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-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42115 ***
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42115 ***
 
 THE TRAIL HUNTER.
 
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 End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Trail-Hunter, by Gustave Aimard
 
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Trail-Hunter, by Gustave Aimard
-
-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 www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: The Trail-Hunter
-       A Tale of the Far West
-
-Author: Gustave Aimard
-
-Translator: Lascelles Wraxall
-
-Release Date: February 17, 2013 [EBook #42115]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAIL-HUNTER ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Camilo Bernard and Marc D'Hooghe at
-http://www.freeliterature.org (Images at the Internet
-Archive, scanned by Google)
-
-
-
-
-
-THE TRAIL HUNTER.
-
-A TALE OF THE FAR WEST.
-
-BY
-
-GUSTAVE AIMARD,
-
-AUTHOR OF "THE PRAIRIE FLOWER," "THE INDIAN CHIEF," ETC.
-
-
-LONDON:
-
-WARD AND LOCK,
-
-158, FLEET STREET.
-
-1861.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE.
-
-
-The present volume of Aimard's Indian Tales is devoted to the earlier
-adventures of those hunters, whose acquaintance the reader has formed,
-I trust with pleasure, in the preceding series. It does not become me to
-say anything further in its favour, than that the sustained interest of
-the narrative, which has been regarded as the charm of stories referring
-to life in the desert and prairie, has not been departed from in this
-instance. The stories themselves supply an innate proof of the writer's
-correctness to Nature, and, in truth, many of the scenes are so
-startling that they must be the result of personal observation.
-
-In conclusion, I may be permitted to thank the Press generally for the
-kindly aid they have afforded me in making the English translation of
-Aimard's volumes known to the British reading public, and the hearty way
-in which they have recognized the merits of the previous series. It
-would be an easy task to collect paragraphs, expressing a belief that
-Aimard is second to none of the writers who have hitherto described
-Indian life and scenery; but I prefer to rest my hopes of success on the
-inherent qualities of his stories.
-
-                                                      LASCELLES WRAXALL.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
-   PART I. RED CEDAR                       PART II. EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE
-
-
-   I.--The Virgin Forest                   I.--El Rancho de Coyote
-   II.--The Contest                        II.--The Cuchillada
-   III.--Don Miguel Zarate                 III.--The Hunters
-   IV.--The Peccaries                      IV.--Sunbeam
-   V.--The Wound                           V.--The Adoption
-   VI.--The Squatter's Shanty              VI.--The Missionary
-   VII.--The Rangers                       VII.--The Interview
-   VIII.--The Valley of the Buffalo        VIII.--The Prison
-   IX.--The Assassination                  IX.--The Embassy
-   X.--The Sachem of the Coras             X.--The Presentation
-   XI.--Conversation                       XI.--Psychological
-   XII.--El Mesón                          XII.--Diamond Cut Diamond
-   XIII--Red Cedar                         XIII.--A Stormy Discussion
-   XIV.--The Two Hunters                   XIV.--The Mystery
-   XV.--Fray Ambrosio                      XV.--The Ambuscade
-   XVI.--Two Varieties of Villains         XVI.--A Friendly Discussion
-   XVII.--El Cañon Del Buitre              XVII.--Nathan
-   XVIII.--Father Seraphin                 XVIII.--The Wounded Man
-   XIX.--Unicorn                           XIX.--Indian Diplomacy
-   XX.--The Hunt of Wild Horses            XX--The Stranger
-   XXI.--The Surprise                      XXI.--General Ventura
-   XXII.--The Meeting                      XXII.--The Comanches
-   XXIII.--The Abduction                   XXIII.--Negotiations
-   XXIV.--The Revolt                       XXIV.--Free
-                                           XXV.--The Meeting
-                                           XXVI.--Doña Clara
-                                           XXVII.--El Vado del Toro
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-TRAIL HUNTER BY GUSTAVE AIMARD.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-THE VIRGIN FOREST.
-
-
-In Mexico the population is only divided into two classes, the upper and
-the lower. There is no intermediate rank to connect the two extremes,
-and this is the cause of the two hundred and thirty-nine revolutions
-which have overthrown this country since the declaration of its
-independence. Why this is so is simple enough. The intellectual power is
-in the hands of a small number, and all the revolutions are effected by
-this turbulent and ambitious minority; whence it results that the
-country is governed by the most complete military despotism, instead of
-being a free republic.
-
-Still the inhabitants of the States of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Texas have
-retained, even to the present day, that stern, savage, and energetic
-physiognomy which may be sought in vain among the other States of the
-Confederation.
-
-Beneath a sky colder than that of Mexico, the winter, which frequently
-covers the rivers of the region with a thick layer of ice, hardens the
-muscles of the inhabitants, cleanses their blood, purifies their hearts,
-and renders them picked men, who are distinguished for their courage,
-their intelligence, and their profound love of liberty.
-
-The Apaches, who originally inhabited the greater portion of New Mexico,
-have gradually fallen back before the axe of the pioneers; and after
-retiring into the immense deserts that cover the triangle formed by the
-Rio Gila, the Del Norte, and the Colorado, they ravage almost with
-impunity the Mexican frontiers, plundering, firing, and devastating all
-they meet with on their passage.
-
-The inhabitants of the countries we alluded to above, held in respect by
-these ever-shifting savages, are in a state of continual warfare with
-them, always ready to fight, fortifying their haciendas, and only
-travelling with weapons in their hands.
-
-El Paso del Norte may be regarded as the outpost of the civilised
-portion of Mexico. Beyond that, to the north and north-west, extend the
-vast unfilled plains of Chihuahua, the _bolsón_ of Mapimi, and the arid
-deserts of the Rio Gila. These immense deserts, known by the name of
-Apacheria, are still as little investigated as they were at the close of
-the eighteenth century. El Paso del Norte owes its name to its situation
-near a ford of the Rio Del Norte. It is the oldest of all the New
-Mexican settlements, and its establishment dates back to the close of
-the sixteenth century. The present settlement is scattered for a
-distance of about ten miles along the banks of the Del Norte, and
-contains four thousand inhabitants at the most. The _plaza_, or village
-of the Paso, is situated at the head of the valley: at the other
-extremity is the Presidio of San Elezario. All the interval is occupied
-by a continuous line of white, flat-roofed houses, buried in gardens,
-and surrounded by vineyards. About a mile above the ford the stream is
-dammed up, and led by a canal into the valley, which it waters.
-Apacheria begins only a few miles from this settlement.
-
-It is easily seen that the foot of civilised man has only trodden
-timidly and at rare intervals this thoroughly primitive country, in
-which nature, free to develop herself under the omnipotent eye of the
-creator, assumes an aspect of incredible beauty and fancifulness.
-
-On a lovely morning in the month of May, which the Indians call "the
-moon of the flowers," a man of high stature, with harsh and marked
-features, mounted on a tall, half-tamed steed, started at a canter from
-the plaza, and after a few minutes of hesitation, employed in realising
-his position, resolutely buried his spurs in the horse's flanks, crossed
-the ford, and after leaving behind him the numerous cottonwood trees
-which at this spot cover the river banks, proceeded toward the dense
-forest that flashed on the horizon.
-
-This horseman was dressed in the costume generally adopted on the
-frontiers, and which was so picturesque that we will give a short
-description of it. The stranger wore a pelisse of green cloth,
-embroidered with silver, allowing a glimpse of an elegantly-worked
-shirt, the collar of which was fastened by a loosely-knotted black silk
-handkerchief, the ends passed through a diamond ring. He wore green
-cloth breeches, trimmed with silver, and two rows of buttons of the same
-metal, and fastened round the hips by a red silken scarf with gold
-fringe. The breeches, open on the side half way up the thigh, displayed
-his fine linen drawers beneath: his legs were defended by a strip of
-brown embossed and stamped leather, called _botas vaqueras_, attached
-below the knee by a silver garter. On his heels enormous spurs clanked.
-A _manga_, glistening with gold, and drawn up on the shoulder, protected
-the upper part of his body, while his head was sheltered from the
-burning sunbeams by a broad-leafed hat of brown stamped felt, the crown
-of which was contracted by a large silver _toquilla_ passed twice or
-thrice round it.
-
-His steed was caparisoned with graceful luxuriousness, which heightened
-all its beautiful points: a rich saddle of embossed leather, adorned
-with massive silver, on the back of which the _zarapé_ was fastened;
-wide Moorish silver stirrups, and handsome water bottles at the
-saddle-bow; while an elegant _anquera_, made of openwork leather, and
-decorated with small steel chains, entirely covered the horse's croup,
-and sparkled with its slightest movement.
-
-The stranger appeared, judging from the luxury he displayed, to belong
-to the high class of society. A _machete_ hung down his right side,
-two pistols were passed through his girdle, the handle of a long knife
-protruded from his right boot, and he held a superbly damascened rifle
-across the saddle in front of him.
-
-Bending over the neck of his galloping steed, he advanced rapidly
-without looking round him, although the landscape that lay extended
-before him was one of the most attractive and majestic in those regions.
-
-The river formed the most capricious windings in the centre of a terrain
-diversified in a thousand strange ways. Here and there on the sandy
-banks enormous trees might be seen lying, which, dried up by the sun,
-evidenced, in their washed-out appearance, that they had been dead for
-centuries. Near the shallow and marshy spots, caymans and alligators
-wandered about awkwardly. At other places, where the river ran almost
-straight, its banks were uniform, and covered with tall trees, round
-which creepers had twined, and then struck root in the ground again,
-thus forming the most inextricable confusion. Here and there small
-clearings or marshy spots might be detected in the midst of the dense
-wood, often piled up with trees that had died of old age. Further on,
-other trees, which seemed still young, judging from their colour and the
-solidity of their bark, fell into dust with the slightest breath of
-wind.
-
-At times, the earth, entirely undermined beneath, drawn down by its own
-weight, dragged with it the wood which it bore, and produced a crashing,
-confused sound, which was returned on all sides by the echo, and
-possessed a certain degree of grandeur in this desert, whose depths no
-man has ever yet ventured to scrutinise.
-
-Still the stranger galloped on, with his eye ardently fixed before him,
-and not appearing to see anything. Several hours passed thus: the
-horseman buried himself deeper in the forest. He had left the banks of
-the river, and only progressed with extreme difficulty, through the
-entanglement of branches, grass, and shrubs, which at every step
-arrested his movements, and forced him to make innumerable turnings. He
-merely reined in his horse now and then, took a glance at the sky, and
-then started again, muttering to himself but one word:
-
-"_Adelante_! (Forward!)"
-
-At length he stopped in a vast clearing, took a suspicious glance around
-him, and probably reassured by the leaden silence which weighed on the
-desert, he dismounted, hobbled his horse, and took off its bridle that
-it might browse on the young tree shoots. This duty accomplished, he
-carelessly lay down on the ground, rolled a maize cigarette in his
-fingers, produced a gold _mechero_ from his waist belt, and struck a
-light.
-
-The clearing was of considerable extent. On one side the eye could
-survey with ease, through the trees, the widely extending prairie, on
-which deer were browsing with security. On the other side, the forest,
-wilder than ever, seemed, on the contrary, an impassable wall of
-verdure. All was abrupt and primitive at this spot, which the foot of
-man had so rarely trodden. Certain trees, either entirely or partially
-dried up, offered the vigorous remains of a rich and fertile soil;
-others, equally ancient, were sustained by the twisted creepers, which
-in the course of time almost equalled their original support in size:
-the diversity of the leaves produced the strangest possible mixture.
-Others, containing in their hollow trunk a manure which, formed of the
-remains of their leaves and half-dead branches, had warmed the seeds
-they had let fall, and offered, in the young shoots they contained, some
-compensation for the loss of their father tree.
-
-In the prairies, nature, ever provident, seems to have been desirous to
-shelter from the insults of time certain old trees, patriarchs of the
-forest which are crushed beneath the weight of ages, by forming them a
-cloak of greyish moss, which hangs in festoons from the highest branches
-to the ground, assuming the wildest and most fantastic shapes.
-
-The stranger, lying on his back, with his head resting on his two
-crossed hands, was smoking with that beatitude, full of ease and sloth,
-which is peculiar to the Hispano-Americans. He only interrupted this
-gentle occupation to roll a fresh cigarette and cast a glance around,
-while muttering:
-
-"Hum! He keeps me waiting a long time."
-
-He emitted a puff of bluish smoke, and resumed his first position.
-Several hours passed thus. Suddenly, a rather loud rustling was heard in
-the thicket, some distance behind the stranger.
-
-"Ah, ah!" he said, "I fancy my man is coming at last."
-
-In the meanwhile, the sound became louder, and rapidly approached.
-
-"Come on, hang it!" the horseman shouted, as he rose. "By our Lady of
-Pilar! You have surely been keeping me waiting long enough."
-
-Nothing appeared: the clearing was still deserted, although the sound
-had attained a certain degree of intensity. The stranger, surprised at
-the obstinate silence of the man he was addressing, and specially by his
-continuing not to show himself, at length rose to see for himself the
-reason. At this moment, his horse pricked up its ears, snorted
-violently, and made a sudden effort to free itself from the lasso that
-held it; but our new acquaintance rushed toward it and patted it. The
-horse trembled all over, and made prodigious bounds in order to escape.
-The stranger, more and more surprised, looked round for an explanation
-of these extraordinary movements, and was soon satisfied.
-
-Scarce twenty yards from him a magnificent jaguar, with a
-splendidly-spotted hide, was crouched on the main branch of an enormous
-cypress, and fixed on him two ferocious eyes, as it passed its
-blood-red, rugged tongue over its lips with a feline pleasure.
-
-"Ah, ah!" the stranger said to himself in a low voice, but displaying no
-further excitement, "I did not expect you; but no matter, you are
-welcome, comrade. _Caray_! We shall have a fight for it."
-
-Without taking his eye off the jaguar, he convinced himself that his
-machete quitted its scabbard readily, picked up his rifle, and, after
-these precautions were taken, he advanced resolutely toward the
-ferocious brute, which saw him coming without changing its position. On
-arriving within ten yards of the jaguar, the stranger threw away the
-cigarette he had till now held between his lips, shouldered his rifle,
-and put his finger on the trigger. The jaguar drew itself together and
-prepared to leap forward. At the same moment a hoarse yell was heard
-from the opposite side of the clearing.
-
-"Wait a minute," the stranger said to himself with a smile; "it seems
-there are two of them, and I fancied I had to do with a bachelor jaguar.
-This is beginning to grow interesting."
-
-And he threw a glance on one side. He had not deceived himself: a second
-jaguar, rather larger than the first, had fixed its flashing eyes upon
-him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE CONTEST.
-
-
-The dwellers on the Mexican frontiers are accustomed to fight
-continually with wild animals, both men and brutes, that continually
-attack them. Hence the stranger was but slightly affected by the
-unexpected visit of the two jaguars. Although his position between his
-two ferocious enemies was somewhat precarious, and he did not at all
-conceal from himself the danger he ran alone against two, he did not the
-less resolve to confront them bravely. Not taking his eye off the jaguar
-he had first seen, he went back a few steps obliquely, so as to have his
-foes nearly opposite him, instead of standing between them. This
-manoeuvre, which demanded some little time, succeeded beyond his hopes.
-The jaguars watched him, licking their lips, and passing their paws
-behind their ears with those graceful movements peculiar to the feline
-race. The two wild beasts, certain of their prey, seemed to be playing
-with it and not over eager to pounce on it.
-
-While keeping his eye on the watch, the Mexican did not yield to any
-treacherous feeling of security: he knew that the struggle he was about
-to undertake was a supreme one, and he took his precautions. Jaguars
-never attack a man unless forced by necessity; and the latter tried,
-before all, to seize the horse. The noble animal, securely fastened by
-its master, exhausted itself in efforts to break the bonds that held it,
-and escape. It trembled with terror on scenting its ferocious enemies.
-
-The stranger, when his precautions were completely taken, shouldered his
-rifle for the second time. At this moment the jaguars raised their
-heads, while laying back their ears and snuffing anxiously. An almost
-imperceptible sound was audible in the bushes.
-
-"Who goes there?" the Mexican asked in a loud voice.
-
-"A friend, Don Miguel Zarate," was the reply.
-
-"Ah! It is Don Valentine," the Mexican continued. "You have arrived just
-in time to see some fine sport."
-
-"Ah, ah!" the man who had already spoken went on. "Can I help you?"
-
-"It is useless; but make haste if you want to see."
-
-The branches were sharply drawn aside, and two men appeared in the
-clearing. At the sight of the jaguars they stopped, not through alarm,
-for they quietly placed the butts of their rifles on the ground, but in
-order to give the hunter every facility to emerge victoriously from his
-rash combat.
-
-The jaguars seemed to comprehend that the moment for action had arrived.
-As if by one accord, they drew themselves up and bounded on their enemy.
-The first, struck in its leap by a bullet which passed through its right
-eye, rolled on the ground, where it remained motionless. The second was
-received on the point of the hunter's machete, who after discharging his
-rifle, had fallen on his knee, with his left arm folded in his blanket
-in front, and the machete in the other hand. The man and the tiger
-writhed together in a deadly embrace, and after a few seconds only one
-of the adversaries rose: it was the man. The tiger was dead: the
-hunter's machete, guided by a firm hand, had passed right through its
-heart.
-
-During this rapid fight the newcomers had not made a sign, but remained
-stoical spectators of all that was taking place. The Mexican rose,
-thrust his machete in the grass to clean the blade, and turning coldly
-to the strangers, said:
-
-"What do you say to that?"
-
-"Splendidly played," the first answered; "it is one of the best double
-strokes I ever saw in my life."
-
-The two men threw their rifles on their shoulders, and walked up to the
-Mexican, who reloaded his piece with as much coolness and tranquillity
-as if he had not just escaped from a terrible danger by a miracle of
-skill.
-
-The sun was sinking on the horizon, the shadow of the trees assumed a
-prodigious length, and the luminary appeared like a ball of fire amid
-the limpid azure of the heavens. The night would soon arrive, and the
-desert was awaking. On all sides could be heard, in the gloomy and
-mysterious depths of the virgin forest, the hoarse howling of the
-coyotes and the other wild beasts, mingled with the song of the birds
-perched on all the branches. The desert, silent and gloomy during the
-oppressive heat of the day, emerged from its unhealthy torpor on the
-approach of dark, and was preparing to resume its nocturnal sports.
-
-The three men in the clearing collected dried branches, made a pile of
-them and set fire to it. They doubtlessly intended to camp for a portion
-of the night at this spot. So soon as the flames rose joyously, skyward
-in long spirals, the two strangers produced from their game bags maize
-tortillas, jerked meat, and a gourd of pulque. These various comestibles
-were complacently spread out on the grass, and the three men began a
-hunter's meal. When the gourd had gone the round several times, and the
-tortillas had disappeared, the newcomers lit their Indian pipes, and the
-Mexican rolled a papelito.
-
-Although this meal had been short, it lasted, however, long enough for
-night to have completely set in ere it was ended. Perfect darkness
-brooded over the clearing, the ruddy reflections of the fire played on
-the energetic faces of the three men, and gave them a fantastic
-appearance.
-
-"And now," the Mexican said, after lighting his cigarette, "I will, with
-your permission, explain to you why I was so anxious to see you."
-
-"One moment," one of the hunters answered. "You know that in the deserts
-the leaves have often eyes, and the trees ears. If I am not mistaken in
-your hints, you invited us here that our interview might be secret."
-
-"In truth, I have the greatest interest in nothing of what is said here
-being overheard, or even suspected."
-
-"Very good. Curumilla, to work."
-
-The second hunter rose, seized his rifle and disappeared noiselessly in
-the gloom. His absence was rather long; but as long as it lasted, the
-two men left at the fire did not exchange a syllable. In about half an
-hour the hunter returned, however, and seated himself by his comrades'
-side.
-
-"Well?" the one who had sent him off asked him.
-
-"My brother can speak," he replied laconically; "the desert is quiet."
-
-On this assurance the three men banished all anxiety. Still prudence did
-not abandon them: they took up their pipes, and turned their backs to
-the fire, so that they might watch the neighbourhood while conversing.
-
-"We are ready to listen to you," the first hunter said.
-
-"Listen to me with the greatest attention," the Mexican began; "what you
-are about to hear is of the utmost importance."
-
-The two men bowed silently, and the Mexican prepared to speak again.
-
-Before going further we must introduce to the reader the two men we have
-just brought on the stage, and go back a few paces in order to make it
-perfectly understood why Don Miguel Zarate, in lieu of receiving them at
-his own house, had given them the meeting in the heart of the virgin
-forest.
-
-The two hunters seemed at the first glance to be Indians; but on
-examining them more attentively, you could recognise that one of them
-belonged to those white trappers whose boldness has become proverbial in
-Mexico. Their appearance and equipment offered a singular medley of
-savage and civilised life. Their hair was of a remarkable length; for in
-those countries, where a man is frequently only fought for the glory of
-lifting his scalp, it is considered the thing to wear it long and easy
-to seize.
-
-The hunters had their hair neatly plaited, and intertwined with beaver
-skins and bright coloured ribbons. The rest of their garb harmonised with
-this specimen of their taste. A hunting shirt of bright red calico fell
-down to their knees; gaiters decorated with woolen ribbons and bells
-surrounded their legs; and their feet were shod with moccasins
-embroidered with beads which the squaws know so well how to make. A
-striped blanket, fastened round the hips by a belt of tanned deer hide,
-completed their clothing, but was not so closely drawn that at their
-every movement the butt of the pistols and the hilt of the machetes
-might be seen glistening. As for their rifles, useless at this moment,
-and carelessly thrown on the ground by their side, if they had been
-stripped of the plume-worked elk skin that covered them, it would have
-been possible to see, with what care their owners had decorated them
-with copper nails painted of various colours; for all about these two men
-bore the imprint of Indian habits.
-
-The first of the two hunters was a man of thirty-eight at the most, tall
-and well-built; his muscular limbs denoted great bodily strength, allied
-to unequalled lightness. Although he affected all the manners of the
-redskins, it was an easy matter to perceive that he not only belonged to
-the unmixed white race, but also to the Norman or Gaulish type. He was
-fair; his large, blue and pensive eyes, adorned with long lashes, had an
-expression of undefinable sadness: his nose was slightly aquiline; his
-mouth large, and filled with teeth of dazzling whiteness; a thick
-chestnut beard covered the lower part of his face, which revealed
-gentleness, kindness, and courage without boasting, though the whole
-were combined with a will of iron.
-
-His companion evidently belonged to the Indian race, all the
-characteristic signs of which he displayed; but, strange to say, he was
-not coppery like the American aborigines of Texas and North America; and
-his skin was brown and slightly of an olive hue. He had a lofty brow, a
-bent nose, small but piercing eyes, a large mouth and square chin; in
-short, he presented the complete type of the American race, which
-inhabits a limited territory in the South of Chili. This hunter had
-round his brow a purple-coloured fillet, in which was thrust over the
-right ear a plume of the Andes Eagle, a sign which serves to distinguish
-the chiefs of the Aucas.
-
-These two men, whom the reader has doubtless already recognised, as they
-played an important part in our previously published works[1], were
-Valentine Guillois, an ex-noncommissioned officer in the Spahis, and
-Curumilla, his friend--Ulmen of the Great Hare tribe.
-
-We will introduce a parenthesis to explain their present position, and
-which is indispensable for a right understanding of what follows. The
-moment is capitally selected, by the way, for opening this parenthesis;
-for the three hunters are gaily talking round their fire, the night is
-gloomy, the forest quiet, and it does not appear likely that anything
-will arise to disturb them.
-
-
-
-[1] "The Chief of the Aucas," "The Tiger Slayer," "The Gold Finders,"
-"The Indian Chief."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-DON MIGUEL ZARATE.
-
-
-Were Mexico better governed, it would be, without contradiction, one of
-the richest countries on the face of the globe. Indeed the largest
-private fortunes must still be sought in that country. Since the United
-States Americans have revealed to the world, by seizing one-half of
-Mexico, whither their ambition tends, the inhabitants of that fine
-country have slightly emerged from the torpor they enjoyed, and have
-made great efforts to colonise their provinces, and summon to their
-soil, which is so rich and fertile, intelligent and industrious
-labourers, who might change the face of affairs, and cause abundance and
-wealth to abound at spots, where, prior to their arrival, there was
-naught save ruin, desolation, carelessness, and misery.
-
-Unfortunately, the noble efforts made up to the present day have,
-through an inexplicable fatality, remained without result, either owing
-to the natural apathy of the inhabitants, or the fault of the Mexican
-Government itself. Still the large landowners, comprehending all the
-advantages of the proposed measure, and how much it is to their interest
-to combat the deadly influence of the American invasions, have
-generously devoted themselves to the realization of this great question
-of social economy, which, unluckily is growing more and more
-unrealisable.
-
-In fact, in Northern America two hostile races--the Anglo-Saxon and the
-Spanish--stand face to face. The Anglo-Saxons are devoured by an ardour
-for conquest, and a rage for invasion, which nothing can arrest, or even
-retard. It is impossible to see without amazement the expansive
-tendencies of this active and singular people, a heterogeneous composite
-of all the races which misery or evil instincts expelled from Europe
-originally, and which feels restricted in the immense territory which
-its numerical weakness yet prevents it entirely occupying.
-
-Imprisoned within its vast frontiers, making a right of strength, it is
-continually displacing its neighbours' landmarks, and encroaching on
-territory of which it can make no use. Daily, bands of emigrants abandon
-their dwellings, and with their rifles on their shoulders, their axes in
-their hand, they proceed south, as if impelled by a will stronger than
-themselves; and neither mountains, deserts, nor virgin forests are
-sufficient obstacles to make them halt even for an instant. The Yankees
-imagine themselves generally the instruments of Providence, and
-appointed by the decrees of the Omnipotent to people and civilise the
-New World. They count with feverish impatience the hours which must
-elapse ere the day (close at hand in their ideas) arrive in which their
-race and government system will occupy the entire space contained
-between Cape North and the Isthmus of Panama, to the exclusion of the
-Spanish republics on one side, and the English colonies on the other.
-
-These projects, of which the Americans make no mystery, but, on the
-contrary, openly boast, are perfectly well known to the Mexicans, who
-cordially detest their neighbours, and employ all the means in their
-power to create difficulties for them, and impede their successive
-encroachments.
-
-Among the New Mexican landowners who resolved to make sacrifices in
-order to stop, or at least check, the imminent invasion from North
-America, the richest, and possibly, first of all, through his
-intelligence and the influence he justly enjoyed in the country, was Don
-Miguel Acamarichtzin Zarate.
-
-Whatever may be asserted, the Indian population of Mexico is nearly
-double in number to the white men, and possesses an enormous influence.
-Don Miguel descended in a straight line from Acamarichtzin, first king
-of Mexico, whose name had been preserved in the family as a precious
-relic. Possessed of an incalculable fortune, Don Miguel lived on his
-enormous estates like a king in his empire, beloved and respected by the
-Indians, whom he effectively protected whenever the occasion presented
-itself, and who felt for him a veneration carried almost to idolatry;
-for they saw in him the descendant from one of their most celebrated
-kings, and the born defender of their race.
-
-In New Mexico the Indian population has very largely increased during
-the past fifty years. Some authors, indeed, assert that it is now more
-numerous than prior to the conquest, which is very probable, through the
-apathy of the Spaniards, and the carelessness they have ever displayed
-in their struggles against it. But the Indians have remained stationary
-amid the incessant progress of civilization, and still retain intact the
-principal traits of their old manners. Scattered here and there in
-miserable ranchos or villages, they live in separate tribes, governed by
-their caciques, and they have mingled but very few Spanish words with
-their idioms, which they speak as in the time of the Aztecs. The sole
-apparent change in them is their conversion to Catholicism--a conversion
-more than problematical, as they preserve with the utmost care all the
-recollections of their ancient religion, follow its rites in secret, and
-keep up all its superstitious practices.
-
-The Indians--above all, in New Mexico--although called _Indios fideles_,
-are always ready on the first opportunity to ally themselves with their
-desert congeners; and in the incursions of the Apaches and Comanches it
-is rare for the faithful Indians not to serve them as scouts, guides,
-and spies.
-
-The family of Don Miguel Zarate had retired to New Mexico, which country
-it did not leave again--a few years after the conquests of the
-adventurer Cortez. Don Miguel had closely followed the policy of his
-family by maintaining the bonds of friendship and good neighbourhood
-which, from time immemorial, attached it to the Indians, believers or
-not. This policy had borne its fruit. Annually, in September, when the
-terrible red warriors, preceded by murder and arson, rushed like a
-torrent on the wretched inhabitants, whom they massacred in the farms
-they plundered, without pity of age or sex, Don Miguel Zarate's estates
-were respected; and not merely was no damage inflicted on them, but even
-if at times a field were unwittingly trampled by the horses' hoofs, or a
-few trees destroyed by plunderers, the evil was immediately repaired ere
-the owner had opportunity for complaint.
-
-This conduct of the Indians had not failed to arouse against Don Miguel
-extreme jealousy on the part of the inhabitants, who saw themselves
-periodically ruined by the _Indios Bravos._ Earnest complaints had been
-laid against him before the Mexican Government; but whatever might be
-the power of his enemies, and the means they employed to ruin him, the
-rich hacendero had never been seriously disturbed: in the first place,
-because New Mexico is too remote from the capital for the inhabitants to
-have anything to fear from the governing classes; and secondly, Don
-Miguel was too rich not to render it easy for him to impose silence on
-those who were most disposed to injure him.
-
-Don Miguel, whose portrait we drew in a previous chapter, was left a
-widower after eight years' marriage, with two children, a boy and a
-girl, the son being twenty-four, the daughter seventeen, at the period
-when our story opens. Doña Clara--such was the daughter's name--was one
-of the most delicious maidens that can be imagined. She had one of those
-Murillo's virgin heads, whose black eyes, fringed with long silky
-lashes, pure mouth, and dreamy brow seem to promise divine joys. Her
-complexion, slightly bronzed by the warm sunbeams, wore that gilded
-reflection which so well becomes the women of these intertropical
-countries. She was short of stature, but exquisitely modelled. Gentle
-and simple, ignorant as a Creole, this delicious child was adored by her
-father, who saw in her the wife he had so loved living once more. The
-Indians looked after her when she at times passed pensively, plucking a
-flower before their wretched huts, and scarce bending the slants on
-which she placed her delicate foot. In their hearts they compared this
-frail maiden, with her soft and vaporous outline, to the "virgin of the
-first loves," that sublime creation of the Indian religion which holds
-so great a place in the Aztec mythology.
-
-Don Pablo Zarate, the hacendero's son, was a powerfully built man, with
-harshly marked features, and a haughty glance, although at times it was
-imprinted with gentleness and kindness. Endowed with more than ordinary
-strength, skilled in all bodily exercises, Don Pablo was renowned
-through the whole country for his talent in taming the most spirited
-horses, and the correctness of his aim when on the chase. A determined
-hunter and daring wood ranger, this young man, when he had a good horse
-between his legs, and his rifle in his hand, knew none, man or animal,
-capable of barring his passage. The Indians, in their simple faith,
-yielded to the son the same respect and veneration they entertained for
-the father, and fancied they saw in him the personification of
-_Huitzilopochtli_, that terrible war god of the Aztecs, to whom 62,000
-human victims were sacrificed in one day, upon the inauguration of his
-_teocali_.
-
-The Zarates, then, at the period when our story opens, were real kings
-of New Mexico. The felicity they enjoyed was suddenly troubled by one of
-those vulgar incidents which, though unimportant in themselves, do not
-fail to cause a general perturbation, and a discomfort possessing no
-apparent cause, from the fact that it is impossible to foresee or
-prevent them. The circumstance was as follows:--
-
-Don Miguel possessed, in the vicinity of the Paso, vast estates
-extending for a great distance, and consisting principally of haciendas,
-prairies, and forests. One day Don Miguel was returning from a visit to
-his haciendas. It was late, and he pressed on his horse in order to
-reach ere night the ford, when, at about three or four leagues at the
-most from the spot to which he was proceeding, and just as he was
-entering a dense forest of cottonwood trees, through which he must pass
-ere reaching the ford, his attention was attracted by cries mingled with
-growls emerging from the wood he was about to enter. The hacendero
-stopped in order to account for the unusual sounds he heard, and bent
-his head forward to detect what was happening. But it was impossible for
-him to distinguish anything through the chaos of creepers and shrubs
-which intercepted vision. In the meanwhile, the noise grew louder, and
-the shouts were redoubled, and mingled with oaths and passionate
-exclamations.
-
-The Mexican's horse laid back its ears, neighed, and refused to advance.
-Still Don Miguel must make up his mind. Thinking that a man was probably
-attacked by wild beasts, he only consulted his heart; and, in spite of
-the visible repugnance of his steed, he compelled it to go forward and
-enter the wood. He had scarce gone a few yards ere he stopped in
-amazement at the strange spectacle that presented itself to him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-THE PECCARIES.
-
-
-In the middle of the clearing lay a ripped up horse, which six or eight
-peccaries were rending, while a dozen others were attacking with their
-tusks the stem of an enormous tree, in the topmost branches of which a
-man had sought shelter.
-
-Let us explain to our readers, who probably know little about them, what
-sort of animals the peccaries are. The peccaries hold the intermediate
-grade between the domestic pig and the wild boar. Although this animal
-does not exceed two feet in height, and is not more than three feet long
-from the end of the snout to the beginning of the tail, it is
-indubitably one of the most dangerous animals in North America. The
-animal's jaw is provided with tusks rather like those of the boar, but
-straight and sharp, their length varying between four and six inches. In
-the shape of the body it resembles a pig, but the bristles scattered
-over its warty hide are in colored strips; the part nearest the skin is
-white, and the point of a chocolate tinge. So soon as the animal is
-enraged, these bristles stand out like the quills of a porcupine.
-
-The movements of the peccaries are as quick and sharp as those of a
-squirrel. They ordinarily live in herds of fifteen, thirty, and even
-fifty. The strength of the head, neck, and shoulders is so great when
-they charge, that nothing can resist the impetuosity of their attacks. A
-remarkable peculiarity of this genus is the clumsy wart they have on
-their backs, whence a musty fluid evaporates when the animal is in a
-fury.
-
-The peccary lives in preference on acorns, roots, wheat, sugar cane, and
-reptiles of every description. It is a proved fact that the most
-venomous serpents are devoured by them without their feeling in the
-slightest degree incommoded.
-
-The mode in which the peccary forms its lair is very singular. This lair
-is generally in the midst of tufted and impenetrable canes, found in
-marshy spots round the monarchs of the forest, which still stand like
-crushed giants, with their grappling lines of creepers and virgin vines.
-The trunks of these trees, which at times measure forty feet in
-circumference, are nearly all hollow, and thus afford a convenient
-shelter for the peccaries, which retire to them every night in herds of
-twenty to twenty-five, entering the cavity one after the other
-backwards; so that the last has the end of its snout placed just at the
-entrance of the hole, thus watching, as it were, over the rest of its
-companions.
-
-The peccaries are unboundedly ferocious: they know not danger, or at
-least despise it completely. They always attack in herds, and fight with
-unequalled rage until the last succumbs, no matter the nature of their
-foe.
-
-Hence men and animals all fly a meeting with these terrible beasts: the
-jaguar, so strong and redoubtable, will become their prey if it be so
-imprudent as to attack them. This is the way they set about conquering
-this wild beast:--
-
-When a jaguar has wounded a peccary, the latter collect, chase it, and
-pursue until they can contrive to surround the common enemy. When every
-issue is closed, the jaguar, believing it can thus escape, seeks refuge
-up a tree. But the peccaries do not resign the vengeance; they establish
-themselves at the foot of the tree, being incessantly recruited by fresh
-allies, and patiently waiting till the jaguar, driven to extremities by
-hunger and thirst, decides on descending from its improvised fortress.
-This is almost always sure to happen at the end of two or three days at
-the most. The jaguar bounds into the midst of its enemies, which boldly
-await it, and attack it bravely; a terrible fight commences; and the
-tiger, after covering the ground with victims, at length succumbs
-beneath the efforts of its assailants, and is ripped up by their tusks.
-
-After what we have said, it is easy to understand how precarious was the
-position of the man perched on the top of the tree, and surrounded by
-peccaries. His enemies seemed determined not to leave their ground; they
-craftily crept round the tree, attacked its base with their tusks, and
-then recognising the inutility of their onsets, they quietly lay down by
-the carcass of the horse, which they had already sacrificed to their
-fury. Don Miguel felt moved to pity for the poor fellow, whose position
-grew momentarily more critical; but in vain did he rack his brains how
-to help the unhappy man whose destruction was assured.
-
-To attack the peccaries would have been extreme imprudence, and have
-produced no other result than that of turning on himself the fury of the
-animals, while not saving the man he wished to help. Still time pressed.
-What was to be done? How, without sacrificing himself, save the man who
-ran so great a risk?
-
-The Mexican hesitated for a long period. It seemed to Don Miguel
-impossible to leave, without help, this man whose death was certain.
-This idea, which presented itself to his mind several times, he had
-energetically repulsed, so monstrous did it appear to him. At length he
-resolved at all risks to attempt impossibilities in favour of this
-stranger, of whose death he would have eventually accused himself had he
-left him to perish in the desert.
-
-The stranger's position was the more critical because, in his haste to
-defend himself from the attacks of his enemies, he had left his rifle
-fall at the foot of the tree, and was consequently unable to reduce the
-number of the peccaries. In spite of their fineness of scent, the latter
-had not noticed Don Miguel's approach, who, by a providential accident,
-had entered the wood on the side opposite the wind. The Mexican
-dismounted with a sigh, patted his horse, and then took off its
-accoutrements. The noble animal, habituated to its master's caresses,
-shook his head joyously, and fixed its large intelligent eyes on him.
-Don Miguel could not repress another sigh: a tear fell down on his
-bronzed cheeks. On the point of accomplishing the sacrifice, he
-hesitated.
-
-It was a faithful companion, almost a friend, he was about to separate
-from; but the life of a man was at stake. The Mexican drove back the
-feelings that agitated him, and his resolution was formed. He passed a
-lasso round his horse's neck, and, in spite of its obstinate resistance,
-compelled it to advance to the entrance of the clearing in which the
-peccaries were assembled. A frail curtain of creepers and leaves alone
-hid it from their sight. On arriving here Don Miguel stopped: he had one
-more moment's hesitation, but only one; for then seizing a piece of
-tinder, which he lighted, he thrust it into the poor animal's ear while
-caressing it.
-
-The effect was sudden and terrible. The horse uttered a snort of pain;
-and rendered mad by the burning, bounded forward into the clearing,
-striving in vain to get rid of the tinder which caused it intolerable
-suffering. Don Miguel had smartly leaped aside, and now followed with an
-anxious glance the result of the terrible tentative he had just made to
-save the stranger. On seeing the horse appear suddenly in their midst,
-the peccaries rose, formed a compact group and rushed with their heads
-down in pursuit of the horse, thinking no longer of the man. The animal,
-spurred on still more by the sight of its ferocious enemies, shot ahead
-with the speed of an arrow, breaking down with its chest all the
-obstacles in its way, and followed closely by the peccaries.
-
-The man saved; but at what a price! Don Miguel repressed a last sigh of
-regret, and leaped into the clearing. The stranger had already descended
-from the tree; but the emotion he had undergone was so extreme, that he
-remained seated on the ground, almost in a state of unconsciousness.
-
-"Quick, quick!" Don Miguel said to him sharply. "We have not a moment to
-lose: the peccaries may alter their minds and return."
-
-"That is true," the stranger muttered in a hollow voice, as he cast a
-terrified glance around. "Let us be off--off at once."
-
-He made an effort over himself, seized his rifle, and rose. Through a
-presentiment for which he could not account to himself, Don Miguel
-experienced at the sight of this man, whom he had hitherto scarce looked
-at, a feeling of invincible doubt and disgust. Owing to the life he was
-obliged to lead on these frontiers, frequented by people of every
-description, the hacendero had been often brought into relation with
-trappers and hunters whose faces were no recommendation to them; but
-never ere now had chance brought him in contact with an individual of
-such sinister appearance as this one.
-
-Still he did not allow his feelings to be seen through, and invited this
-man to follow him. The latter did not let the invitation be repeated;
-for he was anxious to escape from the spot where he had been so near
-death. Thanks to the Mexican's acquaintance with the country, the wood
-was speedily traversed, and the two men, after a walk of scarce an
-hour's duration, reached the banks of the Del Norte, just opposite the
-village. Their speed had been so great, their anxiety so serious, that
-they had not exchanged a syllable, so terrified were they of seeing the
-peccaries appear at any moment. Fortunately this was not the case, and
-they reached the ford without being again disturbed.
-
-Don Miguel was burdened with his horse's trappings, which he now threw
-on the ground, and looked around him in the hope of finding someone who
-would help him in crossing the river. His expectations were not
-deceived; for just as they reached the ford an _arriero_ was preparing
-to cross to the other side of the river with his _recca_ of mules, and,
-with the generosity innate in all Mexicans, he offered to carry them
-both to the Paso. The two men eagerly accepted, each mounted a mule, and
-half an hour later they found themselves in safety at the village. After
-giving the arriero a few reals to requite him for his services, Don
-Miguel took up his horse's trappings again, and prepared to start. The
-stranger stopped.
-
-"We are about to part here, caballero," he said in a rough voice, with a
-very marked English accent; "but before leaving, let me express to you
-my deep gratitude for the noble and generous manner in which you saved
-my life at the peril of your own."
-
-"Sir," the Mexican simply answered, "I only did my duty in saving you.
-In the desert all men are brothers, and owe each other protection. Hence
-do not thank me, I beg, for a very simple action: any other in my place
-would have acted as I have done."
-
-"Perhaps so," the stranger continued; "but be kind enough, pray, to tell
-me your name, so that I may know to whom I owe my life."
-
-"That is needless," Don Miguel said with a smile. "Still, as I fancy you
-are a stranger in these parts, let me give you a piece of advice."
-
-"What is it, sir?"
-
-"Never in future to attack the peccaries. They are terrible enemies,
-only to be conquered by a strong body of men; and an individual in
-attacking them commits an unpardonable folly, to which he must fall a
-victim."
-
-"Be assured, sir, that I shall profit by the lesson I have received this
-day, and shall never put myself in such a wasps' nest again. I was too
-near paying dearly for my imprudence. But I beg you, sir, do not let us
-separate ere I know the name of my preserver."
-
-"As you insist, sir, you shall learn it. I am Don Miguel de Zarate."
-
-The stranger took a peculiar glance at the speaker, while repressing a
-movement of surprise.
-
-"Ah!" he said in a singular tone, "Thanks, Don Miguel Zarate. Without
-knowing you personally, I was already acquainted with your name."
-
-"That is possible," the hacendero answered; "for I am well known in
-this country, where my family has been established for many a long
-year."
-
-"I, sir, am the man whom the Indians call Witchasta Joute, the Maneater,
-and the hunters, my companions, Red Cedar."
-
-And after lifting his hand to his cap in salute, this man threw his
-rifle on his shoulder, turned on his heel, and went off at full speed.
-Don Miguel looked after him for a while, and then walked pensively
-toward the house he inhabited at el Paso. The hacendero did not suspect
-that he had sacrificed his favourite horse to save the life of his most
-implacable enemy.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE WOUND.
-
-
-At sunrise, Don Miguel, mounted on an excellent horse, left the Paso,
-and proceeded toward the hacienda where he resided with his family. It
-was situated a few miles from the Presidio of San Elezario, in a
-delicious position, and was known as the _Hacienda de la Noria_ (the
-Farm of the Well). The estate inhabited by Don Miguel stood in the
-centre of the vast delta formed by the Del Norte and the Rio San Pedro,
-or Devil's River. It was one of those strong and massive buildings which
-the Spaniards alone knew how to erect when they were absolute masters of
-Mexico.
-
-The hacienda formed a vast parallelogram, supported at regular distances
-by enormous cross walls of carved stone. Like all the frontier
-habitations, which are rather fortresses than houses, it was only
-pierced on the side of the plain with a few narrow windows resembling
-loopholes, and protected by solid iron bars. This abode was begirt by a
-thick wall of circumvallation, defended on the top by that fretwork
-called _almenas_, which indicated the nobility of the owner. Within this
-wall, but separated from the chief apartments, were the stables,
-outhouses, barns and cabins for the peons.
-
-At the extremity of the courtyard, in an angle of the hacienda, was the
-tall square belfry of the chapel, rising above its terraced roof. This
-chapel was served by a monk called Fray Ambrosio. A magnificent plain
-closed in this splendid farm. At the end of a valley more than fifty
-miles in length were cactus trees of a conical shape, loaded with fruit
-and flowers, and whose stems were as much as six feet in diameter.
-
-Don Miguel employed a considerable number of peons in the cultivation of
-the sugar cane, which he carried on upon a very large scale. As
-everybody knows, the cane is planted by laying it horizontally in
-furrows half a foot deep. From each knot springs a shoot which reaches a
-height of about three yards, and which is cut at the end of a year to
-extract the juice.
-
-Nothing can be more picturesque than the sight of a field of sugar
-canes. It was one of those superb American mornings during which nature
-seems to be holding a festival. The _centzontle_ (American nightingale)
-frequently poured forth its harmonious notes; the red throstled
-cardinals, the blue birds, the parakeets, chattered gaily beneath the
-foliage; far away on the plain galloped flocks of light antelopes and
-timid ashatas, while on the extreme verge of the horizon rushed startled
-_manadas_ of wild horses, which raised clouds of impalpable dust beneath
-the vibration of their rapid hoofs. A few alligators, carelessly
-stretched out on the river mud, were drying their scales in the sun, and
-in mid air the grand eagles of the Sierra Madre hovered majestically
-above the valley.
-
-Don Miguel advanced rapidly at the favourite pace of the Mexican
-_jinetes,_ and which consists in making the horse raise its front legs,
-while the hind ones almost graze the ground--a peculiar sort of amble
-which is very gentle and rapid. The hacendero only employed four hours
-in traversing the distance separating him from the hacienda, where he
-arrived about nine in the morning. He was received on the threshold of
-the house by his daughter, who, warned of his arrival, had hastened to
-meet him.
-
-Don Miguel had been absent from home a fortnight; hence, he received his
-daughter's caresses with the greatest pleasure. When he had embraced her
-several times, while continuing to hold her tightly clasped in his arms,
-he regarded her attentively during several seconds.
-
-"What is the matter, _mi querida_ Clara?" he asked with sympathy. "You
-seem very sad. Can you feel vexed at the sight of me?" he added, with a
-smile.
-
-"Oh, you cannot believe that, father!" she answered quickly; "for you
-know how happy your presence must render me."
-
-"Thanks, my child! But whence, in that case, comes the sorrow I see
-spread over your features?"
-
-The maiden let her eyes sink, but made no reply.
-
-Don Miguel threw a searching glance around.
-
-"Where is Don Pablo?" he said. "Why has he not come to greet me? Can he
-be away from the hacienda?"
-
-"No, father, he is here."
-
-"Well, then, what is the reason he is not by your side?"
-
-"Because--" the girl said, with hesitation.
-
-"Well?"
-
-"He is ill."
-
-"My son ill!" Don Miguel exclaimed.
-
-"I am wrong," Doña Clara corrected herself.
-
-"Explain yourself, in Heaven's name!"
-
-"My father, the fact is that Pablo is wounded."
-
-"Wounded!" the hacendero sharply said; and thrusting his daughter
-aside, he rushed toward the house, bounded up the few steps leading to
-the porch, crossed several rooms without stopping, and reached his son's
-chamber. The young man was lying, weak and faint, on his bed; but on
-perceiving his parent he smiled, and held his hand to him. Don Miguel
-was fondly attached to his son, his sole heir, and walked up to him.
-
-"What is this wound of which I have heard?" he asked him in great
-agitation.
-
-"Less than nothing, father," the young man replied, exchanging a meaning
-glance with his sister, who entered at the moment. "Clara is a foolish
-girl, who, in her tenderness, wrongly alarmed you."
-
-"But, after all, you are wounded?" the father continued.
-
-"But I repeat that it is a mere nothing."
-
-"Come, explain yourself. How and when did you receive this wound?"
-
-The young man blushed, and maintained silence.
-
-"I insist on knowing," Don Miguel continued pressingly.
-
-"Good heavens, father!" Don Pablo replied with an air of ill-humour, "I
-do not understand why you are alarmed for so futile a cause. I am not a
-child, whom a scratch should make frightened; and many times have I been
-wounded previously, and you have not disturbed yourself so much."
-
-"That is possible; but the mode in which you answer me, the care you
-seem trying to take to keep me ignorant of the cause of this wound--in a
-word, everything tells me that this time you are trying to hide
-something grave from me."
-
-"You are mistaken, father, and shall convince yourself."
-
-"I wish nothing more: speak. Clara, my child, go and give orders to have
-breakfast prepared, for I am dying of hunger."
-
-The girl went out.
-
-"Now it is our turn," Don Miguel continued. "In the first place, where
-are you wounded?"
-
-"Oh! I have merely a slight scratch on my shoulder: if I went to bed it
-was more through indolence than any other motive."
-
-"Hum! and what scratched your shoulder?"
-
-"A bullet."
-
-"What! A bullet! Then you must have fought a duel, unhappy boy!" Don
-Miguel exclaimed with a shudder.
-
-The young man smiled, pressed his father's hand, and bending toward him,
-said,--
-
-"This is what has happened."
-
-"I am listening to you," Don Miguel replied, making an effort to calm
-himself.
-
-"Two days after your departure, father," Don Pablo continued, "I was
-superintending, as you wished me to do, the cutting of the cane crop,
-when a hunter whom you will probably remember having seen prowling about
-the estate, a man of the name of Andrés Garote, accosted me at the
-moment I was about to return home after giving my orders to the
-majordomo. After saluting me obsequiously as his wont, the scamp smiled
-cunningly, and lowering his voice so as not to be overheard by those
-around us, said, 'Don Pablo, I fancy you would give half an ounce to the
-man who brought you important news?' 'That depends,' I answered; for,
-having known the man a long time, I was aware much confidence could not
-be placed in him. 'Bah! Your grace is so rich,' he continued
-insidiously, 'that a miserable sum like that is less than nothing in his
-pocket, while in mine it would do me a deal of good.'
-
-"Apart from his defects, this scamp had at times done us a few small
-services; and then, as he said, a half-ounce is but a trifle, so I gave
-it to him. He stowed it away in his pockets, and then bent down to my
-ear. 'Thanks, Don Pablo,' he said to me. 'I shall not cheat you of your
-money. Your horse is rested, and can stand a long journey. Proceed to
-Buffalo Valley, and there you will learn something to interest you.' It
-was in vain that I urged him to explain himself more clearly; I could
-draw no more from him. He merely added before parting from me, 'Don
-Pablo, you have good weapons; so take them with you, for no man knoweth
-what may happen.' Somehow the scamp's veiled confidence aroused my
-curiosity: hence I resolved to go to Buffalo Valley, and gain the clue
-of this riddle."
-
-"Andrés Garote is a villain, who laid a snare for you, into which you
-fell," Don Miguel interrupted.
-
-"No, father, you are mistaken. Andrés was honest towards me, and I have
-only thanks to give him. Still he should have explained himself,
-perhaps, more distinctly."
-
-The hacendero shook his head with a doubting air.
-
-"Go on," he said.
-
-"I entered my house, procured the weapons, and then, mounted on Negro,
-my black charger, I proceeded toward Buffalo Valley. As you are aware,
-father, the place we call so, and which belongs to us, is an immense
-forest of cedars and maples, nearly forty miles in circumference, and
-traversed almost through its entire length by a wide confluent of the
-Rio San Pedro."
-
-"Of course I know it, and I intend next year to fell some of the wood
-there."
-
-"You need not take the trouble," the young man said with a smile, "for
-someone has done it for you."
-
-"What do you mean?" the hacendero asked wrathfully. "Who dared?"
-
-"Oh! One of those wretched heretic squatters, as they call themselves.
-The villain found the spot to suit him, and has quietly settled there
-with his three whelps--three big fellows with hang-dog faces, who
-laughed at me when I told them the forest was mine, and answered, while
-aiming at me, that they were North Americans, who cared as little for me
-as they did for a coyote; that the ground belonged to the first comer;
-and that I shall afford them lively pleasure by being off at full speed.
-What more shall I tell you, father? I take after you. I have hot blood,
-and I cordially hate that race of Yankee pirates, who, for some years
-back, have settled on our lovely country like a swarm of mosquitoes. I
-saw our forest plundered, our finest trees cut down. I could not remain
-unmoved in the presence of these scoundrels' insolence, and the quarrel
-became so sharp that they fired at me."
-
-"_Virgen Santísima_!" Don Miguel exclaimed in fury, "They shall pay
-dearly for the affront they have offered you I swear it! I will take
-exemplary vengeance."
-
-"Why be so angry, father?" the young man replied, visibly annoyed at the
-effect his story had produced. "The harm these people do us is really
-very trifling. I was in the wrong to let my passion carry me away."
-
-"On the contrary, you were right. I will not have these Northern thieves
-come and commit their plunder here. I will put a stop to it."
-
-"I assure you that, if you will leave me to act, I feel certain of
-arranging this affair to your entire satisfaction."
-
-"I forbid you taking the slightest steps, for this matter concerns me
-now. Whatever may occur, I do not wish you to interfere. Will you
-promise me this?"
-
-"As you insist, I do so, father."
-
-"Very good. Get cured as speedily as possible, and keep your mind at
-rest. The Yankees shall pay me dearly for the blood they have shed."
-
-With these words Don Miguel retired, and his son fell back on his bed
-stifling a sigh, and uttering a hoarse exclamation of passion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE SQUATTER'S SHANTY.
-
-
-Don Pablo had not told his father the facts in all their truth or
-detail. He had fallen into a perfect ambuscade. He was suddenly attacked
-by the three brothers, who would have mercilessly killed him, resolved
-to lay the blame of his death on the wild beasts, had not, at the moment
-when one of them lifted his knife on the young man, who was thrown down
-and rendered motionless by the others, a providential succour reached him
-in the person of a charming maid scarce sixteen years of age.
-
-The courageous girl rushed from a copse with the rapidity of a fawn, and
-threw herself resolutely into the midst of the assassins.
-
-"What are you about, brother?" she exclaimed in a melodious voice, whose
-harmonious notes echoed amorously in Don Pablo's ears. "Why do you wish
-to kill this stranger?"
-
-The three squatters, surprised by this apparition, which they were far
-from expecting, fell back a few paces. Don Pablo profited by this truce
-to jump up and regain possession of his arms, which had fallen by his
-side.
-
-"Was it not enough," the girl continued, "to rob this man, that you must
-now try to take his life? Fie, brothers! Do you not know that blood
-leaves on the hands of him who spills it stains which nothing can
-efface? Let this man retire in peace."
-
-The young men hesitated. Although unconsciously yielding to their
-sister's influence, they were ashamed of thus executing her wishes.
-Still they did not dare express their thoughts, and merely bent on their
-enemy, who awaited them with a firm foot and pistols in hand, glances
-laden with hatred and anger.
-
-"Ellen is right," the youngest of her brothers suddenly said. "No, I
-will not allow any harm to be done the stranger."
-
-The others looked at him savagely.
-
-"You would defend him, if necessary, I suppose, Shaw?" Nathan said to
-him ironically.
-
-"Why should I not, were it required?" the young man said boldly.
-
-"Eh!" Sutter remarked with a grin, "He is thinking of the Wood
-Eglantine."
-
-This word had been scarce uttered ere Shaw, with purpled face,
-contracted features, and eyes injected with blood, rushed with uplifted
-knife on his brother, who awaited him firmly. The girl dashed between
-them.
-
-"Peace, peace!" she shrieked in a piercing voice, "Do brothers dare
-threaten one another?"
-
-The two young fellows remained motionless, but watching and ready to
-strike in a moment. Don Pablo fixed an ardent glance on the girl, who
-was really admirable at this moment. With her features animated by
-anger, her head erect, and her arms stretched out between the two men,
-she bore a startling likeness to those Druidesses who in olden times
-summoned the warriors to combat beneath the forests of Germany.
-
-In her whole person she offered the complete type of the gentle Northern
-woman. Her hair light and golden like ripe corn; her eyes of extreme
-purity, which reflected the azure of the sky; her earnest mouth, with
-rosy lips and pearly teeth; her flexible and small waist; the whiteness
-of her complexion, whose delicate and transparent skin still bore the
-flush of adolescence--all was combined in this charming maiden to render
-her the most seductive creature imaginable.
-
-Don Pablo, a stranger to this kind of beauty, felt himself involuntarily
-attracted toward the girl, and entirely subjugated by her. Forgetting
-the reason that had brought him to this spot, the danger he had
-incurred, and that which still menaced him, he was fascinated and
-trembling before this delicious apparition, fearing at each instant to
-see it vanish like a vision, and not daring to turn his glance from her
-while he felt he had no strength left to admire her.
-
-This young creature, so frail and delicate, formed a strange contrast
-with the tall statures and marked features of her brothers, whose coarse
-and savage manners only served to heighten the elegance and charm
-exhaled by her whole person. Still this scene could not be prolonged,
-and must be ended at once. The maiden walked toward Don Pablo.
-
-"Sir," she said to him with a soft smile, "You have nothing more to fear
-from my brothers; you can mount your horse again, and set out, and no
-one will oppose your departure."
-
-The young man understood that he had no pretext to prolong his stay at
-this spot; he therefore let his head sink, placed his pistols in his
-holsters, leaped on his horse, and set out with regret, and as slowly as
-possible.
-
-He had scarce gone a league when he heard the hasty clatter of a horse
-behind him. He turned back. The approaching horseman was Shaw, who soon
-caught up with Don Pablo. The pair then proceeded some distance side by
-side without exchanging a syllable, and both seemed plunged in profound
-thought. On reaching the skirt of the forest, Shaw checked his horse,
-and softly laid his right hand on the Mexican's bridle. Don Pablo also
-stopped on this hint, and waited, while fixing an inquiring glance on
-his strange comrade.
-
-"Stranger," the young man said, "my sister sends me. She implores you,
-if it be possible, to keep secret what occurred between us today. She
-deeply regrets the attack to which you fell a victim, and the wound you
-have received; and she will try to persuade Red Cedar, our father, to
-retire from your estates."
-
-"Thank your sister for me," Don Pablo answered. "Tell her that her
-slightest wish will ever be a command to me, and that I shall be happy
-to execute it."
-
-"I will repeat your words to her."
-
-"Thanks. Render me a parting service."
-
-"Speak."
-
-"What is your sister's name?"
-
-"Ellen. She is the guardian angel of our hearth. My name is Shaw."
-
-"I am obliged to you for telling me your name, though I cannot guess the
-reason that induces you to do so."
-
-"I will tell you. I love my sister Ellen before all: she urged me to
-offer you my friendship. I obey her. Remember, stranger, that Shaw is
-yours to the death."
-
-"I shall not forget it, though I hope never to be under the necessity of
-reminding you of your words."
-
-"All the worse," the American said, with a shake of his head; "but if at
-any time the opportunity offers, I will prove to you that I am a man of
-my word, so surely as I am a Kentuckian."
-
-And hurriedly turning his horse's head, the young man rapidly
-disappeared in the windings of the forest.
-
-Buffalo Valley, illumined by the parting rays of the setting sun, seemed
-a lake of verdure to which the golden mist of night imparted magical
-tones. A light breeze rustled through the lofty crests of the cedars,
-catalpas, tulip and Peru trees, and agitated the grass on the banks of
-the Rio San Pedro. Don Pablo let the reins float idly on his horse's
-neck, and advanced dreamily through the forest, where the birds were
-leaping from spray to spray, each saluting in its language the arrival
-of night.
-
-An hour later, the young man reached the hacienda; but the wound he had
-received in his shoulder was more serious than was at first supposed. He
-was obliged, to his great regret, to keep his bed, which prevented him
-seeking to meet again the maiden whose image was deeply engraved on his
-heart.
-
-So soon as the Mexican had gone off, the squatters continued felling
-trees and sawing planks, and did not abandon this work till the night
-had grown quite black. Ellen had returned to the interior of the jacal,
-where she attended to the housekeeping duties with her mother. This
-jacal was a wretched hut, hastily made with branches of intertwined
-trees, which trembled with every breeze, and let the sun and rain
-penetrate to the interior.
-
-This cabin was divided into three compartments: the one to the right
-served as the bedroom of the two females, while the men slept in the one
-to the left. The central compartment, furnished with worm-eaten benches
-and a clumsily-planed table, was at once keeping room and kitchen.
-
-It was late: the squatters, assembled round the fire, over which a huge
-pot was boiling, were silently awaiting the return of Red Cedar, who had
-been absent since the morning. At length, a horse's hoofs sounded
-sharply on the detritus collected for years on the floor of the forest,
-the noise grew gradually nearer, the horse stopped in front of the
-jacal, and a man made his appearance. It was Red Cedar. The men slowly
-turned their heads toward him, but did not otherwise disturb themselves,
-or address a syllable to him.
-
-Ellen alone rose and embraced her father affectionately. The giant
-seized the girl in his nervous arms, raised her from the ground, and
-kissed her several times, saying in his rough voice, which his
-tenderness sensibly softened,--
-
-"Good evening, my dear."
-
-Then he put her down on the ground again, and not troubling himself
-further about her, fell heavily on a bench near the fire, and thrust his
-feet toward the fire.
-
-"Come, wife," he said, after the expiration of a moment, "the supper, in
-the fiend's name! I have a coyote's hunger."
-
-The wife did not let this be repeated. A few moments later an immense
-dish of _frijoles_, with pimiento, smoked on the table, with large pots
-of pulque. The meal was short and silent, the four men eating with
-extreme rapacity. So soon as the beans had disappeared Red Cedar and his
-sons lit their pipes, and began smoking, while drinking large draughts
-of whiskey, though still not speaking. At length Red Cedar took his pipe
-from his lips, and hit the table sharply, while saying in a rough
-voice,--
-
-"Come, women, decamp! You have nothing more to do here. You are in our
-way, so go to the deuce!"
-
-Ellen and her mother immediately went out, and entered their separate
-apartment. For a few minutes they could be heard moving about, and then
-all became silent again.
-
-Red Cedar made a sign, and Sutter rose and gently put his ear to the
-parting board. He listened for a few moments while holding his breath,
-and then returned to his seat, saying laconically,--
-
-"They are asleep."
-
-"Quick, my whelps!" the old squatter said in a low voice. "We have not a
-minute to lose: the others are expecting us."
-
-A strange scene then occurred in this mean room, which was merely
-illumined by the expiring light of the hearth. The four men arose,
-opened a large chest, and produced from it various objects of strange
-shapes--leggings, mittens, buffalo robes, collars of grizzly bear claws;
-in a word, the complete costumes of Apache Indians.
-
-The squatters disguised themselves as redskins; and when they had put on
-their garments, which rendered it impossible to recognise them, they
-completed the metamorphosis by painting their faces of different colours.
-
-Assuredly the traveller whom accident had brought at this moment to the
-jacal would have fancied it inhabited by Apaches or Comanches.
-
-The garments which the squatters had taken off were locked up in the
-chest, of which Red Cedar took the key; and the four men, armed with
-their American rifles, left the cabin, mounted their horses, which were
-awaiting them ready saddled, and started at full gallop through the
-winding forest paths.
-
-At the moment they disappeared in the gloom Ellen stood in the doorway
-of the cabin, took a despairing glance in the direction where they had
-gone, and fell to the ground murmuring sadly,--
-
-"Good Heaven! What diabolical work are they going to perform this
-night?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE RANGERS.
-
-
-On the banks of the Rio San Pedro, and on the side of a hill, stood a
-_rancheria_ composed of some ten cabins, inhabited by a population of
-sixty persons at the most, including men, women and children. These
-people were Coras Indians, hunters and agriculturists, belonging to the
-Tortoise tribe. These poor Indians lived there on terms of peace with
-their neighbours, under the protection of the Mexican laws. Quiet and
-inoffensive beings, during the nearly twenty years they had been
-established at this place they had never once offered a subject of
-complaint to their neighbours, who, on the contrary, were glad to see
-them prosper, owing to their gentle and hospitable manners. Though
-Mexican subjects, they governed themselves after their fashion, obeying
-their caciques, and regulating in the assembly of their elders all the
-difficulties that arose in their village.
-
-On the night when we saw the squatters leave the cabin in disguise, some
-twenty individuals, armed to the teeth and clothed in strange costumes,
-with their faces blackened so as to render them unrecognizable, were
-bivouacked at about two leagues from the rancheria, in a plain on the
-river's bank. Seated or lying round huge fires, they were singing,
-laughing, quarrelling or gambling with multitudinous yells and oaths.
-Two men seated apart at the foot of an enormous cactus, were conversing
-in a low tone, while smoking their husk cigarettes. These two men, of
-whom we have already spoken to the reader, were Fray Ambrosio, chaplain
-to the Hacienda de la Noria, and Andrés Garote, the hunter.
-
-Andrés was a tall, thin fellow, with a sickly and cunning face, who
-draped himself defiantly in his sordid rags, but whose weapons were in a
-perfectly good condition.
-
-Who were the men causing this disturbance? They were "rangers," but this
-requires explanation.
-
-Immediately after each of the different revolutions which have
-periodically overturned Mexico since that country so pompously declared
-its independence, the first care of the new president who reaches power
-is to dismiss the volunteers who had accidentally swollen the ranks of his
-army, and supplied him the means of overthrowing his predecessor. These
-volunteers, we must do them the justice of allowing, are the very scum
-of society, and the most degraded class human nature produces. These
-sanguinary men, without religion or law, who have no relations or
-friends, are an utter leprosy to the country.
-
-Roughly driven back into society, the new life they are forced to adopt
-in no way suits their habits of murder and pillage. No longer able to
-wage war on their countrymen, they form free corps, and engage
-themselves for a certain salary, to hunt the Indios Bravos--that is to
-say, the Apaches and Comanches--who desolate the Mexican frontiers. In
-addition to this, the paternal government of North America in Texas, and
-of Mexico in the States of the Confederation, allots them a certain sum
-for each Indian scalp they bring in.
