstone a plumb-line might have been dropped straight to the +level of the river. The two chasms were tombs of shadow, where +nothing ever stirred but winds.</p> +<p>The solitude of this continuous panorama of precipices was +remarkable. It was a region without man, or beast, or bird, or +insect. The endless rocks, not only denuded, but eroded and scraped +by the action of bygone waters, could furnish no support for animal +life. A beast of prey, or even a mountain goat, would have starved +here. Could a condor of the Andes have visited it, he would have +spread his wings at once to leave it.</p> +<p>Yet horrible as the scene was, it was so sublime that it +fascinated. For hours, gazing at lofty masses, vast outlines, +prodigious assemblages of rocky imagery, endless strokes of natural +frescoing, the three adventurers either exchanged rare words of +astonishment, or lay in reveries which transported them beyond +earth. What Thurstane felt he could only express by recalling +random lines of the "Paradise Lost." It seemed to him as if they +might at any moment emerge upon the lake of burning marl, and float +into the shadow of the walls of Pandemonium. He would not have felt +himself carried much beyond his present circumstances, had he +suddenly beheld Satan,</p> +<pre> + High on a throne of royal state, which far + Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind. +</pre> +<p>He was roused from his dreams by the quick, dry, +grasshopper-like voice of Phineas Glover, asking, "What's +that?"</p> +<p>A deep whisper came up the chasm. They could hardly distinguish +it when they stretched their hearing to the utmost. It seemed to +steal with difficulty against the rushing flood, and then to be +swept down again. It sighed threateningly for a moment, and +instantaneously became silence. One might liken it to a ghost +trying to advance through some castle hall, only to be borne +backward by the fitful night-breeze, or by some mysterious ban. Was +the desert inhabited, and by disembodied demons?</p> +<p>After a further flight of half a mile, this variable sigh +changed to a continuous murmur. There was now before the voyagers a +straight course of nearly two miles, at the end of which lay hid +the unseen power which gave forth this solemn menace. The river, +perfectly clear of rocks, was a sheet of liquid porphyry, an arrow +of dark-red water slightly flecked with foam. The walls of the +cañon, scarcely fifty yards apart and more stupendous than +ever, rose in precipices without a landing-place or a foothold. So +far as eye could pierce into the twilight of the sublime chasm, +there was not a spot where the boat could be arrested in its +flight, or where a swimmer could find a shelf of safety.</p> +<p>"It is a rapid," said Thurstane. "You did well, Captain Glover, +to get another paddle."</p> +<p>"Lord bless ye!" returned the skipper impatiently, "it's lucky I +was whittlin' while you was thinkin'. If we on'y had a +boat-hook!"</p> +<p>From moment to moment the murmur came nearer and grew louder. It +was smothered and then redoubled by the reverberations of the +cañon, so that sometimes it seemed the tigerish snarl of a +rapid, and sometimes the leonine roar of a cataract. A bend of the +chasm at last brought the voyagers in sight of the monster, which +was frothing and howling to devour them. It was a terrific +spectacle. It was like Apollyon "straddling quite across the way," +to intercept Christian in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. From +one dizzy rampart to the other, and as far down the echoing cavern +as eye could reach, the river was white with an arrowy rapid +storming though a labyrinth of rocks.</p> +<p>Sweeny, evidently praying, moved his lips in silence. Glover's +face had the keen, anxious, watchful look of the sailor affronting +shipwreck; and Thurstane's the set, enduring rigidity of the +soldier who is tried to his utmost by cannonade.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH26" id="CH26"><!-- CH26 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> +<p>The three adventurers were entering the gorge of an impassable +rapid.</p> +<p>Here had once been the barrier of a cataract; the waters had +ground through it, tumbled it down, and gnawed it to tatters; the +scattered bowlders which showed through the foam were the remnants +of the Cyclopean feast.</p> +<p>There appeared to be no escape from death. Any one of those +stones would rend the canvas boat from end to end, or double it +into a wet rug; and if a swimmer should perchance reach the bank, +he would drown there, looking up at precipices; or, if he should +find a footing, it would only be to starve.</p> +<p>"There is our chance," said Thurstane, pointing to a bowlder as +large as a house which stood under the northern wall of the +cañon, about a quarter of a mile above the first yeast of +the rapid.</p> +<p>He and Glover each took a paddle. They had but one object: it +was to get under the lee of the bowlder, and so stop their descent; +after that they would see what more could be done. Danger and +safety were alike swift here; it was a hurry as of battle or +tempest Almost before they began to hope for success, they were +circling in the narrow eddy, very nearly a whirlpool, which wheeled +just below the isolated rock. Even here the utmost caution was +necessary, for while the Buchanan was as light as a bubble, it was +also as fragile.</p> +<p>Sounding the muddy water with their paddles, they slowly glided +into the angle between the bowlder and the precipice, and jammed +the fragment of the towline in a crevice. For the first time in six +hours, and in a run of thirty miles, they were at rest. Wiping the +sweat of labor and anxiety from their brows, they looked about +them, at first in silence, querying what next?</p> +<p>"I wish I was on an iceberg," said Glover in his despair.</p> +<p>"An' I wish I was in Oirland," added Sweeny. "But if the divil +himself was to want to desart here, he couldn't."</p> +<p>Thurstane believed that he had seen Clara for the last time, +even should she escape her own perils. Through his field-glass he +surveyed the whole gloomy scene with microscopic attention, +searching for an exit out of this monstrous man-trap, and searching +in vain. It was as impossible to descend the rapid as it was to +scale the walls of the cañon. He had just heard Sweeny say, +"I wish I was bein' murthered by thim naygurs," and had smiled at +the utterance of desperation with a grim sympathy, when a faint +hope dawned upon him.</p> +<p>Not more than a yard above the water was a ledge or shelf in the +face of the precipice. The layer of sandstone immediately over this +shelf was evidently softer than the general mass; and in other days +(centuries ago), when it had formed one level with the bed of the +river, it had been deeply eroded. This erosion had been carried +along the cañon on an even line of altitude as far as the +softer layer extended. Thurstane could trace it with his glass for +what seemed to him a mile, and there was of course a possibility +that it reached below the foot of the rapid. The groove was +everywhere about twenty feet high, while its breadth varied from a +yard or so to nearly a rod.</p> +<p>Here, then, was a road by which they might perhaps turn the +obstacle. The only difficulty was that while the bed of the river +descended rapidly, the shelf kept on at the same elevation, so that +eventually the travellers would come to a jumping-off place. How +high would it be? Could they get down it so as to regain the stream +and resume their navigation? Well, they must try it; there was no +other road. With one eloquent wave of his hand Thurstane pointed +out this slender chance of escape to his comrades.</p> +<p>"Hurray!" shouted Glover, after a long stare, in which the +emotions succeeded each other like colors in a dolphin.</p> +<p>"Can we make the jump at the other end?" asked the +lieutenant.</p> +<p>"Reckon so," chirruped Glover. "Look a here."</p> +<p>He exhibited a pile of unpleasant-looking matter which proved to +be a mass of strips of fresh hide.</p> +<p>"Hoss skin," he explained. "Peeled off a mustang. Borrowed it +from that Texan cuss. Thought likely we might want to splice our +towline. 'Bout ten fathom, I reckon; 'n' there's the lariat, two +fathom more. All we've got to de is to pack up, stick our backs +under, 'n' travel."</p> +<p>It was three o'clock in the afternoon when they commenced their +preparations for making this extraordinary portage. Sunk as they +were twenty-five hundred feet in the bowels of the earth, the sun +had already set for them; but they were still favored with a sort +of twilight radiance, and they could count upon it for a couple of +hours longer. Carefully the guns, paddles, and stores were landed +on the marvellous causeway; and then, with still greater caution, +the boat was lifted to the same support and taken to pieces. The +whole mass of material, some two hundred pounds in weight, was +divided into three portions. Each shouldered his pack, and the +strange journey commenced.</p> +<p>"Sweeny, don't you fall off," said Glover. "We can't spare them +sticks."</p> +<p>"If I fall off, ye may shute me where I stand," returned Sweeny. +"I know better'n to get drowned and starved to death in wan. I can +take care av meself. I've sailed this a way many a time in th' ould +counthry."</p> +<p>The road was a smooth and easy one, barring a few cumbering +bowlders. To the left and below was the river, roaring, hissing, +and foaming through its <i>chevaux-de-frise</i> of rocks. In front +the cañon stretched on and on until its walls grew dim with +shadow and distance. Above were overhanging precipices and a blue +streak of sunlit sky.</p> +<p>It was quite dusk with the wanderers before they reached a point +where the San Juan once more flowed with an undisturbed +current.</p> +<p>"We can't launch by this light," said Thurstane. "We will sleep +here."</p> +<p>"It'll be a longish night," commented Glover. "But don't see's +we can shorten it by growlin'. When fellahs travel in the bowels 'f +th' earth, they've got to follow the customs 'f th' country. Puts +me in mind of Jonah in the whale's belly. Putty short tacks, Capm. +Nine hours a day won't git us along; any too fast. But can't help +it. Night travellin' ain't suited to our boat. Suthin' like a +bladder football: one pin-prick 'd cowallapse it. Wal, so we'll +settle. Lucky we wanted our blankets to set on. 'Pears to me this +rock's a leetle harder'n a common deck plank. Unroll the boat, +Capm? Wal, guess we'd better. Needs dryin'a speck. Too much soakin' +an't good for canvas. Better dry it out, 'n' fold it up, 'n' sleep +on't. This passageway that we're in, sh'd say at might git up a +smart draught. What d'ye say to this spot for campin'? Twenty foot +breadth of beam here. Kind of a stateroom, or bridal chamber. No +need of fallin' out. Ever walk in yer sleep, Sweeny? Better cut it +right square off to-night. Five fathom down to the river, sh'd say. +Splash ye awfully, Sweeny."</p> +<p>Thus did Captain Glover prattle in his cheerful way while the +party made its preparations for the night.</p> +<p>They were like ants lodged in some transverse crack of a lofty +wall. They were in a deep cut of the shelf, with fifteen hundred or +two thousand feet of sandstone above, and the porphyry-colored +river thirty feet below. The narrow strip of sky far above their +heads was darkening rapidly with the approach of night, and with an +accumulation of clouds. All of a sudden there was a descent of +muddy water, charged with particles of red earth and powdered +sandstone, pouring by them down the overhanging precipice.</p> +<p>"Liftinant!" exclaimed Sweeny, "thim naygurs up there is washin' +their dirty hides an' pourin' the suds down on us."</p> +<p>"It's the rain, Sweeny. There's a shower on the plateau +above."</p> +<p>"The rain, is it? Thin all nate people in that counthry must +stand in great nade of ombrellys."</p> +<p>The scene was more marvellous than ever. Not a drop of rain fell +in the river; the immense façade opposite them was as dry as +a skull; yet here was this muddy cataract. It fell for half an +hour, scarcely so much as spattering them in their recess, but +plunging over them into the torrent beneath. By the time it ceased +they had eaten their supper of hard bread and harder beef, and +lighted their pipes to allay their thirst. There was a laying of +plans to regain the river to-morrow, a grave calculation as to how +long their provisions would last, and in general much talk about +their chances.</p> +<p>"Not a shine of a lookout for gittin' back to the Casa?" queried +Captain Glover. "Knowed it," he added, when the lieutenant sadly +shook his head. "Fool for talkin' 'bout it. How 'bout reachin' the +trail to the Moqui country?"</p> +<p>"I have been thinking of it all day," said Thurstane. "We must +give it up. Every one of the branch cañons on the other bank +trends wrong. We couldn't cross them; we should have to follow +them; it's an impassable hell of a country. We might by bare chance +reach the Moqui pueblos; but the probability is that we should die +in the desert of thirst. We shall have to run the river. Perhaps we +shall have to run the Colorado too. If so, we had better keep on to +Diamond creek, and from there push by land to Cactus Pass. Cactus +Pass is on the trail, and we may meet emigrants there. I don't know +what better to suggest."</p> +<p>"Dessay it's a tiptop idee," assented Glover cheeringly. +"Anyhow, if we take on down the river, it seems like follyin' the +guidings of Providence."</p> +<p>In spite of their strange situation and doubtful prospects, the +three adventurers slept early and soundly. When they awoke it was +daybreak, and after chewing the hardest, dryest, and rawest of +breakfasts, they began their preparations to reach the river. To +effect this, it was necessary to find a cleft in the ledge where +they could fasten a cord securely, and below it a footing at the +water's edge where they could put their boat together and launch +it. It would not do to go far down the cañon, for the bed of +the stream descended while the shelf retained its level, and the +distance between them was already sufficiently alarming. After an +anxious search they discovered a bowlder lying in the river beneath +the shelf, with a flat surface perfectly suited to their purpose. +There, too, was a cleft, but a miserably small one.</p> +<p>"We can't jam a cord in that," said Glover; "nor the handle of a +paddle nuther."</p> +<p>"It'll howld me bagonet," suggested Sweeny.</p> +<p>"It can be made to hold it," decided Thurstane. "We must drill +away till it does hold it."</p> +<p>An hour's labor enabled them to insert the bayonet to the handle +and wedge it with spikes split off from the precious wood of the +paddles. When it seemed firm enough to support a strong lateral +pressure, Glover knotted on to it, in his deft sailor fashion, a +strip of the horse hide, and added others to that until he had a +cord of some forty feet. After testing every inch and every knot, +he said: "Who starts first?"</p> +<p>"I will try it," answered Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Lightest first, I reckon," observed Glover.</p> +<p>Sweeny looked at the precipice, skipped about the shelf +uneasily, made a struggle with his fears, and asked, "Will ye let +me down aisy?"</p> +<p>"Jest 's easy 's rollin' off a log."</p> +<p>"That's aisy enough. It's the lightin' that's har-rd. If it +comes to rowlin' down, I'll let ye have the first rowl. I've no +moind to git ahead of me betthers."</p> +<p>"Try it, my lad," said Thurstane. "The real danger comes with +the last man. He will have to trust to the bayonet alone."</p> +<p>"An' what'll I do whirl I get down there?"</p> +<p>"Take the traps off the cord as we send them down, and pile them +on the rock."</p> +<p>"I'm off," said Sweeny, after one more look into the chasm. +While the others held the cord to keep the strain from coming on +the bayonet, he gripped it with both hands, edged stern foremost +over the precipice, and slipped rapidly to the bowlder, whence he +sent up a hoot of exultation. The cord was drawn back; the boat was +made up in two bundles, which were lowered in succession; then the +provisions, paddles, arms, etc. Now came the question whether +Thurstane or Glover should remain last on the ledge.</p> +<p>"Lightest last," said the lean skipper. "Stands to reason."</p> +<p>"It's my duty to take the hot end of the poker," replied the +officer. "Loser goes first," said Glover, producing a copper. +"Heads or tails?"</p> +<p>"Heads," guessed Thurstane.</p> +<p>"It's a tail. Catch hold, Capm. Slow 'n' easy till you get +over."</p> +<p>The cord holding firm, Thurstane reached the bowlder, and was +presently joined by Glover.</p> +<p>"Liftinant, I want me bagonet," cried Sweeny. "Will I go up +afther it?"</p> +<p>"How the dickens 'd you git down again?" asked Glover. "Guess +you'll have to leave your bayonet where it sticks. But, Capm, we +want that line. Can't you shute it away, clost by th' edge?"</p> +<p>The third shot was a lucky one, and brought down the precious +cord. Then came the work of putting the boat into shape, launching +it, getting in the stores, and lastly the voyagers.</p> +<p>"Tight's a drum yit," observed Glover, surveying the coracle +admiringly. "Fust time I ever sailed <i>on</i> canvas. Great +notion. Don't draw more'n three inches. Might sail acrost country +with it. Capm, it's the only boat ever invented that could git down +this blasted river."</p> +<p>Glover and Sweeny, two of the most talkative creatures on earth, +chattered much to each other. Thurstane sometimes listened to them, +sometimes lost himself in reveries about Clara, sometimes surveyed +the scenery of the cañon.</p> +<p>The abyss was always the same, yet with colossal variety: here +and there yawnings of veined precipices, followed by cavernous +closings of the awful sides; breakings in of subsidiary +cañons, some narrow clefts, and others gaping shattered +mouths; the walls now presenting long lines of rampart, and now a +succession of peaks. But still, although they had now traversed the +chasm for seventy or eighty miles, they found no close and no +declension to its solemn grandeur.</p> +<p>At last came another menace, a murmur deeper and hoarser than +that of the rapid, steadily swelling as they advanced until it was +a continuous thunder. This time there could be no doubt that they +were entering upon a scene of yet undecided battle between the +eternal assault of the river and the immemorial resistance of the +mountains.</p> +<p>The quickening speed of the waters, and the ceaseless bellow of +their charging trumpets as they tore into some yet unseen abyss, +announced one of those struggles of nature in which man must be a +spectator or a victim.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH27" id="CH27"><!-- CH27 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> +<p>As Thurstane approached the cataract of the San Juan he thought +of the rapids above Niagara, and of the men who had been whirled +down them, foreseeing their fate and struggling against it, but +unable to escape it.</p> +<p>"We must keep near one wall or the other," he said. "The middle +of the river is sure death."</p> +<p>Paddling toward the northern bank, simply because it had saved +them in their former peril, they floated like a leaf in the shadows +of the precipices, watching for some footway by which to turn the +lair of the monster ahead.</p> +<p>The scenery here did not consist exclusively of two lofty +ramparts fronting each other. Before the river had established its +present channel it had tried the strength of the plateau in various +directions, slashing the upper strata into a succession of +cañons, which were now lofty and arid gullies, divided from +each other by every conceivable form of rocky ruin. Rotundas, +amphitheatres, castellated walls, cathedrals of unparalleled +immensity, facades of palaces huge enough to be the abodes of the +principalities and powers of the air, far-stretching semblances of +cities tottering to destruction, all fashions of domes, towers, +minarets, spires, and obelisks, with a population of misshapen +demons and monsters, looked down from sublime heights upon the +voyagers. At every turn in the river the panorama changed, and they +beheld new marvels of this Titanic architecture. There was no end +to the gigantic and grotesque variety of the commingling outlines. +The vastness, the loneliness, the stillness, the twilight +sombreness, were awful. And through all reverberated incessantly +the defiant clarion of the cataract.</p> +<p>The day was drawing to that early death which it has always had +and must always have in these abysses. Knowing how suddenly +darkness would fall, and not daring to attempt the unknown without +light, the travellers looked for a mooring spot. There was a grim +abutment at least eighteen hundred feet high; at its base two +rocks, which had tumbled ages ago from the summit, formed a rude +breakwater; and on this barrier had collected a bed of coarse +pebbles, strewn with driftwood. Here they stopped their flight, +unloaded the boat and beached it. The drift-wood furnished them a +softer bed than usual, and materials for a fire.</p> +<p>Night supervened with the suddenness of a death which has been +looked for, but which is at last a surprise. Shadow after shadow +crept down the walls of the chasm, blurred its projections, +darkened its faces, and crowded its recesses. The line of sky, seen +through the jagged and sinuous opening above, changed slowly to +gloom and then to blackness. There was no light in this rocky +intestine of the earth except the red flicker of the camp-fire. It +fought feebly with the powers of darkness; it sent tremulous +despairing flashes athwart the swift ebony river; it reached out +with momentary gleams to the nearer facades of precipice; it +reeled, drooped, and shuddered as if in hopeless horror. Probably, +since the world began, no other fire lighted by man had struggled +against the gloom of this tremendous amphitheatre. The darknesses +were astonished at it, but they were also uncomprehending and +hostile. They refused to be dissipated, and they were +victorious.</p> +<p>After two hours a change came upon the scene. The moon rose, +filled the upper air with its radiance, and bathed in silver the +slopes of the mountains. The narrow belt of visible sky resembled a +milky way. The light continued to descend and work miracles. +Isolated turrets, domes, and pinnacles came out in gleaming relief +against the dark-blue background of the heavens. The opposite crest +of the cañon shone with a broad illumination. All the +uncouth demons and monsters of the rocks awoke, glaring and +blinking, to menace the voyagers in the depths below. The contrast +between this supereminent brilliancy and the sullen obscurity of +the subterranean river made the latter seem more than ever like +Styx or Acheron.</p> +<p>The travellers were awakened in the morning by the trumpetings +of the cataract. They embarked and dropped down the stream, hugging +the northern rampart and watching anxiously. Presently there was a +clear sweep of a mile; the clamor now came straight up to them with +redoubled vehemence; a ghost of spray arose and waved +threateningly, as if forbidding further passage. It was the roar +and smoke of an artillery which had thundered for ages, and would +thunder for ages to come. It was a voice and signal which summoned +reinforcements of waters, and in obedience to which the waters +charged eternally.</p> +<p>The boat had shudders. Every spasm jerked it onward a little +faster. It flew with a tremulous speed which was terrible. +Thurstane, a good soldier, able to obey as well as to direct, +knowing that if Glover could not steer wisely no one could, sat, +paddle in hand, awaiting orders. Sweeny fidgeted, looked from one +to another, looked at the mist ahead, cringed, wanted to speak, and +said nothing. Glover, working hard with his paddle, and just barely +keeping the coracle bows on, peered and grinned as if he were +facing a hurricane. There was no time to have a care for sunken +bowlders, reaching up to rend the thin bottom. The one giant danger +of the cataract was enough to fill the mind and bar out every minor +terror. Its deafening threats demanded the whole of the +imagination. Compared with the probability of plunging down an +unknown depth into a boiling hell of waters, all other peril seemed +too trifling to attract notice. Such a fate is an enhancement of +the horrors of death.</p> +<p>"Liftinant, let's go over with a whoop," called Sweeny. "It's +much aisier."</p> +<p>"Keep quiet, my lad," replied the officer. "We must hear +orders."</p> +<p>"All right, Liftinant," said Sweeny, relieved by having +spoken.</p> +<p>At this moment Glover shouted cheerfully, "We ain't dead yit +There's a ledge."</p> +<p>"I see it," nodded Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Where there's a ledge there's an eddy," screamed Glover, +raising his voice to pierce the hiss of the rapid and the roar of +the cascade.</p> +<p>Below them, jutting out from the precipitous northern bank, was +a low bar of rock over which the river did not sweep. It was the +remnant of a once lofty barrier; the waters had, as it were, gnawed +it to the bone, but they had not destroyed it. In two minutes the +voyagers were beside it, paddling with all their strength against +the eddy which whirled along its edge toward the cataract, and +tossing over the short, spiteful ripples raised by the sudden turn +of the current. With a "Hooroo!" Sweeny tumbled ashore, lariat in +hand, and struck his army shoes into the crevices of the shattered +sandstone. In five minutes more the boat was unloaded and lifted +upon the ledge.</p> +<p>The travellers did not go to look at the cataract; their +immediate and urgent need was to get by it. Making up their bundles +as usual, they commenced a struggle with the intricacies and +obstacles of the portage. The eroded, disintegrated plateau +descended to the river in a huge confusion of ruin, and they had to +pick their way for miles through a labyrinth of cliffs, needles, +towers, and bowlders. Reaching the river once more, they found +themselves upon a little plain of moderately fertile earth, the +first plain and the first earth which they had seen since entering +the cañon. The cataract was invisible; a rock cathedral +several hundred feet high hid it; they could scarcely discern its +lofty ghost of spray.</p> +<p>Two miles away, in the middle of the plain, appeared a ruin of +adobe walls, guttered and fissured by the weather. It was +undoubtedly a monument of that partially civilized race, Aztec, +Toltec, or Moqui, which centuries ago dotted the American desert +with cities, and passed away without leaving other record. With his +field-glass Thurstane discovered what he judged to be another +similar structure crowning a distant butte. They had no time to +visit these remains, and they resumed their voyage.</p> +<p>After skirting the plain for several miles, they reëntered +the cañon, drifted two hours or more between its solemn +walls, and then came out upon a wide sweep of open country. The +great cañon of the San Juan had been traversed nearly from +end to end in safety. When the adventurers realized their triumph +they rose to their feet and gave nine hurrahs.</p> +<p>"It's loike a rich man comin' through the oye av a needle," +observed Sweeny.</p> +<p>"Only this haint much the air 'f the New Jerusalem," returned +Glover, glancing at the arid waste of buttes and ranges in the +distance.</p> +<p>"We oughter look up some huntin'," he continued. "Locker'll +begin to show bottom b'fore long. Sweeny, wouldn't you like to kill +suthin?"</p> +<p>"I'd like to kill a pig," said Sweeny.</p> +<p>"Wal, guess we'll probably come acrost one. They's a kind of +pigs in these deestricks putty nigh's long 's this boat."</p> +<p>"There ain't," returned Sweeny.</p> +<p>"Call 'em grizzlies when they call 'em at all," pursued the sly +Glover.</p> +<p>"They may call 'em what they plaze if they won't call 'em as +long as this boat."</p> +<p>Fortune so managed things, by way of carrying out Glover's joke, +that a huge grizzly just then snowed himself on the bank, some two +hundred yards below the boat.</p> +<p>After easily slaughtering one bear, the travellers had a far +more interesting season with another, who was allured to the scene +by the smell of jerking meat, and who gave them a very lively half +hour of it, it being hard to say which was the most hunted, the +bruin or the humans.</p> +<p>"Look a' that now!" groaned Sweeny, when the victory had been +secured. "The baste has chawed up me gun barrl loike it was a plug +o' tobacky."</p> +<p>"Throw it away," ordered Thurstane, after inspecting the twisted +and lacerated musket.</p> +<p>Tenderly and tearfully Sweeny laid aside the first gun that he +had ever carried, went again and again to look at its mangled form +as if it were a dead relative, and in the end raised a little +mausoleum of cobble-stones over it.</p> +<p>"If there was any whiskey, I'd give um a wake," he sighed. "I'm +a pratty soldier now, without a gun to me back."</p> +<p>"I'll let ye carry mine when we come to foot it," suggested +Glover.</p> +<p>"Yis, an' ye may carry me part av the boat," retorted +Sweeny.</p> +<p>The bear meat was tough and musky, but it could be eaten, must +be eaten, ind was eaten. During the time required for jerking a +quantity of it, Glover made a boat out of the two hides, scraping +them with a hunting knife, sewing them with a sailor's needle and +strands of the sounding-line, and stretching them on a frame of +green saplings, the result being a craft six feet long by nearly +four broad, and about the shape of a half walnut-shell. The long +hair was left on, as a protection against the rocks of the river, +and the seams were filled and plastered with bear's grease.</p> +<p>"It's a mighty bad-smellin' thing," remarked Sweeny. "An who's +goin' to back it over the portages?"</p> +<p>"Robinson Crusoe!" exclaimed Glover. "I never thought of that. +Wal, let's see. Oh, we kin tow her astarn in plain sailin', 'n' +when we come to a cataract we can put Sweeny in an' let her +slide."</p> +<p>"No ye can't," said Sweeny. "It's big enough, an' yet it won't +howld um, no more'n a tayspoon'll howld a flay."</p> +<p>"Wal, we kin let her slide without a crew, 'n' pick her up +arterwards," decided Glover.</p> +<p>We must hasten over the minor events of this remarkable journey. +The travellers, towing the bearskin boat behind the Buchanan, +passed the mouth of Cañon Bonito, and soon afterward beheld +the San Juan swallowed up in the Grand River, a far larger stream +which rises in the Rocky Mountains east of Utah. They swept by the +horrible country of the Utes and Payoches, without holding +intercourse with its squalid and savage inhabitants. Here and +there, at the foot of some monstrous precipice, in a profound +recess surrounded by a frenzy of rocks, they saw hamlets of a few +miserable wigwams, with patches of starveling corn and beans. Sharp +wild cries, like the calls of malicious brownies, or the shrieks of +condemned spirits, were sent after them, without obtaining +response.</p> +<p>"They bees only naygurs," observed Sweeny. "Niver moind their +blaggard ways."</p> +<p>After the confluence with the Grand River came solitude. The +land had been swept and garnished: swept by the waters and +garnished with horrors; a land of cañons, plateaux, and +ranges, all arid; a land of desolation and the shadow of death. +There was nothing on which man or beast could support life; +nature's power of renovation was for the time suspended, and seemed +extinct. It was a desert which nothing could restore to +fruitfulness except the slow mysterious forces of a geologic +revolution.</p> +<p>Beyond the Sierra de Lanterna the Grand River was joined by the +Green River, streaming down through gullied plateaux from the +deserts of Utah and the mountains which tower between Oregon and +Nebraska. Henceforward, still locked in Titanic defiles or flanked +by Cyclopean <i>débris</i>, they were on the Colorado of the +West.</p> +<p>Thurstane meditated as to what course he should follow. Should +he strike southward by land for the Bernalillo trail, risking a +march through a wide, rocky, lifeless, and perhaps waterless +wilderness? Or should he attempt to descend a river even more +terrible to navigate than the San Juan? It seemed to him that the +hardships and dangers of either plan were about the same.</p> +<p>But the Colorado route would be the swiftest; the Colorado would +take him quickest to Clara. For he trusted that she had long before +this got back to the Moqui country and resumed her journey across +the continent. He could not really fear that any deadly harm would +befall her. He had the firmness of a soldier and the faith of a +lover.</p> +<p>At last, silently and solemnly, through a portal thousands of +feet in height, the voyagers glided into the perilous mystery of +the Great Cañon of the Colorado, the most sublime and +terrible waterway of this planet.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH28" id="CH28"><!-- CH28 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> +<p>Thurstane had strange emotions as he swept into the "caverns +measureless to man" of the Great Cañon of the Colorado.</p> +<p>It seemed like a push of destiny rather than a step of volition. +An angel or a demon impelled him into the unknown; a supernatural +portal had opened to give him passage; then it had closed behind +him forever.</p> +<p>The cañon, with all its two hundred and forty miles of +marvels and perils, presented itself to his imagination as a unity. +The first step within it placed him under an enchantment from which +there was no escape until the whole circuit of the spell should be +completed. He was like Orlando in the magic garden, when the gate +vanished immediately upon his entrance, leaving him no choice but +to press on from trial to trial. He was no more free to pause or +turn back than Grecian ghosts sailing down Acheron toward the +throne of Radamanthus.</p> +<p>Direct statement, and even the higher speech of simile, fail to +describe the Great Cañon and the emotion which it produces. +Were its fronting precipices organs, with their mountainous columns +and pilasters for organ-pipes, they might produce a <i>de +profundis</i> worthy of the scene and of its sentiments, its +inspiration. This is not bombast; so far from exaggerating it does +not even attain to the subject; no words can so much as outline the +effects of eighty leagues of mountain sculptured by a great +river.</p> +<p>Let us venture one comparison. Imagine a groove a foot broad and +twenty feet deep, with a runnel of water trickling at the bottom of +it and a fleck of dust floating down the rivulet. Now increase the +dimensions until the groove is two hundred and fifty feet in +breadth by five thousand feet in depth, and the speck a boat with +three voyagers. You have the Great Cañon of the Colorado and +Thurstane and his comrades seeking its issue.</p> +<p>"Do you call this a counthry?" asked Sweeny, after an +awe-stricken silence. "I'm thinkin' we're gittin' outside av the +worrld like."</p> +<p>"An' I'm thinkin' we're gittin' too fur inside on't," muttered +Glover. "Look's 's though we might slip clean under afore long. +Most low-spirited hole I ever rolled into. 'Minds me 'f that last +ditch people talk of dyin' in. Must say I'd rather be in the trough +'f the sea."</p> +<p>"An' what kind av a trough is that?" inquired Sweeny, +inquisitive even in his dumps.</p> +<p>"It's the trough where they feed the niggers out to the +sharks."</p> +<p>"Faix, an' I'd loike to see it at feedin' time," answered Sweeny +with a feeble chuckle.