-
-We do not fancy we are saying anything new in asserting that they are
-the scourge of the colonists and inhabitants, they plunder shamelessly
-in every way when they are not doing worse.
-
-The men assembled at this moment on the banks of the Rio San Pedro were
-preparing for a war party--the name they give to the massacres they
-organise against the redskins.
-
-Toward midnight Red Cedar and his three sons reached the rangers' camp.
-They must have been impatiently expected, for the bandits received them
-with marks of the greatest joy and the warmest enthusiasm. The dice, the
-cards, and botas of mezcal and whiskey were immediately deserted. The
-rangers mounted their horses, and grouped round the squatters, near whom
-stood Fray Ambrosio and his friend Andrés Garote.
-
-Red Cedar took a glance round the mob, and could not repress a smile of
-pride at the sight of the rich collection of bandits of every
-description whom he had around him, and who recognised him as chief. He
-extended his arm to command peace. When all were silent the giant took
-the word.
-
-"Señores caballeros," he said, in a powerful and marked voice, which
-made all these scamps quiver with delight at being treated like honest
-people, "the audacity of the redskins is growing intolerable. If we let
-them alone they would soon inundate the country, when they would end by
-expelling us. This state of things must have an end. The government
-complains about the few scalps we supply; it says we do not carry out
-the clauses of the agreement we have formed with it; it talks about
-disbanding us, as our services are useless, and therefore burdensome to
-the republic. It is our bounden duty to give a striking denial to these
-malevolent assertions, and prove to those who have placed confidence in
-us that we are ever ready to devote ourselves to the cause of humanity
-and civilisation. I have assembled you here for a war party, which I
-have been meditating for some time, and shall carry out this night. We
-are about to attack the rancheria of the Coras, who for some years past
-have had the impudence to establish themselves near this spot. They are
-pagans and thieves, who have one hundred times merited the severe
-chastisement we are about to inflict on them. But I implore you, señores
-caballeros, display no mistaken pity. Crush this race of vipers--let not
-one escape! The scalp of a child is worth as much as that of a man; so
-do not let yourselves be moved by cries or tears, but scalp, scalp to
-the end."
-
-This harangue was greeted as it deserved to be; that is, by yells of
-joy.
-
-"Señores," Red Cedar continued, "the worthy monk who accompanies me will
-call down the blessing of Heaven on our enterprise; so kneel down to
-receive the absolution he is about to give you."
-
-The bandits instantaneously dismounted, took off their hats, and knelt
-on the sand. Fray Ambrosio then repeated a long prayer, to which they
-listened with exemplary patience, repeating _amen_ after each occasion,
-and he ended by giving them absolution. The rangers rose, delighted at
-being thus freed from the burden of their sins, and got into their
-saddles again.
-
-Red Cedar then whispered a few words in Fray Ambrosio's ears, who bowed
-his head in assent, and immediately set out in the direction of the
-Hacienda de la Noria, followed by Andrés Garote. The squatter then
-turned to the rangers, who were awaiting his orders.
-
-"You know where we are going, gentlemen," he said. "Let us start, and,
-before all, be silent, if we wish to catch our game in its lair; for you
-know that the Indians are as cunning as opossums."
-
-The band started at a gallop, Red Cedar and his sons being at their
-head. It was one of those calm nights which predispose the soul to
-reverie, such as America alone has the privilege of possessing. The dark
-blue sky was spangled with an infinite number of stars, in the centre of
-which shone the majestic Southern Cross, sparkling like a king's mantle;
-the atmosphere was extraordinarily transparent, and allowed objects to
-be noticed at a great distance; the moon profusely spread around her
-silvery rays, which gave the scenery a fantastic appearance; a
-mysterious breeze sported through the tops of the great trees; and at
-times vague rumours traversed the space, and were lost in the distance.
-
-The gloomy horsemen still went on, silent and frowning, like the
-phantoms of the ancient legends, which glide through the shadows to
-accomplish a deed without a name. At the end of scarce an hour the
-rancheria was reached. All were resting in the village--not a light
-flashed in the hut. The Indians, wearied with the hard toil of the day,
-were reposing, full of confidence in the sworn faith, and apprehending
-no treason.
-
-Red Cedar halted twenty yards from the rancheria, and drew up his
-horsemen so as to surround the village on all sides. When each had taken
-his post, and the torches were lighted, Red Cedar uttered the terrible
-war cry of the Apaches, and the rangers galloped at full speed on the
-village, uttering ferocious howls, and brandishing the torches, which
-they threw on the cabins.
-
-A scene of carnage then took place which the human pen is powerless to
-describe. The unhappy Indians, surprised in their sleep, rushed
-terrified and half naked out of their poor abodes, and were pitilessly
-massacred and scalped by the rangers, who waved with a demoniac laugh
-their smoking, blood-dripping scalps. Men, women, and children, all were
-killed with refinements of barbarity. The village, fired by the rangers'
-torches, soon became an immense funebral pile, in which victims and
-murderers were huddled pell-mell.
-
-Still a few Indians had succeeded in collecting. Formed in a compact
-troop of twenty men, they opposed a desperate resistance to their
-assassins, exasperated by the odour of blood and the intoxication of
-carnage. At the head of this band was a half-nude, tall Indian of
-intelligent features, who, armed with a ploughshare, which he wielded
-with extreme force and skill, felled all the assailants who came within
-reach of his terrible weapon. This man was the cacique of the Coras. At
-his feet lay his mother, wife, and two children--dead. The unhappy man
-struggled with the energy of despair. He knew his life would be
-sacrificed, but he wished to sell it as dearly as possible.
-
-In vain had the rangers fired on the cacique--he seemed invulnerable:
-not one of the bullets aimed at him had struck him. He still fought, and
-the weight of his weapon did not seem to fatigue his arm. The rangers
-excited each other to finish him; but not one dared to approach him.
-
-But this combat of giants could not endure longer. Of the twenty
-companions he had round him on commencing the struggle, the cacique now
-only saw two or three upright: the rest were dead. There must be an end.
-The circle that inclosed the hapless Indian drew closer and closer.
-Henceforth it was only a question of time with him. The rangers,
-recognising the impossibility of conquering this lion-hearted man, had
-changed their tactics: they no longer attacked him, but contented
-themselves with forming an impassable circle round him, waiting
-prudently for the moment when the strength of the prey, which could not
-escape them, was exhausted, in order to rush upon him.
-
-The Coras understood the intention of his enemies. A contemptuous smile
-contracted his haughty lips, and he rushed resolutely toward these men
-who recoiled before him. Suddenly, with a movement quicker than thought,
-he threw with extraordinary strength the ploughshare among the rangers,
-and bounding like a tiger, leaped on a horse, and clutched its rider
-with superhuman vigour.
-
-Ere the rangers had recovered from the surprise this unforeseen attack
-occasioned in them, by a desperate effort, and still holding the
-horseman, the chieftain drew from his girdle a short sharp knife, which
-he buried up to the hilt in the flanks of the horse. The animal uttered
-a shriek of pain, rushed headlong into the crowd, and bore both away
-with maddening speed.
-
-The rangers, rendered furious at being played with by a single man, and
-seeing their most terrible enemy escape them, started in pursuit; but
-with his liberty the Coras had regained all his energy: he felt himself
-saved. In spite of the desperate efforts the rangers made to catch him
-up, he disappeared in the darkness.
-
-The cacique continued to fly till he felt his horse tottering under him.
-He had not loosed his hold of the horseman, who was half strangled by
-the rude embrace, and both rolled on the ground. This man wore the
-costume of the Apache Indians. The Coras regarded him for an instant
-attentively, and then a smile of contempt played round his lips.
-
-"You are not a redskin," he said, in a hollow voice; "you are only a
-paleface dog. Why put on the skin of the lion when you are a cowardly
-coyote?"
-
-The ranger, still stunned by the fall he had suffered, and the hug he
-had endured, made no reply.
-
-"I could kill you," the Indian continued; "but my vengeance would not be
-complete. You and yours must pay me for all the innocent blood you have
-shed like cowards this night. I will mark you, so that I may know you
-again."
-
-Then, with fearful coolness, the Coras threw the ranger on his back, put
-his knee on his chest, and burying his finger in the socket of his eye,
-gave it a sharp rotatory movement, and plucked out his eyeball. On this
-frightful mutilation, the wretch uttered a cry of pain impossible to
-describe. The Indian got up.
-
-"Go!" he said to him. "Now I am certain of finding you again whenever I
-want you."
-
-At this moment the sound of hoofs could be heard a short distance off:
-the rangers had evidently heard their comrade's cry, and were hurrying
-to his aid. The Coras, rushed into the bushes and disappeared. A few
-moments later the rangers came up.
-
-"Nathan, my son!" Red Cedar shouted as he leaped from his horse and
-threw himself on the body of the wounded man. "Nathan, my firstborn, is
-dead!"
-
-"No," one of the rangers answered; "but he is very bad."
-
-It was really the squatter's eldest son whom the cacique had mutilated.
-Red Cedar seized him in his arms, placed him before him on the saddle,
-and the band started again at a gallop. The rangers had accomplished
-their task: they had sixty human scalps hanging from their girdles. The
-rancheria of the Coras was no longer aught save a pile of ashes.
-
-Of all the inhabitants of this hapless village only the cacique
-survived; but he would suffice to avenge his brothers.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE VALLEY OF THE BUFFALO.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate, on leaving his son, remounted his horse and rode
-straight to Paso, to the house of Don Luciano Pérez, the _juez de
-letras_ (police magistrate).
-
-The hacendero was one of the richest landed proprietors in the country;
-and as he was thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of the depositaries
-of justice in those parts, he had consequently been careful to line his
-purse well. Here were two reasons, then, to interest the judge in his
-favour, and this really happened.
-
-The worthy Don Luciano shuddered on hearing the details of what had
-occurred between Don Pablo and the squatters. He swore that he would,
-without delay, take an exemplary vengeance for this starting felony on
-the part of the heretic dogs, and that it was high time to bring them
-reason. Confirming himself more and more in his resolution, he buckled
-on his sword, gave orders to twenty well-armed alguaciles to mount, and
-placing himself at the head of this numerous escort, he proceeded toward
-Buffalo Valley.
-
-Don Miguel had witnessed with secret annoyance all these formidable
-preparations. He placed but slight confidence in the courage of the
-policemen, and he would have preferred the judge leaving him master to
-act as he pleased. He had even adroitly attempted to obtain from Don
-Luciano a regular warrant, which he would have executed however he might
-think proper; but the judge, burning with an unusual warlike ardor, and
-spurred on by the large sum he had received, would listen to nothing,
-but insisted on himself taking the head of the expedition.
-
-Don Luciano Pérez was a plump little man of about sixty years of age,
-round as a tub, with a jolly face, adorned with a rubicund nose and two
-cunning little eyes. This man cordially detested the North Americans;
-and, in the courageous deed he was committing at this moment, hatred was
-as much the instigation as avarice.
-
-The little band set out at a canter, and proceeded rapidly toward the
-forest. The judge hurled fire and flames at the audacious usurpers, as
-he called them; he spoke of nothing less than killing them without
-mercy, if they attempted even the slightest resistance to the orders he
-was about to give them. Don Miguel, who was much calmer, and foreboded
-no good from this great wrath, sought in vain to pacify him by telling
-him that he would in all probability have to do with men difficult to
-intimidate, against whom coolness would be the best weapon.
-
-They gradually approached. The hacendero, in order to shorten the
-journey, had led the band by a cross road, which saved at least
-one-third the distance; and the first trees of the forest already
-appeared about two miles off. The mischief produced by the squatters was
-much more considerable than Don Pablo had represented to his father;
-and, at the first glance, it seemed impossible that, in so short a time,
-four men, even though working vigorously, could have accomplished it.
-The finest trees lay on the ground; enormous piles of planks were
-arranged at regular distances, and on the San Pedro an already completed
-raft only awaited a few more stems of trees to be thrust into the water.
-
-Don Miguel could not refrain from sighing at the sight of the
-devastation committed in one of his best forests; but the nearer they
-approached the spot where they expected to meet the squatters, the more
-lukewarm grew the warlike zeal of the judge and his acolytes, and the
-hacendero soon found himself compelled to urge them on, instead of
-restraining them as he had hitherto done. Suddenly the sound of an axe
-re-echoed a few paces ahead of the band. The judge impelled by the
-feeling of his duty, and shame of appearing frightened, advanced boldly
-in the direction of the sound, followed by his escort.
-
-"Stop!" a rough voice shouted at the moment the policemen turned the
-corner of a lane.
-
-With that instinct of self-preservation which never abandons them, the
-alguaciles stopped as if their horses' feet had been suddenly welded to
-the ground. Ten paces from them stood a man in the centre of the ride,
-leaning on an American rifle. The judge turned to Don Miguel with such
-an expression of hesitation and honest terror that the hacendero could
-not refrain from laughing.
-
-"Come, courage, Don Luciano," he said to him. "This man is alone; he
-cannot venture to bar our passage."
-
-"_Con mil diablos!_" the judge exclaimed, ashamed of this impression
-which he could not master, and frowning portentously, "forward, you
-fellows, and fire on that scoundrel if he make but a sign to resist
-you."
-
-The alguaciles set out again with prudential hesitation.
-
-"Stop! I tell you again," the squatter repeated. "Did you not hear the
-order I gave you!"
-
-The judge, reassured by the presence of the hacendero, then advanced,
-and said with a tone which he strove to render terrible, but which was
-only ridiculous through the terror he revealed,--
-
-"I, Don Luciano Pérez, _juez de letras_ of the town of Paso, have come,
-by virtue of the powers delegated to me by the Government, to summon you
-and your adherents to quit within twenty-four hours this forest you have
-illegally entered, and which--"
-
-"Ta, ta!" the stranger shouted, rudely interrupting the judge, and
-stamping his foot savagely. "I care as much for all your words and laws
-as I do for an old moccasin. The ground belongs to the first comers. We
-are comfortable here, and mean to remain."
-
-"Your language is very bold, young man," Don Miguel then said. "You do
-not consider that you are alone, and that, failing other rights, we have
-strength on our side."
-
-The squatter burst into a laugh.
-
-"You believe that," he said. "Learn, stranger, that I care as little for
-the ten humbugs I now have before me as I do for a woodcock, and that
-they will do well to leave me at peace, unless they want to learn the
-weight of my arm at their expense. However, here is my father; settle it
-with him."
-
-And he began carelessly whistling "Yankee Doodle." At the same instant
-three men, at the head of whom was Red Cedar, appeared on the path. At
-the sight of these unexpected reinforcements for their arrogant enemy
-the alguaciles made a movement in retreat. The affair was becoming
-singularly complicated, and threatened to assume proportions very grave
-for them.
-
-"Halloh! What's up?" the old man asked roughly. "Anything wrong,
-Sutter?"
-
-"These people," the young man answered, shrugging his shoulders
-contemptuously, "are talking about driving us from the forest by virtue
-of some order."
-
-"Halloh!" Red Cedar said, his eyes flashing as he cast a savage glance
-at the Mexicans. "The only law I recognise in the desert," he continued
-with a gesture of terrible energy as he struck his rifle barrel, "is
-this. Withdraw, strangers, if you do not wish blood to be shed between
-us. I am a peaceful man, wishing to do no one hurt; but I warn you that
-I will not allow myself to be kicked out without striking a blow."
-
-"You will not be turned out," the judge remarked timidly; "on the
-contrary, you have seized on what belongs to other people."
-
-"I won't listen to your arguments, which I do not understand," the
-squatter roughly exclaimed. "God gave the ground to man that he might
-labour on it. Every proprietor that does not fulfil this condition
-tacitly renounces his rights, and the earth then becomes the property of
-the man who tills it with the sweat of his brow; so go to the devil! Be
-off at full speed, if you do not wish harm to happen to you!"
-
-"We will not suffer ourselves to be intimidated by your threats," the
-judge said, impelled by his anger, and forgetting for a moment his
-alarm; "we will do our duty, whatever may happen."
-
-"Try it," Red Cedar said with a grin.
-
-And he made a sign to his sons. The latter arranged themselves in a
-single line, and occupied the entire width of the path.
-
-"In the name of the law," the judge said with energy, as he pointed out
-the old man, "alguaciles, seize that person."
-
-But, as so frequently happens under similar circumstances, this order
-was more easy to give than to execute. Red Cedar and his sons did not
-appear at all disposed to let themselves be collared. We must, however,
-do the alguaciles the justice of stating that they did not hesitate for
-a moment. They plainly refused to carry out the order they had received.
-
-"For the last time, will you be off?" the squatter shouted. "Let them
-have it."
-
-His three sons raised their rifles. At this movement, which removed all
-doubts that might still remain on their minds, and which proved to them
-that the squatters would not hesitate to proceed to extremities, the
-alguaciles were seized with an invincible terror. They turned bridle and
-galloped off at full speed, followed by the yells of the Americans.
-
-One man alone remained motionless before the squatters--Don Miguel
-Zarate. Red Cedar had not recognised him, either owing to the distance
-that separated them, or because the hacendero had purposely pulled over
-his eyes his broad-brimmed hat. Don Miguel dismounted, placed the
-pistols from his holsters through his belt, fastened his horse to a
-tree, and coolly throwing his rifle across his shoulders, boldly
-advanced toward the squatters. The latter, surprised by the courage of
-this man, who alone attempted what his comrades had given up all hopes
-of achieving, let him come up to them without offering the slightest
-opposition. When Don Miguel was a couple of paces from the old squatter;
-he stopped, put the butt of his rifle on the ground, and removing his
-hat, said,--
-
-"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar?"
-
-"Don Miguel Zarate!" the bandit shouted in surprise.
-
-"As the judge deserts me," the hacendero continued, "and fled like a
-coward before your threats, I am obliged to take justice for myself,
-and, by heavens! I will do so! Red Cedar, I, as owner of this forest, in
-which you have settled without permission, order you to depart at once."
-
-The young men exchanged a few muttered threats.
-
-"Silence!" Red Cedar commanded. "Let the caballero speak."
-
-"I have finished, and await your answer."
-
-The squatter appeared to reflect deeply for a few minutes.
-
-"The answer you demand is difficult to give," he at length said: "my
-position toward you is not a free one."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because I owe you my life."
-
-"I dispense you from all gratitude."
-
-"That is possible. You are at liberty to do so; but I cannot forget the
-service you rendered me."
-
-"It is of little consequence."
-
-"Much more than you fancy, caballero. I may be, through my character,
-habits, and the mode of life I lead, beyond the law of civilised beings;
-but I am not the less a man, and if of the worst sort, perhaps, I no
-more forget a kindness than I do an insult."
-
-"Prove it, then, by going away as quickly as you can, and then we shall
-be quits."
-
-The squatter shook his head.
-
-"Listen to me, Don Miguel," he said. "You have in this country the
-reputation of being the providence of the unfortunate. I know from
-myself the extent of your kindness and courage. It is said that you
-possess an immense fortune, of which you do not yourself know the
-extent."
-
-"Well, what then?" the hacendero impatiently interrupted him.
-
-"The damage I can commit here, even if I cut down all the trees in the
-forest, would be but a trifle to you; then whence comes the fury you
-display to drive me out?"
-
-"Your question is just, and I will answer it. I demand your departure
-from my estates, because, only a few days back, my son was grievously
-wounded by your lads, who led him into a cowardly snare; and if he
-escaped death, it was only through a miracle. That is the reason why we
-cannot live side by side, for blood severs us."
-
-Red Cedar frowned.
-
-"Is this true?" he said, addressing his sons.
-
-The young men only hung their heads in reply.
-
-"I am waiting," Don Miguel went on.
-
-"Come, the question cannot be settled thus, so we will proceed to my
-jacal."
-
-"For what purpose? I ask you for a yes or no."
-
-"I cannot answer you yet. We must have a conversation together, after
-which you shall decide to my future conduct. Follow me, then, without
-fear."
-
-"I fear nothing, as I believe I have proved to you. Go on, as you demand
-it: I will follow you."
-
-Red Cedar made his sons a sign to remains here they were, and proceeded
-with long strides toward his jacal, which was but a short distance off.
-Don Miguel walked carelessly after him. They entered the cabin. It was
-deserted. The two females were doubtless also occupied in the forest.
-Red Cedar closed the door after him, sat down on a bench, made his guest
-a sign to do the same, and began speaking in a low and measured voice,
-as if afraid what he had to say might be heard outside.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE ASSASSINATION.
-
-
-"Listen to me, Don Miguel," Red Cedar said, "and pray do not mistake my
-meaning. I have not the slightest intention of intimidating you, nor do
-I think of attempting to gain your confidence by revelations which you
-may fairly assume I have accidentally acquired."
-
-The hacendero regarded with amazement the speaker, whose tone and
-manner had so suddenly changed.
-
-"I do not understand you," he said to him. "Explain yourself more
-clearly, for the words you have just uttered are an enigma, the key to
-which I seek in vain."
-
-"You shall be satisfied, caballero; and if you do not catch the meaning
-of my words this time it must be because you will not. Like all
-intelligent men, you are wearied of the incessant struggles in which the
-vital strength of your country is exhausted unprofitably. You have seen
-that a land so rich, so fertile, so gloriously endowed as Mexico, could
-not--I should say ought not--to remain longer the plaything of paltry
-ambitions, and the arena on which all these transitory tyrannies sport
-in turn. For nearly thirty years you have dreamed of emancipation, not
-of your entire country, for that would be too rude a task, and
-unrealisable; but you said to yourself, 'Let us render New Mexico
-independent; form it into a new State, governed by wise laws rigorously
-executed. By liberal institutions let us give an impetus to all the
-riches with which it is choked, give intellect all the liberty it
-requires, and perhaps within a few years the entire Mexican
-Confederation, amazed by the magnificent results I shall obtain, will
-follow my example. Then I shall die happy at what I have effected--my
-object will be carried out. I shall have saved my country from the abyss
-over which it hangs, through the double pressure of the invasion of the
-American Union and the exhaustion of the Spanish race.' Are not those
-ideas yours, caballero? Do you consider that I have explained myself
-clearly this time?"
-
-"Perhaps so, though I do not yet see distinctly the point you wish to
-reach. The thoughts you attribute to me are such as naturally occur to
-all men who sincerely love their country, and I will not pretend that I
-have not entertained them."
-
-"You would be wrong in doing so, for they are great and noble, and
-breathe the purest patriotism."
-
-"A truce to compliments, and let us come to the point, for time
-presses."
-
-"Patience: I have not yet ended. These ideas must occur to you sooner
-than to another, as you are the descendant of the first Aztec kings, and
-born defender of the Indians in this hapless country. You see that I am
-well acquainted with you, Don Miguel Zarate."
-
-"Too well, perhaps," the Mexican gentleman muttered.
-
-The squatter smiled and went on:--
-
-"It is not chance that led me to this country. I knew what I was doing,
-and why I came. Don Miguel, the hour is a solemn one. All your
-preparations are made: will you hesitate to give New Mexico the signal
-which must render it independent of the metropolis which has so long
-been fattening at its expense? Answer me."
-
-Don Miguel started. He fixed on the squatter a burning glance, in which
-admiration at the man's language could be read. Red Cedar shrugged his
-shoulders.
-
-"What! You still doubt?" he said.
-
-He rose, went to a box from which he took some papers, and threw them on
-the table before the hacendero, saying,--
-
-"Read."
-
-Don Miguel hurriedly seized the papers, and ran his eye over them.
-
-"Well?" he asked, looking fixedly at the strange speaker.
-
-"You see," the squatter answered, "that I am your accomplice. General
-Ibañez, your agent in Mexico, is in correspondence with me, as is Mr.
-Wood, your agent at New York."
-
-"It is true," the Mexican said coldly, "you have the secret of the
-conspiracy. The only point left is to what extent that goes."
-
-"I possess it entirely. I have orders to enlist the volunteers who will
-form the nucleus of the insurrectionary army."
-
-"Good!"
-
-"Now, you see, by these letters of General Ibañez and Mr. Wood, that I
-am commissioned by them to come to an understanding with you, and
-receive your final orders."
-
-"I see it."
-
-"What do you purpose doing?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"What, nothing!" the squatter exclaimed, bounding with surprise. "You
-are jesting, I suppose."
-
-"Listen to me in your turn, and pay attention to my words, for they
-express my irrevocable resolution. I know not nor care to know, by what
-means, more or less honourable, you have succeeded in gaining the
-confidence of my partners, and becoming master of our secrets. Still it
-is my firm conviction that a cause which employs such men as yourself is
-compromised, if not lost; hence I renounce every combination in which
-you are called to play a part. Your antecedents, and the life you lead,
-have placed you without the pale of the law."
-
-"I am a bandit--out with it! What matter so long as you succeed? Does
-not the end justify the means?"
-
-"That may be your morality, but it will never be mine. I repudiate all
-community of ideas with men of your stamp. I will not have you either as
-accomplice or partner."
-
-The squatter darted a look at him laden with hatred and disappointment.
-
-"In serving us," Don Miguel continued, "you can only have an interested
-object, which I will not take the trouble of guessing at. An
-Anglo-American will never frankly aid a Mexican to conquer his liberty;
-he would lose too much by doing it."
-
-"Then?"
-
-"I renounce forever the projects I had formed. I had, I grant, dreamed
-of restoring to my country the independence of which it was unjustly
-stripped: but it shall remain a dream."
-
-"That is your last word?"
-
-"The last."
-
-"You refuse?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Good; then I now know what is left me to do."
-
-"Well, what is it? Let me hear," the hacendero said, as he crossed his
-arms on his breast, and looked him boldly in the face.
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-"I am waiting for you to do so."
-
-"I hold your secret."
-
-"Entirely?"
-
-"Hence you are in my power."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Who will prevent me going to the Governor of the State and denouncing
-you?"
-
-"He will not believe you."
-
-"You think so?"
-
-"I am sure of it."
-
-"Perhaps, I will say in my turn."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Oh! you shall easily see."
-
-"I am curious to learn it."
-
-"However rich you may be, Don Miguel Zarate, and perhaps because of
-those very riches, and in spite of the kindness you sow broadcast, the
-number of your enemies is very considerable."
-
-"I know it."
-
-"Very good. Those enemies will joyfully seize the first opportunity that
-presents itself to destroy you."
-
-"It is probable."
-
-"You see, then. When I go to the governor and tell him you are
-conspiring, and, in support of my denunciation, hand him not only these
-letters, but, several others written and signed by you, lying in that
-chest, do you believe that the governor will treat me as an impostor,
-and refuse to arrest you?"
-
-"Then you have letters in my hand-writing?"
-
-"I have three, which will be enough to have you shot."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-"Yes. Hang it all! you understand: that, in an affair so important as
-this, it is wise to take one's precautions, for no one knows what may
-happen; and men of my stamp," he added, with an ironical smile, "have
-more reasons than others for being prudent."
-
-"Come, that is well played," the hacendero said, carelessly.
-
-"Is it not?"
-
-"Yes, and I compliment you on it: you are a better player than I gave
-you credit for."
-
-"Oh! You do not know me yet."
-
-"The little I do know suffices me."
-
-"Then?"
-
-"We will remain as we are, if you will permit me."
-
-"You still refuse?"
-
-"More than ever."
-
-The squatter frowned.
-
-"Take care, Don Miguel," he muttered, hoarsely. "I will do what I told
-you."
-
-"Yes, if I allow you time."
-
-"Eh?"
-
-"_Caspita!_ If you are a clever scamp, I am not altogether a fool. Do
-you believe, in your turn, that I will let myself be intimidated by your
-threats, and that I should not find means to keep you from acting, not
-for my own sake, as I care little personally for what you can do, but
-for my friends, who are men of honour, and whose lives I do not wish to
-be compromised by your treachery?"
-
-"I am curious to know the means you will employ to obtain this result."
-
-"You shall see," Don Miguel replied with perfect coolness.
-
-"Well?"
-
-"I shall kill you."
-
-"Oh, oh!" the squatter said, as he looked complacently at his muscular
-limbs, "That is not easy."
-
-"More so than you suppose, my master."
-
-"Hum! and when do you reckon on killing me?"
-
-"At once!"
-
-The two men were seated in front of the hearth, each at the end of a
-bench: the table was between them, but a little back, so that while
-talking they only leaned an elbow on it. While uttering the last word,
-Don Miguel bounded like a tiger on the squatter, who did not at all
-expect the attack, seized him by the throat, and hurled him to the
-ground. The two enemies rolled on the uneven flooring of the jacal.
-
-The Mexican's attack had been so sudden and well directed that the
-half-strangled squatter, in spite of his Herculean strength, could not
-free himself from his enemy's iron clutch, which pressed his throat like
-a vice. Red Cedar could neither utter a cry nor offer the slightest
-resistance: the Mexican's knee crushed his chest, while his fingers
-pressed into his throat.
-
-So soon as he had reduced the wretch to utter impotence, Don Miguel drew
-from his vaquera boot a long sharp knife, and buried the entire blade in
-his body. The bandit writhed convulsively for a few seconds; a livid
-pallor suffused his face; his eyes closed, and he then remained
-motionless. Don Miguel left the weapon in the wound, and slowly rose.
-
-"Ah, ah!" he muttered as he gazed at him with a sardonic air, "I fancy
-that rogue will not denounce me now."
-
-Without loss of time he seized the letters lying on the table, took from
-the box the few documents he found in it, hid them all in his bosom,
-opened the door of the cabin, which he carefully closed after him, and
-went off with long strides.
-
-The squatter's sons had not quitted their post; but, so soon as they
-perceived the Mexican, they went up to him.
-
-"Well," Shaw asked him, "have you come to an understanding with the old
-man?"
-
-"Perfectly so," the Mexican answered.
-
-"Then the affair is settled?"
-
-"Yes, to our mutual satisfaction."
-
-"All the better," the young men exclaimed joyously.
-
-The hacendero unfastened his horse and mounted.
-
-"Good-bye, gentlemen!" he said to them.
-
-"Good-bye!" they replied, returning his bow.
-
-The Mexican put his horse to a trot, but at the first turn in the road
-he dug his spurs into its flanks, and started at full speed.
-
-"Now," Sutter observed, "I believe that we can proceed to the cabin
-without inconvenience."
-
-And they gently walked toward the jacal, pleasantly conversing together.
-
-Don Miguel, however, had not succeeded so fully as he imagined. Red
-Cedar was not dead, for the old bandit kept a firm hold on life.
-Attacked unawares, the squatter had not attempted a resistance, which he
-saw at the first glance was useless, and would only have exasperated his
-adversary. With marvellous sagacity, on feeling the knife blade enter
-his body, he stiffened himself against the pain, and resolved on
-"playing 'possum;" that is to say, feigning death. The success of his
-stratagem was complete. Don Miguel, persuaded that he had killed him,
-did not dream of repeating his thrust.
-
-So long as his enemy remained in the jacal the squatter was careful not
-to make the slightest movement that might have betrayed him; but, so
-soon as he was alone, he opened his eyes, rose with an effort, drew the
-dagger from the wound, which emitted a jet of black blood, and looking
-at the door, through which his assassin had departed, with a glance so
-full of hatred that it is impossible to describe, he muttered,--
-
-"Now we are quits, Don Miguel Zarate, since you have tried to take back
-the life of him you saved. Pray God never to bring us face to face
-again!"
-
-He uttered a deep sigh, and rolled heavily on the ground in a fainting
-fit. At this moment his sons entered the cabin.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE SACHEM OF THE CORAS.
-
-
-A few days after the events we have described in the previous chapter
-there was one of those lovely mornings which are not accorded to our
-cold climates to know. The sun poured down in profusion its warm beams,
-which caused the pebbles and sand to glisten in the walks of the garden
-of the Hacienda de la Noria. In a clump of flowering orange and lemon
-trees, whose sweet exhalations perfumed the air, and beneath a copse of
-cactus, nopals, and aloes, a maiden was asleep, carelessly reclining in
-a hammock made of the thread of the _Phormium tenax,_ which hung between
-two orange trees.
-
-With her head thrown back, her long black hair unfastened, and falling
-in disorder on her neck and bosom; with her coral lips parted, and
-displaying the dazzling pearl of her teeth, Doña Clara (for it was she
-who slept thus with an infantile slumber) was really charming. Her
-features breathed happiness, for not a cloud had yet arisen to perturb
-the azure horizon of her calm and tranquil life.
-
-It was nearly midday: there was not a breath in the air. The sunbeams,
-pouring down vertically, rendered the heat so stifling and
-unsupportable, that everyone in the hacienda had yielded to sleep, and
-was enjoying what is generally called in hot countries the _siesta._
-Still, at a short distance from the spot where Doña Clara reposed, calm
-and smiling, a sound of footsteps, at first almost imperceptible, but
-gradually heightening, was heard, and a man made his appearance. It was
-Shaw, the youngest of the squatter's sons. How was he at this spot?
-
-The young man was panting, and the perspiration poured down his cheeks.
-On reaching the entrance of the clump he bent an anxious glance on the
-hammock.
-
-"She is there," he murmured with a passionate accent. "She sleeps."
-
-Then he fell on his knees upon the sand, and began admiring the maiden,
-dumb and trembling. He remained thus a long time, with his glance fixed
-on the slumberer with a strange expression. At length he uttered a sigh
-and tearing himself with an effort from this delicious contemplation, he
-rose sadly, muttering in a whisper,--
-
-"I must go--if she were to wake--oh, she will never know how much I love
-her!"
-
-He plucked an orange flower, and softly laid it on the maiden; then he
-walked a few steps from her, but almost immediately returning, he
-seized, with a nervous hand, Doña Clara's _rebozo,_ which hung down from
-the hammock, and pressed it to his lips several times, saying, in a
-voice broken by the emotion he felt,--
-
-"It has touched her hair."
-
-And rushing from the thicket, he crossed the garden and disappeared. He
-had heard footsteps approaching. In fact, a few seconds after his
-departure, Don Miguel, in his turn, entered the copse.
-
-"Come, come," he said gaily, as he shook the hammock, "sleeper, will you
-not have finished your siesta soon?"
-
-Doña Clara opened her eyes, with a smile.
-
-"I am no longer asleep, father," she said.
-
-"Very good. That is the answer I like."
-
-And he stepped forward to kiss her; but, with sudden movement, the
-maiden drew herself back as if she had seen some frightful vision, and
-her face was covered with a livid pallor.
-
-"What is the matter with you?" the hacendero exclaimed with terror.
-
-The girl showed him the orange flower.
-
-"Well," her father continued, "what is there so terrific in that flower?
-It must have fallen from the tree during your sleep."
-
-Doña Clara shook her head sadly.
-
-"No," she said: "for some days past I have always noticed, on waking a
-similar flower thrown on me."
-
-"You are absurd; chance alone is to blame for it all. Come, think no
-more about it; you are pale as death, child. Why frighten yourself thus
-about a trifle? Besides the remedy may be easily found. If so afraid of
-flowers now, why not take your siesta in your bedroom, instead of
-burying yourself in this thicket?"
-
-"That is true, father," the girl said, all joyous, and no longer
-thinking of the fear she had undergone. "I will follow your advice."
-
-"Come, that is settled, so say no more about it. Now give me a kiss."
-
-The maiden threw herself into her father's arms, whom she stifled with
-kisses. Both sat down on a grassy mound, and commenced one of those
-delicious chit-chats whose charm only those who are parents can properly
-appreciate. Presently a peon came up.
-
-"What has brought you?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Excellency," the peon answered, "a redskin warrior has just arrived at
-the hacienda, who desires speech with you."
-
-"Do you know him?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Yes, Excellency; it is Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras of the Rio
-San Pedro."
-
-"Mookapec! (Flying Eagle)" the hacendero repeated with surprise. "What
-can have brought him to me? Lead him here."
-
-The peon retired and in a few minutes returned, preceding Eagle-wing.
-
-The chief had donned the great war-dress of the sachems of his nation.
-His hair, plaited with the skin of a rattlesnake, was drawn up on the
-top of his head; in the centre an eagle plume was affixed. A blouse of
-striped calico, adorned with a profusion of bells, descended to his
-thighs, which were defended from the stings of mosquitoes by drawers of
-the same stuff. He wore moccasins made of peccary skin, adorned with
-glass beads and porcupine quills. To his heels were fastened several
-wolves' tails, the distinguishing mark of renowned warriors. Round his
-loins was a belt of elk hide, through which passed his knife, his pipe
-and his medicine bag. His neck was adorned by a collar of grizzly bear
-claws and buffalo teeth. Finally, a magnificent robe of a white female
-buffalo hide, painted red inside, was fastened to his shoulders, and
-fell down behind him like a cloak. In his right hand he held a fan
-formed of a single eagle's wing, and in his left hand an American rifle.
-There was something imposing and singularly martial in the appearance
-and demeanor of this savage child of the forest.
-
-On entering the thicket, he bowed gracefully to Doña Clara, and then
-stood motionless and dumb before Don Miguel. The Mexican regarded him
-attentively, and saw an expression of gloomy melancholy spread over the
-Indian chief's features.
-
-"My brother is welcome," the hacendero said to him. "To what do I owe
-the pleasure of seeing him?"
-
-The chief cast a side glance at the maiden. Don Miguel understood what
-he desired, and made Doña Clara a sign to withdraw. They remained alone.
-
-"My brother can speak," the hacendero then said; "the ears of a friend
-are open."
-
-"Yes, my father is good," the chief replied in his guttural voice. "He
-loves the Indians: unhappily all the palefaces do not resemble him."
-
-"What does my brother mean? Has he cause to complain of anyone?"
-
-The Indian smiled sadly.
-
-"Where is there justice for the redskins?" he said. "The Indians are
-animals: the Great Spirit has not given them a soul, as He has done for
-the palefaces, and it is not a crime to kill them."
-
-"Come, chief, pray do not speak longer in riddles, but explain why you
-have quitted your tribe. It is far from Rio San Pedro to this place."
-
-"Mookapec is alone: his tribe no longer exists."
-
-"How?"
-
-"The palefaces came in the night, like jaguars without courage. They
-burned the village, and massacred all the inhabitants, even to the women
-and little children."
-
-"Oh, that is frightful!" the hacendero murmured, in horror.
-
-"Ah!" the chief continued with an accent full of terrible irony, "The
-scalps of the redskins are sold dearly."
-
-"And do you know the men who committed this atrocious crime?"
-
-"Mookapec knows them, and will avenge himself."
-
-"Tell me their chief, if you know his name."
-
-"I know it. The palefaces call him Red Cedar, the Indians the Maneater."
-
-"Oh! As for him, chief, you are avenged, for he is dead."
-
-"My father is mistaken."
-
-"How so? Why, I killed him myself."
-
-The Indian shook his head.
-
-"Red Cedar has a hard life," he said: "the blade of the knife my father
-used was too short. Red Cedar is wounded, but in a few days he will be
-about again, ready to kill and scalp the Indians."
-
-This news startled the hacendero: the enemy he fancied he had got rid
-of still lived, and he would have to begin a fresh struggle.
-
-"My father must take care," the chief continued. "Red Cedar has sworn to
-be avenged."
-
-"Oh! I will not leave him the time. This man is a demon, of whom the
-earth must be purged at all hazards, before his strength has returned,
-and he begins his assassinations again."
-
-"I will aid my father in his vengeance."
-
-"Thanks, chief. I do not refuse your offer: perhaps I shall soon need
-the help of all my friends. And now, what do you purpose doing?"
-
-"Since the palefaces reject him, Eagle-wing will retire to the desert.
-He has friends among the Comanches. They are redskins, and will welcome
-him gladly."
-
-"I will not strive to combat your determination, chief, for it is just;
-and if, at a later date, you take terrible reprisals on the white men,
-they will have no cause of complaint, for they have brought it on
-themselves. When does my brother start?"
-
-"At sunset."
-
-"Rest here today: tomorrow will be soon enough to set out."
-
-"Mookapec must depart this day."
-
-"Act as you think proper. Have you a horse?"
-
-"No; but at the first manada I come to I will lasso one."
-
-"I do not wish you to set out thus, but will give you a horse."
-
-"Thanks; my father is good. The Indian chief will remember--"
-
-"Come, you shall choose for yourself."
-
-"I have still a few words to say to my father."
-
-"Speak, chief; I am listening to you."
-
-"Koutonepi, the pale hunter, begged me to give my father an important
-warning."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"A great danger threatens my father. Koutonepi wishes to see him as soon
-as possible, in order himself to tell him its nature."
-
-"Good! My brother will tell the hunter that I shall be tomorrow at the
-'clearing of the shattered oak,' and await him there till night."
-
-"I will faithfully repeat my father's words to the hunter."
-
-The two men then quitted the garden, and hurriedly proceeded toward the
-hacienda. Don Miguel let the chief choose his own horse, and while the
-sachem was harnessing his steed in the Indian fashion, he withdrew to
-his bedroom, and sent for his son to join him. The young man had
-perfectly recovered from his wound. His father told him that he was
-obliged to absent himself for some days: he intrusted to him the
-management of the hacienda, while recommending him on no consideration
-to leave the farm, and to watch attentively over his sister. The young
-man promised him all he wished, happy at enjoying perfect liberty for a
-few days.
-
-After embracing his son and daughter for the last time Don Miguel
-proceeded to the _patio_, where in the meanwhile, the chief had been
-amusing himself by making the magnificent horse he had chosen curvet.
-Don Miguel admired for several moments the Indian's skill and grace, for
-he managed a horse as well as the first Mexican _jinete;_ then mounted,
-and the two men proceeded together toward the Paso del Norte, which they
-must cross in order to enter the desert, and reach the clearing of the
-shattered oak.
-
-The journey passed in silence, for the two men were deeply reflecting.
-At the moment they entered Paso the sun was setting on the horizon in a
-bed of red mist, which foreboded a storm for the night. At the entrance
-of the village they separated; and on the morrow, as we have seen in our
-first chapter, Don Miguel set out at daybreak, and galloped to the
-clearing.
-
-We will now end this lengthy parenthesis, which was, however,
-indispensable for the due comprehension of the facts that are about to
-follow, and take up our story again at the point where we left it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-CONVERSATION.
-
-
-Valentine Guillois, whom we have already introduced to the reader in
-previous works[1], had inhabited, or, to speak more correctly, traversed
-the vast solitudes of Mexico and Texas during the past five or six
-years. We saw him just now accompanied by the Araucano chief. These two
-men were the boldest hunters on the frontier. At times, when they had
-collected an ample harvest of furs, they went to sell them in the
-villages, renewed their stock of powder and ball, purchased a few
-indispensable articles, and then returned to the desert.
-
-Now and then they engaged themselves for a week, or even a fortnight,
-with the proprietors of the haciendas, to free them from the wild beasts
-that desolated their herds; but so soon as the ferocious animals were
-destroyed, and the reward obtained, no matter the brilliancy of the
-offers made them by the landowners, the two men threw their rifles on
-their shoulders and went off.
-
-No one knew who they were, or whence they came. Valentine and his friend
-maintained the most complete silence as to the events of their life
-which had preceded their appearance in these parts. Only one thing had
-betrayed the nationality of Valentine, whom his comrade called
-Koutonepi, a word belonging to the language of the Aucas, and signifying
-"The Valiant." On his chest the hunter wore the cross of the Legion of
-Honor. The deeds of every description performed by these hunters were
-incalculable, and their stories were the delight of the frontier
-dwellers during the winter night. The number of tigers they had killed
-was no longer counted.
-
-Chance had one day made them acquainted with Don Miguel Zarate under
-strange circumstances, and since then an uninterrupted friendship had
-been maintained between them. Don Miguel, during a tempestuous night,
-namely, had only owed his life to the accuracy of Valentine's aim, who
-sent a bullet through the head of the Mexican's horse at the moment
-when, mad with terror, and no longer obeying the bridle, it was on the
-point of leaping into an abyss with its master. Don Miguel had sworn
-eternal gratitude to his saviour.
-
-Valentine and Curumilla had made themselves the tutors of the
-hacendero's children, who, for their part, felt a deep friendship for
-the hunters. Don Pablo had frequently made long hunting parties in the
-desert with them; and it was to them he owed the certainty of his aim,
-his skill in handling weapons, and his knack in taming horses.
-
-No secrets existed between Don Miguel and the hunters: they read in his
-mind as in an ever open book. They were the disinterested confidants of
-his plans; for these rude wood rangers esteemed him, and only required
-for themselves one thing--the liberty of the desert. Still, despite the
-sympathy and friendship which so closely connected these different
-persons, and the confidence which formed the basis of that friendship,
-Don Miguel and his children had never been able to obtain from the
-hunters information as to the events that had passed prior to their
-arrival in this country.
-
-Frequently Don Miguel, impelled, not by curiosity, but merely by the
-interest he felt in them, had tried, by words cleverly thrown into the
-conversation, to give them an opening for confidence; but Valentine had
-always repelled those hints, though cleverly enough for Don Miguel not
-to feel offended by this want of confidence. With Curumilla they had
-been even more simple. Wrapped in his Indian stoicism, intrenched in his
-habitual sullenness, he was wont to answer all questions by a shake of
-the head, but nothing further.
-
-At length, weary of the attempt, the hacendero and his family had given
-up trying to read those secrets which their friends seemed obstinately
-determined to keep from them. Still the friendship subsisting between
-them had not grown cold in consequence, and it was always with equal
-pleasure that Don Miguel met the hunters again after a lengthened ramble
-in the prairies, which kept them away from his house for whole months at
-a time.
-
-The hunter and the Mexican were seated by the fire, while Curumilla,
-armed with his scalping knife, was busy flaying the two jaguars so
-skillfully killed by Don Miguel, and which were magnificent brutes.
-
-"Eh, _compadre!_" Don Miguel said with a laugh; "I was beginning to lose
-patience, and fancy you had forgotten the meeting you had yourself given
-me."
-
-"I never forgot anything, as you know," Valentine answered seriously;
-"and if I did not arrive sooner, it was because the road is long from my
-jacal to this clearing."
-
-"Heaven forbid that I should reproach you, my friend! Still I confess to
-you that the prospect of passing the night alone in this forest only
-slightly pleased me, and I should have been off had you not arrived
-before sunset."
-
-"You would have done wrong, Don Miguel: what I have to tell you is of
-the utmost importance to you. Who knows what the result might have been
-had I not been able to warn you?"
-
-"You alarm me, my friend."
-
-"I will explain. In the first place let me tell you that you committed,
-a few days back, a grave imprudence, whose consequences threaten to be
-most serious for you."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"I said one, but ought to have said two."
-
-"I am waiting till you think proper to express yourself more clearly,"
-Don Miguel said with a slight tinge of impatience, "before I answer."
-
-"You have quarrelled with a North American bandit."
-
-"Red Cedar."
-
-"Yes; and when you had him in your power you let him escape, instead of
-killing him out and out."
-
-"That is true, and I was wrong. What would you? The villain has as tough
-a life as an alligator. But be at ease. If ever he fall into my hands
-again, I swear that I will not miss him."
-
-"In the meanwhile you did do so--that is the evil."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"You will understand me. This man is one of those villains, the scum of
-the United States, too many of whom have lived on the frontier during
-the last few years. I do not know how he contrived to deceive your New
-York agent; but he gained his confidence so cleverly that the latter
-told him all the secrets he knew about your enterprise."
-
-"He told me so himself."
-
-"Very good. It was then, I suppose, that you stabbed him?"
-
-"Yes, and at the same time I plucked out his claws; that is to say, I
-seized the letters he held, and which might compromise me."
-
-"A mistake. This man is too thorough-paced a scoundrel not to foresee
-all the chances of his treason. He had a last letter, the most important
-of all; and that you did not take from him."
-
-"I took three."
-
-"Yes, but there were four. As the last, however, in itself was worth as
-much as the other three, he always wore it about him in a leathern bag
-hung round his neck by a steel chain; you did not dream of looking for
-that."
-
-"But what importance can this letter, I do not even remember writing,
-possess, that you should attach such weight to it?"
-
-"It is merely the agreement drawn up between yourself, General Ibañez,
-and Mr. Wood, and bearing your three signatures."
-
-"_Con mil demonios!_" the hacendero exclaimed in terror. "In that case
-I am lost; for if this man really possesses such a document, he will not
-fail to employ it in order to be revenged on me."
-
-"Nothing is lost so long as a man's heart beats in his breast, Don
-Miguel. The position is critical, I allow, but I have saved myself in
-situations far more desperate than the one you are now in."
-
-"What is to be done?"
-
-"Red Cedar has been about again for two days. His first care, so soon as
-he could sit a horse, was to go to Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico,
-and denounce you to the Governor. That has nothing to surprise you from
-such a man."
-
-"Then I can only fly as speedily as I can?"
-
-"Wait. Every man has in his heart at least one of the seven deadly sins
-as a bait for the demon."
-
-"What are you driving at?"
-
-"You will see. Fortunately for us, Red Cedar has them all seven, I
-believe, in the finest stage of development. Avarice, before all, has
-reached its acme with him."
-
-"Well?"
-
-"This happened. Our man denounced you to the governor as a conspirator,
-etc., but was careful not to give up the proofs he possessed in support
-of the denunciation at the outset. When General Isturitz, the governor,
-asked him for these proofs, he answered that he was ready to supply them
-in exchange for the sum of one hundred thousand piastres in gold."
-
-"Ah!" the hacendero said, with a breath of relief, "and what did
-Isturitz say?"
-
-"The general is one of your most inveterate enemies, I grant, and he
-would give a good deal for the pleasure of having you shot."
-
-"That is true."
-
-"Yes, but still the sum appeared to him, as it really is, exorbitant,
-the more so as he would have to pay it all himself, as the government
-does not recognise transactions of that nature."
-
-"Well, what did Red Cedar do then?"
-
-"He did not allow himself beaten; on the contrary, he told the general
-he would give him a week to reflect, and quietly left the Cabildo."
-
-"Hum! And on what day was this visit paid?"
-
-"Yesterday morning; so that you have six days still left for action."
-
-"Six days--that is very little."
-
-"Eh?" the Frenchman said, with a shrug of his shoulders impossible to
-describe. "In my country--"
-
-"Yes, but you are Frenchmen."
-
-"That is true: hence I allow you twice the time we should require. Come,
-let us put joking aside. You are a man of more than common energy; you
-really wish the welfare of your country, so do not let yourself be
-crushed by the first reverse. Who knows but that it may all be for the
-best?"
-
-"Ah, my friend, I am alone! General Ibañez, who alone could help me in
-this critical affair, is fifty leagues off. What can I do? Nothing."
-
-"All. I foresaw your objection. Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras, has
-gone from me to warn the general. You know with what speed Indians
-travel; so he will bring us the general in a few hours, I feel
-convinced."
-
-Don Miguel regarded the hunter with mingled admiration and respect.
-
-"You have done that, my friend?" he said to him as he warmly pressed his
-hand.
-
-"By Jove!" Valentine said, gaily, "I have done something else too. When
-the time arrives I will tell you what it is. But let us not lose an
-hour. What do you intend to do for the present?"
-
-"Act."
-
-"Good: that is the way I like to hear you talk."
-
-"Yes, but I must first come to an understanding with the general."
-
-"That is true; but it is the least thing," Valentine answered, as he
-looked skyward, and attentively consulted the position of the stars. "It
-is now eight o'clock. Eagle-wing and the man he brings must be at
-midnight at the entrance of the _Cañon del Buitre_. We have four hours
-before us, and that is more than we require, as we have only ten leagues
-to go."
-
-"Let us go, let us go!" Don Miguel exclaimed eagerly.
-
-"Wait a moment; there is no such hurry. Don't be alarmed; we shall
-arrive in time."
-
-He then turned to Curumilla, and said to him in Araucano a few words
-which the hacendero did not understand. The Indian rose without
-replying, and disappeared in the density of the forest.
-
-"You know," Valentine continued, "that I prefer, through habit,
-travelling on foot; still, as under present circumstances minutes are
-precious, and we must not lose them, I have provided two horses."
-
-"You think of everything, my friend."
-
-"Yes, when I have to act for those I love," Valentine answered with a
-retrospective sigh.
-
-There was a moment's silence between the two men, and at the end of
-scarce a quarter of an hour there was a noise in the shrubs, the
-branches parted, and Curumilla re-entered the clearing, holding two
-horses by the bridle. These noble animals, which were nearly untamed
-_mustangs_, bore a striking resemblance to the steeds of the Apaches, on
-whose territory our friends now were. They were literally covered with
-eagle plumes, beads, and ribbons, while long red and white spots
-completed their disguise, and rendered it almost impossible to recognise
-them.
-
-"Mount!" Don Miguel exclaimed so soon as he saw them. "Time is slipping
-away."
-
-"One word yet," Valentine remarked.
-
-"Speak."
-
-"You still have as chaplain a certain monk by the name of 'Fray
-Ambrosio.'"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Take care of that man--he betrays you."
-
-"You believe it?"
-
-"I am sure of it."
-
-"Good! I will remember."
-
-"All right. Now we will be off," Valentine said, as he buried his spurs
-in his horse's flanks.
-
-And the three horsemen rushed into the darkness with headlong speed.
-
-
-[1] "Tiger-Slayer," etc. Same publishers.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-EL MESON.
-
-
-The day on which our story commences the village of the Paso del Norte
-presented an extraordinary appearance. The bells were ringing out full
-peals, for the three hundredth anniversary of its foundation was
-celebrated. The population of Paso, greatly diminished since the
-proclamation of Mexican independence, was hurrying to the churches,
-which flashed with silver and gold. The houses were decorated with rich
-tapestry, and the streets strewn with flowers.
-
-Toward nightfall the inhabitants, whom the intolerable heat of the
-tropical sun had kept prisoners in the interior of the houses, flocked
-out to inhale the sharp perfumes of the desert breeze, and bring back a
-little fresh air into their parched lungs. The town, which had for
-several hours appeared deserted, suddenly woke up: shouts and laughter
-were heard afresh. The walks were invaded by the mob, and in a few
-minutes the _mesóns_ were thronged with idlers, who began drinking
-pulque and mezcal, while smoking their cigarettes, and strumming the
-jarabe and vihuela.
-
-In a house of poor appearance, built like all its neighbours, of earth
-bricks, and situated at the angle formed by the Plaza Mayor and the
-Calle de la Merced, some twenty-five fellows, whom it was easy to
-recognise as adventurers by the feather in their hats, their upturned
-moustaches, and specially by the long bronzed-hilted sword they wore on
-the thigh, were drinking torrents of aguardiente and pulque at the
-gambling tables, while yelling like deaf men, swearing like pagans, and
-threatening at every moment to unsheathe their weapons.
-
-In a corner of the room occupied by these troublesome guests two men,
-seated opposite each other at a table, seemed plunged in deep thought,
-and looked round them absently, not thinking about drinking the contents
-of their glasses, which had not been emptied for more than half an hour.
-These two men presented the most striking contrast. They were still
-young. The first, aged twenty-five at the most, had one of those frank,
-honest, and energetic faces which call for sympathy, and attract
-respect. His pallid brow, his face of a delicate hue, surrounded by his
-long black curls, his straight and flexible nose, his mouth filled with
-a double row of teeth of dazzling whiteness, and surmounted by a slight
-brown moustache, gave him a stamp of distinction, which was the more
-striking owing to the strict, and perhaps common, style of his attire.
-
-He wore the costume of the wood rangers; that is to say, the Canadian
-_mitasse_, fastened round the hips, and descending to the ankle; _botas
-vaqueras_ of deer skin, fastened at the knee; and a striped zarapé of
-brilliant colours. A panama straw hat was thrown on the table, within
-reach of his hand, by the side of an American rifle and two
-double-barrelled pistols. A machete hung on his left side, and the hilt
-of a long knife peeped out of his left boot.
-
-His companion was short and thick-set; but his well-knit limbs and his
-outstanding muscles indicated no ordinary strength. His face, the
-features of which were commonplace enough, had a cunning look, which
-suddenly disappeared to make room for a certain nobility whenever under
-the influence Of any sudden emotion; his eyebrows contracted; and his
-glance, ordinarily veiled, flashed forth. He wore nearly the same garb
-as his comrade; but his hat stained with rain, and the colours of his
-zarapé faded by the sun, evidenced lengthened wear. Like the first one
-we described, he was well armed.
-
-It was easy to see at the first glance that these two men did not belong
-to the Hispano-American race, indeed, their conversation would have
-removed any doubts on that head, for they spoke in the French dialect
-employed in Canada.
-
-"Hum!" the first said, taking up his glass, which he carelessly raised
-to his lips. "After due consideration, Harry, I believe we shall do
-better by mounting our horses again, and starting, instead of remaining
-in this horrible den, amid these _gachupinos_, who croak like frogs
-before a storm."
-
-"Deuce take your impatience!" the other replied ill-temperedly. "Can't
-you remain a moment at rest?"
-
-"You call it a moment, Harry. Why, we have been here an hour."
-
-"By Jove! Dick, you're a wonderful fellow," the other continued with a
-laugh. "Do you think that business can be settled all in a moment?"
-
-"After all, what is our game? For may the old one twist my neck, or a
-grizzly give me a hug, if I know the least in the world! For five years
-we have hunted and slept side by side. We have come from Canada together
-to this place. I have grown into a habit--I cannot say why--of referring
-to you everything that concerns our mutual interests. Still I should not
-be sorry to know, if only for the rarity of the fact, why on earth we
-left the prairies, where we were so well off, to come here, where we are
-so badly off."
-
-"Have you ever repented, up to today, the confidence you placed in me?"
-
-"I do not say so, Harry. Heaven forbid! Still I think--"
-
-"You think wrong," the young man sharply interrupted. "Let me alone, and
-before three months you shall have three times your hat full of massive
-gold, or call me a fool."
-
-At this dazzling promise the eyes of Dick, the smaller of the hunters,
-glistened like two stars. He regarded his comrade with a species of
-admiration.
-
-"Oh, oh!" he said in a low voice, "It is a placer, is it?"
-
-"Hang it!" the other said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "were it not,
-should I be here? But silence, our man has arrived."
-
-In fact, a man entered at this moment. On his appearance a sudden
-silence fell on the mesón; the adventurers gambling and cursing at all
-the tables, rose as if moved by a spring, respectfully took off their
-plumed hats, and ranged themselves with downcast eyes to let him pass.
-The man remained for an instant on the threshold of the venta, took a
-profound glance at the company, and then walked toward the two hunters.
-
-This man wore the gown of a monk; he had the ascetic face, with the
-harsh features and sharply-marked lines, that forms, as it were, the
-type of the Spanish monks of which Titian has so admirably caught the
-expression on his canvas. He passed through the adventurers, holding out
-right and left his wide sleeves, which they reverentially kissed. On
-approaching the two hunters he turned round.
-
-"Continue your sports, my sons," he said to the company; "my presence
-need not disturb your frolics, for I only wish to speak for a few
-moments with those two gentlemen."
-
-The adventurers did not let the invitation be repeated, but took their
-places again tumultuously, and soon cries and oaths recommenced with
-equal intensity. The monk smiled, took a butaca, and seated himself
-between the two hunters, while bending a searching glance on them. The
-latter had followed with a mocking eye all the interludes of this little
-scene, and without making a movement, they let the monk seat himself by
-their side. So soon as he had done so, Harry poured him out a large
-glass of pulque, and placed within his reach the squares of maize leaf
-and tobacco.
-
-"Drink and smoke, señor padre," he said to him.
-
-The monk, without any observation, rolled a cigarette, emptied the glass
-of pulque at a draught, and then leaning his elbows on the table and
-bending forward, said,--
-
-"You are punctual."
-
-"We have been waiting an hour," Dick observed in a rough voice.
-
-"What is an hour in the presence of eternity?" the monk said with a
-smile.
-
-"Let us not lose any more time," Harry continued. "What have you to
-propose to us?"
-
-The monk looked around him suspiciously, and lowered his voice.
-
-"I can, if you like, make you rich in a few days."
-
-"What is the business?" Dick asked.
-
-"Of course," the monk continued, "this fortune I offer you is a matter
-of indifference to me. If I have an ardent desire to obtain it, it is,
-in the first place, because it belongs to nobody, and will permit me to
-relieve the wretchedness of the thousands of beings confided to my
-charge."
-
-"Of course, señor padre," Harry answered seriously. "Let us not weigh
-longer on these details. According to what you told me a few days back,
-you have discovered a rich placer."
-
-"Not I," the monk sharply objected.
-
-"No consequence, provided that it exists," Dick answered.
-
-"Pardon me, but it is of great consequence to me. I do not wish to take
-on myself the responsibility of such a discovery. If, as I believe,
-people will go in search of it, it may entail the death of several
-persons, and the church abhors bloodshed."
-
-"Very good: you only desire to profit by it."
-
-"Not for myself."
-
-"For your parishioners. Very good; but let us try to come to an
-understanding, if possible, for our time is too precious for us to waste
-it in empty talk."
-
-"_Válgame Dios_!" the monk said, crossing himself, "How you have
-retained the impetuosity of your French origin! Have a little patience,
-and I will explain myself."
-
-"That is all we desire."
-
-"But you will promise me--"
-
-"Nothing," Dick interrupted. "We are honest hunters, and not accustomed
-to pledge ourselves so lightly before knowing positively what is asked
-of us."
-
-Harry supported his friend's words by a nod. The monk drank a glass of
-pulque, and took two or three heavy puffs at his cigarette.
-
-"Your will be done," he then said. "You are terrible men. This is the
-affair."
-
-"Go on."
-
-"A poor scamp of a gambusino, lost, I know not how, in the great desert,
-discovered at a considerable distance off, between the Rio Gila and the
-Colorado, the richest placer the wildest imagination can conceive.
-According to his statement the gold is scattered over the surface, for
-an extent of two or three miles, in nuggets, each of which would make a
-man's fortune. This gambusino, dazzled by such treasures, but unable to
-appropriate them alone, displayed the greatest energy, and braved the
-utmost perils, in order to regain civilised regions. It was only through
-boldness and temerity that he succeeded in escaping the countless
-enemies who spied, and tracked him on all sides; but Heaven at length
-allowed him to reach Paso safe and sound."
-
-"Very good," Dick observed. "All this may very possibly, be true; but
-why did you not bring this gambusino, instead of talking to us about the
-placer, of which you know as little as we do? He would have supplied us
-with information which is indispensable for us, in the event of our
-consenting to help you in looking for this treasure."
-
-"Alas!" the monk replied, hypocritically casting his eyes down, "the
-unhappy man was not destined to profit by this discovery, made at the
-price of so many perils. Scarce two days after his arrival at Paso, he
-quarrelled with another gambusino, and received a stab which sent him a
-few hours later to the tomb."
-
-"In that case," Harry observed, "how did you learn all these details,
-señor padre?"
-
-"In a very simple way, my son. It was I who reconciled the poor wretch
-in his last moments with Heaven; and," he added, with an air of
-compunction splendidly assumed, "when he understood that his end was at
-hand, and that nothing could save him, he confided to me, in gratitude
-for the consolation I bestowed on him, what I have just told you,
-revealed to me the situation of the placer, and for greater certainty
-gave me a clumsy chart he had drawn out on the spot. You see that we can
-proceed almost with certainty."
-
-"Yes," Harry said, thoughtfully; "but why, instead of first applying to
-the Mexicans, your countrymen, did you propose to us to help you in your
-enterprise?"
-
-"Because the Mexicans are men who cannot be trusted, and before reaching
-the placer we should have to fight the Apaches and Comanches, on whose
-territory it is situated."
-
-After these words, there was a lengthened silence between the three
-speakers: each was reflecting deeply on what he had just heard. The monk
-tried to read with cunning eye the impression produced on the hunters by
-his confidence; but his hopes were deceived. Their faces remained
-unmoved. At length Dick spoke in a rough voice, after exchanging a
-meaning look with his comrade.
-
-"All that is very fine," he said; "but it is absurd to suppose that two
-men, however brave they may be, can attempt such an enterprise in
-unknown regions peopled by ferocious tribes. It would require at least
-fifty resolute and devoted men, otherwise nothing could be possible."
-
-"You are right, and hence I did not calculate on you alone. You will
-have determined men under your orders, chosen carefully by myself, and I
-shall also accompany you."
-
-"Unluckily, if you have counted on us, you are mistaken, señor padre,"
-Harry said, peremptorily. "We are honest hunters; but the trade of a
-gambusino does not at all suit us. Even if we had a chance of gaining an
-incalculable fortune, we would not consent to take part in an expedition
-of gold seekers."
-
-"Not even if Red Cedar were at the head of the expedition, and consented
-to take the direction?" the monk said in a honeyed voice, and with a
-side glance.
-
-The hunter started, a feverish blush suffused his face, and it was in a
-voice choked by emotion that he exclaimed,--
-
-"Have you spoken with him about it?"
-
-"Here he is; you can ask him," the monk answered.
-
-In fact, a man was entering the mesón at this moment. Harry looked down
-in confusion, while Dick tapped the table with his dagger and whistled.
-A smile of undefinable meaning wandered over the monk's pallid lips.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-RED CEDAR.
-
-
-Red Cedar was more than six feet in height; his enormous head was
-fastened to his square shoulders by a short and muscular neck, like a
-bull's; his bony members were covered with muscles hard as ropes. In
-short, his whole person was a specimen of brute strength at its
-culminating point.
-
-A fox-skin cap, pressed down on his head, allowed escape to a few tufts
-of coarse greyish hair, and fell on his little grey eyes, which were
-close to a nose that was hooked like the beak of a bird of prey; his
-wide mouth was filled with white, large teeth; his cheekbones were
-prominent and purpled; and the lower part of his face disappeared in a
-thick black beard, mingled with grey hairs. He wore a hunting shirt of
-striped calico, fastened round the waist by a strap of brown leather,
-through which were passed two pistols, an axe, and a long knife; a pair
-of leggings of tawny leather, sewed at equal distances with hair, fell
-down to his knees; while his legs were protected by Indian moccasins,
-ornamented with a profusion of beads and bells. A game bag of fawn skin,
-which seemed full, fell over his right hip; and he held in his hand an
-American rifle, studded with copper nails.
-
-No one knew who Red Cedar was, or whence he came. About two years prior
-to the period of our story opening he had suddenly made his appearance
-in the country, accompanied by a wife of a certain age--a species of
-Megaera, of masculine form and repellant aspect; a girl of seventeen;
-and three vigorous lads, who resembled him too closely not to be his
-own, and whose age varied from nineteen to twenty-four.
-
-Red Cedar himself appeared to be fifty-five at the most. The name by
-which he was known had been given to him by the Indians, of whom he had
-declared himself the implacable enemy, and boasted that he had killed
-two hundred. The old woman was called Betsy; the girl, Ellen; the eldest
-son, Nathan; the second, Sutter; and the last, Shaw.
-
-This family had built a shanty in the forest, a few miles from Paso, and
-lived alone in the desert, without having entered into any relations
-with the inhabitants of the village; or the trappers and wood rangers,
-its neighbours. The mysterious conduct of these strangers had given rise
-to numerous comments; but all had remained without reply or solution,
-and after two years they remained as perfect strangers as on the day of
-their arrival.
-
-Still, mournful and sad stories were in circulation on their account:
-they inspired an instinctive hatred and involuntary terror in the
-Mexicans. Some said in a whisper that old Red Cedar and his three sons
-were nothing less than "scalp hunters;" that is to say, in the public
-esteem, people placed beneath the pirates of the prairies, that unclean
-breed of birds of prey which everybody fears and despises.
-
-The entry of Red Cedar was significant; the otherwise unscrupulous men
-who filled the venta hurriedly retired on his approach, and made room
-for him with a zeal mingled with disgust. The old partisan crossed the
-room with head erect; a smile of haughty disdain played round his thin
-lips at the sight of the effect his presence produced, and he went up to
-the monk and his two companions. On reaching them he roughly placed the
-butt of his rifle on the ground, leaned his two crossed hands upon the
-barrel, and after bending a cunning glance on the persons before him,
-said to the monk in a hoarse voice,--
-
-"The deuce take you, señor padre! Here I am: what do you want with me?"
-
-Far from being vexed at this brutal address, the latter smiled on the
-colossus, and held out his hand to him, as he graciously made answer,--
-
-"You are welcome, Red Cedar; we were expecting you impatiently. Sit down
-by my side on this butaca, and we will talk while drinking a glass of
-pulque."
-
-"The deuce twist your neck, and may your accursed pulque choke you! Do
-you take me for a wretched abortion of your sort?" the other answered as
-he fell into the seat offered him. "Order me some brandy, and that of
-the strongest. I am not a babe, I suppose."
-
-Without making the slightest observation, the monk rose, went to speak
-with the host, and presently returned with a bottle, from which he
-poured a bumper for the old hunter. The latter emptied the glass at a
-draught, put it back on the table with a sonorous "hum!" and turned to
-the monk with a grimacing smile.
-
-"Come, the devil is not always so black as he looks, señor padre," he
-said, as he passed his hand over his mouth to wipe his moustache. "I see
-that we can come to an understanding."
-
-"It will only depend on you, Red Cedar. Here are two worthy Canadian
-hunters who will do nothing without your support."
-
-The Hercules took a side glance at the young men.
-
-"Eh!" he said, "what do you want with these children? Did I not promise
-you to reach the placer with my sons only?"
-
-"He, he! You are powerfully built, both you and your lads, I allow; but
-I doubt whether four men, were they twice as strong as you are, could
-carry out this affair successfully. You will have numerous enemies to
-combat on your road."
-
-"All the better! The more there are, the more we shall kill," he
-answered with a sinister laugh.
-
-"Señor padre," Dick interrupted, "as far as I am concerned, I care
-little about it."
-
-But he was suddenly checked by a meaning glance from his mate.
-
-"What do you care little about, my pretty lad?" the giant asked in a
-mocking voice.
-
-"Nothing," the young man answered drily. "Suppose I had not spoken."
-
-"Good," Red Cedar remarked; "it shall be as you wish. Here's your
-health."
-
-And he poured the rest of the bottle into his glass.
-
-"Come," said Harry, "Let us have but few words. Explain yourself once
-for all, without beating about the bush, señor padre."
-
-"Yes," Red Cedar observed, "men ought not to waste their time thus in
-chattering."
-
-"Very good. This, then, is what I propose. Red Cedar will collect within
-three days from this time thirty resolute men, of whom he will take the
-command, and we will start immediately in search of the placer. Does it
-suit you in that way?"
-
-"Hum!" Red Cedar said. "In order to go in search of the placer we must
-know a little in what direction it is, or deuce take me if I undertake
-the business!"
-
-"Do not trouble yourself about that, Red Cedar; I will accompany you.
-Have I not got a plan of the country?"
-
-The colossus shot at the monk a glance which sparkled under his dark
-eyelash, but he hastened to moderate its brilliancy by letting his eyes
-fall.
-
-"That is true," he said with feigned indifference; "I forgot that you
-were coming with us. Then you will leave your parishioners during your
-absence?"
-
-"Heaven will watch over them."
-
-"Eh! It will have its work cut out. However, that does not concern me at
-all. But why did you oblige me to come to this mesón?"
-
-"In order to introduce you to these two hunters, who will accompany us."
-
-"I beg your pardon," Dick observed, "but I do not exactly see of what
-use I can be to you in all this: my aid, and that of my mate, do not
-appear to me to be indispensable."
-
-"On the contrary," the monk answered quickly, "I reckon entirely on
-you."
-
-The giant had risen.
-
-"What!" he said, as he roughly laid his enormous hand on Dick's
-shoulder, "You do not understand that this honourable personage, who did
-not hesitate to kill a man in order to rob him of the secret of the
-placer, has a terrible fear of finding himself alone with me on the
-prairie? He fears that I shall kill him in my turn to rob him of the
-secret of which he became master by a crime. Ha, ha, ha!"
-
-And he turned his back unceremoniously.
-
-"How can you suppose such things, Red Cedar?" the monk exclaimed.
-
-"Do you fancy that I did not read you?" the latter answered. "But it is
-all the same to you. Do as you please: I leave you at liberty to act as
-you like."
-
-"What! You are off already?"
-
-"Hang it! What have I to do any longer here? All is settled between us.
-In three days thirty of the best frontiersmen will be assembled by my
-care at Grizzly Bear Creek, where we shall expect you."
-
-After shrugging his shoulders once again he went off without any salute,
-or even turning his head.
-
-"It must be confessed," Dick observed, "that the man has a most
-villainous face. What a hideous fellow!"
-
-"Oh!" the monk answered with a sigh, "The exterior is nothing. You
-should know the inner man."
-
-"Why, in that case, do you have any dealings with him?"
-
-The monk blushed slightly.
-
-"Because it must be so," he muttered.
-
-"All right for you," Dick continued; "but as nothing obliges my friend
-and myself to have any more intimate relations with that man, you must
-not mind, señor Padre, if--"
-
-"Silence, Dick!" Harry shouted, angrily. "You do not know what you are
-talking about. We will accompany you, señor padre. You can reckon on us
-to defend you if necessary, for I suppose that Red Cedar is right."
-
-"In what way?"
-
-"You do not wish to trust your life defencelessly in his hands, and you
-reckoned on us to protect you. Is it not so?"
-
-"Why should I feign any longer? Yes, that man terrifies me, and I do not
-wish to trust myself to his mercy."
-
-"Do not be alarmed; we shall be there, and on our word as hunters, not a
-hair of your head shall fall."
-
-A lively satisfaction appeared on the monk's pale face at this generous
-promise.
-
-"Thanks," he said warmly.
-
-Harry's conduct appeared so extraordinary to Dick, who knew the lofty
-sentiments and innate honor of his comrade, that, without striving to
-fathom the motives which made him act thus, he contented himself by
-backing up his words by an affirmative nod of the head.
-
-"Be assured, caballeros, that when we have reached the placer, I will
-give you a large share, and you will have no cause to regret
-accompanying me."
-
-"The money question has but slight interest with us," Harry answered.
-"My friend and I are free hunters, caring very little for riches, which
-would be to us rather a source of embarrassment than of pleasure and
-enjoyment. Curiosity alone, and the desire of exploring strange
-countries, are sufficient to make us undertake this journey."
-
-"Whatever the reason that makes you accept my proposals, I am not the
-less obliged to you."
-
-"Now you will permit us to take leave of you, and we shall hold
-ourselves at your orders."
-
-"Go, gentlemen; I will not keep you longer. I know where to find you
-when I want you."
-
-The young men took up their hats, slung their rifles on their shoulders,
-and left the mesón. The monk looked after them.
-
-"Oh!" he muttered, "I believe I can trust to those men: they have still
-in their veins a few drops of that honest French blood which despises
-treachery. No matter," he added, as if on reflection; "I will take my
-precautions."
-
-After this aside, he rose and looked around him. The room was full of
-adventurers, who drank or played at _monte_, and whose energetic faces
-stood out in the semi-obscurity of the room, which was scarce lighted by
-a smoky lamp. After a moment's reflection the monk boldly struck the
-table with his clenched fist, and shouted in a loud voice:
-
-"Señores caballeros, I invite you to listen to me. I have, I fancy, an
-advantageous proposal to make to you."
-
-The company turned their heads; those who were gambling for a moment
-abandoned their cards and dice; the drinkers alone kept in their hands
-the glasses they held; but all approached the monk, round whom they
-grouped themselves curiously.
-
-"Caballeros," he continued, "if I am not mistaken, all present are
-gentlemen whom fortune has more or less ill-treated."
-
-The adventurers, by an automatic movement of extraordinary regularity,
-bowed their heads in affirmation.
-
-"If you wish it," he continued with an imperceptible smile, "I will
-undertake to repair the wrong by it done you."
-
-The adventurers pricked up their ears.
-
-"Speak, speak, señor padre!" they shouted with delight.
-
-"What is the affair?" a man with a hang-dog face said, who stood in the
-front ranks.
-
-"A war party which I intend to lead shortly into Apacheria," the monk
-said, "and for which purpose I need you."
-
-At this proposition the first ardor of the adventurers visibly cooled
-down. The Apaches and Comanches inspire an invincible terror in the
-inhabitants of the Mexican frontiers. The monk guessed the effect he had
-produced; but he continued, as if not observing anything:--
-
-"I take you all into my service for a month, at the rate of four
-piastres a day."
-
-At this magnificent offer the eyes of the adventurers sparkled with
-greed, fear gave way to avarice, and they all exclaimed,--
-
-"We accept, reverend father!
-
-"But," the man continued who had already spoken, "we shall be happy,
-señor padre, if, before starting, you would give us your holy
-benediction, and absolve us from the few sins we may have committed."
-
-"Yes," the company yelled, "we shall be happy if you consent to that,
-reverend father."
-
-The monk appeared to reflect: the adventurers, anxiously waited.
-
-"Well, be it so," he answered after a moment. "As the work in which I am
-about to employ you is so meritorious, I will give you my blessing, and
-grant you absolution of your sins."
-
-For a few minutes there was a shout and exclamations of joy in the room.
-The monk demanded silence, and when it was restored he said,--
-
-"Now, caballeros, give me each your name, that I may find you when I
-need you."
-
-He sat down and began enrolling the adventurers, who, with the men Red
-Cedar supplied, would form the band with which he hoped to reach the
-placer. We will leave the worthy monk for a few moments, and follow the
-two Canadian hunters.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-THE TWO HUNTERS.
-
-
-Harry and Dick, whom we saw seated at a table in the mesón with Red
-Cedar and Fray Ambrosio, were however, very far from resembling those
-two men morally. They were free and bold hunters, who had spent the
-greater part of their life in the desert, and who, in the vast solitude
-of the prairie, had accustomed themselves to a life free and exempt from
-those vices which accompany a town residence.
-
-For them gold was only the means to procure the necessary objects for
-their trade as hunters and trappers; and they never imagined that the
-possession of a large quantity of that yellow metal they despised would
-place them in a position to enjoy other pleasures than those they found
-in their long hunts of wild beasts--hunts so full of strange incidents
-and striking joys.
-
-Thus Dick had been to the highest degree surprised when he saw his
-friend eagerly accept the monk's offer, and agree to go in search of the
-placer; but what even more surprised him was Harry's insisting that Red
-Cedar must take the lead of the expedition. Though no one could
-positively accuse the squatter, owing to the precautions he took, of
-leading a life of rapine and murder, still the mysterious conduct he
-affected, and the solitude in which he lived with his family, had cast
-on him a shadow of reprobation.
-
-Every one regarded him as a scalp hunter, and yet no one would have
-ventured to affirm the odious deeds of which he was accused. The result
-of the general reprobation that fell on the squatter, and which we know
-to be fully merited, was that he and his family were placed under a ban
-by the frontier hunters and trappers, and every one fled not only their
-society, but any contact with them. Dick was thoroughly acquainted with
-his friend's upright character and nobility of heart. Hence his conduct
-under the present circumstances seemed to him perfectly
-incomprehensible, and he resolved to have an explanation with him.
-
-They had scarce quitted the mesón ere Dick bent down to his companion,
-and said, while looking at him curiously,--
-
-"We have been hunting together for five years, Harry, and up to the
-present I have ever let myself be guided by you, leaving you free to act
-as you pleased for our mutual welfare. Still this evening your conduct
-has appeared to me so extraordinary that I am obliged, in the name of
-our friendship, which has never suffered a break up to this day, to ask
-you for an explanation of what has occurred in my presence."
-
-"For what good, my boy? Do you not know me well enough to be certain
-that I would not consent to do any dishonourable deed?"
-
-"Up to this evening I would have sworn it, Harry: yes, on my honor I
-would have sworn it--"
-
-"And now?" the young man asked, stopping and looking his friend in the
-face.
-
-"Now," Dick answered, with a certain degree of hesitation, "hang it all!
-I will be frank with you, Harry, as an honest hunter should ever be. Now
-I do not know if I should do so: no, indeed I should not."
-
-"What you say there causes me great pain, Dick. You oblige me, in order
-to dissipate your unjust suspicions, to confide to you a secret which is
-not my own, and which I would not have revealed for anything in the
-world."
-
-"Pardon me, Harry, but in my place I am convinced you would act as I am
-doing. We are very far from our country, which we shall never see again,
-perhaps. We are responsible for each other, and our actions must be free
-from all double interpretation."
-
-"I will do what you ask, Dick, whatever it may cost me. I recognise the
-justice of your observations. I understand how much my conduct this
-night must have hurt you and appeared ambiguous. I do not wish our
-friendship to receive the least wound, or the slightest cloud to arise
-between us. You shall be satisfied."
-
-"I thank you, Harry. What you tell me relieves my bosom of a heavy load.
-I confess that I should have been in despair to think badly of you; but
-the words of that intriguing monk, and the manners of that worthy
-acolyte, Red Cedar, put me in a passion. Had you not warned me so
-quickly to silence, I believe--Heaven pardon me!--that I should have
-ended by telling them a piece of my mind."
-
-"You displayed considerable prudence in keeping silence, and be assured
-you will completely approve me."
-
-"I do not doubt it, Harry; and now I feel certain I deceived myself. I
-feel all jolly again."
-
-While speaking thus the two hunters, who were walking with that rapid
-step peculiar to men habituated to traverse great distances on foot, had
-crossed the village, and found themselves already far in the plain. The
-night was magnificent--the sky of a deep blue. An infinite number of
-glistening stars seemed floating in ether. The moon spread its silvery
-rays profusely over the landscape. The sharp odour of the flowers
-perfumed the atmosphere. The two hunters still walked on.
-
-"Where are we going now, Harry?" Dick asked. "I fancy we should do
-better by taking a few hours' rest, instead of fatiguing ourselves
-without any definite object."
-
-"I never do anything without a reason, friend, as you know," Harry
-answered; "so let me guide you, and we shall soon arrive."
-
-"Do as you think proper, my boy; I shall say nothing."
-
-"In the first place you must know that the French hunter, Koutonepi, has
-begged me, for reasons he did not tell me, to watch Fray Ambrosio. That
-is one of the motives which made me be present at this night's
-interview, although I care as little for a placer as for a musk-rat's
-skin."
-
-"Koutonepi is the first hunter on the frontier; he has often done us a
-service in the desert. You acted rightly, Harry, in doing what he
-asked."
-
-"As for the second reason that dictated my conduct, Dick, you shall soon
-know it."
-
-Half talking, half dreaming, the young men reached Buffalo Valley, and
-soon entered the forest which served as a lair for the squatter and his
-family.
-
-"Where the deuce are we going?" Dick could not refrain from saying.
-
-"Silence!" said the other: "We are approaching."
-
-The darkness was profound in the forest: the density of the leafy dome
-under which they walked completely intercepted the light of the
-moonbeams. Still the Canadians, long accustomed to a night march,
-advanced as easily through the chaos of creepers and trees tangled in
-each other as if they had been in open day. On reaching a certain spot
-where the trees, growing less closely together, formed a species of
-clearing, and allowed an uncertain and tremorous light to pass, Harry
-stopped, and made his comrade a sign to do the same.
-
-"This is the place," he said. "Still, I as the person I have come to see
-expects me to be alone, and your unexpected presence might cause alarm,
-hide yourself behind that larch tree: above all, be careful not to stir
-till I call I you."
-
-"Oh, oh!" the hunter said, with a laugh, "have you perchance led me to a
-love meeting, Harry?"
-
-"You shall judge," Harry replied laconically. "Hide yourself."
-
-Dick, greatly troubled, did not need the invitation to be repeated: he
-concealed himself behind the tree his friend had indicated, and which
-would have sheltered a dozen men behind its enormous stem. So soon as
-Harry was alone, he raised his fingers to his lips, and at three
-different intervals imitated the cry of an owl with such perfection that
-Dick himself was deceived, and mechanically looked up to seek the bird
-in the tall branches of the tree by which he stood. Almost immediately,
-a slight noise was audible in the shrubs, and a graceful and white form
-appeared in the glade. It was Ellen, who rapidly walked toward the young
-man.
-
-"Oh, it is you, Harry!" she said with joy. "Heaven be blessed, I was
-afraid you would not come, as it is late."
-
-"It is true, Ellen: pardon me. I made all possible speed, however; and
-it is not my fault that I did not arrive sooner."
-
-"How good you are, Harry, to take so much trouble for my sake! How can I
-ever recognise the continual services you do me?"
-
-"Oh! Do not speak about them. It is a happiness for me to do anything
-agreeable to you."
-
-"Alas!" the maiden murmured, "Heaven is my witness that I feel a deep
-friendship for you, Harry."
-
-The young man sighed gently.
-
-"I have done what you asked of me," he said suddenly.
-
-"Then it is true my father is thinking about leaving this country to go
-further still?"
-
-"Yes, Ellen, and into frightful countries, among the ferocious Indians."
-
-The girl gave a start of terror.
-
-"Do you know the reason of his going?" she continued.
-
-"Yes; he is about to look for a gold placer."
-
-"Alas! Who will protect me, who will defend me in future, if we go
-away?"
-
-"I, Ellen!" the hunter exclaimed impetuously. "Have I not sworn to
-follow you everywhere?"
-
-"It is true," she said sadly; "but why should you risk your life on the
-distant journey we are about to undertake? No, Harry, remain here; I
-cannot consent to your departure. From what I have heard say, the band
-my father commands will be numerous--it will have scarce anything to
-fear from the Indians; while, on the other hand, you, compelled to hide
-yourself, will be exposed alone to terrible danger. No, Harry, I will
-not permit it."
-
-"Undeceive yourself, Ellen. I shall not be forced to conceal myself; I
-shall not be alone, for I am a member of your father's band."
-
-"Is it possible, Harry?" she exclaimed, with an expression of joy that
-made the young man quiver.
-
-"I enrolled myself this very evening."
-
-"Oh!" she said, "Then in that case we can often meet?"
-
-"Whenever you please, Ellen, as I shall be there."
-
-"Oh! Now I am anxious to be away from here, and wish we had already
-started."
-
-"It will not be long first, set your mind at rest. I am convinced that
-we shall start within the week."
-
-"Thanks for the good news you bring me, Harry."
-
-"Are your father and mother still unkind to you, Ellen?"
-
-"It is nearly always the same thing; and yet their conduct toward me is
-strange. It often seems to me incomprehensible, as it is so marked with
-peculiarities. There are moments in which they seem to love me dearly.
-My father especially caresses and embraces me, and then all at once, I
-know not why, repulses me rudely, and looks at me in a way that causes
-me to shudder."
-
-"That is indeed strange, Ellen."
-
-"Is it not? There is one thing above all I cannot explain."
-
-"Tell it me, Ellen; perhaps I can do so."
-
-"You know that all my family are Protestants?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Well, I am a Catholic."
-
-"That is certainly curious."
-
-"I wear around my neck a small golden crucifix. Every time accident
-makes this trinket glisten before my father and mother they grow
-furious, threaten to beat me, and order me to hide it at once. Do you
-understand the meaning of this, Harry?"
-
-"No, I do not, Ellen; but, believe me, leave everything to time; perhaps
-it will enable us to find the clue to the mystery which we seek in vain
-at this moment."
-
-"Well, your presence has rendered me happy for a long time, Harry, so
-now I will retire."
-
-"Already?"
-
-"I must, my friend. Believe me that I am as sad as yourself at this
-separation; but my father has not yet returned, and may arrive at any
-moment. If he noticed that I was not asleep, who knows what might
-happen?"
-
-While saying the last words the girl held out her delicate hand to the
-hunter, who raised it to his lips passionately. Ellen withdrew it
-suddenly, and bounding like a startled fawn, darted into the forest,
-where she soon disappeared, giving the young man a parting word, which
-caused him to quiver with joy:--
-
-"We shall meet soon."
-
-Harry stood for a long time with his eyes fixed on the spot where the
-seductive vision had disappeared. At length he uttered a sigh, threw his
-rifle over his shoulder, and turned as if to depart. Dick was before
-him. Harry gave a start of surprise, for he had forgotten his friend's
-presence; but the latter smiled good-humouredly.
-
-"I now comprehend your conduct, Harry," he said to him; "you were right
-to act as you did. Pardon my unjust suspicions, and count on me
-everywhere and always."
-
-Harry silently pressed the hand his friend offered him, and they walked
-back rapidly in the direction of the village. As they emerged from the
-forest they passed, a man who did not see them. It was Red Cedar. So
-soon as he had gone a short distance Harry stopped his companion, and
-pointing to the squatter, whose long black shadow glided through the
-trees, said, as he laid his hand on his shoulder,--
-
-"That man hides in his heart a horrible secret, which I am ignorant of,
-but have sworn to discover."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-FRAY AMBROSIO.
-
-
-The monk remained for a long time in the room of the mesón, taking down
-the names of the adventurers he wished to enrol in his band. It was late
-when he left it to return to the Hacienda de la Noria; but he was
-satisfied with his night's work, and internally rejoiced at the rich
-collection of bandits of the purest water he had recruited.
-
-The monks form a privileged caste in Mexico: they can go at all hours of
-the night wherever they please without fearing the numerous "gentlemen
-of the road," scattered about the highways. Their gown inspires a
-respect which guarantees them from any insult, and preserves them better
-than anything from unpleasant rencontres. Besides, Fray Ambrosio, as the
-reader has doubtless already perceived, was not the man to neglect
-indispensable precautions in a country where, out of ten persons you
-meet on your road, you may boldly assert that nine are rogues, the tenth
-alone offering any doubts. The worthy chaplain carried under his gown a
-pair of double-barrelled pistols, and in his right sleeve he concealed a
-long _navaja_, sharp as a razor, and pointed as a needle.
-
-Not troubling himself about the solitude that reigned around him, the
-monk mounted his mule and proceeded quietly to the hacienda. It was
-about eleven o'clock.
-
-A few words about Fray Ambrosio, while he is peacefully ambling along
-the narrow path which will lead him in two hours to his destination,
-will show all the perversity of the man who is destined to play an
-unfortunately too important part in the course of our narrative.
-
-One day a gambusino, or gold seeker, who had disappeared for two years,
-no one knowing what had become of him, and who was supposed to be dead
-long ago, assassinated in the desert by the Indians, suddenly reappeared
-at the Paso del Norte. This man, Joaquin by name, was brother to Andrés
-Garote, an adventurer of the worst stamp, who had at least a dozen
-_cuchilladas_ (knife stabs) on his conscience, whom everybody feared,
-but who, through the terror he inspired, enjoyed at the Paso, in spite
-of his well-avouched crimes, a reputation and species of impunity which
-he abused whenever the opportunity offered.
-
-The two brothers began frequenting together the mesones and ventas of
-the village, drinking from morn till night, and paying either in gold
-dust enclosed in stout quills, or in lumps of native gold. The rumour
-soon spread at Paso that Joaquin had discovered a rich placer, and that
-his expenses were paid with the specimens he had brought back. The
-gambusino replied neither yes nor no to the several insinuations which
-his friends, or rather his boon companions, attempted on him. He
-twinkled his eyes, smiled mysteriously, and if it were observed that, at
-the rate he was living at, he would soon be ruined, he shrugged his
-shoulders, saying:--
-
-"When I have none left I know where to find others."
-
-And he continued to enjoy his fill of all the pleasures which a wretched
-hole like Paso can furnish.
-
-Fray Ambrosio had heard speak, like everyone else, of the gambusino's
-asserted discovery; and his plan was at once formed to become master of
-this man's secret, and rob him of his discovery, were that possible.
-
-The same evening Joaquin and his brother Andrés were drinking, according
-to their wont, in a mesón, surrounded by a crowd of scamps like
-themselves. Fray Ambrosio, seated at a table with his hands hidden in
-the sleeves of his gown, and hanging head, appeared plunged in serious
-reflections, although he followed with a cunning eye the various
-movements of the drinkers, and not one of their gestures escaped him.
-
-Suddenly a man entered, with his hand on his hip, and throwing in the
-face of the first person he passed the cigarette he was smoking. He
-planted himself in front of Joaquin, to whom he said nothing, but began
-looking at him impudently, shrugging his shoulders, and laughing
-ironically at all the gambusino said. Joaquin was not patient, he saw at
-the first glance that this person wished to pick a quarrel with him; and
-as he was brave, and feared nobody, man or devil, he walked boldly up to
-him, and looking at him fixedly in his turn, he said to him, as he
-thrust his face in his:
-
-"Do you seek a quarrel, Tomaso?"
-
-"Why not?" the latter said impudently, as he set his glass on the table.
-
-"I am your man. We will fight how you please."
-
-"Bah!" Tomaso said carelessly, "let us do things properly, and fight
-with the whole blade."
-
-"Be it so."
-
-The combats which take place between the adventurers are truly like
-those of wild beasts. These coarse men, with their cruel instincts, like
-fighting beyond all else, for the smell of blood intoxicates them. The
-announcement of this duel caused a thrill of pleasure to run through the
-ranks of the leperos and bandits who pressed round the two men. The fun
-was perfect: one of the adversaries would doubtless fall--perhaps
-both--and blood flow in streams. Cries and yells of delight were raised
-by the spectators.
-
-The duel with knives is the only one that exists in Mexico, and is
-solely left to the leperos and people of the lowest classes. This duel
-has its rules, which cannot be broken under any pretext. The knives
-usually employed, have blades from fourteen to sixteen inches in length,
-and the duelists fight according to the gravity of the insult, with one,
-two, three, six inches, or the entire blade. The inches are carefully
-measured and the hand clutches the knife at the marked spot.
-
-This time it was a duel with the whole blade, the most terrible of all.
-With extraordinary politeness and coolness the landlord had a large ring
-formed in the middle of the room, where the two adversaries stationed
-themselves, about six paces from each other at the most.
-
-A deep silence hung over the room, a moment previously so full of life
-and disturbance; every one anxiously awaited the _dénouement_ of the
-terrible drama that was preparing. Fray Ambrosio alone had not quitted
-his seat or made a sign.
-
-The two men rolled their zarapés round their left arm, planted
-themselves firmly on their outstretched legs, bent their bodies slightly
-forward and gently placing the point of the knife blade on the arm
-rounded in front of the chest, they waited, fixed on each other flashing
-glances. A few seconds elapsed, during which the adversaries remained
-perfectly motionless: all hearts were contracted, all bosoms heaving.
-
-Worthy of Callot's pencil was the scene offered by these men, with their
-weather-stained faces and harsh features, and their clothes in rags,
-forming a circle round two combatants ready to kill each other in this
-mean room, slightly illumined by a smoky lamp, which flashed upon the
-blue blades of the knives, and in the shadow, almost disappearing in his
-black gown, the monk, with his implacable glance and mocking smile, who,
-like a tiger thirsting for blood, awaited the hour to pounce on his
-prey.
-
-Suddenly, by a spontaneous movement rapid as lightning, the adversaries
-rushed on each other, uttering a yell of fury. The blades flashed, there
-was a clashing of steel, and both fell back again. Joaquin and Tomaso
-had both dealt the same stroke, called, in the slang of the country, the
-"blow of the brave man." Each had his face slashed from top to bottom
-with a gaping wound.
-
-The spectators frenziedly applauded this magnificent opening scene: the
-jaguars had scented blood, and were mad.
-
-"What a glorious fight!" they exclaimed with admiration.
-
-In the meanwhile the two combatants, rendered hideous by the blood that
-streamed from their wounds and stained their faces, were again watching
-for the moment to leap on one another. Suddenly they broke ground; but
-this time it was no skirmish, but the real fight, atrocious and
-merciless. The two men seized each other round the waist, and entwined
-like serpents, they twisted about, trying to stab each other, and
-exciting themselves to the struggle by cries of rage and triumph. The
-enthusiasm of the spectators was at its height: they laughed, clapped
-hands, and uttered inarticulate howls as they urged the fighters not to
-loose their hold.
-
-At length the enemies rolled on the ground still enclasped. For some
-seconds the combat continued on the ground, and it was impossible to
-distinguish who was the conqueror. All at once one of them, who no
-longer had a human form, and whose body was as red as an Indian's,
-bounded to his feet brandishing his knife. It was Joaquin.
-
-His brother rushed toward him to congratulate him on his victory, but
-all at once the gambusino tottered and fainted. Tomaso did not rise
-again: he remained motionless, stretched out on the uneven floor of the
-mesón. He was stark dead.
-
-This scene had been so rapid, its conclusion so unforeseen, that, in
-spite of themselves, the spectators had remained dumb, and as if struck
-with stupor. Suddenly the priest, whom all had forgotten, rose and
-walked into the centre of the room, looking round with a glance that
-caused all to let their eyes fall.
-
-"Retire, all of you," he said in a gloomy voice, "now that you have
-allowed this deed worthy of savages to be accomplished. The priest must
-offer his ministry, and get back from Satan, if there be still time, the
-soul of this Christian who is about to die. Begone!"
-
-The adventurers hung their heads, and in a few moments the priest was
-left alone with the two men, one of whom was dead, the other at the last
-gasp. No one could say what occurred in that room; but when the priest
-left it, a quarter of an hour later, his eyes flashed wildly. Joaquin
-had given his parting sigh. On opening the door to go out Fray Ambrosio
-jostled against a man, who drew back sharply to make room for him. It
-was Andrés Garote. What was he doing with his eye at the keyhole while
-the monk was shriving his brother?
-
-The adventurer told no one what he had seen during this last quarter of
-an hour, nor did the monk notice in the shade the man he had almost
-thrown down.
-
-Such was the way in which Fray Ambrosio became master of the gambusino's
-secret, and how he alone knew at present the spot where the placer was.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-TWO VARIETIES OF VILLAINS.
-
-
-Now that the reader is well informed touching Fray Ambrosio, we will
-follow him on his road home from the mesón. The night was calm, silent
-and serene. Not a sound troubled the silence, save the trot of the mule
-over the pebbles on the road, or at times, in the distance, the snapping
-bark of the coyotes chasing in a pack, according to their wont, some
-straggling hind.
-
-Fray Ambrosio ambled gently on, while reflecting on the events of the
-evening, and calculating mentally the probable profits of the expedition
-he meditated. He had left far behind him the last houses of the village,
-and was advancing cautiously along a narrow path that wound through an
-immense sugar cane field. Already the shadow of the tall hacienda walls
-stood out blackly in the horizon. He expected to reach it within twenty
-minutes, when suddenly his mule, which had hitherto gone so quietly,
-pricked up its ears, raised its head, and stopped short.
-
-Roughly aroused from his meditations by this unexpected halt, the monk
-looked about for some obstacle that might impede his progress. About ten
-paces from him a man was standing right in the middle of the path. Fray
-Ambrosio was a man not easily to be frightened: besides, he was well
-armed. He drew out one of the pistols hidden under his gown, cocked it,
-and prepared to cross-question the person who so resolutely barred his
-way. But the latter, at the sharp sound of the setting hammer, thought
-it prudent to make himself known, and not await the consequences of an
-address nearly always stormy under similar circumstances.
-
-"Halloh!" he shouted in a loud voice, "Return your pistol to your belt,
-Fray Ambrosio; I only want to talk with you."
-
-"_Diavolo_!" the monk said, "the hour and moment are singularly chosen
-for a friendly conversation, my good fellow."
-
-"Time belongs to nobody," the stranger answered sententiously. "I am
-obliged to choose that which I have at my disposal."
-
-"That is true," the monk said as he quietly uncocked his pistol, though
-not returning it to his belt. "Who the deuce are you, and why are you so
-anxious to speak with me? Do you want to confess?
-
-"Have you not recognised me yet, Fray Ambrosio? Must I tell you my name
-that you may know with whom you have to deal?"
-
-"Needless, my good sir, needless; but how the deuce is it, Red Cedar,
-that I meet you here! What can you have so pressing to communicate to
-me?"
-
-"You shall know if you will stop for a few moments and dismount."
-
-"The deuce take you with your whims! Cannot you tell me that as well
-tomorrow! Night is getting on, my home is still some distance off and I
-am literally worn out."
-
-"Bah! you will sleep capitally by the side of a ditch, where you could
-not be more comfortable. Besides, what I have to say to you does not
-admit of delay."
-
-"You wish to make a proposal to me, then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"What about, if you please?"
-
-"About the affair we discussed this evening at the Paso."
-
-"Why, I fancied we had settled all that, and you accepted my offer."
-
-"Not yet, not yet, my master. That will depend on the conversation we
-are about to have, so you had better dismount and sit down quietly by my
-side; for if you don't do it, it will come to nothing."
-
-"The deuce take people that change their minds every minute, and on whom
-one cannot reckon more than on an old surplice!" the monk growled with
-an air of annoyance, while, for all that, getting off his mule, which he
-fastened to a shrub.
-
-The squatter did not seem to remark the chaplain's ill temper, and let
-him sit down by his side without uttering a syllable.
-
-"Here I am," the monk went on, so soon as he was seated. "I really do
-not know, Red Cedar, why I yield so easily to all your whims."
-
-"Because you suspect that your interest depends on it: were it not for
-that, you would not do so."
-
-"Why talk thus in the open country, instead of going to your house,
-where we should be much more comfortable?"
-
-Red Cedar shook his head in denial.
-
-"No," he said; "the open is better for what we have to talk about. Here
-we need not fear listeners at out doors."
-
-"That is true. Well, go on; I am listening."
-
-"Hum! You insist upon my commanding the expedition you project?"
-
-"Of course. I have known you a long time. I am aware that you are a sure
-man, perfectly versed in Indian signs; for, if I am not mistaken, the
-greater part of your life has been spent among them."
-
-"Do not speak about what I have done? The question now concerns you, and
-not me."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Good, good! Let me speak. You need me, so it is to my interest to make
-you pay as dearly as I can for me."
-
-"Eh?" the monk muttered, as he made a grimace. "I am not rich, gossip,
-as you are aware."
-
-"Yes, yes; I know that, so soon as you have a few piastres or ounces,
-the monte table strips you of them immediately."
-
-"Hang it! I have always been unlucky at play."
-
-"For that reason I do not intend asking you for money."
-
-"Very good. If you have no designs on my purse we can easily come to an
-understanding. You may speak boldly."
-
-"I hope that we shall easily understand one another, the mere so as the
-service I expect from you is almost a mere nothing."
-
-"Come to the point, Red Cedar: with your deuced way of twining your
-phrases together in the Indian way, you never make an end of it."
-
-"You know that I have a deadly hatred against Don Miguel Zarate?"
-
-"I have heard some say about it. Did he not lodge his knife somewhere in
-your chest?"
-
-"Yes, and the blow was so rude that I all but died of it; but, thanks to
-the devil, I am on my legs again, after remaining three weeks on my back
-like a cast sheep. I want my revenge."
-
-"I can't help saying you are right: in your place, may Satan twist my
-neck if I would not do the same!"
-
-"For that I count on your help."
-
-"Hum! that is a delicate affair. I have no cause of complaint against
-Don Miguel--on the contrary: besides, I do not see how I can serve you."
-
-"Oh! very easily."
-
-"You believe so?"
-
-"You shall see."
-
-"Go on, then; I am listening."
-
-"Don Miguel has a daughter?"
-
-"Doña Clara."
-
-"I mean to carry her off."
-
-"Deuce take the mad ideas that pass through your brain-pan, gossip! How
-would you have me help you in carrying off the daughter of Don Miguel,
-to whom I owe so many obligations? No, I cannot do that, indeed."
-
-"You must, though."
-
-"I will not, I tell you."
-
-"Measure your words well, Fray Ambrosio, for this conversation is
-serious. Before refusing so peremptorily to give me the help I ask,
-reflect well."
-
-"I have reflected well, Red Cedar, and never will I consent to help you
-in carrying off the daughter of my benefactor. Say what you like,
-nothing will ever change my resolution on that head, for it is
-inflexible."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Oh! Whatever may happen, I swear that nothing will make me alter."
-
-"Swear not, Fray Ambrosio, for you will be a perjurer."
-
-"Ta, ta, ta! You are mad, my good fellow. Don't let us waste our time.
-If you have nothing else to say to me, I will leave you, though I take
-such pleasure in your society."
-
-"You have become scrupulous all of a sudden, my master."
-
-"There is a beginning to everything, compadre; so let us say no more,
-but good-bye."
-
-And the monk rose.
-
-"You are really going?"
-
-"_Caray_! Do you fancy I mean to sleep here?"
-
-"Very good. You understand that you need not count on me for your
-expedition?"
-
-"I am sorry for it; but I will try to find someone to take your place."
-
-"Thank you."
-
-The two men were standing, and the monk had put his foot in the stirrup.
-Red Cedar also appeared ready to make a start. At the moment of
-separation a sudden idea seemed to occur to the squatter.
-
-"By the way," he said carelessly, "be kind enough to give me some
-information I require."
-
-"What is it now?" the monk asked.
-
-"Oh! a mere trifle," the squatter remarked indifferently. "It concerns a
-certain Don Pedro de Tudela, whom I think you formerly knew."
-
-"Eh!?" the monk exclaimed, as he turned, with his leg still in the air.
-
-"Come, come, Fray Ambrosio," Red Cedar continued in a jeering voice,
-"let us have a little more talk together. I will tell you, if you like,
-a very remarkable story about this Don Pedro, with whom you were
-acquainted."
-
-The monk was livid; a nervous tremor agitated all his limbs; he let
-loose his mule's bridle, and followed the squatter mechanically, who
-seated himself tranquilly on the ground, making him a sign to follow his
-example. The monk fell, suppressing a sigh, and wiping away the drops of
-cold perspiration that beaded on his forehead.
-
-"Eh, eh!" the squatter continued at the end of a moment, "we must allow
-that Don Pedro was a charming gentleman--a little wild, perhaps; but
-what would you have? He was young. I remember meeting him at Albany a
-long time ago--some sixteen or seventeen years ago--how old one
-gets!--at the house of one--wait awhile, the name has slipped my
-memory--could you not help me to it, Fray Ambrosio?"
-
-"I do not know what you mean," the monk said in a hollow voice.
-
-The man was in a state that would have produced pity; the veins in his
-forehead were swollen ready to burst; he was choking; his right hand
-clutched the hilt of his dagger; and he bent on the squatter a glance
-full of deadly hatred. The latter seemed to see nothing of all this.
-
-"I have it!" he continued. "The man's name was Walter Brunnel, a very
-worthy gentleman."
-
-"Demon!" the monk howled in a gasping voice, "I know not who made you
-master of that horrible secret, but you shall die."
-
-And he rushed upon him, dagger in hand.
-
-Red Cedar had known Fray Ambrosio a long time, and was on his guard. By
-a rapid movement he checked his arm, twisted it, and seized the dagger,
-which he threw a long distance off.
-
-"Enough," he said in a harsh voice. "We understand one another, my
-master. Do not play that game with me, for you will be sick of it, I
-warn you."
-
-The monk fell back on his seat, without the strength to make a sign or
-utter a syllable. The squatter regarded him for a moment with mingled
-pity and contempt and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"For sixteen years I have held that secret," he said, "and it has never
-passed my lips. I will continue to keep silence on one condition."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"I want you to help me in carrying off the hacendero's daughter."
-
-"I will do it."
-
-"Mind, I expect honest assistance; so do not attempt any treachery."
-
-"I will help you, I tell you."
-
-"Good! I count on your word. Besides you may be easy, master; I will
-watch you."
-
-"Enough of threats. What is to be done?"
-
-"When do we start for Apacheria?"
-
-"You are coming, then?"
-
-"Of course."
-
-A sinister smile played round the monk's pale lips.
-
-"We shall start in a week," he said.
-
-"Good! On the day of the start you will hand over the girl to me, one
-hour before our departure."
-
-"What shall I do to compel her to follow me?"
-
-"That is not my business."
-
-"Still--"
-
-"I insist."
-
-"Be it so," the monk said with an effort. "I will do it; but remember,
-demon, if I ever hold you in my hands, as I am this day in yours, I
-shall be pitiless and make you pay for all I suffer at this moment."
-
-"You will be right to do so--it is your due; still I doubt whether you
-will ever be able to reach me."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Live and learn. In the meanwhile I am your master, and I reckon on your
-obedience."
-
-"I will obey."
-
-"That is settled. Now, one thing more; how many men have you enlisted
-this evening?"
-
-"About twenty."
-
-"That's not many; but, with the sixty I shall supply, we shall have a
-very decent band to hold the Indians in check."
-
-"May Heaven grant it!"
-
-"Don't be alarmed, my master," the squatter said, re-assuming the
-friendly tone which he employed at the outset of the conversation; "I
-pledge myself, to lead you straight to your placer. I have not lived ten
-years with the Indians not to be up to all their tricks."
-
-"Of course," the monk answered as he rose, "You know, Red Cedar, what
-was agreed upon; the placer will be shared between us. It is, therefore,
-to your interest to enable us to reach it without obstacle."
-
-"We shall reach it. Now that we have nothing more to say to each other
-and have agreed on all points--for we have done so, I think?" he said
-significantly.
-
-"Yes, all."
-
-"We can part, and go each home. No matter, my master! I told you that I
-should succeed in making you alter your mind. Look you, Fray Ambrosio,"
-he added in impudent tone, which made the monk turn pale with rage;
-"people need only to understand one another to do anything."
-
-He rose, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and turning away sharply,
-went off with lengthened strides. The monk remained for a moment as if
-stunned by what had happened. Suddenly he thrust his hand under his
-gown, seized a pistol, and aimed at the squatter. But ere he had time to
-pull the trigger his enemy disappeared round a turning, uttering a
-formidable burst of laughter, which the mocking echo bore to his ear,
-and revealed to him all the immensity of his impotence.
-
-"Oh!" he muttered as he got in the saddle, "How did this fiend discover
-the secret which I believed no one knew?"
-
-And he went off gloomy and thoughtful. Half an hour later he reached the
-Hacienda de la Noria, when the gate was opened for him by a trusty peon,
-for everybody was asleep. It was past midnight.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-EL CAÑON DEL BUITRE.
-
-
-We will now return to the hacendero, who, accompanied by his two
-friends, is galloping at full speed in the direction of Valentine's
-jacal. The road the three men followed led them further and further from
-the Paso del Norte. Around them nature grew more abrupt, the scenery
-sterner. They had left the forest, and were galloping over a wide and
-arid plain. On each side of the way the trees, becoming rarer, defiled
-like a legion of phantoms. They crossed several tributary streams of the
-Del Norte, in which their horses were immersed up to the chest.
-
-At length they entered a ravine deeply imbedded between two wooded
-hills, the soil of which, composed of large flat stones and rounded
-pebbles, proved that this spot was one of those _desaguaderos_ which
-serve to carry off the waters in the rainy season. They had reached the
-Cañon del Buitre, so named on account of the numerous vultures
-constantly perched on the tops of the surrounding hills.
-
-The defile was deserted, and Valentine had his cabin not far from this
-spot. So soon as the three men had dismounted, Curumilla took the horses
-and led them to the jacal.
-
-"Follow me," Valentine said to Don Miguel.
-
-The latter obeyed, and the two men began then climbing the escarped
-flanks of the right hand hill. The climb was rude, for no road was
-traced; but the two hunters, long accustomed to force a passage through
-the most impracticable places, seemed hardly to perceive the difficulty
-of the ascent, which would have been impossible for men less used to a
-desert life.
-
-"This spot is really delicious," Valentine said with the complacent
-simplicity of a landowner who boasts of his estate. "If it were day, Don
-Miguel, you would enjoy from this spot a magnificent view. A few hundred
-yards from the place where we are, down there on that hill to the right,
-are the ruins of an ancient Aztec camp in a very fine state of
-preservation. Just imagine that this hill, carved by human hands, though
-you cannot see it in the darkness, is of the shape of a pyramidal cone:
-its base is triangular, the sides are covered with masonry, and it is
-divided into several terraces. The platform is about ninety yards long
-by seventy-five in width, and is surrounded on three sides by a
-platform, and flanked by a bastion on the north. You see that it is a
-perfect fortress, constructed according to all the rules of military
-art. On the platform are the remains of a species of small teocali,
-about twenty feet high, composed of large stones covered with
-hieroglyphics sculptured in relief, representing weapons, monsters,
-rabbits, crocodiles, and all sorts of things; for instance, men seated
-in the oriental fashion, and wearing spectacles. Is not that really
-curious? This little monument, which has no staircase, doubtless served
-as the last refuge to the besieged when they were too closely
-beleaguered by the enemy."
-
-"It is astonishing," Don Miguel answered, "that I never heard of these
-ruins."
-
-"Who knows them? Nobody. However, they bear a considerable likeness to
-those found at Jochicalco."
-
-"Where are you leading me, my friend? Are you aware that the road is not
-one of the pleasantest, and I am beginning to feel tired?"
-
-"A little patience: in ten minutes we shall arrive. I am leading you to
-a natural grotto which I discovered a short time back. It is admirable.
-It is probable that the Spaniards were unacquainted with it, although
-the Indians, to my knowledge, have visited it from time immemorial. The
-Apaches imagine it serves as a palace to the genius of the mountain. At
-any rate, I was so struck by its beauty that I abandoned my jacal, and
-converted it into my residence. Its extent is immense. I am certain,
-though I never tried to convince myself, that it goes for more than ten
-leagues under ground. I will not allude to the stalactites that hang
-from the roof, and form the quaintest and most curious designs; but the
-thing that struck me is this: this grotto is divided into an infinite
-number of chambers, some of them containing pools in which swim immense
-numbers of blind fish."
-
-"Blind fish! You are jesting, my friend," Don Miguel exclaimed, and
-stopped.
-
-"I am wrong: blind is not the word I should have employed, for these
-fish have no eyes."
-
-"What! No eyes?"
-
-"None at all; but that does not prevent them being very dainty food."
-
-"That is strange."
-
-"Is it not? But stay--we have arrived."
-
-In fact, they found themselves in front of a gloomy, gaping orifice,
-about ten feet high by eight wide.
-
-"Let me do the honours of my mansion," Valentine said.
-
-"Do so, my friend."
-
-The two men entered the grotto: the hunter struck a match, and lit a
-torch of candlewood. The fairy picture which suddenly rose before Don
-Miguel drew from him a cry of admiration. There was an indescribable
-confusion: here a gothic chapel, with its graceful soaring pillars;
-further on, obelisks, cones, trunks of trees covered with moss and
-acanthus leaves, hollow stalactites of a cylindrical form, drawn
-together and ranged side by side like the pipes of an organ, and
-yielding to the slightest touch varied metallic sounds which completed
-the illusion. Then, in the immeasurable depths of these cavernous halls,
-at times formidable sounds arose, which, returned by the echoes, rolled
-along the sides of the grotto like peals of thunder.
-
-"Oh, it is grand, it is grand!" Don Miguel exclaimed, struck with fear
-and respect at the sight.
-
-"Does not man," Valentine answered, "feel very small and miserable
-before these sublime creations of nature, which God has scattered here
-as if in sport? Oh, my friend! It is only in the desert that we
-understand the grandeur and infinite omnipotence of the Supreme Being;
-for at every step man finds himself face to face with Him who placed him
-on this earth, and traces the mark of His mighty finger engraved in an
-indelible manner on everything that presents itself to his sight."
-
-"Yes," Don Miguel said, who had suddenly become thoughtful, "it is only
-in the desert that a man learns to know, love, and fear God, for He is
-everywhere."
-
-"Come," said Valentine.
-
-He led his friend to a hall of not more than twenty square feet, the
-vault of which, however, was more than a hundred yards above them. In
-this hall a fire was lighted. The two men sat down on the ground and
-waited, while thinking deeply. After a few moments the sound of
-footsteps was audible, and the Mexican quickly raised his head.
-Valentine did not stir, for he had recognised his friend's tread. In
-fact, within a moment the Indian chief appeared.
-
-"Well?" Valentine asked him.
-
-"Nothing yet," Curumilla laconically answered.
-
-"They are late, I fancy," Don Miguel observed.
-
-"No," the chief continued, "it is hardly half past eleven: we are before
-our time."
-
-"But will they find us here?"
-
-"They know we shall await them in this hall."
-
-After these few words each fell back into his thoughts. The silence was
-only troubled by the mysterious sounds of the grotto, which re-echoed
-nearly at equal intervals with an horrific din. A long period elapsed.
-All at once, ere any sensible noise had warned Don Miguel, Valentine
-raised his head with a hurried movement.
-
-"Here they are," he said.
-
-"You are mistaken, my friend," Don Miguel observed; "I heard nothing."
-
-The hunter smiled.
-
-"If you had spent," he said, "like we have, ten years in the desert,
-interrogating the mysterious voices of the night, your ear would be
-habituated to the vague rumours and sighs of nature which have no meaning
-to you at this moment, but which have all a significance for me, and, so
-to speak, a voice every note of which I understand, and you would not
-say I was mistaken. Ask the chief: you will hear his answer."
-
-"Two men are climbing the hill at this moment," Curumilla answered
-sententiously. "They are an Indian and a white man."
-
-"How can you recognise the distinction?"
-
-"Very easily," Valentine responded with a smile. "The Indian wears
-moccasins, which touch the ground without producing any other sound than
-a species of friction: the step is sure and unhesitating, as taken by a
-man accustomed to walk in the desert, and only put down his foot firmly:
-the white man wears high-heeled boots, which at each step produce a
-distinct and loud sound; the spurs fastened to his boots give out a
-continuous metallic clink; the step is awkward and timid; at each moment
-a stone or crumble of earth rolls away under the foot, which is only put
-down hesitatingly. It is easy to see that the man thus walking is
-accustomed to a horse, and does not know the use of his feet. Stay! They
-are now entering the grotto: you will soon hear the signal."
-
-At this moment the bark of the coyote was raised thrice at equal
-intervals. Valentine answered by a similar cry.
-
-"Well, was I mistaken?" he said.
-
-"I know not what to think, my friend. What astonishes me most is that
-you heard them so long before they arrived."
-
-"The ground of this cave is an excellent conductor of sound," the hunter
-answered simply: "that is all the mystery."
-
-"The devil!" Don Miguel could not refrain from saying; "You neglect
-nothing, I fancy."
-
-"If a man wants to live in the desert he must neglect nothing: the
-smallest things have their importance, and an observation carefully made
-may often save a man's life."
-
-While these few words were being exchanged between the two friends the
-noise of footsteps was heard drawing nearer and nearer. Two men
-appeared: one was Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras; the second,
-General Ibañez.
-
-The general was a man of about thirty-five, tall and well-built, with a
-delicate and intelligent face. His manners were graceful and noble. He
-bowed cordially to the hacendero and Valentine, squeezed Curumilla's
-hand, and fell down in a sitting posture by the fire.
-
-"Ouf!" he said, "I am done, gentlemen. I have just ridden an awful
-distance. My poor horse is foundered, and to recover myself I made an
-ascent, during which I thought twenty times I must break down; and that
-would have infallibly happened, had not friend Eagle-wing charitably
-come to my aid. I must confess that these Indians climb like real cats:
-we _gente de razón_[1] are worth nothing for that trade."
-
-"At length you have arrived, my friend," Don Miguel answered. "Heaven be
-praised! I was anxious to see you."
-
-"For my part I confess that my impatience was equally lively, especially
-since I learned the treachery of that scoundrelly Red Cedar. That humbug
-of a Wood sent him to me with so warm a recommendation that, in spite of
-all my prudence, I let myself be taken in, and nearly told him all our
-secrets. Unfortunately, the little I did let him know is sufficient to
-have us shot a hundred times like vulgar conspirators of no
-consequence."
-
-"Do not feel alarmed, my friend. After what. Valentine told me today, we
-have, perchance, a way of foiling the tricks of the infamous spy who has
-denounced us."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! But nothing will remove my impression that Wood
-has something to do with what has happened to us. I always doubted that
-American, who is cold as an iceberg, sour as a glass of lemonade, and
-methodical as a Quaker. What good is to be expected from these men, who
-covet the possession of our territory, and who, unable to take it from
-us at one lump, tear it away in parcels?"
-
-"Who knows, my friend? Perhaps you are right. Unfortunately, what is
-done cannot be helped, and our retrospective recriminations will do us
-no good."
-
-"That is true; but, as you know, man is the same everywhere. When he has
-committed a folly he is happy to find a scapegoat on which he can lay
-the iniquities with which he reproaches himself. That is slightly my
-case at this moment."
-
-"Do not take more blame on yourself, my friend, than you deserve; I
-guarantee your integrity and the loyalty of your sentiments. Whatever
-may happen, be persuaded that I will always do you justice, and, if
-needed, defend you against all."
-
-"Thanks, Don Miguel. What you say causes me pleasure and reconciles me
-with myself. I needed the assurance you give me in order to regain some
-slight courage, and not let myself be completely crushed by the
-unforeseen blow which threatens to overthrow our hopes at the very
-moment when we expected to find them realised."
-
-"Come, come, gentlemen," Valentine said, "the time is slipping away, and
-we have none to waste. Let us seek to find the means by which to repair
-the check we have suffered. If you permit me I will submit to your
-approval a plan which, I believe, combines all the desirable chances of
-success, and will turn in our favour the very treachery to which we have
-fallen victims."
-
-"Speak, speak, my friend!" the two men exclaimed, as they prepared to
-listen.
-
-Valentine took the word.
-
-
-[1] Literally, "men of reason"--a graceful expression the whites employ
-to distinguish themselves from the Indians, whom they affect to consider
-brute beasts, and to whom they do not even grant a soul.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-FATHER SERAPHIN.
-
-
-"Gentlemen," said Valentine, "this is what I propose. The treachery of
-Red Cedar, in surrendering to the Government the secret of your
-conspiracy, places you in a critical position, from which you cannot
-escape save by violent measures. You are between life and death. You
-have no alternative save victory or defeat. The powder is fired, the
-ground is mined under your feet, and an explosion is imminent. Well,
-then, pick up the glove treachery throws to you--accept frankly the
-position offered you. Do not wait till you are attacked, but commence
-the contest. Remember the vulgar adage, which is perfectly true in
-politics, and specially in revolution--that 'the first blow is half the
-battle.' Your enemies will be terrified by your boldness--dashed by this
-uprising which they are far from expecting, especially now, when they
-imagine they hold in their hands all the threads of the conspiracy--an
-error which makes them put faith in the revelations of a common spy, and
-will ruin them if you act with skill--above all, with promptitude. All
-depends on the first blow. It must be terrible, and terrify them: if
-not, you are lost."
-
-"All that is true; but we lack time," General Ibañez observed.
-
-"Time is never lacking when a man knows how to employ it properly,"
-Valentine answered peremptorily. "I repeat, you must be beforehand with
-your adversaries."
-
-At this moment the sound of footsteps was heard under the vault of the
-cave. The most extreme silence at once reigned in the chamber where the
-five conspirators were assembled. Mechanically each sought his weapons.
-The steps rapidly approached, and a man appeared in the entrance of the
-hall. On seeing him all present uttered a cry of joy and rose
-respectfully, repeating, "Father Seraphin!"
-
-The man advanced smiling, bowed gracefully, and answered in a gentle and
-melodious voice, which went straight to the soul,--
-
-"Take your places again, gentlemen, I beg of you. I should be truly
-vexed if I caused you any disturbance. Permit me only to sit down for a
-few moments by your side."
-
-They hastened to make room for him. Let us say in a few words who this
-person was, whose unexpected arrival caused so much pleasure to the
-people assembled in the grotto.
-
-Father Seraphin was a man of twenty-four at the most, although the
-fatigues he supported, the harsh labours he had imposed on himself, and
-which he fulfilled with more than apostolic abnegation, had left
-numerous traces on his face, with its delicate features, its gentle and
-firm expression, imprinted with a sublime melancholy, rendered even more
-touching by the beam of ineffable goodness which escaped from his large,
-blue and thoughtful eyes. His whole person, however, exhaled a perfume
-of youth and health which disguised his age, as to which a superficial
-observer might have been easily deceived.
-
-Father Seraphin was a Frenchman, and belonged to the order of the
-Lazarists. For five years he had been traversing as an indefatigable
-missionary, with no other weapon than his staff, the unexplored
-solitudes of Texas and New Mexico, preaching the gospel to the Indians,
-while caring nothing for the terrible privations and nameless sufferings
-he incessantly endured, and the death constantly suspended over his
-head.
-
-Father Seraphin was one of those numerous soldiers, ignored martyrs of
-the army of faith, who, making a shield of the Gospel, spread at the
-peril of their lives the word of God in those barbarous countries, and
-die heroically, falling bravely on their battlefield, worn out by the
-painful exigencies of their sublime mission, aged at thirty, but having
-gained over a few souls to the truth, and shed light among the ignorant
-masses.
-
-The abnegation and devotion of these modest men, yet so great in heart,
-are too much despised in France, where however, the greater number of
-these martyrs are recruited. Their sacrifices pass unnoticed; for, owing
-to the false knowledge possessed of beyond-sea countries, people are far
-from suspecting the continual struggles they have to sustain against a
-deadly climate. And who would credit it? The most obstinate adversaries
-they meet with in the accomplishment of their mission are not among the
-Indians, who always nearly welcome them with respect, if not joy, but
-among the men whom their labours benefit, and who ought to aid and
-protect them with all their might. There is no vexation or humiliation
-which they do not endure from the agents of Mexico and the American
-Union, to try and disgust and compel them to abandon the arena in which
-they combat so nobly.
-
-Father Seraphin had gained the friendship and respect of all those with
-whom accident had brought him into contact. Charmed with meeting a
-fellow countryman in the midst of those vast solitudes so distant from
-that France he never hoped to see again, he had attached himself closely
-to Valentine, to whom he vowed a deep and sincere affection. For the
-same motives, the hunter, who admired the greatness of character of this
-priest so full of true religion, felt himself drawn to him by an
-irresistible liking. They had frequently taken long journeys together,
-the hunter guiding his friend to the Indian tribes across the desolate
-regions of Apacheria.
-
-So soon as Father Seraphin had taken his place near the fire, Eagle-wing
-and Curumilla hastened to offer him all those slight services which they
-fancied might be agreeable to him, and offered him a few lumps of roast
-venison with maize tortillas. The missionary gladly gratified the two
-chiefs, and accepted their offerings.
-
-"It is a long time since we saw you, father," the hacendero said. "You
-neglect us. My daughter asked me about you only two days ago, for she is
-anxious to see you."
-
-"Doña Clara is an angel who does not require me," the missionary replied
-gently. "I have spent nearly two months with the Comanche tribe of the
-Tortoise. Those poor Indians claim all my care. They are thirsting for
-the Divine Word."
-
-"Are you satisfied with your journey?"
-
-"Sufficiently so, for these men are not such as they are represented to
-us. Their instincts are noble, and, as their primitive nature is not
-adulterated by contact with the vicious civilization that surrounds
-them, they easily understood what is explained to them."
-
-"Do you reckon on staying long among us?"
-
-"Yes; this last journey has fatigued me extremely. My health is in a
-deplorable state, and I absolutely need a few days' rest in order to
-regain the requisite strength to continue my ministry."
-
-"Well, father, come with me to the hacienda; you will remain with us,
-and make us all truly happy."
-
-"I am going to make that request to you, Don Miguel. I am delighted that
-you have thus met my wishes. If I accept your obliging offer, it is
-because I know I shall not incommode you."
-
-"On the contrary, we shall be delighted to have you among us."
-
-"Ah! I know the goodness of your heart."
-
-"Do not make me better than I am, father: there is a spice of egotism in
-what I am doing."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Hang it! By labouring at the education of the Indians you render an
-immense service to the race I have the honor of belonging to; for I,
-too, am an Indian."
-
-"That is true," the priest answered with a laugh. "Come, I absolve you
-from the sin of egotism, in favour of the intention which makes you
-commit it."
-
-"Father," Valentine then said, "is the game plentiful in the desert just
-at present?"
-
-"Yes, there is a great deal: the buffaloes have come down from the
-mountains in herds--the elks, the deer, and the antelopes swarm."
-
-Valentine rubbed his hands.
-
-"It will be a good season," he said.
-
-"Yes, for you. As for myself, I have no cause of complaint, for the
-Indians have been most attentive to me."
-
-"All the better. I ever tremble when I know you are among those red
-devils. I do not say that of the Comanches, who are warriors I esteem,
-and have always displayed the sincerest affection for you; but I have a
-terrible fear lest those villains of Apaches may play you a wicked trick
-some fine day."
-
-"Why entertain such ideas, my friend?"
-
-"They are correct. You cannot imagine what treacherous and cruel cowards
-those Apache thieves are. I know them, and carry their marks; but do not
-frighten yourself. If ever they ventured on any extremities against you,
-I know the road to their villages: there is not a nook in the desert
-which I have not thoroughly explored. It is not for nothing I have
-received the name of the 'Trail-hunter.' I swear to you I will not leave
-them a scalp."
-
-"Valentine, you know I do not like to hear you speak so. The Indians are
-poor ignorant men, who know not what they do, and must be pardoned for
-the evil they commit."
-
-"All right--all right!" the hunter growled. "You have your ideas on that
-score, and I mine."
-
-"Yes," the missionary replied with a smile, "but I believe mine be
-better."
-
-"It is possible. You know I do not discuss that subject with you; for I
-do not know how you do it, but you always succeed in proving to me that
-I am wrong."
-
-Everybody laughed at this sally.
-
-"And what are the Indians doing at this moment?" Valentine continued.
-"Are they still fighting?"
-
-"No; I succeeded in bringing Unicorn, the principal chief of the
-Comanches, and Stanapat (the Handful of Blood), the Apache sachem, to an
-interview, at which peace was sworn."
-
-"Hum!" Valentine said incredulously, "that peace will not last long, for
-Unicorn has too many reasons to owe the Apaches a grudge."
-
-"Nothing leads to the supposition, at present, that your forebodings
-will be speedily realised."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because, when I left Unicorn, he was preparing for a grand buffalo
-hunt, in which five hundred picked warriors were to take part."
-
-"Ah, ah! and where do you think the hunt will take place, father?"
-
-"I know for a certainty, because, when I left Unicorn, he begged me to
-invite you to it, as he knew I should see you shortly."
-
-"I willingly accept, for a buffalo hunt always had great attractions for
-me."
-
-"You will not have far to go to find Unicorn, for he is scarce ten
-leagues from this place."
-
-"The hunt will take place, then, in the neighbourhood?"
-
-"The meeting-place is Yellowstone Plain."
-
-"I shall not fail to be there, father. Ah! I am delighted, more than you
-can suppose, at the happy news you have brought me."
-
-"All the better, my friend. Now, gentlemen, I will ask you to excuse me;
-for I feel so broken with fatigue that, with your permission, I will go
-and take a few hours' rest."
-
-"I was a fool not to think of it before," Valentine exclaimed with
-vexation as he struck his forehead. "Pardon me, father."
-
-"I thought for my brother," said Curumilla. "If my father will follow me
-all is ready."
-
-The missionary thanked him with a smile and rose, bowed to all present,
-and supported by Eagle-wing, he followed Curumilla into another chamber
-of the grotto. Father Seraphin found a bed of dry leaves covered with
-bear skins, and a fire so arranged as to burn all night. The two Indians
-retired after bowing respectfully to the father, and assuring themselves
-that he needed nothing more.
-
-After kneeling on the ground of the grotto Father Seraphin laid himself
-on his bed of leaves, crossed his arms on his chest, and fell into that
-childlike sleep which only the just enjoy. After his departure Valentine
-bent over to his two friends.
-
-"All is saved," he said in a low voice.
-
-"How? Explain yourself," they eagerly answered.
-
-"Listen to me. You will spend the night here; at daybreak you will start
-for the Hacienda de la Noria, accompanied by Father Seraphin."
-
-"Good! What next?"
-
-"General Ibañez will proceed, as from you, to the governor, and invite
-him to a grand hunt of wild horses, to take place in three days."
-
-"I do not understand what you are driving at."
-
-"That is not necessary at this moment. Let me guide you; but, above all,
-arrange it so that all the authorities of the town accept your
-invitation and are present at the hunt."
-
-"That I take on myself."
-
-"Very good. You, general, will collect all the men you can, so that they
-can support you on a given signal, but hide themselves so that no one
-can suspect their presence."
-
-"Very good," Don Miguel answered; "all shall be done as you recommend.
-But where will you be all this while?"'
-
-"You know very well," he answered with a smile of undefinable meaning.
-"I shall be hunting the buffalo with my friend Unicorn, the great chief
-of the Comanches."
-
-Hastily breaking off the interview, the hunter wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe, stretched himself before the fire, closed his eyes, and
-slept, or feigned to sleep. After a few minutes' hesitation his friend
-imitated his example, and the grotto became calm and silent as on the
-day of the creation.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-UNICORN.
-
-
-Before retiring to rest Father Seraphin, on the previous evening, had
-whispered a couple of words in the Indians' ears. The sun had scarce
-begun to rise a little above the extreme blue line of the horizon ere
-the missionary opened his eyes, and after a short prayer hurried to the
-hall in which his companions had remained. The four men were still
-asleep, wrapped in their furs and buffalo skins.