</p> +<p>Nature as it is is one image; nature as it appears is a +thousand; or rather it is infinite. Every soul is a mirror, +reflecting what faces it; but the reflections differ as do the +souls that give them. To the three men who now gazed on the Great +Cañon it was far from being the same object.</p> +<p>Sweeny surveyed it as an old Greek or Roman might, with simple +distaste and horror. Glover, ignorant and limited as he was, +received far more of its inspiration. Even while "chirking up" his +companions with trivial talk and jests he was in his secret soul +thinking of Bunyan's Dark Valley and Milton's Hell, the two +sublimest landscapes that had ever been presented to his +imagination. Thurstane, gifted with much of the sympathy of the +great Teutonic race for nature, was far more profoundly affected. +The overshadowing altitudes and majesties of the chasm moved him as +might oratorios or other solemn music. Frequently he forgot +hardships, dangers, isolation, the hard luck of the past, the ugly +prospects of the future in reveries which were a succession of such +emotions as wonder, worship, and love.</p> +<p>No doubt the scenery had the more power over him because, by +gazing at it day after day while his heart was full of Clara, he +got into a way of animating it with her. Far away as she was, and +divided from him perhaps forever, she haunted the cañon, +transformed it and gave it grace. He could see her face everywhere; +he could see it even without shutting his eyes; it made the +arrogant and malignant cliffs seraphic. By the way, the vividness +of his memory with regard to that fair, sweet, girlish countenance +was wonderful, only that such a memory, the memory of the heart, is +common. There was not one of her expressions which was not his +property. Each and all, he could call them-up at will, making them +pass before him in heavenly procession, surrounding himself with +angels. It was the power of the ring which is given to the slaves +of love.</p> +<p>He had some vagaries (the vagaries of those who are subjugated +by a strong and permanent emotion) which approached insanity. For +instance, he selected a gigantic column of sandstone as bearing +some resemblance to Clara, and so identified it with her that +presently he could see her face crowning it, though concealed by +the similitude of a rocky veil. This image took such possession of +him that he watched it with fascination, and when a monstrous cliff +slid between it and him he felt as if here were a new parting; as +if he were once more bidding her a speechless, hopeless +farewell.</p> +<p>During the greater part of this voyage he was a very +uninteresting companion. He sat quiet and silent; sometimes he +slightly moved his lips; he was whispering a name. Glover and +Sweeny, who had only known him for a month, and supposed that he +had always been what they saw him, considered him an eccentric.</p> +<p>"Naterally not quite himself," judged the skipper. "Some folks +is born knocked on the head."</p> +<p>"May be officers is always that a way," was one of Sweeny's +suggestions. "It must be mighty dull bein' an officer."</p> +<p>We must not forget the Great Cañon. The voyagers were +amid magnitudes and sublimities of nature which oppressed as if +they were powers and principalities of supernature. They were borne +through an architecture of aqueous and plutonic agencies whose +smallest fantasies would be belittled by comparisons with +coliseums, labyrinths, cathedrals, pyramids, and stonehenges.</p> +<p>For example, they circled a bend of which the extreme delicate +angle was a jutting pilaster five hundred feet broad and a mile +high, its head towering in a sharp tiara far above the brow of the +plateau, and its sides curved into extravagances of dizzy horror. +It seemed as if it might be a pillar of confinement and punishment +for some Afreet who had defied Heaven. On either side of this +monster fissures a thousand feet deep wrinkled the forehead of the +precipice. Armies might have been buried in their abysses; yet they +scarcely deformed the line of the summits. They ran back for many +miles; they had once been the channels of streams which helped to +drain the plateau; yet they were merely superficial cracks in the +huge mass of sandstone and limestone; they were scarcely noticeable +features of the Titanic landscape. From this bend forward the +beauty of the cañon was sublime, horrible, satanic. +Constantly varying, its transformations were like those of the +chief among demons, in that they were always indescribably +magnificent and always indescribably terrible. Now it was a +straight, clean chasm between even hedges of cliff which left open +only a narrow line of the beauty and mercy of the heavens. Again, +where it was entered by minor cañons, it became a breach +through crowded pandemoniums of ruined architectures and forsaken, +frowning imageries. Then it led between enormous pilasters, +columns, and caryatides, mitred with conical peaks which had once +been ranges of mountains. Juttings and elevations, which would have +been monstrous in other landscapes, were here but minor +decorations.</p> +<p>Something like half of the strata with which earth is sheathed +has been cut through by the Colorado, beginning at the top of the +groove with hundreds of feet of limestone, and closing at the +bottom with a thousand feet of granite. Here, too, as in many other +wonder-spots of the American desert, nature's sculpture is rivalled +by her painting. Bluish-gray limestone, containing corals; mottled +limestone, charged with slates, flint, and chalcedony; red, brown, +and blue limestone, mixed with red, green, and yellow shales; +sandstone of all tints, white, brown, ochry, dark red, speckled and +foliated; coarse silicious sandstone, and red quartzose sandstone +beautifully veined with purple; layers of conglomerate, of many +colored shales, argillaceous iron, and black oxide manganese; +massive black and white granite, traversed by streaks of quartz and +of red sienite; coarse red felspathic granite, mixed with large +plates of silver mica; such is the masonry and such the +frescoing.</p> +<p>Through this marvellous museum our three spectators wandered in +hourly peril of death. The Afreets of the waters and the Afreets of +the rocks, guarding the gateway which they had jointly builded, +waged incessant warfare with the intruders. Although the current +ran five miles an hour, it was a lucky day when the boat made forty +miles. Every evening the travellers must find a beach or shelf +where they could haul up for the night. Darkness covered +destruction, and light exposed dangers. The bubble-like nature of +the boat afforded at once a possibility of easy advance and of +instantaneous foundering. Every hour that it floated was a miracle, +and so they grimly and patiently understood it.</p> +<p>A few days in the cañon changed the countenances of these +men. They looked like veterans of many battles. There was no +bravado in their faces. The expression which lived there was a +resigned, suffering, stubborn courage. It was the "silent berserker +rage" which Carlyle praises. It was the speechless endurance which +you see in portraits of the Great Frederick, Wellington, and +Grant.</p> +<p>They relieved each other. The bow was guard duty; the steering +was light duty; the midships off duty. It must be understood that, +the great danger being sunken rocks, one man always crouched in the +bow, with a paddle plunged below the surface, feeling for ambushes +of the stony bushwhackers. Occasionally all three had to labor, +jumping into shallows, lifting the boat over beds of pebbles, +perhaps lightening it of arms and provisions, perhaps carrying all +ashore to seek a portage.</p> +<p>"It's the best canew 'n' the wust canew I ever see for sech a +voyage," observed Glover. "Navigatin' in it puts me in mind 'f +angels settin' on a cloud. The cloud can go anywhere; but what if +ye should slump through?"</p> +<p>"Och! ye're a heretic, 'n' don't belave angels can fly," put in +Sweeny.</p> +<p>"Can't ye talk without takin' out yer paddle?" called Glover. +"Mind yer soundings."</p> +<p>Glover was at the helm just then, while Sweeny was at the bow. +Thurstane, sitting cross-legged on the light wooden flooring of the +boat, was entering topographical observations in his journal. +Hearing the skipper's warning, he looked up sharply; but both the +call and the glance came too late to prevent a catastrophe. Just in +that instant the boat caught against some obstacle, turned slowly +around before the push of the current, swung loose with a jerk and +floated on, the water bubbling through the flooring. A hole had +been torn in the canvas, and the cockle-shell was foundering.</p> +<p>"Sound!" shouted Thurstane to Sweeny; then, turning to Glover, +"Haul up the Grizzly!"</p> +<p>The tub-boat of bearskin was dragged alongside, and Thurstane +instantly threw the provisions and arms into it.</p> +<p>"Three foot," squealed Sweeny.</p> +<p>"Jump overboard," ordered the lieutenant.</p> +<p>By the time they were on their feet in the water the Buchanan +was half full, and the swift current was pulling at it like a +giant, while the Grizzly, floating deep, was almost equally +unmanageable. The situation had in one minute changed from tranquil +voyaging to deadly peril. Sweeny, unable to swim, and staggering in +the rapid, made a plunge at the bearskin boat, probably with an +idea of getting into it. But Thurstane, all himself from the first, +shouted in that brazen voice of military command which is so secure +of obedience, "Steady, man! Don't climb in. Cut the lariat close up +to the Buchanan, and then hold on to the Grizzly."</p> +<p>Restored to his self-possession, Sweeny laboriously wound the +straining lariat around his left arm and sawed it in two with his +jagged pocket-knife. Then came a doubtful fight between him and the +Colorado for the possession of the heavy and clumsy tub.</p> +<p>Meantime Thurstane and Glover, the former at the bow and the +latter at the stern of the Buchanan, were engaged in a similar +tussle, just barely holding on and no more.</p> +<p>"We can't stand this," said the officer. "We must empty +her."</p> +<p>"Jest so," panted Glover. "You're up stream. Can you raise your +eend? We mustn't capsize her; we might lose the flooring."</p> +<p>Thurstane stooped slowly and cautiously until he had got his +shoulder under the bow.</p> +<p>"Easy!" called Glover. "Awful easy! Don't break her back. Don't +upset <i>me</i>."</p> +<p>Gently, deliberately, with the utmost care, Thurstane +straightened himself until he had lifted the bow of the boat clear +of the current.</p> +<p>"Now I'll hoist," said the skipper. "You turn her +slowly—jest the least mite. Don't capsize her."</p> +<p>It was a Herculean struggle. There was still a ponderous weight +of water in the boat. The slight frame sagged and the flexible +siding bulged. Glover with difficulty kept his feet, and he could +only lift the stern very slightly.</p> +<p>"You can't do it," decided Thurstane. "Don't wear yourself out +trying it. Hold steady where you are, while I let down."</p> +<p>When the boat was restored to its level it floated higher than +before, for some of the water had drained out.</p> +<p>"Now lift slowly," directed Thurstane. "Slow and sure. She'll +clear little by little."</p> +<p>A quiet, steady lift, lasting perhaps two or three minutes, +brought the floor of the boat to the surface of the current.</p> +<p>"It's wearing," said the lieutenant, cheering his worried +fellow-laborer with a smile. "Stand steady for a minute and try to +rest. You, Sweeny, move in toward the bank. Hold on to your boat +like the devil. If the water deepens, sing out."</p> +<p>Sweeny, gripping his lariat desperately, commenced a staggering +march over the cobble-stone bottom, his anxious nose pointed toward +a beach of bowlders beneath the southern precipice.</p> +<p>"Now then," said Thurstane to Glover, "we must get her on our +heads and follow Sweeny. Are you ready? Up with her!"</p> +<p>A long, reeling hoist set the Buchanan on the heads of the two +men, one standing under the bow and one under the stern, their arms +extended and their hands clutching the sides. The beach was forty +yards away; the current was swift and as opaque as chocolate; they +could not see what depths might gape before them; but they must do +the distance without falling, or perish.</p> +<p>"Left foot first," shouted the officer. +"Forward—march!"</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH29" id="CH29"><!-- CH29 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> +<p>When the adventurers commenced their tottering march toward the +shore of the Colorado, Sweeny, dragging the clumsy bearskin boat, +was a few yards in advance of Thurstane and Glover, bearing the +canvas boat.</p> +<p>Every one of the three had as much as he could handle. The +Grizzly, pulled at by the furious current, bobbed up and down and +hither and thither, nearly capsizing Sweeny at every other step. +The Buchanan, weighing one hundred and fifty pounds when dry, and +now somewhat heavier because of its thorough wetting, made a heavy +load for two men who were hip deep in swift water.</p> +<p>"Slow and sure," repeated Thurstane. "It's a five minutes job. +Keep your courage and your feet for five minutes. Then we'll live a +hundred years."</p> +<p>"Liftinant, is this soldierin'?" squealed Sweeny.</p> +<p>"Yes, my man, this is soldiering."</p> +<p>"Thin I'll do me dooty if I pull me arrms off."</p> +<p>But there was not much talking. Pretty nearly all their breath +was needed for the fight with the river. Glover, a slender and +narrow-shouldered creature, was particularly distressed; and his +only remark during the pilgrimage shoreward was, "I'd like to +change hosses."</p> +<p>Sweeny, leading the way, got up to his waist once and yelled, +"I'll drown."</p> +<p>Then he backed a little, took a new direction, found shallower +water, and tottled onward to victory. The moment he reached the +shore he gave a shrill hoot of exultation, went at his bearskin +craft with both hands, dragged it clean out of the water, and gave +it a couple of furious kicks.</p> +<p>"Take that!" he yelped. "Ye're wickeder nor both yer fathers. +But I've bate ye. Oh, ye blathering jerkin', bogglin' baste, +ye!"</p> +<p>Then he splashed into the river, joined his hard-pressed +comrades, got his head under the centre of the Buchanan, and lifted +sturdily. In another minute the precious burden was safe on a large +flat rock, and the three men were stretched out panting beside it. +Glover was used up; he was trembling from head to foot with +fatigue; he had reached shore just in time to fall on it instead of +into the river.</p> +<p>"Ye'd make a purty soldier," scoffed Sweeny, a habitual chaffer, +like most Irishmen.</p> +<p>"It was the histin' that busted me," gasped the skipper. "I +can't handle a ton o' water."</p> +<p>"Godamighty made ye already busted, I'm a thinkin'," retorted +Sweeny.</p> +<p>As soon as Glover could rise he examined the Buchanan. There was +a ragged rent in the bottom four inches long, and the canvas in +other places had been badly rubbed. The voyagers looked at the +hole, looked at the horrible chasm which locked them in, and +thought with a sudden despair of the great environment of +desert.</p> +<p>The situation could hardly be more gloomy. Having voyaged for +five days in the Great Cañon, they were entangled in the +very centre of the folds of that monstrous anaconda. Their footing +was a lap of level not more than thirty yards in length by ten in +breadth, strewn with pebbles and bowlders, and showing not one +spire of vegetation. Above them rose a precipice, the summit of +which they could not see, but which was undoubtedly a mile in +height. Had there been armies or cities over their heads, they +could not have discovered it by either eye or ear.</p> +<p>At their feet was the Colorado, a broad rush of liquid porphyry, +swift and pitiless. By its color and its air of stoical cruelty it +put one in mind of the red race of America, from whose desert +mountains it came and through whose wildernesses it hurried. On the +other side of this grim current rose precipices five thousand feet +high, stretching to right and left as far as the eye could pierce. +Certainly never before did shipwrecked men gaze upon such +imprisoning immensity and inhospitable sterility.</p> +<p>Directly opposite them was horrible magnificence. The face of +the fronting rampart was gashed a mile deep by the gorge of a +subsidiary cañon. The fissure was not a clean one, with even +sides. The strata had been torn, ground, and tattered by the river, +which had first raged over them and then through them. It was a +Petra of ruins, painted with all stony colors, and sculptured into +a million outlines. On one of the boldest abutments of the ravine +perched an enchanted castle with towers and spires hundreds of feet +in height. Opposite, but further up the gap, rose a rounded +mountain-head of solid sandstone and limestone. Still higher and +more retired, towering as if to look into the distant cañon +of the Colorado, ran the enormous terrace of one of the loftier +plateaus, its broad, bald forehead wrinkled with furrows that had +once held cataracts. But language has no charm which can master +these sublimities and horrors. It stammers; it repeats the same +words over and over; it can only <i>begin</i> to tell the monstrous +truth.</p> +<p>"Looks like we was in our grave," sighed Glover.</p> +<p>"Liftinant," jerked out Sweeny, "I'm thinkin' we're dead. We +ain't livin', Liftinant. We've been buried. We've no business +trying to <i>walk</i>."</p> +<p>Thurstane had the same sense of profound depression; but he +called up his courage and sought to cheer his comrades.</p> +<p>"We must do our best to come to life," he said. "Mr. Glover, can +nothing be done with the boat?"</p> +<p>"Can't fix it," replied the skipper, fingering the ragged hole. +"Nothin' to patch it with."</p> +<p>"There are the bearskins," suggested Thurstane.</p> +<p>Glover slapped his thigh, got up, danced a double-shuffle, and +sat down again to consider his job. After a full minute Sweeny +caught the idea also and set up a haw-haw of exultant laughter, +which brought back echoes from the other side of the cañon, +as if a thousand Paddies were holding revel there.</p> +<p>"Oh! yees may laugh," retorted Sweeny, "but yees can't laugh us +out av it."</p> +<p>"I'll sheath the whole bottom with bearskin," said Glover. "Then +we can let her grind. It'll be an all day's chore, +Capm—perhaps two days."</p> +<p>They passed thirty-six hours in this miserable bivouac. Glover +worked during every moment of daylight. No one else could do +anything. A green hand might break a needle, and a needle broken +was a step toward death. From dawn to dusk he planned, cut, +punctured, and sewed with the patience of an old sailor, until he +had covered the rent with a patch of bearskin which fitted as if it +had grown there. Finally the whole bottom was doubled with hide, +the long, coarse fur still on it, and the grain running from stem +to stern so as to aid in sliding over the sand and pebbles of the +shallows.</p> +<p>While Glover worked the others slept, lounged, cooked, waited. +There was no food, by the way, but the hard, leathery, tasteless +jerked meat of the grizzly bears, which had begun to pall upon them +so they could hardly swallow it. Eating was merely a duty, and a +disagreeable one.</p> +<p>When Glover announced that the boat was ready for launching, +Sweeny uttered a yelp of joy, like a dog who sees a prospect of +hunting.</p> +<p>"Ah, you paddywhack!" growled the skipper. "All this work for +you. Punch another hole, 'n' I'll take yer own hide to patch +it."</p> +<p>"I'll give ye lave," returned Sweeny. "Wan bare skin 's good as +another. Only I might want me own back agin for dress-parade."</p> +<p>Once more on the Colorado. Although the boat floated deeper than +before, navigation in it was undoubtedly safer, so that they made +bolder ventures and swifter progress. Such portages, however, as +they were still obliged to traverse, were very severe, inasmuch as +the Buchanan was now much above its original weight. Several times +they had to carry one half of their materials for a mile or more, +through a labyrinth of rocks, and then trudge back to get the other +half.</p> +<p>Meantime their power of endurance was diminishing. The frequent +wettings, the shivering nights, the great changes of temperature, +the stale and wretched food, the constant anxiety, were sapping +their health and strength. On the tenth day of their wanderings in +the Great Cañon Glover began to complain of rheumatism.</p> +<p>"These cussed draughts!" he groaned. "It's jest like travellin' +in a bellows nozzle."</p> +<p>"Wid the divil himself at the bellys," added Sweeny. "Faix, an' +I wish he'd blow us clane out intirely. I'm gittin' tired o' this +same, I am. I didn't lisht to sarve undher ground."</p> +<p>"Patience, Sweeny," smiled Thurstane. "We must be nearly through +the cañon."</p> +<p>"An' where will we come out, Liftinant? Is it in Ameriky? Bedad, +we ought to be close to the Chaynees by this time. Liftinant, what +sort o' paple lives up atop of us, annyway?"</p> +<p>"I don't suppose anybody lives up there," replied the officer, +raising his eyes to the dizzy precipices above. "This whole region +is said to be a desert."</p> +<p>"Be gorry, an' it 'll stay a desert till the ind o' the worrld +afore I'll poppylate it. It wasn't made for Sweenys. I haven't seen +sile enough in tin days to raise wan pataty. As for livin' on dried +grizzly, I'd like betther for the grizzlies to live on me. +Liftinant, I niver see sich harrd atin'. It tires the top av me +head off to chew it."</p> +<p>About noon of the twelfth day in the Great Cañon this +perilous and sublime navigation came to a close. The walls of the +chasm suddenly spread out into a considerable opening, which +absolutely seemed level ground to the voyagers, although it was +encumbered with mounds or buttes of granite and sandstone. This +opening was produced by the entrance into the main channel of a +subsidiary one, coming from the south. At first they did not +observe further particulars, for they were in extreme danger of +shipwreck, the river being studded with rocks and running like a +mill-race. But on reaching the quieter water below the rapid, they +saw that the branch cañon contained a rivulet, and that +where the two streams united there was a triangular basin, offering +a safe harbor.</p> +<p>"Paddle!" shouted Thurstane, pointing to the creek. "Don't let +her go by. This is our place."</p> +<p>A desperate struggle dragged the boat out of the rushing +Colorado into the tranquillity of the basin. Everything was landed; +the boat itself was hoisted on to the rocks; the voyage was +over.</p> +<p>"Think ye know yer way, Capm?" queried Glover, squinting +doubtfully up the arid recesses of the smaller cañon.</p> +<p>"Of course I may be mistaken. But even if it is not Diamond +Creek, it will take us in our direction. We have made westing +enough to have the Cactus Pass very nearly south of us."</p> +<p>As there was still a chance of returning to the river, the boat +was taken to pieces, rolled up, and hidden under a pile of stones +and driftwood. The small remnant of jerked meat was divided into +three portions. Glover, on account of his inferior muscle and his +rheumatism, was relieved of his gun, which was given to Sweeny. +Canteens were filled, blankets slung, ammunition belts buckled, and +the march commenced.</p> +<p>Arrived at a rocky knoll which looked up both waterways, the +three men halted to take a last glance at the Great Cañon, +the scene of a pilgrimage that had been a poem, though a terrible +one. The Colorado here was not more than fifty yards wide, and only +a few hundred yards of its course were visible either way, for the +confluence was at the apex of a bend. The dark, sullen, hopeless, +cruel current rushed out of one mountain-built mystery into +another. The walls of the abyss rose straight from the water into +dizzy abutments, conical peaks, and rounded masses, beyond and +above which gleamed the distant sunlit walls of a higher terrace of +the plateau.</p> +<p>"Come along wid ye," said Sweeny to Glover, "It's enough to give +ye the rheumatiz in the oyes to luk at the nasty black hole. I'm +thinkin' it's the divil's own place, wid the fires out."</p> +<p>The Diamond Creek Cañon, although far inferior to its +giant neighbor, was nevertheless a wonderful excavation, striking +audaciously into sombre mountain recesses, sublime with precipices, +peaks, and grotesque masses. The footing was of the ruggedest, a +<i>débris</i> of confused and eroded rocks, the pathway of +an extinct river. One thing was beautiful: the creek was a perfect +contrast to the turbid Colorado; its waters were as clear and +bright as crystal. Sweeny halted over and over to look at it, his +mouth open and eyes twinkling like a pleased dog.</p> +<p>"An' there's nothing nagurish about that, now," he chuckled. "A +pataty ud laugh to be biled in it."</p> +<p>After slowly ascending for a quarter of a mile, they turned a +bend and came upon a scene which seemed to them like a garden. They +were in a broad opening, made by the confluence of two +cañons. Into this gigantic rocky nest had been dropped an +oasis of turf and of thickets of green willows. Through the centre +of the verdure the Diamond Creek flowed dimpling over a pebbly bed, +or shot in sparkles between barring bowlders, or plunged over +shelves in toy cascades. The travellers had seen nothing so +hospitable in nature since leaving the country of the Moquis weeks +before.</p> +<p>Sweeny screamed like a delighted child. "Oh! an' that's just +like ould Oirland. Oh, luk at the turrf! D'ye iver see the loikes +o'that, now? The blessed turrf! Here ye be, right in the divil's +own garden. Liftinant, if ye'll let me build a fort here, I'll +garrison it. I'll stay here me whole term of sarvice."</p> +<p>"Halt," said Thurstane. "We'll eat, refill canteens, and inspect +arms. If this is Diamond Cañon, and I think there is no +doubt of it, we may expect to find Indians soon."</p> +<p>"I'll fight 'em," declared Sweeny. "An' if they've got anythin' +betther nor dried grizzly, I'll have it."</p> +<p>"Wait for orders," cautioned Thurstane. "No firing without +orders."</p> +<p>After cleaning their guns and chewing their tough and stale +rations, they resumed their march, leaving the rivulet and +following the cañon, which led toward the southwest. As they +were now regaining the level of the plateau, their advance was a +constant and difficult ascent, sometimes struggling through +labyrinths of detached rocks, and sometimes climbing steep shelves +which had once been the leaping-places of cataracts. The sides of +the chasm were two thousand feet high, and it was entered by branch +ravines of equal grandeur.</p> +<p>The sun had set for them, although he was still high above the +horizon of upper earth, when Thurstane halted and whispered, +"Wigwams!"</p> +<p>Perched among the rocks, some under projecting strata and others +in shadowy niches between huge buttresses, they discovered at first +three or four, then a dozen, and finally twenty wretched cabins. +They scarcely saw before they were seen; a hideous old squaw +dropped a bundle of fuel and ran off screeching; in a moment the +whole den was in an uproar. Startling yells burst from lofty nooks +in the mountain flanks, and scarecrow figures dodged from ambush to +ambush of the sombre gully. It was as if they had invaded the +haunts of the brownies.</p> +<p>The Hualpais, a species of Digger Indians, dwarfish, miserable, +and degraded, living mostly on roots, lizards, and the like, were +nevertheless conscious of scalps to save. In five minutes from the +discovery of the strangers they had formed a straggling line of +battle, squatting along a ledge which crossed the cañon. +There were not twenty warriors, and they were no doubt wretchedly +armed, but their position was formidable.</p> +<p>Sweeny, looking like an angry rat, his nose twitching and eyes +sparkling with rage, offered to storm the rampart alone, shouting, +"Oh, the nasty, lousy nagurs! Let 'em get out of our way."</p> +<p>"Guess we'd better talk to the cusses," observed Glover. "Tain't +the handiest place I ever see for fightin'; an' I don't keer 'bout +havin' my ears 'n' nose bored any more at present."</p> +<p>"Stay where you are," said Thurstane. "I'll go forward and +parley with them."</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH30" id="CH30"><!-- CH30 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> +<p>Thurstane had no great difficulty in making a sort of +let-me-alone-and-I'll-let-you-alone treaty with the embattled +Hualpais.</p> +<p>After some minutes of dumb show they came down from their +stronghold and dispersed to their dwellings. They seemed to be +utterly without curiosity; the warriors put aside their bows and +lay down to sleep; the old squaw hurried off to pick up her bundle +of fuel; even the papooses were silent and stupid. It was a race +lower than the Hottentots or the Australians. Short, meagre, badly +built, excessively ugly, they were nearly naked, and their slight +clothing was rags of skins. Thurstane tried to buy food of them, +but either they had none to spare or his buttons seemed to them of +no value. Nor could he induce any one to accompany him as a +guide.</p> +<p>"Do ye think Godamighty made thim paple?" inquired Sweeny.</p> +<p>"Reckon so," replied Glover.</p> +<p>"I don't belave it," said Sweeny. "He'd be in more rispactable +bizniss. It's me opinyin the divil made um for a joke on the rest +av us. An' it's me opinyin he made this whole counthry for the same +rayson."</p> +<p>"The priest'll tell ye God made all men, Sweeny."</p> +<p>"They ain't min at all. Thim crachurs ain't min. They're nagurs, +an' a mighty poor kind at that. I hate um. I wish they was all +dead. I've kilt some av um, an' I'm goin' to kill slathers more, +God willin'. I belave it's part av the bizniss av white min to +finish off the nagurs."</p> +<p>Profound and potent sentiment of race antipathy! The contempt +and hatred of white men for yellow, red, brown, and black men has +worked all over earth, is working yet, and will work for ages. It +is a motive of that tremendous tragedy which Spencer has entitled +"the survival of the fittest," and Darwin, "natural selection."</p> +<p>The party continued to ascend the cañon. At short +intervals branch cañons exhibited arid and precipitous +gorges, more and more gloomy with twilight. It was impossible to +choose between one and another. The travellers could never see +three hundred yards in advance. To right and left they were hemmed +in by walls fifteen hundred feet in height. Only one thing was +certain: these altitudes were gradually diminishing; and hence they +knew that they were mounting the plateau. At last, four hours after +leaving Diamond Creek, wearied to the marrow with incessant toil, +they halted by a little spring, stretched themselves on a scrap of +starveling grass, and chewed their meagre, musty supper.</p> +<p>The scenery here was unearthly. Barring the bit of turf and a +few willows which had got lost in the desert, there was not a tint +of verdure. To right and left rose two huge and steep slopes of +eroded and ragged rocks, tortured into every conceivable form of +jag, spire, pinnacle, and imagery. In general the figures were +grotesque; it seemed as if the misshapen gods of India and of China +and of barbarous lands had gathered there; as if this were a place +of banishment and punishment for the fallen idols of all +idolatries. Above this coliseum of monstrosities rose a long line +of sharp, jagged needles, like a vast <i>chevaux-de-frise</i>, +forbidding escape. Still higher, lighted even yet by the setting +sun, towered five cones of vast proportions. Then came cliffs +capped by shatters of tableland, and then the long, even, gleaming +ledge of the final plateau.</p> +<p>Locked in this bedlam of crazed strata, unable to see or guess a +way out of it, the wanderers fell asleep. There was no setting of +guards; they trusted to the desert as a sentinel.</p> +<p>At daylight the blind and wearisome climbing recommenced. +Occasionally they found patches of thin turf and clumps of dwarf +cedars struggling with the rocky waste. These bits of greenery were +not the harbingers of a new empire of vegetation, but the remnants +of one whose glory had vanished ages ago, swept away by a vandalism +of waters. Gradually the cañon dwindled to a ravine, narrow, +sinuous, walled in by stony steeps or slopes, and interlocking +continually with other similar chasms. A creek, which followed the +chasm, appeared and disappeared at intervals of a mile or so, as if +horrified at the face of nature and anxious to hide from it in +subterranean recesses.</p> +<p>The travellers stumbled on until the ravine became a gully and +the gully a fissure. They stepped out of it; they were on the +rolling surface of the tableland; they were half a mile above the +Colorado.</p> +<p>Here they halted, gave three cheers, and then looked back upon +the northern desert as men look who have escaped an enemy. A +gigantic panorama of the country which they had traversed was +unrolled to their vision. In the foreground stretched declining +tablelands, intersected by numberless ravines, and beyond these a +lofty line of bluffs marked the edge of the Great Cañon of +the Colorado. Through one wide gap in these heights came a vision +of endless plateaux, their terraces towering one above another +until they were thousands of feet in the air, the horizontal azure +bands extending hundreds of miles northward, until the deep blue +faded into a lighter blue, and that into the sapphire of the +heavens.</p> +<p>"It looks a darned sight finer than it is," observed Glover.</p> +<p>"Bedad, ye may say that," added Sweeny. "It's a big hippycrit av +a counthry. Ye'd think, to luk at it, ye could ate it wid a +spoon."</p> +<p>Now came a rolling region, covered with blue grass and dotted +with groves of cedars, the earth generally hard and smooth and the +marching easy. Striking southward, they reached a point where the +plateau culminated in a low ridge, and saw before them a long +gentle slope of ten miles, then a system of rounded hills, and then +mountains.</p> +<p>"Halt here," said Thurstane. "We must study our topography and +fix on our line of march."</p> +<p>"You'll hev to figger it," replied Glover. "I don't know nothin' +in this part o' the world."</p> +<p>"Ye ain't called on to know," put in Sweeny. "The liftinant'll +tell ye."</p> +<p>"I think," hesitated Thurstane, "that we are about fifty miles +north of Cactus Pass, where we want to strike the trail."</p> +<p>"And I'm putty nigh played out," groaned Glover.</p> +<p>"Och! <i>you</i> howld up yer crazy head," exhorted Sweeny. +"It'll do ye iver so much good."</p> +<p>"It's easy talkin'," sighed the jaded and rheumatic skipper.</p> +<p>"It's as aisy talkin' right as talkin' wrong," retorted Sweeny. +"Ye've no call to grunt the curritch out av yer betthers. Wait till +the liftinant says die."</p> +<p>Thurstane was studying the landscape. Which of those ranges was +the Cerbat, which the Aztec, and which the Pinaleva? He knew that, +after leaving Cactus Pass, the overland trail turns southward and +runs toward the mouth of the Gila, crossing the Colorado hundreds +of miles away. To the west of the pass, therefore, he must not +strike, under peril of starving amid untracked plains and ranges. +On the whole, it seemed probable that the snow-capped line of +summits directly ahead of him was the Cerbat range, and that he +must follow it southward along the base of its eastern slope.</p> +<p>"We will move on," he said. "Mr. Glover, we must reach those +broken hills before night in order to find water. Can you do +it?"</p> +<p>"Reckon I kin jest about do it, 's the feller said when he +walked to his own hangin'," returned the suffering skipper.