-
-"Wake up, brothers," Father Seraphin said, "for day is appearing."
-
-The four men started up in an instant.
-
-"My brothers," the young missionary said in a gentle and penetrating
-voice, "I thought that we ought, before separating, to thank God in
-common: for the blessings He does not cease to vouchsafe to us--to
-celebrate our happy meeting of last night. I have, therefore, resolved
-to hold a mass, at which I shall be happy to see you with that purity of
-heart which such a duty demands."
-
-At this proposition the four men exclaimed gladly their assent.
-
-"I will help you to prepare the altar, father," Valentine said; "the
-idea is excellent."
-
-"The altar is all ready, my friends. Have the kindness to follow me."
-
-Father Seraphin then led them out of the grotto.
-
-In the centre of a small esplanade in front of the cave an altar had
-been built by Eagle-wing and Curumilla on a grassy mound. It was very
-simple. A copper crucifix planted in the centre of the mound, covered by
-a cloth of dazzling whiteness; on either side of it two block-tin
-candlesticks, in which burned candles of yellow tallow, a Bible on the
-right, the pyx in the centre--that was all.
-
-The hunter and the two Mexicans knelt piously, and Father Seraphin
-commenced offering the holy sacrifice, served devotedly by the two
-Indian chiefs.
-
-It was a magnificent morning; thousands of birds, hidden beneath the
-foliage, saluted the birth of day with their harmonious songs; a fickle
-breeze poured through the branches, and refreshed the air; in the
-distance, far as eye could extend, undulated the prairie, with its
-oceans of tall grass incessantly agitated by the hurried foot falls of
-the wild beasts returning to their dens; and on the naked side of this
-hill, at the entrance of this grotto--one of the marvels of the New
-World--a priest, simple as an apostle, was celebrating mass on a grass
-altar under the eye of Heaven, served by two poor savages, and having as
-sole congregation three half-civilised men.
-
-This spectacle, so simple primitive, had something about it imposing and
-sublime, which inspired respect and summoned up dreams of ancient days,
-when the persecuted church took refuse in the desert, to find itself
-face to face with God. Hence the emotion experienced by the witnesses of
-this religious act was sincere. A beam of happiness descended into their
-souls, and it was with real effusion that they thanked the priest for
-the pleasant surprise he had reserved for them. Father Seraphin was
-delighted at the result he had attained. Seeing the truly profound faith
-of his friends, he felt his courage heightened to continue the rude and
-noble task he had imposed on himself.
-
-The mass lasted about three quarters of an hour. When it was finished
-the missionary placed the poor holy vessels in the bag he constantly
-carried with him, and they returned to the grotto for breakfast. An hour
-later, Don Miguel, General Ibañez, and the missionary took leave of
-Valentine, and mounted on their horses, which Curumilla had led to the
-entrance of the ravine. They started at a gallop in the direction of the
-Paso del Norte, whence they were about twenty leagues distant. Valentine
-and the two Indian chiefs remained behind.
-
-"I am about to leave my brother," Eagle-wing said.
-
-"Why not remain with us, chief?"
-
-"My pale brother no longer requires Eagle-wing. The chief hears the
-cries of the men and women of his tribe who were cowardly assassinated,
-and demand vengeance."
-
-"Where goes my brother?" the hunter asked, who was too thoroughly
-acquainted with the character of the Indians to try and change the
-warrior's determination, though he was vexed at his departure.
-
-"The Coras dwell in villages on the banks of the Colorado. Eagle-wing is
-returning to his friends. He will ask for warriors to avenge his
-brothers who are dead."
-
-Valentine bowed.
-
-"May the Great Spirit protect my father!" he said. "The road is long to
-the villages of his tribe. The chief is leaving friends who love him."
-
-"Eagle-wing knows it: he will remember," the chief said with a deep
-intonation.
-
-And, after pressing the hands the two hunters held out to him, he
-bounded on his horse, and soon disappeared in the windings of the
-cañon.
-
-Valentine watched his departure with a sad and melancholy look.
-
-"Shall I ever see him again!" he murmured. "He is an Indian: he is
-following his vengeance. It is his nature: he obeys it, and God will
-judge him. Every man must obey his destiny."
-
-After this aside the hunter threw his rifle on his shoulder and started
-in his turn, followed by Curumilla. Valentine and his comrade were on
-foot: they preferred that mode of travelling, which seemed to them sure,
-and quite as quick as on horseback. The two men, after the Indian
-custom, walked one behind the other, not uttering a syllable; but toward
-midday the heat became so insupportable that they were obliged to stop
-to take a few moments' repose. At length the sunbeams lost their
-strength, the evening breeze rose, and the hunters could resume their
-journey. They soon reached the banks of the Rio Puerco (Dirty River),
-which they began ascending, keeping as close as they could to the banks,
-while following the tracks made since time immemorial by wild animals
-coming down to drink.
-
-The man unacquainted with the splendid American scenery will have a
-difficulty in imagining the imposing and savage majesty of the prairie
-the hunters were traversing. The river, studded with islets covered with
-cottonwood trees, flowed silent and rapid between banks of slight
-elevation, and overgrown with grass so tall that it obeyed the impulse
-of the wind from a long distance. Over the vast plain were scattered
-innumerable hills, whose summits, nearly all of the same height, present
-a flat surface; and for a greater distance northward the ground was
-broadcast with large lumps of pebbles resembling gravestones.
-
-At a few hundred yards from the river rose a conical mound, bearing on
-its summit a granite obelisk one hundred and twenty feet in height. The
-Indians, who, like all primitive nations, are caught by anything
-strange, frequently assembled at this spot; and here the hecatombs are
-offered to the Kitchi Manitou.
-
-A great number of buffalo skulls, piled up at the foot of the column,
-and arranged in circles, ellipses, and other geometrical figures, attest
-their piety for this god of the hunt, whose protecting spirit, they say,
-looks down from the top of the monolith. Here and there grew patches of
-the Indian potato, wild onion, prairie tomato, and those millions of
-strange flowers and trees composing the American flora. The rest of the
-country was covered with tall grass, continually undulating beneath the
-light footfall of the graceful antelopes or big horns, which bounded
-from one rock to the other, startled by the approach of the travellers.
-
-Far, far away on the horizon, mingling with the azure of the sky,
-appeared the denuded peaks of the lofty mountains that serve as
-unassailable fortresses to the Indians: their summits, covered with
-eternal snow, formed the frame of this immense and imposing picture,
-which was stamped with a gloomy and mysterious grandeur.
-
-At the hour when the _maukawis_ uttered its last song to salute the
-setting of the sun, which, half plunged in the purple of evening, still
-jaspered the sky with long red bands, the travellers perceived the tents
-of the Comanches picturesquely grouped on the sides of a verdurous hill.
-The Indians had, in a few hours, improvised a real village with their
-buffalo skin tents, aligned to form streets and squares.
-
-On arriving at about five hundred yards from the village the hunters
-suddenly perceived an Indian horseman. Evincing not the slightest
-surprise, they stopped and unfolded their buffalo robes, which floated
-in the breeze, as a signal of peace. The horseman uttered a loud cry. At
-this signal--for it was evidently one--a troop of Comanche warriors
-debouched at a gallop from the village, and poured like a torrent down
-the sides of the hill, coming up close to the motionless travellers,
-brandishing their weapons, and uttering their war yell.
-
-The hunters waited, carelessly leaning on their guns. Assuredly, to a
-man not acquainted with the singular manners of the prairie, this mode
-of reception would have seemed overt hostilities. But it was not so;
-for, on coming within range of the hunters, the Comanches began making
-their horses leap and curvet with that grace and skill characteristic of
-the Indians, and deploying to the right and left, they formed a vast
-circle, inclosing the two unmoved hunters.
-
-Then a horseman quitted the group, dismounted, and rapidly approached
-the newcomers: the latter hastened to meet him. All three had their arm
-extended with the palm forward in sign of peace. The Indian who thus
-advanced to meet the hunters was Unicorn, the great chief of the
-Comanches.
-
-As a distinctive sign of his race, his skin was of a red tinge, brighter
-than the palest new copper. He was a man of thirty at the most, with
-masculine and expressive features; his face possessed a remarkable
-intelligence, and was stamped with that natural majesty found among the
-savage children of the prairie; he was tall and well built; and his
-muscular limbs evidenced a vigour and suppleness against which few men
-would have contended with advantage.
-
-He was completely painted and armed for war; his black hair was drawn up
-on his head in the form of a casque, and fell down his back like a mane;
-a profusion of wampum collars, claws of grizzly bear, and buffalo teeth
-adorned his breast, on which was painted with rare dexterity a blue
-tortoise, the distinctive sign of the tribe to which he belonged, and of
-the size of a hand.
-
-The rest of his costume was composed of the _mitasses_, fastened round
-the hips by a leathern belt, and descending to the ankles; a deerskin
-shirt, with long hanging sleeves, the seams of which, like those of the
-mitasse, were fringed with leather strips and feathers; a wide cloak, of
-the hide of a female buffalo, was fastened across his shoulders with a
-buckle of pure gold, and fell down to the ground; on his feet he had
-elegant moccasins of different colours, embroidered with beads and
-porcupine quills, from the heels of which trailed several wolf tails; a
-light round shield, covered with buffalo hide, and decorated with human
-scalps, hung on his left side by his panther skin quiver full of arrows.
-His weapons were those of the Comanche Indians; that is to say, the
-scalping knife, the tomahawk, a bow, and an American rifle; but a long
-whip, the handle of which painted red, was adorned with scalps,
-indicated his rank as chief.
-
-When the three men were close together they saluted by raising their
-hands to their foreheads; then Valentine and Unicorn crossed their arms
-by passing the right hand over the left shoulder, and bowing their heads
-at the same time, kissed each other's mouth after the prairie fashion.
-Unicorn then saluted Curumilla in the same way; and this preliminary
-ceremony terminated, the Comanche chief took the word.
-
-"My brothers are welcome at the village of my tribe," he said. "I was
-expecting them impatiently. I had begged the Chief of Prayer of the
-palefaces to invite them in my name."
-
-"He performed his promise last night. I thank my brother for having
-thought of me."
-
-"The two stranger great hunters are friends of Unicorn. His heart was
-sad not to see them near him for the buffalo hunt his young people are
-preparing."
-
-"Here we are! We set out this morning at sunrise."
-
-"My brothers will follow me, and rest at the council fire."
-
-The hunters bowed assent. Each received a horse, and at a signal from
-Unicorn, who had placed himself between them, the troop started at a
-gallop, and returned to the village, which it entered to the deafening
-sound of drums, chikikouis, shouts of joy from the women and children
-who saluted their return, and the furious barking of the dogs. When the
-chiefs were seated round the council fire the pipe was lit, and
-ceremoniously presented to the two strangers, who smoked in silence for
-some minutes. When the pipe had gone the round several times Unicorn
-addressed Valentine.
-
-"Koutonepi is a great hunter," he said to him; "he has often followed
-the buffalo on the plains of the Dirty River. The chief will tell him
-the preparations he has made, that the hunter may give his opinion."
-
-"It is needless, chiefs," Valentine replied. "The buffalo is the friend
-of the redskins: the Comanches know all its stratagems. I should like to
-ask a question of my brother."
-
-"The hunter can speak; my ears are open."
-
-"How long will the chief remain on the hunting grounds with his young
-men?"
-
-"About a week. The buffaloes are suspicious: my young men are
-surrounding them, but they drive them in our direction before four or
-five days."
-
-Valentine gave a start of joy.
-
-"Good," he said. "Is my brother sure of it?"
-
-"Very sure."
-
-"How many warriors have remained with the chief?"
-
-"About four hundred: the rest are scattered over the plain to announce
-the approach of the buffaloes."
-
-"Good! If my brother likes I will procure him a fine hunt within three
-days."
-
-"Ah!" the chief exclaimed, "then my brother has started some game?"
-
-"Oh!" Valentine answered with a laugh, "Let my brother trust to me, and
-I promise him rich spoils."
-
-"Good! Of what game does my brother speak?"
-
-"Of _gachupinos_[1]. In two days they will meet in large numbers not far
-from here."
-
-"Wah!" said the Comanche, whose eyes sparkled at this news, "My young
-men will hunt them. My brother must explain."
-
-Valentine shook his head.
-
-"My words are for the ears of a chief," he said.
-
-Without replying, Unicorn made a signal: the Indians rose silently, and
-left the tent. Curumilla and Unicorn alone remained near the fire.
-Valentine then explained to the Comanche, in its fullest details, the
-plan he had conceived, in the execution of which the aid of the Indians
-was indispensable for him. Unicorn listened attentively without
-interrupting. When Valentine had ended,--
-
-"What does my brother think?" the latter asked, fixing a scrutinising
-glance on the impassive countenance of the chief.
-
-"Wah!" the other replied, "the paleface is very crafty. Unicorn will do
-what he desires."
-
-This assurance filled Valentine's heart with joy.
-
-
-[1] Wearers of shoes--a name given by the Indians to the Spaniards at
-the conquest.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-THE HUNT OF WILD HORSES.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate and his two friends did not reach the hacienda till
-late. They were received in the porch by Don Pablo and Doña Clara, who
-manifested great joy at the sight of the French missionary, for whom
-they felt a sincere esteem and great friendship. Spite of all his care,
-Fray Ambrosio had always seen his advances repelled by the young people,
-in whom he instinctively inspired that fear mingled with disgust that is
-experienced at the sight of a reptile.
-
-Doña Clara, who was very pious, carried this repulsion to such a pitch
-that she only confessed her faults and approached the holy table when
-Father Seraphin came to spend a few days at the hacienda.
-
-Fray Ambrosio was too adroit to appear to notice the effect his presence
-produced on the hacendero's children: he feigned to attribute to
-timidity and indifference on religious matters what was in reality a
-strongly expressed loathing for himself personally. But in his heart a
-dull hatred fermented against the two young folk, and especially against
-the missionary, whom he had several times already attempted to destroy
-by well-laid snares.
-
-Father Seraphin had always escaped them by a providential chance; but in
-spite of the chaplain's obsequious advances, and the offers of service
-he did not fail to overwhelm him with each time they met, the missionary
-had thoroughly read the Mexican monk. He had guessed what fearful
-corruption was hidden beneath his apparent simplicity and feigned piety:
-and while keeping to himself the certainty he had acquired, he remained
-on his guard, and carefully watched this man, whom he suspected of
-incessantly planning some dark treachery against him. Don Miguel left
-his children with the missionary, who immediately took possession of him
-and dragged him away, lavishing on him every possible attention. The
-hacendero retired to his study with General Ibañez, when the two men
-drew up a list of the persons they intended to invite; that is to say,
-the persons Valentine proposed to get out of the way, though they were
-innocent of his scheme. The general then mounted his horse, and rode off
-to deliver the invitations personally. For his part Don Miguel sent off
-a dozen peons and vaqueros in search of the wild horses, and to drive
-them gradually toward the spot chosen for the hunt.
-
-Gen. Ibañez succeeded perfectly: the invitations were gladly accepted,
-and the next evening the guests began arriving at the hacienda, Don
-Miguel receiving them with marks of the most profound respect and lavish
-hospitality.
-
-The governor, General Isturitz, Don Luciano Pérez, and seven or eight
-persons of inferior rank were soon assembled at the hacienda. At sunrise
-a numerous party, composed of forty persons, left the hacienda, and
-proceeded, accompanied by a crowd of well-mounted peons, towards the
-meet. This was a vast plain on the banks of the Rio del Norte, where the
-wild horses were accustomed to graze at this season. The caravan
-produced the most singular and picturesque effect with the brilliant
-costumes of the persons who composed it, and their horses glittering
-with gold and silver. Starting at about four a.m. from the hacienda,
-they reached four hours later a clump of trees, beneath whose shade
-tents had been raised and tables laid by Don Miguel's orders, so that
-they might breakfast before the hunt.
-
-The riders, who had been journeying for four hours, already exposed to
-the rays of the sun and the dust, uttered a shout of joy at the sight of
-the tents. Each dismounted: the ladies were invited to do the same,
-among them being the wives of the governor and General Isturitz, and
-Doña Clara, and they gaily sat down round the tables.
-
-Toward the end of the breakfast Don Pablo arrived, who had started the
-evening previously to join the vaqueros. He announced that the horses
-had been started, that a large manada was now crossing the Plain of the
-Coyotes, watched by the vaqueros, and that they must make haste if they
-wished to have good sport. This news augmented the ardor of the hunters.
-The ladies were left in camp under the guard of a dozen well-armed
-peons, and the whole party rushed at a gallop in the direction indicated
-by Don Pablo.
-
-The Plain of the Coyotes extended for an enormous distance along the
-banks of the river. Here and there rose wooded hills, which varied the
-landscape that was rendered monotonous by the tall grass, in which the
-riders disappeared up to their waists. When the hunting party reached
-the skirt of the plain Don Miguel ordered a halt, that they might hold a
-council, and hear the report of the leader of the vaqueros.
-
-The races of wild horses that nowadays people the deserts of North
-America, and especially of Mexico, is descended from Cortez' cavalry.
-Hence it is a pure breed, for at the period of the Spanish conquest only
-Arab horses were employed. These horses have multiplied in really an
-extraordinary manner. It is not rare to meet with manadas of twenty and
-even thirty thousand head. They are small, but gifted with an energy and
-vigour of which it is impossible to form a fair idea without having seen
-them. They accomplish without fatigue journeys of prodigious length.
-Their coat is the same as that of other horses, save that during winter
-it grows very long, and frizzy like the wool of sheep. In spring this
-species of fur falls off. The American horses may be easily trained.
-Generally, so soon as they find themselves caught they easily submit to
-the saddle.
-
-The Mexicans treat their steeds very harshly, make them journey the
-whole day without food or drink, and only give them their ration of
-maize and water on reaching the bivouac, where they let them wander
-about the whole night under guard of the _nena_, a mare whose bell the
-horses follow, and will never leave. It is not from any cruel motive,
-however, that the Mexicans treat their horses thus, for the riders are
-very fond of their animals, which at a given moment may save their
-lives. But it seems that this mode of treatment, which would be
-impracticable in Europe, is perfectly successful in Mexico, where the
-horses are much better off than if treated in a more gentle way.
-
-The leader of the vaqueros made his report. A manada of about ten
-thousand head was two leagues off on the plain, quietly grazing in the
-company of a few elks and buffaloes. The hunters scaled a hill, from the
-top of which they easily saw on the horizon a countless mob of animals,
-grouped in a most picturesque way, and apparently not at all suspecting
-the danger that threatened them.
-
-To hunt the wild horses men must be like the Mexicans, perfect centaurs.
-I have seen the _jinetes_ of that country accomplish feats of
-horsemanship before which our Europeans would turn pale.
-
-After the vaquero's report Don Miguel and his friends held a council,
-and this is the resolution they came to. They formed what is called in
-Mexico the grand circle of the wild horses; that is to say, the most
-skilful riders were echeloned in every direction at a certain distance
-from each other, so as to form an immense circle. The wild horses are
-extremely suspicious: their instinct is so great, their scent is so
-subtle, that the slightest breath of wind is sufficient to carry to them
-the smell of their enemies, and make them set off at headlong speed.
-Hence it is necessary to act with the greatest prudence, and use many
-precautions, if a surprise is desired.
-
-When all the preparations were made the hunters dismounted, and dragging
-their horses after them, glided through the tall grass so as to contract
-the circle. This manoeuvre had gone on for some time, and they had
-sensibly drawn nearer, when the manada began to display some signs of
-restlessness. The horses, which had hitherto grazed calmly, raised their
-heads, pricked their ears, and neighed as they inhaled the air. Suddenly
-they collected, formed a compact band, and started at a trot in the
-direction of some cottonwood trees which stood on the banks of the
-river. The hunt was about to commence.
-
-At a signal from Don Miguel six well-mounted vaqueros rushed at full
-speed ahead of the manada, making their lassoes whistle round their
-heads. The horses, startled by the apparition of the riders, turned back
-hastily, uttering snorts of terror, and fled in another direction. But
-each time they tried to force the circle, horsemen rode into the midst
-of them, and compelled them to turn back.
-
-It is necessary to have been present at such a chase, to have seen this
-hunt on the prairies, to form an idea of the magnificent sight offered
-by all these noble brutes, their eyes afire, their mouths foaming, their
-heads haughtily thrown up, and their manes fluttering in the wind, as
-they bounded and galloped in the fatal circle the hunters had formed
-round them. There is in such a sight something intoxicating, which
-carries away the most phlegmatic, and renders them mad with enthusiasm
-and pleasure.
-
-When this manoeuvre had lasted long enough, and the horses began to grow
-blinded with terror, at a signal given by Don Miguel the circle was
-broken at a certain spot. The horses rushed, with a sound like thunder,
-toward this issue which opened before them, overturning with their
-chests everything that barred their progress. But it was this the
-hunters expected. The horses, in their mad race, galloped on without
-dreaming that the road they followed grew gradually narrower in front of
-them, and terminated in inevitable captivity.
-
-Let us explain the termination of the hunt. The manada had been cleverly
-guided by the hunters toward the entrance of a cañon, or ravine, which
-ran between two rather lofty hills. At the end of this ravine the
-vaqueros had formed, with stakes fifteen feet long, planted in the
-ground, and firmly fastened together with cords of twisted bark, an
-immense corral or inclosure, into which the horses rushed without seeing
-it. In less than no time the corral was full; then the hunters went to
-meet the manada, which they cut off at the risk of their lives, while
-the others closed the entrance of the corral. More than fifteen hundred
-magnificent wild horses were thus captured at one stroke.
-
-The noble animals rushed with snorts of fury at the walls of the
-inclosure, trying to tear up the stakes with their teeth, and dashing
-madly against them. At length they recognised the futility of their
-efforts, lay down, and remained motionless. In the meanwhile a
-tremendous struggle was going on in the ravine between the hunters and
-the rest of the manada. The horses confined in this narrow space made
-extraordinary efforts to open a passage and fly anew. They neighed,
-stamped, and flew at everything that came within their reach. At length
-they succeeded in regaining their first direction, and rushed into the
-plain with the velocity of an avalanche. Several vaqueros had been
-dismounted and trampled on by the horses, and two of them had received
-such injuries that they were carried off the ground in a state of
-insensibility.
-
-With all the impetuosity of youth Don Pablo had rushed into the very
-heart of the manada. Suddenly his horse received a kick which broke its
-off foreleg, and it fell to the ground, dragging its rider with it. The
-hunters uttered a cry of terror and agony. In the midst of this band of
-maddened horses the young man was lost, for he must be trampled to death
-under their hoofs. But he rose with the rapidity of lightning, and quick
-as thought seizing the mane of the nearest horse, he leaped on its back,
-and held on by his knees. The horses were so pressed against one another
-that any other position was impossible. Then a strange thing
-occurred--an extraordinary struggle between the horse and its rider. The
-noble beast, furious at feeling its back dishonoured by the weight it
-bore, bounded, reared, rushed forward; but all was useless, for Don
-Pablo adhered firmly.
-
-So long as it was in the ravine, the horse, impeded by its comrades,
-could not do all it might have wished to get rid of the burden it bore;
-but so soon as it found itself on the plain it threw up its head, made
-several leaps on one side, and then started forward at a speed which
-took away the young man's breath.
-
-Don Pablo held on firmly by digging his knees into the panting sides of
-his steed; he unfastened his cravat, and prepared to play the last scene
-in this drama, which threatened to terminate in a tragic way for him.
-The horse had changed its tactics; it was racing in a straight line to
-the river, resolved to drown itself with its rider sooner than submit.
-The hunters followed with an interest mingled with terror the moving
-interludes of this mad race, when suddenly the horse changed its plans
-again, reared, and tried to fall back with its rider. The hunters
-uttered a shout of agony. Don Pablo clung convulsively to his animal's
-neck, and, at the moment it was falling back, he threw his cravat over
-its eyes with extraordinary skill.
-
-The horse, suddenly blinded, fell back again on its feet, and stood
-trembling with terror. Then the young man dismounted, put his face to
-the horse's head, and breathed into its nostrils, while gently
-scratching its forehead. This operation lasted ten minutes at the most,
-the horse panting and snorting, but not daring to leave the spot. The
-Mexican again leaped on the horse's back, and removed the bandage; it
-remained stunned--Don Pablo had tamed it[1]. Everybody rushed toward the
-young man, who smiled proudly, in order to compliment him on his
-splendid victory. Don Pablo dismounted, gave his horse to a vaquero, who
-immediately passed a bridle round its neck, and then walked toward his
-father, who embraced him tenderly. For more than an hour Don Miguel had
-despaired of his son's life.
-
-
-[1] This mode of taming horses is well known to the Indians, and we
-submit the fact to our readers without comment.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI.
-
-THE SURPRISE.
-
-
-So soon as the emotion caused by Don Pablo's prowess was calmed they
-began thinking about returning. The sun was rapidly descending in the
-horizon: the whole day had been spent with the exciting incidents of the
-chase. The Hacienda de la Noria was nearly ten leagues distant: it was,
-therefore, urgent to start as speedily as possible, unless the party
-wished to run the risk of bivouacking in the open air.
-
-The men would easily have put up with this slight annoyance, which, in a
-climate like that of New Mexico, and at this season of the year, has
-nothing painful about it; but they had ladies with them. Left one or two
-leagues in the rear, they must feel alarmed by the absence of the
-hunters--an absence which, as so frequently happens when out hunting,
-had been protracted far beyond all expectation.
-
-Don Miguel gave the vaqueros orders to brand the captured horses with
-his cipher; and the whole party then returned, laughing and singing, in
-the direction of the tents where the ladies had been left. The vaqueros
-who had served as beaters during the day remained behind to guard the
-horses.
-
-In these countries, where there is scarce any twilight, night succeeds
-the day almost without transition. As soon as the sun had set the
-hunters found themselves in complete darkness; for, as the sun descended
-on the horizon, the shade invaded the sky in equal proportions, and, at
-the moment when the day planet disappeared, the night was complete. The
-desert, hitherto silent, seemed to wake up all at once: the birds,
-stupefied by the heat, commenced a formidable concert, in which joined
-at intervals, from the inaccessible depths of the forest, the snapping
-of the _carcajous_ and the barking of the coyotes mingled with the
-hoarse howling of the wild beasts that had left their dens to come down
-and drink in the river.
-
-Then gradually the cries, the songs, and the howling ceased, and nothing
-was audible save the hurried footfalls of the hunters' horses on the
-pebbles of the road. A solemn silence seemed to brood over this abrupt
-and primitive scenery. At intervals the green tufts of the trees and the
-tall grass bowed slowly with a prolonged rustling of leaves and
-branches, as if a mysterious breath passed over them, and compelled them
-to bend their heads. There was something at once striking and terrible
-in the imposing appearance offered by the prairie at this hour of the
-night, beneath this sky studded with brilliant stars, which sparkled
-like emeralds, in the presence of this sublime immensity, which only
-suffered one voice to be heard--that of Deity.
-
-The young and enthusiastic man to whom it is given to be present at such
-a spectacle feels a thrill run over all his body: he experiences an
-undefinable feeling of happiness and extraordinary pleasure on looking
-round him at the desert, whose unexplored depths conceal from him so
-many secrets, and display to him Divine Majesty in all its grandeur and
-omnipotence. Many a time during our adventurous journeys on the American
-continent, when marching at hazard during these lovely nights so full of
-charms, which nothing can make those comprehend who have not experienced
-them, we have yielded to the soft emotions that overcame us. Isolating
-and absorbing ourselves within ourselves, we, have fallen into a state
-of beatitude, from which nothing had the power of drawing us.
-
-The hunters so gay and talkative at the start, had yielded to this
-omnipotent influence of the desert, and advanced rapidly and silently,
-only exchanging a few syllables at lengthened intervals. The profoundest
-calm still continued to reign over the desert; and while, owing to the
-astonishing transparency of the atmosphere, the eye could embrace a
-horizon, nothing suspicious was visible.
-
-The fireflies buzzed carelessly round the top of the grass, and the
-flickering fires burning before the tents to which the hunters were
-bound could be already seen about half a league ahead. At a signal from
-Don Miguel the party, which had, up to the present, only trotted, set
-out at a long canter; for each felt anxious to leave a scene which, in
-the darkness, had assumed a sinister aspect.
-
-They thus arrived within a hundred yards of the fires, whose ruddy glow
-was reflected on the distant trees, when suddenly a fearful yell crossed
-the air, and from behind every bush out started an Indian horseman
-brandishing his weapons, and making his horse curvet round the white
-men, while uttering his war cry. The Mexicans, taken unawares, were
-surrounded ere they sufficiently recovered from their stupor to think
-about employing their weapons. At a glance Don Miguel judged the
-position: it was a critical one. The hunters were at the most but
-twenty: the number of Comanche warriors surrounding them was at least
-three hundred.
-
-The Comanches and Apaches are the most implacable foes of the white
-race. In their periodical invasions of the frontiers they hardly ever
-make any prisoners: they mercilessly kill all who fall into their hands.
-Still the Mexicans rallied. Certain of the fate that awaited them, they
-were resolved to sell their lives dearly. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation before the commencement of the deadly combat, when suddenly
-an Indian galloped out of the ranks of the warriors, and rode within
-three paces of the little band of Mexicans. On arriving there he
-stopped, and waved his buffalo robe in sign of peace. The governor of
-the provinces prepared to speak.
-
-"Let me carry on the negotiations," Don Miguel said. "I know the Indians
-better than you do, and perhaps I shall succeed in getting out of this
-awkward position."
-
-"Do so," the governor answered.
-
-General Ibañez was the only one who had remained calm and impassive
-since the surprise: he did not make a move to seize his weapons; on the
-contrary, he crossed his arms carelessly on his chest, and took a
-mocking glance at his comrades as he hummed a seguidilla between his
-teeth. Don Pablo had placed himself by his father's side, ready to
-defend him at the peril of his life. The Indian chief took the word.
-
-"Let the palefaces listen," he said; "an Indian sachem is about to
-speak."
-
-"We have no time to spare in listening to the insidious words which you
-are preparing to say to us," Don Miguel replied in a haughty voice.
-"Withdraw, and do not obstinately bar our passage, or there will be
-blood spilt."
-
-"The palefaces will have brought it on themselves," the Comanche
-answered in a gentle voice. "The Indians mean no harm to the pale
-warriors."
-
-"Why, then, this sudden attack? The chief is mad. We do not let
-ourselves be so easily deceived as he seems to suppose: we know very
-well that he wants our scalps."
-
-"No; Unicorn wishes to make a bargain with the palefaces."
-
-"Come, chief, explain yourself; perhaps your intentions are as you
-describe them. I do not wish to reproach myself with having refused to
-listen to you."
-
-The Indian smiled.
-
-"Good!" he said. "The great white chief is becoming reasonable. Let him
-listen, then, to the words Unicorn will pronounce."
-
-"Go on, chief; my comrades and myself are listening."
-
-"The palefaces are thieving dogs," the chief said in a rough voice;
-"they carry on a continual war with the redskins, and buy their scalps
-as if they were peltry; but the Comanches are magnanimous warriors, who
-disdain to avenge themselves. The squaws of the white men are in their
-power: they will restore them."
-
-At these words a shudder of terror ran along the ranks of the hunters;
-their courage failed them; they had only one desire left--that of saving
-those who had so wretchedly fallen into the hands of these bloodthirsty
-men.
-
-"On what conditions will the Comanches restore their prisoners?" Don
-Miguel asked, whose heart was contracted at the thought of his daughter,
-who was also a prisoner. He secretly cursed Valentine, whose fatal
-advice was the sole cause of the frightful evil that assailed him at
-this moment.
-
-"The palefaces," the chief continued, "will dismount and arrange
-themselves in a line. Unicorn will choose from among his enemies those
-whom he thinks proper to carry off as prisoners; the rest will be free,
-and all the women restored."
-
-"Those conditions are harsh, chief. Can you not modify them?"
-
-"A chief has only one word. Do the palefaces consent?"
-
-"Let us consult together for a few moments at any rate."
-
-"Good! Let the white men consult. Unicorn grants them ten minutes," the
-chief made answer.
-
-And turning his horse, he went back to his men. Don Miguel then
-addressed his friends.
-
-"Well; what do you think of what has occurred?"
-
-The Mexicans were terrified: still they were compelled to allow that the
-conduct of the Indians was extraordinary, and that they had never before
-evinced such lenity. Now that reflection had followed on the first
-feeling of excitement, they understood that a struggle against enemies
-so numerous was insensate, and could only result in rendering their
-position worse than it was before, and that the chiefs conditions, harsh
-as they were, offered at least some chance of safety for a portion of
-them, and the ladies would be saved.
-
-This last and all powerful consideration decided them. Don Miguel had no
-occasion to convince them of the necessity of submission. Whatever
-struggle it cost them, they dismounted and arranged themselves in a
-line, as the chief had demanded, Don Miguel and his son placing
-themselves at the head.
-
-Unicorn, with that cool courage characteristic of the Indians, then
-advanced alone toward the Mexicans, who still held their weapons, and
-who, impelled by their despair, and at the risk of being all massacred,
-would have sacrificed him to their vengeance. The chief had also
-dismounted. With his hands crossed on his back, and frowning brow, he
-now commenced his inspection.
-
-Many a heart contracted at his approach, for a question of life and
-death was being decided for these hapless men: only the perspective of
-the atrocious tortures which menaced the ladies could have made them
-consent to this humiliating and degrading condition. The Unicorn,
-however, was generous: he only selected eight of the Mexicans, and the
-rest received permission to mount their horses, and leave the fatal
-circle that begirt them. Still, by a strange accident, or a
-premeditation of which the reason escaped them, these, eight
-prisoners--among whom were the governor, General Isturitz, and the
-criminal judge, Don Luciano Pérez--were the most important personages in
-the party, and the members of the Provincial Government.
-
-It was not without surprise that Don Miguel observed this; the
-Comanches, however, faithfully fulfilled their compact, and the ladies
-were at once set at liberty. They had been treated with the greatest
-respect by the Indians, who had surprised their camp, and seized them
-almost in the same way as they had done the hunters--that is to say, the
-camp was invaded simultaneously on all sides. It was a matter worthy of
-remark in an Indian ambuscade that not a drop of blood had been spilt.
-
-After the moments given up to the happiness of seeing his daughter again
-safe and sound, Don Miguel resolved to make a last attempt with Unicorn
-in favour of the unhappy men who remained in his hands. The chief
-listened with deference, and let him speak without interruption; then he
-replied with a smile whose expression the hacendero tried in vain to
-explain,--
-
-"My father has Indian blood in his veins; the redskins love him: never
-will they do him the slightest injury. Unicorn would like to restore him
-immediately the prisoners, for whom he cares very little; but that is
-impossible. My father himself would speedily regret Unicorn's obedience
-to his Wish; but, in order to prove to my father how much the chief
-desires to do a thing that will be agreeable to him, the prisoners will
-not be ill-treated, and will be let off with a few days' annoyance.
-Unicorn consents to accept a ransom for them, instead of making them
-slaves. My father can himself tell them this good news."
-
-"Thanks, chief," Don Miguel answered. "The nobility of your character
-touches my heart: I shall not forget it. Be persuaded that, under all
-circumstances, I shall be happy to prove to you how grateful I am."
-
-The chief bowed gracefully and withdrew, in order to give the hacendero
-liberty to communicate with his companions. The latter were seated sadly
-on the ground, gloomy and downcast. Don Miguel repeated to them the
-conversation he had held with Unicorn, and the promise he had made with
-respect to them. This restored them all their courage; and, with the
-most affectionate words and marks of the liveliest joy, they thanked the
-hacendero for the attempt he had made in their favour.
-
-In fact, thanks to the promise of liberating them for a ransom at the
-end of a week, and treating them well during the period of their
-captivity, there was nothing so very terrifying about the prospect; and
-it was one of those thousand annoyances to which men are exposed by
-accident, but whose proportions had been so reduced in their eyes, that,
-with the carelessness which forms the staple of the national character,
-they were the first to laugh at their mishap.
-
-Don Miguel, however, was anxious to retire; so he took leave of his
-companions, and rejoined the chief. The latter repeated his assurances
-that the prisoners should be free within a week, if they consented each
-to pay a ransom of one thousand piastres, which was a trifle. He assured
-the hacendero that he was at liberty to withdraw whenever he pleased,
-and he should not oppose his departure.
-
-Don Miguel did not allow the invitation to be repeated. His friends and
-himself immediately mounted their horses, together with the ladies, who
-were placed in the centre of the detachment; and after taking leave of
-Unicorn, the Mexicans dug their spurs into their horses, and started at
-a gallop, glad to have got off so cheaply. The campfires were soon left
-far behind them, and General Ibañez then approached his friend, and
-bending down to his ear, whispered,--
-
-"Don Miguel, can the Comanches be our allies? I fancy that they have
-this night given a bold push to the success of our enterprise."
-
-This thought, like a ray of light, had already crossed the hacendero's
-brain several times.
-
-"I do not know," he said with a clever smile; "but at any rate, my dear
-general, they are very adroit foes."
-
-The little band continued to advance rapidly toward the hacienda, which
-was now no great distance, and which they hoped to reach before sunrise.
-The events we have described had occurred in less than an hour.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII.
-
-THE MEETING.
-
-
-"By Jove!" General Ibañez said, "it must be confessed that these red
-devils have done us an immense service without suspecting it. It might
-be said, deuce take me, that they acted under a knowledge of facts. This
-Unicorn, as the chief is called, is a precious man in certain
-circumstances. I am anxious to cultivate his acquaintance, for no one
-knows what may happen. It is often good to have so intelligent a friend
-as him at hand."
-
-"You are always jesting, general. When will you be serious for once?"
-Don Miguel said with a smile.
-
-"What would you have, my friend? We are at this moment staking our heads
-in a desperate game, so let us at any rate keep our gaiety. If we are
-conquered, it will be time enough then to be sad, and make bitter
-reflections about the instability of human affairs."
-
-"Yes, your philosophy is not without a certain dose of fatalism, which
-renders it more valuable to me. I am happy to see you in this good
-temper, especially at a moment when we are preparing to play our last
-card."
-
-"All is not desperate yet, and I have a secret foreboding, on the
-contrary, that all is for the best. Our friend the Trail-hunter, I feel
-convinced, has something to do, if not all, with what has happened to
-us."
-
-"Do you believe it?" Don Miguel asked quickly.
-
-"I am certain of it. You know as well as I do these Indios Bravos, and
-the implacable hatred they have vowed against us. The war they wage with
-us is atrocious; and for them to be suddenly changed from wolves into
-lambs requires some powerful motive to make them act thus. People do not
-lay aside in a moment a hatred which has endured for ages. The
-Comanches, by the choice they made, know the importance of the prisoners
-they have seized. How is it that they consent so easily to give them up
-for a trifling ransom? There is some inexplicable mystery in all this."
-
-"Which is very easy to explain though," a laughing voice interrupted
-from behind the shrubs.
-
-The two Mexicans started, and checked their horses. A man leaped from a
-thicket, and suddenly appeared in the centre of the track the little
-band of hunters was following. The latter, believing in a fresh attack
-and treachery on the part of the Comanches, seized their weapons.
-
-"Stop!" Don Miguel said sharply, "the man is alone. Let me speak with
-him."
-
-Each waited with his hand on his weapon.
-
-"Hold!" Don Miguel continued, addressing the stranger, who stood
-motionless, carelessly resting on his gun. "Who are you, my master?"
-
-"Do you not recognise me, Don Miguel? and must I really tell you my
-name?" the stranger answered with a laugh.
-
-"The Trail-hunter!" Don Miguel exclaimed.
-
-"Himself," Valentine continued. "Hang it all! You take a long time to
-recognise your friends."
-
-"You will forgive us when you know all that has happened to us, and how
-much we must keep on our guard."
-
-"Confound it!" Valentine said laughingly, as he regulated his pace by
-the trot of the horses, "do you fancy you are going to tell me any news?
-Did you not really suspect from what quarter the blow came?"
-
-"What!" Don Miguel exclaimed in surprise, "did you--"
-
-"Who else but I? Do you think the Spaniards are such friends of the
-Indians that the latter would treat them so kindly when meeting them
-face to face in the desert?"
-
-"I was sure of it," General Ibañez affirmed. "I guessed it at the first
-moment."
-
-"Good heavens! Nothing was more simple. Your position, through Red
-Cedar's treachery, was most critical. I wished to give you the time to
-turn round by removing, for a few days, the obstacles that prevented the
-success of your plans. I have succeeded, I fancy."
-
-"You could not have managed better," exclaimed the general.
-
-"Oh!" Don Miguel said with a reproachful accent, "why did you hide it
-from me?"
-
-"For a very simple reason, my friend. I wished that in these
-circumstances your will and conscience should be free."
-
-"But--"
-
-"Let me finish. Had I told you of my plan, it is certain that you would
-have opposed it. You are a man of honor, Don Miguel: your heart is most
-loyal."
-
-"My friend--"
-
-"Answer me. Had I explained to you the plan I formed, what would you
-have done?"
-
-"Well--"
-
-"Answer frankly."
-
-"I should have refused."
-
-"I was sure of it. Why would you have done so? Because you would never
-have consented to violate the laws of hospitality, and betray enemies
-you sheltered beneath your roof, though you knew all the while that
-these men, on leaving you, would have considered it their duty to seize
-you, and that they watched your every movement while sitting by your
-side, and eating at your table. Is it not so?"
-
-"It is true; my honor as a gentleman would have revolted. I could not
-have suffered such horrible treachery to be carried out under my very
-eyes."
-
-"There! You see that I acted wisely in saying nothing to you. In that
-way your honor is protected, your conscience easy, and I have in the
-most simple fashion freed you for some days from your enemies."
-
-"That is true; still--"
-
-"What? Have the prisoners to complain of the way in which they have been
-treated?"
-
-"Not at all; on the contrary, the Comanches, and Unicorn in particular,
-treated them most kindly."
-
-"All is for the best, then. You must congratulate yourself on the
-unexpected success you have achieved, and must now profit by it without
-delay."
-
-
-"I intend to do so."
-
-"You must act at once."
-
-"I ask nothing better. All is ready. Our men are warned, and they will
-rise at the first signal."
-
-"It must be given immediately."
-
-"I only ask the time to leave my daughter at the hacienda; then
-accompanied by my friends, I will march on Paso, while General Ibañez,
-at the head of a second band, seizes Santa Fe."
-
-"The plan is well conceived. Can you count on the persons who follow
-you?"
-
-"Yes; they are all my relatives or friends."
-
-"All for the best. Let us not go further. We are here at the place where
-the roads part; let your horses breathe awhile, and I will tell you a
-plan I have formed, and which, I think, will please you."
-
-The small party halted. The horsemen dismounted, and lay down on the
-grass. As all knew of the conspiracy formed by Don Miguel, and were his
-accomplices in different degrees, this halt did not surprise them, for
-they suspected that the moment for action was not far off, and that
-their chief doubtless wished to take his final measures before throwing
-off the mask, and proclaiming the independence of New Mexico. On
-inviting them to hunt the wild horses, Don Miguel had not concealed from
-them Red Cedar's treachery, and the necessity in which he found himself
-of dealing a great blow, if he did not wish all to be hopelessly lost.
-
-Valentine led the hacendero and the general a short distance apart.
-When they were out of ear-shot the hunter carefully examined the
-neighbourhood; then within a few minutes rejoined his friends, whom his
-way of acting considerably perplexed.
-
-"Caballeros," he said to them, "what do you intend doing? In our
-position minutes are ages. Are you ready to make your pronunciamento?"
-
-"Yes," they answered.
-
-"This is what I propose. You, Don Miguel, will proceed direct on Paso.
-At about half a league from that town you will find Curumilla, with
-twenty of the best rifles on the frontier. These men, in whom you can
-trust, are Canadian and Indian hunters devoted to me. They will form the
-nucleus of a band sufficient for you to seize on Paso without striking a
-blow, as it is only defended by a garrison of forty soldiers. Does that
-plan suit you?"
-
-"Yes; I will set about it at once. But my daughter?"
-
-"I will take charge of her. You will also leave me your son, and I will
-convey them both to the hacienda. As for the other ladies, on reaching
-the town, they will merely go to their homes, which I fancy, presents no
-difficulty."
-
-"None."
-
-"Good! Then that is settled?"
-
-"Perfectly."
-
-"As for you, general, your men have been échelonned by my care in
-parties of ten and twenty along the Santa Fe road, up to two leagues of
-the city, so that you will only have to pick them up. In this way you
-will find yourself, within three hours, at the head of five hundred
-resolute and well-armed men."
-
-"Why, Valentine, my friend," the general said laughingly, "do you know
-there is the stuff in you to make a partisan chief, and that I am almost
-jealous of you."
-
-"Oh! that would be wrong, general: I assure you I am most disinterested
-in the affair."
-
-"Well, my friend, I know it: you are a free desert hunter, caring very
-little for our paltry schemes."
-
-"That is true; but I have vowed to Don Miguel and his family a
-friendship which will terminate with my life. I tremble for him and his
-children when I think of the numberless dangers that surround him, and I
-try to aid him as far as my experience and activity permit me. That is
-the secret of my conduct."
-
-"This profession of faith was at least useless, my friend. I have known
-you too intimately and too long to doubt your intentions. Hence, you
-see, I place such confidence in you, that I accept your ideas without
-discussion, so convinced am I of the purity of your intentions."
-
-"Thanks, Don Miguel; you have judged me correctly. Come, gentlemen, to
-horse, and start. We must separate here--you, Don Miguel, to proceed by
-the right-hand track to Paso; you, general, by the left hand one to
-Santa Fe; while I, with Don Pablo and his sister proceed straight on
-till we reach the Hacienda de la Noria."
-
-"To horse, then!" the hacendero shouted resolutely; "And may God defend
-the right!"
-
-"Yes," the general added; "for from this moment the revolution is
-commenced."
-
-The three men returned to their friends. Don Miguel said a few words to
-his children, and in an instant the whole party were in the saddle.
-
-"The die is cast!" Valentine exclaimed. "May Heaven keep you,
-gentlemen!"
-
-"Forward!" Don Miguel commanded.
-
-"Forward!" General Ibañez shouted, as he rushed in the opposite
-direction.
-
-Valentine looked after his departing friends. Their black outlines were
-soon blended with the darkness, and then the footfalls of their horses
-died out in the night. Valentine gave a sigh and raised his head.
-
-"God will protect them," he murmured; then turning to the two young
-people, "Come on, children," he said.
-
-They started, and for some minutes kept silence. Valentine was too busy
-in thought to address his companions; and yet Doña Clara and Don Pablo,
-whose curiosity was excited to the highest pitch, were burning to
-question him. At length the girl, by whose side the hunter marched with
-that quick step which easily keeps up with a horse, bent down to him.
-
-"My friend," she said to him in her soft voice, "what is taking place?
-Why has my father left us, instead of coming to his house?"
-
-"Yes," Don Pablo added, "he seemed agitated when he parted from us. His
-voice was stern, his words sharp. What is happening, my friend? Why did
-not my father consent to my accompanying him?"
-
-Valentine hesitated to answer.
-
-"I implore you, my friend," Doña Clara continued, "do not leave us in
-this mortal anxiety. The announcement of a misfortune would certainly
-cause us less pain than the perplexity in which we are."
-
-"Why force me to speak, my children?" the hunter answered in a saddened
-voice. "The secret you ask of me is not mine. If your father did not
-impart his plans to you, it was doubtless because weighty reasons oppose
-it. Do not force me to render you more sorrowful by telling you things
-you ought not to know."
-
-"But I am not a child," Don Pablo exclaimed. "It seems tome that my
-father ought not to have thus held his confidence from me."
-
-"Do not accuse your father, my friend," Valentine answered gravely:
-"probably he could not have acted otherwise."
-
-"Valentine, Valentine! I will not accept those poor reasons," the young
-man urged. "In the name of our friendship I insist on your explaining
-yourself."
-
-"Silence!" the hunter suddenly interrupted him. "I hear suspicious
-sounds around us."
-
-The three travellers stopped and listened, but all was quiet. The
-hacienda was about five hundred yards at the most from the spot where
-they halted. Don Pablo and Doña Clara heard nothing, but Valentine made
-them a sign to remain quiet; then he dismounted and placed his ear to
-the ground.
-
-"Follow me," he said. "Something is happening here which I cannot make
-out; but it alarms me."
-
-The young people obeyed without hesitation; but they had only gone a few
-paces when Valentine stopped again.
-
-"Are your weapons loaded?" he sharply asked Don Pablo.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! Perhaps you will have to make use of them."
-
-All at once the gallop of a horse urged to its utmost speed was audible.
-
-"Attention!" Valentine muttered.
-
-Still the horseman, whoever he might be, rapidly advanced in the
-direction of the travellers, and soon came up to them. Suddenly
-Valentine bounded like a panther, seized the horse by the bridle and
-stopped it dead.
-
-"Who are you, and where are you going?" he shouted, as he put a pistol
-barrel against the stranger's chest.
-
-"Heaven be praised!" the latter said, not replying to the question.
-"Perhaps I shall be able to save you. Fly, fly, in all haste!"
-
-"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said with stupor, as he lowered his pistol.
-"What has happened?"
-
-"Fly, fly!" the missionary repeated, who seemed a prey to the most
-profound terror.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
-THE ABDUCTION.
-
-
-Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio had not remained inactive since their last
-interview up to the day when Don Miguel set out to hunt the wild horses.
-These two fellows, so suited to understand each other, had manoeuvred
-with extreme skill. Fray Ambrosio, all whose avaricious instincts had
-been aroused since he had so artfully stolen from poor Joaquin the
-secret of his placer, had assembled a formidable collection of the
-bandits who always swarm on the Indian frontiers. In a few days he found
-himself at the head of one hundred and twenty adventurers, all men who
-had cheated the gallows, and of whom he felt the more sure as the secret
-of the expedition was concealed from them, and they fancied they formed
-a war party engaged to go scalp hunting.
-
-These men, who all knew Red Cedar by reputation, burnt to set out, so
-convinced were they of carrying out a successful expedition under such a
-leader. Only two men formed an exception to this band of scoundrels, the
-smallest culprit of whom had at least three or four murders on his
-conscience. They were Harry, and Dick, who, for reasons the reader has
-doubtless guessed, found themselves, to their great regret, mixed up
-with these bandits. Still we must say, in justice to Fray Ambrosio's
-soldiers, that they were all bold hunters, accustomed for many a year to
-desert life, who knew all its perils, and feared none of its dangers.
-
-Fray Ambrosio; apprehending the effects of mezcal and pulque on his men,
-had made them bivouac at the entrance of the desert, at a sufficiently
-great distance from the Paso del Norte to prevent them easily going
-there. The adventurers spent their time joyously in playing, not for
-money, as they had none, but for the scalps they intended presently to
-lift from the Indians, each of which represented a very decent sum.
-Still Fray Ambrosio, so soon as his expedition was completely organised,
-had only one desire--to start as speedily as possible; but for two days
-Red Cedar was not to be found. At length Fray Ambrosio succeeded in
-catching him just as he was entering his jacal.
-
-"What has become of you?" he asked him.
-
-"What does that concern you?" the squatter answered brutally. "Have I to
-answer for my conduct to you?"
-
-"I do not say so: still, connected as we are at this moment, it would be
-as well for me to know where to find you when I want you."
-
-"I have been attending to my business, as you have to yours."
-
-"Well, are you satisfied?"
-
-"Very much so," he answered with a sinister smile. "You will soon learn
-the result of my journey."
-
-"All the better. If you are satisfied, I am so too."
-
-"Ah, ah!"
-
-"Yes, all is ready for departure."
-
-"Let us be off--tomorrow if you like."
-
-"On this very night."
-
-"Very good. You are like me, and don't care to travel by day on account
-of the heat of the sun."
-
-The two accomplices smiled at this delicate jest.
-
-"But before starting," the squatter continued, becoming serious again,
-"we have something left to do here."
-
-"What is it?" Fray Ambrosio asked with candor.
-
-"It is wonderful what a short memory you have. Take care: that failing
-may play an awkward trick some day."
-
-"Thanks! I will try to correct it."
-
-"Yes, and the sooner the better: in the meanwhile I will refresh your
-memory."
-
-"I shall feel obliged to you."
-
-"And Doña Clara, do you fancy we are going to leave her behind?"
-
-"Hum! Then you still think of that?"
-
-"By Jove! More than ever."
-
-"The fact is it will not be easy to carry her off at this moment."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"In the first place, she is not at the hacienda."
-
-"That is certainly a reason."
-
-"Is it not?"
-
-"Yes; but she must be somewhere, I suppose?" the squatter said with a
-coarse laugh.
-
-"She has gone with her father to a hunt of wild horses."
-
-"The hunt is over and they are on their return."
-
-"You are well informed."
-
-"It is my trade. Come, do you still mean serving me?"
-
-"I must."
-
-"That is how I like you. There cannot be many people at the hacienda?"
-
-"A dozen at the most."
-
-"Better still. Listen to me: it is now four in the afternoon. I have a
-ride to take. Return to the hacienda, and I will come there this evening
-at nine, with twenty resolute men. You will open the little gate of the
-corral, and leave me to act. I'll answer for all."
-
-"If you wish it it must be so," Fray Ambrosio said with a sigh.
-
-"Are you going to begin again?" the squatter asked in a meaning voice as
-he rose.
-
-"No, no, it is unnecessary," the monk exclaimed. "I shall expect you."
-
-"Good: till this evening."
-
-"Very well."
-
-On which the two accomplices separated. All happened as had been
-arranged between them. At nine o'clock Red Cedar reached the little
-gate, which was opened for him by Fray Ambrosio, and the squatter
-entered the hacienda at the head of his three sons and a party of
-bandits. The peons, surprised in their sleep, were bound before they
-even knew what was taking place.
-
-"Now," Red Cedar said, "we are masters of the place, the girl can come
-as soon as she likes."
-
-"Eh?" the monk went on. "All is not finished yet. Don Miguel is a
-resolute man, and is well accompanied: he will not let his daughter be
-carried off under his eyes without defending her."
-
-"Don Miguel will not come," the squatter said with a sardonic grin.
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"That is not your business."
-
-"We shall see."
-
-But the bandits had forgotten Father Seraphin. The missionary, aroused
-by the unusual noise he heard in the hacienda, had hastily risen. He had
-heard the few words exchanged between the accomplices, and they were
-sufficient to make him guess the fearful treachery they meditated. Only
-listening to his heart, the missionary glided out into the corral,
-saddled a horse, and opening a door, of which he had a key, so that he
-could enter or leave the hacienda as his duties required, he started at
-full speed in the direction which he supposed the hunters must follow in
-returning to the hacienda. Unfortunately, Father Seraphin had been
-unable to effect his flight unheard by the squatter's practised ear.
-
-"Malediction!" Red Cedar shouted, as he rushed, rifle in hand, toward a
-window, which he dashed out with his fist, "We are betrayed."
-
-The bandits rushed in disorder into the corral where their horses were
-tied up, and leaped into their saddles. At this moment a shadow flitted
-across the plain in front of the squatter, who rapidly shouldered his
-rifle and fired. Then he went out: a stifled cry reached his ear, but
-the person the bandit had fired at still went on.
-
-"No matter," the squatter muttered; "that fine bird has lead in its
-wing. Sharp, sharp, my men, on the trail!"
-
-And all the bandits rushed off in pursuit of the fugitive.
-
-Father Seraphin had fallen in a fainting condition at Valentine's feet.
-
-"Good heavens!" the hunter exclaimed in despair, "what can have
-happened?"
-
-And he gently carried the missionary into a ditch that ran by the side
-of the road. Father Seraphin had his shoulder fractured, and the blood
-poured in a stream from the wound. The hunter looked around him; but at
-this moment a confused sound could be heard like the rolling of distant
-thunder.
-
-"We must fall like brave men, Don Pablo, that is all," he said sharply.
-
-"Be at your ease," the young man answered coldly.
-
-Doña Clara was pale and trembling.
-
-"Come," Valentine said.
-
-And, with a movement rapid as thought, he bounded on to the missionary's
-horse. The three fugitives started at full speed. The flight lasted a
-quarter of an hour, and then Valentine stopped. He dismounted, gave the
-young people a signal to wait, lay down on the ground, and began
-crawling on his hands and knees, gliding like a serpent through the long
-grass that concealed him, and stopping at intervals to look around him,
-and listen attentively to the sounds of the desert. Suddenly he rushed
-towards his companions, seized the horses by the bridle, and dragged
-them behind a mound, where they remained concealed, breathless and
-unable to speak.
-
-A formidable noise of horses was audible. Some twenty black shadows
-passed like a tornado within ten paces of their hiding place, not seeing
-them in consequence of the darkness.
-
-Valentine drew a deep breath.
-
-"All hope is not lost," he muttered.
-
-He waited anxiously for five minutes: their pursuers were going further
-away. Presently the sound of their horses' hoofs ceased to disturb the
-silence of the night.
-
-"To horse!" Valentine said.
-
-They leaped into their saddles and started again, not in the direction
-of the hacienda, but in that of the Paso.
-
-"Loosen your bridles," the hunter said: "more still--we are not moving."
-
-Suddenly a loud neigh was borne on the breeze to the ears of the
-fugitives.
-
-"We are lost!" Valentine muttered. "They have found our trail."
-
-Red Cedar was too old a hand on the prairie to be long thrown out: he
-soon perceived that he was mistaken, and was now turning back, quite
-certain this time of holding the trail. Then began one of those fabulous
-races which only the dwellers on the prairie can witness--races which
-intoxicate and cause a giddiness, and which no obstacle is powerful
-enough to stop or check, for the object is success or death. The
-bandits' half wild horses, apparently identifying themselves with the
-ferocious passions of their riders, glided through the night with the
-rapidity of the phantom steed in the German ballad, bounded over
-precipices, and rushed with prodigious speed.
-
-At times a horseman rolled with his steed from the top of a rock, and
-fell into an abyss, uttering a yell of distress; but his comrades passed
-over his body, borne along like a whirlwind, and responding to this cry
-of agony, the final appeal of a brother, by a formidable howl of rage.
-This pursuit had already lasted two hours, and the fugitives had not
-lost an inch of ground: their horses, white with foam, uttered hoarse
-cries of fatigue and exhaustion as a dense smoke came out of their
-nostrils. Doña Clara, with her hair untied and floating in the breeze,
-with sparkling eye and closely pressed lips, constantly urged her horse
-on with voice and hand.
-
-"All is over!" the hunter suddenly said. "Save yourselves! I will let
-myself be killed here, so that you may go on for ten minutes longer, and
-be saved. I will hold out for that time, so go on."
-
-"No," Don Pablo answered nobly; "we will be all saved or perish
-together."
-
-"Yes," the maiden remarked.
-
-Valentine shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"You are mad," he said.
-
-All at once he started, for their pursuers were rapidly approaching.
-
-"Listen," he said. "Do you two let yourselves be captured; they will not
-follow me, as they owe me no grudge. I swear to you that if I remain at
-liberty I will deliver you, even if they hide you in the bowels of the
-earth."
-
-Without replying Don Pablo dismounted, and Valentine leaped on to his
-horse.
-
-"Hope for the best!" he shouted hoarsely, and disappeared.
-
-Don Pablo, so soon as he was alone with his sister, made her dismount,
-seated her at the foot of a tree, and stood before her with a pistol in
-either hand. He had not to wait long, for almost immediately he was
-surrounded by the bandits.
-
-"Surrender!" Red Cedar shouted in a panting voice.
-
-Don Pablo smiled disdainfully.
-
-"Here is my answer," he said.
-
-And with two pistol shots he laid two bandits low; then he threw away
-his useless weapons, and crossing his arms on his breast said,--
-
-"Do what you please now; I am avenged."
-
-Red Cedar bounded with fury.
-
-"Kill that dog!" he shouted.
-
-Shaw rushed toward the young man, threw his nervous arms around him, and
-whispered in his ear,--
-
-"Do not resist, but fall as if dead."
-
-Don Pablo mechanically followed his advice.
-
-"It is all over," said Shaw. "Poor devil! He did not cling to life."
-
-He returned his knife to his belt, threw the supposed corpse on his
-shoulders, and dragged it into a ditch. At the sight of her brother's
-body, whom she supposed to be dead, Doña Clara uttered a shriek of
-despair and fainted. Red Cedar laid the maiden across his saddle-bow,
-and the whole band, starting at a gallop was soon lost in the darkness.
-Don Pablo then rose slowly, and took a sorrowful glance around.
-
-"My poor sister!" he murmured.
-
-Then he perceived her horse near him.
-
-"Valentine alone can save her," he said.
-
-He mounted the horse, and proceeded toward the Paso, asking himself this
-question, which he found it impossible to answer:--
-
-"But why did not that man kill me?"
-
-A few paces from the village he perceived two men halting on the road,
-and conversing with the greatest animation. They hurriedly advanced
-toward him, and the young man uttered a cry of surprise on recognising
-them. They were Valentine and Curumilla.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV.
-
-THE REVOLT.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate had marched rapidly on the Paso, and an hour after
-leaving Valentine he saw flashing in the distance the lights that shone
-in the village windows. The greatest calmness prevailed in the vicinity;
-only at times could be heard the barking of the dogs baying at the moon,
-or the savage miawling of the wild cats hidden in the shrubs. At about
-one hundred yards from the village a man suddenly rose before the small
-party.
-
-"Who goes there?" he shouted.
-
-"_Méjico e independencia!_" the hacendero answered.
-
-"_¿Qué gente?_" the stranger continued.
-
-"Don Miguel Zarate."
-
-At these words twenty men hidden in the brushwood rose suddenly, and
-throwing their rifles on their shoulders, advanced to meet the horsemen.
-They were the hunters commanded by Curumilla, who, by Valentine's
-orders, were awaiting the hacendero's arrival to join him.
-
-"Well," Don Miguel asked the chief, "is there anything new?"
-
-Curumilla shook his head.
-
-"Then we can advance?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"What is the matter, chief? Have you seen anything alarming?"
-
-"No; and yet I have a feeling of treachery."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"I cannot tell you. Apparently everything is as usual: still there is
-something which is not so. Look you, it is scarce ten o'clock: generally
-at that hour all the mesones are full, the ventas are crammed with
-gamblers and drinkers, the streets flocked with promenaders. This night
-there is nothing of the sort: all is closed--the town seems abandoned.
-This tranquillity is factitious. I am alarmed, for _I hear the silence_.
-Take care."
-
-Don Miguel was involuntarily struck by the chief's remarks. He had known
-Curumilla for a long time. He had often seen him display in the most
-dangerous circumstances a coolness and contempt for death beyond all
-praise: hence some importance must be attached to the apprehensions and
-anxiety of such a man. The hacendero ordered his party to halt,
-assembled his friends, and held a council. All were of opinion that,
-before venturing to advance further, they should send as scout a clever
-man to traverse the town, and see for himself if the fears of the Indian
-chief were well founded.
-
-One of the hunters offered himself. The conspirators concealed
-themselves on either side the road, and awaited, lying in the shrubs,
-the return of their messenger. He was a half-breed, Simon Muñez by
-name, to whom the Indians had given the soubriquet of "Dog-face," owing
-to his extraordinary likeness to that animal. This name had stuck to the
-hunter, who, _nolens volens_, had been compelled to accept it. He was
-short and clumsy, but endowed with marvellous strength; and we may say
-at once that he was an emissary of Red Cedar, and had only joined the
-hunters in order to betray them.
-
-When he left the conspirators he proceeded toward the village whistling.
-He had scarce taken a dozen steps into the first street ere a door
-opened, and a man appeared. This man stepped forward and addressed the
-hunter.
-
-"You whistle very late, my friend."
-
-"A whistle to wake those who are asleep," the half breed made answer.
-
-"Come in," the man continued.
-
-Dog-face went in, and the door closed upon him. He remained in the house
-half an hour, then went out, and hurried back along the road he had
-traversed.
-
-Red Cedar, who wished before all to avenge himself on Don Miguel Zarate,
-had discovered, through Fray Ambrosio, the conspirators' new plan.
-Without loss of time he had taken his measures in consequence, and had
-managed so well that, although the general, the governor, and the
-criminal judge were prisoners, Don Miguel must succumb in the contest he
-was preparing to provoke. Fray Ambrosio, to his other qualities, joined
-that of being a listener at doors. In spite of the distrust which his
-patron was beginning to display toward him on Valentine's
-recommendation, he had surprised a conversation between Don Miguel and
-General Ibañez. This conversation, immediately reported to Red Cedar,
-who, according to his usual custom, had appeared to attach no importance
-to it, had been sufficient, however, to make the squatter prepare his
-batteries and countermine the conspiracy.
-
-Dog-face rejoined his companions after an hour's absence.
-
-"Well?" Don Miguel asked him.
-
-"All is quiet," the half-breed answered; "the inhabitants have retired
-to their houses, and everybody is asleep."
-
-"You noticed nothing of a suspicious nature?"
-
-"I went through the town from one end to the other, and saw nothing."
-
-"We can advance, then?"
-
-"In all security: it will only be a promenade."
-
-On this assurance the conspirators regained their courage, Curumilla was
-treated as a visionary, and the order was given to advance. Still
-Dog-face's report, far from dissipating the Indian chief's doubts, had
-produced the contrary effect, and considerably augmented them. Saying
-nothing, he placed himself by the hunter's side, with the secret
-intention of watching him closely.
-
-The plan of the conspirators was very simple. They would march directly
-on the Cabildo (Town hall), seize it, and proclaim a Provisional
-Government. Under present circumstances nothing appeared to be easier.
-Don Miguel and his band entered the Paso, and nothing occurred to arouse
-their suspicions. It resembled that town in the "Arabian Nights," in
-which all the inhabitants, struck by the wand of the wicked enchanter,
-sleep an eternal sleep. The conspirators advanced into the town with
-their rifle barrels thrust forward, with eye and ear on the watch, and
-ready to fire at the slightest alarm; but nothing stirred. As Curumilla
-had observed, the town was too quiet. This tranquillity hid something
-extraordinary, and must conceal the tempest. In spite of himself Don
-Miguel felt a secret apprehension which he could not master.
-
-To our European eyes Don Miguel will perhaps appear a poor conspirator,
-without foresight or any great connection in his ideas. From our point
-of view that is possible; but in a country like Mexico, which counts its
-revolutions by hundreds, and where _pronunciamentos_ take place, in most
-cases, without sense or reason because a colonel wishes to become a
-general, or a lieutenant a captain, things are not regarded so closely;
-and the hacendero, on the contrary, had evidenced tact, prudence, and
-talent in carrying out a conspiracy which, during the several years it
-had been preparing, had only come across one traitor. And now it was too
-late to turn back: the alarm had been given, and the Government was on
-its guard. They must go onwards, even if they succumbed in the struggle.
-
-All these considerations had been fully weighed by Don Miguel; and he
-had not given the signal till he was driven into his last intrenchments,
-and convinced that there was no way of escape left him. Was it not a
-thousand fold better to die bravely with arms in their hands, in support
-of a just cause, than wait to be arrested without having made an attempt
-to succeed? Don Miguel had sacrificed his life, and no more could be
-expected of him.
-
-In the meanwhile the conspirators advanced. They had nearly reached the
-heart of the town; they were at this moment in a little, dirty, and
-narrow street, called the Calle de San Isidro, which opens out on the
-Plaza Mayor, when suddenly a dazzling light illumined the darkness;
-torches flashed from all the windows; and Don Miguel saw that the two
-ends of the street in which he was were guarded by strong detachments of
-cavalry.
-
-"Treachery!" the conspirators shouted in terror.
-
-Curumilla bounded on Dog-face, and buried his knife between his
-shoulders. The half-breed fell in a lump, quite dead, and not uttering a
-cry. Don Miguel judged the position at the first glance: he saw that he
-and his party were lost.
-
-"Let us die!" he said.
-
-"We will!" the conspirators resolutely responded.
-
-Curumilla with the butt of his rifle beat in the door of the nearest
-house, and rushed in, the conspirators following him. They were soon
-intrenched on the roof. In Mexico all the houses have flat roofs, formed
-like terraces. Thanks to the Indian chief's idea, the rebels found
-themselves in possession of an improvised fortress, where they could
-defend themselves for a long time, and sell their lives dearly.
-
-The troops advanced from each end of the street, while the roofs of all
-the houses were occupied by soldiers. The battle was about to begin
-between earth and heaven, and promised to be terrible. At this moment
-General Guerrero, who commanded the troops, bade them halt, and advanced
-alone to the house on the top of which the conspirators were intrenched.
-Don Miguel beat up the guns of his comrades, who aimed at the officer.
-
-"Wait," he said to them; and, addressing the general, "What do you
-want?" he shouted.
-
-"To offer you propositions."
-
-"Speak."
-
-The general came a few paces nearer, so that those he addressed could
-not miss one of his words.
-
-"I offer you life and liberty if you consent to surrender your leader,"
-he said.
-
-"Never!" the conspirators shouted in one voice.
-
-"It is my place to answer," Don Miguel said; and then turning to the
-general, "What assurance do you give me that these conditions will be
-honourably carried out?"
-
-"My word of honor as a soldier," the general answered.
-
-"Very good," Don Miguel went on; "I accept. All the men who accompany me
-will leave the town one after the other."
-
-"No, we will not!" the conspirators shouted as they brandished their
-weapons; "we would sooner die."
-
-"Silence!" the hacendero said in a loud voice. "I alone have the right
-to speak here, for I am your chief. The life of brave men like you must
-not be needlessly sacrificed. Go, I say; I order you--I implore it of
-you," he added with tears in his voice. "Perhaps you will soon take your
-revenge."
-
-The conspirators hung their heads mournfully.
-
-"Well?" the general asked.
-
-"My friends, accept. I will remain alone here. If you break your word I
-will kill myself."
-
-"I repeat that you hold my word," the general answered.
-
-The conspirators came one after the other to embrace Don Miguel, and
-then went down into the street without being in any way interfered with.
-Things happen thus in this country, where conspiracies and revolutions
-are on the order of the day, as it were. The defeated are spared as far
-as possible, from the simple reason that the victors may find themselves
-tomorrow fighting side by side with them for the same cause. Curumilla
-was the last to depart.
-
-"All is not ended yet," he said to Don Miguel. "Koutonepi will save you,
-father."
-
-The hacendero shook his head sadly.
-
-"Chief," he said in a deeply moved voice, "I leave my daughter to
-Valentine, Father Seraphin, and yourself. Watch over her: the poor child
-will soon have no father."
-
-Curumilla embraced Don Miguel silently and retired; he had soon
-disappeared in the crowd, the general having honourably kept his word.
-
-Don Miguel threw down his weapons and descended.
-
-"I am your prisoner," he said.
-
-General Guerrero bowed, and made him a sign to mount the horse a soldier
-had brought up.
-
-"Where are we going?" the hacendero said.
-
-"To Santa Fe," the general answered, "where you will be tried with
-General Ibañez, who will doubtless soon be a prisoner like yourself."
-
-"Oh!" Don Miguel muttered thoughtfully, "who betrayed us this time?"
-
-"It was still Red Cedar," the general answered.
-
-The hacendero let his head sink on his chest, and remained silent. A
-quarter of an hour later the prisoner left the Paso del Norte, escorted
-by a regiment of dragoons. When the last trooper had disappeared in the
-windings of the road three men left the shrubs that concealed them, and
-stood like three phantoms in the midst of the desolate plain.
-
-"O heavens!" Don Pablo cried in a heart-rending voice, "my father, my
-sister--who will restore them to me?"
-
-"I!" Valentine said in a grave voice, as he laid his hand on his
-shoulder. "Am I not the TRAIL-HUNTER?"
-
-
-
-
-PART II.--EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-EL RANCHO DEL COYOTE.
-
-
-About a month after the events we have described in the first part of
-this veracious history, two horsemen, well mounted, and carefully
-enwrapped in their cloaks, entered at a smart trot the town of Santa Fe
-between three and four o'clock in the afternoon.
-
-Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, is a pretty town, built in the
-midst of a laughing and fertile plain. One of its sides occupies the
-angle formed by a small stream: it is surrounded by the _adobe_ walls of
-the houses by which it is bordered. The entrance of each street is
-closed by stakes in the form of palisades; and like the majority of
-towns in Spanish America, the houses, built only one story high in
-consequence of the earthquakes, are covered with terraces of well-beaten
-earth, called _azoteas,_ which are a sufficient protection in this
-glorious climate, where the sky is constantly pure.
-
-In the time of the Castilian rule Santa Fe enjoyed a certain importance,
-owing to its strategic position, which allowed an easy defence against
-the incursions of the Indians; but since the emancipation of Mexico this
-city, like all the other centres of population in his unhappy country,
-has seen its splendour vanish forever, and despite the fertility of its
-soil and the magnificence of its climate, it has entered into such a
-state of decadence that the day is at hand when it will be only an
-uninhabited ruin. In a word, this city, which fifty years back contained
-more than ten thousand inhabitants, has now scarcely three thousand,
-eaten up by fevers and the utmost wretchedness.
-
-Still during the last few weeks Santa Fe had appeared to emerge, as if
-by magic from the lethargy into which it is ordinarily plunged; a
-certain degree of animation prevailed in its usually deserted streets;
-in short, a new life circulated in the veins of this population, to
-whom, however, all must appear a matter of indifference. The fact was
-that an event of immense importance had recently taken place in this
-town. The two leaders of the conspiracy lately attempted had been
-transferred to safe keeping at Santa Fe.
-
-The Mexicans, ordinarily so slow when justice has to be dealt, are the
-most expeditious people in the world when a conspiracy has to be
-punished. Don Miguel and General Ibañez had not pined long in prison. A
-court martial, hurriedly convened, had assembled under the presidency of
-the governor, and the two conspirators were unanimously condemned to be
-shot.
-
-The hacendero, through his name and his position, and especially on
-account of his fortune, had numerous partisans in the province: hence
-the announcement of the verdict had caused a profound stupor, which
-almost immediately changed into anger, among the rich land owners and
-the Indians of New Mexico. A dull agitation prevailed throughout the
-country; and the governor, who felt too weak to hold head against the
-storm that threatened him, and regretted that he had carried matters so
-far, was temporising, and trying to evade the peril of his position
-until a regiment of dragoons he had asked of the Government arrived, and
-gave strength to the law. The condemned men, whom the governor had not
-yet dared to place in _capilla_, were still provisionally detained in
-the prison.
-
-The two men of whom we have spoken, rode without stopping through the
-streets of the town, deserted at this hour, when everybody is at home
-enjoying his siesta, and proceeded toward an unpretending rancho, built
-on the banks of the stream, at the opposite end of the town from that by
-which they entered.
-
-"Well," one of the horsemen said, addressing his comrade, "was I not
-right? You see everyone is asleep: there is nobody to watch us. We have
-arrived at a capital moment."
-
-"Bah!" the other answered in a rough voice, "Do you believe that? In
-towns there is always somebody watching to see what does not concern
-him, and report it after his fashion."
-
-"That is possible," the first said, shrugging his shoulders
-disdainfully. "I care about it as little as I do for a stringhalt
-horse."
-
-"And I, too," the other said sharply. "Do you imagine that I care more
-than you do for the gossips? But stay; I fancy we have reached the
-rancho of Andrés Garote. This must be the filthy tenement, unless I am
-mistaken."
-
-"It is the house. I only hope the scamp has not forgotten, the meeting I
-gave him. Wait a minute, señor padre; I will give the agreed-on signal."
-
-"It is not worth while, Red Cedar. You know that I am always at your
-excellency's orders when you may please to give them," a mocking voice
-said from inside the rancho, the door of which immediately opened to
-give admission to the newcomers, and allowed a glimpse of the tall
-figure and intelligent face of Andrés Garote himself.
-
-"_Ave Maria purísima!_" the travellers said, as they dismounted and
-entered the rancho.
-
-"_Sin pecado concebida!_" Andrés replied, as he took the bridles of the
-horses and led them to the corral, where he unsaddled them and gave each
-a truss of alfalfa.
-
-The travellers, fatigued by a long journey, sat down on butacas arranged
-against the wall, and awaited the host's return, while wiping their dank
-foreheads and twisting a maize cigarette between their fingers. The room
-in which they were had nothing extremely attractive about it. It was a
-large chamber with two windows, protected by iron bars, the greasy panes
-allowing but a doubtful light to pass. The naked and smoky walls were
-covered with clumsily-painted pictures, representing various holy
-objects. The furniture only consisted of three or four halting tables,
-the same number of benches, and a few butacas, the torn and harsh
-leather of which evinced lengthened use. As for the floor, it was merely
-of beaten earth, but rendered uneven by the mud incessantly brought in
-upon the feet of visitors. A door carefully closed led to an inner room,
-in which the ranchero slept. Another door was opposite to it, and
-through this Andrés speedily entered after giving the horses their
-provender.
-
-"I did not expect you yet," he said as he entered; "but you are welcome.
-Is there anything new?"
-
-"My faith, I know nothing but the affair that brings us. It is rather
-serious, I fancy, and prevents us attending to anything else," Red Cedar
-remarked.
-
-"_Caspita_! what vivacity, compadre!" Andrés exclaimed. "But, before
-talking, I hope you will take some refreshment at any rate. There is
-nothing like a cup of mezcal or pulque to clear the brain."
-
-"Not to forget," Fray Ambrosio said, "that it is infernally hot, and my
-tongue is glued to my palate, as I have swallowed so much dust."
-
-"_Cuerpo de Dios_!" Andrés said as he went to look for a bottle among
-several others arranged on a sort of bar, and placed it before the
-travellers. "Pay attention to that, señor padre; for it is serious, and
-you run a risk of death, _caray!_"
-
-"Give me the remedy, then, chatterer," the monk replied as he held out
-his glass.
-
-The mezcal, liberally poured out, was swallowed at a draught by the
-three men, who put back their glasses on the table with a "hum" of
-satisfaction, and that clinking of the tongue peculiar to topers when
-they are swallowing anything that tickles the throat.
-
-"And now suppose we talk seriously," Red Cedar said.
-
-"At your orders, señores caballeros," Andrés replied. "Still, if you
-prefer a hand at monte, you know that I have cards at your service."
-
-"Presently, señor Andrés, presently. Everything will have its turn. Let
-us first settle our little business," Fray Ambrosio judiciously
-observed.
-
-Andrés Garote bowed his head in resignation, while thrusting back into
-his pocket the pack of cards he had already half drawn out. The three
-men made themselves as comfortable as they could, and Red Cedar, after
-casting a suspicious glance around him, at length took the word.
-
-"You know, caballeros," he said, "how, when we thought we had nothing to
-do but proceed straight to Apacheria, the sudden desertion of nearly all
-our gambusinos checked us. The position was most critical for us, and
-the abduction of Doña Clara compelled us to take the utmost
-precautions."
-
-"That is true," Andrés Garote observed with an air of conviction.
-
-"Although certain influential persons protect us under the rose," Red
-Cedar continued, "we are compelled to keep in the shade as far as we
-can. I therefore sought to remedy the gravest points in the business. In
-the first place, the girl was hidden in an inaccessible retreat, and
-then I began looking for comrades to take the place of those who
-abandoned us so suddenly."
-
-"Well?" the two men interrupted him sharply.
-
-"At this moment," Red Cedar calmly continued, "when the placers of
-California call away all the men belonging to the profession, it was
-certainly no easy task to collect one hundred men of the sort we want,
-the more so as we shall have to fight the Indios Bravos in our
-expedition. I did not care to enlist novices, who at the sight of the
-first Apache or Comanche savages, would bolt in terror, and leave us in
-the lurch on the prairies. What I wanted were resolute men, whom no
-fatigue would disgust, and who, once attached to our enterprise, would
-follow it out to the end. I have, therefore, during the past month, been
-running about to all the frontier presidios; and the devil has come to
-my help tolerably well, for the evil is now repaired, and the band
-complete."
-
-"I hope, Red Cedar," Fray Ambrosio asked, "that you have not spoken
-about the placer to your men?"
-
-"Do you take me for a fool! No, padre," the squatter answered sharply,
-"no, no. A hundred thousand reasons urge us to be prudent, and keep the
-expedition secret. In the first place, I do not wish to make the fortune
-of the Government while making our own. An indiscretion would ruin us
-now, when the whole world only dreams of mines and placers, and Europe
-sends us a mob of lean and starving vagabonds, greedy to grow fat at our
-expense."
-
-"Famously reasoned," said Andrés.
-
-"No, no, trust to me. I have assembled the finest collection of picaros
-ever brought together for an expedition, all food for the gallows,
-ruined by monte, who do not care for hard blows, and on whom I can fully
-count, while being very careful not to drop a word that can enlighten
-them as to the spot whither we propose leading them; for, in that case,
-I know as well as you do that they would abandon us without the
-slightest scruples, or, as is even more probable, assassinate us to gain
-possession of the immense treasures we covet."
-
-"Nothing can be more just," Fray Ambrosio answered. "I am quite of your
-opinion, Red Cedar. Now what have you resolved on?"
-
-"We have not an instant to lose," the squatter continued. "This very
-evening, or tomorrow at the latest, we must set out. Who knows whether
-we have not already delayed our start too long? Perhaps one of those
-European vagabonds may have discovered our placer, for those scoundrels
-have a peculiar scent for gold."
-
-Fray Ambrosio cast a suspicious glance at his partner.
-
-"Hum!" he muttered, "that would be very unlucky, for hitherto the
-business has been well managed."
-
-"For that reason," Red Cedar hastened to add, "I only suggest a doubt
---nothing more."
-
-"Come, Red Cedar," the monk said, "you have yourself narrated all the
-embarrassments of our position, and the countless difficulties we shall
-have to surmount before reaching our object. Why, then, complicate the
-gravity of our situation still more, and create fresh enemies
-needlessly?"
-
-"I do not understand you, señor padre. Be good enough to explain
-yourself more clearly."
-
-"I allude to the young girl you carried off."
-
-"Ah, ah!" Red Cedar said with a grin, "Is that where the shoe pinches
-you, comrade? I am vexed at it; but I will not answer your question. If
-I carried off that woman, it was because I had pressing reasons to do
-so. These reasons still exist; that is all I can tell you. All the
-better if these explanations are sufficient for you; if not, you must
-put up with them, for you will get no others."
-
-"Still it appears to me that, regarding the terms on which we stand to
-each other--"
-
-"What can there be in common between the abduction of Doña Clara and the
-discovery of a placer in the heart of Apacheria? Come, you are mad, Fray
-Ambrosio; the mezcal is getting to your head."
-
-"Still--" the monk insisted.
-
-"Enough of that!" Red Cedar shouted as he roughly smote the table with
-his clenched fist. "I will not hear another word on the subject."
-
-At this moment two smart blows were heard on the carefully-bolted door.
-
-The three men started, and Red Cedar broke off.
-
-"Shall I open?" Andrés asked.
-
-"Yes," Fray Ambrosio answered: "hesitation or refusal might give an
-alarm. We must foresee everything."
-
-Red Cedar consented with a toss of his head, and the ranchero went with
-an ill grace toward the door, which was being struck as if about to be
-beaten in.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE CUCHILLADA.
-
-
-So soon as the door was opened two men appeared on the threshold. The
-first was Curumilla; the other, wrapped up in a large cloak, and with
-his broad-brimmed hat drawn over his eyes, entered the room, making the
-Indian chief a sign to follow him. The latter was evidently a Mexican.
-
-"_Santas tardes!_" he said as he raised his hand to his hat, but not
-removing it.
-
-"_Dios las de a usted buenas!_" the ranchero answered. "What shall I
-serve to your excellencies?"
-
-"A bottle of mezcal," the stranger said.
-
-The newcomers seated themselves at the end of the room, at a spot which
-the light reached in such a weakened state that it was almost dark. When
-they were served each poured out a glass of liquor, which he drank; and
-leaning his head on his hands, the Mexican appeared plunged in deep
-thought, not occupying himself the least in the world about the persons
-near him. Curumilla crossed his arms on his chest, half closed his eyes,
-and remained motionless.
-
-Still the arrival of these two men, especially the presence of the
-stranger, had suddenly frozen the eloquence of our three friends. Gloomy
-and silent, they instinctively felt that the newcomers were enemies, and
-anxiously waited for what was about to occur. At length Red Cedar,
-doubtless more impatient than his comrades, and wishful to know at once
-what he had to expect, rose, filled his glass, and turned toward the
-strangers.
-
-"Señores caballeros," he said, imitating that exquisite politeness which
-the Mexicans possess in the highest degree. "I have the honor of
-drinking to your health."
-
-At this invitation Curumilla remained insensible as a granite statue:
-his companion slowly raised his head, fixed his eye for a moment on the
-speaker, and answered in a loud and firm voice,--
-
-"It is needless, señor, for I shall not drink to yours. What I say to
-you," he added, laying a stress on the words, "your friends can also
-take for themselves if they think proper."
-
-Fray Ambrosio rose violently.
-
-"What do you say?" he exclaimed in a threatening voice. "Do you mean to
-insult me?"
-
-"There are people whom a man cannot mean to insult," the stranger
-continued in a cutting voice. "Remember this, señor padre--I do not wish
-to have any dealings with you."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because I do not please--that is all. Now, gentlemen, do not trouble
-yourselves about me, I beg, but continue your conversation: it was most
-interesting when I arrived. You were speaking, I believe, about an
-expedition you are preparing: there was a question too, I fancy, when I
-entered, about a girl your worthy friend, or partner--I do not know
-which he is--carried off with your assistance. Do not let me disturb
-you. I should, on the contrary, be delighted to learn what you intend
-doing with that unhappy creature."
-
-No words could render the feeling of stupor and terror which seized on
-the three partners at this, crushing revelation of their plans. When
-they fancied they had completely concealed them by their cunning and
-skill, to see them thus suddenly unveiled in all their extent by a man
-whom they did not know, but who knew them, and in consequence could only
-be an enemy--this terrified them to such a degree that for a moment they
-fancied they had to do with the spirit of evil. The two Mexicans crossed
-themselves simultaneously, while the American uttered a hoarse
-exclamation of rage.
-
-But Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio were men too hardened in iniquity for
-any event, however grave in its nature, to crush them for long. The
-first moment past, they recovered themselves, and amazement gave way to
-fury. The monk drew from his vaquera boot a knife, and posted himself
-before the door to prevent egress; while Red Cedar, with frowning brow
-and a machete in his hand, advanced resolutely toward the table, behind
-which their bold adversary, standing with folded arms, seemed to defy
-them by his ironical smile.
-
-"Whoever you may be," Red Cedar said, stopping two paces from his
-opponent, "chance has made you master of a secret that kills, and you
-shall die."
-
-"Do you really believe that I owe a knowledge of your secrets to
-chance?" the other said with a mocking accent.
-
-"Defend yourself," Red Cedar howled furiously, "If you do not wish me to
-assassinate you; for, _con mil diablos!_ I shall not hesitate, I warn
-you."
-
-"I know it," the stranger replied quietly. "I shall not be the first
-person to whom that has happened: the Sierra Madre and El Bolsón de
-Mapimi have often heard the agonising cries of your victims, when
-Indians were wanting to fill up your number of scalps."
-
-At this allusion to his frightful trade the squatter felt a livid pallor
-cover his face, a tremor agitated all his limbs, and he yelled in a
-choking voice,--
-
-"You lie! I am a hunter."
-
-"Of scalps," the stranger immediately retorted, "unless you have given
-up that lucrative and honourable profession since your last expedition to
-the village of the Coras."
-
-"Oh!" the squatter shouted with an indescribable burst of fury, "He is a
-coward who hides his face while uttering such words."
-
-The stranger shrugged his shoulders contemptuously, and let the folds of
-his mantle fall sharply.
-
-"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar, since your conscience has not yet
-whispered my name to you?"
-
-"Oh!" the three men exclaimed in horror, and instinctively recoiling
-"Don Pablo de Zarate!"
-
-"Yes," the young man continued, "Don Pablo, who has come, Red Cedar, to
-ask of you an account of his sister, whom you carried off."
-
-Red Cedar was in a state of extraordinary agitation: with eyes dilated
-by terror, and contracted features, he felt the cold perspiration
-beading on his temples at this unexpected apparition.
-
-"Ah!" he said in a hollow voice, "Do the dead, then, leave the tomb?"
-
-"Yes," the young man shouted loudly, "they leave their tomb to tear your
-victims from you. Red Cedar, restore me my sister!"
-
-The squatter leaped like a hyena on the young man, brandishing his
-machete.
-
-"Dog!" he yelled, "I will kill you a second time."
-
-But his wrist was suddenly seized by a hand of iron, and the bandit
-tottered back to the wall of the rancho, against which he was forced to
-lean, lest he should roll on the ground. Curumilla, who had hitherto
-remained an impassive witness of the scene that took place before him,
-had thought the moment for interference, had arrived, and had sharply
-hurled him back. The squatter, with eyes injected with blood, and lips
-clenched by rage, looked around him with glaring worthy of a wild beast.
-Fray Ambrosio and the ranchero, held in check by the Indian chief, did
-not dare to interfere. Don Pablo walked with slow and measured step
-toward the bandit. When he was ten paces from him he stopped, and looked
-fixedly at him.
-
-"Red Cedar," he repeated in a calm voice, "give me back my sister."
-
-"Never!" the squatter answered in a voice choked by rage.
-
-In the meanwhile the monk and the ranchero had treacherously approached
-the young man, watching for the propitious moment to fall on him. The
-five men assembled in this room offered a strange and sinister scene by
-the uncertain light that filtered through the windows, as each stood
-with his hand on his weapon, ready to kill or be killed, and only
-awaiting the opportunity to rush on his enemy. There was a moment of
-supreme silence. Assuredly these men were brave. In many circumstances
-they had seen death under every aspect; and yet their hearts beat as if
-to burst their breasts, for they knew that the combat about to commence
-between them was without truce or mercy. At length Don Pablo spoke
-again.
-
-"Take care, Red Cedar," he said. "I have come to meet you alone and
-honourably. I have asked you for my sister several times, and you have
-not answered; so take care."
-
-"I will sell your sister to the Apaches," the squatter howled. "As for
-you, accursed one, you shall not leave this room alive. May I be
-eternally condemned if your heart does not serve as a sheath to my
-knife!"
-
-"The scoundrel is mad!" the young man said contemptuously.
-
-He fell back a pace, and then stopped.
-
-"Listen," he continued. "I will now retire, but we shall meet again; and
-woe to you then, for I shall be as pitiless to you as you have been to
-me. Farewell!"
-
-"Oh! you shall not go in that way, my master," replied the squatter, who
-had regained all his boldness and impudence. "Did I not tell you I would
-kill you?"
-
-The young man fixed upon him a glance of undefinable expression, and
-crossed his arms boldly on his chest.
-
-"Try it," he said in a voice rendered harsh by the fury boiling in his
-heart.
-
-Red Cedar uttered a yell of rage, and bounded on Don Pablo. The latter
-calmly awaited the attack; but, so soon as the squatter was within reach
-he suddenly took off his mantle, and threw it over his enemy's head,
-who, blinded by the folds of the thick garment, rolled about on the
-ground, unable to free himself from the accursed cloth that held him
-like a net. With one bound the young man was over the table, and
-troubling himself no further about Red Cedar, proceeded toward the door.
-
-At this moment Fray Ambrosio rushed upon him, trying to bury his knife
-in his chest. Feeling not the slightest alarm, Don Pablo seized his
-assailant's wrist, and with a strength he was far from anticipating,
-twisted his arm so violently that his fingers opened, and he let the
-knife fall with a yell of pain. Don Pablo picked it up, and seized the
-monk by the throat.
-
-"Listen, villain!" he said to him. "I am master of your life. You
-betrayed my father, who took pity on you, and received you into his
-house. You dishonour the gown you wear by your connection with
-criminals, whose ill deeds you share in. I could kill you, and perhaps
-ought to do so; but it would be robbing the executioner to whom you
-belong, and cheating the garrote which awaits you. This gown, of which
-you are unworthy, saves your life; but I will mark you so that you shall
-never forget me."
-
-And placing the point of the knife on the monk's livid face, he made two
-gashes in the shape of a cross along the whole length and breadth of his
-face.
-
-"We shall meet again!" he added in a thundering voice, as he threw the
-knife away in disgust.
-
-Andrés Garote had not dared to make a move: terror nailed him motionless
-to the ground beneath the implacable eye of the Indian warrior. Don
-Pablo and Curumilla then rushed from the room and disappeared, and ere
-long the hoofs of two horses departing at full speed from the town could
-be heard clattering over the pavement.
-
-By the aid of the ranchero, Red Cedar presently succeeded in freeing
-himself from the fold of the cloak that embarrassed him. When the three
-accomplices found themselves alone again an expression of impotent rage
-and deadly hatred distorted their faces.
-
-"Oh!" the squatter muttered, grinding his teeth, and raising his fist to
-heaven, "I will be revenged."
-
-"And I too," said Fray Ambrosio in a hollow voice, as he wiped away the
-blood that stained his face.
-
-"Hum! I do not care," Andrés Garote said to himself aside. "That family
-of the Zarates is a fine one; but, _caray_! it must be confessed that
-Don Pablo is a rough fellow."
-
-The worthy ranchero was the only one chance had favoured in this meeting
-by letting him escape safe and sound.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-THE HUNTERS.
-
-
-At about two leagues from Santa Fe, in a clearing situated on the banks
-of the stream which borders that town, and on the evening of the same
-day, a man was seated before a large fire, which he carefully kept up,
-while actively engaged in making preparations for supper. A frugal meal,
-at any rate, this supper! It was composed of a buffalo hump, a few
-potatoes, and maize tortillas baked on the ashes, the whole washed down
-with pulque.
-
-The night was gloomy. Heavy black clouds coursed athwart the sky, at
-times intercepting the sickly rays of the moon, which only shed an
-uncertain light over the landscape, which was itself buried in one of
-those dense mists that, in equatorial countries, exhale from the ground
-after a hot day. The wind blew violently through the trees, whose
-branches came in contact, with plaintive moans: and in the depths of the
-woods the miawling of the wild cats was mingled with the snarl of the
-coyotes and the howls of the pumas and jaguars. All at once the sound of
-galloping horses could be heard in the forest, and two riders burst into
-the clearing. On seeing them the hunter uttered an exclamation of joy,
-and hurried to meet them. They were Don Pablo and Curumilla.
-
-"Heaven be praised!" the hunter said. "Here you are at last. I was
-beginning to grow alarmed at your long absence."
-
-"You see that nothing has happened to me," the young man answered,
-affectionately pressing the hunter's hands.
-
-Don Pablo had dismounted, and hobbled his own horse and Curumilla's near
-Valentine, while the Indian chief busied himself in preparing the
-supper.
-
-"Come, come," the hunter said gaily, "to table. You must be hungry, and
-I am dying of inanition. You can tell me all that has occurred while we
-are eating."
-
-The three men went to the table; that is, they seated themselves on the
-grass in front of the fire, and vigorously assailed their meagre repast.
-Desert life has this peculiarity--that in whatever position you may find
-yourself, as the struggles you go through are generally physical rather
-than moral, nature never resigns her claims: you feel the need of
-keeping up your strength, so as to be ready for all eventualities. There
-is no alarm great enough to prevent you from eating and drinking.
-
-"Now," Valentine asked presently, "what have you done? I fancy you
-remained much longer than was necessary in that accursed town."
-
-"We did, my friend. Certain reasons forced me to remain longer than I
-had at first intended."
-
-"Proceed in regular order, if you have no objection. I fancy that is the
-only way of understanding each other."
-
-"Act as you please, my friend."
-
-"Very good: the chief and I will light our Indian pipes while you make
-your cigarette. We will sit with our backs to the fire, so as to watch
-the neighbourhood, and in that way can converse without apprehension.
-What do you say, Pablo?"
-
-"You are always right, my friend. Your inexhaustible gaiety, your honest
-carelessness, restore me all my courage, and make me quite a different
-man."
-
-"Hum!" Valentine said, "I am glad to hear you speak so. The position is
-serious, it is true; but it is far from being desperate. The chief and I
-have many times been in situations were our lives only depended on a
-thread: and yet we always emerged from them honourably--did we not,
-chief?"
-
-"Yes," the Indian answered laconically, drawing in a mouthful of smoke,
-which he sent forth again from his mouth and nostrils.
-
-"But that is not the question of the moment. I have sworn to save your
-father and sister, Pablo, and will do so, or my carcass shall be food
-for the wild beasts of the prairie; so leave me to act. Have you seen
-Father Seraphin?"
-
-"Yes, I have. Our poor friend is still very weak and pale, and his wound
-is scarce cicatrised. Still, paying no heed to his sufferings, and
-deriving strength from his unbounded devotion to humanity, he has done
-all we agreed on. For the last week he has only left my father to hasten
-to his judges. He has seen the general, the governor, the
-bishop--everybody, in short--and has neglected nothing. Unfortunately
-all his exertions have hitherto been fruitless."
-
-"Patience!" the hunter said with a smile of singular meaning.
-
-"Father Seraphin believes for certain that my father will be placed in
-the capilla within two days. The governor wishes to have done with
-it--that is the expression he employed; and Father Seraphin told me that
-we have not a moment to lose."
-
-"Two days are a long time, my friend; before they have elapsed many
-things may have occurred."
-
-"That is true; but my father's life is at stake, and I feel timid."
-
-"Good, Don Pablo; I like to hear you speak so. But reassure yourself;
-all is going on well, I repeat."
-
-"Still, my friend, I believe it would be wise to take certain
-precautions. Remember it is a question of life or death, and we must
-make haste. How many times, under similar circumstances, have the best
-arranged plans failed! Do you think that your measures are well taken?
-Do you not fear lest an unhappy accident may derange all your plans at
-the decisive moment?"
-
-"We are playing at this moment the devil's own game, my friend,"
-Valentine answered coldly. "We have chance on our side; that is to say,
-the greatest power that exists, and which governs the world."
-
-The young man lowered his head, as if but slightly convinced. The hunter
-regarded him for a moment with a mixture of interest and tender pity,
-and then continued in a soothing voice,--
-
-"Listen, Don Pablo de Zarate," he said. "I have said that I will save
-your father, and mean to do so. Still I wish him to leave the prison in
-which he now is, like a man of his character ought to leave it, in open
-day, greeted by the applause of the crowd, and not by escaping furtively
-during the night, like a vile criminal. Hang it all! Do you think it
-would have been difficult for me to enter the town, and effect your
-father's escape by filing the bars or bribing the jailer? I would not do
-it. Don Miguel would not have accepted that cowardly and shameful
-flight. Your father shall leave his prison, but begged to do so by the
-governor himself, and all the authorities of Santa Fe. So regain your
-courage, and no longer doubt a man whose friendship and experience
-should, on the contrary, restore your confidence."
-
-The young man had listened to these words with even increasing interest.
-When Valentine ceased speaking he seized his hand.
-
-"Pardon me, my friend," he answered him. "I know how devoted you are to
-my family; but I suffer, and grief renders me unjust. Forgive me."
-
-"Child, let us forget it all. Was the town quiet today?"
-
-"I cannot tell you, for I was so absorbed in thought that I saw nothing
-going on around me. Still I fancy there was a certain agitation, which
-was not natural, on the Plaza Mayor, near the governor's palace."
-
-Valentine indulged once again in that strange smile that had already
-played round the corners of his delicate lips.
-
-"Good!" he said. "And did you, as I advised, try to gain any information
-about Red Cedar?"
-
-"Yes," he answered with a start of joy, "I did; and I have positive
-news."
-
-"Ah, ah! How so?"
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-And Don Pablo described the scene that had taken place in the rancho.
-The hunter listened to it with the utmost attention, and when it was
-finished he tossed his head several times with an air of
-dissatisfaction.
-
-"All young people are so," he muttered; "they always allow their passion
-to carry them beyond the bounds of reason. You were wrong, extremely
-wrong, Don Pablo," he then added. "Red Cedar believed you dead, and that
-might have been of great use to us presently. You do not know the
-immense power that demon has at his disposal: all the bandits on the
-frontier are devoted to him. Your outbreak will be most injurious to
-your sister's safety."
-
-"Still, my friend--"
-
-"You acted like a madman in arousing the slumbering fury of the tiger.
-Red Cedar will persist in destroying you. I have known the wretch for a
-long time. But that is not the worst you have done."
-
-"What is it, then?"
-
-"Why, madman as you are, instead of keeping dark, watching your enemies
-without saying a word--in short, seeing through their game--by an
-unpardonable act of bravado you have unmasked all your batteries."
-
-"I do not understand you, my friend."
-
-"Fray Ambrosio is a villain of a different stamp from Red Cedar, it is
-true; but I consider him even a greater scoundrel than the scalp hunter.
-At any rate, the latter is purely a rogue, and you know what to expect
-from him: all about him bears the stamp of his hideous soul. Had you
-stabbed that wild beast, who perspires blood by every pore, and dreams
-of naught but murder, I might possibly have pardoned you; but you have
-completely failed, not only in prudence, but in good sense, by acting as
-you have done with Fray Ambrosio. That man is a hypocrite. He owes all
-to your family, and is furious at seeing this treachery discovered. Take
-care, Don Pablo. You have made at one blow two implacable enemies, the
-more terrible now because they have nothing to guard against."
-
-"It is true," the young man said; "I acted like a fool. But what would
-you? At the sight of those two men, when I heard from their very lips
-the crimes they had committed, and those they still meditate against us,
-I was no longer master of myself. I entered the rancho, and you know the
-rest."
-
-"Yes, yes, the cuchillada was a fine one. Certainly the bandit deserved
-it; but I fear lest the cross you so smartly drew on his face will cost
-you dearly some day."
-
-"Well, let us leave it in the hand of Heaven. You know the proverb, 'It
-is better to forget what cannot be remedied.' Provided my father escape
-the fate that menaces him, I shall be happy. I shall take my precautions
-to defend myself."
-
-"Did you learn nothing further?"
-
-"Yes; Red Cedar's gambusinos are encamped a short distance from us. I
-know that their chief intends starting tomorrow at the latest."
-
-"Oh, oh! Already? We must make haste and prepare our ambuscade, if we
-wish to discover the road they mean to follow."
-
-"When shall we start?"
-
-"At once."
-
-The three men made their preparations; the horses were saddled, the
-small skins the horseman always carries at his saddle-bow in these dry
-countries were filled with water, and five minutes later the hunters
-mounted. At the moment they were leaving the clearing a rustling of
-leaves was heard, the branches parted, and an Indian appeared. It was
-Unicorn, the great sachem of the Comanches. On seeing him the three men
-dismounted and waited. Valentine advanced alone to meet the Indian.
-
-"My brother is welcome," he said. "What does he want of me?"
-
-"To see the face of a friend," the chief answered in a gentle voice.
-
-The two men then bowed after the fashion of the prairie. After this
-ceremony Valentine went on:
-
-"My father must approach the fire, and smoke from the calumet of his
-white friends."
-
-"I will do so," Unicorn answered.
-
-And drawing near the fire, he crouched down in Indian fashion, took his
-pipe from his belt, and smoked in silence. The hunters, seeing the turn
-this unexpected interview was taking, had fastened up their horses, and
-seated themselves again round the fire. A few minutes passed thus, no
-one speaking, each waiting till the Indian chief should explain the
-motive of his coming. At length Unicorn shook the ashes from his
-calumet, returned it to his belt, and addressed Valentine.
-
-"Is my brother setting out to hunt buffaloes again?" he said. "There are
-many this year on the prairies of the Rio Gila."
-
-"Yes," the Frenchman replied, "we are going hunting. Does my brother
-intend to accompany us?"
-
-"No; my heart is sad.
-
-"What means the chief? Has any misfortune happened to him?"
-
-"Does not my brother understand me, or am I really mistaken? It is that
-my brother only really loves the buffaloes, whose meat he eats, and
-whose hides he sells at the _toldería_?"
-
-"Let my brother explain himself more clearly; then I will try to answer
-him."
-
-There was a moment of silence. The Indian seemed to be reflecting
-deeply: his nostrils were dilated, and at times his black eye flashed
-fire. The hunters calmly awaited the issue of this conversation, whose
-object they had not yet caught. At length Unicorn raised his head,
-restored all the serenity to his glance, and said in a soft and
-melodious voice,--
-
-"Why pretend not to understand me, Koutonepi? A warrior must not have a
-forked tongue. What a man cannot do alone, two can attempt and carry
-out. Let my brother speak: the ears of a friend are open."
-
-"My brother is right. I will not deceive his expectations. The hunt I
-wish to make is serious. I am anxious to save a woman of my colour; but
-what can the will of one man effect?"
-
-"Koutonepi is not alone: I see at his side the best two rifles of the
-frontier. What does the white hunter tell me? Is he no longer the great
-warrior I knew? Does he doubt the friendship of his brother Haboutzelze,
-the great sachem of the Comanches?"
-
-"I never doubted the friendship of my brother. I am an adopted son of
-his nation. At this very moment is he not seeking to do me a service?"
-
-"That service is only half what I wish to do. Let my brother speak the
-word, and two hundred Comanche warriors shall join him to deliver the
-virgin of the palefaces, and take the scalps of her ravishers."
-
-Valentine started with joy at this noble offer.
-
-"Thanks, chief," he said eagerly. "I accept; and I know that your word
-is sacred."
-
-"Michabou protects us," the Indian said. "My brother can count on me. A
-chief does not forget a service. I owe obligations to the pale hunter,
-and will deliver to him the gachupino robbers."
-
-"Here is my hand, chief: my heart has long been yours."
-
-"My brother speaks well. I have done what he requested of me."
-
-And, bowing courteously, the Comanche chief withdrew without adding a
-word.
-
-"Don Pablo," Valentine exclaimed joyously, "I can now guarantee your
-father's safety: this night--perhaps tomorrow--he will be free."
-
-The young man fell into the hunter's arms, and hid his head on his
-honest chest, not having the strength to utter a word. A few minutes
-later, the hunters left the clearing to go in search of the gambusinos,
-and prepare their ambuscade.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-SUNBEAM.
-
-
-We will now go a little way back, in order to clear up certain portions
-of the conversation between Valentine and Unicorn, whose meaning the
-reader can not have caught.
-
-Only a few months after their arrival in Apacheria the Frenchman and
-Curumilla were hunting the buffalo on the banks of the Rio Gila. It was
-a splendid day in the month of July. The two hunters, fatigued by a long
-march under the beams of the parching sun, that fell vertically on their
-heads, had sheltered themselves under a clump of cedar wood trees, and,
-carelessly stretched out on the ground, were smoking while waiting till
-the great heat had passed, and the evening breeze rose to enable them to
-continue their hunt. A quarter of elk was roasting for their dinner.
-
-"Eh, _penni_," Valentine said, addressing his comrade, and rising on his
-elbow, "the dinner seems to be ready; so suppose we feed? The sun is
-rapidly sinking behind the virgin forest, and we shall soon have to
-start again."
-
-"Eat," Curumilla answered, sharply.
-
-The meat was laid on a leaf between the two hunters, who began eating
-with good appetite, and indulging in cakes of _hautle_. These cakes,
-which are very good, are certainly curious. They are made of the pounded
-eggs of a species of water bug, collected by a sort of harvest in the
-Mexican lakes. They are found on the leaves of the _toule_ (bulrush),
-and the farina is prepared in various ways. It is an Aztec preparation
-_par excellence_, for so long back as 1625 they were sold on the
-marketplace of the Mexican capital. They form the chief food of the
-Indians, who consider them as great a dainty as the Chinese do their
-swallow nests, with which this article of food has a certain resemblance
-in taste. Valentine had taken a third bite at his hautle cake when he
-stopped, with his arm raised and his head bent forward, as if an unusual
-sound had suddenly smitten his ear. Curumilla imitated his friend, and
-both listened with that deep attention that only results from a
-lengthened desert life; for on the prairie every sound is
-suspicious--every meeting is feared, especially with man.
-
-Some time elapsed ere the noise which startled the hunters was repeated.
-For a moment they fancied themselves deceived, and Valentine took
-another bite, when he was again checked. This time he had distinctly
-heard a sound resembling a stifled sigh, but so weak and hollow that it
-needed the Trail-hunter's practised ear to catch it. Curumilla himself
-had perceived nothing. He looked at his friend in amazement, not knowing
-to what he should attribute his state of agitation. Valentine rose
-hurriedly, seized his rifle, and rushed in the direction of the river,
-his friend following him in all haste.
-
-It was from the river, in fact, that the sigh heard by Valentine had
-come, and fortunately it was but a few paces distant. So soon as the
-hunters had leaped over the intervening bushes they found themselves on
-the bank, and a fearful sight presented itself to their startled eyes. A
-long plank was descending the river, turning on its axis, and borne by
-the current, which ran rather strongly at this point. On this plank was
-fastened a woman, who held a child in her clasped arms. Each time the
-plank revolved the unhappy woman plunged with her child into the stream,
-and at ten yards at the most from it an enormous cayman was swimming
-vigorously to snap at its two victims.
-
-Valentine raised his rifle. Curumilla at the same moment glided into the
-water, holding his knife blade between his teeth, and swam toward the
-plank. Valentine remained for a few seconds motionless, as if changed
-into a block of marble. All at once he pulled the trigger, and the
-discharge was re-echoed by the distant mountains. The cayman leaped out
-of the water, and plunged down again; but it reappeared a moment later,
-belly upwards. It was dead. Valentine's bullet had passed through its
-eye.
-
-In the meanwhile Curumilla, had reached the plank with a few strokes,
-without loss of time he turned it in the opposite direction from what it
-was following; and while holding it so that it could not revolve, he
-pushed it onto the sand. In two strokes he cut the bonds that held the
-hapless woman, seized her in his arms, and ran off with her to the
-bivouac fire.
-
-The poor woman gave no signs of life, and the two hunters eagerly sought
-to restore her. She was an Indian, apparently not more than eighteen,
-and very beautiful. Valentine found great difficulty in loosening her
-arms and removing the baby; for the frail creature about a year old, by
-an incomprehensible miracle, had been preserved--thanks, doubtless to
-its mother's devotion. It smiled pleasantly at the hunter when he laid
-it on a bed of dry leaves.
-
-Curumilla opened the woman's mouth slightly with his knife blade, placed
-in it the mouth of his gourd, and made her swallow a few drops of
-mezcal. A long time elapsed ere she gave the slightest move that
-indicated an approaching return to life. The hunters, however, would not
-be foiled by the ill-success of their attentions, but redoubled their
-efforts. At length a deep sigh burst painfully from the sufferer's
-oppressed chest, and she opened her eyes, murmuring in a voice weak as a
-breath!
-
-"_Xocoyotl_ (My child)!"
-
-The cry of the soul--this first and supreme appeal of a mother on the
-verge of the tomb--affected the two men with their hearts of bronze.
-Valentine cautiously lifted the child, which had gone to sleep
-peacefully on the leaves, and presented it to the mother, saying in a
-soft voice:
-
-"_Nantli joltinemi_ (Mother, he lives)!"
-
-At these words, which restored her hope, the woman leaped up as if moved
-by a spring, seized the child, and covered it with kisses, as she burst
-into tears. The hunters respected this outpouring of maternal love: they
-withdrew, leaving food and water by the woman's side. At sunset the two
-men returned. The woman was squatting by the fire, nursing her child,
-and lulling it to sleep by singing an Indian song. The night passed
-tranquilly, the two hunters watching in turn over the slumbers of the
-woman they had saved, and who reposed in peace.
-
-At sunrise she awoke; and, with the skill and handiness peculiar to the
-women of her race, she rekindled the fire and prepared breakfast. The
-two men looked at her with a smile, then threw their rifles over their
-shoulders, and set out in search of game. When they returned to the
-bivouac the meal was ready. After eating, Valentine lit his Indian pipe,
-seated himself at the foot of a tree, and addressed the young woman.
-
-"What is my sister's name?" he asked.
-
-"Tonameyotl (the Sunbeam)," she replied, with a joyous smile that
-revealed the double row of pearls that adorned her mouth.
-
-"My sister has a pretty name," Valentine answered. "She doubtless
-belongs to the great nation of the Apaches."
-
-"The Apaches are dogs," she said in a hollow voice, and with a flash of
-hatred in her glance. "The Comanche women will weave them petticoats.
-The Apaches are cowardly as the coyotes: they only fight a hundred
-against one. The Comanche warriors are like the tempest."
-
-"Is my sister the wife of a cacique?"
-
-"Where is the warrior who does not know Unicorn?" she said proudly.
-
-Valentine bowed. He had already heard the name of this terrible chief
-pronounced several times. Mexicans and Indians, trappers, hunters, and
-warriors, all felt for him a respect mingled with terror.
-
-"Sunbeam is Unicorn's wife," the Indian girl continued.
-
-"Good!" Valentine answered. "My sister will tell me where to find the
-village of her tribe, and I will lead her back to the chief."
-
-The young woman smiled.
-
-"I have in my heart a small bird that sings at every instant of the
-day," she said in her gentle and melodious voice. "The swallow cannot
-live without its mate, and the chief is on the trail of Sunbeam."
-
-"We will wait the chief here, then," Valentine said.
-
-The hunter felt great pleasure in conversing with this simple child.
-
-"How was my sister thus fastened to the trunk of tree, and thrown into
-the current of the Gila, to perish there with her child? It is an
-atrocious vengeance."
-
-"Yes, it is the vengeance of an Apache dog," she answered. "Aztatl (the
-Heron), daughter of Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, loved
-Unicorn--her heart bounded at the mere name of the great Comanche
-warrior; but the chief of my nation has only one heart, and it belongs
-to Sunbeam. Two days ago the warriors of my tribe set out for a great
-buffalo hunt, and the squaws alone remained in the village. While I
-slept in my hut four Apache thieves, taking advantage of my slumber,
-seized me and my child, and delivered us into the hands of Stanapat's
-daughter. 'You love your husband,' she said with a grin: 'you doubtless
-suffer at being separated from him. Be happy: I will send you to him by
-the shortest road. He is hunting on the prairies down the river, and in
-two hours you will be in his arms, unless,' she added with a laugh, 'the
-caymans stop you on the road.'--'The Comanche women despise death,' I
-answered her. 'For a hair you pluck from me, Unicorn will take the
-scalps of your whole tribe; so act as you think proper;' and I turned my
-head away, resolved to answer her no more. She herself fastened me to
-the log, with my face turned to the sky, in order, as she said, that I
-might see my road; and then she hurled me into the river, yelling:
-'Unicorn is a cowardly rabbit, whom the Apache women despise. This is
-how I revenge myself.' I have told my brother, the pale hunter,
-everything as it happened."
-
-"My sister is a brave woman," Valentine replied: "she is worthy to be
-the wife of a renowned chief."
-
-The young mother smiled as she embraced her child, which she presented,
-with a movement full of grace, to the hunter, who kissed it on the
-forehead. At this moment the song of the maukawis was heard at a short
-distance off. The two hunters raised their heads in surprise, and looked
-around them.
-
-"The quail sings very late, I fancy," Valentine muttered suspiciously.
-
-The Indian girl smiled as she looked down, but gave no answer. Suddenly
-a slight cracking of dry branches disturbed the silence. Valentine and
-Curumilla made a move, as if to spring up and seize their rifles that
-lay by their side.
-
-"My brothers must not stir," the squaw said quickly: "it is a friend."
-
-The hunters remained motionless, and the girl then imitated with rare
-perfection the cry of the blue jay. The bushes parted, and an Indian
-warrior, perfectly painted and armed for war, bounded like a jackal over
-the grass and herbs that obstructed his passage, and stopped in face of
-the hunters. This warrior was Unicorn. He saluted the two men with that
-grace innate in the Indian race; then he crossed his arms on his breast
-and waited, without taking a glance at his squaw, or even appearing to
-have seen her. On her side the Indian woman did not stir.
-
-During several moments a painful silence fell on the four persons whom
-chance had assembled in so strange a way. At length Valentine, seeing
-the warrior insisted on being silent, decided he would be the first to
-speak.
-
-"Unicorn is welcome to our camp," he said. "Let him take a seat by the
-fire of his brothers, and share with them the provisions they possess."
-
-"I will take a seat by the fire of my paleface brother," he replied;
-"but he must first answer me a question I wish to ask of him."
-
-"My brother can speak: my ears are open."
-
-"Good!" the chief answered. "How is it the hunters have with them
-Unicorn's wife?"
-
-"Sunbeam can answer that question best," Valentine said gravely.
-
-The chief turned to his squaw.
-
-"I am waiting," he remarked.
-
-The Indian woman repeated, word for word, to her husband the story she
-had told a few minutes before. Unicorn listened without evincing either
-surprise or wrath: his face remained impassive, but his brows were
-imperceptibly contracted. When the woman had finished speaking, the
-Comanche chief bowed his head on his chest, and remained for a moment
-plunged in serious thought. Presently he raised his head.
-
-"Who saved Sunbeam from the river when she was about to perish?" he
-asked her.
-
-The young woman's face lit up with a charming smile.
-
-"These hunters," she replied.
-
-"Good!" the chief said, laconically, as he bent on the two men glances
-full of the most unspeakable gratitude.
-
-"Could we leave her to perish?" Valentine said.
-
-"My brothers did well. Unicorn is one of the first sachems of his
-nation. His tongue is not forked: he gives his heart once, and takes it
-back no more. Unicorn's heart belongs to the hunters."
-
-These simple words were uttered with the majesty and grandeur the
-Indians know so well how to assume when they think proper. The two men
-vowed their gratitude, and the chief continued:--
-
-"Unicorn is returning to his village with his wife: his young men are
-awaiting him twenty paces from here. He would be happy if the hunters
-would consent to accompany him there."
-
-"Chief," Valentine answered, "we came into the prairie to hunt the
-buffalo."
-
-"Well, what matter? My brothers will hunt with me and my young men; but
-if they wish to prove to me that they accept my friendship, they will
-follow me to my village."
-
-"The chief is mounted, while we are on foot."
-
-"I have horses."
-
-Any further resistance would have been a breach of politeness, and the
-hunters accepted the invitation. Valentine, whom accident had brought on
-to the prairies of the Rio Gila and Del Norte, was in his heart not
-sorry to make friends there, and have allies on whose support he could
-reckon in case of need. The squaw had by this time risen: she timidly
-approached her husband, and held up the child, saying in a soft and
-frightened voice,--
-
-"Kiss this warrior."
-
-The chief took the frail creature in his muscular arms, and kissed it
-repeatedly with a display of extraordinary tenderness, and then returned
-it to the mother. The latter wrapped the babe in a small blanket, then
-placed it on a plank shaped like a cradle, and covered with dry moss,
-fastened a hoop over the place where its head rested, to guard it from
-the burning beams of the sun, and hung the whole on her back by means of
-a woolen strap passing over her forehead.
-
-"I am ready," she said.
-
-"Let us go," the chief replied.
-
-The hunters followed him, and they were soon on the prairie.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIX.
-
-THE ADOPTION.
-
-
-Some sixty Comanche warriors were lying in the grass awaiting their
-sachem, while the tethered horses were nibbling the tall prairie grasses
-and the tree shoots. It could be seen at the first glance that these men
-were picked warriors, selected for a dangerous expedition. From the
-heels of all dangled five or six wolf tails--marks of honor which only
-renowned warriors have the right to wear.
-
-On seeing their chief, they hurriedly rose and leaped into their
-saddles. All were aware that their sachem's wife had been carried off,
-and that the object of their expedition was to deliver her. Still, on
-noticing her, they evidenced no surprise, but saluted her as if she had
-left them only a few moments previously. The war party had with it
-several horses, which the chief ordered to be given to his squaw and his
-new friends; then, at a signal from him, the whole party started at full
-speed, for the Indians know no other pace than the gallop.
-
-After about two hours' ride they reached the vicinity of the village,
-which could be smelt some time before reaching, owing to the habit the
-Comanches have of placing their dead on scaffoldings outside the
-villages, where they moulder away: these scaffoldings, composed of four
-stakes planted in the ground, terminated in a fork, while from poles
-stuck up near them hung skins and other offerings made by the Indians to
-the genius of good.
-
-At the entrance of the village a number of horsemen were assembled,
-awaiting the return of the sachem. So soon as they perceived him they
-burst into a formidable yell, and rushed forward like a whirlwind,
-shouting, firing guns, and brandishing their weapons. Unicorn's band
-followed this example, and there was soon a most extraordinary
-confusion.
-
-The sachem made his entry into the village in the midst of shouts,
-barking of dogs, and shots; in short, he was accompanied to the square
-by an indescribable row. On reaching it the warriors stopped. Unicorn
-begged the hunters to dismount, and guided them to his cabin, which he
-made them enter before him.
-
-"Now," he said to them, "brothers, you are at home: rest in peace, eat
-and drink. This evening I will come and talk with you, and make you a
-proposal which I sincerely hope you will not reject."
-
-The two hunters, wearied by the long ride they had made, fell back with
-extreme satisfaction on the beds of dried leaves which awaited them.
-
-"Well," Valentine asked Curumilla, "penni, what do you say about what is
-happening to us?"
-
-"It may be good."
-
-"Can it not?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-On which Curumilla fell asleep, and Valentine soon followed his example.
-As he had promised, toward evening Unicorn entered the cabin.
-
-"Have my brothers rested?" he asked.
-
-"Yes," Valentine answered.
-
-"Are they disposed to listen to me?"
-
-"Speak, chief; we are listening."
-
-The Comanche sachem then squatted near the fire, and remained for
-several minutes, with his head bent forward and his eyes fixed on the
-ground, in the position of a man who is reflecting. At length he raised
-his head, stretched forth his arm as if to give greater authority to the
-words he was about to utter, and began thus:--
-
-"Brother, you and your friend are two brave warriors. The prairies
-rejoice at your arrival among us; the deer and the buffaloes fly at your
-approach; for your arm is strong, and your eye unerring. Unicorn is only
-a poor Indian; but he is a great warrior among the Comanches, and a much
-feared chief of his tribe. You have saved his wife, Sunbeam, whom the
-Apache dogs threw into the Gila, and whom the hideous alligators were
-preparing to devour. Since his wife, the joy of his hearth, and his son,
-the hope of his old days, have been restored to him, Unicorn has sought
-in his heart the means to prove to you his gratitude. He asked the Chief
-of Life what he could do to attach you to him. Unicorn is terrible in
-combat; he has the heart of the grizzly bear for his enemies--he has the
-heart of the gazelle for those he loves."
-
-"Chief," Valentine answered, "the words you utter at this moment amply
-repay us for what we have done. We are happy to have saved the wife and
-son of a celebrated warrior: our reward is in our hearts, and we wish
-for no other."
-
-The chief shook his head.
-
-"No," he said; "the two hunters are no longer strangers for the
-Comanches; they are the brothers of our tribe. During their sleep
-Unicorn assembled round the council fire the chiefs of his nation, and
-told them what has passed. The chiefs have ranged themselves on
-Unicorn's side, and have ordered him to make known to the hunters the
-resolution they have formed."
-
-"Speak, then, chief," Valentine said, "and believe that the wishes of
-the council will be commands to us."
-
-A smile of joy played round the chief's lips.
-
-"Good!" he said. "This is what was agreed on among the great chiefs. My
-brothers the hunters will be adopted by the tribe, and be henceforth
-sons of the great Comanche nation. What say my brothers?"
-
-A lively feeling of pleasure made Valentine quiver at this unexpected
-proposition. To be adopted by the Comanche tribe, was obtaining the
-right of hunting over the whole extent of the immense prairies which
-that powerful nation holds through its indomitable courage and the
-number of its warriors. The hunter exchanged a glance with his silent
-comrade and rose.
-
-"I accept for myself and friend," he said as he held out his hand to the
-chief, "the honor the Comanches do us in admitting us into the number of
-the sons of their warlike nation. We shall prove ourselves worthy of
-this marked favour."
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"Tomorrow," he said as he rose, "my brothers will be adopted by the
-nation."
-
-After bowing gracefully to the hunters he took leave of them and
-withdrew. The next daybreak the chiefs entered the cabin. Valentine and
-Curumilla were ready, and had long been acquainted with the trials they
-would have to undergo. The neophytes were conducted into the great
-medicine hut, where a copious meal was prepared. It consisted of dog
-meat boiled in bear fat, tortillas, maize, and hautle cakes. The chiefs
-squatted in a circle, while the squaws waited on them.
-
-When the meal was ended all rose. Unicorn placed himself between the
-hunters, laid his hands on their heads, and struck up the great war
-song. This song was repeated in chorus by the company to the sound of
-the war whistles, the drums and the _chikikouis._ The following is the
-translation of the song:--
-
-   "Master of Life, regard us with a favourable eye.
-   We are receiving two brothers in arms who appear to have sense.
-   They display vigour in their arms.
-   They fear not to expose their bodies to the blows of their enemies."
-
-It is impossible for anyone who has not been present at the ceremony to
-form even a distant idea of the frightful noise produced by their hoarse
-voices mingled with the shrill and discordant instruments: it was enough
-to produce a deafness. When the song was ended each took his seat by the
-council fire.
-
-The hunters were seated on beaver skins, and the great war calumet was
-presented to them, from which each took several puffs, and it went the
-round. Unicorn then rose, and fastened round the neck of each a wampum
-collar, and another made of the claws of the grizzly bear. The Indians,
-during this time, had built near the medicine lodge a cabin for the
-sweating, and when it was finished the hunters took off their clothes
-and entered it. The chiefs then brought two large stones which had been
-previously made red hot, and after closing the hut carefully, left the
-neophytes in it.
-
-The latter threw water on the stones, and the steam which arose almost
-immediately produced a profuse perspiration. When this was at its height
-the hunters ran out of the hut, passed through the double row of
-warriors, and leaped into the river, according to the usual fashion.
-They were immediately drawn from the water, wrapped in blankets, and led
-to Unicorn's hut, in order to undergo the final trial, which is also the
-most painful. The hunters were laid on their backs, then Unicorn traced
-on their chests with a sharp stick dipped in water in which gunpowder
-had been dissolved, the figure of the animal serving as _totem_
-(protector) to the tribe. Then with two spikes fastened to a small piece
-of wood, and dipped in vermillion, he proceeded to prick the design.
-
-Whenever Unicorn came to a place that was too hard he made an incision
-in the flesh with a gun-flint. The places that were not marked with
-vermillion were rubbed in with powder, so that the result was a red and
-blue tattooing. During the course of this operation the war songs and
-chikikouis were constantly heard, in order to drown the cries which the
-atrocious pain might draw from the patients; but the latter endured it
-all without even a contraction of the eyebrows evidencing the pain they
-must have felt.
-
-When the tattooing was over the wounds were cauterised with rotten wood
-to prevent suppuration; they were washed with cold water, in which had
-been infused a herb resembling box, a great deal of which the Indians
-mix with their tobacco to reduce the strength. The trial we have
-described is so painful to endure, that nearly always it is only
-accomplished at intervals, and often lasts a week. This time the hunters
-endured it bravely during the six hours it lasted, not uttering a cry,
-or giving a sign of weakness. Hence the Indians, from this moment,
-regarded them with a species of respect; for with them courage is the
-first of qualities.
-
-"My brothers are children of the tribe," the chief said, offering each a
-horse. "The prairie belongs to them. These coursers will bear them to
-the most remote limits of the desert, chasing the wild beasts, or
-pursuing the Apache dogs."
-
-"Good!" Valentine answered.
-
-At one bound the two hunters were in their saddles, and made their
-horses perform the most elegant and graceful curvets. This last and
-heroic deed, after all they had suffered during the course of the day,
-raised to their full height the joy and enthusiasm of the Comanches, who
-applauded with frenzied shouts and yells all they saw their new brothers
-execute. After remaining nearly an hour on horseback they dismounted,
-and followed the chiefs into the medicine lodge; and when each had taken
-his seat round the council fire, and the calumet had again been smoked,
-Unicorn rose.
-
-"The Master of Life loves His Comanche sons, since He gives them for
-brothers such warriors as Koutonepi and Curumilla. Who can equal their
-courage! Who would dare to contend with them! On their approach the
-grizzly bear hides at the extremity of its den; the jaguar bounds far
-away on seeing them; the eagle itself, which looks the sun in the face,
-flies from their unerring bullet. Brothers, we congratulate ourselves on
-counting you among our warriors. Henceforth we shall be invincible.
-Brothers, give up the names you have up to this day borne, and assume
-those we now give you. You, Koutonepi, are henceforth Quauhtli, and bear
-the name of that eagle, whose courage and strength you possess. You,
-Curumilla, will be called Vexolotl, and the cock will be proud to see
-that you have taken possession of its name."
-
-The two hunters warmly thanked their new brothers, and were led back by
-the chiefs to their cabin, who wished them a pleasant night after so
-rude a day. Such was the way in which Valentine and Curumilla, to whom
-we shall continue to give their old names, formed the acquaintance of
-Unicorn, and the result of it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE MISSIONARY.
-
-
-With time the relations existing between the hunters and the Indians
-were drawn closer, and became more friendly. In the desert physical
-strength is the quality most highly esteemed. Man, compelled to struggle
-incessantly against the dangers of every description that rise each
-moment before him, is bound to look only to himself for the means to
-surmount them. Hence the Indians profess a profound contempt, for sickly
-people, and weak and timid nerves.
-
-Valentine easily induced Unicorn to seize, during the hunt of the wild
-horses, the Mexican magistrates, in order to make hostages of them if
-the conspiracy were unsuccessful. What the hunter foresaw happened. Red
-Cedar had opposed stratagem to stratagem; and, as we have seen, Don
-Miguel was arrested in the midst of his triumph, at the very moment when
-he fancied himself master of the Paso del Norte.
-
-After Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo had seen, from their hiding
-place in the bushes, the mournful escort pass that was taking Don Miguel
-as a prisoner to Santa Fe, they held a council. Moments were precious;
-for in Mexico conspirators have the sad privilege over every other
-prisoner of being tried quickly, and not left to pine. The prisoner must
-be saved. Valentine, with that promptitude of decision which formed the
-salient point of his character, soon arranged in his head one of those
-bold schemes which only he could discover.
-
-"Courage!" he said to Don Pablo. "As long as the heart beats in the
-breast there is hope, thank Heaven! The first hand is lost, I allow; but
-now for the second game."
-
-Don Pablo had entire faith in Valentine: he had often been in the
-position to try his friend. If these words did not completely reassure
-him, they at least almost restored his hope, and gave him back that
-courage so necessary to him at this supreme moment, and which had
-abandoned him.
-
-"Speak, my friend," he said. "What is to be done?"
-
-"Let us attend to the most important thing first, and save Father
-Seraphin, who devoted himself for us."
-
-The three men started. The night was a gloomy one. The moon only
-appeared at intervals: incessantly veiled by thick clouds which passed
-over its disc, it seemed to shed its sickly rays regretfully on the
-earth. The wind whistled through the branches of the trees, which
-uttered mysterious murmurs as they came into collision. The coyotes
-howled in the plain, and at times their sinister form shot athwart the
-skyline. After a march of about an hour the three men approached the
-spot where the missionary had fallen from the effect of Red Cedar's
-bullet; but he had disappeared. An alarm mingled with a frightful agony
-contracted the hunter's hearts. Valentine took a despairing glance
-around; but the darkness was too dense for him possibly to distinguish
-anything.
-
-"What is to be done?" Don Pablo asked sadly.
-
-"Seek," Valentine replied sharply: "he cannot be far."
-
-Curumilla had already taken up the trail, and had disappeared in the
-gloom. The Araucano had never been a great speaker naturally: with age
-he had grown almost dumb, and never uttered a word save when absolutely
-necessary. But if the Indian did not talk, he acted; and in critical
-situations his determination was often worth long harangues. Don Pablo,
-obedient to Valentine's orders, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and
-prepared to execute them.
-
-"Where are you going?" the hunter asked him, as he seized his arm.
-
-"To look for Father Seraphin."
-
-"Wait."
-
-The two men stood motionless, listening to the mysterious sounds of the
-desert, that nameless melody which plunges the soul into a soft reverie.
-Nearly an hour passed thus, nothing revealing to the hunters that
-Curumilla's search had proved successful. Valentine, growing impatient
-at this long delay, was also preparing to go on, at once the weak,
-snapping cry of the walkon rose in the air.