</p> +<p>The failing man marched so slowly and needed so many halts that +they were five hours in reaching the hills. It was now nightfall; +they found a bright little spring in a grassy ravine; and after a +meagre supper, they tried to stifle their hunger with sleep. +Thurstane and Sweeny took turns in watching, for smoke of fires had +been seen on the mountains, and, poor as they were, they could not +afford to be robbed. In the morning Glover seemed refreshed, and +started out with some vigor.</p> +<p>"Och! ye'll go round the worrld," said Sweeny, encouragingly. +"Bones can march furder than fat anny day. Yer as tough as me +rations. Dried grizzly is nothin' to ye."</p> +<p>After threading hills for hours they came out upon a wide, +rolling basin prettily diversified by low spurs of the encircling +mountains and bluish green with the long grasses known as +<i>pin</i> and <i>grama</i>. A few deer and antelopes, bounding +across the rockier places, were an aggravation to starving men who +could not follow them.</p> +<p>"Why don't we catch some o' thim flyin' crachurs?" demanded +Sweeny.</p> +<p>"We hain't got no salt to put on their tails," explained Glover, +grinning more with pain than with his joke.</p> +<p>"I'd ate 'em widout salt," said Sweeny. "If the tails was +feathers, I'd ate 'em."</p> +<p>"We must camp early, and try our luck at hunting," observed +Thurstane.</p> +<p>"I go for campin' airly," groaned the limping and tottering +Glover.</p> +<p>"Och! yees ud like to shlape an shnore an' grunt and rowl over +an' shnore agin the whole blissid time," snapped Sweeny, always +angered by a word of discouragement. "Yees ought to have a dozen o' +thim nagurs wid their long poles to make a fither bed for yees an' +tuck up the blankets an' spat the pilly. Why didn't ye shlape all +ye wanted to whin yees was in the boat?"</p> +<p>"Quietly, Sweeny," remonstrated Thurstane. "Mr. Glover marches +with great pain."</p> +<p>"I've no objiction to his marchin' wid great pain or annyway +Godamighty lets him, if he won't grunt about it."</p> +<p>"But you must be civil, my man."</p> +<p>"I ax yer pardon, Liftinant. I don't mane no harrum by +blatherin'. It's a way we have in th' ould counthry. Mebbe it's no +good in th' arrmy."</p> +<p>"Let him yawp, Capm," interposed Glover. "It's a way they hev, +as he says. Never see two Paddies together but what they got to +fightin' or pokin' fun at each other. Me an' Sweeny won't quarrel. +I take his clickatyclack for what it's worth by the cart-load. +'Twon't hurt me. Dunno but what it's good for me."</p> +<p>"Bedad, it's betther for ye nor yer own gruntin'," added the +irrepressible Irishman.</p> +<p>By two in the afternoon they had made perhaps fifteen miles, and +reached the foot of the mountain which they proposed to skirt. As +Glover was now fagged out, Thurstane decided to halt for the night +and try deer-stalking. A muddy water-hole, surrounded by thickets +of willows, indicated their camping ground. The sick man was +<i>cached</i> in the dense foliage; his canteen was filled for him +and placed by his side; there could be no other nursing.</p> +<p>"If the nagurs kill ye, I'll revenge ye," was Sweeny's parting +encouragement. "I'll git ye back yer scallup, if I have to cut it +out of um."</p> +<p>Late in the evening the two hunters returned empty. Sweeny, in +spite of his hunger and fatigue, boiled over with stories of the +hairbreadth escapes of the "antyloops" that he had fired at. +Thurstane also had seen game, but not near enough for a shot.</p> +<p>"I didn't look for such bad luck," said the weary and +half-starved young fellow, soberly. "No supper for any of us. We +must save our last ration to make to-morrow's march on."</p> +<p>"It's a poor way of atin' two males in wan," remarked Sweeny. "I +niver thought I'd come to wish I had me haversack full o' dried +bear."</p> +<p>The next day was a terrible one. Already half famished, their +only food for the twenty-four hours was about four ounces apiece of +bear meat, tough, ill-scented, and innutritious. Glover was so weak +with hunger and his ailments that he had to be supported most of +the way by his two comrades. His temper, and Sweeny's also, gave +out, and they snarled at each other in good earnest, as men are apt +to do under protracted hardships. Thurstane stalked on in silence, +sustained by his youth and health, and not less by his sense of +responsibility. These men were here through his doing; he must +support them and save them if possible; if not, he must show them +how to die bravely; for it had come to be a problem of life and +death. They could not expect to travel two days longer without +food. The time was approaching when they would fall down with +faintness, not to rise again in this world.</p> +<p>In the morning their only provision was one small bit of meat +which Thurstane had saved from his ration of the day before. This +he handed to Glover, saying with a firm eye and a cheerful smile, +"My dear fellow, here is your breakfast."</p> +<p>The starving invalid looked at it wistfully, and stammered, with +a voice full of tears, "I can't eat when the rest of ye don't."</p> +<p>Sweeny, who had stared at the morsel with hungry eyes, now broke +out, "I tell ye, ate it. The liftinant wants ye to."</p> +<p>"Divide it fair," answered Glover, who could hardly restrain +himself from sobbing.</p> +<p>"I won't touch a bit av it," declared Sweeny. "It's the +liftinant's own grub."</p> +<p>"We won't divide it," said Thurstane. "I'll put it in your +pocket, Glover. When you can't take another step without it, you +must go at it."</p> +<p>"Bedad, if ye don't, we'll lave yees," added Sweeny, digging his +fists into his empty stomach to relieve its gnawing.</p> +<p>Very slowly, the well men sustaining the sick one, they marched +over rolling hills until about noon, accomplishing perhaps ten +miles. They were now on a slope looking southward; above them the +wind sighed through a large grove of cedars; a little below was a +copious spring of clear, sweet water. There they halted, drinking +and filling their canteens, but not eating. The square inch of bear +meat was still in Glover's pocket, but he could not be got to taste +it unless the others would share.</p> +<p>"Capm, I feel's though Heaven'd strike me if I should eat your +victuals," he whispered, his voice having failed him. "I feel a +sort o' superstitious 'bout it. I want to die with a clear +conscience."</p> +<p>But when they rose his strength gave out entirely, and he +dropped down fainting.</p> +<p>"Now ate yer mate," said Sweeny, in a passion of pity and +anxiety. "Ate yer mate an' stand up to yer marchin'."</p> +<p>Glover, however, could not eat, for the fever of hunger had at +last produced nausea, and he pushed away the unsavory morsel when +it was put to his lips.</p> +<p>"Go ahead," he whispered. "No use all dyin'. Go ahead." And then +he fainted outright.</p> +<p>"I think the trail can't be more than fifteen miles off," said +Thurstane, when he had found that his comrade still breathed. "One +of us must push on to it and the other stay with Glover. Sweeny, I +can track the country best. You must stay."</p> +<p>For the first time in this long and suffering and perilous +journey Sweeny's courage failed him, and he looked as if he would +like to shirk his duty.</p> +<p>"My lad, it is necessary," continued the officer. "We can't +leave this man so. You have your gun. You can try to hunt. When he +comes to, you must get him along, following the course you see me +take. If I find help, I'll save you. If not, I'll come back and die +with you."</p> +<p>Sitting down by the side of the insensible Glover, Sweeny +covered his face with two grimy hands which trembled a little. It +was not till his officer had got some thirty feet away that he +raised his head and looked after him. Then he called, in his usual +quick, sharp, chattering way, "Liftinant, is this soldierin'?"</p> +<p>"Yes, my lad," replied Thurstane with a sad, weary smile, +thinking meantime of hardships past, "this is soldiering."</p> +<p>"Thin I'll do me dooty if I rot jest here," declared the simple +hero.</p> +<p>Thurstane came back, grasped Sweeny's hand in silence, turned +away to hide his shaken face, and commenced his anxious +journey.</p> +<p>There were both terrible and beautiful thoughts in his soul as +he pushed on into the desert. Would he find the trail? Would he +encounter the rare chance of traders or emigrants? Would there be +food and rest for him and rescue for his comrades? Would he meet +Clara? This last idea gave him great courage; he struggled to keep +it constantly in his mind; he needed to lean upon it.</p> +<p>By the time that he had marched ten miles he found that he was +weaker than he had supposed. Weeks of wretched food and three days +of almost complete starvation had taken the strength pretty much +out of his stalwart frame. His breath was short; he stumbled over +the slightest obstacles; occasionally he could not see clear. From +time to time it struck him that he had been dreaming or else that +his mind was beginning to wander. Things that he remembered and +things that he hoped for seemed strangely present. He spoke to +people who were hundreds of miles away; and, for the most part, he +spoke to them pettishly or with downright anger; for in the main he +felt more like a wretched, baited animal than a human being.</p> +<p>It was only when he called Clara to mind that this evil spirit +was exorcised, and he ceased for a moment to resemble a hungry, +jaded wolf. Then he would be for a while all sweetness, because he +was for the while perfectly happy. In the next instant, by some +hateful and irresistible magic, happiness and sweetness would be +gone, and he could not even remember them nor remember +<i>her</i>.</p> +<p>Meantime he struggled to command himself and pay attention to +his route. He must do this, because his starving comrades lay +behind him, and he must know how to lead men back to their rescue. +Well, here he was; there were hills to the left; there was a +mountain to the right; he would stop and fix it all in his +memory.</p> +<p>He sat down beside a rock, leaned his back against it to steady +his dizzy head, had a sensation of struggling with something +invincible, and was gone.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH31" id="CH31"><!-- CH31 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> +<p>Leaving Thurstane in the desert, we return to Clara in the +desert. It will be remembered that she stood on the roof of the +Casa Grande when her lover was swept oarless down the San Juan.</p> +<p>She was watching him; of course she was watching him; at the +moment of the catastrophe she saw him; she felt sure also that he +was looking at her. The boat began to fly down the current; then +the two oarsmen fell to paddling violently; what did it mean? Far +from guessing that the towline had snapped, she was not aware that +there was one.</p> +<p>On went the boat; presently it whirled around helplessly; it was +nearing the rocks of the rapid; there was evidently danger. Running +to the edge of the roof, Clara saw a Mexican cattle-driver standing +on the wall of the enclosure, and called to him, "What is the +matter?"</p> +<p>"The lariats have broken," he replied. "They are drifting."</p> +<p>Clara uttered a little gasp of a shriek, and then did not seem +to breathe again for a minute. She saw Thurstane led away in +captivity by the savage torrent; she saw him rise up in the boat +and wave her a farewell; she could not lift her hand to respond; +she could only stand and stare. She had a look, and there was +within her a sensation, as if her soul were starting out of her +eyes. The whole calamity revealed itself to her at once and without +mercy. There was no saving him and no going after him; he was being +taken out of her sight; he was disappearing; he was gone. She +leaned forward, trying to look around the bend of the river, and +was balked by a monstrous, cruel advance of precipices. Then, when +she realized that he had vanished, there was a long scream ending +in unconsciousness.</p> +<p>When she came to herself everybody was talking of the calamity. +Coronado, Aunt Maria, and others overflowed with babblings of +regret, astonishment, explanations, and consolation. The lariats +had broken. How could it have happened! How dreadful! etc.</p> +<p>"But he will land," cried Clara, looking eagerly from face to +face.</p> +<p>"Oh, certainly," said Coronado. "Landings can be made. There are +none visible, but doubtless they exist."</p> +<p>"And then he will march back here?" she demanded.</p> +<p>"Not easily. I am afraid, my dear cousin, not very easily. There +would be cañons to turn, and long ones. Probably he would +strike for the Moqui country."</p> +<p>"Across the desert? No water!"</p> +<p>Coronado shrugged his shoulders as if to say that he could not +help it.</p> +<p>"If we go back to-morrow," she began again, "do you think we +shall overtake them?"</p> +<p>"I think it very probable," lied Coronado.</p> +<p>"And if we don't overtake them, will they join us at the Moqui +pueblos?"</p> +<p>"Yes, yes. I have little doubt of it."</p> +<p>"When do you think we ought to start?"</p> +<p>"To-morrow morning."</p> +<p>"Won't that be too early?"</p> +<p>"Day after to-morrow then."</p> +<p>"Won't that be too late?"</p> +<p>Coronado nearly boiled over with rage. This girl was going to +demand impossibilities of him, and impossibilities that he would +not perform if he could. He must be here and he must be there; he +must be quick enough and not a minute too quick; and all to save +his rival from the pit which he had just dug for him. Turning his +back on Clara, he paced the roof of the Casa in an excitement which +he could not conceal, muttering, "I will do the best I +can—the best I can."</p> +<p>Presently the remembrance that he had at least gained one great +triumph enabled him to recover his self-possession and his foxy +cunning.</p> +<p>"My dear cousin," he said gently, "you must not suppose that I +am not greatly afflicted by this accident. I appreciate the high +merit of Lieutenant Thurstane, and I grieve sincerely at his +misfortune. What can I do? I will do the best I can for all. +Trusting to your good sense, I will do whatever you say. But if you +want my advice, here it is. We ought for our own sakes to leave +here to-morrow; but for his sake we will wait a day. In that time +he may rejoin us, or he may regain the Moqui trail. So we will set +out, if you have no objection, on the morning of day after +to-morrow, and push for the pueblos. When we do start, we must +march, as you know, at our best speed."</p> +<p>"Thank you, Coronado," said Clara. "It is the best you can +do."</p> +<p>There were not five minutes during that day and the next that +the girl did not look across the plain to the gorge of the dry +cañon, in the hope that she might see Thurstane approaching. +At other times she gazed eagerly down the San Juan, although she +knew that he could not stem the current. Her love and her sorrow +were ready to believe in miracles. How is it possible, she often +thought, that such a brief sweep of water should carry him so +utterly away? In spite of her fear of vexing Coronado, she +questioned him over and over as to the course of the stream and the +nature of its banks, only to find that he knew next to nothing.</p> +<p>"It will be hard for him to return to us," the man finally +suggested, with an air of being driven unwillingly to admit it. "He +may have to go on a long way down the river."</p> +<p>The truth is that, not knowing whether the lost men could return +easily or not, he was anxious to get away from their +neighborhood.</p> +<p>Before the second day of this suspense was over, Aunt Maria had +begun to make herself obnoxious. She hinted that Thurstane knew +what he was about; that the river was his easiest road to his +station; that, in short, he had deserted. Clara flamed up +indignantly and replied, "I know him better."</p> +<p>"Why, what has he got to do with us?" reasoned Aunt Maria. "He +doesn't belong to our party."</p> +<p>"He has his men here. He wouldn't leave his soldiers."</p> +<p>"His men! They can take care of themselves. If they can't, I +should like to know what they are good for. I think it highly +probable he went off of his own choice."</p> +<p>"I think it highly probable you know nothing about it," snapped +Clara. "You are incapable of judging him."</p> +<p>The girl was not just now herself. Her whole soul was +concentrated in justifying, loving, and saving Thurstane; and her +manner, instead of being serenely and almost lazily gentle, was +unpleasantly excited. It was as if some charming alluvial valley +should suddenly give forth the steam and lava of a volcano.</p> +<p>Finding no sympathy in Aunt Maria, and having little confidence +in the good-will of Coronado, she looked about her for help. There +was Sergeant Meyer; he had been Thurstane's right-hand man; +moreover, he looked trustworthy. She seized the first opportunity +to beckon him up to her eerie on the roof of the Casa.</p> +<p>"Sergeant, I must speak with you privately," she said at once, +with the frankness of necessity.</p> +<p>The sergeant, a well-bred soldier, respectful to ladies, and +especially to ladies who were the friends of officers, raised his +forefinger to his cap and stood at attention.</p> +<p>"How came Lieutenant Thurstane to go down the river?" she +asked.</p> +<p>"It was the lariat proke," replied Meyer, in a whispering, +flute-like voice which he had when addressing his superiors.</p> +<p>"Did it break, or was it cut?"</p> +<p>The sergeant raised his small, narrow, and rather piggish gray +eyes to hers with a momentary expression of anxiety.</p> +<p>"I must pe gareful what I zay," he answered, sinking his voice +still lower. "We must poth pe gareful. I examined the lariat. I +fear it was sawed. But we must not zay this."</p> +<p>"Who sawed it?" demanded Clara with a gasp.</p> +<p>"It was no one in the poat," replied Meyer diplomatically.</p> +<p>"Was it that man—that hunter—Smith?"</p> +<p>Another furtive glance between the sandy eyelashes expressed an +uneasy astonishment; the sergeant evidently had a secret on his +mind which he must not run any risk of disclosing.</p> +<p>"I do not zee how it was Schmidt" he fluted almost inaudibly. +"He was watching the peasts at their basture."</p> +<p>"Then who did saw it?"</p> +<p>"I do not know. I do not feel sure that it was sawed."</p> +<p>Perceiving that, either from ignorance or caution, he would not +say more on this point, Clara changed the subject and asked, "Can +Lieutenant Thurstane go down the river safely?"</p> +<p>"I would like noting petter than to make the exbedition myself," +replied Meyer, once more diplomatic.</p> +<p>Now came a silence, the soldier waiting respectfully, the girl +not knowing how much she might dare to say. Not that she doubted +Meyer; on the contrary, she had a perfect confidence in him; how +could she fail to trust one who had been trusted by Thurstane?</p> +<p>"Sergeant," she at last whispered, "we must find him."</p> +<p>"Yes, miss," touching his cap as if he were taking an oath by +it.</p> +<p>"And you," she hesitated, "must protect <i>me</i>."</p> +<p>"Yes, miss," and the sergeant repeated his gesture of solemn +affirmation.</p> +<p>"Perhaps I will say more some time."</p> +<p>He saluted again, and seeing that she had nothing to add, +retired quietly.</p> +<p>For two nights there was little sleep for Clara. She passed them +in pondering Thurstane's chances, or in listening for his returning +footsteps. Yet when the train set out for the Moqui pueblos, she +seemed as vigorous and more vivacious than usual. What supported +her now and for days afterward was what is called the strength of +fever.</p> +<p>The return across the desert was even more terrible than the +advance, for the two scant water-holes had been nearly exhausted by +the Apaches, so that both beasts and human beings suffered horribly +with thirst. There was just this one good thing about the parched +and famished wilderness, that it relieved the emigrants from all +fear of ambushing enemies. Supernatural beings alone could have, +bushwhacked here. The Apaches had gone.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Sergeant Meyer had a sore conscience. From the moment +the boat went down the San Juan he had more or less lain awake with +the idea that, according to the spirit of his instructions from +Thurstane, he ought to have Texas Smith tied up and shot. Orders +were orders; there was no question about that, as a general +principle; the sergeant had never heard the statement disputed. But +when he came to consider the case now before him, he was +out-generalled by a doubt. This, drifting of a boat down a strange +river, was it murder in the sense intended by Thurstane? And, +supposing it to be murder, could it be charged in any way upon +Smith? In the whole course of his military experience Sergeant +Meyer had never been more perplexed. On the evening of the first +day's march he could bear his sense of responsibility no longer, +and decided to call a council of war. Beckoning his sole remaining +comrade aside from the bivouac, he entered upon business.</p> +<p>"Kelly, we are unter insdructions," he began in his flute-like +tone.</p> +<p>"I know it, sergeant," replied Kelly, decorously squirting his +tobacco-juice out of the corner of his mouth furthest from his +superior.</p> +<p>"The question is, Kelly, whether Schmidt should pe shot."</p> +<p>"The responsibility lies upon you, sergeant. I will shoot him if +so be such is orders."</p> +<p>"Kelly, the insdructions were to shoot him if murder should +habben in this barty. The instructions were loose."</p> +<p>"They were so, sergeant—not defining murder."</p> +<p>"The question is, Kelly, whether what has habbened to the +leftenant is murder. If it is murder, then Schmidt must go."</p> +<p>The two men were sitting on a bowlder side by side, their hands +on their knees and their muskets leaning against their shoulders. +They did not look at each other at all, but kept their grave eyes +on the ground. Kelly squirted his tobacco-juice sidelong two or +three times before he replied.</p> +<p>"Sergeant," he finally said, "my opinion is we can't set this +down for murder until we know somebody is dead."</p> +<p>"Shust so, Kelly. That is my obinion myself."</p> +<p>"Consequently it follows, sergeant, if you don't see to the +contrary, that until we know that to be a fact, it would be +uncalled for to shoot Smith."</p> +<p>"What you zay, Kelly, is shust what I zay."</p> +<p>"Furthermore, however, sergeant, it might be right and is the +way of duty, to call up Smith and make him testify as to what he +knows of this business, whether it be murder, or meant for +murder."</p> +<p>"Cock your beece, Kelly."</p> +<p>Both men cocked their pieces.</p> +<p>"Now I will gall Schmidt out and question him," continued Meyer, +"You will stand on one side and pe ready to opey my orders."</p> +<p>"Very good, sergeant," said Kelly, and dropped back a little +into the nearly complete darkness.</p> +<p>Meyer sang out sharply, "Schmidt! Texas Schmidt!"</p> +<p>The desperado heard the summons, hesitated a moment, cocked the +revolver in his belt, loosened his knife in its sheath, rose from +his blanket, and walked slowly in the direction of the voice. +Passing Kelly without seeing him, he confronted Meyer, his hand on +his pistol. There was not the slightest tremor in the hoarse, low +croak with which he asked, "What's the game, sergeant?"</p> +<p>"Schmidt, stand berfectly still," said Meyer in his softest +fluting. "Kelly has his beece aimed at your head. If you stir hant +or foot, you are a kawn koose."</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH32" id="CH32"><!-- CH32 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> +<p>Texas Smith was too old a borderer to attempt to draw his +weapons while such a man as Kelly was sighting him at ten feet +distance.</p> +<p>"Play yer hand, sergeant," he said; "you've got the keerds."</p> +<p>"You know, Schmidt, that our leftenant has been garried down the +river," continued Meyer.</p> +<p>The bushwhacker responded with a grunt which expressed neither +pleasure nor sorrow, but merely assent.</p> +<p>"You know," went on the sergeant, "that such things cannot +habben to officers without investigations."</p> +<p>"He war a squar man, an' a white man," said Texas. "I didn't +have nothin' to do with cuttin' him loose, if he war cut +loose."</p> +<p>"You didn't saw the lariat yourself, Schmidt, I know that. But +do you know who did saw it?"</p> +<p>"I dunno the first thing about it."</p> +<p>"Bray to pe struck tead if you do."</p> +<p>"I dunno how to pray."</p> +<p>"Then holt up your hants and gurse yourself to hell if you +do."</p> +<p>Lifting his hands over his head, the ignorant savage blasphemed +copiously.</p> +<p>"Do you think you can guess how it was pusted?" persisted the +soldier.</p> +<p>"Look a hyer!" remonstrated Smith, "ain't you pannin' me out a +leetle too fine? It mought 'a' been this way, an' it mought 'a' +been that. But I've no business to point if I can't find. When a +man's got to the bottom of his pile, you can't fo'ce him to borrow. +'Sposin' I set you barkin' up the wrong tree; what good's that +gwine to do?"</p> +<p>"Vell, Schmidt, I don't zay but what you zay right. You mustn't +zay anyting you don't know someting apout."</p> +<p>After another silence, during which Texas continued to hold his +hands above his head, Meyer added, "Kelly, you may come to an +order. Schmidt, you may put down your hants. Will you haf a jew of +topacco?"</p> +<p>The three men now approached each other, took alternate bites of +the sergeant's last plug of pigtail, and masticated amicably.</p> +<p>"You army fellers run me pootty close," said Texas, after a +while, in a tone of complaint and humiliation. "I don't want to +fight brass buttons. They're too many for me. The Capm he lassoed +me, an' choked me some; an' now you're on it."</p> +<p>"When things habben to officers, they must pe looked into," +replied Meyer.</p> +<p>"I dunno how in thunder the lariat got busted," repeated Texas. +"An' if I should go for to guess, I mought guess wrong."</p> +<p>"All right, Schmidt; I pelieve you. If there is no more drubble, +you will not pe called up again."</p> +<p>"Ask him what he thinks of the leftenant's chances," suggested +Kelly to his superior.</p> +<p>"Reckon he'll hev to run the river a spell," returned the +borderer. "Reckon he'll hev to run it a hell of a ways befo' he'll +be able to git across the dam country."</p> +<p>"Ask him what the chances be of running the river safely," added +Kelly.</p> +<p>"Dam slim," answered Texas; and there the talk ended. There was +some meditative chewing, after which the three returned to the +bivouac, and either lay down to sleep or took their tours at guard +duty.</p> +<p>At dawn the party recommenced its flight toward the Moqui +country. There were sixty hours more of hard riding, insufficient +sleep, short rations, thirst, and anxiety. Once the suffering +animals stampeded after water, and ran for several miles over +plateaux of rock, dashing off burdens and riders, and only halting +when they were plunged knee-deep in the water-hole which they had +scented. One of the wounded rancheros expired on the mule to which +he was strapped, and was carried dead for several hours, his +ashy-brown face swinging to and fro, until Coronado had him thrown +into a crevice.</p> +<p>Amid these hardships and horrors Clara showed no sign of +flagging or flinching. She was very thin; bad food, excessive +fatigue, and anxiety had reduced her; her face was pinched, +narrowed, and somewhat lined; her expression was painfully set and +eager. But she never asked for repose, and never complained. Her +mind was solely fixed upon finding Thurstane, and her feverish +bright eyes continually searched the horizon for him. She seemed to +have lost her power of sympathizing with any other creature. To +Mrs. Stanley's groanings and murmurings she vouchsafed rare and +brief condolences. The dead muleteer and the tortured, bellowing +animals attracted little of her notice. She was not hard-hearted; +she was simply almost insane. In this state of abnormal exaltation +she continued until the party reached the quiet and safety of the +Moqui pueblos.</p> +<p>Then there was a change; exhausted nature required either apathy +or death; and for two days she lay in a sort of stupor, sleeping a +great deal, and crying often when awake. The only person capable of +rousing her was Sergeant Meyer, who made expeditions to the other +pueblos for news of Thurstane, and brought her news of his hopes +and his failures.</p> +<p>After a three days' rest Coronado decided to resume his journey +by moving southward toward the Bernalillo trail. Freed from +Thurstane, he no longer contemplated losing Clara in the desert, +but meant to marry her, and trusted that he could do it. Two of his +wagons he presented to the Moquis, who were, of course, delighted +with the acquisition, although they had no more use for wheeled +vehicles than for gunboats. With only four wagons, his animals were +more than sufficient, and the train made tolerably rapid progress, +in spite of the roughness of the country.</p> +<p>The land was still a wonder. The water wizards of old had done +their grotesque utmost here. What with sculpturing and frescoing, +they had made that most fantastic wilderness the Painted Desert. It +looked like a mirage. The travellers had an impression that here +was some atmospheric illusion. It seemed as if it could not last +five minutes if the sun should shine upon it. There were crowding +hills so variegated and gay as to put one in mind of masses of +soap-bubbles. But the coloring was laid on fifteen hundred feet +deep. It consisted of sandstone marls, red, blue, green, orange, +purple, white, brown, lilac, and yellow, interstratified with +magnesian limestone in bands of purple, bluish-white, and mottled, +with here and there shining flecks or great glares of gypsum.</p> +<p>Among the more delicate wonders of the scene were the petrified +trunks which had once been pines and cedars, but which were now +flint or jasper. The washings of geologic aeons have exposed to +view immense quantities of these enchanted forests. Fragments of +silicified trees are not only strewn over the lowlands, but are +piled by the hundred cords at the bases of slopes, seeming like so +much drift-wood from wonder-lands far up the stream of time. +Generally they are in short bits, broken square across the grain, +as if sawed. Some are jasper, and look like masses of red +sealing-wax; others are agate, or opalescent chalcedony, +beautifully lined and variegated; many retain the graining, layers, +knots, and other details of their woody structure.</p> +<p>In places where the marls had been washed away gently, the +emigrants found trunks complete, from root to summit, fifty feet in +length and three in diameter. All the branches, however, were gone; +the tree had been uprooted, transported, whirled and worn by +deluges; then to commemorate the victory of the water sprites, it +had been changed into stone. The sight of these remnants of +antediluvian woodlands made history seem the reminiscence of a +child. They were already petrifactions when the human race was +born.</p> +<p>The Painted Desert has other marvels. Throughout vast stretches +you pass between tinted <i>mesas</i>, or tables, which face each +other across flat valleys like painted palaces across the streets +of Genova la Superba. They are giant splendors, hundreds of feet in +height, built of blood-red sandstone capped with variegated marls. +The torrents, which scooped out the intersecting levels, amused +their monstrous leisure with carving the points and abutments of +the <i>mesa</i> into fantastic forms, so that the traveller sees +towers, minarets, and spires loftier than the pinnacles of +cathedrals.</p> +<p>The emigrants were often deceived by these freaks of nature. +Beheld from a distance, it seemed impossible that they should not +be ruins, the monuments of some Cyclopean race. Aunt Maria, in +particular, discovered casas grandes and casas de Montezuma very +frequently.</p> +<p>"There is another casa," she would say, staring through her +spectacles (broken) at a butte three hundred feet high. "What a +people it must have been which raised such edifices!"</p> +<p>And she would stick to it, too, until she was close up to the +solid rock, and then would renew the transforming miracle five or +ten miles further on.</p> +<p>During this long and marvellous journey Coronado renewed his +courtship. He was cautious, however; he made a confidant of his +friend Aunt Maria; begged her favorable intercession.</p> +<p>"Clara," said Mrs. Stanley, as the two women jolted along in one +of the lumbering wagons, "there is one thing in your life which +perhaps you don't suspect."</p> +<p>The girl, who wanted to hear about Thurstane all the time, and +expected to hear about him, asked eagerly, "What is it?"</p> +<p>"You have made Mr. Coronado fall in love with you," said Aunt +Maria, thinking it wise to be clear and straightforward, as men are +reputed to be.</p> +<p>The young lady, instantly revolting from the subject, made no +reply.</p> +<p>"I think, Clara, that if you take a husband—and most women +do—he would be just the person for you."</p> +<p>Clara, once the gentlest of the gentle, was perfectly angelic no +longer. She gave her relative a stare which was partly intense +misery, but which had much the look of pure anger, as indeed it was +in a measure.</p> +<p>The expressions of violent emotion are alarming to most people. +Aunt Maria, beholding this tortured soul glaring at her out of its +prison windows, recoiled in surprise and awe. There was not another +word spoken at the time concerning the obnoxious match-making. A +single stare of Marius had put to flight the executioner.</p> +<p>In one way and another Clara continued to baffle her suitor and +her advocate. The days dragged on; the expedition steadily +traversed the desert; the Santa Anna region was crossed, and the +Bernalillo trail reached; one hundred, two hundred, three hundred +miles and more were left behind; and still Coronado, though without +a rival, was not accepted.</p> +<p>Then came an adventure which partly helped and partly hindered +his plans. The train was overtaken by a detachment of the Fifth +United States Cavalry, commanded by Major John Robinson, pushing +for California. Of course Sergeant Meyer reported himself and Kelly +to the Major, and of course the Major ordered them to join his +party as far as Fort Yuma. This deprived Clara of her trusted +protectors; but on the other hand, she threatened to take advantage +of the escort of Robinson for the rest of her journey; and the mere +mention of this at once brought Coronado on his soul's +marrow-bones. He swore by the heaven above, by all the saints and +angels, by the throne of the Virgin Mary, by every sacred object he +could think of, that not another word of love should pass his lips +during the journey, that he would live the life of a dead man, etc. +Overcome by his pleadings, and by the remonstrances of Aunt Maria, +who did not want to have her favorite driven to commit suicide, +Clara agreed to continue with the train.</p> +<p>After this scene followed days of hot travelling over hard, +gravelly plains, thinly coated with grass and dotted with cacti, +mezquit trees, the leafless palo verde, and the greasewood bush. +Here and there towered that giant cactus, the saguarra, a fluted +shaft, thirty, forty, and even sixty feet high, with a coronet of +richly-colored flowers, the whole fabric as splendid as a +Corinthian column. Prickly pears, each one large enough to make a +thicket, abounded. Through the scorching sunshine ran scorpions and +lizards, pursued by enormous rattlesnakes. During the days the heat +ranged from 100 to 115 deg. in the shade, while the nights were +swept by winds as parching as the breath of an oven. The distant +mountains glared at the eye like metals brought to a white heat. +Not seldom they passed horses, mules, cattle, and sheep, which had +perished in this terrible transit and been turned to mummies by the +dry air and baking sun. Some of these carcasses, having been set on +their legs by passing travellers, stood upright, staring with blind +eyeballs, grinning through dried lips, mockeries of life, statues +of death.</p> +<p>In spite of these hardships and horrors, Clara kept up her +courage and was almost cheerful; for in the first place Coronado +had ceased his terrifying attentions, and in the second place they +were nearing Cactus Pass, where she hoped to meet Thurstane. When +love has not a foot of certainty to stand upon, it can take wing +and soar through the incredible. The idea that they two, divided +hundreds of miles back, should come together at a given point by +pure accident, was obviously absurd. Yet Clara could trust to the +chance and live for it.</p> +<p>The scenery changed to mountains. There were barren, sublime, +awful peaks to the right and left. To the girl's eyes they were +beautiful, for she trusted that Thurstane beheld them. She was +always on horseback now, scanning every feature of the landscape, +searching of course for him. She did not pass a cactus, or a +thicket of mezquit, or a bowlder without anxious examination. She +imagined herself finding him helpless with hunger, or passing him +unseen and leaving him to die. She was so pale and thin with +constant anxiety that you might have thought her half starved, or +recovering from some acute malady.</p> +<p>About five one afternoon, as the train was approaching its +halting-place at a spring on the western side of the pass, Clara's +feverish mind fixed on a group of rocks half a mile from the trail +as the spot where she would find Thurstane. In obedience to similar +impressions she had already made many expeditions of this nature. +Constant failure, and a consciousness that all this searching was +folly, could not shake her wild hopes. She set off at a canter +alone; but after going some four hundred yards she heard a gallop +behind her, and, looking over her shoulder, she saw Coronado. She +did not want to be away from the train with him; but she must at +all hazards reach that group of rocks; something within impelled +her. Better mounted than she, he was soon by her side, and after a +while struck out in advance, saying, "I will look out for an +ambush."</p> +<p>When Coronado reached the rocks he was fifty yards ahead of +Clara. He made the circuit of them at a slow canter; in so doing he +discovered the starving and fainted Thurstane lying in the high +grass beneath a low shelf of stone; he saw him, he recognized him, +and in an instant he trembled from head to foot. But such was his +power of self-control that he did not check his horse, nor cast a +second look to see whether the man was alive or dead. He turned the +last stone in the group, met Clara with a forced smile, and said +gently, "There is nothing."</p> +<p>She reined up, drew a long sigh, thought that here was another +foolish hope crushed, and turned her horse's head toward the +train.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH33" id="CH33"><!-- CH33 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> +<p>The tread of Coronado's horse passing within fifteen feet of +Thurstane roused him from the troubled sleep into which he had sunk +after his long fainting fit.</p> +<p>Slowly he opened his eyes, to see nothing but long grasses close +to his face, and through them a haze of mountains and sky. His +first moments of wakening were so far from being a full +consciousness that he did not comprehend where he was. He felt +very, very weak, and he continued to lie still.</p> +<p>But presently he became aware of sounds; there was a trampling, +and then there were words; the voices of life summoned him to live. +Instantly he remembered two things: the starving comrades whom it +was his duty to save, and the loved girl whom he longed to find. +Slowly and with effort, grasping at the rock to aid his trembling +knees, he rose to his feet just as Clara turned her horse's head +toward the plain.</p> +<p>Coronado threw a last anxious glance in the direction of the +wretch whom he meant to abandon to the desert. To his horror he saw +a lean, smirched, ghostly face looking at him in a dazed way, as if +out of the blinding shades of death. The quickness of this villain +was so wonderful that one is almost tempted to call it +praiseworthy. He perceived at once that Thurstane would be +discovered, and that he, Coronado, must make the discovery, or he +might be charged with attempting to leave him to die.</p> +<p>"Good heavens!" he exclaimed loudly, "there he is!"</p> +<p>Clara turned: there was a scream of joy: she was on the ground, +running: she was in Thurstane's arms. During that unearthly moment +there was no thought in those two of Coronado, or of any being but +each other. It is impossible fully to describe such a meeting; its +exterior signs are beyond language; its emotion is a lifetime. If +words are feeble in presence of the heights and depths of the +Colorado, they are impotent in presence of the altitudes and +abysses of great passion. Human speech has never yet completely +expressed human intellect, and it certainly never will completely +express human sentiments. These lovers, who had been wandering in +chasms impenetrable to hope, were all of a sudden on mountain +summits dizzy with joy. What could they say for themselves, or what +can another say for them?</p> +<p>Clara only uttered inarticulate murmurs, while her hands crawled +up Thurstane's arms, pressing and clutching him to make sure that +he was alive. There was an indescribable pathos in this eagerness +which could not trust to sight, but must touch also, as if she were +blind. Thurstane held her firmly, kissing hair, forehead, and +temples, and whispering, "Clara! Clara!" Her face, which had turned +white at the first glimpse of him, was now roseate all over and +damp with a sweet dew. It became smirched with the dust of his +face; but she would only have rejoiced, had she known it; his very +squalor was precious to her.</p> +<p>At last she fell back from him, held him at arm's length with +ease, and stared at him. "Oh, how sick!" she gasped. "How thin! You +are starving."</p> +<p>She ran to her horse, drew from her saddle-bags some remnants of +food, and brought them to him. He had sunk down faint upon a stone, +and he was too weak to speak aloud; but he gave her a smile of +encouragement which was at once pathetic and sublime. It said, "I +can bear all alone; you must not suffer for me." But it said this +out of such visible exhaustion, that, instead of being comforted, +she was terrified.</p> +<p>"Oh, you must not die," she whispered with quivering mouth. "If +you die, I will die."</p> +<p>Then she checked her emotion and added, "There! Don't mind me. I +am silly. Eat."</p> +<p>Meanwhile Coronado looked on with such a face as Iago might have +worn had he felt the jealousy of Othello. For the first time he +positively knew that the woman he loved was violently in love with +another. He suffered so horribly that we should be bound to pity +him, only that he suffered after the fashion of devils, his +malignity equalling his agony. While he was in such pain that his +heart ceased beating, his fingers curled like snakes around the +handle of his revolver. Nothing kept him from shooting that man, +yes, and that woman also, but the certainty that the deed would +make him a fugitive for life, subject everywhere to the summons of +the hangman.</p> +<p>Once, almost overcome by the temptation, he looked around for +the train. It was within hearing; he thought he saw Mrs. Stanley +watching him; two of his Mexicans were approaching at full speed. +He dismounted, sat down upon a stone, partially covered his face +with his hand, and tried to bring himself to look at the two +lovers. At last, when he perceived that Thurstane was eating and +Clara merely kneeling by, he walked tremulously toward them, +scarcely conscious of his feet.</p> +<p>"Welcome to life, lieutenant," he said. "I did not wish to +interrupt. Now I congratulate."</p> +<p>Thurstane looked at him steadily, seemed to hesitate for a +moment, and then put out his hand.</p> +<p>"It was I who discovered you," went on Coronado, as he took the +lean, grimy fingers in his buckskin gauntlet.</p> +<p>"I know it," mumbled the young fellow; then with a visible +effort he added, "Thanks."</p> +<p>Presently the two Mexicans pulled up with loud exclamations of +joy and wonder. One of them took out of his haversack a quantity of +provisions and a flask of aguardiente; and Coronado handed them to +Thurstane with a smile, hoping that he would surfeit himself and +die.</p> +<p>"No," said Clara, seizing the food. "You have eaten enough. You +may drink."</p> +<p>"Where are the others?" she presently asked.</p> +<p>"In the hills," he answered. "Starving. I must go and find +them."</p> +<p>"No, no!" she cried. "You must go to the train. Some one else +will look for them."</p> +<p>One of the rancheros now dismounted and helped Thurstane into +his saddle. Then, the Mexican steadying him on one side and Clara +riding near him on the other, he was conducted to the train, which +was at that moment going into park near a thicket of willows.</p> +<p>In an amazingly short time he was very like himself. Healthy and +plucky, he had scarcely swallowed his food and brandy before he +began to draw strength from them; and he had scarcely begun to +breathe freely before he began to talk of his duties.</p> +<p>"I must go back," he insisted. "Glover and Sweeny are starving. +I must look them up."</p> +<p>"Certainly," answered Coronado.</p> +<p>"No!" protested Clara. "You are not strong enough."</p> +<p>"Of course not," chimed in Aunt Maria with real feeling, for she +was shocked by the youth's haggard and ghastly face.</p> +<p>"Who else can find them?" he argued. "I shall want two spare +animals. Glover can't march, and I doubt whether Sweeny can."</p> +<p>"You shall have all you need," declared Coronado.</p> +<p>"He mustn't go," cried Clara. Then, seeing in his face that he +<i>would</i> go, she added, "I will go with him."</p> +<p>"No, no," answered several voices. "You would only be in the +way."</p> +<p>"Give me my horse," continued Thurstane. "Where are Meyer and +Kelly?"</p> +<p>He was told how they had gone on to Fort Yuma with Major +Robinson, taking his horse, the government mules, stores, etc.</p> +<p>"Ah! unfortunate," he said. "However, that was right. Well, give +me a mule for myself, two mounted muleteers, and two spare animals; +some provisions also, and a flask of brandy. Let me start as soon +as the men and beasts have eaten. It is forty miles there and +back."</p> +<p>"But you can't find your way in the night," persisted Clara.</p> +<p>"There is a moon," answered Thurstane, looking at her +gratefully; while Coronado added encouragingly, "Twenty miles are +easily done."</p> +<p>"Oh yes!" hoped Clara. "You can almost get there before dark. Do +start at once."</p> +<p>But Coronado did not mean that Thurstane should set out +immediately. He dropped various obstacles in the way: for instance, +the animals and men must be thoroughly refreshed; in short, it was +dusk before all was ready.</p> +<p>Meantime Clara had found an opportunity of whispering to +Thurstane. "<i>Must</i> you?" And he had answered, looking at her +as the Huguenot looks at his wife in Millais's picture, "My dear +love, you know that I must."</p> +<p>"You <i>will</i> be careful of yourself?" she begged. "For your +sake."</p> +<p>"But remember that man," she whispered, looking about for Texas +Smith.</p> +<p>"He is not going. Come, my own darling, don't frighten yourself. +Think of my poor comrades."</p> +<p>"I will pray for them and for you all the time you are gone. But +oh, Ralph, there is one thing. I must tell you. I am so afraid. I +did wrong to let Coronado see how much I care for you. I am +afraid—"</p> +<p>He seemed to understand her. "It isn't possible," he murmured. +Then, after eyeing her gravely for a moment, he asked, "I may be +always sure of you? Oh yes! I knew it. But Coronado? Well, it isn't +possible that he would try to commit a treble murder. Nobody +abandons starving men in a desert. Well, I must go. I must save +these men. After that we will think of these other things. Good-by, +my darling."</p> +<p>The sultry glow of sunset had died out of the west, and the +radiance of a full moon was climbing up the heavens in the east +when Thurstane set off on his pilgrimage of mercy. Clara watched +him as long as the twilight would let her see him, and then sat +down with drooped face, like a flower which has lost the sun. If +any one spoke to her, she answered tardily and not always to the +purpose. She was fulfilling her promise; she was praying for +Thurstane and the men whom he had gone to save; that is, she was +praying when her mind did not wander into reveries of terror. After +a time she started up with the thought, "Where is Texas Smith?" He +was not visible, and neither was Coronado. Suspicious of some evil +intrigue, she set out in search of them, made the circuit of the +fires, and then wandered into the willow thickets. Amid the +underwood, hastening toward the wagons, she met Coronado.</p> +<p>"Ah!" he started. "Is that you, my little cousin? You are as +terrible in the dark as an Apache."</p> +<p>"Coronado, where is your hunter?" she asked with a beating +heart.</p> +<p>"I don't know. I have been looking for him. My dear cousin, what +do you want?"</p> +<p>"Coronado, I will tell you the truth. That man is a murderer. I +know it."</p> +<p>Coronado just took the time to draw one long breath, and then +replied with sublime effrontery, "I fear so. I learn that he has +told horrible stories about himself. Well, to tell the truth, I +have discharged him."</p> +<p>"Oh, Coronado!" gasped Clara, not knowing whether to believe him +or not.</p> +<p>"Shall I confess to you," he continued, "that I suspect him of +having weakened that towline so as to send our friend down the San +Juan?"</p> +<p>"He never went near the boat," heroically answered Clara, at the +same time wishing she could see Coronado's face.</p> +<p>"Of course not. He probably hired some one. I fear our rancheros +are none too good to be bribed. I will confess to you, my cousin, +that ever since that day I have been watching Smith."</p> +<p>"Oh, Coronado!" repeated Clara. She was beginning to believe +this prodigious liar, and to be all the more alarmed because she +did believe him. "So you have sent him away? I am so glad. Oh, +Coronado, I thank you. But help me look for him now. I want to know +if he is in camp."</p> +<p>It is almost impossible to do Coronado justice. While he was +pretending to aid Clara in searching for Texas Smith, he knew that +the man had gone out to murder Thurstane. We must remember that the +man was almost as wretched as he was wicked; if punishment makes +amends for crime, his was in part absolved. As he walked about with +the girl he thought over and over, Will it kill her? He tried to +answer, No. Another voice persisted in saying, Yes. In his +desperation he at last replied, Let it!</p> +<p>We must follow Texas Smith. He had not started on his errand +until he had received five hundred dollars in gold, and five +hundred in a draft on San Francisco. Then he had himself proposed, +"I mought quit the train, an' take my own resk acrost the plains." +This being agreed to, he had mounted his horse, slipped away +through the willows, and ridden into the desert after +Thurstane.</p> +<p>He knew the trail; he had been from Cactus Pass to Diamond River +and back again; he knew it at least as well as the man whose life +he was tracking. He thought he remembered the spring where Glover +had broken down, and felt pretty sure that it could not be less +than twenty miles from the camp. Mounted as he was, he could put +himself ahead of Thurstane and ambush him in some ravine. Of a +sudden he laughed. It was not a burst of merriment, but a grim +wrinkling of his dark, haggard cheeks, followed by a hissing +chuckle. Texas seldom laughed, and with good reason, for it was +enough to scare people.</p> +<p>"Mought be done," he muttered. "Mought git the better of 'em all +that way. Shute, 'an then yell. The greasers'ud think it was +Injuns, an' they'd travel for camp. Then I'd stop the spare mules +an' start for Californy."</p> +<p>For Texas this plan was a stroke of inspiration. He was not an +intelligent scoundrel. All his acumen, though bent to the one point +of roguery, had barely sufficed hitherto to commit murders and +escape hanging. He had never prospered financially, because he +lacked financial ability. He was a beast, with all a tiger's +ferocity, but with hardly more than a tiger's intelligence. He was +a savage numskull. An Apache Tonto would have been more than his +match in the arts of murder, and very nearly his match in the arts +of civilization.</p> +<p>Instead of following Thurstane directly, he made a circuit of +several miles through a ravine, galloped across a wide grassy +plain, and pulled up among some rounded hillocks. Here, as he +calculated, he was fifteen miles from camp, and five from the spot +where lay Glover and Sweeny. The moon had already gone down and +left the desert to the starlight. Posting himself behind a thicket, +he waited for half an hour or more, listening with indefatigable +attention.</p> +<p>He had no scruples, but he had some fears. If he should miss, +the lieutenant would fire back, and he was cool enough to fire with +effect. Well, he wouldn't miss; what should he miss for? As for the +greasers, they would run at the first shot. Nevertheless, he did +occasionally muddle over the idea of going off to California with +his gold, and without doing this particular job. What kept him to +his agreement was the hope of stealing the spare mules, and the +fear that the draft might not be paid if he shirked his work.</p> +<p>"I s'pose I must show his skelp," thought Texas, "or they won't +hand over the dust."</p> +<p>At last there was a sound; he had set his ambush just right; +there were voices in the distance; then hoofs in the grass. Next he +saw something; it was a man on a mule; yes, and it was the right +man.</p> +<p>He raised his cocked rifle and aimed, sighting the head, three +rods away. Suddenly his horse whinnied, and then the mule of the +other reared; but the bullet had already sped. Down went Thurstane +in the darkness, while, with an Apache yell, Texas Smith burst from +his ambush and charged upon the greasers.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH34" id="CH34"><!-- CH34 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> +<p>The chase after the spare mules carried Texas Smith several +miles from the scene of the ambush, so that when he at last caught +the frightened beasts, he decided not to go back and cut +Thurstane's throat, but to set off at once westward and put himself +by morning well on the road to California.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, the two muleteers continued their flight at full +gallop, and eventually plunged into camp with a breathless story to +the effect that Apaches had attacked them, captured the spare +mules, and killed the lieutenant. Coronado, no more able to sleep +than Satan, was the first to hear their tale.</p> +<p>"Apaches!" he said, surprised and incredulous. Then, guessing at +what had happened, he immediately added, "Those devils again! We +must push on, the moment we can see."</p> +<p>Apaches! It was a capital idea. He had an excuse now for +hurrying away from a spot which he had stained with murder. If any +one demanded that Thurstane's body should be sought for, or that +those incumbrances Glover and Sweeny should be rescued, he could +respond, Apaches! Apaches! He gave orders to commence preparations +for moving at the first dawn.</p> +<p>He expected and feared that Clara would oppose the advance in +some trying way. But one of the fugitives relieved him by blurting +out the death of Thurstane, and sending her into spasms of +alternate hysterics and fainting which lasted for hours. Lying in a +wagon, her head in the lap of Mrs. Stanley, a sick, very sick, +dangerously sick girl, she was jolted along as easily as a +corpse.</p> +<p>Coronado rode almost constantly beside her wagon, inquiring +about her every few minutes, his face changing with contradictory +emotions, wishing she would die and hoping she would live, loving +and hating her in the same breath. Whenever she came to herself and +recognized him, she put out her hands and implored, "Oh, Coronado, +take me back there!"</p> +<p>"Apaches!" growled Coronado, and spurred away repeating his lie +to himself, "Apaches! Apaches!"</p> +<p>Then he checked his horse and rode anew to her side, hoping that +he might be able to reason with her.</p> +<p>"Oh, take me back!" was all the response he could obtain. "Take +me back and let me die there."</p> +<p>"Would you have us all die?" he shouted—"like Pepita!"</p> +<p>"Don't scold her," begged Aunt Maria, who was sobbing like a +child. "She doesn't know what she is asking."</p> +<p>But Clara knew too much; at the word <i>Pepita</i> she guessed +the torture scene; and then it came into her mind that Thurstane +might be even now at the stake. She immediately broke into screams, +which ended in convulsions and a long fit of insensibility.</p> +<p>"It is killing her," wailed Aunt Maria. "Oh, my child! my +child!"</p> +<p>Coronado spurred at full speed for a mile, muttering to the +desert, "Let it kill her! let it!"</p> +<p>At last he halted for the train to overtake him, glanced +anxiously at Clara's wagon, saw that Mrs. Stanley was still bending +over her, guessed that she was still alive, drew a sigh of relief, +and rode on alone.</p> +<p>"Oh, this love-making!" sighed Aunt Maria scores of times, for +she had at last learned of the engagement. "When will my sex get +over the weakness? It kills them, and they like it."</p> +<p>That night Clara could not sleep, and kept Coronado awake with +her moanings. All the next day she lay in a semi-unconsciousness +which was partly lethargy and partly fever. It was well; at all +events he could bear it so—bear it better than when she was +crying and praying for death. The next night she fell into such a +long silence of slumber that he came repeatedly to her wagon to +hearken if she still breathed. Youth and a strong constitution were +waging a doubtful battle to rescue her from the despair which +threatened to rob her of either life or reason.</p> +<p>So the journey continued. Henceforward the trail followed Bill +Williams's river to the Colorado, tracked that stream northward to +the Mohave valley, and, crossing there, took the line of the Mohave +river toward California. It was a prodigious pilgrimage still, and +far from being a safe one. The Mohaves, one of the tallest and +bravest races known, from six feet to six and a half in height, +fighting hand to hand with short clubs, were not perfectly sure to +be friendly. Coronado felt that, if ever he got his wife and his +fortune, he should have earned them. He was resolute, however; +there was no flinching yet in this versatile, yet obstinate nature; +he was as wicked and as enduring as a Pizarro.</p> +<p>We will not make the journey; we must suppose it. Weeks after +the desert had for a second time engulfed Thurstane, a coasting +schooner from Santa Barbara entered the Bay of San Francisco, +having on board Clara, Mrs. Stanley, and Coronado.</p> +<p>The latter is on deck now, smoking his eternal cigarito without +knowing it, and looking at the superb scenery without seeing it. A +landscape mirrored in the eye of a horse has about as much effect +on the brain within as a landscape mirrored in the eye of Coronado. +He is a Latin; he has a fine ear for music, and he would delight in +museums of painting and sculpture; but he has none of the passion +of the sad, grave, imaginative Anglican race for nature. Mountains, +deserts, seas, and storms are to him obstacles and hardships. He +has no more taste for them than had Ulysses.</p> +<p>He has agonized with sea-sickness during the voyage, and this is +the first day that he has found tolerable. Once more he is able to +eat and stand up; able to think, devise, resolve, and execute; +able, in short, to be Coronado. Look at the little, sunburnt, +sinewy, earnest, enduring man; study his diplomatic countenance, +serious and yet courteous, full of gravity and yet ready for +gayety; notice his ready smile and gracious wave of the hand as he +salutes the skipper. He has been through horrors; he has fought a +tremendous fight of passion, crime, and peril; yet he scarcely +shows a sign of it. There is some such lasting stuff in him as goes +to make the Bolivars, Francias, and Lopez, the restless and +indefatigable agitators of the Spanish-American communities. You +cannot help sympathizing with him somewhat, because of his energy +and bottom. You are tempted to say that he deserves to win.</p> +<p>He has made some progress in his conspiracy to entrap love and a +fortune. It must be understood that the two muleteers persisted in +their story concerning Apaches, and that consequently Clara has +come to think of Thurstane as dead. Meantime Coronado, after the +first two days of wild excitement, has conducted himself with rare +intelligence, never alarming her with talk of love, always +courteous, kind, and useful. Little by little he has worn away her +suspicions that he planned murder, and her only remaining anger +against him is because he did not attempt to search for Thurstane; +but even for that she is obliged to see some excuse in the terrible +word "Apaches."</p> +<p>"I have had no thought but for <i>her</i> safety," Coronado +often said to Mrs. Stanley, who as often repeated the words to +Clara. "I have made mistakes," he would go on. "The San Juan +journey was one. I will not even plead Garcia's instructions to +excuse it. But our circumstances have been terrible. Who could +always take the right step amid such trials? All I ask is charity. +If humility deserves mercy, I deserve it."</p> +<p>Coronado even schooled himself into expressing sympathy with +Clara for the loss of Thurstane. He spoke of him as her affianced, +eulogized his character, admitted that he had not formerly done him +justice, hinting that this blindness had sprung from jealousy, and +so alluded to his own affection. These things he said at first to +Aunt Maria, and she, his steady partisan, repeated them to Clara, +until at last the girl could bear to hear them from Coronado. +Sympathy! the bleeding heart must have it; it will accept this balm +from almost any hand, and it will pay for it in gratitude and +trust.</p> +<p>Thus in two months from the disappearance of Thurstane his rival +had begun to hope that he was supplanting him. Of course he had +given up all thought of carrying out the horrible plan with which +he had started from Santa Fé. Indeed, he began to have a +horror of Garcia, as a man who had set him on a wrong track and +nearly brought him into folly and ruin. One might say that Satan +was in a state of mind to rebuke sin.</p> +<p>Let us now glance at Clara. She is seated beside Aunt Maria on +the quarter-deck of the schooner. Her troubles have changed her; +only eighteen years old, she has the air of twenty-four; her once +rounded face is thin, and her childlike sweetness has become tender +gravity. When she entered on this journey she resembled the girl +faces of Greuze; now she is sometimes a <i>mater amabilis</i>, and +sometimes a <i>mater dolorosa</i>; for her grief has been to her as +a maternity. The great change, so far from diminishing her beauty, +has made her seem more fascinating and nobler. Her countenance has +had a new birth, and exhibits a more perfect soul.</p> +<p>We have hitherto had little more than a superficial view of the +characters of our people. Events, incidents, adventures, and even +landscapes have been the leading personages of the story, and have +been to its human individualities what the Olympian gods are to +Greek and Trojan heroes in the Iliad. Just as Jove or Neptune rules +or thwarts Agamemnon and Achilles, so the monstrous circumstances +of the desert have overborne, dwarfed, and blurred these +travellers. It is only now, when they have escaped from the <i>dii +majores</i>, and have become for a brief period tranquil free +agents, that we can see them as they are. Even yet they are not +altogether untrammelled. Man is never quite himself; he is always +under some external influence, past or present; he is always being +governed, if not being created.</p> +<p>Clara, born anew of trouble, is admirable. There is a sweet, +sedate, and almost solemn womanliness about her, which even +overawes Mrs. Stanley, conscious of aunthood and strongmindedness, +and insisting upon it that her niece is "a mere child." It is a +great victory to gain over a lady who has that sort of +self-confidence that if she had been a sunflower and obliged to +turn toward the sun for life, she would yet have believed that it +was she who made him shine. When Clara decides a matter Mrs. +Stanley, while still mentally saying "Young thing," feels +nevertheless that her own decision has been uttered. And in every +successive resistance she is overcome the easier, for habit is a +conqueror.</p> +<p>They have just had a discussion. Aunt Maria wants Clara to stand +on her dignity in a hotel until old Muñoz goes down on his +marrow-bones, makes her a handsome allowance, and agrees to leave +her at least half his fortune. Clara's reply is substantially, "He +is my grandfather and the proper head of my family. I think I ought +to go straight to him and say, Grandfather, here I am."</p> +<p>Beaten by this gentle conscientiousness, Aunt Maria endeavored +to appeal the matter to Coronado.</p> +<p>"I am so glad to see you enjoying your cigarito once more," she +called to him with as sweet a smile as if she didn't hate +tobacco.</p> +<p>He left his smoking retreat amidships, took off his hat with a +sort of airy gravity, and approached them.</p> +<p>"Mr. Coronado, where do you propose to take us when we reach +land?" asked Aunt Maria.</p> +<p>"We will, if you please, go direct to my excellent relative's," +was the reply.</p> +<p>Aunt Maria held her head straight up, as if stiff-neckedly +refusing to go there, but made no opposition.</p> +<p>Coronado had meditated everything and decided everything. It +would not do to go to a hotel, because that might lead to a +suspicion that he knew all the while about the death of +Muñoz. His plan was to drive at once to the old man's place, +demand him as if he expected to see him, express proper surprise +and grief over the funereal response, put the estate as soon as +possible into Clara's hands, become her man of affairs and trusted +friend, and so climb to be her husband. He was anxious; during all +his perils in the desert he had never been more so; but he bore the +situation heroically, as he could bear; his face revealed nothing +but its outside—a smile.</p> +<p>"My dear cousin," he presently said, "when I once fairly set you +down in your home, you will owe me, in spite of all my blunders, a +word of thanks."</p> +<p>"Coronado, I shall owe you more than I ever can repay," she +replied frankly, without remembering that he wanted to marry her. +The next instant she remembered it, and her face showed the first +blush that had tinted it for two months. He saw the significant +color, and turned away to conceal a joy which might have been +perilous had she observed it.</p> +<p>Immediately on landing he proceeded to carry out his programme. +He took a hack, drove the ladies direct to the house of +Muñoz, and there went decorously through the form of +learning that the old man was dead. Then, consoling the sorrowful +and anxious Clara, he hurried to the best hotel in the city and +made arrangements for what he meant should be an impressive scene, +the announcement of her fortune. He secured fine rooms for the +ladies, and ordered them a handsome lunch, with wine, etc., all +without regard to expense. The girl must be perfectly comfortable +and under a sense of all sorts of obligations to him when she +received his <i>coup de théâtre</i>.</p> +<p>He was not so preoccupied but that he quarelled with his +coachman about the hack hire and dismissed him with some +disagreeable epithets in Spanish. Next he took a saddle-horse, as +being the cheapest conveyance attainable, and cantered off to find +the executors of Muñoz, enjoying heartily such stares of +admiration as he got for his splendid riding. In an hour he +returned, found the ladies in their freshest dresses, and +complimented them suitably. At this very moment his anguish of +anxiety and suspense was terrible. When Clara should learn that she +was a millionaire, what would she do? Would she throw off the air +of friendliness which she had lately worn, and scout him as one +whom she had long known as a scoundrel? Would all his plots, his +labors, his perils, and his love prove in one moment to have been +in vain? As he stood there smiling and flattering, he was on the +cross.</p> +<p>"But I am talking trifles," he said at last, fairly catching his +breath. "Can you guess why I do it? I am prolonging a moment of +intense pleasure."</p> +<p>Such was his control over himself that he looked really benign +and noble as he drew from his pocket a copy of the will and held it +out toward Clara.</p> +<p>"My dear cousin," he murmured, his dark eyes searching her face +with intense anxiety, "you cannot imagine my joy in announcing to +you that you are the sole heir of the good Pedro Muñoz."</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH35" id="CH35"><!-- CH35 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> +<p>At the announcement that she was a millionaire Clara turned +pale, took the proffered paper mechanically with trembling fingers, +and then, without looking at it, said, "Oh, Coronado!"</p> +<p>It was a tone of astonishment, of perplexity, of regret, of +protest; it seemed to declare, Here is a terrible injustice, and I +will none of it. Coronado was delighted; in a breath he recovered +all his presence of mind; he recovered his voice, too, and spoke +out cheerfully:</p> +<p>"Ah, you are surprised, my cousin. Well, it is your +grandfather's will. You, as well as all others, must submit to +it."</p> +<p>Aunt Maria jumped up and walked or rather pranced about the +room, saying loudly, "He must have been the best man in the whole +world." After repeating this two or three times, she halted and +added with even more emphasis, "Except <i>you</i>, Mr. +Coronado!"</p> +<p>The Mexican bowed in silence; it was almost too much to be +praised in that way, feeling as he did; he bowed twice and waved +his hand, deprecating the compliment. The interview was a very +painful one to him, although he knew that he was gaining admiration +with every breath that he drew, and admiration just where it was +absolutely necessary to him. Turning to Clara now, he begged, "Read +it, if you please, my cousin."</p> +<p>The girl, by this time flushed from chin to forehead, glanced +over the paper, and immediately said, "This should not be so. It +must not be."</p> +<p>Coronado was overjoyed; she evidently thought that she owed him +and Garcia a part of this fortune; even if she kept it, she would +feel bound to consider his interests, and the result of her +conscientiousness might be marriage.</p> +<p>"Let us have no contest with the dead," he replied grandly. +"Their wishes are sacred."</p> +<p>"But Garcia and you are wronged, and I cannot have it so," +persisted Clara.</p> +<p>"How wronged?" demanded Aunt Maria. "I don't see it. Mr. Garcia +was only a cousin, and he is rich enough already."