-
-"What's that?" Don Pablo asked in surprise.
-
-"Silence!" Valentine muttered.
-
-A second time the walkon sang, but this time stronger, and much nearer.
-Valentine raised his fingers to his lips, and imitated the sharp, shrill
-yell of the ocelot twice, with such perfection that Don Pablo started
-involuntarily, and looked round for the wild beast, whose eyes he
-fancied he could see flashing behind a thicket. Almost immediately the
-note of the walkon was heard a third time. Valentine rested the butt of
-his rifle on the ground.
-
-"Good!" he said. "Do not be alarmed, Don Pablo. Curumilla has found
-Father Seraphin."
-
-The young man looked at him in amazement. The hunter smiled.
-
-"They will both arrive directly," he said.
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"Child!" Valentine interrupted him, "In the desert the human voice is
-more injurious than useful. The song of birds, the cry of wild beasts,
-serve us as a language."
-
-"Yes," the young man answered simply, "that is true. I have often heard
-it stated; but I was not aware you could understand one another so
-easily."
-
-"That is nothing," the hunter answered good-humouredly: "you will see
-much more if you only pass a month in our company."
-
-In a few moments the sound of footsteps became audible, at first faint,
-then gradually coming nearer, and two shadows were dimly drawn on the
-night.
-
-"Halloa!" Valentine shouted as he Raised and cocked his rifle, "friend
-or foe?"
-
-"_Pennis_ (brothers)," a voice answered.
-
-"It is Curumilla," said Valentine. "Let us go to meet him."
-
-Don Pablo followed him, and they soon reached the Indian, who walked
-slowly, obliged as he was to support, almost carry, the missionary.
-
-When Father Seraphin fell off his horse he almost immediately lost his
-senses. He remained for a long time lying in the ditch, but by degrees
-the night cold had brought him round again. At the first moment the poor
-priest, whose ideas were still confused, had cast anxious glances around
-him, while asking himself how he came there. He tried to rise; but then
-a poignant pain he felt in his shoulder reminded him of what had
-occurred. Still he did not despair. Alone, by night in the desert,
-exposed to a thousand unknown dangers, of which the least was being
-devoured by wild beasts, without weapons to defend himself, too weak,
-indeed, to attempt it, even if he had them, he resolved not to remain in
-this terrible position, but make the greatest efforts to rise, and drag
-himself as well as he could to the Paso, which was three leagues distant
-at the most, where he was sure of finding that care his condition
-demanded.
-
-Father Seraphin, like the majority of the missionaries who generously
-devote themselves to the welfare of humanity, was a man who, under a
-Weak and almost feminine appearance, concealed an indomitable energy,
-and a resolution that would withstand all trials. So soon as he had
-formed his plan he began carrying it out. With extreme difficulty and
-atrocious pain he succeeded in fastening his handkerchief round his
-shoulder, so as to check the hemorrhage. It took more than an hour
-before he could stand on his legs: often he felt himself fainting, a
-cold perspiration beaded at the root of his hair, he had a buzzing in
-his ears, and everything seemed to be turning round him; but he wrestled
-with the pain, clasped his hands with an effort, raised his tear laden
-eyes to heaven, and murmured from the bottom of his heart,--
-
-"O God! Deign to support thy servant, for he has set on thee all his
-hopes and confidence."
-
-Prayer, when made with faith, produces in a man an effect whose
-consequences are immediate; it consoles him, gives him courage, and
-almost restores him the strength that has deserted him. This was what
-happened to Father Seraphin. After uttering these few words he set out
-boldly, supporting his tottering footsteps with a stick, which a
-providential chance had placed in his way. He walked thus for nearly
-half a league stopping at every instant to draw breath; but human
-endurance has limits beyond which it cannot go. In spite of the efforts
-he made, the missionary at length felt his legs give way under, him; he
-understood that he could not go further; and he sank at the foot of a
-tree, certain that he had attempted impossibilities, and henceforth
-resigning to Providence the care of saving him.
-
-It was at this moment Curumilla arrived near him. The Indian aided him
-to rise, and then warned his comrades of the success of his search.
-Father Seraphin, though the chief offered to carry him, refused, and
-wished to walk to join his friends; but his strength deserted him a
-second time, he lost his senses, and fell into the arms of the Indian,
-who watched him attentively; for he noticed his increasing weakness, and
-foresaw his fall. Valentine and Curumilla hastily constructed a litter
-of tree branches, on which they laid the poor wounded man, and raising
-him on their shoulders, went off rapidly. The night passed away, and the
-sun was already high on the horizon, and yet the hunters--were marching.
-At length, at about eleven o'clock, they reached the cavern which served
-Valentine as a shelter, and to which he had resolved to carry his
-patient, that he might himself nurse him.
-
-Father Seraphin was in a raging fever; his face was red, his eyes
-flashing. As nearly always happens with gunshot wounds, a suppurating
-fever had declared itself. The missionary was laid on a bed of furs, and
-Valentine immediately prepared to probe the wound. By a singular chance
-the ball had lodged in the shoulder without fracturing the blade bone.
-Valentine drew it; and then helped by Curumilla, who had quietly pounded
-oregano leaves, he formed a cataplasm, which he laid on the wound, after
-first carefully washing it. Scarcely had this been done ere the
-missionary fell into a deep sleep, which lasted till nightfall.
-
-Valentine's treatment had effected wonders. The fever had disappeared,
-the priest's features were calmed, the flush that purpled his cheeks had
-given place to a pallor caused by the loss of blood; in short, he was as
-well as could be expected. On opening his eyes he perceived the three
-hunters watching him anxiously. He smiled, and said in a weak voice,--
-
-"Thanks, my brothers, thanks for the help you have afforded me. Heaven
-will reward you. I feel much better."
-
-"The Lord be praised!" Valentine answered. "You will escape, my father,
-more cheaply than I had dared to hope."
-
-"Can it be possible?"
-
-"Yes, your wound, though serious, is not dangerous, and in a few days
-you can, if you think necessary, resume your avocations."
-
-"I thank you for this new good, my dear Valentine. I no longer count the
-times I have owed my life to you. Heaven, in its infinite goodness, has
-placed you near me to support me in my tribulations, and succour me in
-days of danger."
-
-The hunter blushed.
-
-"Do not speak so, my father," he said; "I have only performed a sacred
-duty. Do you feel strong enough to talk for a few minutes with me?"
-
-"Yes. Speak, my friend."
-
-"I wished to ask your advice."
-
-"My talents are very slight: still you know how I love you, Valentine.
-Tell me what vexes you, and perhaps I may be able to be useful to you."
-
-"I believe it, my father."
-
-"Speak, then, in Heaven's name, my friend; for, if you have recourse to
-me, the affair must be very serious."
-
-"It cannot be more so."
-
-"Go on: I am listening."
-
-And the missionary settled himself on his bed to hear as comfortably as
-he could the confession the hunter wished to make to him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE INTERVIEW.
-
-
-At daybreak the next morning Curumilla started for Unicorn's village. At
-sunset he returned to the cavern, accompanied by the Comanche chief. The
-sachem entertained the most profound respect for Father Seraphin, whose
-noble character he could appreciate, and felt pained at the state in
-which he found him.
-
-"Father," he said to him as he kissed his hand. "Who are the villains
-who thus wounded you, to whom the Master of Life has imparted the secret
-to make us happy? Whoever they may be, these men shall die."
-
-"My son," the priest answered gently, "I will not pronounce before you
-the name of the unhappy man who, in a moment of madness, raised his hand
-against me. My God is a God of peace; He is merciful, and recommends His
-creatures to forget injuries, and requite good for evil."
-
-The Indian looked at him in amazement. He did not understand the soft
-and touching sublimity of these precepts of love. Educated in the
-sanguinary principles of his race--persuaded, like all redskins, that a
-warrior's first duty is revenge--he only admitted that atrocious law of
-the prairies which commands, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth"--a terrible
-law, which we do not venture, however, utterly to condemn in these
-countries, where ambushes are permanent, and implacable death stands at
-every corner of the road.
-
-"My son," Father Seraphin continued, "you are a great warrior. Many a
-time you have braved the atrocious tortures of the stake of blood, a
-thousand fold more terrible than death itself. Often have you, with a
-pleasure I excuse (for it is in your nature), thrown down your enemy,
-and planted your knee on his chest. Have you never pardoned anybody in
-fight?"
-
-"Never!" the Indian answered, his eye sparkling with satisfied pride.
-"Unicorn has sent many Apache dogs to the happy hunting grounds: their
-scalps are drying at the door of his cabin."
-
-"Well," the missionary said gently, "try clemency once, only once, and
-you will know one of the greatest pleasures God has granted to man on
-earth--that of pardoning."
-
-The chief shook his head.
-
-"No," he said; "a dead enemy is no longer to be feared. Better to kill
-than leave him means to avenge himself at a later date."
-
-"My son, you love me, I believe?"
-
-"Yes. My father is good; he has behaved well to the Comanches, and they
-are grateful. Let my father command, and his son will obey."
-
-"I have no right to give you an order, my son. I can only ask a favour of
-you."
-
-"Good! My father can explain himself. Unicorn will do what he desires."
-
-"Well, then," said the missionary with a lively feeling of joy, "promise
-me to pardon the first unhappy man, whoever he may be, who falls into;
-your hands, and you will render me happy."
-
-The chief frowned, and an expression of dissatisfaction appeared on his
-features. Father Seraphin anxiously followed on the Comanche's
-intelligent countenance the different shadows reflected on it as in a
-mirror. At length the Indian regained his stoicism, and his face grew
-serene again.
-
-"Does my father demand it?" he asked in a gentle voice.
-
-"I desire it."
-
-"Be it so: my father shall be satisfied. I promise him to pardon the
-first enemy whom the Manitou causes to fall beneath the point of my
-lance."
-
-"Thanks, chief," the missionary exclaimed joyfully, "thanks! Heaven will
-reward you for this good idea."
-
-The Indian bowed silently and turned to Valentine, who had been
-listening to the conversation.
-
-"My brother called me, and I came. What does he want of Unicorn?"
-
-"My brother will take his seat at the council fire, and smoke the
-calumet with his friend. Chiefs do not speak without reflecting on the
-words they are about to utter."
-
-"My brother speaks well, and I will take my seat at his fire."
-
-Curumilla had lighted a large fire in the first grotto of the cavern.
-The four men left Father Seraphin to take a few moments' rest, and
-seated themselves round the fire, when the calumet passed from hand to
-hand. The Indians never undertake anything important, or commence a
-discussion, without first smoking the calumet in council, whatever may
-be the circumstances in which they are placed. When the calumet had gone
-the round Valentine rose.
-
-"Every day," he said, bowing to the chief, "I appreciate more and more
-the honor the Comanches did me in adopting me as a son. My brother's
-nation is powerful; its hunting grounds cover the whole surface of the
-earth. The Apaches fly before the Comanche warriors like cowardly
-coyotes before courageous men. My brother has already several times done
-me a service with that greatness of soul which distinguishes him, and
-can only belong to a warrior so celebrated as he is. Today I have again
-a service to ask of my brother, and will he do it me? I presume so; for
-I know his heart, and that the Great Spirit of the Master of Life dwells
-in him."
-
-"Let my brother explain," Unicorn answered. "He is speaking to a chief;
-he must remove the skin from his heart and let his blood flow red and
-bright before a friend. The great white hunter is a portion of myself. I
-should have to be prevented by an arrant impossibility if I refused any
-request emanating from him."
-
-"Thanks, brother," Valentine said with emotion. "Your words have passed
-from your lips into my breast, which they have rejoiced. I am not
-mistaken. I see that I can ever count on your well-tried friendship and
-honest aid. Acumapicthzin de Zarate, the descendant of the Mexican
-kings, the friend of the redskins, whom he has ever protected, is a
-prisoner to the gachupinos. They have carried him to Santa Fe in order
-to put him to death, and deprive the Indians of the last friend left
-them."
-
-"And what does my brother want?"
-
-"I wish to save my friend."
-
-"Good!" the chief answered. "My brother claims my help to succeed in
-that project, I suppose?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! The descendant of the Tlatoanis shall be saved. My brother can
-feel reassured."
-
-"I can count, then, on my brother's aid?" Valentine asked quickly.
-
-The chief smiled.
-
-"Unicorn holds in his hands Spaniards who will answer for the life of
-the prisoner."
-
-"That is true!" Valentine exclaimed as he struck his forehead. "Your
-idea is a good one, chief."
-
-"My brother will leave me to act. I answer for success on my head."
-
-"_Caramba!_ Act as you please, chief. Still, were it only form's sake, I
-should not be sorry to know what you intend doing."
-
-"My brother has a white skin, but his heart is Indian. Let him trust to
-the prudence of a chief; Unicorn knows how to treat with the
-gachupinos."
-
-"Doubtless."
-
-"Unicorn will go to Santa Fe to speak with the chief of the white men."
-
-Valentine looked at him in amazement. The chief smiled.
-
-"Have I not hostages?" he said.
-
-"That is true," Valentine remarked.
-
-The chief went on:--
-
-"The Spaniards are like chattering old women, prodigal of seductive
-words, but Unicorn knows them. How many times already has he trodden the
-warpath on their territory at the head of his warriors! They will not
-dare to deceive him. Ere the sun has twice accomplished its revolution
-round the tortoise whose immense shell supports the world, the chief of
-the Comanches will carry the bloody arrows to the whites, and propose to
-them peace or war. Is my brother satisfied?"
-
-"I am. My heart is full of gratitude toward my red brother."
-
-"Good! What is that to Unicorn? Less than nothing. Has my brother
-anything else to ask of me?"
-
-"One thing more."
-
-"Let my brother explain himself as quickly as possible, that no cloud
-may remain between him and his red brother."
-
-"I will do so. Men without fear of the Great Spirit, urged by some mad
-desire, have carried off Doña Clara, the daughter of the white chief
-whom my brother pledged to save."
-
-"Who are these? Does my brother know them?"
-
-"Yes, I know them only too well. They are bandits, at the head of whom
-is a monster with a human face, called Red Cedar."
-
-At this name the Indian started slightly, his eye flashed fire, and a
-deep wrinkle hollowed his forehead.
-
-"Red Cedar is a ferocious jaguar," he said with concentrated passion.
-"He has made himself the scourge of the Indians, whose scalps he
-desires. This man has no pity either for women or children, but he
-possesses no courage: he only attacks his enemies in the dark, twenty
-against one, and when he is sure of meeting with no resistance."
-
-"My brother knows this man, I see."
-
-"And this man has carried off the white gazelle?'
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! My brother wishes to know what Red Cedar has done with his
-prisoner?"
-
-"I do wish it."
-
-The Indian rose.
-
-"Time is slipping away," he said. "Unicorn will return to his friends.
-My brother the hunter need not feel alarmed: a chief is watching."
-
-After uttering these few words the chief went down into the cavern,
-mounted his horse, and disappeared in direction of the desert. Valentine
-had every reason to be satisfied with his interview with the Comanche
-chief; but Father Seraphin was less pleased than the hunter. The worthy
-priest, both through his nature and his vocation, was not disposed to
-employ violent measures, which were repugnant to him: he would have
-liked, were it possible, to settle everything by gentleness, and without
-running the risk of bloodshed.
-
-Three weeks elapsed, however, ere Unicorn appeared to be effectually
-carrying out the plan he had explained to Valentine, who only learnt
-indirectly that a strong party of Comanche warriors had invaded the
-Mexican frontiers. Father Seraphin, though not yet completely cured, had
-insisted on proceeding to Santa Fe to take some steps to save Don
-Miguel, whose trial had gone on rapidly, who was on the point of being
-executed. For his part Don Pablo, half mad with uneasiness, also
-insisted, in spite of Valentine's entreaties and remarks, on entering
-Santa Fe furtively, and trying to see his father.
-
-The night on which we found Valentine in the clearing Unicorn visited
-him for the first time in a month: he came to inform him of the success
-of the measures he had taken. Valentine, used to Indian habits,
-understood half a word: hence he had not hesitated to announce to Don
-Pablo as a positive fact that his father would soon be free.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE PRISON.
-
-
-Don Miguel had been transferred to the prison of Santa Fe. Europeans,
-accustomed to philanthropic manners, and regarding human life as of some
-value, cannot imagine what atrocities the word "prison" contains in
-Mexico. In countries beyond sea the penitentiary system is not even in
-its infancy; for it is completely ignored, and has not even been
-suggested yet. With the exception of the United States, prisons are in
-America what they were at the period of the Spanish dominion; that is to
-say, filthy dens, where the wretched prisoners suffer a thousand
-tortures.
-
-Among ourselves, so long as a man is not proved guilty, he is assumed to
-be innocent; but over there, so soon as a man is arrested, he is
-considered guilty, and consequently every consideration and all pity
-vanish, to make room for brutal and barbarous treatment. Thrown on a
-little straw in fetid holes, often inhabited by serpents and other
-unclean animals, the prisoners have more than once been found dead at
-the expiration of twenty-four hours, and half devoured. We have
-witnessed scores of times atrocious tortures inflicted by coarse and
-cruel soldiers on poor fellows whose crimes, in our country, would have
-merited a slight chastisement at the most. Still, in the great centres
-of populations, the prisons are better managed than in the towns and
-villages; and in this land, where money is the most powerful lever, a
-rich man easily succeeds in obtaining all he wishes, and rendering his
-position at any rate tolerable.
-
-Don Miguel and General Ibañez had managed to be confined together by the
-expenditure of many entreaties and a heavy sum of gold. They inhabited
-two wretched rooms, the entire furniture of which consisted in a halting
-table, a few leather covered butacas, and two benches which served them
-as beds. These two men, so powerful by nature, had endured without
-complaint all the humiliation and insults inflicted on them during their
-trial, resolved to die as they had lived, with head erect and firm
-heart, without giving the judges who had condemned them the satisfaction
-of seeing them turn weak at the last moment.
-
-It was toward evening of the same day on which we saw Valentine in the
-clearing. Darkness fell rapidly, and the only window, a species of
-narrow slit that served to light the prison, allowed but a weak and
-dubious light to penetrate. Don Miguel was walking with long strides up
-and down his prison, while the general, carelessly reclining on one of
-the benches, quietly smoking his cigarette, watching with childish
-pleasure the light clouds of bluish smoke which rose in a spiral to the
-ceiling, and which he constantly blew asunder.
-
-"Well," Don Miguel said all at once, "it seems it is not for today
-either."
-
-"Yes," the general said, "unless (though I do not believe it) they wish
-to do us the honor of a torchlight execution."
-
-"Can you at all account for this delay?"
-
-"On my honor, no. I have ransacked my brains in vain to guess the reason
-that prevents them shooting us, and I have given it up as a bad job."
-
-"Same with me. At first I fancied they were trying to frighten us by the
-continued apprehension of death constantly suspended over our heads like
-another sword of Damocles; but this idea seemed to me too absurd."
-
-"I am entirely of your opinion: still something extraordinary must be
-occurring."
-
-"What makes you suppose that?"
-
-"Why, for the last two days our worthy jailer, Tio Quesada, has become,
-not polite to us--for that is impossible--but less brutal. I noticed
-that he has drawn in his claws, and attempted a grin. It is true that
-his face is so little accustomed to assume that expression, that the
-only result he obtains is to make a wretched grimace."
-
-"And you conclude from that?"
-
-"Nothing positive," the general said. "Still I ask myself whence comes
-this incomprehensible change. It would be as absurd to attribute it to
-the pity he feels for our position as to suppose the governor will come
-to ask our pardon for having tried and condemned us."
-
-"Eh?" Don Miguel said with a toss of his head. "All is not over--we are
-not dead yet."
-
-"That is true; but keep your mind at rest--we shall be so soon."
-
-"Our life is in God's hands. He will dispose of it at His pleasure."
-
-"Amen!" the general said with a laugh, as he rolled a fresh cigarette.
-
-"Do you not consider it extraordinary that, during the whole month we
-have been here, our friends have not given a sign of life?"
-
-The general shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
-
-"Hum!" he said, "a prisoner is very sick, and our friends doubtless
-feared to make us worse by the sight of their grief: that is why they
-have deprived themselves of the pleasure of visiting us."
-
-"Do not jest, general. You accuse them wrongfully, I feel convinced."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! For my part, I heartily forgive them their
-indifference, and the oblivion in which; they have left us."
-
-"I cannot believe that Don Valentine, that true-hearted and noble-minded
-man, for whom I ever felt so deep a friendship, has not tried to see
-me."
-
-"Bah! How, Don Miguel, can you, so near death as you are, still believe
-in honourable feelings in any man?"
-
-At this moment there was a great clash of iron outside, and the door of
-the room was opened sufficiently to afford passage to the jailer, who
-preceded another person. The almost complete obscurity that prevailed in
-the prison prevented the condemned men from recognising the visitor, who
-wore a long black gown.
-
-"Eh, eh!" the general muttered in his comrade's ear, "I believe that
-General Ventura, our amiable governor, has at length made up his mind."
-
-"Why so?" Don Miguel asked in a low voice.
-
-"_Canarios!_ he has sent us a priest, which means that we shall be
-executed tomorrow."
-
-"On my word, all the better," Don Miguel could not refrain from saying.
-
-In the meanwhile the jailer, a short, thick-set man, with a ferret face
-and cunning eye, had turned to the priest, whom he invited to enter,
-saying in a hoarse voice,--
-
-"Here it is, señor padre: these are the condemned persons."
-
-"Will you leave us alone, my friend?" the stranger said.
-
-"Will you have my lantern? It is getting dark, and when people are
-talking they like to see one another."
-
-"Thanks; you can do so. You will open when I call you by tapping at the
-door."
-
-"All right--I will do so;" and he turned to the condemned, to whom he
-said savagely, "Well, señores, here is a priest. Take advantage of his
-services now you have got him. In your position there is no knowing what
-may happen from one moment to the other."
-
-The prisoners shrugged their shoulder's contemptuously, but made no
-reply. The jailer went out. When the sound of his footsteps had died
-away in the distance, the priest, who had till this moment stood with
-his body bent forward and his ear on the watch, drew himself up, and
-walked straight to Don Miguel. This manoeuvre on the part of the
-stranger surprised the two gentlemen, who anxiously awaited what was
-about to happen. The lantern left by the jailer only spread a faint and
-flickering light, scarcely sufficient to distinguish objects.
-
-"My father," the hacendero said in a firm voice, "I thank the person
-who sent you to prepare me for death, for I anxiously wished to fulfil
-my duties as a Christian before being executed. If you will proceed with
-me into the adjoining room I will confess my sins to you: they are those
-which an honest man ordinarily commits; for my heart is pure, and I have
-nothing to reproach myself with."
-
-The priest took off his hat, seized the lantern, and placed it near his
-pale face, whose noble and gentle features were suddenly displayed in
-the light.
-
-"Father Seraphin!" the prisoners exclaimed with a surprise mingled with
-joy.
-
-"Silence!" the priest ordered quickly. "Do not pronounce my name so
-loudly, brothers: everyone is ignorant of my being here except the
-jailer, who is my confidant."
-
-"He!" Don Miguel said with a stupor; "the man who has been insulting and
-humiliating us during a month!"
-
-"That man is henceforth ours. Lose no time, come. I have secure means to
-get you out of prison, and to leave the town ere your evasion can be
-even suspected: the horses are prepared--an escort is awaiting you.
-Come, gentlemen, for the moments are precious."
-
-The two prisoners interchanged a glance of sublime eloquence; then
-General Ibañez quietly seated himself on a butaca, while Don Miguel
-replied,--
-
-"Thanks, my father. You have undertaken the noble task of soothing all
-sorrow, and you do not wish to fail in your duty. Thanks for the offer
-you make us, which we cannot, however, accept. Men like us must not give
-our enemies right by flying like criminals. We fought for a sacred
-principle, and succumbed. We owe it to our countrymen and to ourselves
-to endure death bravely. When we conspired we were perfectly well aware
-of what awaited us if we were conquered. Once again, thanks; but we will
-only quit this prison as free men, or to walk to punishment."
-
-"I have not the courage, gentlemen, to blame your heroic resolution: in
-a similar case I should act as you are doing. You have a very slight
-hope still left, so wait. Perchance, within a few hours, unforeseen
-events will occur to change the face of matters."
-
-"We hope for nothing more, my father."
-
-"That word is a blasphemy in your mouth, Don Miguel. God can do all He
-wills. Hope, I tell you."
-
-"I am wrong, father: forgive me."
-
-"Now I am ready to hear your confession."
-
-The prisoners bowed. Father Seraphin shrived them in turn, and gave them
-absolution.
-
-"Hola!" the jailer shouted through the door. "Make haste; it is getting
-late. It will soon be impossible to leave the city."
-
-"Open the door," the missionary said in a firm voice.
-
-The jailer appeared.
-
-"Well?" he asked.
-
-"Light me and lead me out of the prison. These caballeros refuse to
-profit by the chance of safety I came to offer them."
-
-The jailer shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"They are mad," he said.
-
-And he went out, followed by the priest, who turned on the threshold and
-pointed to heaven. The prisoners remained alone.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE EMBASSY.
-
-
-On the selfsame day that Father Seraphin went to the prison to propose
-an escape to the condemned, a very strange circumstance had aroused the
-entire population of Santa Fe. At about midday, at the moment when the
-inhabitants were enjoying their siesta, and the streets, calcined by the
-beams of a tropical sun, were completely deserted, a formidable whoop,
-the terrible war yell of the Comanche Indians, burst forth at the
-entrance of the town.
-
-There was a general alarm, and everybody barricaded himself in his
-house, believing in a sudden assault of the savages. Presently an
-immense clamour, and cries of distress and despair uttered by a
-terrified population, could be heard throughout the town. Several times
-already the Comanches, in their periodical incursions, had come near
-Santa Fe, but never so closely as this time; and the remembrance of the
-cruelties they had practised on the hapless Spaniards who fell into
-their hands was still present to every mind.
-
-In the meanwhile a few inhabitants, bolder than the rest, or having
-nothing to lose, proceeded with the greatest precautions toward the spot
-whence the shouts were heard; and a singular spectacle presented itself.
-A detachment of dismounted Comanche warriors, about two hundred strong,
-was marching in close column, flanked on either wing by two troops, each
-of fifty horses. About twenty paces in front caracoled Unicorn.
-
-All these men had a martial aspect which was really remarkable: all were
-strangely painted, well adorned, and in their full war costume. The
-horsemen were loaded with all sorts of arms and ornaments: they had a
-bow and quiver on their backs, their guns slung and decorated with their
-medicine bags, and their lances in their hands. They were crowned with
-magnificent black and white eagle feathers, with a falling tuft. The
-upper part of the body, otherwise naked, was covered by a coyote skin
-rolled up and worn across the shoulder; their bucklers were ornamented
-with feathers, cloth of different colours, and human scalps. They were
-seated on handsome saddlecloth of panthers' skins, lined with red, which
-almost covered the horses' backs. According to the prairie fashion, they
-had no stirrups.
-
-Unicorn brandished in his right hand the long medicine lance, the
-distinctive mark of the powerful "dance of the prairie dogs." It was a
-staff in the shape of a crook, covered with an otter skin, and decorated
-through its entire length with owl feathers. This talisman, which he had
-inherited, possessed the power of bringing under his orders all the
-warriors of his nation scattered over the prairies: hence on all grand
-occasions he never failed to carry it. He wore a shirt made of the skin
-of the bighorn, embroidered on the sleeves with blue flowers, and
-adorned on the right arm with long stripes of rolled ermine and red
-feathers, and on the left arm with long tresses of black hair cut from
-the scalps he had raised. Over his shoulders he had thrown a cloak of
-gazelle skin, having at each end an enormous tuft of ermine. On his
-forehead the chief had fastened two buffalo horns, which with the blue,
-red, and green paint plastered on his face, gave him a terrible aspect.
-His magnificent horse, a mustang full of fire, which he managed with
-inimitable grace and skill, was painted red in different fashions: on
-its legs were stripes like a zebra, and on either side the backbone were
-designed arrowhead, lances, beavers, tortoises, &c. The same was the
-case with the face and the haunches.
-
-There was something at once imposing and striking in the appearance
-presented by this band of ferocious warriors as they advanced though the
-deserted streets of the city, brandishing their tremendous weapons, and
-uttering at intervals their sinister war cry, which they accompanied by
-the shrill sound of long whistles made of human thigh bones, which they
-wore suspended by strips of wild beast hide.
-
-By this time the Comanches had penetrated to the heart of the city,
-driving before them, though without violence, the few inhabitants who
-had ventured to get in their way. They marched in good order, not
-turning to the right or left to plunder, and doing no reprehensive
-action.
-
-The Spaniards, more and more surprised at the haughty and bold attitude
-of the Indians, and their exemplary conduct, asked themselves with
-terror what these men wanted, and what reason had led them to invade
-their frontiers in so sudden and secret a way, that the scouts the
-Mexican Government pays to watch them had no knowledge of their march.
-As usually happens in such cases, terror gradually gave way to
-curiosity. In the first place the leperos and adventurers dared to
-approach the Indians; then the inhabitants, if not completely
-tranquilised, still reassured by their peaceful attitude, mingled with
-the groups; so that when the Comanche war party arrived on the Plaza
-Mayor; it was followed by a crowd of Spaniards, who regarded them with
-the restless and stupid curiosity only to be found among the masses.
-
-The Comanches did not appear to notice the excitement they created. As
-soon as they were on the Plaza Mayor they halted, and remained
-motionless, as if their feet had suddenly grown to the ground. Unicorn
-made a sign with his talisman; a warrior quitted the ranks, and rode up
-to the sentry standing in front of the governor's palace, who regarded
-the singular scene with a dazed air.
-
-"Wah!" the Indian said sarcastically, as he lightly touched the soldier
-with the end of his lance. "Is my brother asleep, that he does not hear
-a warrior addressing him?"
-
-"I am not asleep," the soldier answered, as he fell back a pace. "What
-do you want?"
-
-"The great sachem of the Comanches, the cacique whom the red children
-call Haboutzelze, has come to speak to his great white father, the chief
-of the frontier palefaces."
-
-"What does he want with him?" the soldier asked, not knowing what he
-said, so much had the unexpected sight of the redskin disturbed him.
-
-"Is my brother a chief?" the Indian asked cunningly.
-
-"No," the soldier answered, greatly confused by this lesson.
-
-"Well, then, let him close his ears as regards those the Great Spirit
-has set above him, and deliver the message I give him in the sachem's
-name."
-
-While the Comanche was exchanging these few words with the sentry,
-several persons, drawn out of the palace by the unusual disturbance they
-heard, mingled with the crowd. Among them were several officers, one of
-whom advanced to the Indian horseman.
-
-"What does my brother want?" he asked him.
-
-The warrior saw at the first glance that this time he had to do with a
-chief. He bowed courteously, and answered.
-
-"A deputation of the great Comanche nation desires to be introduced to
-my great white father."
-
-"Good! But all the warriors cannot enter the palace," the officer said.
-
-"My brother is right. Their chiefs alone will go in: their young men
-will await them here."
-
-"Let my brother be patient. I will go and deliver his message in all
-haste."
-
-"Good! My brother is a chief. The Spider will await him."
-
-The officer disappeared in the interior, while the Spider planted the
-end of his long lance in the ground, and remained with his eye fixed on
-the gate of the palace, not evincing the slightest impatience.
-
-The new governor of Santa Fe was a general of the name of Don Benito
-Ventura. He was ignorant as a fish, stupid and haughty as a heathcock.
-Like the majority of his colleagues in this eccentric country, he had
-gained his general's epaulettes by repeated pronunciamentos, managing
-to gain a step by every revolution, while never having seen more fire
-than that of the thin husk _pajillo_ he constantly had in his mouth. To
-sum him up, he was very rich, a wonderful coward, and more afraid of
-blows than aught else in the world. Such he was morally: physically he
-was a plump little man, round as a barrel, with a rubicund face, lighted
-up by two small grey eyes.
-
-This worthy officer perspired water and blood when the duties of his
-station obliged him to put on the uniform, every seam of which was
-overlaid with gold lace: his chest literally disappeared under the
-infinity of crosses of every description with which each president had
-honoured him on attaining power. In a word, General Ventura was a worthy
-man, as fit to be a soldier as he was to be a cardinal; and he had only
-one object, that of being President of the Republic in his turn; but
-this object he ever pursued without Once swerving from his path.
-
-If he accepted the governorship of New Mexico, it was for the simple
-reason that, as Santa Fe was a long distance from Mexico, he had
-calculated that it would be easy for him to make a _pronunciamento_ in
-his own favour, and become, _ipso facto_, president. He was not aware, on
-coming to Santa Fe, that the province he was about to govern was
-incessantly menaced by Indian forays. Had he known it, however
-advantageous the post of governor might, be for his schemes, he would
-have refused point blank so perilous an honour.
-
-He had learned with the utmost terror the entrance of the Comanches into
-the town, and when the officer intrusted with the Spider's message
-presented himself before him he had literally lost his head. It took all
-possible trouble to make him comprehend that the Indians came as
-friends, that they merely wished to have a palaver with him, and that
-since their coming their conduct had been most honourable and exemplary.
-Fortunately for the Spanish honour, other officers entered the apartment
-in which was the governor, attracted to the palace by the news, which
-had spread with the speed of a train of powder through Santa Fe, of the
-appearance of an Indian detachment.
-
-When the general saw himself surrounded and supported by the officers of
-his staff his terror was slightly toned down, he regained his presence
-of mind and it was with a calm and almost dignified demeanor that he
-discussed the question whether it was proper to receive the Indian
-deputation, and in what manner it should be done. The other officers,
-who, in the course of their professional career, had had many a skirmish
-with the redskins, felt no inclination to anger them. They produced in
-support of their opinions such peremptory reasons, that General Ventura,
-convinced by their arguments gave the officer who brought the message
-orders to bring the three principal Indian chiefs into the palace.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE PRESENTATION.
-
-
-It needed the thorough knowledge the Comanches possessed of the terror
-they inspired the Mexicans with to have dared to enter in so small a
-body a town like Santa Fe, where they might expect to find a
-considerable garrison.
-
-The general officer sent by General Ventura had performed his duty.
-Unicorn and two other chiefs dismounted, and followed him into the
-palace; while the Indian warriors, in spite of the heat of the sunbeams
-that played on their heads, remained motionless on the spot where their
-caciques bade them wait.
-
-The general desired, by a certain display of strength, to impose on the
-redskin deputies; but unfortunately, as is always the case in Mexico,
-the garrison, which on paper represented eight hundred men, was in
-reality only composed of sixty at the most--a very small number for a
-frontier town, especially under the present circumstances. But if
-soldiers were lacking, to make up for it there was no paucity of
-officers; for about thirty were assembled at the palace, which allowed
-one officer to every two privates. This detail, which might appear
-exaggerated, is, however, strictly correct, and shows in what a state of
-anarchy this hapless country is plunged. The thirty officers, attired in
-their splendid uniforms, that glistened with gold and decorations, were
-arranged round the general, while three posts of ten men each held the
-doors of the halls of reception.
-
-When the preparations were completed the ambassadors were introduced.
-The Indian chiefs, accustomed for a long period to Spanish luxury,
-entered without testifying the slightest surprise. They bowed with
-dignity to the assembly, and, crossing their arms on their chests,
-waited till they were addressed. The general regarded them with an
-astonishment pardonable enough, for this was the first time he had found
-himself in the presence of these untamable redskins, whose terrible
-renown had so often made him shudder.
-
-"What reason can have been so powerful as to oblige my sons to come and
-see me?" he asked in a gracious and conciliating tone. "Let them make
-their request, and, if I can do so, I shall be most ready to satisfy
-it."
-
-This opening, which the governor fancied to be very politic, was, on the
-contrary, most awkward, as it offended the pride of those he addressed,
-and whom he had the greatest interest in humouring. Unicorn took a step
-forward. A sarcastic smile played on his lips, and he replied in a voice
-slightly tinged with irony,--
-
-"I have heard a parrot speak. Are the words addressed to me?"
-
-The general blushed up to the eyes at this insult, which he did not dare
-retaliate.
-
-"The chief has not understood my words," he said. "My intentions are
-good, and I only wish to be agreeable to him."
-
-"The Comanches do not come here to ask a favour," Unicorn answered,
-haughtily. "They know how to avenge themselves when insulted."
-
-"What do my sons want then?"
-
-"To treat with my father for the ransom of the white chiefs who are in
-their power. Five palefaces inhabit the cabin of the Comanches. The
-young men of the tribe demand their punishment, for the blood of the
-palefaces is agreeable to the Master of Life. Tomorrow the prisoners
-will have ceased to live if my father does not buy them off today."
-
-After these words, uttered in a firm and peremptory tone, there was a
-moment of supreme silence. The Mexican officers reflected sadly on the
-fearful fate that threatened their friends. Unicorn continued:--
-
-"What does my father say? Shall we fasten our prisoners to the stake of
-blood, or restore them to liberty?"
-
-"What ransom do you ask?" the general said.
-
-"Listen, all you chiefs of the palefaces here present, and judge of the
-clemency and generosity of the Comanches. We only, wish, for the life of
-these five men, the life of two men."
-
-"That is little, I allow," the general remarked; "and who are the two
-men whose lives you ask?"
-
-"The palefaces call them, the first, Don Miguel Zarate; the second,
-General Ibañez."
-
-The general started.
-
-"These two men cannot be delivered to you," he answered; "they are
-condemned to death, and will die tomorrow."
-
-"Good! My prisoners will be tortured this night," the chief replied
-stoically.
-
-"Confound it!" the general sharply exclaimed, "Is there no other
-arrangement possible? Let my brothers ask me a thing I can grant them,
-and--"
-
-"I want those two men," the chief quickly interrupted. "If not, my
-warriors will themselves deliver them; and in that case the Comanche
-chiefs cannot prevent the injury their warriors may commit in the town."
-
-One of the officers present at this interview was aroused by the tone
-Unicorn had affected since the beginning of the audience. He was a brave
-old soldier, and the cowardice of his comrades shamed him. He rose at
-this point.
-
-"Chief," he said in a firm voice, "your words are very haughty and
-foolish for the mouth of an ambassador. You are here, at the head of
-scarce two hundred warriors, in the heart of a town peopled by brave
-men. Despite all my desire to be agreeable to you, if you do not pay
-greater respect to your audience, prompt and severe justice shall be
-inflicted on your insolence."
-
-The Indian chief turned toward the new speaker, whose remarks had
-aroused a sympathetic murmur.
-
-"My words are those of a man who fears nothing, and holds in his hands
-the life of five men."
-
-"Well," the officer retorted sharply, "what do we care for them? If they
-were such fools as to let you capture them, they must suffer the
-consequences of their madness; we cannot pay for them. Besides, as you
-have already been told, those you claim must die."
-
-"Good! We will retire," Unicorn said haughtily. "Longer discourse is
-needless; our deeds shall speak for us."
-
-"A moment!" the general exclaimed. "All may yet be arranged. An affair
-like the present cannot be settled all in a hurry; we must reflect on
-the propositions made to us. My son is a chief, and will grant us
-reasonable time to offer him a reply."
-
-Unicorn bent a suspicious glance on the governor.
-
-"My father has spoken wisely," he presently made answer. "Tomorrow at
-the twelfth hour, I will come for the final answer of the palefaces. But
-my father will promise me not to order the punishment of the prisoners
-till he has told me the decision he has come to."
-
-"Be it so," the general answered. "But what will the Comanches do till,
-then?"
-
-"They will leave the town as they entered it, and bivouac on the plain."
-
-"Agreed on."
-
-"The Master of Life has heard my father's promise. If he break his word
-and possess a forked tongue, the blood shed will fall on his head."
-
-The Comanche uttered these words in a significant tone that made the
-general tremble inwardly; then he bowed to the assembly, and left the
-hall with his companions. On reaching the square the chiefs remounted
-their horses and placed themselves at the head of their warriors. An
-hour later the Comanches had left the town, and camped within two
-gunshots of the walls, on the banks of the river. It was after this
-interview that Unicorn had the conversation with Valentine which we
-recently described.
-
-Still, when the Mexican officers were alone with the general, their
-courage returned all at once, and they reproached him for the little
-dignity he had displayed before the Indians, and specially for the
-promise he had made them. The general listened to them calmly, with a
-smile on his lips, and contented himself with answering them, in a tone,
-of indescribable meaning,--
-
-"The promise you allude to pledges me to nothing. Between this and
-tomorrow certain things will happen to free us from the Comanches, and
-let us dispense with surrendering the prisoners they demand so
-insolently."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-PSYCHOLOGICAL.
-
-
-About half a league to the west of Santa Fe three men and a woman were
-seated behind a dense clump of trees, which sheltered while rendering
-them unseen, over a _bois-de-vache_ fire, supping with good appetite,
-and chatting together. The three men were Red Cedar's sons; the female
-was Ellen. The maiden was pale and sad: her dreamy eye wandered around
-with a distraught expression. She listened hardly to what her brothers
-said, and would certainly have been greatly embarrassed to describe the
-conversation, for her mind was elsewhere.
-
-"Hum!" Sutter said, "what the deuce can keep the old one so long? He
-told us he should be back by four o'clock at the latest; but the sun is
-just disappearing on the horizon, and he has not come yet."
-
-"Pshaw!" Nathan said with a shrug of the shoulders. "Are you afraid that
-something has happened to him? The old chap has beak and nails to defend
-himself; and since his last turn up with Don Miguel, the fellow who is
-to be shot tomorrow at Santa Fe, he has kept on his guard."
-
-"I care very little," Sutter replied brusquely, "whether father is here
-or not; but I believe we should do well not to wait longer, but return
-to the camp, where our presence is doubtless necessary."
-
-"Nonsense! Our comrades can do without us," Shaw observed. "We are all
-right here, so suppose we stop the night. Tomorrow it will be day. Well,
-if father has not returned by sunrise, we will go back to camp. Harry
-and Dick can keep good order till our return."
-
-"In truth, Shaw is right," Nathan said. "Father is at times so strange,
-that he might be angry with us for not having waited for him; for he
-never does anything lightly. If he told us to stay here, he probably had
-his reasons."
-
-"Let us stay, then," Sutter remarked carelessly. "I ask for nothing
-better. We shall only have to keep the fire up, and so one of us will
-watch while the others sleep."
-
-"Agreed on," Nathan replied. "In that way, if the old man comes during
-our sleep, he will see that we waited for him."
-
-The three brothers rose. Sutter and Nathan collected a pile of dry wood
-to maintain the fire, while Shaw intertwined a few branches to make his
-sister a sufficient shelter for the night. The two elder brothers thrust
-their feet toward the fire, wrapped themselves in their blankets, and
-went to sleep, after advising Shaw to keep a bright lookout, not only
-against wild beasts, but to announce the old squatter's approach. Shaw,
-after stirring up the fire, threw himself at the foot of a larch tree,
-and letting his head sink on his chest, plunged into deep and painful
-meditation.
-
-This poor boy, hardly twenty years of age, was a strange composite of
-good and evil qualities. Reared in the desert, he had grown up like one
-of its native trees, thrusting out here and there branches full of
-powerful sap. Nothing had ever thwarted his instincts, no matter what
-their nature might be. Possessing no cognizance of justice and
-injustice, he had never been able to appreciate the squatter's conduct,
-or see the injury he did society by the life he led. Habituated to
-regard as belonging to himself all that he wished for, allowing himself
-to be guided by his impressions and caprices, never having felt any
-other fetter than his father's despotic will, this young man had at once
-a nature expansive and reserved, generous and avaricious, gentle and
-cruel: in a word, he possessed all the qualities of his vices; but he
-was, before all, a man of sensations. Endowed with a vast intellect,
-extreme audacity, and lively comprehensions, he would have been
-indubitably a remarkable man, had he been born in a different position.
-
-His sister Ellen was the only member of his family for whom he
-experienced sympathy; and yet it was only with extreme reserve that he
-intrusted his boyish secrets to her--secrets which, during the last few
-days, had acquired an importance he did not himself suspect, but which
-his sister, with the innate intelligence of woman, had already divined.
-
-Shaw, as we have said, was thinking. The young savage's indomitable
-nature revolted against an unknown force which had suddenly sprung up in
-his heart--mastered and subdued him in spite of all his efforts. He was
-in love! He loved, ignorant even of the meaning of the word love, which
-comprises in this nether world all earthly joy and suffering. Vainly he
-sought to explain his feelings; but no light flashed across his mind, or
-illumined the darkness of his heart. He loved without desire and without
-hope, involuntarily obeying that divine law which compels even the
-roughest man to seek a mate. He was dreaming of Doña Clara. He loved
-her, as he was capable of loving, with that passionate impetuosity, that
-violence of feeling, to which his uncultivated mind adapted him. The
-sight of the maiden caused him a strange trouble, which he did not
-attempt to account for. He did not try to analyse his feelings, for that
-would have been impossible; and yet at times he was a prey to cold and
-terrible fury, when thinking that the haughty maiden, who was even
-unconscious of his existence, would probably only spurn and despise him
-if she knew it. He was yielding to these crushing thoughts, when he
-suddenly felt a hand laid on his shoulder. On turning, Ellen stood
-before him, upright and motionless, like the white apparitions of the
-German legends. He raised his head, and bent an inquiring glance on his
-sister.
-
-"You are not asleep, Ellen?"
-
-"No," she answered in a voice soft as a bird's song. "Brother, my heart
-is sad."
-
-"What is the matter, Ellen? Why not enjoy a few hours of that repose so
-necessary for you?"
-
-"My heart is sad, I tell you, brother," she went on. "In vain do I seek
-sleep--it flies far from me."
-
-"Sister, tell me the cause of your sufferings, and perhaps I can appease
-the grief that devours you."
-
-"Can you not guess it?"
-
-"I do not understand you."
-
-She looked at him so sternly that he could not let his eyes fall.
-
-"On the contrary, you understand me too well, Shaw," she said with a
-sigh. "Your heart rejoices at this moment at the misfortune of the woman
-you should defend."
-
-The young man blushed.
-
-"What can I do?" he murmured faintly.
-
-"Everything, if you have the firm will," she exclaimed energetically.
-
-"No," Shaw went on, shaking his head with discouragement; "the person of
-whom you speak is the old man's prisoner. I cannot contend against my
-father."
-
-Ellen smiled contemptuously.
-
-"You seek in vain to hide your thoughts from me," she said harshly. "I
-read your heart as an open book: your sorrow is feigned, and you really
-rejoice at the thought that in future you will constantly be by Doña
-Clara's side."
-
-"I!" he exclaimed with an angry start.
-
-"Yes, you only see in her captivity a means to approach her. Your
-selfish heart is secretly gladdened by that hope."
-
-"You are harsh to me, sister. Heaven is my witness that, were it
-possible, I would at once restore her the liberty torn from her."
-
-"You can if you like."
-
-"No, it is impossible. My father watches too closely over his prisoner."
-
-"He will not distrust you, but allow you to approach her freely."
-
-"What you ask of me is impossible."
-
-"Because you will not, Shaw. Remember that women only love men in
-proportion to the sacrifices they make for them: they despise cowards."
-
-"But how to save her?"
-
-"That is your affair, Shaw."
-
-"At least give me some advice which will help me to escape from the
-difficult position in which I find myself."
-
-"In such serious circumstances your heart must guide you, and you must
-only ask counsel of it."
-
-"But the old one?" Shaw said hesitatingly.
-
-"Our father will not know your movements. I take on myself to prevent
-him noticing them."
-
-"Good!" the young man remarked, half convinced; "but I do not know where
-the maiden is hidden."
-
-"I will tell you, if you swear to do all in your power to save her."
-
-There was a moment of silence.
-
-"I swear to obey you, Ellen. If I do not succeed in carrying the girl
-off, I will at any rate employ all my intellect to obtain that result.
-Speak, then, without fear."
-
-"Doña Clara is confined at the Rancho del Coyote: she was intrusted to
-Andrés Garote."
-
-"Ah, ah!" the young man said, as if speaking to himself, "I did not
-fancy her so near us."
-
-"You will save her?"
-
-"At all events I will try to free her from the hands of the man who
-guards her."
-
-"Good!" the maiden remarked; "I now recognise you. Lose no time: my
-father's absence alarms me. Perhaps at this moment he is preparing a
-safer hiding place for his prisoner."
-
-"Your idea is excellent, sister. Who knows whether it is not too late
-now to tear from the old man the prey he covets?"
-
-"When do you intend to start?"
-
-"At once: I have not a moment to lose. If the old man returned I should
-be compelled to remain here. But who will keep watch while my brothers
-sleep?"
-
-"I will," the maiden answered resolutely.
-
-"Whence arises the interest you feel in this woman, sister, as you do
-not know her?" the young man asked in surprise.
-
-"She is a woman, and unhappy. Are not those reasons sufficient?"
-
-"Perhaps so," Shaw remarked doubtfully.
-
-"Child!" Ellen muttered, "Can you not read in your own heart, the motive
-of my conduct toward this stranger?"
-
-The young savage started at this remark.
-
-"It is true!" He exclaimed passionately. "Pardon me, sister! I am mad;
-but I love you, and you know me better than I do myself."
-
-And rising hurriedly, he kissed his sister, threw his rifle over his
-shoulder, and ran off in the direction of Santa Fe.
-
-When he had disappeared in the gloom, and the sound of his footsteps had
-died out in the distance, the girl fell on the ground, muttering in a
-low, sad voice:
-
-"Will he succeed?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.
-
-
-Red Cedar did not remain long under the effect of the startling insult
-he had received. Pride, wrath, and, before all, the desire to avenge
-himself restored his strength, and a few minutes after Don Pablo
-Zarate's departure the squatter had regained all his coolness and
-audacity.
-
-"You see, señor padre," he said, addressing the monk, "that our little
-plans are known to our enemies; we must, therefore, make haste if we do
-not wish to see persons break in here, from whom it is of the utmost
-importance to conceal ourselves. Tomorrow night at the latest, perhaps
-before, we shall start. Do not stir from here till my return. Your face
-is too well known at Santa Fe for you to venture to show it in the
-streets without imprudence."
-
-"Hum!" the monk muttered, "That demon, whom I fancied dead, is a rude
-adversary. Fortunately we shall soon have nothing more to fear from his
-father, for I hardly know how we should get out of it."
-
-"If the son has escaped us," Red Cedar said with an ugly smile, "that is
-fortunately not the case with the father. Don't be alarmed; Don Miguel
-will cause us no further embarrassment."
-
-"I wish it most earnestly, _canarios!_ for he is a determined man; but I
-confess to you that I shall not be entirely at my ease till I have seen
-him fall beneath the bullets of the soldiers."
-
-"You will not have long to wait. General Ventura has ordered me to go
-and meet the regiment of dragoons he expects, in order to hurry them on,
-and bring them into the town this very night, if possible. So soon as
-the governor has an imposing force at his disposal he will no longer
-fear a revolt on the part of the troops, and give the order for
-execution without delay."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! But," he added with a sigh of regret, "what a pity
-that most of our scamps deserted us! We should have almost arrived at
-the placer by this time, and been safe from the vengeance of our
-enemies."
-
-"Patience, señor padre; all is for the best, perhaps, trust to me.
-Andrés, my horse."
-
-"You will start at once, then?"
-
-"Yes. I recommend you to watch carefully over our prisoner."
-
-The monk shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Our affairs are tolerably well embarrassed already; then why burden
-ourselves with a woman?"
-
-The squatter frowned.
-
-"That is my business," he exclaimed in a peremptory tone. "Keep all
-stupid observations to yourself. A thousand devils! I know what I am
-about. That woman will possibly prove our safeguard at a later date."
-
-And mounting his horse, Red Cedar galloped out of Santa Fe.
-
-"Hum!" Andrés Garote said as he watched him depart, "what a diabolical
-eye! Though I have known him several years, I never saw him like that
-before. How will all this end?"
-
-Without further remarks he arranged matters in the rancho, repairing as
-well as he could the disorder caused by the previous struggle; then he
-took a look round him. The monk, with his elbows on the table and a
-cigarette in his mouth, was drinking the fluid left in the bottle,
-doubtless to console himself for the _navajada_ with which Don Pablo had
-favoured him.
-
-"Why, señor padre," the ranchero said in an insinuating voice, "do you
-know that it is hardly five o'clock?"
-
-"Do you think so?" the other answered for the sake of saying something.
-
-"Does not the time seem to you to go very slowly?"
-
-"Extraordinarily so."
-
-"If you liked we could easily shorten it."
-
-"In what way?"
-
-"Oh, for instance, with these."
-
-And Andrés drew from his boot a pack of greasy cards, which he
-complacently spread out on the table.
-
-"Ah! That is a good idea," the monk exclaimed with sparkling eyes. "Let
-us have a game of monte."
-
-"At your orders."
-
-"Don Andrés, you are a most worthy gentlemen. What shall we play for?"
-
-"Ah, hang it! That is true; we must play for something," the ranchero
-said, scratching his head.
-
-"The merest trifle, simply to render the game interesting."
-
-"Yes, but to do that man must possess the trifle."
-
-"Do not let that trouble you. If you permit me I will make you a
-proposal."
-
-"Do so, señor. You are a remarkable clever man, and can have none but
-bright ideas."
-
-The monk bowed to his flattering insinuation.
-
-"This is it: we will play, if you like for the share of the gold we
-shall receive when we reach the placer."
-
-"Done!" the ranchero shouted enthusiastically.
-
-"Well," the monk said, drawing from his pocket a pack of cards no less
-dirty than the others, "we can at any rate kill time."
-
-"What! You have cards too?" the ranchero remarked.
-
-"Yes, and quite new, as you see." Andrés bowed with an air of
-conviction.
-
-The game began at once, and soon the two men were completely absorbed in
-the combinations of the _seis de copas,_ the _as de bastos_, the _dos de
-oro_, and the _cuatro d'espadas_. The monk, who had no necessity to
-feign at this moment, as he was in the company of a man thoroughly
-acquainted with him, yielded frenziedly to his ruling passion. In
-Mexico, and throughout Spanish America, the _angelus_ rings at sunset.
-In those countries, where there is no twilight, night arrives without
-transition, so that ere the bell has done tinkling the gloom is dense.
-At the last stroke of the angelus the game ceased, as if by common
-agreement between the two men, and they threw their cards on the table.
-
-Although Garote was a passed master in trickery, and had displayed all
-his science, he found in the monk so skilful an adversary that, after
-more than three hours of an obstinate struggle, they both found
-themselves as little advanced as at the outset. The monk, however, on
-coming to the rancho, had an object which Red Cedar was far from
-suspecting.
-
-Fray Ambrosio rested his arms on the table, bent his body slightly
-forward, and while carelessly playing with the cards, which he amused
-himself by sorting, he said to the ranchero, as he fixed a scrutinising
-glance upon him,--
-
-"Shall we talk a little, Don Andrés?"
-
-"Willingly," the latter replied, who had partly risen, but now fell back
-on his chair.
-
-By a secret foreboding Andrés Garote had guessed that the monk wished to
-make some important proposal to him. Hence, thanks to that instinctive
-intuition which rogues possess for certain things, the two men read each
-other's thoughts. Fray Ambrosio bit his lips, for the gambusino's
-intelligence startled him. Still the latter bent upon him a glance so
-full of stupid meaning, that he continued to make a confidant of him, as
-it were involuntarily.
-
-"Señor Don Andrés," he said in a soft and insinuating voice, "what a
-happiness that your poor brother, on dying, revealed to me the secret of
-the rich placer, which he concealed even from yourself!"
-
-"It is true," Andrés answered, turning slightly pale; "it was very
-fortunate, señor padre. For my part, I congratulate myself on it daily."
-
-"Is it not so? For without it the immense fortune would have been lost
-to you and all else."
-
-"It is terrible to think of."
-
-"Well, at this moment I have a horrible fear."
-
-"What is it, señor padre?"
-
-"That we have deferred our departure too long, and that some of those
-European vagabonds we were speaking of just now may have discovered our
-placer. Those scoundrels have a peculiar scent for finding gold."
-
-"_Caray_, señor padre!" Andrés said, striking the table with a feigned
-grief (for he knew very well what the monk was saying was only a clever
-way of attaining his real point), "that would drive me mad--an affair so
-well managed hitherto."
-
-"That is true," Fray Ambrosio said in corroboration. "I could never
-console myself."
-
-"_Demonios_! I have as great an interest in it as yourself, señor
-padre," the gambusino replied with superb coolness. "You know that an
-uninterrupted succession of unfortunate speculations robbed me of my
-fortune, and I hoped thus to regain it at a stroke."
-
-At these words Fray Ambrosio had incredible difficulty in repressing a
-smile; for it was a matter of public notoriety that señor Don Andrés
-Garote was a lepero, who, as regarded fortune, had never possessed a
-farthing of patrimony; that throughout his life he had never been aught
-but an adventurer; and that the unlucky speculations of which he
-complained were simply an ill luck at monte, which had recently stripped
-him of 20,000 piastres, acquired Heaven alone knew how. But señor Don
-Andrés Garote was a man of unequalled bravery, gifted with a fertile and
-ready mind, whom the accidents of life had compelled to live for a
-lengthened period on the _llanos_ (prairies), whose paths he knew as
-thoroughly as he did the tricks of those who dwelt on them. Hence, and
-for many other reasons, Andrés Garote was an invaluable comrade for Fray
-Ambrosio, who had also a bitter revenge to take on the monte table,
-because he pretended to place the most sincere faith in what it pleased
-his honourable mate to say touching his lost fortune.
-
-"However," he said, after an instant's reflection, "supposing that the
-placer is intact, and that no one has discovered it, we shall have a
-long journey to reach it."
-
-"Yes," the gambusino remarked, significantly; "the road is difficult and
-broadcast with perils innumerable."
-
-"We must march with our chins on our shoulders, and finger on the rifle
-trigger--"
-
-"Fight nearly constantly with wild beasts or Indians--"
-
-"In a word, do you not believe that the woman Red Cedar has carried off
-will prove a horrid bore?"
-
-"Dreadfully so," Andrés made answer, with an intelligent glance.
-
-"What is to be done?"
-
-"Hang it! That is difficult to say."
-
-"Still we cannot run the risk, on account of a wretched woman, of having
-our hair raised by the Indians."
-
-"That's true enough."
-
-"Is she here?"
-
-"Yes," the gambusino said, pointing to a door; "in that room."
-
-"Hum!"
-
-"You remarked--"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"Could we not--"
-
-"What?"
-
-"It is perhaps difficult," Andrés continued, with feigned hesitation.
-
-"Explain yourself."
-
-The gambusino seemed to make up his mind.
-
-"Suppose we restore her to her family?" he said.
-
-"I have thought of that already."
-
-"That is strange."
-
-"It must be all managed very cleverly."
-
-"And the relations pay a proper ransom."
-
-"That is what I meant to say.".
-
-There was a silence.
-
-Decidedly these two honourable persons were made to understand one
-another.
-
-"But who is to undertake this delicate mission?" asked the monk.
-
-"I, _con mil demonios!_" the gambusino exclaimed, his eyes sparkling
-with greed at the thought of the rich ransom he would demand.
-
-"But if Red Cedar were to find out," the monk remarked, "that we
-surrendered his prisoner?"
-
-"Who will tell him?"
-
-"I am sure I shan't."
-
-"Nor I."
-
-"It is very easy; the girl will have escaped."
-
-"Quite true."
-
-"Do not let us lose time, then. You have a horse?"
-
-"I have two."
-
-"Bravo! You will place Doña Clara on one, and mount the other yourself."
-
-"And go straight to the Hacienda de la Noria."
-
-"That is it. Don Pablo will be delighted to recover his sister, whom he
-expected never to see again, and will not haggle over the price he pays
-for her deliverance."
-
-"Famous! In that way we run no risk of not reaching the placer, as our
-party will only consist of men."
-
-"Excellently reasoned!"
-
-Andrés Garote rose with a smile which would have caused the monk to
-reflect, had he seen it; but at the same moment the latter was rubbing
-his hands, saying in a low voice, and with a most satisfied air,--
-
-"Now, my scamp, I've got you."
-
-What secret thought possessed these two men, who were carrying on a
-mutual deceit, none save themselves could have said. The gambusino
-approached the door of the room where Doña Clara was confined, and put
-the key in the lock. At this moment two vigorous blows were dealt on the
-door of the rancho, which had been carefully bolted after Red Cedar's
-departure. The two accomplices started.
-
-"Must I open?" Andrés asked.
-
-"Yes," the monk answered; "hesitation or refusal might create alarm. In
-our position we must foresee everything."
-
-The ranchero went to open the door, which the newcomer threatened to
-break in. A man walked in, who took a careful glance around, then doffed
-his hat and bowed. The confederates exchanged a glance of vexation on
-recognising him, for he was no other than Shaw, Red Cedar's youngest
-son.
-
-"I am afraid I disturb you, gentlemen," the young man said, with an
-ironical smile.
-
-"Not at all," Andrés made answer; "on the contrary, we are delighted to
-see you."
-
-"Thanks!"
-
-And the young man fell back into a butaca.
-
-"You are very late at Santa Fe," the monk remarked.
-
-"It is true," the American said, with some embarrassment; "I am looking
-for my father, and fancied I should find him here."
-
-"He was so a few hours back, but he was obliged to leave us."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-This exclamation was rather drawn from the young man by the necessity he
-felt of replying, than through any interest he took in the information
-afforded him. He was evidently preoccupied; but Fray Ambrosio did not
-appear to notice it, as he continued,--
-
-"Yes: it appears that his Excellency the Governor ordered your father to
-go and meet a regiment of dragoons intended to reinforce the garrison,
-and hasten its march."
-
-"That is true; I forgot it."
-
-The monk and the miner did not at all understand the American's conduct,
-and lost themselves in conjectures as to the reasons that brought him to
-the rancho. They guessed instinctively that what he said about his
-father was only a pretext or means of introduction; and that a powerful
-motive, he would not or dared not avow, had brought him. For his part,
-the young man, in coming to the Rancho del Coyote, where he knew that
-Doña Clara was imprisoned, expected to find Andrés alone, with whom he
-hoped to come to an understanding in some way or another. The presence
-of the monk disturbed all his plans. Still, time was slipping away he
-must make up his mind, and, before all, profit by Red Cedar's
-providential absence, which offered him an opportunity he could hardly
-dare to hope again.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-A STORMY DISCUSSION.
-
-
-Shaw was not timid, as we have said--he ought rather be accused of the
-opposite excess; he was not the man, once his resolution was formed, to
-let anything soever turn him from it. His hesitation was not long; he
-suddenly rose, and violently stamping his rifle butt on the ground,
-looked at the two men, while saying in a firm voice,--
-
-"Be frank, my presence here at this hour astonishes you, and you ask
-yourselves what cause can have brought me."
-
-"Sir," the monk said, with a certain degree of hesitation rendered
-highly natural by the young man's tone.
-
-"Pardon me," Shaw exclaimed, interrupting him, "the cause you will seek
-in vain. I will tell you: I have come to deliver Doña Clara."
-
-"Can it be possible?" the two men exclaimed with stupefaction.
-
-"It is so; whether you like it or not, I care little. I am the man to
-hold my own against both of you, and no one can prevent me restoring the
-maiden to her father, as I have resolved on doing."
-
-"What do I hear?" said Fray Ambrosio.
-
-"Hum!" the young man continued quickly, "Believe me, do not attempt any
-useless resistance, for I have resolved, if needs must, to pass over
-your bodies to success."
-
-"But we have not the slightest wish--"
-
-"Take care," he interrupted him in a voice full of menace and frowning,
-"I will only leave this house accompanied by her I wish to save."
-
-"Sir," the monk remarked, in an authoritative voice which momentarily
-quelled the young savage, "two words of explanation."
-
-"Make haste!" he answered, "For I warn you that my patience is
-exhausted."
-
-"I do not insist on your listening any length of time. You have come
-here, you say, with the intention of delivering Doña Clara?"
-
-"Yes," he answered impatiently, "and if you attempt to oppose it--"
-
-"Pardon me," the monk interrupted, "such a determination on your part
-naturally surprises us."
-
-"Why so?" the young man said, raising his head haughtily.
-
-"Because," Fray Ambrosio answered tranquilly, "You are the son of Red
-Cedar, and it is at least I strange that--"
-
-"Enough talking," Shaw exclaimed violently; "will you or not give me up
-her I have come to seek?"
-
-"I must know, in the first place, what you intend doing with her.
-
-"How does that concern you?"
-
-"More than you imagine. Since that girl has been a prisoner I
-constituted myself--if not her guardian, for the dress I wear forbids
-that--her defender; in that quality I have the right of knowing for what
-reason you, the son of the man who tore her from her family, have come
-so audaciously to demand her surrender to you, and what your object is
-in acting thus?"
-
-The young man had listened to those remarks with an impatience that
-became momentarily more visible; it could be seen that he made
-superhuman efforts to restrain himself. When the monk stopped, he looked
-at him for a moment with a strange expression, then walked up so close
-as almost to touch him, drew a pair of pistols from his girdle and
-pointed them at the monk.
-
-"Surrender Doña Clara to me," he said, in a low and menacing voice.
-
-Fray Ambrosio had attentively followed all the American's movements, and
-when the latter put the pistol muzzles to his chest, the monk, with an
-action rapid as lightning, also drew two pistols from his girdle, and
-placed them, on his adversary's chest. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation, of indescribable agony; the two men were motionless, face
-to face panting, each with his fingers on a trigger, pale, and their
-brows dank with cold perspiration. Andrés Garote, his lips curled by an
-ironical smile, and his arms crossed, carelessly leaned against a table,
-watching this scene which had for him all the attractions of a play.
-
-All at once the door of the rancho, which had not been fastened again
-after the squatter's entry was violently thrown back and a man appeared.
-It was Father Seraphin. At a glance he judged the position and boldly
-threw himself between the foemen, hurling them back, but not uttering a
-word. The two men recoiled, and lowered their weapons, but continued to
-menace each other with their glances.
-
-"What!" the missionary said in a deep voice, "Have I arrived just in
-time to prevent a double murder, gentlemen? In Heaven's name, hide those
-homicidal weapons; do not stand opposite each other like wild beasts
-preparing for a leap."