</p> +<p>Coronado, remembering that he and Garcia were bankrupt, wished +he could throw the old lady out of a window.</p> +<p>"Wait," said Clara in a tone of vehement resolution. "Give me +time. You shall see that I am not unjust or ungrateful."</p> +<p>"I beg that you will not bestow a thought upon me," implored the +sublime hypocrite. "Garcia, it is true, may have had claims. I have +none."</p> +<p>Aunt Maria walked up to him, squeezed both his hands, and came +near hugging him. Once out of this trial, Coronado could bear no +more, but kissed his fingers to the ladies, hastened to his own +room, locked the door, and swore all the oaths that there are in +Spanish, which is no small multitude.</p> +<p>In a few days after this terrible interview things were going +swimmingly well with him. To keep Clara out of the hands of +fortune-hunters, but ostensibly to enable her to pass her first +mourning in decent retirement, he had induced her to settle in one +of Muñoz's haciendas, a few miles from the city, where he of +course had her much to himself. He was her adviser; he was closeted +frequently with the executors; he foresaw the time when he would be +the sole manager of the estate; he began to trust that he would +some day possess it. What woman could help leaning upon and +confiding in a man who was so useful, so necessary as Coronado, and +who had shown such unselfish, such magnanimous sentiments?</p> +<p>Meantime the girl was as admirable in reality as the man was in +appearance. Unexpected inheritance of large wealth is almost sure +to alter, at least for a time, and generally for the worse, the +manner and morale of a young person, whether male or female. +Conceit or haughtiness or extravagance or greediness, or some other +vice, pretty surely enters into either deportment or conduct. If +this girl was changed at all by her great good fortune, she was +changed for the better. She had never been more modest, gentle, +affable, and sensible than she was now. The fact shows a clearness +of mind and a nobleness of heart which place her very high among +the wise and good. Such behavior under such circumstances is equal +to heroism. We are conscious that in saying these things of Clara +we are drawing largely upon the reader's faith. But either her +present trial of character was peculiarly fitted to her, or she was +one of those select spirits who are purified by temptation.</p> +<p>She remembered Garcia's claims upon her grandfather, and her own +supposed obligations to Coronado. She informed the executors that +she wished to make over half her property to the old man, +trusteeing it so that it should descend to his nephew. Their reply, +translated from roundabout and complimentary Spanish into plain +English, was this: "You can't do it. The estate is not settled, and +will not be for a year. Moreover, you have no power to part with it +until you are of age, which will not be for three years. Finally, +your proposition defies your grandfather's wishes, and it is +altogether too generous."</p> +<p>Clara's simple and firm reply was, "Well, I must wait. But it +would seem better if I could do it now."</p> +<p>There was one reason why Clara should be so calm and unselfish +in her elevation; her sorrows served her as ballast. Why should she +let riches turn her head when she found that they could not lighten +her heart? There was a certain night in her past which gold could +not illuminate; there had once been a precious life near her, which +was gone now beyond the power of ransom. Thurstane! How she would +have lavished this wealth upon him. He would have refused it; but +she would have prayed and forced him to accept it; she would have +been the meeker to him because of it. How noble he had been! not +now to be brought back! gone forever! And his going had been like +the going away of the sun, leaving no beautiful color in all +nature, no guiding light for wandering footsteps. She exaggerated +him, as love will exaggerate the lost.</p> +<p>Of course she did not always believe that he could be dead, and +in her hours of hope she wrote letters inquiring about his fate. In +other days he had told her much of himself, stories of his +childhood and his battles, the number of his old regiment and his +new one, titles of his superiors, names of comrades, etc. To which +among all these unknown ones should she address herself? She fixed +on the commander of his present regiment, and that awfully +mysterious personage the Adjutant-General of the army, a title +which seemed to represent omniscience and omnipotence. To each of +these gentlemen she sent an epistle recounting where, when, and how +Lieutenant Ralph Thurstane had been ambushed by unknown Indians, +supposed to be Apaches.</p> +<p>These letters she wrote and mailed without the knowledge of +Coronado. This was not caution, but pity; she did not suspect that +he would try to intercept them; only that it would pain him to +learn how much she yet thought of his rival. Indeed, it would have +been cruel to show them to him, for he would have seen that they +were blurred with tears. You perceive that she had come to be +tender of the feelings of this earnest and scoundrelly lover, +believing in his sincerity and not in his villainy.</p> +<p>"Surely some of those people will know," thought Clara, with a +trust in men and dignitaries which makes one say <i>sancta +simplicitas</i>. "If they do not know," she added, with a prayer in +her heart, "God will discover it to them."</p> +<p>But no answers came for months. The colonel was not with his +regiment, but on detached service at New York, whither Clara's +letter travelled to find him, being addressed to his name and not +marked "Official business." What he did of course was to forward it +to the Adjutant-General of the army at Washington. The +Adjutant-General successively filed both communications, and sent a +copy of each to headquarters at Santa Fé and San Francisco, +with an endorsement advising inquiries and suitable search. The +mails were slow and circuitous, and the official routine was also +slow and circuitous, so that it was long before headquarters got +the papers and went to work.</p> +<p>Does any one marvel that Clara did not go directly to the +military authorities in the city? It must be remembered that man +has his own world, as woman has hers, and that each sex is very +ignorant of the spheres and missions of the other, the retired sex +being especially limited in its information. The girl had never +been told that there was such a thing as district headquarters, or +that soldiers in San Francisco had anything to do with soldiers at +Fort Yuma. Nor was she in the way of learning such facts, being +miles away from a uniform, and even from an American.</p> +<p>One day, when she was fuller of hope than usual, she dared to +write to that ghost, Thurstane. Where should the letter be +addressed? It cost her much reflection to decide that it ought to +go to the station of his company, Fort Yuma. This gave her an idea, +and she at once penned two other letters, one directed "To the +Captain of Company I," and one to Sergeant Meyer. But unfortunately +those three epistles were not sent off before it occurred to +Coronado that he ought to overlook the packages that were sent from +the hacienda to the city. By the way, he had from the first assumed +a secret censorship over the mails which arrived.</p> +<p>Meantime he also had his anxiety and his correspondence. He +feared lest Garcia should learn how things had been managed, and +should hasten to San Francisco to act henceforward as his own +special providence. In that case there would be awkward +explanations, there would be complicated and perilous plottings, +there might be stabbings or poisonings. Already, as soon as he +reached the Mohave valley, he had written one cajoling letter to +his uncle. Scattered through six pages on various affairs were +underscored phrases and words, which, taken in sequence, read as +follows:</p> +<p>"Things have gone well and ill. What was most desirable has not +been fully accomplished. There have been perils and deaths, but not +the one required. The wisest plans have been foiled by unforeseen +circumstances. The future rests upon slow poison. A few weeks more +will suffice. Do not come here. It would rouse suspicion. Trust all +to me."</p> +<p>He now sent other letters, reporting the progress of the malady +caused by the poison, urging Garcia to remain at a distance, +assuring him that all would be well, etc.</p> +<p>"There will be no will," declared one of these lying messengers. +"If there is a will, you will be the inheritor. In all events, you +will be safe. Rely upon my judgment and fidelity."</p> +<p>It is curious, by the way, that such men as Coronado and Garcia, +knowing themselves and each other to be liars, should nevertheless +expect to be believed, and should frequently believe each other. +One is inclined to admit the seeming paradox that rogues are more +easily imposed upon than honest men.</p> +<p>No responses came from Garcia. But, by way of consolation, +Coronado had Clara's correspondence to read. One day this hidalgo, +securely locked in his room, held in his delicate dark fingers a +letter addressed to Miss Clara Van Diemen, and postmarked in +writing "Fort Yuma." Hot as the day was, there was a brazier by his +side, and a kettle of water bubbling on the coals. He held the +letter in the steam, softened the wafer to a pulp, opened the +envelope carefully, threw himself on a sofa, scowled at the beating +of his heart, and began to read.</p> +<p>Before he had glanced through the first line he uttered an +exclamation, turned hastily to the signature, and then burst into a +stream of whispered curses. After he had blasphemed himself into a +certain degree of calmness, he read the letter twice through +carefully, and learned it by heart. Then he thrust it deep into the +coals of the brazier, watched it steadily until its slight flame +had flickered away, lighted a cigarito, and meditated.</p> +<p>This epistle was not the only one that troubled him. He already +knew that Clara was inquiring about this man of whom she never +spoke, and conducting her inquiries with an intelligence and energy +which showed that her heart was in the business. If things went on +so, there might be trouble some day, and there might be punishment. +For a time he was so disturbed that he felt somewhat as if he had a +conscience, and might yet know what it is to be haunted by +remorse.</p> +<p>As for Clara, he was furious with her, notwithstanding his love +for her, and indeed because of it. It was outrageous that a woman +whom he adored should seek to ferret out facts which might send him +to State's Prison. It was abominable that she would not cease to +care for that stupid officer after he had been so carefully put out +of her way. Coronado felt that he was persecuted.</p> +<p>Well, what should be done? He must put a stop to Clara's +inquiries, and he would do it by inquiring himself. Yes, he would +write to people about Thurstane, show the letters to the girl (but +never send them), and so gradually get this sort of correspondence +into his own hands, when he would drop it. She would be led thereby +to trust him the more, to be grateful to him, perhaps to love him. +It was a hateful mode of carrying on a courtship, but it seemed to +be the best that he had in his power. Having so decided, this +master hypocrite, "full of all subtlety and wiles of the devil," +turned his attention to his siesta.</p> +<p>For twenty minutes he slept the sleep of the just; then he was +awakened by a timid knock at his door. Guessing from the shyness of +the demand for entrance that it came from a servant, he called +pettishly, "What do you want? Go away."</p> +<p>"I must see you," answered a voice which, feeble and indistinct +as it was, took Coronado to the door in an instant, trembling in +every nerve with rage and alarm.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH36" id="CH36"><!-- CH36 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> +<p>Opening the door softly and with tremulous fingers, Coronado +looked out upon an old gray-headed man, short and paunchy in build, +with small, tottering, uneasy legs, skin mottled like that of a +toad, cheeks drooping and shaking, chin retiring, nose bulbous, one +eye a black hollow, the other filmy and yet shining, expression +both dull and cunning, both eager and cowardly.</p> +<p>The uncle seemed to be even more agitated at the sight of the +nephew than the nephew at the sight of the uncle. For an instant +each stared at the other with a strange expression of anxiety and +mistrust. Then Coronado spoke. The words which he had in his heart +were, What are you here for, you scoundrelly old marplot? The words +which he actually uttered were, "My dear uncle, my benefactor, my +more than parent! How delighted I am to see you! Welcome, +welcome!"</p> +<p>The two men grasped each other's arms, and stuck their heads +over each other's shoulders in a pretence of embracing. Perhaps +there never was anything of the kind more curious than the contrast +between their affectionate attitude and the suspicion and aversion +painted on their faces.</p> +<p>"Have you been seen?" asked Coronado as soon as he had closed +and locked the door. "I must contrive to get you away unperceived. +Why have you come? My dear uncle, it was the height of imprudence. +It will expose you to suspicion. Did you not get my letters?"</p> +<p>"Only one," answered Garcia, looking both frightened and +obstinate, as if he were afraid to stay and yet determined not to +go. "One from the Mohave valley."</p> +<p>"But I urged you in that to remain at a distance, until all had +been arranged."</p> +<p>"I know, my son, I know. I thought like you at first. But +presently I became anxious."</p> +<p>"Not suspicious of my good faith!" exclaimed Coronado in a +horrified whisper. "Oh, <i>that</i> is surely impossible."</p> +<p>"No, no—not suspicious—no, no, my son," chattered +Garcia eagerly. "But I began to fear that you needed my help. +Things seemed to move so slowly. Madre de Dios! All across the +continent, and nothing done yet."</p> +<p>"Yes, much has been done. I had obstacles. I had people to get +rid of. There was a person who undertook to be lover and +protector."</p> +<p>"Is he gone?" inquired the old man anxiously.</p> +<p>"Ask no questions. The less told, the better. I wish to spare +you all responsibility."</p> +<p>"Carlos, you are my son and heir. You deserve everything that I +can give. All shall be yours, my son."</p> +<p>"That Texas Smith of yours is a humbug," broke out Coronado, his +mind reverting to the letter which he had just burned. "I put work +on him which he swore to do and did not do. He is a coward and a +traitor."</p> +<p>"Oh, the pig! Did you pay him?"</p> +<p>"I had to pay him in advance—and then nothing done right," +confessed Coronado.</p> +<p>"Oh, the pig, the dog, the toad, the villainous toad, the pig of +hell!" chattered Garcia in a rage. "How much did you pay him? Five +hundred dollars! Oh, the pig and the dog and the toad!"</p> +<p>"Well, I have been frank with you," said Coronado. (He had +diminished by one half the sum paid to Texas Smith.) "I will +continue to be frank. You must not stay here. The question is how +to get you away unseen."</p> +<p>"It is useless; I have been recognized," lied Garcia, who was +determined not to go.</p> +<p>"All is lost!" exclaimed Coronado. "The presence of us +two—both possible heirs—will rouse suspicion. Nothing +can be done."</p> +<p>But no intimidations could move the old man; he was resolved to +stay and oversee matters personally; perhaps he suspected +Coronado's plan of marrying Clara.</p> +<p>"No, my son," he declared. "I know better than you. I am older +and know the world better. Let me stay and take care of this. What +if I am suspected and denounced and hung? The property will be +yours."</p> +<p>"My more than father!" cried Coronado. "You shall never +sacrifice yourself for me. God forbid that I should permit such an +infamy!"</p> +<p>"Let the old perish for the young!" returned Garcia, in a tone +of meek obstinacy which settled the controversy.</p> +<p>It was a wonderful scene; it was prodigious acting. Each of +these men, while endeavoring to circumvent the other, was making +believe offer his life as a sacrifice for the other's prosperity. +It was amazing that neither should lose patience; that neither +should say, You are trying to deceive me, and I know it. We may +question whether two men of northern race could have carried on +such a dialogue without bursting out in open anger, or at least +glaring with eyes full of suspicion and defiance.</p> +<p>"You will find her changed," continued Coronado, when he had +submitted to the old man's persistence. "She has grown thinner and +sadder. You must not notice it, however; you must compliment her on +her health."</p> +<p>"What is she taking?" whispered Garcia.</p> +<p>"The less said, the better. My dear uncle, you must know +nothing. Do not talk of it. The walls have ears."</p> +<p>"I know something that would be both safe and sure," persisted +the old man in a still lower whisper.</p> +<p>"Leave all with me," answered Coronado, waving his hand +authoritatively. "Too many cooks spoil the broth. What has begun +well will end well."</p> +<p>After a time the two men went down to a shady veranda which half +encircled the house, and found Mrs. Stanley taking an accidental +siesta on a sort of lounge or sofa. Being a light sleeper, like +many other active-minded people, she awoke at their approach and +sat up to give reception.</p> +<p>"Mrs. Stanley, this is my uncle Garcia, my more than father," +bowed Coronado.</p> +<p>"I have not forgotten him," replied Aunt Maria, who indeed was +not likely to forget that mottled face, dyed blue with nitrate of +silver.</p> +<p>Warmly shaking the puffy hand of the old toad, and doing her +very best to smile upon him, she said, "How do you do, Mr. Garcia? +I hope you are well. Mr. Coronado, do tell him that, and that I am +rejoiced to see him."</p> +<p>Garcia's snaky glance just rose to the honest woman's face, and +then crawled hurriedly all about the veranda, as if trying to hide +in corners. Thanks to Coronado's fluency and invention, there was a +mutually satisfactory conversation between the couple. He amplified +the lady's compliments and then amplified the Mexican's +compliments, until each looked upon the other as a person of +unusual intelligence and a fast friend, Aunt Maria, however, being +much the more thoroughly humbugged of the two.</p> +<p>"My uncle has come on urgent mercantile business, and he crowds +in a few days with us," Coronado presently explained. "I have told +him of my little cousin's good fortune, and he is delighted."</p> +<p>"I am so glad to hear it," said Mrs. Stanley. "What an excellent +old man he is, to be sure! And you are just like him, Mr. +Coronado—just as good and unselfish."</p> +<p>"You overestimate me," answered Coronado, with a smile which was +almost ironical.</p> +<p>Before long Clara appeared. Garcia's eye darted a look at her +which was like the spring of an adder, dwelling for just a second +on the girl's face, and then scuttling off in an uncleanly, +poisonous way for hiding corners. He saw that she was thin, and +believed to a certain extent in Coronado's hints of poison, so that +his glance was more cowardly than ordinary.</p> +<p>Liking the man not overmuch, but pleased to see a face which had +been familiar to her childhood, and believing that she owed him +large reparation for her grandfather's will, Clara advanced +cordially to the old sinner.</p> +<p>"Welcome, Señor Garcia," she said, wondering that he did +not kiss her cheek. "Welcome to your own house. It is all yours. +Whatever you choose is yours."</p> +<p>"I rejoice in your good fortune," sighed Garcia.</p> +<p>"It is our common fortune," returned Clara, winding her arm in +his and walking him up and down the veranda.</p> +<p>"May God give you long life to enjoy it," prayed Garcia.</p> +<p>"And you also," said Clara.</p> +<p>Coronado translated this conversation as fast as it was uttered +to Mrs. Stanley.</p> +<p>"This is the golden age," cried that enthusiastic woman. "You +Spaniards are the best people I ever saw. Your men absolutely +emulate women in unselfishness."</p> +<p>"We would do it if it were possible," bowed Coronado.</p> +<p>"You do it," magnanimously insisted Aunt Maria, who felt that +the baser sex ought to be encouraged.</p> +<p>"Señor Garcia, I ask a favor of you," continued Clara. +"You must charge all the costs of the journey overland to me."</p> +<p>"It is unjust," replied the old man. "Madre de Dios! I can never +permit it."</p> +<p>"If you need the money now, I will request my guardians, the +executors, to advance it," persisted Clara, seeing that he refused +with a faint heart.</p> +<p>"I might borrow it," conceded Garcia. "I shall have need of +money presently. That journey was a great cost—a terribly bad +speculation," he went on, shaking his mottled, bluish head wofully. +"Not a piaster of profit."</p> +<p>"We will see to that," said Clara. "And then, when I am of +age—but wait."</p> +<p>She shook her rosy forefinger gayly, radiant with the joy of +generosity, and added, "You shall see. Wait!"</p> +<p>Coronado, in a rapid whisper, translated this conversation +phrase by phrase to Mrs. Stanley, his object being to make Clara's +promises public and thus engage her to their fulfilment.</p> +<p>"Of course!" exclaimed the impulsive Aunt Maria, who was +amazingly generous with other people's money, and with her own when +she had any to spare. "Of course Clara ought to pay. It is quite a +different thing from giving up her rights. Certainly she must pay. +That train did nothing but bring us two women. I really believe Mr. +Garcia sent it for that purpose alone. Besides, the expense won't +be much, I suppose."</p> +<p>"No," said Coronado, and he spoke the exact truth; that is, +supposing an honest balance. The expedition proper had cost seven +or eight thousand dollars, and about two thousand more had been +sunk in assassination fees and other "extras." On the other hand, +he had sold his wagons and beasts at the high prices of California, +making a profit of two thousand dollars. In short, even deducting +all that Coronado meant to appropriate to himself, Garcia would +obtain a small profit from the affair.</p> +<p>Now ensued a strange underhanded drama. Garcia stayed week after +week, riding often to the city on business or pretence of business, +but passing most of his time at the hacienda, where he wandered +about a great deal in a ghost-like manner, glancing slyly at Clara +a hundred times a day without ever looking her in the eyes, and +haunting her steps without overtaking or addressing her. Every time +that she returned from a ride he shambled to the door to see if the +saddle were empty. During the night he hearkened in the passages +for outcries of sudden illness. And while he thus watched the girl, +he was himself incessantly watched by his nephew.</p> +<p>"She gets no worse," the old man at last complained to the +younger one. "I think she is growing fat."</p> +<p>"It is one of the symptoms," replied Coronado. "By the way, +there is one thing which we ought to consider. If she gives you +half of this estate—?"</p> +<p>"Madre de Dios! I would take it and go. But she cannot give +until she is of age. And meantime she may marry."</p> +<p>He glanced suspiciously at his nephew, but Coronado kept his +bland composure, merely saying, "No present danger of that. She +sees no one but us."</p> +<p>He thought of adding, "Why not marry her yourself, my dear +uncle?" But Garcia might retort, "And you?" which would be +confusing.</p> +<p>"Suppose she should make a will in your favor?" the nephew +preferred to suggest.</p> +<p>"I cannot wait. I must have money now. Make a will? Madre de +Dios! She would outlive me. Besides, he who makes a will can break +a will."</p> +<p>After a minute of anxious thought, he asked, "How much do you +think she will give me?"</p> +<p>"I will ask her."</p> +<p>"Not <i>her</i>," returned Garcia petulantly. "Are you a pig, an +ass, a fool? Ask the old one—the duenna. It ought to be a +great deal; it ought to be half—and more."</p> +<p>To satisfy the old man as well as himself, Coronado sounded Mrs. +Stanley as to the proposed division.</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed!" said the lady emphatically. "Clara must do +something for Garcia, who has been such an excellent friend, and +who ought to have been named in the will. But you know she has her +duties toward herself as well as toward others. Now the property is +not a million; it may be some day or other, but it isn't now. The +executors say it might bring three hundred thousand dollars in +ready money."</p> +<p>The executors, by the way, had been sedulously depreciating the +value of the estate to Clara, in order to bring down her vast +notions of generosity.</p> +<p>"Well," continued Aunt Maria, "my niece, who is a true woman and +magnanimous, wanted to give up half. But that is too much, Mr. +Coronado. You see money" (here she commenced on something which she +had read)—"money is not the same thing in our hands that it +is in yours. When a man has a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, +he puts it into business and doubles it, trebles it, and so on. But +a woman can't do that; she is trammelled and hampered by the +prejudices of this male world; she has to leave her money at small +interest. If it doubles once in her life, she is lucky. So, you +see, one half given to Garcia would be, practically speaking, much +more than half," concluded Aunt Maria, looking triumphantly through +her argument at Coronado.</p> +<p>The Mexican assented; he always assented to whatever she +advanced; he did so because he considered her a fool and incapable +of reasoning. Moreover, he was not anxious to see half of this +estate drop into the hands of Garcia, believing that whatever Clara +kept for herself would shortly be his own by right of marriage.</p> +<p>"You are the greatest woman of our times," he said, stepping +backward a pace or two and surveying her as if she were a +cathedral. "I should never have thought of those ideas. You ought +to be a legislator and reform our laws."</p> +<p>"I never had a doubt that you would agree with me, Mr. +Coronado," returned the gratified Aunt Maria. "Well, so does Clara; +at least I trust so," she hesitated. "Now as to the sum which our +good Garcia should receive. I have settled upon thirty thousand +dollars. In his hands, you know, it would soon be a hundred and +fifty thousand; that is to say, practically speaking, it would be +half the estate."</p> +<p>"Certainly," bowed Coronado, meanwhile thinking, "You old ass!" +"And my little cousin is of your opinion, I trust?" he added.</p> +<p>"Well—not quite—as yet," candidly admitted Aunt +Maria. "But she is coming to it. I have no sort of doubt that she +will end there."</p> +<p>So Coronado had learned nothing as yet of Clara's opinions. As +he sauntered away to find Garcia, he queried whether he had best +torment him with this unauthorized babble of Mrs. Stanley. On the +whole, yes; it might bring him down to reasonable terms; the +rapacious old man was expecting too large a slice of the dead +Muñoz. So he told his tale, giving it out as something which +could be depended on, but increasing the thirty thousand dollars to +fifty thousand, on his own responsibility. To his alarm Garcia +broke out in a venomous rage, calling everybody pigs, dogs, toads, +etc.; and crying and cursing alternately.</p> +<p>"Fifty thousand piasters!" he squeaked, tottering about the room +on his short weak legs and wringing his hands, so that he looked +like a fat dog walking on his hind feet. "Fifty thousand piasters! +O Madre de Dios! It is nothing. It is nothing. It will not save me +from ruin. It will not cover my debts. I shall be sold out. I am +ruined. Fifty thousand piasters! O Madre de Dios!"</p> +<p>Fifty thousand dollars would have left him more than solvent; +but ten times that sum would not have satisfied his grasping +soul.</p> +<p>Coronado saw that he had made a blunder, and sought to rectify +it by lying copiously. He averred that he had been merely trying +his uncle; he begged his pardon for this absurd and ill-timed joke; +he admitted that he was a pig and a dog and everything else +ignoble; he should not have trifled with the feelings of his +benefactor, his more than father; those feelings were to him +sacred, and should be held so henceforward and forever.</p> +<p>But he was not believed. He could fool the old man sometimes, +but not on this occasion. Garcia, greedy and anxious, apt by nature +to see the dark side of things, judged that the +fifty-thousand-dollar story was the true one. Although he pretended +at last to accept Coronado's explanation for fact, he remained at +bottom unconvinced, and showed it in his swollen and trembling +visage.</p> +<p>Thenceforward the nephew watched the uncle incessantly; during +his absence he stole into his room, opened his baggage, and +examined his drawers. And if he saw him near Clara at table, or +when refreshments were handed around, he never took his eyes off +him.</p> +<p>But he could not be always at hand. One day the two men rode to +the city in company. Garcia dodged Coronado, hastened back to the +hacienda, asked to have some chocolate prepared, poured out a cup +for Clara, looked at her eagerly while she drank it, and then fell +down in a fit.</p> +<p>An hour later Coronado returned at a full run, to find the old +man just recovering his senses and Clara alarmingly ill.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH37" id="CH37"><!-- CH37 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> +<p>Clara had been taken ill while waiting on the unconscious +Garcia, and the attack had been so violent as to drive her at once +to her room and bed.</p> +<p>The first person whom Coronado met when he reached the house was +Aunt Maria, oscillating from one invalid to the other in such +fright and confusion that she did not know whether she was +strong-minded or not; but thus far chiefly troubled about Garcia, +who seemed to her to be in a dying state.</p> +<p>"Your uncle!" she exclaimed, beckoning wildly to Coronado as he +rushed in at the door.</p> +<p>"I know," he answered hastily. "A servant told me. How is +Clara?"</p> +<p>He was as pale as a man of his dark complexion could be. Aunt +Maria caught his alarm, and, forgetting at once all about Garcia, +ran on with him to Clara's room. The girl was just then in one of +her spasms, her features contracted and white, and her forehead +covered with a cold sweat.</p> +<p>"What is it?" whispered Mrs. Stanley, clutching Coronado by the +arm and staring eagerly at his anxious eyes.</p> +<p>"It is—fever," he returned, making a great effort to +control his rage and terror. "Give her warm water to drink. My God! +give her something."</p> +<p>He sent three servants in succession to search for three +different physicians swearing at them violently while they made +their preparations, telling them to ride like the devil, to kill +their horses, etc. When he returned to Clara's room she had come +out of her paroxysm, and was feebly trying to smile away Aunt +Maria's terrors.</p> +<p>"My cousin!" he whispered in unmistakable anguish of spirit.</p> +<p>"I am better," she replied. "Thank you, Coronado. How is +Garcia?"</p> +<p>Coronado looked as if he were devoting some one to the infernal +furies; but he suppressed his emotion and replied in a smothered +voice, "I will go and see."</p> +<p>Hurrying to his uncle's room, he motioned out the attendants, +closed the door, locked it, and then, with a scowl of rage and +alarm, advanced upon the invalid, who by this time was perfectly +conscious.</p> +<p>"What have you given her?" demanded Coronado, in a hoarse +mutter.</p> +<p>"I don't know what you mean," stammered the old man. He shut his +one eye, not because he could not keep it open, but to evade the +conflict which was coming upon him.</p> +<p>Taking quick advantage of the closed eye, Coronado turned to a +dressing-table, pulled out a drawer, seized a key, and opened +Garcia's trunk. Before the old man could interfere, the younger one +held in his hand a paper containing two ounces or so of white +powder.</p> +<p>"Did you give her this?" demanded Coronado.</p> +<p>Garcia stared at the paper with such a scared and guilty face, +that it was equivalent to a confession.</p> +<p>Coronado turned away to hide his face. There was a strange smile +upon it; at first it was a joy which made him half angelic; then it +became amusement. He tottered to a chair, threw himself into it +with the air of a thoroughly wearied man who finds rest delicious, +put a grain of the powder on his tongue, and then drew a long sigh, +a sigh of entire relief.</p> +<p>We must explain. The inner history of this scene is not a +tragedy, but a farce. For two weeks or more Coronado had been +watching his uncle day and night, and at last had found in his +trunk a paper of powder which he suspected to be arsenic. A +blunderer would have destroyed or hidden it, thereby warning Garcia +that he was being looked after, and causing him to be more careful +about his hiding places. Coronado emptied the paper, snapped off +every grain of the powder with his finger, wiped it clean with his +handkerchief, and refilled it with another powder. The selection of +this second powder was another piece of cleverness. He had at hand +both flour and finely pulverized sugar; but he wanted to learn +whether Garcia would really dose the girl, and he wanted a chance +to frighten him; so he chose a substance which would be harmless, +and yet would cause illness.</p> +<p>"You will be hung," said Coronado, staring sternly at his +uncle.</p> +<p>"I don't know what you mean," mumbled the old man, trembling all +over.</p> +<p>"What a fool you were to use a poison so easily detected as +arsenic! I have sent for doctors. They will recognize her symptoms. +You prepared the chocolate. Here is the arsenic in your trunk. You +will be hung."</p> +<p>"Give me that paper," whimpered Garcia, rising from his bed and +staggering toward Coronado. "Give it to me. It is mine."</p> +<p>Coronado put the package behind him with one hand and held off +his uncle with the other.</p> +<p>"You must go," he persisted. "She won't live two hours. Be off +before you are arrested. Take horse for San Francisco. If there is +a steamer, get aboard of it. Never mind where it sails to."</p> +<p>"Give me the paper," implored Garcia, going down on his knees. +"O Madre de Dios! My head, my head! Oh, what extremities! Give me +the paper. Carlos, it was all for your sake."</p> +<p>"Are you going?" demanded Coronado.</p> +<p>"Oh yes. Madre de Dios! I am going."</p> +<p>"Come along. By the back way. Do you want to pass <i>her</i> +room? Do you want to see your work? I will send your trunk to the +bankers. Quit California at the first chance. Quit it at once, if +you go to China."</p> +<p>As Coronado looked after the flying old man he heard himself +called by Mrs. Stanley, who was by this time in great terror about +Clara, trotting hither and thither after help and counsel.</p> +<p>"Oh, Mr. Coronado, do come!" she urged. Then, catching sight of +the galloping Garcia, "But what does that mean? Has he gone +mad?"</p> +<p>"Nearly," said Coronado. "I brought him news of pressing +business. How is my cousin?"</p> +<p>"Oh dear! I am terribly alarmed. Do look at her. Will those +doctors never come!"</p> +<p>Coronado, who had been a little in advance of Mrs. Stanley as +they hurried toward Clara's room, suddenly stopped, wheeled about +with a smile, seized her hands, and shook them heartily.</p> +<p>"I have it," he exclaimed with a fine imitation of joyful +astonishment. "There is no danger. I can explain the whole trouble. +My poor uncle has these attacks, and he is extravagantly fond of +chocolate. To relieve the attacks he always carries a paper of +medicine in one of his vest pockets. To sweeten his chocolate he +carries a paper of sugar in the companion pocket. You may be sure +that he has made a mistake between the two. He has dosed Clara with +his physic. There is no danger."</p> +<p>He laughed in the most natural manner conceivable; then he +checked himself and said: "My poor little cousin! It is no joke for +her."</p> +<p>"Certainly not," snapped Aunt Maria, relieved and yet angry. +"How excessively stupid! Here is Clara as sick as can be, and I +frightened out of my senses. Men ought not to meddle with cookery. +They are such botches, even in their own business!"</p> +<p>But presently, after she had given Coronado's explanation to +Clara, and the girl had laughed heartily over it and declared +herself much better, Aunt Maria recovered her good humor and began +to pity that poor, sick, driven Garcia.</p> +<p>"The brave old creature!" she said. "Out of his fits and off on +his business. I must say he is a wonder. Let us hope he will come +out all right, and soon return to us. But really he ought to be +seen to. He may fall off his horse in a fit, or he may dose +somebody dreadfully with his chocolate and get taken up for +poisoning. Mr. Coronado, you ought to ride into town to-morrow and +look after him."</p> +<p>"Certainly," replied Coronado. He did so, and returned with the +news that Garcia had sailed to San Diego, having been summoned back +to Santa Fé by the state of his affairs. That day and the +night following he slept fourteen hours, making up the arrears of +rest which he had lost in watching his uncle. Henceforward he was +easier; he had a pretty clear field before him; there was no one +present to poison Clara; no one but himself to court her. And the +courtship went forward with a better prospect of success than is +quite agreeable to contemplate.</p> +<p>Coronado and Clara were Adam and Eve; they were the only man and +woman in this paradise. People thus situated are claimed by a being +whom most call a goddess, and some a demon. She is protean; she is +at once an invariable formula and an individual caprice; she is a +law governing the universal multitude, and a passion swaying the +unit. She seems to be under an impression that, where a couple are +left alone together, they are the last relics of the human race, +and that if they do not marry the type will perish. Indifferent to +all considerations but one, she pushes them toward each other.</p> +<p>There is comparative safety from her in a crowd. Bachelors and +maidens who mingle by hundreds may remain bachelors and maidens. +But pair them off in lonely places and see if the result is not +amazingly hymeneal. A fellow who has run the gauntlet of seven +years of parties in New York will marry the first agreeable girl +whom he meets in Alaska. There is such a thing as leaving the +haunts of men and repairing to waste places to find a husband. We +are told that English girls have reduced this to a system, and that +fair archers who have failed at Brighton go out to hunt +successfully in India.</p> +<p>Well, Coronado had the favoring chances of solitude, +propinquity, and daily opportunity. Seldom away from Clara for a +day together, he was in condition to take advantage of any of those +moods which lay woman open to courtship, such as gratitude for +attentions, a disgust with loneliness, a desire for something to +love. It was a great thing for him that there was work about the +hacienda which no woman could easily do; that there were men +servants to govern, horses to be herded, valued, and sold, and +lands to be cultivated. All these male mysteries were soon handed +over to Coronado, subject to the advice of Aunt Maria and the final +judgment of Clara. The result was that <i>he</i> and <i>she</i> got +into a way of frequently discussing many things which threatened to +habituate her to the idea of being at one with him through +life.</p> +<p>Have you ever watched two specks floating in a vessel of water? +For a long time they approach each other so slowly that the +movement is imperceptible but at last they are within range of each +other's magnetism; there is a start, a swift rush, and they are +together. Thus it was that Clara was gently, very gently, and +unconsciously to herself, approaching Coronado. A mote on the wave +of life, she was subject to attraction, as all of us motes are, and +this man was the only tractor at hand. Aunt Maria did not count, +for woman cannot absorb woman. As to Thurstane, he not only was not +there, but he was not anywhere, as she at last believed.</p> +<p>Not a word from him or about him, except one letter from the +Adjutant-General, which somehow evaded Coronado's brazier, gave her +a moment of choking hope and fear, opened its white, official lips, +acknowledged her "communication," and stopped there. The unseen +tragedies in which souls suffer are numberless. Here was one. The +girl had written with tears and heart-beats, and then with tears +and heart-beats had waited. At last came the words, "I have the +honor to acknowledge, etc., very respectfully, etc." It was one of +the business-like facts of life unknowingly trampling upon a +bleeding sentiment.</p> +<p>Imagine Clara's agitations during this long suspense; her plans +and hopes and despairs would furnish matter for a library. There +was not a day, if indeed there was an hour, during which her mind +was not the theatre of a dozen dramas whereof Thurstane was the +hero, either triumphant or perishing. They were horribly +fragmentary; they broke off and pieced on to each other like +nightmares; one moment he was rescued, and the next tomahawked. And +this last fancy, despite all her struggles to hope, was for the +most part victorious. Meantime Coronado, guessing her sufferings, +and suffering horribly himself with jealousy, talked much and +sympathetically to her of Thurstane. So much did this man bear, and +with such outward sweetness did he bear it, that one half longs to +consider him a martyr and saint. Pity that his goodness should not +bear dissection; that it should have no more life in it than a +stuffed mannikin; that it should be just fit to scare crows +with.</p> +<p>But hypocrite as Coronado was, he was clever enough to win every +day more of Clara's confidence; and perhaps she might have walked +into this whited sepulchre in due time had it not been for an +accident. Cantering into San Francisco to hold a consultation with +her lawyer, she was saluted in the street by a United States +officer, also on horseback. She instinctively drew rein, her pulse +throbbing at sight of the uniform, and wild hopes beating at her +heart.</p> +<p>"Miss Van Diemen, I believe," said the officer, a dark, stout, +bold-looking trooper. "I am glad to see that you reached here in +safety. You have forgotten me. I am Major Robinson."</p> +<p>"I remember," said Clara, who had not recollected him at first +because she was looking solely for Thurstane. "You passed us in the +desert."</p> +<p>"Yes, I took your soldiers away from you, and you declined my +escort. I was anxious about you afterwards. Well, it has ended +right in spite of me. Of course you have heard of Thurstane's +escape."</p> +<p>"Escape!" exclaimed Clara, her face turning scarlet and then +pale. "Oh! tell me!"</p> +<p>The major stared. He had guessed a love affair between these +two; he had inferred it in the desert from the girl's anxiety about +the young man. How came it that she knew nothing of the +escape?</p> +<p>"So I have heard," he went on. "I think there can be no mistake +about it. I learned it from a civilian who left Fort Yuma some +weeks ago. I don't think he could have been mistaken. He told me +that the lieutenant was there then. Not well, I am sorry to say; +rather broken down by his hardships. Oh, nothing serious, you know. +But he was a trifle under the weather, which may account for his +not letting his friends hear from him."</p> +<p>At the story that Thurstane was alive, all Clara's love had +arisen as if from a grave, and the mightier because of its +resurrection. She was full of self-reproaches. It seemed to her +that she had neglected him; that she had cruelly left him to die. +Why had she not guessed that he was sick there, and flown to nurse +him to health? What had he thought of her conduct? She must go to +him at once.</p> +<p>"I am sorry to say that I can tell you no more," continued the +major in response to her eager gaze.</p> +<p>"I am so obliged to you!" gasped Clara. "If you hear anything +more, will you please let me know? Will you please come and see +me?"</p> +<p>The major promised and took down her address, but added that he +was just starting on an inspecting tour, and that for a fortnight +to come he should be able to give her no further information.</p> +<p>They had scarcely parted ere Clara had resolved to go at once to +Fort Yuma. The moment was favorable, for she had with her an +intelligent and trustworthy servant, and Coronado had been summoned +to a distance by business, so that he could make no opposition. She +hastened to her lawyer's, finished her affairs there, drew what +money she needed for her journey, learned that a brig was about to +start for the Gulf, and sent her man to secure a passage. When he +returned with news that the Lolotte would sail next day at noon, +she decided not to go back to the hacienda, and took rooms at a +hotel.</p> +<p>What would people say? She did not care; she was going. She had +been womanish and timorous too long; this was the great crisis +which would decide her future; she must be worthy of it and of +<i>him</i>. But remembering Aunt Maria, she sent a letter by +messenger to the hacienda, explaining that pressing business called +her to be absent for some weeks, and confessing in a postscript +that her business referred to Lieutenant Thurstane. This letter +brought Coronado down upon her next morning. Returning home +unexpectedly, he learned the news from his friend Mrs. Stanley, and +was hammering at Clara's door not more than an hour later, all in a +tremble with anxiety and rage.</p> +<p>"This must not be," he stormed. "Such a journey! Twenty-five +hundred miles! And for a man who has not deigned to write to you! +It is degrading. I will not have it. I forbid it."</p> +<p>"Coronado, stop!" ordered Clara; and it is to be feared that she +stamped her little foot at him; at all events she quelled him +instantly.</p> +<p>He sat down, glared like a mad dog, sprang up and rushed to the +door, halted there to stare at her imploringly, and finally +muttered in a hoarse voice, "Well—let it be so—since +you are crazed. But I shall go with you."</p> +<p>"You can go," replied Clara haughtily, after meditating for some +seconds, during which he looked the picture of despair. "You can +go, if you wish it."</p> +<p>An hour later she said, in her usually gentle tone, "Coronado, +pardon me for having spoken to you angrily. You are kinder than I +deserve."</p> +<p>The reader can infer from this speech how humble, helpful, and +courteous the man had been in the mean time. Coronado was no +half-way character; if he did not like you, he was the fellow to +murder you; if he decided to be sweet, he was all honey. Perhaps we +ought to ask excuse for Clara's tartness by explaining that she was +in a state of extreme anxiety, remembering that Robinson had +hesitated when he said Thurstane was not so very ill, and fearing +lest he knew worse things than he had told.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, let no one suppose that the Mexican meant to let his +lady love go to Fort Yuma. He had his plan for stopping her, and we +may put confidence enough in him to believe that it was a good one; +only at the last moment circumstances turned up which decided him +to drop it. Yes, at the last moment, just as he was about to pull +his leading strings, he saw good reason for wishing her far away +from San Francisco.</p> +<p>A face appeared to him; at the first glimpse of it Coronado +slipped into the nearest doorway, and from that moment his chief +anxiety was to cause the girl to vanish. Yes, he must get her +started on her voyage, even at the risk of her continuing it.</p> +<p>"What the devil is he here for?" he muttered. "Has he found out +that she is living?"</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH38" id="CH38"><!-- CH38 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> +<p>At noon the Lolotte, a broad-beamed, flat-floored brig of light +draught and good sailing qualities, hove up her anchor and began +beating out of the Bay of San Francisco, with Coronado and Clara on +her quarter-deck.</p> +<p>"You have no other passengers, I understood you to say, +captain," observed Coronado, who was anxious on that point, +preferring there should be none.</p> +<p>The master, a Dane by birth named Jansen, who had grown up in +the American mercantile service, was a middle-sized, +broad-shouldered man, with a red complexion, red whiskers, and a +look which was at once grave and fiery. He paused in his heavy +lurching to and fro, looked at the Mexican with an air which was +civil but very stiff, and answered in that discouraging tone with +which skippers are apt to smother conversation when they have +business on hand, "Yes, sir, one other."</p> +<p>Coronado presently slipped down the companionway, found the +colored steward, chinked five dollars into his horny palm, and +said, "My good fellow, you must look out for me; I shall want a +good deal of help during the passage."</p> +<p>"Yes, sah, very good, sah," was the answer, uttered in a greasy +chuckle, as though it were the speech of a slab of bacon fat. "Make +you up any little thing, sah. Have a sup now, sah? Little gruel? +Little brof?"</p> +<p>"No, thank you," returned Coronado, turning half sick at the +mention of those delicacies. "Nothing at present. By the way, one +of the staterooms is occupied I see. Who is the other +passenger?"</p> +<p>"Dunno, sah; keeps hisself shut up, an' says nothin' to nobody. +'Pears like he is sailin' under secret orders. Cur'ous' lookin' old +gent; got only one eye."</p> +<p>One eye! Coronado thought of the face which had frightened him +out of San Francisco, and wondered whether he were shut up in the +Lolotte with it.</p> +<p>"One eye?" he asked. "Short, stout, dark old gentleman? Indeed! +I think I know him."</p> +<p>Stepping to the door of a stateroom which he had already noticed +as being kept closed, he tapped lightly. There was a muttering +inside, a shuffling as of some one getting out of a berth, and then +a low inquiry in Spanish, "Who is there?"</p> +<p>"Me, sah," returned Coronado, imitating, and imitating +perfectly, the accent of the steward, who meantime had gone +forward, talking and sniggering to himself, after an idiotic way +that he had.</p> +<p>The door opened a trifle, and Coronado instantly slipped the toe +of his little boot into the crack, at the same time saying in his +natural tone, "My dear uncle!"</p> +<p>Seeing that he was discovered, Garcia gave his nephew entrance, +closed the door after him, locked it, and sat down trembling on the +edge of the lower berth, groaning and almost whimpering, "Ah, my +son! Ah, my dear Carlos! Oh, what a life I have to lead! Madre de +Dios, what a life! I thought you were one of my creditors. I did +indeed, my dear Carlos, my son."</p> +<p>"I thought you went back to Santa Fé" was Coronado's +reply.</p> +<p>"No, I did not go; I started, but I came back," mumbled Garcia. +Then, plucking up a little spirit, he turned his one eye for a +moment on his nephew's face, and added, "Why should I go to Santa +Fé? I had no business there. My business is here."</p> +<p>"But after your attempt at the hacienda?"</p> +<p>"My attempt! I made no attempt. All that was a mistake. Because +I was sick, I was frightened and did not know what to do. I ran +away because you told me to run. I had given her nothing. Yes, I +did put something in her chocolate, but it was my medicine. I meant +to put in sugar, but I made a mistake and went to the wrong pocket, +the pocket of my medicine. That was it, Carlos. I give you my word, +word of a hidalgo, word of a Christian."</p> +<p>It was the same explanation which Coronado had invented to +forestall suspicions at the hacienda. It was surely a wonderful +coincidence of lying, and shows how great minds work alike. Vexed +and angry as the nephew was, he could scarcely help smiling.</p> +<p>"My dear uncle!" he exclaimed, grasping Garcia's pudgy hand +melodramatically. "The very thing that occurred to me! I told them +so."</p> +<p>"Did you?" replied the old man, not much believing it. "Then all +is well."</p> +<p>He wanted to ask how it was that Clara had survived her dose; +but of course curiosity on that subject must not find vent; it +would be equivalent to a confession.</p> +<p>"Where is she going?" were his next words.</p> +<p>"To Fort Yuma."</p> +<p>"To Fort Yuma! What for?"</p> +<p>"I may as well tell it," burst out Coronado angrily. "She is +going there to nurse that officer. He escaped, but he has been +sick, and she <i>will</i> go."</p> +<p>"She must not go," whispered Garcia. "Oh, the ——." +And here he called Clara a string of names which cannot be +repeated. "She shall not go there," he continued. "She will marry +him. Then the property is gone, and we are ruined. Oh, the +——." And then came another assortment of violent and +vile epithets, such as are not found in dictionaries.</p> +<p>Coronado was anxious to divert and dissipate a rage which might +make trouble; and as soon as he could get in a word, he asked, "But +what have you been doing, my uncle?"</p> +<p>By dint of questioning and guessing he made out the story of the +old man's adventures since leaving the hacienda. Garcia, in extreme +terror of hanging, had gone straight to San Francisco and taken +passage for San Diego, with the intention of not stopping until he +should be at least as far away as Santa Fé. But after a few +hours at sea, he had recovered his wits and his courage, and asked +himself, why should he fly? If Clara died, the property would be +his, and if she survived, he ought to be near her; while as for +Carlos, he would surely never expose and hang a man who could cut +him off with a shilling. So he landed at Monterey, took the first +coaster back to San Francisco, lurked about the city until he +learned that the girl was still living, and was just about to put a +bold front on the matter by going to see her at the hacienda, when +he learned accidentally that she was on the point of voyaging +southward. Puzzled and alarmed by this, he resolved to accompany +her in her wanderings, and succeeded in getting himself quietly on +board the Lolotte.</p> +<p>"Well, let us go on deck," said Coronado, when the old man had +regained his tranquillity. "But let us be gentle, my uncle. We know +how to govern ourselves, I hope. You will of course behave like a +mother to our little cousin. Congratulate her on her recovery; +apologize for your awkward mistake. It was caused by the coming on +of the fit, you remember. A man who is about to have an attack of +epilepsy can't of course tell one pocket from another. But such a +man is all the more bound to be unctuous."</p> +<p>Clara received the old man cordially, although she would have +preferred not to see him there, fearing lest he should oppose her +nursing project. But as nothing was said on this matter, and as +Garcia put his least cloven foot foremost, the trio not only got on +amicably together, but seemed to enjoy one another's society. This +was no common feat by the way; each of the three had a great load +of anxiety; it was wonderful that they should not show it. +Coronado, for instance, while talking like a bird song, was +planning how he could get rid of Garcia, and carry Clara back to +San Francisco. The idea of pushing the old man overboard was +inadmissible; but could he not scare him ashore at the next port by +stories of a leak? As for Clara, he could not imagine how to manage +her, she was so potent with her wealth and with her beauty. He was +still thinking of these things, and prattling mellifluously of +quite other things, when the Lolotte luffed up under the lee of the +little island of Alcatraz.</p> +<p>"What does this mean?" he asked, looking suspiciously at the +fortifications, with the American flag waving over them.</p> +<p>"Stop here to take in commissary stores for Fort Yuma," +explained the thin, sallow, grave, meek-looking, and yet resolute +Yankee mate.</p> +<p>The chain cable rattled through the hawse hole, and in no long +while the loading commenced, lasting until nightfall. During this +time Coronado chanced to learn that an officer was expected on +board who would sail as far as San Diego; and, as all uniforms were +bugbears to him, he watched for the new passenger with a certain +amount of anxiety; taking care, by the way, to say nothing of him +to Clara. About eight in the evening, as the girl was playing some +trivial game of cards with Garcia in the cabin, a splashing of oars +alongside called Coronado on deck. It was already dark; a sailor +was standing by the manropes with a lantern; the captain was saying +in a grumbling tone, "Very late, sir."</p> +<p>"Had to wait for orders, captain," returned a healthy, ringing +young voice which struck Coronado like a shot.</p> +<p>"Orders!" muttered the skipper. "Why couldn't they have had them +ready? Here we are going to have a southeaster."</p> +<p>There was anxiety as well as impatience in his voice; but +Coronado just now could not think of tempests; his whole soul was +in his eyes. The next instant he beheld in the ruddy light of the +lantern the face of the man who was his evil genius, the man whose +death he had so long plotted for and for a time believed in, the +man who, as he feared, would yet punish him for his misdeeds. He +was so thoroughly beaten and cowed by the sight that he made a step +or two toward the companionway, with the purpose of hiding in the +cabin. Then desperation gave him courage, and he walked straight up +to Thurstane.</p> +<p>"My dear Lieutenant!" he cried, trying to seize the young +fellow's hand. "Once more welcome to life! What a wonder! Another +escape. You are a second Orlando—almost a Don Quixote. And +where are your two Sancho Panzas?"</p> +<p>"You here!" was Thurstane's grim response, and he did not take +the proffered hand.</p> +<p>"Come!" implored Coronado, stepping toward the waist of the +vessel and away from the cabin. "This way, if you please," he +urged, beckoning earnestly. "I have a word to say to you in +private."</p> +<p>Not a tone of this conversation had been heard below. Before the +boat had touched the side the crew were laboring at the noisy +windlass with their shouts of "Yo heave ho! heave and pawl! heave +hearty ho!" while the mate was screaming from the knight-heads, +"Heave hearty, men—heave hearty. Heave and raise the dead. +Heave and away."</p> +<p>Amid this uproar Coronado continued: "You won't shake hands with +me, Lieutenant Thurstane. As a gentleman, speaking to another +gentleman, I ask an explanation."</p> +<p>Thurstane hesitated; he had ugly suspicions enough, but no +proofs; and if he could not prove guilt, he must not charge it.</p> +<p>"Is it because we abandoned you?" demanded Coronado. "We had +reason. We heard that you were dead. The muleteers reported +Apaches. I feared for the safety of the ladies. I pushed on. You, a +gentleman and an officer—what else would you have +advised?"</p> +<p>"Let it go," growled Thurstane. "Let that pass. I won't talk of +it—nor of other things. But," and here he seemed to shake +with emotion, "I want nothing more to do with you—you nor +your family. I have had suffering enough."</p> +<p>"Ah, it is with <i>her</i> that you quarrel rather than with +me," inferred Coronado impudently, for he had recovered his +self-possession. "Certainly, my poor Lieutenant! You have reason. +But remember, so has she. She is enormously rich and can have any +one. That is the way these women understand life."</p> +<p>"You will oblige me by saying not another word on that subject," +broke in Thurstane savagely. "I got her letter dismissing me, and I +accepted my fate without a word, and I mean never to see her again. +I hope that satisfies you."</p> +<p>"My dear Lieutenant," protested Coronado, "you seem to intimate +that I influenced her decision. I beg you to believe, on my word of +honor as a gentleman, that I never urged her in any way to write +that letter."</p> +<p>"Well—no matter—I don't care," replied the young +fellow in a voice like one long sob. "I don't care whether you did +or not. The moment she could write it, no matter how or why, that +was enough. All I ask is to be left alone—to hear no more of +her."</p> +<p>"I am obliged to speak to you of her," said Coronado. "She is +aboard."</p> +<p>"Aboard!" exclaimed Thurstane, and he made a step as if to reach +the shore or to plunge into the sea.</p> +<p>"I am sorry for you," said Coronado, with a simplicity which +seemed like sincerity. "I thought it my duty to warn you."</p> +<p>"I cannot go back," groaned the young fellow. "I must go to San +Diego. I am under orders."</p> +<p>"You must avoid her. Go to bed late. Get up early. Keep out of +her way."</p> +<p>Turning his back, Thurstane walked away from this cruel and +hated counsellor, not thinking at all of him however, but rather of +the deep beneath, a refuge from trouble.</p> +<p>We must slip back to his last adventure with Texas Smith, and +learn a little of what happened to him then and up to the present +time.</p> +<p>It will be remembered how the bushwhacker sat in ambush; how, +just as he was about to fire at his proposed victim, his horse +whinnied; and how this whinny caused Thurstane's mule to rear +suddenly and violently. The rearing saved the rider's life, for the +bullet which was meant for the man buried itself in the forehead of +the beast, and in the darkness the assassin did not discover his +error. But so severe was the fall and so great Thurstane's weakness +that he lost his senses and did not come to himself until +daybreak.</p> +<p>There he was, once more abandoned to the desert, but rich in a +full haversack and a dead mule. Having breakfasted, and thereby +given head and hand a little strength, he set to work to provide +for the future by cutting slices from the carcass and spreading +them out to dry, well knowing that this land of desolation could +furnish neither wolf nor bird of prey to rob his larder. This work +done, he pushed on at his best speed, found and fed his companions, +and led them back to the mule, their storehouse. After a day of +rest and feasting came a march to the Cactus Pass, where the three +were presently picked up by a caravan bound to Santa Fé, +which carried them on for a number of days until they met a train +of emigrants going west. Thus it was that Glover reached +California, and Thurstane and Sweeny Fort Yuma.</p> +<p>Once in quiet, the young fellow broke down, and for weeks was +too sick to write to Clara, or to any one. As soon as he could sit +up he sent off letter after letter, but after two months of anxious +suspense no answer had come, and he began to fear that she had +never reached San Francisco. At last, when he was half sick again +with worrying, arrived a horrible epistle in Clara's hand and +signed by her name, informing him of her monstrous windfall of +wealth and terminating the engagement. The crudest thing in this +cruel forgery was the sentence, "Do you not think that in paying +courtship to me in the desert you took unfair advantage of my +loneliness?"</p> +<p>She had trampled on his heart and flouted his honor; and while +he writhed with grief he writhed also with rage. He could not +understand it; so different from what she had seemed; so unworthy +of what he had believed her to be! Well, her head had been turned +by riches; it was just like a woman; they were all thus. Thus said +Thurstane, a fellow as ignorant of the female kind as any man in +the army, and scarcely less ignorant than the average man of the +navy. He declared to himself that he would never have anything more +to do with her, nor with any of her false sex. At twenty-three he +turned woman-hater, just as Mrs. Stanley at forty-five had turned +man-hater, and perhaps for much the same sort of reason.</p> +<p>Shortly after Thurstane had received what he called his +cashiering, his company was ordered from Fort Yuma to San +Francisco. It had garrisoned the Alcatraz fort only two days, and +he had not yet had a chance to visit the city, when he was sent on +this expedition to San Diego to hunt down a deserting +quartermaster-sergeant. The result was that he found himself +shipped for a three days' voyage with the woman who had made him +first the happiest man in the army and then the most miserable.</p> +<p>How should he endure it? He would not see her; the truth is that +he could not endure the trial; but what he said to himself was that +he <i>would</i> not. In the darkness tears forced their way out of +his eyes and mingled with the spray which the wind was already +flinging over the bows. Crying! Three months ago, if any man had +told him that he was capable of it, he would have considered +himself insulted and would have felt like fighting. Now he was not +even ashamed of it, and would hardly have been ashamed if it had +been daylight. He was so thoroughly and hopelessly miserable that +he did not care what figure he cut.</p> +<p>But, once more, what should he do? Oh, well, he would follow +Coronado's advice; yes, damn him! follow the scoundrel's advice; he +could think of nothing for himself. He would stay out until late; +then he would steal below and go to bed; after that he would keep +his stateroom. However, it was unpleasant to remain where he was, +for the spray was beginning to drench the waist as well as the +forecastle; and, the quarter-deck being clear of passengers, he +staggered thither, dropped under the starboard bulwark, rolled +himself in his cloak, and lay brooding.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Coronado had amused Clara below until he felt seasick +and had to take to his berth. Escaping thus from his duennaship, +she wanted to see a storm, as she called the half-gale which was +blowing, and clambered bravely alone to the quarter-deck, where the +skipper took her in charge, showed her the compass, walked her up +and down a little, and finally gave her a post at the foot of the +shrouds. Thurstane had recognized her by the light of the binnacle, +and once more he thought, as weakly as a scared child, "What shall +I do?" After hiding his face for a moment he uncovered it +desperately, resolving to see whether she would speak. She did look +at him; she even looked steadily and sharply, as if in recognition; +but after a while she turned tranquilly away to gaze at the +sea.</p> +<p>Forgetting that no lamp was shining upon him, and that she +probably had no cause for expecting to find him here, Thurstane +believed that she had discovered who he was and that her mute +gesture confirmed his rejection. Under this throttling of his last +hope he made no protest, but silently wished himself on the +battle-field, falling with his face to the foe. For several minutes +they remained thus side by side.</p> +<p>The Lolotte was now well at sea, the wind and waves rising +rapidly, the motion already considerable. Presently there was an +order of "Lay aloft and furl the skysails," and then short shouts +resounded from the darkness, showing that the work was being done. +But in spite of this easing the vessel labored a good deal, and +heavy spurts of spray began to fly over the quarter-deck rail.</p> +<p>"I think, Miss, you had better go below unless you want to get +wet," observed the skipper, coming up to Clara. "We shall have a +splashing night of it."</p> +<p>Taking the nautical arm, Clara slid and tottered away, leaving +Thurstane lying on the sloppy deck.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH39" id="CH39"><!-- CH39 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> +<p>Had Clara recognized Thurstane, she would have thrown herself +into his arms, and he would hardly have slept that night for +joy.</p> +<p>As it was, he could not sleep for misery; festering at heart +because of that letter of rejection; almost maddened by his +supposed discovery that she would not speak to him, yet declaring +to himself that he never would have married her, because of her +money; at the same time worshipping and desiring her with passion; +longing to die, but longing to die for her; half enraged, and +altogether wretched.</p> +<p>Meantime the southeaster, dead ahead and blowing harder every +minute, was sending its seas further and further aft. He left his +wet berth on the deck, reeled, or rather was flung, to the stern of +the vessel, lodged himself between the little wheel-house and the +taffrail, and watched a scene in consonance with his feelings. +Innumerable twinklings of stars faintly illuminated a cloudless, +serene heaven, and a foaming, plunging ocean. The slender, dark +outlines of the sailless upper masts were leaning sharply over to +leeward, and describing what seemed like mystic circles and figures +against the lighter sky. The crests of seas showed with ghostly +whiteness as they howled themselves to death near by, or dashed +with a jar and a hoarse whistle over the bulwarks, slapping against +the sails and pounding upon the decks. The waves which struck the +bows every few seconds gave forth sounds like the strokes of Thor's +hammer, and made everything tremble from cathead to stempost.</p> +<p>Every now and then there were hoarse orders from the captain on +the quarter-deck, echoed instantly by sharp yells from the mate in +the waist. Now it was, "Lay aloft and furl the fore royal;" and ten +minutes later, "Lay aloft and furl the main royal." Scarcely was +this work done before the shout came, "Lay aloft and reef the +fore-t'gallant-s'l;" followed almost immediately by "Lay aloft and +reef the main-t'gallant-s'l." Next came, "Lay out forrard and furl +the flying jib." Each command was succeeded by a silent, dark +darting of men into the rigging, and presently a trampling on deck +and a short, sharp singing out at the ropes, with cries from aloft +of "Haul out to leeward; taut hand; knot away."</p> +<p>Under the reduced sail the brig went easier for a while; but the +half gale had made up its mind to be a hurricane. It was blowing +more savagely every second. One after another the topgallant sails +were double-reefed, close-reefed, and at last furled. The watch on +deck had its hands full to accomplish this work, so powerfully did +the wind drag on the canvas. Presently, far away forward—it +seemed on board some other craft, so faint was the +sound—there came a bang, bang, bang! on the scuttle of the +forecastle, and a hollow shout of "All hands reef tops'ls +ahoy!"</p> +<p>Up tumbled the "starbowlines," or starboard watch, and joined +the "larbowlines" in the struggle with the elements. No more sleep +that night for man, boy, mate, or master. Reef after reef was taken +in the topsails, until they were two long, narrow shingles of +canvas, and still the wind brought the vessel well down on her beam +ends, as if it would squeeze her by main force under water. The men +were scarcely on deck from their last reefing job, when boom! went +the jib, bursting out as if shot from a cannon, and then whipping +itself to tatters.</p> +<p>"Lay out forrard!" screamed the mate. "Lay out and furl it."</p> +<p>After a desperate struggle, half the time more or less under +water, two men dragged in and fastened the fragments of the jib, +while others set the foretop-mast staysail in its place. But the +wind was full of mischief; it seemed to be playing with the ship's +company; it furnished one piece of work after another with dizzying +rapidity. Hardly was the jib secured before the great mainsail +ripped open from top to bottom, and in the same puff the +close-reefed foretopsail split in two with a bang, from earing to +earing. Now came the orders fast and loud: "Down yards! Haul out +reef tackle! Lay out and furl! Lay out and reef!"