-
-"Withdraw, father; you have nothing to do here. Let me treat this man as
-he deserves," the squatter answered, casting at the missionary a
-ferocious glance--"his life belongs to me."
-
-"Young man," the priest replied, "the life of a fellow being belongs
-only to God, who has the right to deprive, him of it; lower your
-weapons"--and turning to Fray Ambrosio, he said to him in a cutting
-voice, "and you who dishonour the frock you wear, throw away those
-pistols which sully your hands--a minister of the altar should not
-employ other weapons than the Gospel."
-
-The monk bowed, and caused his pistols to disappear, saying in a soft
-and cautious voice, "My father, I was compelled to defend my life which
-that maniac assailed. Heaven is my witness that I reprove these violent
-measures, too frequently employed in this unhappy country; but this man
-came into the house with threats on his lips; he insisted on our
-delivering a wretched girl whom this caballero," he said, pointing to
-the gambusino, "and myself did not think proper to surrender."
-
-Andrés corroborated the monk's words by a nod of the head.
-
-"I wish to save that young girl from your hands," Shaw said, "and
-restore her to her father."
-
-"Of whom are you speaking, my friend?" the missionary asked with a
-secret beating of his heart.
-
-"Of whom should I speak, save Doña Clara de Zarate, whom these villains
-retain here by force?"
-
-"Can it be possible?" Father Seraphin exclaimed in amazement. "Doña
-Clara here?"
-
-"Ask those men," Shaw answered, roughly, as he angrily struck the butt
-of his rifle against the ground.
-
-"Is it true?" the priest inquired.
-
-"It is," the gambusino answered.
-
-Father Seraphin frowned, and his pale forehead was covered with febrile
-ruddiness.
-
-"Sir," he said, in a voice choking with indignation. "I summon you, in
-the name of that God whom you serve, and whose minister you lay claim to
-being, to restore at once to liberty the hapless girl whom you have so
-unworthily imprisoned, in defiance of all laws, human and divine. I
-engage to deliver her into the hands of those who bewail her loss."
-
-Fray Ambrosio bowed; he let his eyes fall, and said in a hypocritical
-voice--
-
-"Father, you are mistaken as regards myself. I had nothing to do with
-the carrying off of that poor child, which on the contrary, I opposed to
-the utmost of my power; and that is so true, father," he added, "that at
-the moment when this young madman arrived, the worthy gambusino and
-myself had resolved, at all risks, on restoring Doña Clara to her
-family."
-
-"I should wish to believe you, sir; if I am mistaken, as you say, you
-will forgive me, for appearances were against you; it only depends on
-yourself to produce a perfect justification by carrying out my wishes."
-
-"You shall be satisfied, father," the monk replied. At a signal from him
-Garote left the room. During the few words interchanged between the two
-men, Shaw remained motionless, hesitating, not knowing what he ought to
-do; but he suddenly made up his mind, threw his rifle over his shoulder,
-and turned to the missionary.
-
-"Father," he said respectfully, "my presence is now needless here.
-Farewell; my departure will prove to you the purity of my intentions."
-
-And turning suddenly on his heel, he hurried out of the rancho. A few
-moments after his departure the gambusino returned, Doña Clara following
-him.
-
-Doña Clara no longer wore the dress of the whites, for Red Cedar, in
-order to render her unrecognizable, had compelled her to don the Indian
-garb, which the maiden wore with an innate grace which heightened its
-strange elegance. Like all Indian squaws, she was attired in two white
-chemises of striped calico--the one fastened around the neck, fell to
-the hips; while the other, drawn in at the waist, descended to her
-ankles. Her neck was adorned with collars of fine pearls, mingled with
-those small shells called wampum, and employed by the Indians as money.
-Her arms and ankles were surrounded by wide circles of gold, and a small
-diadem of the same metal relieved the pale tint of her forehead.
-Moccasins of deer hide, embroidered with wool and beads of every colour
-imprisoned her small and high-arched feet.
-
-As she entered the room, a shadow of melancholy and sadness spread over
-her face, adding, were that possible, a further charm to her person. On
-seeing the missionary, Doña Clara uttered a cry of joy, and rushed
-toward him, fell into his arms, and murmured in a heart-rending voice:--
-
-"Father! save me! save me!"
-
-"Be calm, my daughter!" the priest said to her, gently. "You have
-nothing more to fear now that I am near you."
-
-"Come!" she exclaimed, wildly, "Let us fly from this accursed house, in
-which I have suffered so greatly."
-
-"Yes, my daughter, we will go; set your mind at rest."
-
-"You see, father," Fray Ambrosio said, hypocritically, "that I did not
-deceive you."
-
-The missionary cast at the monk a glance of undefinable meaning.
-
-"I trust that you spoke truly," he replied; "the God who gauges hearts
-will judge you according to works. I will rescue this maiden at once."
-
-"Do so, father; I am happy to know her under your protection."
-
-And picking up the cloak which Don Pablo left after blinding Red Cedar,
-he placed it delicately on the shuddering shoulders of Doña Clara, in
-order to conceal her Indian garb. Father Seraphin drew her arm through
-his own, and led her from the rancho. Ere long they disappeared in the
-darkness. Fray Ambrosio looked after them as long as he could see them,
-and then re-entered the room, carefully bolting the door after him.
-
-"Well," Andrés Garote asked him, "what do you think, señor Padre, of all
-that has happened?"
-
-"Perhaps things are better as they are."
-
-"And Red Cedar?"
-
-"I undertake to render ourselves as white in his sight as the snows of
-the Caffre de Perote."
-
-"Hum! it will be difficult."
-
-"Perhaps so."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-THE MYSTERY.
-
-
-On leaving the Rancho del Coyote, Red Cedar dug his spurs into his
-horse's flanks, and galloped in a south-western direction. So soon as he
-was out of the town he turned to the left, took a narrow path that ran
-round the walls, pulled up his horse, and advanced with the utmost
-caution. Throwing suspicious glances on either side, he went on thus for
-about three-quarters of an hour, when he reached a house, in one of the
-windows of which burned three wax tapers.
-
-The lights thus arranged were evidently a signal for the squatter, for
-so soon as he came to the house he stopped and dismounted, attached his
-horse to a larch-tree, and prudently concealing himself behind a
-thicket, imitated thrice at equal intervals the hu-hu of an owl. The
-lights burning in the window were extinguished, as if by enchantment.
-
-The night was gloomy, only a few stars studded the vault of heaven; a
-leaden silence brooded over the plain, which appeared quite solitary. At
-this moment a voice could be heard from the house which Red Cedar was
-watching so carefully. The squatter listened; the speaker leaned for a
-second out of the window looked cautiously round, and disappeared
-muttering loud enough for the American to overhear--
-
-"All is quiet in the neighbourhood."
-
-"Still," the squatter said, without showing himself, "the coyotes prowl
-about the plain."
-
-"Are you coming or going?" the man at the window continued.
-
-"Both," the squatter answered, still hidden behind his bush.
-
-"You can come on, for you are expected."
-
-"I know it; hence here I am."
-
-While making this answer, the squatter left his hiding place, and placed
-himself before the door with folded arms, like a man who has nothing to
-fear.
-
-The door was cautiously opened; a man emerged, carefully wrapped up in,
-a wide cloak, which only allowed eyes to be seen, that flashed in the
-gloom like a jackal's. This person walked straight up to Red Cedar.
-
-"Well," he asked, in a low voice, "have you reflected?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And what is the result of your reflections?"
-
-"I refuse."
-
-"Still?"
-
-"More than ever."
-
-"Take care."
-
-"I do not care, Don Melchior, for I am not afraid of you."
-
-"No names!" the stranger exclaimed, impatiently.
-
-"We are alone."
-
-"No one is ever alone in the desert."
-
-"That is true," Red Cedar muttered. "Let us return to our business."
-
-"It is simple--give and give."
-
-"Hum! You get to work very fast; unfortunately it cannot be so."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"Why, because I am growing tired of constantly taking in my nets game by
-which others profit, and which I ought to keep as a safeguard."
-
-"You call that girl a guarantee?"
-
-"By Heaven! what else do you mean to make of her?"
-
-"Do not compare me with you, scoundrel!"
-
-"Where is the difference between us? I am a scoundrel, I grant; but, by
-heaven, you are another, my master, however powerful you may be."
-
-"Listen, caballero!" the stranger answered, in a cutting voice. "I will
-lose no more of my time in discoursing with you. I want that girl, and
-will have her, whatever you may do to prevent me."
-
-"Good; in that case you declare war against me?" the squatter said, with
-a certain tinge of alarm, which he tried in vain to conceal.
-
-The stranger shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"We have known one another long enough to be perfectly well acquainted;
-we can only be friends or foes. Is not that your opinion?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Well, then, hand Doña Clara over to me, and I will give you the papers
-which--"
-
-"Enough!" the squatter said, sharply. "Have you those papers about you?"
-
-The stranger burst into a laugh.
-
-"Do you take me for such a fool?" he said.
-
-"I do not understand you."
-
-"I will not insult you by believing you. No, I have not those papers
-about me. I am not such an ass as to risk assassination at your hands."
-
-"What would your death profit me?"
-
-"Hang it all! If it were only my scalp you would be sure to receive at
-least fifty dollars for it."
-
-At this mournful jest the squatter began laughing.
-
-"I did not think of that," he said,
-
-"Listen to me, Red Cedar, and print the words on your memory."
-
-"Speak."
-
-"In a month from today, hour for hour, day for day, wherever you may be,
-I shall present myself to you."
-
-"For what purpose?' the squatter asked impudently.
-
-"To repeat my demand with reference to the prisoner."
-
-"Then, as now, I shall reply No, my master."
-
-"Perhaps so. Live and learn. Now good-bye, and may the devil, your
-patron saint, preserve you in good health until our next meeting. You
-know that I have you tight; so consider yourself warned."
-
-"Good, good! Threats do not frighten me. _Demonios_, since I have been
-traversing the desert, I have found myself opposed to enemies quite as
-dangerous as you, and yet I managed to get quit of them."
-
-"That is possible, Red Cedar; but believe me, meditate carefully on my
-words."
-
-"I repeat that your threats do not frighten me."
-
-"I do not threaten, I warn you."
-
-"Hum! Well, then, listen in your turn. In the desert, every man armed
-with a good rifle has nothing to fear from whomsoever."
-
-"What next?" the stranger interrupted him, in a sarcastic voice.
-
-"Well, my rifle is excellent, I have a sure aim, and I say no more."
-
-"Nonsense, you are mad! I defy you to kill me!"
-
-"Hang it, though, what can be your motive for wishing to have this girl
-in your power?"
-
-"That is no affair of yours. I have no explanations due to you. Enough
-for you to know that I want her."
-
-"You shall not have her."
-
-"We shall see. Good-bye, Red Cedar."
-
-"Good-bye, Don Melchior, or whatever be the name you please to bear."
-
-The stranger made no reply, but turned his head with a gesture of
-contempt, and whistled. A man emerged from the house, holding a horse by
-the bridle; at one bound the stranger reached the saddle, and ordered
-the servant to withdraw.
-
-"Farewell, _Compadre_, remember our appointment."
-
-And loosing his reins, the stranger started at a gallop, not
-condescending even to turn his head. Red Cedar looked after him with an
-indescribable expression of rage.
-
-"Oh," he muttered in a low voice, "demon! Shall I never free myself from
-your clutches?"
-
-And with a motion rapid as thought he shouldered his rifle, and aimed at
-the departing man. All at once the latter turned his horse, and stood
-right opposite Red Cedar.
-
-"Mind not to miss me!" he cried, with a burst of laughter that caused a
-cold perspiration to bead on the bandit's forehead.
-
-The latter let his rifle fall, saying in a hollow voice: "He is right,
-and I am mad! If I only had the papers!"
-
-The stranger waited for a moment calm and motionless; then he started
-again and soon disappeared in the darkness. Red Cedar stood with his
-body bowed forward, and his ears on the watch, so long as the horse's
-hoofs could be heard; then he returned to his own steed, and bounded
-into the saddle.
-
-"Now to go and warn the dragoons," he said, and pushed on.
-
-The squatter had scarce departed ere several men appeared from either
-side; they were Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo on the right;
-Unicorn and Eagle-wing on the left. Valentine and his friends were
-astonished at meeting the Comanche chief, whom they believed gone back
-to his camp; but the sachem explained to them, in a few words, how, at
-the moment he was crossing the spot where they now were, he had heard
-Red Cedar's voice, and concealed himself in the shrubs in order to
-overhear the squatter's colloquy with his strange friend. Valentine had
-done the same; but, unfortunately, the party had been greatly
-disappointed, for the squatter's conversation remained to them an
-enigma, of which they sought the key in vain.
-
-"'Tis strange," Valentine remarked, as he passed his hand several times
-across his forehead. "I do not know where I have seen the man just now
-talking here with Red Cedar, but I have a vague reminiscence of having
-met him before, where and under what circumstance I try, though in vain,
-to recall."
-
-"What shall we do?" Don Pablo asked.
-
-"Hang it, what we agreed on;" and turning to the chief, he said, "Good
-luck, brother, I believe we shall save our friend."
-
-"I am sure of it," the Indian replied, laconically.
-
-"May heaven hear you, brother," Valentine continued. "Act! While, on
-your side, you watch the town for fear of treason. We then will ambush
-ourselves on the road the gambusinos must take, in order to know
-positively the direction in which they are proceeding. Till tomorrow,
-chief!"
-
-"Stop!" a panting voice exclaimed, and a man suddenly appeared in the
-midst of them.
-
-"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said in a surprise. "What chance brings you
-this way?"
-
-"I was looking for you."
-
-"What do you want with me?"
-
-"To give you some good news."
-
-"Speak! Speak quickly, father! Has Don Miguel left his prison?"
-
-"Alas! Not yet; but his daughter is free!"
-
-"Doña Clara free!" Valentine shouted joyously. "Heaven be blessed! Where
-is she?"
-
-"She is temporarily in safety, be assured of that; but let me give you a
-warning, which may perhaps prove useful to you."
-
-"Speak! Speak!"
-
-"By order of the governor, Red Cedar has gone to meet the regiment of
-dragoons, coming up to reinforce the Santa Fe garrison."
-
-"_Caramba_," Valentine said, "are you sure of your statement, father?"
-
-"I am: in my presence, the men who carried off Doña Clara spoke about
-it."
-
-"All is lost if these soldiers arrive."
-
-"Yes," the missionary said; "but, how to prevent it?"
-
-Curumilla lightly touched the leader's arm.
-
-"What do you want, chief!"
-
-"The Comanches are warriors," Curumilla answered, curtly.
-
-"Ah!" Valentine exclaimed, and tapping his forehead with delight, "that
-is true, chief; you save us."
-
-Curumilla smiled with pleasure.
-
-"While you go in pursuit of the soldiers," said Don Pablo, "as I can be
-of no service to you, I will accompany Father Seraphin to my poor
-sister, whom I have not seen so long, and am eager to embrace."
-
-"Do so," Valentine answered. "At daybreak you will bring Doña Clara to
-the camp, that I may myself deliver her to her father."
-
-"That is agreed."
-
-Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn rushed out in the plain, while Father
-Seraphin and Don Pablo returned to the town. The two gentlemen, anxious
-to join the girl, did not perceive that they were closely watched by an
-individual, who followed their every movement, while careful not to be
-seen by them. It was Nathan, Red Cedar's eldest son.
-
-How was that man there?
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXIX.
-
-THE AMBUSCADE.
-
-
-The nigh breeze had swept the clouds away; the sky, of a deep azure, was
-studded with an infinity of stars; the night was limpid, the atmosphere
-so transparent as to allow the slightest varieties of the landscape to
-be distinguished. About four leagues from Santa Fe, a numerous band of
-horsemen was following a path scarce traced in the tall grass, which
-approached the town with countless turns and windings. These horsemen,
-who marched in rather decent order, were nearly 600 in number, and
-formed the regiment of dragoons so anxiously expected by General
-Ventura.
-
-About ten paces ahead rode four or five officers gaily chatting
-together, among whom was the colonel. The regiment continued its march
-slowly, advancing cautiously, through fear of losing its way in a
-perfectly strange country. The colonel and his officers who had always
-fought in the States bordering the Atlantic, found themselves now for
-the first time in these savage countries.
-
-"Caballeros," the colonel suddenly remarked, "I confess to you that I am
-completely ignorant as to our whereabouts. Can any one of you throw a
-light on the subject? This road is fearful, it seems to lead nowhere,
-and I am afraid we have lost our way."
-
-"We are all as ignorant as yourself on that head, colonel," an officer
-answered, "not one of us could say where we are."
-
-"On my word!" the colonel went on, taking a glance of satisfaction
-around, "We are not in a hurry to reach Santa Fe. I suppose it makes
-little difference whether we get there today or tomorrow. I believe that
-the best thing for us to do is to bivouac here for the rest of the
-night; at sunrise we will start again."
-
-"You are right, colonel," the officer said, whom he seemed to address
-most particularly, "a few hours' delay is of no consequence, and we run
-the risk of going out of our course."
-
-"Give the order to halt."
-
-The officer immediately obeyed; the soldiers, wearied with a long
-night's march, greeted with shouts of joy the order to stop. They
-dismounted. The horses were unsaddled and picketed, campfires were
-lighted, in less than an hour the bivouac was arranged.
-
-The colonel, in desiring to camp for the night, had a more serious fear
-than that of losing his way; it was that of falling in with a party of
-_Indios bravos._
-
-The colonel was brave, and had proved it on many occasions; grown gray
-in harness, he was an old soldier who feared nothing in the world
-particularly; but accustomed to warfare in the interior of the Republic,
-had never seen opposed to him any but civilised foes, he professed for
-the Indians that instinctive fear which all the Mexicans entertain, and
-he would not risk a fight with an Apache or Comanche war party in the
-middle of the night, in a country whose resources he did not know, and
-run the risk of having his regiment cut to pieces by such Protean
-enemies. On the other hand, he was unaware that the governor of Santa Fe
-had such pressing need of his presence, and this authorised him in
-acting with the utmost precaution. Still, as soon as the bivouac was
-established, and the sentries posted, the colonel sent off a dozen
-resolute men under an Alferez, to trot up the country and try to procure
-a guide.
-
-We will observe, in passing, that in Spanish America, so soon as you
-leave the capitals, such as Lima, or Mexico, roads, such as we
-understand them in Europe, no longer exist; you only find paths traced,
-in nine cases out of ten, by the footprints of wild beasts, and which
-are so entangled one with the other, that, unless you have been long
-accustomed to them, it is almost impossible to find your way. The
-Spaniards, we grant, laid out wide and firm roads, but since the War of
-Independence, they had been cut up, deteriorated and so abandoned by the
-neglect of the ephemeral governments that have followed each other in
-Mexico, that with the exception of the great highways of communication
-in the interior of the country, the rest had disappeared under the
-herbage.
-
-The little squad of troopers sent out to beat up the country had started
-at a gallop, but it soon reduced its pace, and the soldiers and sergeant
-began laughing and talking, caring little for the important mission with
-which they were intrusted. The moon rose on the horizon, shedding her
-fantastic rays over the ground. As we have said, it was one of those
-lovely nights of the American desert full of strange odours. A majestic
-silence hovered over the plain, only disturbed at intervals by those
-sounds, without any known cause, which are heard on the savannahs, and
-which seem to be the respiration of the sleeping world. Suddenly the
-mockingbird sung twice, and its plaintive and soft song resounded
-melodiously through the air.
-
-"Hallo," one of the dragoons said, addressing his comrade, "that's a
-bird that sings very late."
-
-"An evil omen," the other said with a shake of his head.
-
-"_Canarios_! What omen are you talking about, comrade?"
-
-"I have always heard say," the second, speaker remarked sententiously,
-"that when you hear a bird sing on your left at night it predicts
-misfortune."
-
-"The deuce confound you and your prognostics."
-
-At this moment the song, which appeared previously some distance off,
-could be heard much more close, and seemed to come from some trees on
-the side of the path the dragoons were following. The Alferez raised his
-head and stopped, as if mechanically trying to explain the sound that
-smote his ears; but all became silent again, so he shook his head and
-continued his conversation. The detachment had been out more than an
-hour. During this long stroll, the soldiers had discovered nothing
-suspicious; as for the guide they sought, it is needless to say that
-they had not found him, for they had not met a living soul. The Alferez
-was about to give orders to return to camp, when one of the troopers
-pointed out to him some heavy, black forms, apparently prowling about
-unsuspiciously.
-
-"What on earth can that be?" the officer asked, after carefully
-examining what was pointed out to him.
-
-"_Caspita_," one of the dragoons exclaimed, "that is easy to see; they
-are browsing deer!"
-
-"Deer!" said the Alferez, in whom the hunter's instinct was suddenly
-aroused, "there are at least thirty; suppose we try to catch some."
-
-"It is difficult."
-
-"Pshaw!" another soldier shouted, "It is light enough for each of us to
-send them a bullet."
-
-"You must by no means use your carbines," the Alferez interposed
-sharply; "if our shots, re-echoed through the mountains, caught the ears
-of the Indians, who are probably ambushed in the thickets, we should be
-ruined."
-
-"What is to be done, then?"
-
-"Lasso them, _caspita_, as you wish to try and catch them."
-
-"That is true; I did not think of that."
-
-The dragoons, delighted at the opportunity of indulging in their
-favourite sport, dismounted, fastened their horses to the roadside trees
-and seized their lassos. They then advanced cautiously toward the deer,
-which continued grazing tranquilly, without appearing to suspect that
-enemies were so near them. On arriving at a short distance from the
-game, the dragoons separated in order to have room for whirling their
-lassos, and making a covering of each tree, they managed to approach
-within fifteen paces of the animals. Then they stopped, exchanged
-glances, carefully calculated the distance, and, at a signal from their
-leader, sent their lassos whizzing through the air.
-
-A strange thing happened at this moment, however. All the deer hides
-fell simultaneously to the ground, displaying Valentine, Curumilla, and
-a dozen Comanche warriors, who, profiting by the stupor of the troopers
-at their extraordinary metamorphosis, hunted the hunters by throwing
-lassos over their shoulders and hurled them to the ground. The ten
-dragoons and their leader were prisoners.
-
-"Well, my friends," Valentine said with a grin, "how do you like that
-sort of fun?"
-
-The startled dragoons made no reply, but allowed themselves to be bound;
-one alone muttered between his teeth:--
-
-"I was quite sure that villain of a mockingbird would bring us ill luck;
-it sang on our left. That never deceives, _Canarios!_"
-
-Valentine smiled at this sally. He then placed two fingers in his mouth
-and imitated the cry of the mockingbird with such perfection, that the
-soldier looked up at the trees. He had scarce ended, when a rustling was
-heard among the bushes, and a man leaped between the hunters and their
-prisoners. It was Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-A FRIENDLY DISCUSSION.
-
-
-After leaving his enemy (for the mysterious man with whom he had so
-stormy a discussion could be nothing else), Red Cedar set out to join
-the regiment, and hasten its arrival according to the orders he had
-received. In spite of himself, the squatter was suffering from
-extraordinary nervousness, and involuntarily he went over the various
-points of the conversation with the person who took such precautions in
-communicating with him. The threats he had proffered recurred to his
-mind. It appeared as if the bandit, who feared nothing in the world, had
-good reason, however, for trembling in the presence of the man who, for
-more than an hour, had crushed him with his irony. What reason could be
-so powerful as to produce so startling a change in this indomitable
-being? No one could have said; for the squatter was master of his
-secret, and would have mercilessly killed anybody he suspected of having
-read even a portion of it.
-
-The reason was, at any rate, very powerful; for after a few minutes of
-deep thought, his hand let go the reins and his head fell on his breast:
-the horse, no longer feeling the curb, stopped and began nibbling the
-young tree shoots. The squatter did not notice this halt; he was
-thinking, and hoarse exclamations now and then came from his chest, like
-the growling of a wild beast. At length he raised his head.
-
-"No," he shouted, as he directed a savage glance at the starlit sky,
-"any struggle with that demon is impossible. I must fly, so soon as
-possible, to the prairies of the far west. I will leave this implacable
-foe; I will fly from him, as the lion does, carrying off my prey in my
-claws. I have not a moment to lose. What do I care for the Spaniards and
-their paltry disputes? General Ventura will seek another emissary, for
-more important matters claim my attention. I must go to the Rancho del
-Coyote, for there alone I shall find my revenge. Fray Ambrosio and his
-prisoner can supply me with the weapons I need for the terrible contest
-I am compelled to wage against that demon who comes straight from hell,
-and whom I will send back there."
-
-After having uttered these words in a low voice, in the fashion of men
-wont to live in solitude, Red Cedar appeared to regain all his boldness
-and energy. He looked savagely around, and, burying his spurs in his
-horse's flanks, he started with the speed of an arrow in the direction
-of the rancho, which he had left but a few hours previously, and where
-his two accomplices still remained.
-
-The monk and the gambusino, delighted at the unforeseen termination of
-the scene we recently narrated, delighted above all at having got rid of
-Doña Clara without being immediately mixed up in her escape, tranquilly
-resumed their game of _monte_, and played with that mental satisfaction
-produced by the certainty of having nothing to reproach themselves with,
-disputing with the utmost obstinacy for the few reals they still
-happened to have in their pockets. In the midst of a most interesting
-game, they heard the furious gallop of a horse up the paved street.
-Instinctively they stopped and listened; a secret foreboding seemed to
-warn them that this horse was coming to the rancho, and that its rider
-wanted them.
-
-In truth, neither Fray Ambrosio nor Andrés Garote had a quiet
-conscience, even supposing, which was very doubtful, that either had a
-conscience at all, for they felt they were responsible to Red Cedar for
-Doña Clara. Now that the maiden had escaped like, a bird flying from its
-cage, their position with their terrible ally appeared to them in all
-its desperate gravity. They did not conceal from themselves that the
-squatter would demand a severe account of their conduct, and despite
-their cunning and roguishness, they knew not how they should get out of
-it. The sharp gallop of the approaching horse heightened their
-perplexity. They dared not communicate their fears to each other, but
-they sat with heads bent forward, foreseeing that they would soon have
-to sustain a very firm attack.
-
-The horse stopped short before the rancho; a man dismounted, and the
-door shook beneath the tremendous blows of his fists.
-
-"Hum!" the gambusino whispered, as he blew out the solitary candle that
-illumined the room. "Who the deuce can come at this advanced hour of the
-night! I have a great mind not to open."
-
-Strange to say, Fray Ambrosio had apparently regained all his serenity.
-With a smiling face, crossed arms, and back leaned against the wall, he
-seemed to be a perfect stranger to what perplexed his mate so furiously.
-At Garote's remark an ironical smile played round his pale lips for a
-second, and he replied with the most perfect indifference--
-
-"You are at liberty to act as you please, gossip; still I think it my
-duty to warn you of one thing?"
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"That, if you do not open your door, the man, whoever he may be, now
-battering it, is very capable of breaking it in, which would be a
-decided nuisance for you."
-
-"You speak very much at your ease, señor Padre," the gambusino answered,
-ill-temperedly. "Suppose it be Red Cedar?"
-
-"The greater reason to open the door. If you hesitate, he will begin to
-suspect you; and then take care, for he is a man capable of killing you
-like a dog."
-
-"That is possible; but do you think that, in such a case, you will
-escape with clean hands?"
-
-Fray Ambrosio looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, but made no further
-answer.
-
-"Will you open, _demonios_?" a rough voice shouted.
-
-"Red Cedar!" both men whispered.
-
-"I am coming," Andrés replied, in a voice which terror caused to
-tremble.
-
-He rose unwillingly, and walked slowly towards the door, which the
-squatter threatened to tear from its hinges.
-
-"A little patience, caballero," the gambusino said, in that honeyed
-voice peculiar to Mexicans when they meditate some roguery. "Coming,
-coming."
-
-And he began unbarring the door.
-
-"Make haste!" the squatter howled, "For I am in a hurry."
-
-"Hum! It is surely he!" the gambusino thought. "Who are you?" he asked.
-
-"What! Who am I?" Red Cedar exclaimed, bounding with wrath. "Did you not
-recognise me, or are you having a game with me?"
-
-"I never have a game with anyone," Andrés replied, imperturbably: "but I
-warn you that, although I fancy I recognise your voice, I shall not open
-till you mention your name. The night is too far advanced for me to risk
-receiving a suspicious person into my house."
-
-"I will break the door down."
-
-"Try it," the gambusino shouted boldly, "and by our Lady of Pilar I will
-send a bullet through your head."
-
-At this threat the squatter rushed against the door in incredible fury,
-with the evident intention of breaking it in; but, contrary to his
-expectations, though it creaked and groaned on its hinges, it did not
-give way. Andrés Garote had indulged in a line of reasoning which was
-far from being illogical, and revealed a profound knowledge of the human
-heart. He had said to himself, that, as he must face Red Cedar's anger,
-it would be better to let it reach its paroxysm at once so as to have
-only the decreasing period to endure. He smiled at the American's
-sterile attempts, then, and repeated his request.
-
-"Well, then," the other said, furiously, "I am Red Cedar. Do you
-recognise me now, you devil's own Gachupino?"
-
-"Of course; I see that I can open without danger to your Excellency."
-
-And the gambusino hurriedly drew back the bolts.
-
-Red Cedar rushed into the room with a yell of fury, but Andrés had put
-out the light. The squatter stopped, surprised by the gloom which
-prevented him distinguishing any object.
-
-"Hallo!" he said. "What is the meaning of this darkness? I can see
-nothing."
-
-"_Caspita_!" Andrés replied, impudently, "Do you think I amuse myself o'
-nights by watching the moon? I was asleep, compadre, when you came to
-arouse me with your infernal hammerings."
-
-"That is possible," the squatter remarked; "but that was no reason for
-keeping me so long at your door."
-
-"Prudence is the mother of security. We must not let every comer enter
-the rancho."
-
-"Certainly not; I approve of that. Still, you must have recognised my
-voice."
-
-"True. Still I might be mistaken; it is difficult to know anyone through
-the thickness of a door; that is why I wished you to give your name."
-
-"Very good, then," Red Cedar said, as if tired of combating arguments
-which did not convince him. "And where is Fray Ambrosio?"
-
-"Here, I suppose."
-
-"He has not left the rancho?"
-
-"No; unless he took advantage of your arrival to do so."
-
-"Why should he do that?"
-
-"I don't know; you question, and I answer; that's all."
-
-"Why does he not speak, if he is here?"
-
-"He is possibly asleep."
-
-"After the row I made, that is highly improbable."
-
-"Hang it, he may be a hard sleeper."
-
-"Hum!" the squatter snorted, suspiciously; "Light the candle."
-
-Andrés struck a match, and Red Cedar looked eagerly round the room Fray
-Ambrosio had disappeared.
-
-"Where is the monk?" the American asked.
-
-"I do not know: probably gone."
-
-The squatter shook his head.
-
-"All this is not clear," he muttered; "there is treachery behind it."
-
-"That is possible," the gambusino answered, calmly.
-
-Red Cedar bent on Andrés eyes that flashed with fury, and roughly seized
-him by the throat.
-
-"Answer, scoundrel?" he shouted. "What has become of Doña Clara?"
-
-The gambusino struggled, though in vain, to escape from the clutch of
-the squatter, whose fingers entered his flesh, and pressed him as in a
-vice.
-
-"Let me loose," he panted, "you are choking me!"
-
-"Where is Doña Clara?"
-
-"I do not know."
-
-The squatter squeezed more tightly.
-
-"You do not know!" he yelled.
-
-"Aie!" Andrés whined, "I tell you I do not know."
-
-"Malediction!" Red Cedar went on. "I will kill you, _picaro_, if you are
-obstinate."
-
-"Let that man go, and I will tell you all you wish to know," was said in
-a firm voice by a hunter, who at this moment appeared on the threshold.
-
-The two men turned in amazement.
-
-"Nathan!" Red Cedar shouted on recognising his son. "What are you doing
-here?"
-
-"I will tell you, father," the young man said, as he entered the room.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLI.
-
-NATHAN.
-
-
-Nathan was not asleep, as Ellen supposed, when she urged on Shaw to
-devote himself to liberate Doña Clara, and he had listened attentively
-to the conversation. Nathan was a man of about thirty years of age, who,
-both physically and morally, bore a marked resemblance to his father.
-Hence the old squatter had concentrated in him all the affection which
-his uncultivated savage nature was capable of feeling. Since the fatal
-night, when the chief of the Coras had avenged himself for the burning
-of his village and the murder of its inhabitants, Nathan's character had
-grown still more gloomy; a dull and deep hatred boiled in his heart
-against the whole human race; he only dreamed of assassination: he had
-sworn in his heart to revenge on all those who fell into his hands the
-injury one man had inflicted on him; in a word, Nathan loved none and
-hated everything.
-
-When Shaw had disappeared among the bushes, and Ellen, after taking a
-final glance around to convince herself that all was in order,
-re-entered the hut that served her as a shelter, Nathan rose cautiously,
-threw his rifle over his shoulder, and rushed after his brother. Another
-reason urged him to foil Shaw and Ellen's plans; he had a double grudge
-against Don Miguel--the first for the stab the Mexican gentlemen had
-given his father; the second because Don Miguel had compelled him to
-leave the forest in which his family had so daringly installed itself.
-
-Convinced of the importance of the affair, and knowing the value the
-squatter attached to carrying off the maiden, who was a most precious
-hostage for him, Nathan did not lose a moment, but reached Santa Fe by
-the most direct route, bounding with the agility of a tiger cat over the
-obstacles that beset his path. Presently he reached an isolated house,
-not far from which several men were conversing together in a low voice.
-Nathan stopped and listened; but he was too far off, and could
-distinguish nothing. The squatter's son, reared in the desert, was
-thoroughly versed in all its stratagems; with the piercing eye of a man
-accustomed to night journeys in the prairie, he recognised well-known
-persons, and his mind was at once made up.
-
-He laid himself on the ground, and following the shadow cast by the
-moon, lest he might be perceived by the speakers, he advanced, inch by
-inch, crawling like a serpent, stopping at intervals lest the waving of
-the grass might reveal his presence, in short, employing all the
-precautions usual under such circumstances. At length he reached a clump
-of Peru trees only a few yards distant from the spot where the men he
-wished to overhear were standing. He then got up, leaned against the
-largest tree, and prepared to listen. His expectations were not
-deceived; though a few words escaped him here and there, he was near
-enough perfectly to catch the sense of the conference. This conversation
-was, in truth, most interesting to him; a sinister smile lit up his
-face, and he eagerly clenched the barrel of his rifle.
-
-Presently the party broke into two. Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn,
-took the road leading to the open country, while Don Pablo and Father
-Seraphin returned toward the town. Valentine and his two friends almost
-touched the young man as they passed, and he instinctively carried his
-hands to his pistols; they even stopped for a moment and cast suspicious
-glances at the clump that concealed their foe. While conversing in
-whispers, Unicorn drew a few branches aside and peered in; for some
-seconds Nathan felt an indescribable agony; a cold perspiration stood at
-the root of his hair and the blood coursed to his heart; in a word, he
-was afraid. He knew that if these men, his mortal enemies, discovered
-him, they would be pitiless to him and kill him like a dog. But this
-apprehension did not last longer than a lightning flash. Unicorn
-carelessly let the leafy curtain fall again, saying only one word to his
-comrades:--
-
-"Nothing."
-
-The latter resumed their march.
-
-"I do not know why," said Valentine, "but I fancy there is someone
-hidden there."
-
-"No," the chief answered, "there is nobody."
-
-"Well, be it so," the hunter muttered, with a toss of his head.
-
-So soon, as he was alone, Nathan drew two or three deep breaths, and
-started in pursuit of Don Pablo and the missionary, whom he soon caught
-up. As they did not suppose they were followed, they were conversing
-freely together.
-
-In Spanish America, where the days are so warm and the nights so fresh,
-the inhabitants, shut up at home so long as the sun calcines the ground,
-go out at nightfall to breathe a little pure air; the streets, deserted
-in consequence of the heat, are gradually peopled; benches are placed
-before the doors, on which persons recline to smoke and gossip, drink
-orangeade, strum the guitar, and sing. Frequently the entire night is
-passed in these innocent amusements, and folks do not return home till
-dawn, in order to indulge in the sleep so grateful after this long
-watch. Hence the Hispano-American towns must be especially visited by
-night, if you wish to judge truthfully the nature of this people--a
-strange composite of the most discordant contrasts, who only live for
-enjoyment, and only accept from existence the most intoxicating
-pleasures. Still, on the night to which we refer, the town of Santa Fe,
-usually so laughing and chattering, was plunged into a gloomy sadness,
-the streets were deserted, the doors closed; no light filtered through
-the hermetically closed windows; all slept or at least feigned to sleep.
-The fact was, that Santa Fe was at this moment in a state of mortal
-agitation, caused by the condemnation of Don Miguel Zarate, the richest
-land owner in the province--a man who was loved and revered by the whole
-population. The agitation took its origin in the unexpected apparition
-of the Comanche war detachment--those ferocious enemies whose cruelties
-have become proverbial on the Mexican frontier, and whose presence
-presaged nothing good.
-
-Don Pablo and his companion walked quickly, like persons anxious to
-reach a place where they knew they are expected, exchanging but a few
-words at intervals, whose meaning, however, caught up by the man who
-followed them, urged them still more not to let them out of sight. They
-thus traversed the greater part of the town, and on reaching the Calle
-de la Merced, they stopped at their destination--a house of handsome
-aspect.
-
-A weak light burned at the window of a ground floor room. By an
-instinctive movement, the two gentlemen turned round at the moment of
-entering the house but Nathan had slipped into a doorway, and they did
-not perceive him. Father Seraphin tapped gently; the door was at once
-opened, and they went in. Nathan stationed himself in the middle of the
-street, with his eye ardently fixed on the only window of the house lit
-up. Ere long, shadows crossed the curtains.
-
-"Good!" the young man muttered; "But how to warn the old one that the
-dove is in her nest?"
-
-All at once, a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, and Nathan turned,
-fiercely clutching a bowie knife. A man was before him, gloomy, silent
-and wrapped in the thick folds of his cloak. The American started.
-
-"Go your way," he said in a menacing voice.
-
-"What are you doing here?" the stranger asked.
-
-"How does that concern you? The street is free to all."
-
-"No."
-
-This word was pronounced with a sharp accent. Nathan tried in vain to
-scan the features of the man with whom he had to deal.
-
-"Give way," he said, "or blood will surely be shed between us."
-
-As sole reply, the stranger took a pistol in his right hand, a knife in
-his left.
-
-"Ah!" Nathan said, mockingly, "You mean fighting."
-
-"For the last time, withdraw."
-
-"Nonsense, you are mad, señor Caballero; the road belongs to all, I tell
-you. This place suits me, and I shall remain."
-
-"I wish to be alone here."
-
-"You mean to kill me, then?"
-
-"If I must, yes, without hesitation."
-
-The two speakers had exchanged these words in a low and hurried voice,
-in less time than we have employed to write them. They stood but a few
-paces apart with flashing eyes, ready to rush on each other. Nathan
-returned his pistol to his belt.
-
-"No noise," he said; "the knife will do; besides, we are in a country
-where that is the only weapon in use."
-
-"Be it so," the stranger replied; "then, you will not give way to me?"
-
-"You would laugh at me if I did," the American said with a grin.
-
-"Then your blood will be on your own head."
-
-"Or on yours."
-
-The two foemen each fell back a pace, and stood on guard, with their
-cloaks rolled round their left arms. The moon, veiled by clouds, shed no
-light; the darkness was perfect; midnight struck from the cathedral; the
-voice of the _serenos_ chanting the hour could be heard in the distance,
-announcing that all was quiet. There was a moment's hesitation, which
-the enemies employed in scrutinising each other. Suddenly Nathan uttered
-a hoarse yell rushed on his enemy, and threw his cloak in his face, to
-put him on his guard. The stranger parried the stroke dealt him, and
-replied by another, guarded off with equal dexterity. The two men then
-seized each other round the waist, and wrestled for some minutes,
-without uttering a word; at length the stranger rolled on the ground
-with a heavy sigh; Nathan's knife was buried in his chest. The American
-rose with a yell of triumph--his enemy was motionless.
-
-"Can I have killed him?" Nathan muttered.
-
-He returned his knife to his vaquera boot, and bent over the wounded
-man. All at once he started back, for he had recognised his brother
-Shaw.
-
-"What is to be done now?" he said; but then added carelessly, "Pshaw!
-all the worse for him. Why did he come across my path?"
-
-And, leaving there the body of the young man, who gave no sign of life--
-
-"Well, Heaven knows, I ought not, and could not have hesitated," he
-said.
-
-Shaw lay to all appearance dead, with pale and drawn cheeks, in the
-centre of the street.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLII.
-
-THE WOUNDED MAN.
-
-
-Nathan proceeded straight to the Rancho del Coyote, where his unexpected
-arrival was a blessing for Andrés Garote, whom the old squatter was
-treating very roughly. On hearing his son's words, Red Cedar let go of
-the gambusino, who tottered back against the wall.
-
-"Well," he asked, "where is Doña Clara?"
-
-"Come with me, father," the young man answered; "I will lead you to
-her."
-
-"You know her hiding place, then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And so do I," Fray Ambrosio shouted, as he rushed into the room with
-discomfited features; "I felt sure I should discover her."
-
-Red Cedar looked at him in amazement, but the monk did not wince.
-
-"What has happened to her?" the squatter said presently, as he looked
-suspiciously from the monk to the gambusino.
-
-"A very simple matter," Fray Ambrosio answered, with an inimitably
-truthful accent; "about two hours back your son Shaw came here."
-
-"Shaw!" the squatter exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, the youngest of your sons; he is called so, I think?"
-
-"Yes; go on."
-
-"Very good. He presented himself to us as coming from you to remove our
-prisoner."
-
-"And what did you do?" the squatter asked, impatiently.
-
-"What could we do?"
-
-"Why, oppose the girl's departure."
-
-"_Caspita_! Do you fancy we let her go so?" the monk asked,
-imperturbably.
-
-The squatter looked at him in surprise--he no longer understood
-anything. Like all men of action, discussion was to him almost a matter
-of impossibility; especially with an adversary so crafty as the one he
-had before him. Deceived by the monk's coolness and the apparent
-frankness of his answers, he wished to make an end of it.
-
-"Come," he said, "how did all this finish?"
-
-"Thanks to an ally who came to your son's help, and to whom we were
-obliged to bow--"
-
-"An ally! What man can be so bold as to dare--"
-
-"Eh!" the monk sharply interrupted Red Cedar, "that man is a priest, to
-whom you have already bowed many a time."
-
-"You are jesting, señor Padre," the squatter exclaimed, savagely.
-
-"Not the least in the world. Had it been anyone else, I should have
-resisted; but I, too, belong to the Church; and, as Father Seraphin is
-my superior, I was forced to obey him."
-
-"What!" the squatter said, with a groan, "Is he not dead?"
-
-"It appears," the monk remarked, ironically, "as if those you kill are
-all in good state of health, Red Cedar."
-
-At this allusion to Don Pablo's death, the squatter stifled a cry of
-anger, and clenched his fists.
-
-"Good!" he said; "If I do not always kill, I know how to take my
-revenge. Where is Doña Clara, at this moment?"
-
-"In a house no great distance from here," Nathan answered.
-
-"Have you seen her?" the squatter asked.
-
-"No; but I followed Don Pablo and the missionary to that house, which
-they entered, and as they were ignorant that I was close to them, their
-conversation left me no doubt as to the whereabouts of the girl."
-
-An ill-omened smile momentarily lit up the old bandit's features.
-
-"Good!" he said; "as the dove is in her nest, we shall be able to find
-her. What o'clock is it?"
-
-"Three in the morning," Andrés interjected. "Day will soon break."
-
-"We must make haste, then. Follow me, all of you." Then he added, "But
-what has become of Shaw? Does anyone of you know?"
-
-"You will probably find him at the door of Doña Clara's house," Nathan
-said, in a hollow voice.
-
-"How so? Has my son entered into a compact with my enemies?"
-
-"Yes; as he arranged with them to carry off your prisoner."
-
-"Oh! I will kill him if he prove a traitor!" the squatter shouted with
-an accent that made the blood run cold in the veins of his hearers.
-
-Nathan fell back two steps, drew his knife from his boot, and showed it
-to his father.
-
-"That is done," he said, harshly. "Shaw tried to stab me, so I killed
-him."
-
-After these mournful words, there was a moment of silence in the rancho.
-All these men, though their hearts were steeled by crime, shuddered
-involuntarily. Without, the night was gloomy; the wind whistled sadly;
-the flickering light of the candle threw a weird light over the scene,
-which contained a certain degree of terrible poetry. The squatter passed
-his hard hand over his dank brow. A sigh, like a howl, painfully forced
-its way from his oppressed chest.
-
-"He was my last born," he said, in a voice broken by an emotion he could
-not control. "He deserved death, but he ought not to have received it at
-his brother's hands."
-
-"Father!" Nathan muttered.
-
-"Silence!" Red Cedar shouted, in a hollow voice, as he stamped his foot
-passionately on the ground; "What is done cannot be undone; but woe to
-my enemies' family! Oh! I feel now that I can take such vengeance on
-them as will make all shudder who hear it spoken of!"
-
-After uttering these words, which were listened to in silence, the
-squatter walked a few steps up the rancho. He approached a table, seized
-a bottle half full of mezcal that stood on it, and emptied it at a
-draught. When he had finished drinking, he threw down the bottle, which
-broke with a crash, and said to his mates in a hollow voice--
-
-"Let us be off! We have wasted too much time here already!"
-
-And he rushed out of the rancho, the others following close at his
-heels.
-
-In the meanwhile, Don Pablo and Father Seraphin were in the house. The
-priest had taken the maiden to the house of an honest family which owed
-him great obligations, and was too happy to receive the poor sufferer.
-The missionary did not intend, however, to let her be long a burthen to
-these worthy people. At daybreak he intended to deliver her to certain
-relations of her father, who inhabited a hacienda a few leagues from
-Santa Fe.
-
-Doña Clara had been placed in a comfortable room by her hosts. Their
-first care had been to make her doff the Indian robes for others more
-suitable to her birth and position. The maiden worn out by poignant
-emotions of the scene she had witnessed, was on the point of retiring to
-bed, when Father Seraphin and Don Pablo tapped at the door of her room.
-She hastily opened it, and the sight of her brother, whom she had not
-hoped to see so speedily, overwhelmed her with joy.
-
-An hour soon slipped away in pleasant chat. Don Pablo was careful not to
-tell his sister of the misfortune that had befallen her father; for he
-did not wish to dull by that confession the joy the poor girl promised
-herself for the morrow. Then, as the night was advancing, the two men
-withdrew, so as to allow her to enjoy that rest so needed to strengthen
-her for the long journey to the hacienda, promising to come and fetch
-her in a few hours. Father Seraphin generously offered Don Pablo to pass
-the night with him by sharing the small lodging he had not far from the
-Plaza de la Merced, and the young man eagerly accepted. It was too late
-to seek a lodging at a locanda, and in this way he would be all the
-sooner with his sister next morning. After a lengthened leave-taking,
-they, therefore, left the house, and, so soon as they were gone, Doña
-Clara threw herself, ready dressed, into a hammock hanging at one end of
-the room, when she speedily fell asleep.
-
-On reaching the street, Don Pablo saw a body lying motionless in front
-of the house.
-
-"What's this?" he asked, in surprise.
-
-"A poor wretch whom the ladrones killed in order to plunder him," the
-missionary answered.
-
-"That is possible."
-
-"Perhaps he is not quite dead," the missionary went on; "it is our duty
-to succour him."
-
-"For what good?" Don Pablo said, with an air of indifference; "if a
-sereno were to pass he might accuse us of having killed the man."
-
-"Nay, sir," the missionary observed, "the ways of the Lord are
-impenetrable. If He allowed us to come across this unhappy man, it was
-because He judged in His wisdom that we might prove of use to him."
-
-"Be it so," the young man said; "let us look at him, as you wish it. But
-you know that in this country good actions of such a nature generally
-entail annoyance."
-
-"That is true, my son. Well, we will run the risk," said the missionary,
-who had already bent over the wounded man.
-
-"As you please," Don Pablo said, as he followed him.
-
-Shaw, for it was he, gave no signs of life. The missionary examined him,
-then rose hastily, seized Don Pablo's arm, and drew him to him, as he
-whispered--
-
-"Look!"
-
-"Shaw!" the Mexican exclaimed, in surprise; "What could that man be
-doing here?"
-
-"Help me, and we shall learn. The poor fellow has only fainted; and the
-loss of blood has produced this semblance to death."
-
-Don Pablo, greatly perplexed by this singular meeting, obeyed the
-missionary without further remark. The two men raised the wounded lad,
-and carried him gently to Father Seraphin's lodging, where they proposed
-to give him all the help his condition required.
-
-They had scarce turned the corner of the street, when several men
-appeared at the other extremity. They were Red Cedar and his
-confederates. On arriving in front of the house they stopped: all the
-windows were in the deepest obscurity.
-
-"Which is the girl's room?" the squatter asked in a whisper.
-
-"This one," Nathan said, as he pointed to it.
-
-Red Cedar crawled up to the house, drove his dagger into the wall,
-raised himself to the window, and placed his face against a pane.
-
-"All is well! She sleeps!" he said, when he came down. "You, Fray
-Ambrosio, to one corner of the street; you, Garote, to the other, and do
-not let me be surprised."
-
-The monk and the gambusino went to their allotted posts. When Red Cedar
-was alone with his son he bent and whispered in his ear--
-
-"What did you do with your brother after stabbing him?"
-
-"I left him on the spot where he fell."
-
-"Where was that?"
-
-"Just where we now stand."
-
-The squatter stooped down to the ground, and walked a few steps,
-carefully examining the bloody traces left on the pebbles.
-
-"He has been carried off," he said, when he rose again. "Perhaps he is
-not dead."
-
-"Perhaps so," the young man observed, with a shake of his head.
-
-His father gave him a most significant look.
-
-"To work," he said coldly.
-
-And they prepared to escalade the window.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIII.
-
-INDIAN DIPLOMACY.
-
-
-We will return, for the present, to Valentine and his comrades.
-
-The sudden apparition of the sachem of the Coras had produced a certain
-degree of emotion among the hunters and the Comanches. Valentine, the
-first to recover from his surprise, addressed Eagle-wing.
-
-"My brother is welcome," he said, as he held out his hand, which the
-Indian warmly pressed, "What news does the chief bring us?"
-
-"Good," the Coras answered laconically.
-
-"All the better," the hunter said gaily; "for some time past all we have
-received has been so bad that my brother's will create a diversion."
-
-The Indian smiled at this sally, but made no remark.
-
-"My brother can speak," Valentine continued; "he is surrounded by none
-but friends."
-
-"I know it," the chief answered, as he bowed gracefully to the company.
-"Since I left my brother two months have passed away: I have worn out
-many moccasins amid the thorns and brambles of the desert; I have been
-beyond the Great Lakes to the villages of my nation."
-
-"Good; my brother is a chief; he was doubtless well received by the
-sachems of the Coras of the Great Lakes."
-
-"Mookapec is a renowned warrior among his people," the Indian answered
-proudly; "his place by the council fire of the nation is pointed out.
-The chiefs saw him with joy: on his road he had taken the scalps of
-seven gachupinos: they are now drying before the great medicine lodge."
-
-"It was your right to do so, chief, and I cannot blame you. The
-Spaniards have done you harm enough for you to requite them."
-
-"My brother speaks well; his skin is white, but his heart is red."
-
-"Hum," observed Valentine; "I am a friend to justice; vengeance is
-permissible against treachery. Go on, chief."
-
-The hunter's comrades had drawn nearer, and now formed a circle round
-the two speakers. Curumilla was occupied silently, as was his wont, in
-completely stripping each Spanish prisoner, whom he then bound in such a
-way that the slightest movement was impossible.
-
-Valentine, although time pressed, knew too well the Redskin character to
-try and hurry Eagle-wing on. He felt certain that the chief had
-important news to communicate to him; but it would have been no use
-trying to draw it from him; hence he allowed him to act as he pleased.
-Unicorn, leaning on his rifle, listened attentively, without evincing
-the slightest impatience.
-
-"Did my brother remain long with his tribe," Valentine continued.
-
-"Two suns. Eagle-wing had left behind him friends to whom his heart drew
-him."
-
-"Thanks, chief, for the pleasant recollections of us."
-
-"The chiefs assembled in council to hear the words of Eagle-wing," the
-Coras continued. "They shuddered with fury on hearing of the massacre of
-their children; but Mookapec had formed his plan, and two hundred
-warriors are assembled beneath his _totem_."
-
-"Good!" said Valentine, "the chief will avenge himself."
-
-The Indian smiled.
-
-"Yes," he said, "my young men have their orders, they know what I mean
-to do."
-
-"Very good; in that case they are near here?"
-
-"No," the chief replied, with a shake of his head. "Eagle-wing does not
-march with them; he has hidden himself under the skin of an Apache dog."
-
-"What does my brother say?" Valentine asked with amazement.
-
-"My white brother is quick," Unicorn said, sententiously; "he will let
-Mookapec speak. He is a great sachem, and wisdom dwells in him."
-
-Valentine shook his head, however, and said--
-
-"Hum! Answering one act of treachery by another, that is not the way in
-which the warriors of my nation behave."
-
-"The nation of my brother is great, and strong as the grizzly bear,"
-Unicorn said; "it does not need to march along hidden paths. The poor
-Indians are weak as the beaver, but like him they are very cunning."
-
-"That is true," Valentine replied, "cunning must be allowed you in
-dealing with the implacable enemies who surround you. I was wrong; so go
-on, chief; tell us what deviltry you have invented, and if it is
-ingenious. Well, I will be the first to applaud it."
-
-"Wah, my brother shall judge. Red Cedar is about to enter the desert, as
-my brother doubtless knows?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Does my brother know the _Gringo_ has asked the Apaches for a guide?"
-
-"No, I did not."
-
-"Good. Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, sent a Navajo warrior
-to act as guide to Red Cedar."
-
-"Well?"
-
-"The Navajo was scalped by Eagle-wing."
-
-"Ah, ah! Then Red Cedar cannot set out?"
-
-"Yes, he can do so when he likes."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Because Eagle-wing takes the place of the guide."
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"My brother has a deal of wisdom," he said.
-
-"Hum!" Valentine remarked, with some show of ill-humour. "It is
-possible, but you play for a heavy stake, chief. That old villain is as
-crafty as ten monkeys and ten opossums united. I warn you that he will
-recognise you."
-
-"No."
-
-"I wish it; for if he does, you are a lost man."
-
-"Good, my brother can be easy. Eagle-wing is a warrior; he will see the
-white hunter again in the desert."
-
-"I wish so, chief; but I doubt. However, act as you please. When will
-you join Red Cedar?"
-
-"This night."
-
-"You are going to leave us?"
-
-"At once. Eagle-wing has nothing more to confide to his brother."
-
-And, after bowing courteously to the company, the Coras chief glided
-into the thicket, in which he disappeared almost instantaneously.
-Valentine looked after him for some time.
-
-"Yes," he said at last, with a thoughtful air, "his project is a daring
-one, such as might be expected from so great a warrior. May heaven
-protect him, and allow him to succeed! Well, we shall see; perhaps all
-is for the best so."
-
-And he turned to Curumilla.
-
-"The clothes?" he said.
-
-"Here they are," the Aucas answered, laconically, as he pointed to an
-enormous heap of clothing.
-
-"What does my brother mean to do with them?" Unicorn asked.
-
-"My brother will see," Valentine said, with a smile, "each of us is
-going to put on one of those uniforms."
-
-The Comanche drew himself up hastily.
-
-"No," he said, "Unicorn does not put off the dress of his people. What
-need have we of this disguise?"
-
-"In order to enter the camp of the Spaniards without being discovered."
-
-"Wah! For what good? Unicorn will summon his young men to cut a passage
-through the corpses of the gachupinos."
-
-But Valentine shook his head mournfully.
-
-"It is true," he remarked, "we could do so. But why shed blood
-needlessly? No; let my brother put confidence in me."
-
-"The hunter will act rightly. Unicorn knows it, and he leaves him free;
-but Unicorn is a chief, he cannot put on the clothes of the palefaces."
-
-Valentine no longer insisted, as it would have been unavailing; so he
-agreed to modify his plan. He made each of his comrades put on a dragoon
-uniform, and himself donned the clothes stripped from the Alferez. When
-all this metamorphosis was as complete as possible, he turned to
-Unicorn.
-
-"The chief will remain here," he said, "to guard the prisoners."
-
-"Good," the Comanche answered. "Is Unicorn, then, a chattering old
-woman, that warriors place him on one side?"
-
-"My brother does not understand me. I do not wish to insult him, but he
-cannot enter the camp with us."
-
-The chief shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.
-
-"The Comanche warriors can crawl as well as serpents. Unicorn will
-enter."
-
-"Let my brother come, then, since he wishes it."
-
-"Good; my brother is vexed; a cloud has passed over his face. He is
-wrong; his friend loves him."
-
-"I know it, chief, I know it. I am not vexed, but my heart is sad to see
-a warrior thus run the risk of being killed without any necessity."
-
-"Unicorn is a sachem; he must give an example to his young men on the
-warpath."
-
-Valentine gave a nod of assent.
-
-"Here are the horses of the palefaces," Curumilla said; "my brother will
-need them."
-
-"That is true," the hunter answered, with a smile; "my brother is a
-great chief--he thinks of everything."
-
-Everyone mounted, Unicorn alone remaining a-foot. Valentine placed the
-Alferez by his side.
-
-"Caballero," he said to him, "you will act as our guide to the camp. We
-do not wish to take the lives of your countrymen; our intention is
-simply to prevent them following us at present. Pay attention to my
-words: if you attempt to deceive us, I blow out your brains. You are
-warned."
-
-The Spaniard bowed, but made no reply. As for the prisoners, they had
-been so conscientiously tied by Curumilla that there was no chance of
-their escaping. The little band then set out, Unicorn disappearing among
-the trees. When they came a short distance from the bivouac, a sentry
-challenged, "Who goes there?"
-
-"Answer," Valentine whispered the Alferez.
-
-He did so. They passed, and the sentry, suddenly seized by Curumilla,
-was bound and gagged in the twinkling of an eye, all the other sentinels
-sharing the same fate. The Mexicans keep up a very bad watch in the
-field, even in the presence of an enemy; the greater reason, then, for
-them to neglect all precaution when they fancy themselves in safety.
-Everybody was asleep, and Valentine and his friends were masters of the
-camp. The regiment of dragoons had been surprised without striking a
-blow.
-
-Valentine's comrades dismounted; they knew exactly how to act, and did
-not deviate from the instructions given by their leader. They proceeded
-from picket to picket, removing the horses, which were led out of camp.
-Within twenty minutes all had been carried off. Valentine had anxiously
-followed the movements of his men. When they had finished, he raised the
-curtain of the colonel's tent, and found himself face to face with
-Unicorn, from whose waist-belt hung a reeking scalp. Valentine could not
-repress a movement of horror.
-
-"What have you done, chief?" he asked, reproachfully.
-
-"Unicorn has killed his enemy," the Comanche replied, peremptorily.
-"When the leader of the antelopes is killed, his flock disperses; the
-gachupinos will do the same."
-
-Valentine drew near the colonel. The unhappy man, fearfully mutilated,
-with his brain laid bare, and his heart pierced by the knife of the
-implacable Indian, lay stark dead, in a pool of blood, in the middle of
-the tent. The hunter vented a sigh at this sorry sight.
-
-"Poor devil!" he said, with an air of compassion.
-
-After this short funeral oration, he took away his sabre and epaulettes,
-left the tent, followed by the Indian chief, and rejoined his comrades.
-The horses were led to the Comanche camp, after which Valentine and his
-party wrapped themselves in their blankets, and slept calmly till
-daybreak. The dragoons were no longer to be feared.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIV.
-
-THE STRANGER.
-
-
-Father Seraphin and Don Pablo we left bearing the wounded man to the
-missionary's lodging. Although the house to which they were proceeding
-was but a short distance off, yet the two gentlemen, compelled to take
-every precaution, employed considerable time on the journey. Nearly
-every step they were compelled to halt, so as not to fatigue too greatly
-the wounded man, whose inert limbs swayed in every direction.
-
-"The man is dead," Don Pablo remarked, during a halt they made on the
-Plaza de la Merced.
-
-"I fear so," the missionary answered, sadly; "still, as we are not
-certain of it, our conscience bids us to bestow our care on him, until
-we acquire the painful conviction that it avails him nought."
-
-"Father, the love of one's neighbour often carries you too far; better
-were it, perhaps, if this wretch did not come back to life."
-
-"You are severe, my friend. This man is still young--almost a boy.
-Trained amid a family of bandits, never having aught but evil examples
-before him, he has hitherto only done evil, in a spirit of imitation.
-Who knows whether this fearful wound may not offer him the means to
-enter the society of honest people, which he has till now been ignorant
-of? I repeat to you, my friend, the ways of the Lord are inscrutable."
-
-"I will do what you wish, father. You have entire power over me. Still,
-I fear that all our care will be thrown away."
-
-"God, whose humble instruments we are, will prove you wrong, I hope.
-Come, a little courage, a few paces further, and we shall have arrived."
-
-"Come on then," Don Pablo said with resignation.
-
-Father Seraphin lodged at a house of modest appearance, built of adobes
-and reeds, in a small room he hired from a poor widow, for the small sum
-of nine reals a month. This room, very small, and which only received
-air from a window opening on an inner yard, was a perfect conventual
-cell, as far as furniture was concerned, for the latter consisted of a
-wooden frame, over which a bull hide was stretched, and served as the
-missionary's bed; a butaca and a prie-dieu, above which a copper
-crucifix was fastened to the whitewashed wall. But, like all cells, this
-room was marvellously clean. From a few nails hung the well-worn clothes
-of the poor priest, and a shelf supported vials and flasks which
-doubtless contained medicaments; for, like all the missionaries, Father
-Seraphin had a rudimentary knowledge of medicine, and took in charge
-both the souls and bodies of his neophytes.
-
-The father lit a candle of yellow tallow standing in an iron
-candlestick, and, aided by Don Pablo, laid the wounded man on his own
-bed; after which the young man fell back into the butaca to regain his
-breath. Father Seraphin, on whom, spite of his fragile appearance, the
-fatigue had produced no apparent effect, then went downstairs to lock
-the street door, which he had left open. As he pushed it to, he felt an
-opposition outside, and a man soon entered the yard.
-
-"Pardon, my reverend father," the stranger said; "but be kind enough not
-to leave me outside."
-
-"Do you live in this house?"
-
-"No," the stranger coolly replied, "I do not live in Santa Fe, where I
-am quite unknown."
-
-"Do you ask hospitality of me, then?" Father Seraphin continued, much
-surprised at this answer.
-
-"Not at all, reverend father."
-
-"Then what do you want?" the missionary said, still more surprised.
-
-"I wish to follow you to the room where you have laid the wounded man,
-to whose aid you came so generously a short time back."
-
-"This request, sir--" the priest said, hesitating.
-
-"Has nothing that need surprise you. I have the greatest interest in
-seeing with my own eyes in what state that man is, for certain reasons
-which in no way concern you."
-
-"Do you know who he is?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Are you a relation or friend of his?"'
-
-"Neither one nor the other. Still, I repeat to you, very weighty reasons
-compel me to see him and speak with him, if that be possible."
-
-Father Seraphin took a searching glance at the speaker.
-
-He was a man of great height, apparently in the fullest vigour of life.
-His features, so far as it was possible to distinguish them by the pale
-and tremulous moonbeams, were handsome, though an expression of
-unbending will was the marked thing about them. He wore the dress of
-rich Mexican hacenderos, and had in his right hand a magnificently
-inlaid American rifle. Still the missionary hesitated.
-
-"Well," the stranger continued, "have you made up your mind, father?"
-
-"Sir," Father Seraphin answered with firmness, "do not take in ill part
-what I am going to say to you."
-
-The stranger bowed.
-
-"I do not know who you are; you present yourself to me in the depths of
-the night, under singular circumstances. You insist, with strange
-tenacity, on seeing the poor man whom Christian charity compelled me to
-pick up. Prudence demands that I should refuse to let you see him."
-
-A certain annoyance was depicted on the stranger's features.
-
-"You are right, father," he answered; "appearances are against me.
-Unfortunately, the explanation you demand from me justly would make us
-lose too much precious time, hence I cannot give them to you at this
-moment. All I can do is to swear, in the face of Heaven, on that
-crucifix you wear round your neck, and which is the symbol of our
-redemption, that I only wish well to the man you have housed, and that I
-am this moment seeking to punish a great criminal."
-
-The stranger uttered these words with such frankness, and such an air of
-conviction, his face glistened with so much honesty, that the missionary
-felt convinced: he took up the crucifix and offered it to this
-extraordinary man.
-
-"Swear," he said.
-
-"I swear it," he replied in a firm voice.
-
-"Good," the priest went on, "now you can enter, sir; you are one of
-ourselves; I will not even insult you by asking your name."
-
-"My name would teach you nothing, father," the stranger said sadly.
-
-"Follow me, sir."
-
-The missionary locked the gate and led the stranger to his room, on
-entering which the newcomer took off his hat reverently, took up a post
-in a corner of the room, and did not stir.
-
-"Do not trouble yourself about me, father," he said in a whisper, "and
-put implicit faith in the oath I took."
-
-The missionary only replied by a nod, and as the wounded man gave no
-sign of life, but still lay much in the position he was first placed in,
-Father Seraphin walked up to him. For a long time, however, the
-attention he lavished on him proved sterile, and seemed to produce no
-effect on the squatter's son. Still, the father did not despair,
-although Don Pablo shook his head. An hour thus passed, and no
-ostensible change had taken place in the young man's condition; the
-missionary had exhausted all his stock of knowledge, and began to fear
-the worst. At this moment the stranger walked up to him.
-
-"My father," he said, touching him gently on the arm, "you have done all
-that was humanly possible, but have not succeeded."
-
-"Alas! No!" the missionary said sadly.
-
-"Will you permit me to try in my turn?"
-
-"Do you fancy you will prove, more successful than I?" the priest asked
-in surprise.