</p> +<p>It was a perfect mess; a score of ropes flying at once; the men +rolling about and holding on; the sails slapping like mad, and ends +of rigging streaming off to leeward. After an exhausting fight the +mainsail was furled, the upper half of the topsail set +close-reefed, and everything hauled taut again. Now came an hour or +so without accident, but not without incessant and fatiguing labor, +for the two royal yards were successively sent down to relieve the +upper masts, and the foretopgallant sail, which had begun to blow +loose, was frapped with long pieces of sinnet.</p> +<p>During this period of comparative quiet Thurstane ventured an +attempt to reach his stateroom. The little gloomy cabin was going +hither and thither in a style which reminded him of the tossings of +Gulliver's cage after it had been dropped into the sea by the +Brobdingnag eagle. The steward was seizing up mutinous trunks and +chairs to the table legs with rope-yarns. The lamp was swinging and +the captain's compass see-sawing like monkeys who had gone crazy in +bedlams of tree-tops. From two of the staterooms came sounds which +plainly confessed that the occupants were having a bad night of +it.</p> +<p>"How is the lady passenger?" Thurstane could not help +whispering.</p> +<p>"Guess she's asleep, sah," returned the negro. "Fus-rate sailor, +sah. But them greasers is having tough times," he grinned. "Can't +abide the sea, greasers can't, sah."</p> +<p>Smiling with a grim satisfaction at this last statement, +Thurstane gave the man a five-dollar piece, muttered, "Call me if +anything goes wrong," and slipped into his narrow dormitory. +Without undressing, he lay down and tried to sleep; but, although +it was past midnight, he stayed broad awake for an hour or more; he +was too full of thoughts and emotions to find easy quiet in a +pillow. Near him—yes, in the very next stateroom—lay +the being who had made his life first a heaven and then a hell. The +present and the past struggled in him, and tossed him with their +tormenting contest. After a while, too, as the plunging of the brig +increased, and he heard renewed sounds of disaster on deck, he +began to fear for Clara's safety. It was a strange feeling, and yet +a most natural one. He had not ceased to love; he seemed indeed to +love her more than ever; to think of her struggling in the billows +was horrible; he knew even then that he would willingly die to save +her. But after a time the incessant motion affected him, and he +dozed gradually into a sound slumber.</p> +<p>Hours later the jerking and pitching became so furious that it +awakened him, and when he rose on his elbow he was thrown out of +his berth by a tremendous lurch. Sitting up with his feet braced, +he listened for a little to the roar of the tempest, the trampling +feet on deck, and the screaming orders. Evidently things were going +hardly above; the storm was little less than a tornado. Seriously +anxious at last for Clara—or, as he tried to call her to +himself, Miss Van Diemen—he stole out of his room, clambered +or fell up the companionway, opened the door after a struggle with +a sea which had just come inboard, got on to the quarter-deck, and, +holding by the shrouds, quailed before a spectacle as sublime and +more terrible than the Great Cañon of the Colorado.</p> +<p>It was daylight. The sun was just rising from behind a waste of +waters; it revealed nothing but a waste of waters. All around the +brig, as far as the eye could reach, the Pacific was one vast +tumble of huge blue-gray, mottled masses, breaking incessantly in +long, curling ridges, or lofty, tossing steeps of foam. Each wave +was composed of scores of ordinary waves, just as the greater +mountains are composed of ranges and peaks. They seemed moving +volcanoes, changing form with every minute of their agony, and +spouting lavas of froth. All over this immense riot of tormented +deeps rolled beaten and terrified armies of clouds. The wind +reigned supreme, driving with a relentless spite, a steady and +obdurate pressure, as if it were a current of water. It pinned the +sailors to the yards, and nearly blew Thurstane from the deck.</p> +<p>The Lolotte was down to close-reefed topsails, close-reefed +spencer and spanker, and storm-jib. Even upon this small and stout +spread of canvas the wind was working destruction, for just as +Thurstane reached the deck the jib parted and went to leeward in +ribbons. Sailors were seen now on the bowsprit fighting at once +with sea and air, now buried in water, and now holding on against +the storm, and slowly gathering in the flapping, snapping +fragments. Next a new jib (a third one) was bent on, hoisted +half-way, and blown out like a piece of wet paper. Almost at the +same moment the captain saw threatening mouths grimace in the +mainsail, and screamed "Never mind there forrard. Lay up on the +maintawps'l yard. Lay up and furl."</p> +<p>After half an hour's fight, the sail bagging and slatting +furiously, it was lashed anyway around the yard, and the men +crawled slowly down again, jammed and bruised against the shrouds +by the wind. Every jib and forestaysail on board having now been +torn out, the brig remained under close-reefed foretopsail, +spencer, and spanker, and did little but drift to leeward. The gale +was at its height, blowing as if it were shot out of the mouths of +cannon, and chasing the ocean before it in mountains of foam. One +thing after another went; the topgallants shook loose and had to be +sent down; the chain bobstays parted and the martingale slued out +of place; one of the anchors broke its fastenings and hammered at +the side; the galley gave way and went slopping into the lee +scuppers. No food that morning except dry crackers and cold beef; +all hands laboring exhaustingly to repair damages and make things +taut. For more than half an hour three men were out on the guys and +backropes endeavoring to reset the martingale, deluged over and +over by seas, and at last driven in beaten. Others were relashing +the galley, hauling the loose anchor and all the anchors up on the +rail, and resetting the loose lee rigging, which threatened at +every lurch to let the masts go by the board.</p> +<p>Thurstane presently learned that the wind had changed during the +night, at first dropping away for a couple of hours, then reopening +with fresh rage from the west, and finally hauling around into the +northwest, whence it now came in a steady tempest. The vessel too +had altered her course; she was no longer beating in long tacks +toward the southeast; she was heading westward and struggling to +get away from the land. Thurstane asked few questions; he was a +soldier and had learned to meet fate in silence; he knew too that +men weighted with responsibilities do not like to be catechised. +But he guessed from the frequent anxious looks of the captain +eastward that the California coast was perilously near, and that +the brig was more likely to be drifting toward it than making +headway from it. Surveying through his closed hands the stormy +windward horizon, he gave up all thoughts of getting away from +Clara by reaching San Diego, and turned toward the idea of saving +her from shipwreck.</p> +<p>None of the other passengers came on deck this morning. Garcia, +horribly seasick and frightened, held on desperately to his berth, +and passed the time in screaming for the "stewrt," cursing his evil +surroundings, calling everybody he could think of pigs, dogs, etc., +and praying to saints and angels. Coronado, not less sick and +blasphemous, had more command over his fears, and kept his prayers +for the last pinch. Clara, a much better sailor, and indeed an +uncommonly good one, was so far beaten by the motion that she did +not get up, but lay as quiet as the brig would let her, patiently +awaiting results, now and then smiling at Garcia's shouts, but more +frequently thinking of Thurstane, and sometimes praying that she +might find him alive at Fort Yuma.</p> +<p>The steward carried cold beef, hard bread, brandy, coffee, and +gruel (made in his pantry) from stateroom to stateroom. The girl +ate heartily, inquired about the storm, and asked, "When shall we +get there?" Garcia and Coronado tried a little of the gruel and a +good deal of the brandy and water, and found, as people usually do +under such circumstances, that nothing did them any good. The old +man wanted to ask the steward a hundred questions, and yelled for +his nephew to come and translate for him. Coronado, lying on his +back, made no answer to these cries of despair, except in muttered +curses and sniffs of angry laughter. So passed the morning in the +cabin.</p> +<p>Thurstane remained on deck, eating in soldierly fashion, his +pockets full of cold beef and crackers, and his canteen (for every +infantry officer learns to carry one) charged with hot coffee. He +was pretty wet, inasmuch as the spray showered incessantly athwart +ships, while every few minutes heavy seas came over the quarter +bulwarks, slamming upon the deck like the tail of a shark in his +agonies. During the morning several great combers had surmounted +the port bow and rushed aft, carrying along everything loose or +that could be loosened, and banging against the companion door with +the force of a runaway horse. And these deluges grew more frequent, +for the gale was steadily increasing in violence, howling and +shrieking out of the gilded eastern horizon as if Lucifer and his +angels had been hurled anew from heaven.</p> +<p>About noon the close-reefed foretopsail burst open from earing +to earing, and then ripped up to the yard, the corners stretching +out before the wind and cracking like musket shots. To set it again +was impossible; the orders came, "Down yard—haul out reef +tackle;" then half a dozen men laid out on the spar and began +furling. Scarcely was this terrible job well under way when a whack +of the slatting sail struck a Kanaka boy from his hold, and he was +carried to leeward by the gale as if he had been a bag of old +clothes, dropping forty feet from the side into the face of a +monstrous billow. He swam for a moment, but the next wave combed +over him and he disappeared. Then he was seen further astern, still +swimming and with his face toward the brig; then another vast +breaker rushed upon him with a lion-like roar, and he was gone. +Nothing could be done; no boat might live in such a sea; it would +have been perilous to change course. The captain glanced at the +unfortunate, clenched his fists desperately, and turned to his +rigging. Another man took the vacant place on the yard, and the +hard, dizzy, frightful labor there went on unflaggingly, with the +usual cries of "Haul out, knot away," etc. It was one of the forms +of a sailor's funeral.</p> +<p>No time for comments or emotions; the gale filled every mind +every minute. It was soon found that the spanker, a pretty large +sail, well aft and not balanced by any canvas at the bow, drew too +heavily on the stern and made steering almost impossible. A couple +of Kanakas were ordered to reef it, but could do nothing with it; +the skipper cursed them for "sojers" (our infantryman smiling at +the epithet) and sent two first-class hands to replace them; but +these also were completely beaten by the hurricane. It was not till +a whole watch was put at the job that the big, bellying sheet could +be hauled in and made fast in the reef knots. The brig now had not +a rag out but her spencer and reduced spanker, both strong, small, +and low sails, eased a good deal by their slant, shielded by the +elevated port-rail, and thus likely to hold. But it was not +sailing; it was simply lying to. The vessel rose and fell on the +monstrous waves, but made scarcely more headway than would a tub, +and drifted fast toward the still unseen California coast.</p> +<p>All might still have gone well had the northwester continued as +it was. But about noon this tempest, which already seemed as +furious as it could possibly be, suddenly increased to an absolute +hurricane, the wind fairly shoving the brig sidelong over the +water. Bang went the spanker, and then bang the spencer, both sails +at once flying out to leeward in streamers, and flapping to tatters +before the men could spring on the booms to secure them. The +destruction was almost as instant and complete as if it had been +effected by the broadside of a seventy-four fired at short +range.</p> +<p>"Bend on the new spencer," shouted the captain. "Out with it and +up with it before she rolls the sticks out of her."</p> +<p>But the rolling commenced instantly, giving the sailors no time +for their work. No longer steadied by the wind, the vessel was +entirely at the mercy of the sea, and went twice on her beam ends +for every billow, first to lee and then to windward. Presently a +great, white, hissing comber rose above her larboard bulwark, hung +there for a moment as if gloating on its prey, and fell with the +force of an avalanche, shaking every spar and timber into an ague, +deluging the main deck breast high, and swashing knee-deep over the +quarter-deck. The galley, with the cook in it, was torn from its +lashings and slung overboard as if it had been a hencoop. The +companion doors were stove in as if by a battering ram, and the +cabin was flooded in an instant with two feet of water, slopping +and lapping among the baggage, and stealing under the doors of the +staterooms. The sailors in the waist only saved themselves by +rushing into the rigging during the moment in which the breaker +hung suspended.</p> +<p>Nothing could be done; the vessel must lift herself from this +state of submergence; and so she did, slowly and tremulously, like +a sick man rising from his bed. But while the ocean within was +still running out of her scuppers, the ocean without assaulted her +anew. Successive billows rolled under her, careening her dead +weight this way and that, and keeping her constantly wallowing. No +rigging could bear such jerking long, and presently the dreaded +catastrophe came.</p> +<p>The larboard stays of the foremast snapped first; then the +shrouds on the same side doubled in a great bight and parted; next +the mast, with a loud, shrieking crash, splintered and went by the +board. It fell slowly and with an air of dignified, solemn +resignation, like Caesar under the daggers of the conspirators. The +cross stays flew apart like cobwebs, but the lee shrouds +unfortunately held good; and scarcely was the stick overboard +before there was an ominous thumping at the sides, the drum-beat of +death. It was like guns turned on their own columns; like Pyrrhus's +elephants breaking the phalanx of Pyrrhus.</p> +<p>"Axes!" roared the captain at the first crack. "Axes!" yelled +the mate as the spar reeled into the water. "Lay forward and clear +the wreck," were the next orders; "cut away with your knives."</p> +<p>Two axes were got up from below; the sailors worked like +beavers, waist-deep in water; one, who had lost his knife, tore at +the ropes with his teeth. After some minutes of reeling, splashing, +chopping, and cutting, the fallen mast, the friend who had become +an enemy, the angel who had become a demon, was sent drifting +through the creamy foam to leeward. Meantime the mate had sounded +the pumps, and brought out of them a clear stream of water, the +fresh invasion of ocean.</p> +<p>Directly on this cruel discovery, and as if to heighten its +horror to the utmost, the captain, clinging high up the mainmast +shrouds, shouted, "Landa-lee! Get ready the boats."</p> +<p>Without a word Thurstane hurried down into the cabin to save +Clara from this twofold threatening of death.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH40" id="CH40"><!-- CH40 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XL.</h2> +<p>When Thurstane got into the cabin, he found it pretty nearly +clear of water, the steward having opened doors and trap-doors and +drawn off the deluge into the hold.</p> +<p>The first object that he saw, or could see, was Clara, curled up +in a chair which was lashed to the mast, and secured in it by a +lanyard. As he paused at the foot of the stairway to steady himself +against a sickening lurch, she uttered a cry of joy and +astonishment, and held out her hand. The cry was not speech; her +gladness was far beyond words; it was simply the first utterance of +nature; it was the primal inarticulate language.</p> +<p>He had expected to stand at a distance and ask her leave to save +her life. Instead of that, he hurried toward her, caught her in his +arms, kissed her hand over and over, called her pet names, uttered +a pathetic moan of grief and affection, and shook with inward +sobbing. He did not understand her; he still believed that she had +rejected him—believed that she only reached out to him for +help. But he never thought of charging her with being false or +hard-hearted or selfish. At the mere sight of her asking rescue of +him he devoted himself to her. He dared to kiss her and call her +dearest, because it seemed to him that in this awful moment of +perhaps mortal separation he might show his love. If they were to +be torn apart by death, and sepulchred possibly in different caves +of the ocean, surely his last farewell might be a kiss.</p> +<p>If she talked to him, he scarcely heard her words, and did not +realize their meaning. If it was indeed true that she kissed his +cheek, he thought it was because she wanted rescue and would thank +any one for it. She was, as he understood her, like a pet animal, +who licks the face of any friend in need, though a stranger. Never +mind; he loved her just the same as if she were not selfish; he +would serve her just the same as if she were still his. He unloosed +her arms from his shoulders, wondering that they should be there, +and crawling with difficulty to the cabin locker, groped in it for +life-preservers. There was only one in the vessel; that one he +buckled around Clara.</p> +<p>"Oh, my darling!" she exclaimed; "what do you mean?"</p> +<p>"My darling!" he echoed, "bear it bravely. There is great +danger; but don't be afraid—I will save you."</p> +<p>He had no doubts in making this promise; it seemed to him that +he could overcome the billows for her sake—that he could make +himself stronger than the powers of nature.</p> +<p>"Where did you come from? from another vessel?" she asked, +stretching out her arms to him again.</p> +<p>"I was here," he said, taking and kissing her hands; "I was +here, watching over you. But there is no time to lose. Let me carry +you."</p> +<p>"They must be saved," returned Clara, pointing to the +staterooms. "Garcia and Coronado are there."</p> +<p>Should he try to deliver those enemies from death? He did not +hesitate a moment about it, but bursting open the doors of the two +rooms he shouted, "On deck with you! Into the boats! We are +sinking!"</p> +<p>Next he set Clara down, passed his left arm around her waist, +clung to things with his right hand, dragged her up the +companionway to the quarter-deck, and lashed her to the weather +shrouds, with her feet on the wooden leader. Not a word was spoken +during the five minutes occupied by this short journey. Even while +Clara was crossing the deck a frothing comber deluged her to her +waist, and Thurstane had all he could do to keep her from being +flung into the lee scuppers. But once he had her fast and +temporarily safe, he made a great effort to smile cheerfully, and +said, "Never fear; I won't leave you."</p> +<p>"Oh! to meet to die!" she sobbed, for the strength of the water +and the rage of the surrounding sea had frightened her. "Oh, it is +cruel!"</p> +<p>Presently she smothered her crying, and implored, "Come up here +and tie yourself by my side; I want to hold your hand."</p> +<p>He wondered whether she loved him again, now that she saw him; +and in spite of the chilling seas and the death at hand, he +thrilled warm at the thought. He was about to obey her when +Coronado and Garcia appeared, pale as two ghosts, clinging to each +other, tottering and helpless. Thurstane went to them, got the old +man lashed to one of the backstays, and helped Coronado to secure +himself to another. Garcia was jabbering prayers and crying aloud +like a scared child, his jaws shaking as if in a palsy. Coronado, +although seeming resolved to bear himself like an hidalgo and +maintain a grim silence, his face was wilted and seamed with +anxiety, as if he had become an old man in the night. It was rather +a fine sight to see him looking into the face of the storm with an +air of defying death and all that it might bring; and perhaps he +would have been helpful, and would have shown himself one of the +bravest of the brave, had he not been prostrated by sickness. As it +was, he took little interest in the fate of others, hardly noticing +Thurstane as he resumed his post beside Clara, and <a name= +"note-word" id="note-word"><!-- Note Anchor word --></a>only +addressing the girl with one word: "Patience!"</p> +<p>Clara and Thurstane, side by side and hand in hand, were also +for the most part silent, now looking around them upon their fate, +and then at each other for strength to bear it.</p> +<p>Meantime part of the crew had tried the pumps, and been washed +away from them twice by seas, floating helplessly about the main +deck, and clutching at rigging to save themselves, but nevertheless +discovering that the brig was filling but slowly, and would have +full time to strike before she could founder.</p> +<p>"'Vast there!" called the captain; "'vast the pumps! All hands +stand by to launch the boats!"</p> +<p>"Long boat's stove!" shouted the mate, putting his hands to his +mouth so as to be heard through the gale.</p> +<p>"All hands aft!" was the next order. "Stand by to launch the +quarter-boats!"</p> +<p>So the entire remaining crew—two mates and eight men, +including the steward—splashed and clambered on to the +quarter-deck and took station by the boat-falls, hanging on as they +could.</p> +<p>"Can I do anything?" asked Thurstane.</p> +<p>"Not yet," answered the captain; "you are doing what's right; +take care of the lady."</p> +<p>"What are the chances?" the lieutenant ventured now to +inquire.</p> +<p>With fate upon him, and seemingly irresistible, the skipper had +dropped his grim air of conflict and become gentle, almost +resigned. His voice was friendly, sympathetic, and quite calm, as +he stepped up by Thurstane's side and said, "We shall have a tough +time of it. The land is only about ten miles away. At this rate we +shall strike it inside of three hours. I don't see how it can be +helped."</p> +<p>"Where shall we strike?"</p> +<p>"Smack into the Bay of Monterey, between the town and Point +Pinos.'</p> +<p>"Can I do anything?"</p> +<p>"Do just what you've got in hand. Take care of the lady. See +that she gets into the biggest boat—if we try the boats."</p> +<p>Clara overheard, gave the skipper a kind look, and said, "Thank +you, captain."</p> +<p>"You're fit to be capm of a liner, miss," returned the sailor. +"You're one of the best sort."</p> +<p>For some time longer, while waiting for the final catastrophe, +nothing was done but to hold fast and gaze. The voyagers were like +condemned men who are preceded, followed, accompanied, jostled, and +hurried to the place of death by a vindictive people. The giants of +the sea were coming in multitudes to this execution which they had +ordained; all the windward ocean was full of rising and falling +billows, which seemed to trample one another down in their savage +haste. There was no mercy in the formless faces which grimaced +around the doomed ones, nor in the tempestuous voices which +deafened them with threatenings and insult. The breakers seemed to +signal to each other; they were cruelly eloquent with menacing +gestures. There was but one sentence among them, and that sentence +was a thousand times repeated, and it was always DEATH.</p> +<p>To paint the shifting sublimity of the tempest is as difficult +as it was to paint the steadfast sublimity of the Great +Cañon. The waves were in furious movement, continual change, +and almost incessant death. They destroyed themselves and each +other by their violence. Scarcely did one become eminent before it +was torn to pieces by its comrades, or perished of its own rage. +They were like barbarous hordes, exterminating one another or +falling into dissolution, while devastating everything in their +course.</p> +<p>There was a frantic revelry, an indescribable pandemonium of +transformations. Lofty plumes of foam fell into hoary, flattened +sheets; curling and howling cataracts became suddenly deep hollows. +The indigo slopes were marbled with white, but not one of these +mottlings retained the same shape for an instant; it was broad, +deep, and creamy when the eye first beheld it; in the next breath +it was waving, shallow, and narrow; in the next it was gone. A +thousand eddies, whirls, and ebullitions of all magnitudes appeared +only to disappear. Great and little jets of froth struggled from +the agitated centres toward the surface, and never reached it. +Every one of the hundred waves which made up each billow rapidly +tossed and wallowed itself to death.</p> +<p>Yet there was no diminution in the spectacle, no relaxation in +the combat. In the place of what vanished there was immediately +something else. Out of the quick grave of one surge rose the white +plume of another. Marbling followed marbling, and cataract +overstrode cataract. Even to their bases the oceanic ranges and +peaks were full of power, activity, and, as it were, explosions. It +seemed as if endless multitudes of transformations boiled up +through them from their abodes in sea-deep caves. There was no +exhausting this reproductiveness of form and power. At every glance +a thousand worlds of waters had perished, and a thousand worlds of +waters had been created. And all these worlds, the new even more +than the old, were full of malignity toward the wreck, and bent on +its destruction.</p> +<p>The wind, though invisible, was not less wonderful. It surpassed +the ocean in strength, for it chased, gashed, and deformed the +ocean. It inflicted upon it countless wounds, slashing fresh ones +as fast as others healed. It not only tore off the hoary scalps of +the billows and flung them through the air, but it wrenched out and +hurled large masses of water, scattering them in rain and mist, the +blood of the sea. Now and then it made all the air dense with +spray, causing the Pacific to resemble the Sahara in a simoom. At +other times it levelled the tops of scores of waves at once, +crushing and kneading them by the immense force that lay in its +swiftness.</p> +<p>It would not be looked in the face; it blinded the eyes that +strove to search it; it seemed to flap and beat them with harsh, +churlish wings; it was as full of insult as the billows. Its cry +was not multitudinous like that of the sea, but one and incessant +and invariable, a long scream that almost hissed. On reaching the +wreck, however, this shriek became hoarse with rage, and howled as +it shook the rigging. It used the shrouds and stays of the still +upright mainmast as an aeolian harp from which to draw horrible +music. It made the tense ropes tremble and thrill, and tortured the +spars until they wailed a death-song. Its force as felt by the +shipwrecked ones was astonishing; it beat them about as if it were +a sea, and bruised them against the shrouds and bulwarks; it +asserted its mastery over them with the long-drawn cruelty of a +tiger.</p> +<p>Just around the wreck the tumult of both wind and sea was of +course more horrible than anywhere else. These enemies were +infuriated by the sluggishness of the disabled hulk; they treated +it as Indians treat a captive who cannot keep up with their march; +they belabored it with blows and insulted it with howls. The brig, +constantly tossed and dropped and shoved, was never still for an +instant. It rolled heavily and somewhat slowly, but with perpetual +jerks and jars, shuddering at every concussion. Its only regularity +of movement lay in this, that the force of the wind and direction +of the waves kept it larboard side on, drifting steadily toward the +land.</p> +<p>One moment it was on a lofty crest, seeming as if it would be +hurled into air. The next it was rolling in the trough of the sea, +between a wave which hoarsely threatened to engulf it, and another +which rushed seething and hissing from beneath the keel. The deck +stood mostly at a steep angle, the weather bulwarks being at a +considerable elevation, and the lee ones dipping the surges. +Against this helpless and partially water-logged mass the combers +rushed incessantly, hiding it every few seconds with sheets of +spray, and often sweeping it with deluges. Around the stern and bow +the rush of bubbling, roaring whirls was uninterrupted.</p> +<p>The motion was sickly and dismaying, like the throes of one who +is dying. It could not be trusted; it dropped away under the feet +traitorously; then, by an insolent surprise, it violently stopped +or lifted. It was made the more uncertain and distressing by the +swaying of the water which had entered the hull. Sometimes, too, +the under boiling of a crushed billow caused a great lurch to +windward; and after each of these struggles came a reel to leeward +which threatened to turn the wreck bottom up; the breakers meantime +leaping aboard with loud stampings as if resolved to beat through +the deck.</p> +<p>During hours of this tossing and plunging, this tearing of the +wind and battering of the sea, no one was lost. The sailors were +clustered around the boats, some clinging to the davits and others +lashed to belaying pins, exhausted by long labor, want of sleep, +and constant soakings, but ready to fight for life to the last. +Coronado and Garcia were still fast to the backstays, the former a +good deal wilted by his hardships, and the latter whimpering. +Thurstane had literally seized up Clara to the outside of the +weather shrouds, so that, although she was terribly jammed by the +wind, she could not be carried away by it, while she was above the +heaviest pounding of the seas. His own position was alongside of +her, secured in like manner by ends of cordage.</p> +<p>Sometimes he held her hand, and sometimes her waist. She could +lean her shoulder against his, and she did so nearly all the while. +Her eyes were fixed as often on his face as on the breakers which +threatened her life. The few words that she spoke were more likely +to be confessions of love than of terror. Now and then, when a +billow of unusual size had slipped harmlessly by, he gratefully and +almost joyously drew her close to him, uttering a few syllables of +cheer. She thanked him by sending all her affectionate heart +through her eyes into his.</p> +<p>Although there had been no explanations as to the past, they +understood each other's present feelings. It could not be, he was +sure, that she clung to him thus and looked at him thus merely +because she wanted him to save her life. She had been detached from +him by others, he said; she had been drawn away from thinking of +him during his absence; she had been brought to judge, perhaps +wisely, that she ought not to marry a poor man; but now that she +saw him again she loved him as of old, and, standing at death's +door, she felt at liberty to confess it. Thus did he translate to +himself a past that had no existence. He still believed that she +had dismissed him, and that she had done it with cruel harshness. +But he could not resent her conduct; he believed what he did and +forgave her; he believed it, and loved her.</p> +<p>There were moments when it was delightful for them to be as they +were. As they held fast to each other, though drenched and +exhausted and in mortal peril, they had a sensation as if they were +warm. The hearts were beating hotly clean through the wet frames +and the dripping clothing.</p> +<p>"Oh, my love!" was a phrase which Clara repeated many times with +an air of deep content.</p> +<p>Once she said, "My love, I never thought to die so easily. How +horrible it would have been without you!"</p> +<p>Again she murmured, "I have prayed many, many times to have you. +I did not know how the answer would come. But this is it."</p> +<p>"My darling, I have had visions about you," was another of these +confessions. "When I had been praying for you nearly all one night, +there was a great light came into the room. It was some promise for +you. I knew it was then; something told me so. Oh, how happy I +was!"</p> +<p>Presently she added, "My dear love, we shall be just as happy as +that. We shall live in great light together. God will be pleased to +see plainly how we love each other."</p> +<p>Her only complaints were a patient "Isn't it hard?" when a new +billow had covered her from head to foot, crushed her pitilessly +against the shrouds, and nearly smothered her.</p> +<p>The next words would perhaps be, "I am so sorry for you, my +darling. I wish for your sake that you had not come. But oh, how +you help me!"</p> +<p>"I am glad to be here," firmly and honestly and passionately +responded the young man, raising her wet hand and covering it with +kisses. "But you shall not die."</p> +<p>He was bearing like a man and she like a woman. He was resolved +to fight his battle to the last; she was weak, resigned, gentle, +and ready for heaven.</p> +<p>The land, even to its minor features, was now distinctly +visible, not more than a mile to leeward. As they rose on the +billows they could distinguish the long beach, the grassy slopes, +and wooded knolls beyond it, the green lawn on which stood the +village of Monterey, the whitewashed walls and red-tiled roofs of +the houses, and the groups of people who were watching the oncoming +tragedy.</p> +<p>"Are you not going to launch the boats?" shouted Thurstane after +a glance at the awful line of frothing breakers which careered back +and forth athwart the beach.</p> +<p>"They are both stove," returned the captain calmly. "We must go +ashore as we are."</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH41" id="CH41"><!-- CH41 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> +<p>When Thurstane heard, or rather guessed from the captain's +gestures, that the boats were stove, he called, "Are we to do +nothing?"</p> +<p>The captain shouted something in reply, but although he put his +hands to his mouth for a speaking trumpet, his words were +inaudible, and he would not have been understood had he not pointed +aloft.</p> +<p>Thurstane looked upward, and saw for the first time that the +main topmast had broken off and been cut clear, probably hours ago +when he was in the cabin searching for Clara. The top still +remained, however, and twisted through its openings was one end of +a hawser, the other end floating off to leeward two hundred yards +in advance of the wreck. Fastened to the hawser by a large loop was +a sling of cordage, from which a long halyard trailed shoreward, +while another connected it with the top. All this had been done +behind his back and without his knowledge, so deafening and +absorbing was the tempest. He saw at once what was meant and what +he would have to do. When the brig struck he must carry Clara into +the top, secure her in the sling, and send her ashore. Doubtless +the crowd on the beach would know enough to make the hawser fast +and pull on the halyard.</p> +<p>The captain shouted again, and this time he could be understood: +"When she strikes hold hard."</p> +<p>"Did you hear him?" Thurstane asked, turning to Clara.</p> +<p>"Yes," she nodded, and smiled in his face, though faintly like +one dying. He passed one arm around the middle stay of the shrouds +and around her waist, passed the other in front of her, covering +her chest; and so, with every muscle set, he waited.</p> +<p>Surrounded, pursued, pushed, and hammered by the billows, the +wreck drifted, rising and falling, starting and wallowing toward +the awful line where the breakers plunged over the undertow and +dashed themselves to death on the resounding shore. There was a +wide debatable ground between land and water. One moment it +belonged to earth, the next lofty curling surges foamed howling +over it; then the undertow was flying back in savage torrents. +Would the hawser reach across this flux and reflux of death? Would +the mast hold against the grounding shock? Would the sling +work?</p> +<p>They lurched nearer; the shock was close at hand; every one set +teeth and tightened grip. Lifted on a monstrous billow, which was +itself lifted by the undertow and the shelving of the beach, the +hulk seemed as if it were held aloft by some demon in order that it +might be dashed to pieces. But the wave lost its hold, swept under +the keel, staggered wildly up the slope, broke in a huge white +deafening roll, and rushed backward in torrents. The brig was +between two forces; it struck once, but not heavily; then, raised +by the incoming surge, it struck again; there was an awful +consciousness and uproar of beating and grinding; the next instant +it was on its beam ends and covered with cataracts.</p> +<p>Every one aboard was submerged. Thurstane and Clara were +overwhelmed by such a mass of water that they thought themselves at +the bottom of the sea. Two men who had not mounted the rigging, but +tried to cling to the boat davits, were hurled adrift and sent to +agonize in the undertow. The brig trembled as if it were on the +point of breaking up and dissolving in the horrible, furious yeast +of breakers. Even to the people on shore the moment and the +spectacle were sublime and tremendous beyond description. The +vessel and the people on board disappeared for a time from their +sight under jets and cascades of surf. The spray rose in a dense +sheet as high as the maintopmast would have been had it stood +upright.</p> +<p>When Thurstane came out of his state of temporary drowning, he +was conscious of two sailors clambering by him toward the top, and +heard a shout in his ears of "Cast loose."</p> +<p>It was the captain. He had sprung alongside of Clara, and was +already unwinding her lashings. Thrice before the job was done they +were buried in surf, and during the third trial they had to hold on +with their hands, the two men clasping the girl desperately and +pressing her against the rigging. It was a wonder that she and all +of them were not disabled, for the jamming of the water was enough +to break bones.</p> +<p>They got her up a few ratlines; then came another surge, during +which they gripped hard; then there was a second ascent, and so on. +The climbing was the easier and the holding on the more difficult, +because the mast was depressed to a low angle, its summit being +hardly ten feet higher than its base. Even in the top there was a +desperate struggle with the sea, and even after Clara was in the +sling she was half drowned by the surf.</p> +<p>Meantime the people on shore had made fast the hawser to a tree +and manned the halyard. Not a word was uttered by Clara or +Thurstane when they parted, for she was speechless with exhaustion +and he with anxiety and terror. The moment he let go of her he had +to grip a loop of top-hamper and hold on with all his might to save +himself from being pitched into the water by a fresh jerk of the +mast and a fresh inundation of flying surge. When he could look at +her again she was far out on the hawser, rising and falling in +quick, violent, perilous swings, caught at by the toppling breakers +and howled at by the undertow. Another deluge blinded him; as soon +as he could he gazed shoreward again, and shrieked with joy; she +was being carefully lifted from the sling; she was saved—if +she was not dead.</p> +<p>When the apparatus was hauled back to the top the captain said +to Thurstane, "Your turn now."</p> +<p>The young man hesitated, glanced around for Coronado and Garcia, +and replied, "Those first."</p> +<p>It was not merely humanity, and not at all good-will toward +these two men, which held him back from saving his life first; it +was mainly that motto of nobility, that phrase which has such a +mighty influence in the army, "<i>An officer and a gentleman</i>." +He believed that he would disgrace his profession and himself if he +should quit the wreck while any civilian remained upon it.</p> +<p>Coronado, leaving his uncle to the care of a sailor, had already +climbed the shrouds, and was now crawling through the lubber hole +into the top. For once his hardihood was beaten; he was pale, +tremulous and obviously in extreme terror; he clutched at the sling +the moment he was pointed to it. With the utmost care, and without +even a look of reproach, Thurstane helped secure him in the loops +and launched him on his journey. Next came the turn of Garcia. The +old man seemed already dead. He was livid, his lips blue, his hands +helpless, his voice gone, his eyes glazed and set. It was necessary +to knot him into the sling as tightly as if he were a corpse; and +when he reached shore it could be seen that he was borne off like a +dead weight.</p> +<p>"Now then," said the captain to Thurstane. "We can't go till you +do. Passengers first."</p> +<p>Exhausted by his drenchings, and by a kind of labor to which he +was not accustomed, the lieutenant obeyed this order, took his +place in the sling, nodded good-by to the brave sailors, and was +hurled out of the top by a plunge of surf, as a criminal is pushed +from the cart by the hangman.</p> +<p>No idea has been given, and no complete idea can be given, of +the difficulties, sufferings, and perils of this transit shoreward. +Owing to the rising and falling of the mast, the hawser now +tautened with a jerk which flung the voyager up against it or even +over it, and now drooped in a large bight which let him down into +the seethe of water and foam that had just rushed over the vessel, +forcing it down on its beam ends. Thurstane was four or five times +tossed and as often submerged. The waves, the wind, and the wreck +played with him successively or all together. It was an outrage and +a torment which surpassed some of the tortures of the Inquisition. +First came a quick and breathless plunge; then he was imbedded in +the rushing, swirling waters, drumming in his ears and stifling his +breath; then he was dragged swiftly upward, the sling turning him +out of it. It seemed to him that the breath would depart from his +body before the transit was over. When at last he landed and was +detached from the cordage, he was so bruised, so nearly drowned, so +every way exhausted, that he could not stand. He lay for quite a +while motionless, his head swimming, his legs and arms twitching +convulsively, every joint and muscle sore, catching his breath with +painful gasps, almost fainting, and feeling much as if he were +dying.</p> +<p>He had meant to help save the captain and sailors. But there was +no more work in him, and he just had strength to walk up to the +village, a citizen holding him by either arm. As soon as he could +speak so as to be understood, he asked, first in English and then +in Spanish, "How is the lady?"</p> +<p>"She is insensible," was the reply—a reply of unmeant +cruelty.</p> +<p>Remembering how he had suffered, Thurstane feared lest Clara had +received her death-stroke in the slings, and he tottered forward +eagerly, saying, "Take me to her."</p> +<p>Arrived at the house where she lay, he insisted upon seeing her, +and had his way. He was led into a room; he did not see and could +never remember what sort of a room it was; but there she was in +bed, her face pale and her eyes closed; he thought she was dead, +and he nearly fell. But a pitying womanly voice murmured to him, +"She lives," with other words that he did not understand, or could +not afterward recall. Trusting that this unconsciousness was a +sleep, he suffered himself to be drawn away by helping hands, and +presently was himself in a bed, not knowing how he got there.</p> +<p>Meantime the tragedy of the wreck was being acted out. The sling +broke once, the sailor who was in it falling into the undertow, and +perishing there in spite of a rush of the townspeople. One of the +two men who were washed overboard at the first shock was also +drowned. The rest escaped, including the heroic captain, who was +the last to come ashore.</p> +<p>When Thurstane was again permitted to see Clara, it was, to his +great astonishment, the morning of the following day. He had slept +like the dead; if any one had sought to awaken him, it would have +been almost impossible; there was no strength left in body or spirt +but for sleep. Clara's story had been much the same: insensibility, +then swoons, then slumber; twelve hours of utter unconsciousness. +On waking the first words of each were to ask for the other. +Thurstane put on his scarcely dried uniform and hurried to the +girl's room. She received him at the door, for she had heard his +step although it was on tiptoe, and she knew his knock although as +light as the beating of a bird's wing.</p> +<p>It was another of those interviews which cannot be described, +and perhaps should not be. They were uninterrupted, for the ladies +of the house had learned from Clara that this was her betrothed, +and they had woman's sense of the sacredness of such meetings. +Presents came, and were not sent in: Coronado called and was not +admitted. The two were alone for two hours, and the two hours +passed like two minutes. Of course all the ugly past was +explained.</p> +<p>"A letter dismissing you!" exclaimed Clara with tears. "Oh! how +could you think that I would write such a letter? +Never—never! Oh, I never could. My hand should drop off +first. I should die in trying to write such wickedness. What! don't +you know me better? Don't you know that I am true to you? Oh, how +could you believe it of me? My darling, how could you?"</p> +<p>"Forgive me," begged the humbled young fellow, trembling with +joy in his humility. "It was weak and wicked in me. I deserved to +be punished as I have been. And, oh, I did not deserve this +happiness. But, my little girl, how could I help being deceived? +There was your handwriting and your signature."</p> +<p>"Ah! I know who it was," broke out Clara. "It has been he all +through. He shall pay for this, and for all," she added, her +Spanish blood rising in her cheeks, and her soft eyes sparkling +angrily for a minute.</p> +<p>"I have saved his life for the last time," returned Thurstane. +"I have spared it for the last time. Hereafter—"</p> +<p>"My darling, my darling!" begged Clara, alarmed by his +blackening brow. "Oh, my darling, I don't love to see you angry. +Just now, when we have just been spared to each other, don't let us +be angry. I spoke angrily first. Forgive me."</p> +<p>"Let him keep out of my way," muttered Thurstane, only in part +pacified.</p> +<p>"Yes," answered Clara, thinking that she would herself send +Coronado off, so that there might be no duel between him and this +dear one.</p> +<p>Presently the lover added one thing which he had felt all the +time ought to have been said at first.</p> +<p>"The letter—it was right. Although <i>he</i> wrote it, it +was right. I have no claim to marry a rich woman, and you have no +right to marry a poor man."</p> +<p>He uttered this in profound misery, and yet with a firm +resolution. Clara turned pale and stared at him with anxious eyes, +her lips parted as though to speak, but saying nothing. Knowing his +fastidious sense of honor, she guessed the full force with which +this scruple weighed upon him, and she did not know how to drag it +off his soul.</p> +<p>"You are worth a million," he went on, in a broken-hearted sort +of voice which to us may seem laughable, but which brought the +tears into Clara's eyes.</p> +<p>The next instant she brightened; she knew, or thought she knew, +that she was not worth a million; so she smiled like a sunburst and +caught him gayly by the wrists.</p> +<p>"A million!" she scoffed, laughingly. "Do you believe all +Coronado tells you?"</p> +<p>"What! isn't it true?" exclaimed Thurstane, reddening with joy. +"Then you are not heir to your grandfather's fortune? It was one of +<i>his</i> lies? Oh, my little girl, I am forever happy."</p> +<p>She had not meant all this; but how could she undeceive him? The +tempting thought came into her mind that she would marry him while +he was in this ignorance, and so relieve him of his noble scruples +about taking an heiress. It was one of those white lies which, it +seems to us, must fade out of themselves from the record book, +without even needing to be blotted by the tear of an angel.</p> +<p>"Are you glad?" she smiled, though anxious at heart, for +deception alarmed her. "Really glad to find me poor?"</p> +<p>His only response was to cover her hands, and hair, and forehead +with kisses.</p> +<p>At last came the question, When? Clara hesitated; her face and +neck bloomed with blushes as dewy as flowers; she looked at him +once piteously, and then her gaze fell in beautiful shame.</p> +<p>"When would you like?" she at last found breath to whisper.</p> +<p>"Now—here," was the answer, holding both her hands and +begging with his blue-black eyes, as soft then as a woman's.</p> +<p>"Yes, at once," he continued to implore. "It is best everyway. +It will save you from persecutions. My love, is it not best?"</p> +<p>Under the circumstances we cannot wonder that this should be +just as she desired.</p> +<p>"Yes—it is—best," she murmured, hiding her face +against his shoulder. "What you say is true. It will save me +trouble."</p> +<p>After a short heaven of silence he added, "I will go and see +what is needed. I must find a priest."</p> +<p>As he was departing she caught him; it seemed to her just then +that she could not be a wife so soon; but the result was that after +another silence and a faint sobbing, she let him go.</p> +<p>Meantime Coronado, that persevering and audacious but unlucky +conspirator, was in treble trouble. He was afraid that he would +lose Clara; afraid that his plottings had been brought to light, +and that he would be punished; afraid that his uncle would die and +thus deprive him of all chance of succeeding to any part of the +estate of Muñoz. Garcia had been brought ashore apparently +at his last gasp, and he had not yet come out of his insensibility. +For a time Coronado hoped that he was in one of his fits; but after +eighteen hours he gave up that feeble consolation; he became +terribly anxious about the old man; he felt as though he loved him. +The people of Monterey universally admitted that they had never +before known such an affectionate nephew and tender-hearted +Christian as Coronado.</p> +<p>He tried to see Clara, meaning to make the most with her of +Garcia's condition, and hoping that thus he could divert her a +little from Thurstane. But somehow all his messages failed; the +little house which held her repelled him as if it had been a +nunnery; nor could he get a word or even a note from her. The truth +is that Clara, fearing lest Coronado should tell more stories about +her million to Thurstane, had taken the women of the family into +her confidence and easily got them to lay a sly embargo on callers +and correspondents.</p> +<p>On the second day Garcia came to himself for a few minutes, and +struggled hard to say something to his nephew, but could give forth +only a feeble jabber, after which he turned blank again. Coronado, +in the extreme of anxiety, now made another effort to get at Clara. +Reaching her house, he learned from a bystander that she had gone +out to walk with the Americano, and then he thought he discovered +them entering the distant church.</p> +<p>He set off at once in pursuit, asking himself with an anxiety +which almost made him faint, "Are they to be married?"</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH42" id="CH42"><!-- CH42 --></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> +<p>In those days the hymeneal laws of California were as easy as +old shoes, and people could espouse each other about as rapidly as +they might want to.</p> +<p>The consequence was that, although Ralph Thurstane and Clara Van +Diemen had only been two days in Monterey and had gone through no +forms of publication, they were actually being married when +Coronado reached the village church.</p> +<p>Leaning against the wall, with eyes as fixed and face as livid +as if he were a corpse from the neighboring cemetery, he silently +witnessed a ceremony which it would have been useless for him to +interrupt, and then, stepping softly out of a side door, lurked +away.</p> +<p>He walked a quarter of a mile very fast, ran nearly another +quarter of a mile, turned into a by-road, sought its thickest +underbrush, threw himself on the ground, and growled. For once he +had a heavier burden upon him than he could bear in human presence, +or bear quietly anywhere. He must be alone; also he must weep and +curse. He was in a state to tear his hair and to beat his head +against the earth. Refined as Coronado usually was, admirably as he +could imitate the tranquil gentleman of modern civilization, he +still had in him enough of the natural man to rave. For a while he +was as simple and as violent in his grief as ever was any +Celtiberian cave-dweller of the stone age.</p> +<p>Jealousy, disappointed love, disappointed greed, plans balked, +labor lost, perils incurred in vain! All the calamities that he +could most dread seemed to have fallen upon him together; he was +like a man sucked by the arms of a polypus, dying in one moment +many deaths. We must, however, do him the justice to believe that +the wound which tore the sharpest was that which lacerated his +heart. At this time, when he realized that he had altogether and +forever lost Clara, he found that he loved her as he had never yet +believed himself capable of loving. Considering the nobility of +this passion, we must grant some sympathy to Coronado.</p> +<p>Unfortunate as he was, another misfortune awaited him. When he +returned to the house where Garcia lay, he found that the old man, +his sole relative and sole friend, had expired. To Coronado this +dead body was the carcass of all remaining hope. The exciting drama +of struggle and expectation which had so violently occupied him for +the last six months, and which had seemed to promise such great +success, was over. Even if he could have resolved to kill Clara, +there was no longer anything to be gained by it, for her money +would not descend to Coronado. Even if he should kill Thurstane, +that would be a harm rather than a benefit, for his widow would +hate Coronado. If he did any evil deed now, it must be from +jealousy or from vindictiveness. Was murder of any kind worth +while? For the time, whether it were worth while or not, he was +furious enough to do it.</p> +<p>If he did not act, he must go; for as everything had miscarried, +so much had doubtless been discovered, and he might fairly expect +chastisement. While he hesitated a glance into the street showed +him something which decided him, and sent him far from Monterey +before sundown. Half a dozen armed horsemen, three of them +obviously Americans, rode by with a pinioned prisoner, in whom +Coronado recognized Texas Smith. He did not stop to learn that his +old bravo had committed a murder in the village, and that a +vigilance committee had sent a deputation after him to wait upon +him into the other world. The sight of that haggard, scarred, +wicked face, and the thought of what confessions the brute might be +led to if he should recognize his former employer, were enough to +make Coronado buy a horse and ride to unknown regions.</p> +<p>Under the circumstances it would perhaps be unreasonable to +blame him for leaving his uncle to be buried by Clara and +Thurstane.</p> +<p>These two, we easily understand, were not much astonished and +not at all grieved by his departure.</p> +<p>"He is gone," said Thurstane, when he learned the fact. "No +wonder."</p> +<p>"I am so glad!" replied Clara.</p> +<p>"I suspect him now of being at the bottom of all our +troubles."</p> +<p>"Don't let us talk of it, my love. It is too ugly. The present +is so beautiful!"</p> +<p>"I must hurry back to San Francisco and try to get a leave of +absence," said the husband, turning to pleasanter subjects. "I want +full leisure to be happy."</p> +<p>"And you won't let them send you to San Diego?" begged the wife. +"No more voyages now. If you do go, I shall go with you."</p> +<p>"Oh no, my child. I can't trust the sea with you again. Not +after this," and he waved his hand toward the wreck of the +brig.</p> +<p>"Then I will beg myself for your leave of absence."</p> +<p>Thurstane laughed; that would never do; no such condescension in +<i>his</i> wife!</p> +<p>They went by land to San Francisco, and Clara kept the secret of +her million during the whole journey, letting her husband pay for +everything out of his shallow pocket, precisely as if she had no +money. Arrived in the city, he left her in a hotel and hurried to +headquarters. Two hours later he returned smiling, with the news +that a brother officer had volunteered to take his detail, and that +he had obtained a honeymoon leave of absence for thirty days.</p> +<p>"Barclay is a trump," he said. "It is all the prettier in him to +go that he has a wife of his own. The commandant made no objection +to the exchange. In fact the old fellow behaved like a father to +me, shook hands, patted me on the shoulder, congratulated me, and +all that sort of thing. Old boy, married himself, and very fond of +his family. Upon my word, it seems to better a man's heart to marry +him."</p> +<p>"Of course it does," chimed in Clara. "He is so much happier +that of course he is better."</p> +<p>"Well, my little princess, where shall we go?"</p> +<p>"Go first to see Aunt Maria. There! don't make a face. She is +very good in the long run. She will be sweet enough to you in three +days."</p> +<p>"Of course I will go. Where is she?"</p> +<p>"Boarding at a hacienda a few miles from town. We can take +horses, canter out there, and pass the night."</p> +<p>She was full of spirits; laughed and chattered all the way; +laughed at everything that was said; chattered like a pleased +child. Of course she was thinking of the surprise that she would +give him, and how she had circumvented his sense of honor about +marrying a rich girl, and how hard and fast she had him. Moreover +the contrast between her joyous present and her anxious past was +alone enough to make her run over with gayety. All her troubles had +vanished in a pack; she had gone at one bound from purgatory to +paradise.</p> +<p>At the hacienda Thurstane was a little struck by the respect +with which the servants received Clara; but as she signed to them +to be silent, not a word was uttered which could give him a +suspicion of the situation. Mrs. Stanley, moreover, was taking a +siesta, and so there was another tell-tale mouth shut.</p> +<p>"Nobody seems to be at home," said Clara, bursting into a merry +laugh over her trick as they entered the house. "Where can the +master and mistress be?"</p> +<p>They were now in a large and handsomely furnished room, which +was the parlor of the hacienda.</p> +<p>"Don't sit down," cried Clara, her eyes sparkling with joy. +"Stand just there as you are. Let me look at you a moment. Wait +till I tell you something."</p> +<p>She fronted him for a few seconds, watching his wondering face, +hesitating, blushing, and laughing. Suddenly she bounded forward, +threw her arms around his shoulders and cried excitedly, +hysterically, "My love! my husband! all this is yours. Oh, how +happy I am!"</p> +<p>The next moment she burst into tears on the shoulder to which +she was clinging.</p> +<p>"What is the matter?" demanded Thurstane in some alarm; for he +did not know that women can tremble and weep with gladness, and he +thought that surely his wife was sick if not deranged.</p> +<p>"What! don't you guess it?" she asked, drawing back with a +little more calmness, and looking tenderly into his puzzled +eyes.</p> +<p>"You don't mean—?"</p> +<p>"Yes, darling."</p> +<p>"It can't be that—?"</p> +<p>"Yes, darling."</p> +<p>He began to comprehend the trick that had been played upon him, +although as yet he could not fully credit it. What mainly +bewildered him was that Clara, whom he had always supposed to be as +artless as a child—Clara, whom he had cared for as an elder +and a father—should have been able to keep a secret and +devise a plot and carry out a mystification.</p> +<p>"Great —— Scott!" he gasped in his stupefaction, +using the name of the then commander-in-chief for an oath, as +officers sometimes did in those days.</p> +<p>"Yes, yes, yes," laughed and chattered Clara. "Great Scott and +great Thurstane! All yours. Three hundred thousand. Half a million. +A million. I don't know how much. All I know is that it is all +yours. Oh, my darling! oh, my darling! How I have fooled you! Are +you angry with me? Say, are you angry? What will you do to me?"</p> +<p>We must excuse Thurstane for finding no other chastisement than +to squeeze her in his arms and choke her with kisses. Next he held +her from him, set her down upon a sofa, fell back a pace and stared +at her much as if she were a totally new discovery, something in +the way of an arrival from the moon. He was in a state of profound +amazement at the dexterity with which she had taken his destiny out +of his own hands into hers, without his knowledge. He had not +supposed that she was a tenth part so clever. For the first time he +perceived that she was his match, if indeed she were not the +superior nature; and it is a remarkable fact, though not a dark one +if one looks well into it, that he respected her the more for being +too much for him.</p> +<p>"It beats Hannibal," he said at last. "Who would have expected +such generalship in you? I am as much astonished as if you had +turned into a knight in armor. Well, how much it has saved me! I +should have hesitated and been miserable; and I should have married +you all the same; and then been ashamed of marrying money, and had +it rankle in me for years. And now—oh, you wise little +thing!—all I can say is, I worship you."</p> +<p>"Yes, darling," replied Clara, walking gravely up to him, +putting her hands on his shoulders, and looking him thoughtfully in +the eyes. "It was the wisest thing I ever did. Don't be afraid of +me. I never shall be so clever again. I never shall be so tempted +to be clever."</p> +<p>We must pass over a few months. Thurstane soon found that he had +the Muñoz estate in his hands, and that, for the while at +least, it demanded all his time and industry. Moreover, there being +no war and no chance of martial distinction, it seemed absurd to +let himself be ordered about from one hot and cramped station to +another, when he had money enough to build a palace, and a wife who +could make it a paradise. Finally, he had a taste for the natural +sciences, and his observations in the Great Cañon and among +the other marvels of the desert had quickened this inclination to a +passion, so that he craved leisure for the study of geology, +mineralogy, and chemistry. He resigned his commission, established +himself in San Francisco, bought all the scientific books he could +hear of, made expeditions to the California mountains, collected +garrets full of specimens, and was as happy as a physicist always +is.</p> +<p>Perhaps his happiness was just a little increased when Mrs. +Stanley announced her intention of returning to New York. The lady +had been amiable on the whole, as she meant always to be; but she +could not help daily taking up her parable concerning the tyranny +and stupidity of man and the superior virtue of woman; and +sometimes she felt it her duty to put it to Thurstane that he owed +everything to his wife; all of which was more or less wearing, even +to her niece. At the same time she was such a disinterested, +well-intentioned creature that it was impossible not to grant her a +certain amount of admiration. For instance, when Clara proposed to +make her comfortable for life by settling upon her fifty thousand +dollars, she replied peremptorily that it was far too much for an +old woman who had decided to turn her back on the frivolities of +society, and she could with difficulty be brought to accept twenty +thousand.</p> +<p>Furthermore, she was capable, that is, in certain favored +moments, of confessing error. "My dear," she said to Clara, some +weeks after the marriage, "I have made one great mistake since I +came to these countries. I believed that Mr. Coronado was the right +man and Mr. Thurstane the wrong one. Oh, that smooth-tongued, +shiny-eyed, meeching, bowing, complimenting hypocrite! I see at +last what a villain he was. <i>I</i> see it," she emphasized, as if +nobody else had discovered it. "To think that a person who was so +right on the main question [female suffrage] could be so wrong on +everything else! The contradiction adds to his guilt. Well, I have +had my lesson. Every one must make her mistake. I shall never be so +humbugged again."</p> +<p>Some little time after Thurstane had received the acceptance of +his resignation and established himself in his handsome city house, +Aunt Maria observed abruptly, "My dears, I must go back."</p> +<p>"Go back where? To the desert and turn hermit?" asked Clara, who +was accustomed to joke her relative about "spheres and +missions."</p> +<p>"To New York," replied Mrs. Stanley. "I can accomplish nothing +here. This miserable Legislature will take no notice of my +petitions for female suffrage."</p> +<p>"Oh, that is because you sign them alone," laughed the younger +lady.</p> +<p>"I can't get anybody else to sign them," said Aunt Maria with +some asperity. "And what if I do sign them alone? A house full of +men ought to have gallantry enough to grant one lady's request. +California is not ripe for any great and noble measure. I can't +remain where I find so little sympathy and collaboration. I must go +where I can be of use. It is my duty."</p> +<p>And go she did. But before she shook off her dust against the +Pacific coast there was an interview with an old acquaintance.</p> +<p>It must be understood that the fatigues and sufferings of that +terrible pilgrimage through the desert had bothered the +constitution of little Sweeny, and that, after lying in garrison +hospital at San Francisco for several months, he had been +discharged from the service on "certificate of physical +disability." Thurstane, who had kept track of him, immediately took +him to his house, first as an invalid hanger-on, and then as a jack +of all work.</p> +<p>As the family were sitting at breakfast Sweeny's voice was heard +in the veranda outside, "colloguing" with another voice which +seemed familiar.</p> +<p>"Listen," whispered Clara. "That is Captain Glover. Let us hear +what they say. They are both so queer!"</p> +<p>"An' what" ("fwat" he pronounced it) "the divil have ye been up +to?" demanded Sweeny. "Ye're a purty sailor, buttoned up in a +long-tail coat, wid a white hankerchy round yer neck. Have ye been +foolin' paple wid makin' 'em think ye're a Protestant praste?"</p> +<p>"I've been blowin' glass, Sweeny," replied the sniffling voice +of Phineas Glover.</p> +<p>"Blowin' glass! Och, yees was always powerful at blowin'. But I +niver heerd ye blow glass. It was big lies mostly whin I was a +listing."</p> +<p>"Yes, blowin' glass," returned the Fair Havener in a tone of +agreeable reminiscence, as if it had been a not unprofitable +occupation. "Found there wasn't a glass-blower in all Californy. +Bought 'n old machine, put up to the mines with it, blew all sorts +'f jigmarigs 'n' thingumbobs, 'n' sold 'em to the miners 'n' +Injuns. Them critters is jest like sailors ashore; they'll buy +anything they set eyes on. Besides, I sounded my horn; advertised +big, so to speak; got up a sensation. Used to mount a stump 'n' +make a speech; told 'em I'd blow Yankee Doodle in glass, any color +they wanted; give 'em that sort 'f gospel, ye know."</p> +<p>"An' could ye do it?" inquired the Paddy, confounded by the idea +of blowing a glass tune.</p> +<p>"Lord, Sweeny! you're greener 'n the miners. When ye swaller +things that way, don't laugh 'r ye'll choke yerself to death, like +the elephant did when he read the comic almanac at breakfast."</p> +<p>"I don't belave that nuther," asseverated Sweeny, anxious to +clear himself from the charge of credulity.</p> +<p>"Don't believe that!" exclaimed Glover. "He did it twice."</p> +<p>"Och, go way wid ye. He couldn't choke himself afther he was +dead. I wouldn't belave it, not if I see him turn black in the +face. It's yerself'll get choked some day if yees don't quit +blatherin'. But what did ye get for yer blowin'? Any more'n the +clothes ye're got to yer back?"</p> +<p>For answer Glover dipped into his pockets, took out two handfuls +of gold pieces and chinked them under the Irishman's nose.</p> +<p>"Blazes! ye're lousy wid money," commented Sweeny. "Ye want +somebody to scratch yees."</p> +<p>"Twenty thousan' dollars in bank," added Glover. "All by blowin' +'n' tradin'. Goin' hum in the next steamer. Anythin' I can do for +ye, old messmate? Say how much."</p> +<p>"It's the liftinant is takin' care av me. He's made a betther +livin' nor yees, a thousand times over, by jist marryin' the right +leddy. An' he's going to put me in charrge av a farrum that they +call the hayshindy, where I'll sell the cattle for myself, wid half +to him, an' make slathers o' money."</p> +<p>"Thunder, Sweeny! You'll end by ridin' in a coach. What'll ye +take for yer chances? Wal, I'm glad to hear ye're doin' so well. I +am so, for old times' sake."</p> +<p>"Come in, Captain Glover," at this moment called Clara through +the blinds. "Come in, Sweeny. Let us all have a talk together about +the old times and the new ones."</p> +<p>So there was a long talk, miscellaneous and delightful, full of +reminiscences and congratulations and good wishes.</p> +<p>"Wal, we're a lucky lot," said Glover at last. "Sh'd like to +hear 'f some good news for the sergeant and Mr. Kelly. Sh'd go back +hum easier for it."</p> +<p>"Kelly is first sergeant," stated Thurstane, "and Meyer is +quartermaster-sergeant, with a good chance of being quartermaster. +He is capable of it and deserves it. He ought to have been promoted +years ago for his gallantry and services during the war. I hope +every day to hear that he has got his commission as +lieutenant."</p> +<p>"Wal, God bless 'em, 'n' God bless the hull army!" said Glover, +so gratified that he felt pious. "An' now, good-by. Got to be +movin'."</p> +<p>"Stay over night with us," urged Thurstane. "Stay a week. Stay +as long as you will."</p> +<p>"Do," begged Clara. "You can go geologizing with my husband. You +can start Sweeny on his farm."</p> +<p>"Och, he's a thousin' times welkim," put in Sweeny, "though I'm +afeard av him. He'd tache the cattle to trade their skins wid ache +other, an slather me wid lies till I wouldn't know which was the +baste an' which was Sweeny."</p> +<p>Glover grinned with an air of being flattered, but replied, +"Like to stay first rate, but can't work it. Passage engaged for +to-morrow mornin'."</p> +<p>"Indeed!" exclaimed Aunt Maria, agreeably surprised by an +idea.</p> +<p>And the result was that she went to New York under the care of +Captain Glover.</p> +<p>As for Clara and Thurstane, they are surely in a state which +ought to satisfy their friends, and we will therefore say no more +of them.</p> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OVERLAND***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 12335-h.txt or 12335-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/3/3/12335">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/3/3/12335</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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