-
-"I hope so," the stranger said softly.
-
-"Still, you see I have tried everything that the medical art prescribes
-in such a case."
-
-"That is true, father; but the Indians possess certain secrets known
-only to themselves, and which are of great efficacy."
-
-"I have heard so. But do you know those secrets?"
-
-"Some of them have been revealed to me; if you will permit me, I will
-try their effects on this young man, who, as far as I can judge, is in a
-desperate condition."
-
-"I fear he is, poor fellow."
-
-"We shall, therefore, run no risk in trying the efficacy of my superior
-remedy upon him."
-
-"Certainly not."
-
-The stranger bent over the young man, and regarded him for a moment with
-fixed attention; then he drew from his pocket a flask of carved crystal,
-filled with a fluid as green as emerald. With the point of his dagger he
-slightly opened the wounded man's closed teeth, and poured into his
-mouth four or five drops of the fluid contained in the flask. A strange
-thing then occurred; the young man gave vent to a deep sigh, opened his
-eyes several times, and suddenly, as if moved by supernatural force, he
-sat up and looked around him with amazement. Don Pablo and the
-missionary were almost inclined to believe in a miracle so extraordinary
-did the fact appear to them. The stranger returned to his dark corner.
-Suddenly the young man passed his hand over his dank forehead, and
-muttered in a hollow voice:--
-
-"Ellen, my sister, it is too late. I cannot save her. See, see, they are
-carrying her off; she is lost!"
-
-And he fell back on the bed, as the three men rushed towards him.
-
-"He sleeps!" the missionary said in amazement.
-
-"He is saved?" the stranger answered.
-
-"What did he want to say, though?" Don Pablo inquired anxiously.
-
-"Did you not understand it?" the stranger asked of him.
-
-"No."
-
-"Well, then, I will tell you."
-
-"You!"
-
-"Yes, I; listen! That lad wished to deliver your sister!"
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"Is it true?"
-
-"It is; go on."
-
-"He was stabbed at the door of the house when she sought shelter."
-
-"What next?"
-
-"Those who stabbed him wished to get him out of the way, in order to
-carry her off a second time."
-
-"Oh, that is impossible!"
-
-"It is the fact."
-
-"How do you know it?"
-
-"I do not know it, but I can read it plainly."
-
-"Ah!" Don Pablo exclaimed in despair, "my father--let us fly to my
-sister's aid!"
-
-The two gentlemen rushed from the house with a presentiment of
-misfortune. When the stranger found himself alone with the wounded man,
-he walked up to him, wrapped him in his cloak, threw him over his
-shoulders as easy as if he were only a child, and went out in his turn.
-On reaching the street, he carefully closed the door, and went off at a
-great rate, soon disappearing in the darkness. At the same instant the
-melancholy voice of the sereno could be heard chanting--
-
-_"Ave Maria purísima! Los cuatro han dado! Viva Méjico! Todo es
-quieto!_"[1]
-
-What irony on the part of accident was this cry after the terrible
-events of the night!
-
-
-[1] Hail, most pure Mary! It has struck four. Long live Mexico! All is
-quiet.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLV.
-
-GENERAL VENTURA.
-
-
-It was about six in the morning. A dazzling sun poured down its
-transparent rays on the streets of the Presidio of Santa Fe, which were
-already full of noise and movement at that early hour of the morning.
-General Ventura was still plunged in a deep sleep, probably lulled by
-agreeable dreams, judging from the air of beatitude spread over his
-features. The general, reassured by the speedy arrival of the dragoons
-promised him, fancied he had nothing more to fear from mutineers who had
-hitherto inspired him with lively apprehensions. He thought, too, that
-by the aid of the reinforcements, he could easily get rid of the
-Comanche, who, on the previous day, had so audaciously bearded him in
-the very heart of his palace.
-
-He slept, then, that pleasant morning sleep, in which the body, entirely
-rested from its fatigue, leaves the mind the entire liberty of its
-faculties. Suddenly the door of the sleeping room in which the worthy
-governor reposed, was torn violently open, and an officer entered.
-General Ventura, aroused with a start, sat up in his bed, fixing on the
-importunate visitor a glance, at first stern, but which at once became
-uneasy on seeing the alarm depicted on the officer's features.
-
-"What is the matter, señor Captain Don Lopez?" he asked, trying in vain
-to give firmness to his voice, which trembled involuntarily from a
-foreboding of evil.
-
-Captain Lopez was a soldier of fortune, who had grown grey in harness,
-and contracted a species of rough frankness, that prevented him toning
-the truth down under any circumstances, which fact made him appear, in
-the General's eyes, a bird of very evil omen. The captain's arrival,
-therefore, doubly disquieted the governor. In the first place, through
-his alarmed face; and secondly, the reputation he enjoyed. To the
-general's query the captain only replied the following three storm laden
-words--
-
-"Nothing that's good."
-
-"What do you mean? Have the people rebelled??"
-
-"On my word, no! I do not fancy they even dream of such a thing."
-
-"Very well, then," the general went on, quite cheered by the good news,
-"what the deuce have you to tell me, captain?"
-
-"I have not come to tell you anything," the other said, roughly. "There
-is a soldier outside who has just come from I don't know where, and who
-insists on speaking with you. Shall I bring him, or send him about his
-business."
-
-"One moment," exclaimed the general, whose features had suddenly become
-gloomy; "who is the soldier?"
-
-"A dragoon, I fancy."
-
-"A dragoon! Let him come in at once. May heaven bless you, with all your
-circumlocution! The man, doubtless, brings me news of the arrival of the
-regiment I am expecting, and which should have been here before."
-
-The captain shrugged his shoulders with an air of doubt.
-
-"What is it now?" the general said, whom this expressive pantomime
-eminently alarmed; "What are you going to say?"
-
-"Nothing, except that the soldier looks very sad to be the bearer of
-such good news."
-
-"We shall soon know what we have to depend on. Let him come in."
-
-"That is true," said the captain, as he went off.
-
-During this conversation the general had leaped from his bed, and
-dressed himself with the promptness peculiar to soldiers. He now
-anxiously awaited the appearance of the trooper whom Don Lopez had
-announced to him. In vain he tried to persuade himself that the captain
-was mistaken, and that the soldier had been sent to tell him of the
-arrival of the regiment. In spite of himself, he felt in his heart a
-species of alarm which he could not account for, and yet nothing could
-dissipate.
-
-A few minutes were thus passed in febrile restlessness. All at once a
-great noise was heard in the Plaza Major. The general went to a window,
-pulled aside a curtain, and looked out. A tumultuous and dense crowd was
-thronging every street leading to the square and uttering sharp cries.
-This crowd, momentarily increasing, seemed urged on by something
-terrible, which the general could not perceive.
-
-"What is this?" the general exclaimed; "And what can be the meaning of
-this disturbance?"
-
-At this moment the shouts grew louder, and the detachment of Comanche
-warriors appeared debouching by the Calle de la Merced, and marching in
-good order, and at quick step, upon the palace. On seeing them the
-general could not restrain a start of surprise.
-
-"The Indians again!" he said; "How can they dare to present themselves
-here? They must be ignorant of the arrival of the dragoons. Such
-boldness is incomprehensible."
-
-He let the curtain fall, and turned away. The soldier whom the captain
-had announced to him stood before him, waiting the general's pleasure to
-question him. The general started on perceiving him. He was pale; his
-uniform was torn and stained with mud, as if he had made a long journey
-on foot through brambles. The general wished to clear up his doubts;
-but, just as he was opening his mouth to ask the man a question, the
-door flew back, and several officers, among whom was Captain Don Lopez,
-entered the room.
-
-"General," the captain said, "make haste! You are expected in the
-council hall. The Indians have come for the answer you promised to give
-them this morning."
-
-"Well! Why this startled look, gentlemen?" the general said, severely.
-"I fancy the town has not yet been set on fire. I am not at the orders
-of those savages, so tell them that I have no time to grant them an
-audience."
-
-The officers gazed at the general with a surprise they did not attempt
-to conceal, on hearing these strange and incomprehensible words.
-
-"Good, good," Captain Lopez said, roughly, "the town is not yet fired,
-'tis true; but it might be so, erelong, if you went on in this way."
-
-"What do you mean?" the general asked, as he turned pale. "Are matters
-so serious?"
-
-"They are most serious. We have not a moment to lose, if we wish to
-avoid heavy disasters."
-
-The general started.
-
-"Gentlemen," he then said, in an ill-assured voice, "it is our duty to
-watch over the safety of the population. I follow you."
-
-And taking no further heed of the soldier he had ordered to be sent in,
-he proceeded towards the council hall.
-
-The disorder that prevailed without had at length gained the interior of
-the palace. Nothing was to be heard but shrieks or exclamations of anger
-and terror. The Mexican officers assembled in the hall were tumultuously
-discussing the measures to be adopted in order to save a contest and the
-town. The entrance of the governor produced a healthy effect upon them,
-in so far that the discussion, which was degenerating into personalities
-and reproaches, dictated by individual fear, suddenly ceased, and
-calmness was restored.
-
-General Ventura regretted in his heart having counted on imaginary help,
-and not having listened to the sensible advice of some of his officers,
-who urged him the previous day to satisfy the Indians by giving them
-what they asked. In spite of the terror he felt, however, his pride
-revolted at being compelled to treat on equal terms with barbarians, and
-accept harsh conditions which they would doubtless impose on him, in the
-consciousness of having the upper hand.
-
-The governor, in entering the hall, looked around the assembly
-anxiously. All had taken their places, and, externally at least, had
-assumed that grace and stern appearance belonging to men who are
-penetrated with the grandeur of the duties they have to perform, and are
-resolved to carry them out at all hazards. But this appearance was very
-deceptive. If the faces were impassive the hearts were timorous. All
-these men, habituated to a slothful and effeminate life, did not feel
-capable of waging a contest with the rude enemies who menaced them so
-audaciously, even at the doors of the governor's palace.
-
-Under present circumstances, however, resistance was impossible. The
-Indians, by the fact of their presence on the square, were masters of
-the town. There were no troops to oppose to them; hence, the only hope
-was to make the easiest terms possible with the Comanches. Still, as all
-these men wished to save appearances at any rate, the discussion began
-anew. When everyone had given his opinion, the governor rose, and said
-in a trembling voice--
-
-"Caballeros, all of us here present: are men of courage, and have
-displayed that quality in many difficult circumstances. Certainly, if
-the only thing, was to sacrifice our lives to save the hapless townsmen,
-we would not hesitate to do so, for we are too well imbued with the
-soundness of our duties tot hesitate; but, unhappily, that sacrifice
-would not avail to save those whom we wish before all to protect. Let us
-treat, then, with the barbarians, as we cannot conquer them. Perhaps in
-this way we shall succeed in protecting our wives; and children from the
-danger that menaces them. In acting thus, under the grave circumstances
-in which we find ourselves, we shall at least have the consolation of
-having done our duty, even if we do not obtain all we desire."
-
-Hearty applause greeted this harangue, and the governor, turning to the
-porter, who stood motionless at the door, gave orders to introduce the
-principal Indian chiefs.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLVI.
-
-THE COMANCHES.
-
-
-Valentine and his friends awoke at daybreak. The Comanches were already
-prepared to start; and Unicorn, dressed in his great war costume,
-presented himself to the hunter.
-
-"Is my brother going?" Valentine asked him.
-
-"Yes," the sachem answered. "I am returning to the Presidio to receive
-the answer of the chief of the palefaces."
-
-"What is my brother's intention, should his demand be rejected?"
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"The Comanches have long lances," he said; "the palefaces will not
-refuse."
-
-"My anxiety will be extreme till you return, chief; the Spaniards are
-perfidious; take care they have not planned some treachery."
-
-"They would not dare," Unicorn said, haughtily. "If the chief, whom my
-brother loves, is not delivered to me safe and sound, the Spanish
-prisoners shall be tortured on the plaza of Santa Fe, the town burned
-and sacked. I have spoken; my brother's mind may be at rest."
-
-"Good! Unicorn is a wise chief; he will do what is necessary."
-
-In the meantime the Comanche warriors had formed their ranks, and only
-awaited the signal of the sachem to start. The Spanish prisoners taken
-during the night were placed in the centre bound and half naked.
-Suddenly a disturbance was heard in the camp, and two men rushed panting
-toward the spot where stood Valentine, the sachem and Curumilla. They
-were Don Pablo and Father Seraphin, their clothes in disorder, their
-features haggard, and their faces glistening with perspiration. On
-reaching their friends, they fell, almost in a fainting state, on the
-ground. The proper attentions were at once paid them, and the missionary
-was the first to recover. Don Pablo seemed stupefied; the tears poured
-incessantly down his cheeks, and he could not utter a word. Valentine
-felt strangely alarmed.
-
-"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "What has happened? Don Miguel--?"
-
-The missionary shook his head.
-
-"No," he said, "nothing has happened to him, as far as I know."
-
-"Heaven be praised! But what is the matter, father? What misfortune have
-you to announce to me?"
-
-"A frightful one, indeed, my son," the missionary replied, as he buried
-his face in his hands.
-
-"Speak, in Heaven's name! Your delay is killing me."
-
-"Doña Clara--"
-
-"Well!" he hunter said, sharply.
-
-"Was captured again last night by Red Cedar, and torn from the refuge
-where I placed her."
-
-"Oh!" Valentine exclaimed, with concentrated fury, as he stamped his
-foot, "Always that demon--that accursed Red Cedar. My curses on him! But
-take courage, father; let us first save Don Miguel, and then I swear to
-you that I will restore his daughter to him."
-
-Unicorn advanced.
-
-"Master of prayer," he said to Father Seraphin, in a soft and impressive
-voice, "your heart is good. The Comanches love you. Unicorn will help
-you. Pray to your God. He will protect us in our researches, since He
-is, as you say, so powerful."
-
-Then the chief turned to Don Pablo, and laid his hand firmly on his
-shoulder.
-
-"Women weep," he said; "men avenge themselves. Has not my brother his
-rifle?"
-
-On feeling the Comanche's hand laid on him--on hearing these words--the
-young man quivered as if he had received an electric shock. He drew
-himself up, and fixed on the chief his eyes burning with the fever of
-sorrow.
-
-"Yes," he said, in a broken voice, "you are right, chief, and," passing
-his hand over his eyes, with a gesture of rage, "let us leave tears to
-women, who have no other weapons to protect their weakness. I am a man,
-and will avenge myself."
-
-"Good. My brother speaks well: he is a warrior; Unicorn esteems him; he
-will become great on the war path."
-
-Don Pablo, crushed for a moment, had regained all his energy; he was no
-longer the same man; he looked around him.
-
-"Where are you going?" he asked.
-
-"To Santa Fe, to deliver your father."
-
-"I will go with you."
-
-"Come," said Unicorn.
-
-"No," Valentine interposed, authoritatively. "Your place is not there,
-Don Pablo; leave the Comanche warriors to act as they please; they do
-not need your help to carry out their plans properly. Remain with me."
-
-"Command me, my friend," the young man said with resignation; "I have
-perfect confidence in your experience."
-
-"Good. You are reasonable. Brother," he added, turning to the chief,
-"you can start. The sun is already high in the horizon; may Heaven grant
-that you may succeed!"
-
-Unicorn gave the signal for departure. The Comanches uttered their war
-yell, while brandishing their arms, and started at a quick amble, the
-only pace they know. Curumilla then rose, and wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe; Valentine watching him, inquiringly.
-
-"Does my brother leave us?" he said.
-
-"Yes," the Araucano answered, laconically.
-
-"For long?"
-
-"For a few hours?"
-
-"Where is my brother going?"
-
-"To look for the camp of Red Cedar's gambusinos," the Indian replied
-with a cunning smile.
-
-"Good," Valentine said, gleefully. "My brother is a wise chief; he
-forgets nothing."
-
-"Curumilla loves his brother; he thinks for him," the chief answered,
-simply.
-
-After uttering these words, the Unicorn bowed gracefully, and proceeded
-in the direction of the Paso del Norte, soon disappearing in the
-windings of the road. Valentine looked after him for a long while. When
-he no longer saw him, he let his head fall pensively on his chest,
-murmuring in a low voice--
-
-"Good, intelligent fellow! Heart of gold! The only friend left me! The
-only one remaining of my old and faithful comrades! Louis, my poor
-Louis, where are you now?" A deep sigh burst from his bosom, and he
-remained absorbed in a gloomy reverie.
-
-At length Valentine raised his head, passed his hand over his brow, as
-if to dispel these sad thoughts, and turned to his friends.
-
-"Pardon me," he said, "but I, at times, give way to my thoughts in that
-fashion. Alas! I, too, have suffered; but let us leave that," he added,
-gaily. "Bygones must be bygones. Let us attend to your affairs."
-
-He made them a sign to sit down by his side on the grass, rummaged his
-alforjas and produced some slight food, which he laid before them.
-
-"Eat," he said to them; "we do not know what awaits us within the next
-few hours, and we must recruit our strength. When you have satisfied
-your appetite, you will tell me all about Doña Clara being carried off
-again, for I must have the fullest details."
-
-We will leave the three now conversing, and join the Comanches and
-Unicorn again.
-
-When the Comanches reached the Plaza Mayor, opposite the Cabildo, they
-halted. At an order from Unicorn, the prisoners were completely stripped
-of their clothing and placed some distance in front of the first rank of
-Indians, each of them having at his side a fully armed Indian ready to
-massacre him mercilessly at the slightest sign from Unicorn. When the
-preparations were completed, and the Comanches had stationed sentinels
-at each corner of the streets, opening in the square, in order not to be
-taken in reverse, and surrounded by the Spaniards, if they felt any
-inclination for fighting, the Spider, the chief who had already
-performed the duty of flag of truce, pranced up to the gate of the
-palace, and demanded speech with the governor.
-
-The officer of the guard, who was no other than Don Lopez, politely
-requested the Indian warrior to wait a few moments, and then proceeded
-in all haste to General Ventura. We have seen what took place, and,
-after a delay of nearly half an hour, Captain Don Lopez returned. It was
-time, for the Comanches were beginning to grow tired of waiting, and
-were preparing to force the passage which was not voluntarily granted
-them. After some preliminary explanations, Captain Lopez informed the
-Spider that the general, surrounded by his staff, was awaiting, in the
-hall of audience, the sachem of the nation and his three principal
-warriors.
-
-The Spider communicated this answer to Unicorn, who gave a nod of
-assent, dismounted, and entered the Cabildo.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
-NEGOTIATIONS.
-
-
-When Unicorn entered the council chamber, preceded by Captain Lopez, and
-followed by the three Indian chiefs, the deepest silence prevailed among
-the Spanish officers assembled to meet him. The governor, seated in a
-chair placed in the centre of the hall, was looking nervously round him,
-while tapping on the arm of the chair with the fingers of his right
-hand. Still, his countenance was tolerably composed; nothing externally
-revealed the terror that devoured him. He answered by a nod the
-ceremonious bow of the Comanches, and drew himself up as if intending to
-address them; but if such were his desire, Unicorn did not grant him
-time to do so. The sachem draped himself in his buffalo robe with that
-majestic grace possessed by all those untamed sons of the desert, drew
-his head up proudly, and walked toward General Ventura, who watched him
-approach with an anxious eye. On coming within four paces of the
-governor, Unicorn stopped, crossed his arms on his chest, and took the
-word.
-
-"I salute my father!" he said, in a loud and fierce voice. "I have come,
-as was agreed on yesterday, to fetch the answer he owes me."
-
-The general hesitated for an instant.
-
-"I am waiting!" the Indian went on, with a frown that augured ill.
-
-The general, forced almost into his last entrenchments, saw that the
-hour for surrender had at length arrived, and that no way of escape was
-left him.
-
-"Chief," he answered, in anything but a firm voice, "your behavior
-naturally surprises me. To my knowledge the Spaniards are not at war
-with your nation; the whites have not done anything of which you have a
-right to complain. For what reason do you come, then, against the sworn
-faith, and when nothing authorises you, to invade a defenceless town,
-and interfere in matters that only concern ourselves?"
-
-The sachem understood that the Spaniard was trying to shift the question
-on to other ground; he saw the snare offered him, and was not to be
-caught.
-
-"My father does not answer my request," he said. "Still, in order to
-have finished at once with the recriminations he brings up, I will
-answer his questions peremptorily, separating them one from the other.
-In the first place, my father knows very well that the palefaces and
-redskins have been in a constant state of warfare since the arrival of
-white men in America. This war may have slightly relaxed at intervals,
-but has never really ceased. Our two races are hostile; the struggle
-will not end between them until one of the two families, whether white
-or red, has given place to the other by its general extinction.
-Secondly, my father said that nothing has been done of which we had a
-right to complain. My father is mistaken, we have a cause, the
-imprisonment of Don Miguel Zarate, who, himself an Indian, has never
-belied his origin. Hence my father must no longer ask by what right I am
-here, for that is perfectly established; it is that which every honest
-man possesses of defending an innocent person who is oppressed. Now that
-fact is cleared up, let us pass to another. When I came here yesterday,
-my father gave me to understand that my propositions would be accepted,
-and the exchange of prisoners carried out."
-
-"It is possible, chief," the general replied; "but things are so in this
-world, no one knows today what he will do tomorrow. With night
-reflection has come, and, in short, your propositions have appeared to
-me unacceptable."
-
-"Wah!" the Indian said, though not testifying his surprise otherwise.
-
-"Yes," the general continued, growing animated, "I should be ashamed to
-grant them, for I should have the appearance of only yielding to
-threats. No, it cannot be. The two gentlemen you claim are guilty, and
-shall die; and if you venture to oppose the execution of the just
-sentence of the court, we will defend ourselves, and God will protect
-the good cause."
-
-The Mexican officers warmly applauded this haughty response, which they
-were far from expecting. They felt their courage rekindled, and did not
-despair of obtaining better conditions. A smile of disdain played round
-the chiefs haughty lips.
-
-"Good," he said; "my father speaks very loudly. The coyotes are bold
-when they hunt the buffalo in packs. My father has carefully reflected,
-and is determined to accept the consequences of his answer. He wishes
-for war, then?"
-
-"No," the general quickly interposed, "heaven forbid! I should be glad
-to settle this matter amicably with you, chief, but honor forbids me
-subscribing those disgraceful proposals which you did not fear to lay
-before me."
-
-"Is it really honour that has dictated my father's answer?" the Indian
-asked, ironically. "He will permit me to doubt it. In short, whatever be
-the reason that guides him, I can but withdraw; but, before doing so, I
-will give him news of a friend whom he doubtless impatiently expects."
-
-"What means that word, doubtless?"
-
-"This," the Indian said, sharply. "The warriors whom my father expected
-to arrive to his aid this day have been dispersed by my young men, as
-the autumn breeze sweeps away the leaves. They will not come."
-
-A murmur of surprise, almost of terror, ran through the assembly. The
-sachem let the long folds of his buffalo robe fall back, tore from his
-girdle the bleeding scalp that hung there, and threw it at the general's
-feet.
-
-"That," he said, gloomily, "is the scalp of the man who commanded my
-father's warriors! Does the chief of the palefaces recognise it? This
-scalp was raised by me from the head of the man who was to arrive, and
-who, at this hour, has set out for the happy hunting grounds of his
-nation."
-
-A shudder of terror ran round the room at the sight of the scalp; the
-general felt the small dose of courage that had still animated him
-oozing out.
-
-"Chief," he exclaimed, in a trembling voice "is it possible you have
-done that?"
-
-"I have done it," the sachem answered, coldly. "Now, farewell. I am
-about to join my young men, who are impatient at my long absence."
-
-With these words the Comanche haughtily turned his back on the governor,
-and walked toward the door.
-
-"A few moments longer, chief," the general said; "perhaps we are nearer
-an understanding than you suppose."
-
-The Comanche gave the speaker a glance which made him quiver.
-
-"Here is my last word," he said. "I insist on the two prisoners being
-handed over to me."
-
-"They shall be."
-
-"Good; but no perfidity, no treachery."
-
-"We will act honourably," the general replied, not dreaming, of resenting
-the insult conveyed in the Indian's words.
-
-"We shall see. My warriors and myself will remain on the square till my
-father has performed his promise. If, within an hour, the palefaces are
-not free, the prisoners I hold will be pitilessly massacred, and the
-_altepetl_ plundered. I have spoken."
-
-A gloomy silence greeted these terrible threats. The pride of the
-Mexicans was quelled, and they at length recognised that nothing could
-save them from the vengeance of the Comanche chief. The general bowed in
-assent, not having strength to answer otherwise. The sight of the scalp
-had paralyzed in him all desire to contend longer. Unicorn left the
-hall, mounted his horse again, and calmly awaited the fulfilment of the
-promise made to him.
-
-When the Indians had left the council chamber, the Mexicans rose
-tumultuously, for each feared the execution of the chief's threats.
-General Ventura was pressed on all sides to make haste, and run no risk
-of breaking his word. When the governor saw that his officers were as
-terrified as himself, he re-assumed his coolness, and cleverly profited
-by this state of mind, in order to throw the responsibility off himself,
-and appear only to act under the impulse of others.
-
-"Caballeros," he said, "you have heard this man. You understood as well
-as I did the menaces he dared to offer us. Shall such an insult be left
-unpunished? Will you allow yourselves to be thus braved in the heart of
-the town by a handful of scoundrels, and not attempt to inflict on them
-the chastisement they deserve? To arms, caballeros, and let us die
-bravely, if it must be so, sooner than suffer this stain on the old
-Spanish honor our fathers transmitted to us!"
-
-This warm address produced the effect the general anticipated from it;
-that is to say, it redoubled, were that possible, the terror of the
-hearers, who had long been acquainted with their chiefs cowardice, and
-knew how little he could be depended on. This sudden warlike order
-seemed to them so unusual, and before all so inopportune, that they
-pressed him to accept without delay the proposals dictated by the
-sachem.
-
-This was all the governor wanted. He had the minutes of the council at
-once drawn up, when it was signed by all present, he put it in his
-pocket.
-
-"As you insist," he said, "and nothing can induce you to offer an
-honourable resistance, I will myself proceed to the prison, in order to
-avoid any misunderstanding, and have the doors opened for Don Miguel
-Zarate and General Ibañez."
-
-"Make haste, pray?" the officers answered.
-
-The general, glad in his heart at having got out of the scrape so well,
-left the Cabildo, and walked across the square to the prison, which
-stood on the opposite side. The Comanches were motionless as statues of
-Florentine bronze, leaning on their weapons, with their eyes fixed on
-the chief, ready to carry out his orders.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV.
-
-FREE.
-
-
-Don Miguel and General Ibañez were completely ignorant of what was going
-on outside, and the rumours of the town did not reach their ears. Had
-they deigned to question their jailer, the latter, who was beginning to
-fear for himself the effects of the ill-treatment he had made the two
-gentlemen undergo, would doubtless not have hesitated to give them all
-possible information, for the sake of regaining their favour; but each
-time this man presented himself before them, and opened his mouth to
-speak, they turned their backs contemptuously, giving him a sign to
-withdraw at once, and be silent.
-
-On this day, according to their wont, the two prisoners had risen at
-sunrise, and then, with incredible coolness, began conversing on
-indifferent topics. Suddenly a great noise was heard in the prison; a
-clang of arms reached the prisoners' ears, and hurried footsteps
-approached the rooms in which they were confined. They listened.
-
-"Oh, oh!" said Ibañez, "I fancy it is for today at last."
-
-"Heaven be praised!" Don Miguel answered; "I am glad they have made up
-their minds to bring matters to a conclusion."
-
-"On my honour, and so am I," the general said, gaily; "time was
-beginning to hang heavy in this prison, where a man has not the
-slightest relaxation. We are going to see again that splendid sun which
-seems afraid of showing itself in this den. _Viva Cristo_! I feel
-delighted at the mere thought, and gladly pardon my judges."
-
-Still the noise drew nearer and nearer, and confused voices were mingled
-with the echoing steps in the passage, and the rattling of sabres.
-
-"Here they are," said Don Miguel; "we shall see them in a minute."
-
-"They are welcome if they bring us death, that supreme solace of the
-afflicted."
-
-At this moment a key creaked in the lock, and the door opened. The two
-prisoners fell back in surprise on seeing the general, who rushed into
-the cell followed by two or three officers. Assuredly, if the prisoners
-expected to see anybody, it was not the worthy General Ventura. Ibañez'
-surprise was so great at this unexpected apparition, that he could not
-refrain from exclaiming, with that accent of caustic gaiety which formed
-the basis of his character--
-
-"What the deuce do you want here, Señor Governor? Have you, too,
-suddenly become a frightful conspirator, such as we are accused of
-being?"
-
-Before answering, the general fell back into a chair, wiping away the
-perspiration that trickled down his forehead, such speed had he
-displayed in coming to the prison. Three or four officers stood
-motionless on the threshold of the widely open door. The condemned men
-could not at all understand the affair.
-
-"Have you by any chance, my dear governor," General Ibañez said, gaily,
-though not believing a word of it, "come to restore us to liberty? That
-would be a most gallant action, and I should feel deeply indebted to you
-for it."
-
-General Ventura raised his head, fixed on the prisoners eyes sparkling
-with joy, and said, in a panting voice--
-
-"Yes, my friends, yes; I _would_ come myself to tell you that you are
-free; I would not yield to anyone else the pleasure of announcing the
-good news."
-
-The prisoners fell back in amazement.
-
-"What!" General Ibañez exclaimed, "You are speaking seriously?"
-
-Don Miguel attentively looked at the governor, trying to read in his
-face the reasons of his conduct.
-
-"Come, come," General Ventura cried, "this hole is frightful; do not
-remain any longer in it."
-
-"Ah!" Don Miguel remarked, bitterly, "You find it frightful; you have
-been a long time in discovering the fact; for we have lived in it nearly
-a month, and the thought never once occurred to you of disturbing our
-repose."
-
-"Do not be angry with me, Don Miguel," the governor answered eagerly,
-"it was greatly against my will you were detained so long; had it only
-depended on me you would have been free; but, thanks to Heaven, all is
-settled now, and I have succeeded in having justice done you. Come away;
-do not remain a moment longer in this pestilential den."
-
-"Pardon me, Caballero," Don Miguel said coldly, "but, with your
-permission, we will remain a few moments longer in it."
-
-"Why so?" General Ventura asked, opening his eyes to their fullest
-extent.
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-Don Miguel pointed to a chair, and sat down himself. Ibañez following
-his example. There was a moment of deep silence between these three men
-as they strove to read each other's real secret thoughts.
-
-"I am waiting your pleasure to explain yourself," the governor at last
-said, as he was anxious to get away, and time pressed.
-
-"I am about doing so," Don Miguel answered; "you have come to tell us we
-are free, sir; but you do not say on what conditions."
-
-"What do you mean by conditions?" the general asked, not understanding
-him.
-
-"Of course," Ibañez went on, supporting his friend; "and these
-conditions, too, must suit us; you must see, my dear sir, we cannot
-leave this delightful place without knowing the why or wherefore. _Viva
-Cristo_! We are not vagabonds to be got rid of in that way; we must know
-if we are justified in accepting the proposals you have just made."
-
-"The general is right, sir," the hacendero said in his turn; "the care
-of our honor does not permit us to accept a liberation which might stain
-it; hence, we shall not leave this prison until you have given us an
-explanation."
-
-The governor hardly knew whether he was on his head or his heels; he had
-never before had to deal with such obstinate prisoners. He racked his
-brains in vain to discover why it was that men condemned to death could
-so peremptorily decline their liberty. His ideas were too narrow, his
-heart was too cowardly for him to comprehend the grandeur and nobility
-in this determination on the part of two men, who preferred an honourable
-death to a branded life which they only owed to the pity of their
-judges. Still, he must induce them to quit the prison, for time was fast
-slipping away, and their obstinacy might ruin everything. Hence, General
-Ventura made up his mind like a man.
-
-"Gentlemen," he said, with feigned admiration, "I understand what
-nobleness there is in your scruples, and am happy to see that I was not
-mistaken in the greatness of your character. You can leave this prison
-in full security, and take once more the station that belongs to you in
-the world. I will lay no conditions on you; you are free, purely and
-simply. Here are the documents connected with your trial, the proofs
-produced against you; take them and destroy them, and accept my sincere,
-apologies for all that has passed."
-
-While saying this, the governor drew from his breast an enormous bundle
-of papers, which he offered Don Miguel. The latter declined them with an
-air of disgust; but General Ibañez, less scrupulous or wiser in his
-generation, eagerly clutched them, looked through them to see that the
-governor was not deceiving him, and then threw them into the _brasero_,
-standing in the middle of the room. In less than four minutes, all this
-undigested mass was consumed. General Ibañez watched them burning with a
-certain degree of pleasure, for he began to feel himself really free.
-
-"I am waiting for you, gentlemen," said the governor.
-
-"One word more, by your leave," the hacendero remarked.
-
-"Speak, sir."
-
-"On leaving this prison, where are we to go?"
-
-"Wherever you please, gentlemen. I repeat to you that you are perfectly
-free, and can act as you think proper. I do not even ask your word of
-honor to enter into no further conspiracy."
-
-"Good sir," Don Miguel said, holding out his hand to General Ventura,
-"your conduct affects me--thanks."
-
-The governor blushed.
-
-"Come, come," he said, to hide his embarrassment on receiving this so
-ill-deserved praise.
-
-The prisoners no longer hesitated to follow him.
-
-In the meanwhile, the news of Don Miguel's deliverance had spread
-through the town with the rapidity of a train of gunpowder. The
-inhabitants, reassured by the continence of the Comanches, and knowing
-that they had only come to save a man, in whose fate the entire
-population felt interested, had ventured to leave their houses, and at
-length thronged the streets and squares; the windows and roofs were
-filled with men, women, and children, whose eyes, fixed on the prison,
-awaited the moment of Don Miguel's appearance. When he did so,
-tremendous shouts greeted him.
-
-Unicorn walked up to the governor.
-
-"My father has kept his promise," he said, gravely, "I will keep mine;
-the white prisoners are free; I now depart."
-
-The governor listened to these words with a blush; the sachem returned
-to the head of his war party, which rapidly retired, followed by the
-shouts of a mob intoxicated with joy. Don Miguel, perplexed by the scene
-which had taken place in his presence, and who began to suspect a
-mystery in the governor's conduct, turned to him to ask an explanation
-of the Indian chief's words--an explanation the governor luckily
-escaped, owing to the eagerness of the people who flocked up to
-congratulate the prisoners on their release.
-
-On reaching the gate of the Cabildo, General Ventura bowed courteously
-to the two gentlemen, and hurried into his palace, happy at having
-escaped so cheaply, and not tearing with his own hands the cloak of
-generosity which he had paraded in the sight of his prisoners.
-
-"What do you think of all that?" the hacendero asked his friend.
-
-"Hum!" General Ibañez muttered, "The governor's conduct seems to me
-rather queer; but, no matter, we are free. I confess to you, my friend,
-that I should have no objection to go a little distance from this place,
-the air of which, despite General Ventura's protestations, appears to me
-remarkably unhealthy for us."
-
-At this moment, and ere Don Miguel could answer, the general felt a
-slight touch on his shoulders; he turned and saw Curumilla before him,
-with a smiling face. Don Miguel and the general suppressed a cry of joy
-at the sight of the grave and excellent Indian.
-
-"Come!" he said to them, laconically.
-
-They followed him, with some difficulty, through the crowd that
-accompanied them with shouts, and whom they were obliged to stop and
-thank. On reaching a small street near the square, and which was nearly
-deserted, Curumilla led them to a house before which he stopped.
-
-"It is here," he said, as he tapped twice.
-
-The door opened, and they entered a courtyard, in which were three ready
-saddled horses, held by a groom, which they at once mounted.
-
-"Thanks, brother," the hacendero said, warmly, as he pressed the chiefs
-hand; "but how did you learn our deliverance?"
-
-The Araucano smiled pleasantly. "Let us go," he said, making no other
-answer.
-
-"Where to?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"To join Koutonepi."
-
-The three men started at full speed. Ten minutes later they were out of
-the town, and galloping across the plain.
-
-"Oh!" General Ibañez said, gaily, "How pleasant the fresh air is! How
-good it is to inhale it after remaining for two months stifled between
-the walls of a prison!"
-
-"Shall we soon arrive? Don Miguel asked.
-
-"In an hour," the chief answered.
-
-And they went on with renewed speed.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIX.
-
-THE MEETING.
-
-
-On reaching a spot where the trail they were following formed a species
-of fork, Curumilla stopped, and the two gentlemen imitated him.
-
-"That is your road," the Araucano chief said. "At the end of that path
-you will see Koutonepi's bivouac fire. I must leave you here."
-
-After uttering these words, Curumilla turned his horse and started,
-after giving them a parting wave of the hand. The Unicorn was not much
-of a talker naturally; generally, he did more than he said. His friends,
-convinced that urgent necessity could alone have forced him thus to
-break through his habits, made no observation, but let him go. When they
-were alone, they gently relaxed the pace of their horses, and proceeded
-at a canter.
-
-General Ibañez was radiant. He inhaled the fresh air Of the desert,
-which dilated his wide chest, revelling in his liberty. He thought of
-nothing but enjoying the present, regardless of the past, which, with
-his careless character, he had already forgotten, only to dream of the
-future, which he gazed on through a prism of brilliant hues. Don Miguel,
-on the contrary, felt, during the last few moments, a sad melancholy
-invade his mind. Not able to account for the emotion he experienced, he
-had a species of secret presentiment that a misfortune was suspended
-over his head. In vain did he try to dispel these ideas, but they
-constantly returned more obstinately than ever and it was with a sort of
-dread that he advanced in the direction where he was to meet Valentine,
-although he was his best friend, so much did he fear that he would greet
-his arrival with evil tidings.
-
-The two gentlemen went on thus for nearly half an hour without
-exchanging a syllable; but, just as they turned a corner in the path,
-they saw a horseman about thirty paces in front of them, barring the
-road, and apparently waiting for them. The Mexicans examined him
-attentively. He was a tall man, well armed, and wearing the garb of the
-rich hacenderos; but, singularly enough, a black velvet mask prevented
-them distinguishing his features. By an instinctive movement Don Miguel
-and his friend moved a hand to their holsters, but they were empty.
-
-"What is to be done?" the hacendero asked the general.
-
-"Go on, of course. We have just escaped too great a peril for us to fear
-this. Even in the event of the mysterious being planted there before us,
-like an equestrian statue, trying to play us a trick, which is not
-impossible."
-
-"Let us trust to Heaven," Don Miguel muttered, and pushed on.
-
-The distance separating them from the stranger was soon cleared. On
-coming within five yards of him, they stopped.
-
-"_Santas tardes_, caballeros," said the stranger, in a friendly voice.
-
-"_Santas tardes_!" the gentlemen answered, in accord.
-
-"I salute you, Don Miguel Zarate, and you, General Ibañez," the stranger
-then said. "I am happy to see you at length safe and sound out of the
-claws of that worthy General Ventura, who, if he could, would certainly
-have played you a trick."
-
-"Caballero," Don Miguel made answer, "I thank you for the kind words you
-address to me, and which can only come from a friend's lips. I should be
-pleased if you would take off the mask that conceals your features, so
-that I may recognise you."
-
-"Gentlemen, if I removed my mask you would be disappointed, for my
-features are unfamiliar to you. Do not be angry with me for keeping it
-on; but, be assured that you are not mistaken with regard to me, and I
-am really your friend."
-
-The two Mexicans bowed courteously to each other, and the stranger went
-on.
-
-"I knew that so soon as you were free you would hasten to join that
-worthy hunter Valentine, whom the trappers and gambusinos along the
-frontier have christened the 'Trail-hunter.' I placed myself here, where
-you must infallibly pass, in order to make you a communication of the
-utmost importance, which interests you extremely."
-
-"I am listening, sir," Don Miguel responded with secret alarm; "and I
-beg you to accept, beforehand, my sincere thanks for the step you have
-taken on my behalf."
-
-"You will thank me when the proper time comes, Don Miguel. Today I only
-warn you: at a later date I hope to aid you, and my help will not prove
-useless."
-
-"Speak, sir! You excite my curiosity to the highest pitch, and I am
-anxious to learn the news of which you have condescended to be the
-bearer."
-
-The stranger shook his head sadly, and there was a moment's silence.
-This meeting of three horsemen, one of whom was masked, in this deserted
-place, where no sound troubled the imposing silence of solitude, had
-something strange about it. At length the mask spoke again.
-
-"Two months have elapsed, Don Miguel, since, through the treachery of
-Red Cedar, you were arrested and made prisoner at the Paso del Norte.
-Many events of which you are ignorant have occurred since then; but
-there is one I must inform you of at once. On the very night of your
-arrest, at the moment you laid down your arms, your daughter was carried
-off by Red Cedar."
-
-"My daughter!" the hacendero exclaimed; "And Valentine to whom I
-confided her, and who was responsible for her safety?"
-
-"Valentine attempted impossibilities to save her; but what can one man
-effect against twenty?"
-
-Don Miguel shook his head mournfully.
-
-"After researches, long, sterile, and extraordinary efforts, a man
-providentially aided by Father Seraphin, at length succeeded last night
-in taking Doña Clara from her ravishers; but Red Cedar, advised by some
-extraordinary chance, entered the house where the maiden had sought
-shelter, and carried her off again."
-
-"Oh! I will avenge myself on that man!" the hacendero shouted,
-passionately.
-
-The stranger's eyes flashed with a lurid light though the holes in his
-mask.
-
-"You will find your son and Father Seraphin with Valentine. Red Cedar
-intends to start this evening at the head of a band of gambusinos, to go
-into the deserts of the Rio Gila in search of a placer, which his
-accomplice, Fray Ambrosio, had indicated to him."
-
-"Fray Ambrosio!" the hacendero repeated, in stupor.
-
-"Yes. Your former chaplain, who served as spy to the squatter, revealed
-your plans to him, and provided him the means to enter the hacienda and
-carry off your daughter."
-
-"Good," Don Miguel said, in a hollow voice. "I will remember."
-
-"Red Cedar, I know not with what design, is taking your daughter with
-him into the desert."
-
-"I will follow him, were it for a thousand leagues," Don Miguel said,
-resolutely. "Thanks to you for having instructed me so fully. But whence
-comes the interest you take in me so gratuitously, since, as you say, I
-do not know you?"
-
-"You shall learn at a later date, Don Miguel. Now, before I leave you,
-one last word--an earnest warning."
-
-"I listen attentively, caballero."
-
-"Do not tell anyone--not even the French hunter, not even your son--of
-our meeting. Let this secret be buried in your breast. When you reach
-the far west, if you see before you, at one of your bivouacs, a piece of
-mahogany bearing the impress of a horse's shoe, rise at midnight, and
-leave the camp, not letting anyone see you. When you have gone one
-hundred paces in the tall grass, whistle thrice; a similar whistle will
-answer you, and then you will learn many things important for you to
-know, but which I cannot tell you today."
-
-"Good. Thanks. I will do what you tell me."
-
-"You promised it?"
-
-"I swear it on my word as a gentleman," Don Miguel said, as he took off
-his hat.
-
-"I accept your oath. Farewell."
-
-"Farewell."
-
-The stranger dug his spurs into his horse's sides and the animal started
-off as if impelled by a tornado.
-
-The two gentlemen looked after him for a long time, admiring the grace
-and ease of his movements; at length, when horse and rider had
-disappeared in the distance, Don Miguel went on again pensively, while
-saying to the general--
-
-"Who can that man be?"
-
-"I know no more than you do. _Viva Cristo_!" his friend answered, "but I
-assure you I will know, even if to do so I have to search all the
-thickets and caverns in the desert."
-
-"What," Don Miguel exclaimed, "do you intend to come with me?"
-
-"Did you ever doubt it, Don Miguel? If so, you insulted me. You will
-need all your friends to go in search of your daughter, and inflict on
-that demon of a gringo squatter the chastisement he deserves. No, no; I
-will not leave you under such circumstances, for that would be
-committing a bad action; besides, I shall not be sorry," he added with a
-smile, "to get out of the sight of the government for a time."
-
-"My friend, I thank you," the hacendero said, as he took his hand. "I
-have long known that you were entirely devoted to me; I am pleased to
-receive this new proof of your friendship."
-
-"And you accept it?" the general asked gaily.
-
-"Most heartily; the help of an iron arm like yours must be most useful
-to me under the painful circumstances in which I am placed."
-
-"That is settled, then; we will start together, _Mil rayas!_ and I swear
-we will deliver Doña Clara."
-
-"May Heaven grant it," the hacendero said, sadly.
-
-The conversation then dropped, and the two friends proceeded in silence.
-A quarter of an hour later they reached the Trail-hunter's bivouac.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVI.
-
-DOÑA CLARA.
-
-
-Valentine had been warned, nearly an hour previously, by Unicorn of the
-result of the negotiations with the governor of Santa Fe, and the
-immediate liberation of the prisoners; he was, therefore, expecting
-them. Though they were ignorant where to find him, Valentine presumed
-that the chief would leave some Indian to direct them, and, therefore,
-did not feel at all surprised at seeing them. So soon as he noticed
-their approach he walked to meet them, followed by Don Pablo and the
-missionary, while the hacendero and his comrade on their side pricked
-on to join them sooner.
-
-A few hours were spent, after the first greetings were over, in a
-conference, of which the poor child so audaciously carried off was the
-sole subject. Valentine drew up with his friends the plan of the
-campaign against Red Cedar, which was so daring that it would have made
-a European nervous; but the free adventurers who were about to carry it
-out in no way feared the mysterious dangers of the desert which they
-were going to confront. We say, free, because Father Seraphin had taken
-leave of his friends and found Unicorn, with whom he wished to go to the
-Comanche villages, in the hope of spreading the light of the Gospel
-there. Still, he did not despair about, meeting his friends in the
-prairies, whither he was himself proceeding. Toward evening, Curumilla
-arrived. The Araucano was covered with dust, and his face damp with
-perspiration; Not uttering a word, he sat down by the fire, took his
-calumet from his girdle, and began smoking. Valentine let him do so
-without asking a question, but so soon as he saw him absorbed in his
-pipe, he laid his hand on his shoulder.
-
-"Well?" he said to him.
-
-"Curumilla has seen them."
-
-"Good; are they numerous?"
-
-"Ten times the number of fingers on my two hands, and one more."
-
-"_Caramba!_" Valentine exclaimed, "Are they so many as that? We shall
-have a tough job in that case."
-
-"They are bold hunters," the chief added.
-
-"Hum! Do you know when they will start?"
-
-"This evening, when the new moon rises."
-
-"Ah, ah! I read their plan," the hunter said. "They intend crossing the
-ford of the Toro before day."
-
-Curumilla bowed his head in affirmation.
-
-"That is true," Valentine remarked; "once the ford is passed they will
-be in the desert, and have comparatively nothing to fear, or at least
-they suppose so. I must confess," he added, addressing his friends,
-"that Red Cedar is a remarkably clever scoundrel; nothing, escapes him,
-but this time he has a' tough adversary. I have my revenge to take on
-him, and, with the help of Heaven, it shall be exemplary."
-
-"What shall we do?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Sleep," Valentine answered, "we have still several hours before us, so
-let us profit by them; in the new life we are beginning, we must neglect
-nothing, the body and mind must repose, so that we may act vigorously."
-
-Curumilla had slipped away but now returned, bringing with him two
-rifles, pistols, and knives.
-
-"My brothers had no weapons," he said, as he laid his load before the
-Mexicans.
-
-The latter thanked him heartily; for, owing to the foresight of
-Curumilla, who thought of everything, they could now enter the desert
-boldly. Two minutes later the five men were fast asleep, and we will
-take advantage of their slumber to return to Red Cedar, whom we left on
-the point of climbing through Doña Clara's window, while Fray Ambrosio
-and Andrés Garote were watching at either end of the street.
-
-At one bound the bandit was in the room, after breaking open the window
-with a blow of his fist. Doña Clara, suddenly aroused, leaped from the
-bed, uttering fearful cries at the sight of the terrible apparition
-before her.
-
-"Silence," Red Cedar said to her, in a threatening voice, as he placed
-the point of his knife on her chest, "one cry more, and I kill you like
-a dog."
-
-The maiden, trembling with fright, looked pitifully at the bandit; but
-Red Cedar's face wore such an expression of cruelty, that she understood
-how little she had to hope from this man. She addressed a silent prayer
-to Heaven, and resigned herself to her fate. The bandit gagged the poor
-child with the rebozo that lay on the bed, threw her over his shoulder,
-and clambered out of the window again. So soon as he put foot on the
-ground, he whistled lightly for his comrades to rejoin him, which they
-did immediately, and, still carrying his burthen, he proceeded with them
-in the direction of the Rancho del Coyote.
-
-During the walk, which was not a long one, the bandits did not meet a
-soul. Andrés opened the door and lit a candle; the ruffians entered, and
-the door was carefully bolted again. Thus, after only a few hours of
-liberty, the wretched girl had fallen once more into the hands of her
-ravishers, and placed again by them in the wretched room where she had
-spent so many days in prayer and weeping. Red Cedar carried Doña Clara,
-who was in a half-fainting state, to her room, removed the rebozo, and
-then returned to the bar.
-
-"There;" he said, with satisfaction, "that is all right; the sheep has
-returned to the fold. What do you say, reverend father? This time let us
-hope she will not escape us."
-
-The monk smiled.
-
-"We shall do well in not remaining here long," he said.
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because this hiding place is known and will soon be visited."
-
-The squatter shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Listen! Fray Ambrosio," he said, with a sinister grimace, which he
-intended for a smile. "I predict that, rogue as you are, you run a great
-chance of dying in a fool's skin, if you are not flayed beforehand,
-which may easily be the case."
-
-The monk shuddered. Red Cedar's gaiety had the peculiarity of being even
-more fearful than his anger. The squatter sat down on a bench, and
-turned to the gambusino.
-
-"Drink!" he said roughly.
-
-Garote fetched a jar of mezcal, which he placed before his terrible
-accomplice. The latter, not taking the trouble to pour the liquor into a
-glass, raised the jar to his lips, and drank till breath failed him.
-
-"Hum!" he said, with a click of his tongue, "That's pleasant tipple when
-you're thirsty. Listen to my orders, my dear children, and try to carry
-them out to the letter; or, if not, your roguish hides will bear the
-blame."
-
-The three men bowed silently.
-
-"You, Nathan," he went on, "will come with me, for you are not wanted
-here, but your presence is necessary at. Cerro Prieto, where our
-comrades are encamped."
-
-"I will follow you," the young man replied, laconically.
-
-"Good! Now, you others, bear this carefully in mind:--Our enemies will
-never suppose that I have made such a mistake as to bring my prisoner
-back here; for that is so absurd, that the idea will never enter their
-heads; so you can be at ease, and no one will trouble your peace of
-mind. Tomorrow, so soon as the moon rises, you will make the girl put on
-an Indian dress, mount her, and come to me at Cerro Prieto. Immediately
-after your arrival we shall start."
-
-"Good!" Fray Ambrosio answered. "We will take care."
-
-"I expect so; for, if you do not, I wouldn't give a _cuartillo_ for your
-accursed hide, my reverend friend."
-
-After uttering these friendly words, the squatter seized the jar of
-mezcal, emptied it at a draught, and sent it flying across the room,
-where it broke to pieces.
-
-"Good bye till tomorrow," he then said, "come, Nathan."
-
-"Till tomorrow," they answered.
-
-The squatter and his son left the rancho, and walked on silently side by
-side, plunged in gloomy reflections produced by the events of the night.
-They soon left the town. The night was gloomy, but darkness did not
-exist for squatters accustomed to find their way anywhere, and never
-dreaming of going astray. They walked thus for a long time, with slung
-rifle, not exchanging a word, but listening to the slightest noise and
-sounding, the darkness with their tiger-cat eyes. All at once they heard
-the firm footfall of a man coming towards them. They cocked their
-rifles, ready for any emergency. A voice was then heard, though the
-person to whom it belonged was invisible.
-
-"My brothers must not fire; they would kill a friend."
-
-The words were Apache--a language well known to the squatters.
-
-"Tis an Indian," said Nathan.
-
-"Do you think I did not recognise him?" Red Cedar replied, brutally;
-"then," he added, in the same dialect, "there are no friends in the
-shadow of the desert. My brother must get out of my path, or I will kill
-him like a coyote."
-
-"Is it thus," the Indian continued, "that the 'maneater' receives the
-guide whom Stanapat, the Great Chief of the Apaches, sends him? In that
-case, good-bye. I will retire."
-
-"One moment," the squatter said, sharply, as he lowered his rifle, and
-made his son a sign to follow his example. "I could not guess who you
-were. Advance without fear and be welcome, brother, for I was anxiously
-expecting you."
-
-The Indian stepped forward. He wore the costume and characteristic paint
-of the Apache warriors; in a word, he was so well disguised, that
-Valentine himself could not, have recognised in him his friend,
-Eagle-wing the Chief of the Coras, though it was he.
-
-Red Cedar, delighted at the arrival of his guide, received him in the
-most affable manner. He had long been acquainted with Stanapat, the most
-ferocious warrior of all the Indian nations that traverse the immense
-regions of the Rio Gila, and whom we shall presently visit. After
-several questions, which Eagle-wing answered without hesitation or once
-tripping, Red Cedar, convinced that he was really the man the Apache
-chief had promised to send him, dismissed all doubt, and conversed with
-him in the most friendly spirit, inquiring after certain warriors he had
-formerly known.
-
-"What is my brother's name?" he asked, in conclusion.
-
-"The Heart of Stone!" Eagle-wing replied.
-
-"Good!" the squatter said, "My brother has a grand name. He must be a
-renowned warrior in his tribe."
-
-A short time after, the three men reached the camp of the gambusinos,
-established in a formidable position on the top of a rock called the
-Cerro Prieto (Black Mountain). The miners greeted Red Cedar's arrival
-with the most lively joy, for his presence announced a speedy departure;
-and all these semi-savages, the greater part of whose life had been
-spent in the prairies, were anxious to quit civilization to re-assume
-their adventurous career, which was so full of charms and strange
-incidents.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVII.
-
-EL VADO DEL TORO.
-
-
-Red Cedar reasoned correctly when he told Fray Ambrosio and Garote that
-Doña Clara was in safety at the rancho, and no one would dream of
-seeking her there. In truth, Valentine knew the squatter's cunning too
-well to suppose that he would commit the impudence of bringing his
-prisoner back to the very spot where she was discovered.
-
-The squatter's two accomplices passed the day quietly in playing, on
-credit, at monte; each cheating with a dexterity which did honor to
-their knowledge of that noble game. No one came to disturb them, or cast
-an indiscreet glance into this famous den, which, in the bright
-sunshine, had an air of respectability pleasant to look on, and amply
-sufficient to dispel all suspicions. About nine in the evening, the
-moon, though new, rose magnificently on a deep blue sky, studded with
-brilliant stars.
-
-"I fancy it is time to get ready, gossip," Fray Ambrosio said, "the moon
-is peering through the trees in your neighbour's garden."
-
-"You are right, señor Padre, we will be off; but let me, I implore you,
-first finish this deal; it is one of the most magnificent I ever
-witnessed. _Caspita!_ I will bet a nugget as big as my thumb on the
-seven of clubs."
-
-"I'll back the two of spades. Something tells me it will turn up first,
-especially if you pull up the sleeves of your jacket, which must be
-horribly in the way when dealing."
-
-"Oh dear, no, I assure you; but stay, what did I tell you? There is the
-seven of clubs."
-
-"That is really extraordinary," Fray Ambrosio replied, with feigned
-surprise, for he was not duped by the gambusino's trickery; "but I fancy
-we had better make haste."
-
-"Decidedly," said Andrés, as he hid his greasy cards in his vaquera
-boots, and proceeded to the room in which Doña Clara was confined. She
-followed him out, weeping bitterly.
-
-"Come, come," the gambusino said to her, "dry your tears, señorita; we
-do not mean you any harm. Hang it all! Who knows but this may end
-perhaps better than you expect; ask that holy monk what he thinks."
-
-Fray Ambrosio bowed an assent, but the maiden made no response to the
-gambusino's consolation; she allowed herself to be disguised
-unresistingly, but still continued to weep.
-
-"In truth, it is absurd," the worthy Andrés muttered, in an aside to
-himself, while attiring his prisoner and looking covetously at the
-pearls with which she was adorned, "to waste gold and pearls in this
-fashion; would it not be much better to use them in buying something
-serviceable? What she has on her is worth at least three thousand
-piastres--what a splendid game of monte a fellow could have with that
-sum--and if that demon of a Red Cedar had only been willing--well, we
-shall see presently."
-
-While making these judicious reflections, the gambusino had completed
-the maiden's Indian toilet. He perfected the disguise by throwing a
-zarapé over her shoulders; then giving a parting glance round his
-domicile, he put in his pocket a pack of cards accidentally left on the
-table, drank a large glass of spirits, and left the room, followed by
-Doña Clara and the monk, who, in spite of the varying incidents of the
-last few days had regained all his good humour, doubtless owing to the
-good company in which he was, and the game of monte--that inveterate
-passion in every Mexican.
-
-Doña Clara was placed on a horse; Andrés and the monk also mounted, and
-leaving the house to the problemical care of Providence, the gambusino
-gave the signal for departure. He made a wide circuit, to avoid passing
-through the Presidio, and then started at a gallop in the direction of
-the Cerro Prieto.
-
-Red Cedar had lost no time, and all was ready for departure. The
-newcomers did not even dismount, but so soon as they were sighted, the
-caravan, composed, as we have stated of some hundred and twenty resolute
-men, after forming in Indian file, started in the direction of the
-prairies, having first prudently detached two scouts to watch the
-neighbourhood.
-
-Nothing is so mournful as a night march in an unknown country, covered
-with snares of every description, when you fear least the ever-watchful
-enemy may pounce on you from every bush. Thus, the gambusinos, restless,
-and starting at the slightest rustling of the leaves, advanced silently
-and gloomily, with their eyes fixed on the clumps that grew along the
-wayside, rifle in hand, ready to fire at the slightest suspicious
-movement. They marched, however, for upwards of three hours, and nothing
-happened to justify their fears; a solemn calmness continued to prevail
-around them. Gradually these apprehensions were dissipated; they began
-talking in a suppressed voice, and laughing at their past terrors, when
-they reached, on the banks of the Del Norte, the _vado_, or Ford del
-Toro.
-
-In the interior of Southern America, and specially in New Mexico, a
-country still almost entirely unknown, the means of communication are
-_nil_, and consequently bridges may be looked for in vain. There are
-only two methods of crossing even the widest rivers--looking for a ford,
-or, if you are in a great hurry, forcing your horse into the oft-times
-rapid current, and trying to reach the other bank by swimming.
-
-The squatter had selected the first method, and in a few minutes the
-whole party was in the water. Although the ground of the ford was
-uneven, and at times the horses were up to their chests, and compelled
-to swim, the gambusinos managed to get across safely. The only persons
-left on the bank were Red Cedar, Eagle-wing, the guide, Doña Clara, and
-Andrés Garote.
-
-"It is our turn now, Heart of Stone," the squatter said, addressing
-Eagle-wing; "you see that our men are in safety, and only await us to
-set out again."
-
-"The squaw first," the Indian replied, laconically.
-
-"That is true, chief," the squatter said, and, turning to the prisoner,
-"Go across," he said to her, coarsely.
-
-The maiden, not deigning to answer, boldly made her horse enter the
-river, and the three men followed. The night was dark, the sky covered
-with clouds, and the moon, constantly veiled, only shone forth at
-lengthened intervals, which rendered the passage difficult and even
-dangerous, as it did not allow objects to be distinguished, even at a
-distance. Still, after a few seconds, Red Cedar fancied he saw that Doña
-Clara's horse was not following the line traced by the ford, but was
-turning to the left, as if carried away by the current. He pushed his
-horse forward, to assure himself of the reality of the fact; but
-suddenly a vigorous hand seized his right leg, and before he could even
-think of resisting, he was hurled back into the water, and his throat
-seized by an Indian. Andrés Garote hurried to his assistance.
-
-During this time, Doña Clara's horse, probably obeying a hidden impulse,
-was proceeding still further from the spot where the gambusinos had
-landed. Some of them, at the head of whom were Dick, Harry, and the
-squatter's three sons, perceiving what was going on, returned to the
-water, to proceed to their chiefs help, while the others, guided by Fray
-Ambrosio, galloped down the river bank, in order to cut off retreat,
-when Doña Clara's horse landed.
-
-Andrés Garote, after several fruitless efforts, succeeded in catching
-Red Cedar's horse, which he brought to him at the moment when the latter
-had scalped his enemy. The American got into his saddle again, reached
-the bank, and tried to restore some order among his band, while actually
-watching the incidents of the silent drama being played in the river
-between Eagle-wing and the young Spanish girl.
-
-The Coras sachem had urged his steed in pursuit of Doña Clara's, and
-both were following almost the same line down the stream, the former
-striving to catch up the latter, who, for her part, was doing her utmost
-to widen the distance between them. Suddenly the Coras horse gave a
-leap, while uttering a snort of pain, and began madly beating the water
-with its forelegs, while the river was tinged with blood around it. The
-chief, perceiving that his horse was mortally wounded, leaped from the
-saddle, and leant over the side, ready to leap off. At this moment, a
-hideous face appeared flush with water, and a hand was stretched out to
-grasp him. With that imperturbable coolness that never deserts the
-Indians, even under the most critical circumstances, the Coras seized
-his tomahawk, split his enemy's skull open, and glided into the river.
-
-A formidable war yell was, at this moment, heard from the forest, and
-some fifty shots were fired from both banks at once, illumining the
-scene with their fugitive flashes. A multitude of redskins rushed on the
-gambusinos, and a terrible fight commenced. The Mexicans, taken
-unawares, defended themselves at first poorly, giving ground and seeking
-shelter behind trees; but, obeying the thundering voice of the squatter,
-who performed prodigies of valor while exciting his comrades to sell
-their lives dearly, they regained courage, formed in close column, and
-charged the Indians furiously, beating them down with the butts of their
-muskets, or slashing them with their machetes.
-
-The combat was short; the redskins, who were only a party of marauding
-Pawnees, seeing the ill-result of their surprise, grew discouraged, and
-disappeared as rapidly as they had come. Two minutes later calmness and
-silence were so perfectly re-established, that had it not been for a few
-wounded gambusinos, and several Indians stretched dead on the
-battlefield, the strange scene would have appeared as a dream.
-
-So soon as the Indians were routed, Red Cedar bent an eager glance up
-the river; on that side the struggle was also over, and Eagle-wing,
-mounted behind the young lady, was guiding her horse to the bank, which
-it soon reached.
-
-"Well?" the squatter asked.
-
-"The Pawnees are cowardly coyotes," the Coras answered, pointing to two
-human scalps that hung all bloody from his girdle; "they fly like old
-women, so soon as they see the war plume of a warrior of my nation."
-
-"Good!" the squatter said, gleefully, "My brother is a great warrior; he
-has a friend."
-
-The Coras bowed with a smile of indescribable meaning. His object was
-gained; he had acquired the confidence of the man he meant to destroy.
-Doña Clara, Ellen, and the squatter's wife were placed in the centre of
-the caravan, and the band started again.
-
-An hour later, a second party of horsemen also crossed the Vado del
-Toro. It was much less numerous than the first, as it consisted of only
-five men, but they were Valentine, Curumilla, Don Miguel, his son, and
-General Ibañez. The real struggle was about to commence: behind them
-they left the civilised world, to find themselves face to face on the
-desert with their enemies.
-
-(Those of our readers who take an interest in the Trail-hunter, we must
-ask to follow his adventures through a second volume, to be called--THE
-PIRATES OF THE PRAIRIES.)
-
-
-THE END
-
-
-
-
-
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-{

-  "DATA": {

-    "CREDIT": "Produced by Camilo Bernard and Marc D'Hooghe (Images at the Internet Archive, scanned by Google)"

-  }

-}

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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Trail-Hunter, by Gustave Aimard
-
-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 www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: The Trail-Hunter
-       A Tale of the Far West
-
-Author: Gustave Aimard
-
-Translator: Lascelles Wraxall
-
-Release Date: February 17, 2013 [EBook #42115]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAIL-HUNTER ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Camilo Bernard and Marc D'Hooghe at
-http://www.freeliterature.org (Images at the Internet
-Archive, scanned by Google)
-
-
-
-
-
-THE TRAIL HUNTER.
-
-A TALE OF THE FAR WEST.
-
-BY
-
-GUSTAVE AIMARD,
-
-AUTHOR OF "THE PRAIRIE FLOWER," "THE INDIAN CHIEF," ETC.
-
-
-LONDON:
-
-WARD AND LOCK,
-
-158, FLEET STREET.
-
-1861.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE.
-
-
-The present volume of Aimard's Indian Tales is devoted to the earlier
-adventures of those hunters, whose acquaintance the reader has formed,
-I trust with pleasure, in the preceding series. It does not become me to
-say anything further in its favour, than that the sustained interest of
-the narrative, which has been regarded as the charm of stories referring
-to life in the desert and prairie, has not been departed from in this
-instance. The stories themselves supply an innate proof of the writer's
-correctness to Nature, and, in truth, many of the scenes are so
-startling that they must be the result of personal observation.
-
-In conclusion, I may be permitted to thank the Press generally for the
-kindly aid they have afforded me in making the English translation of
-Aimard's volumes known to the British reading public, and the hearty way
-in which they have recognized the merits of the previous series. It
-would be an easy task to collect paragraphs, expressing a belief that
-Aimard is second to none of the writers who have hitherto described
-Indian life and scenery; but I prefer to rest my hopes of success on the
-inherent qualities of his stories.
-
-                                                      LASCELLES WRAXALL.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
-   PART I. RED CEDAR                       PART II. EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE
-
-
-   I.--The Virgin Forest                   I.--El Rancho de Coyote
-   II.--The Contest                        II.--The Cuchillada
-   III.--Don Miguel Zarate                 III.--The Hunters
-   IV.--The Peccaries                      IV.--Sunbeam
-   V.--The Wound                           V.--The Adoption
-   VI.--The Squatter's Shanty              VI.--The Missionary
-   VII.--The Rangers                       VII.--The Interview
-   VIII.--The Valley of the Buffalo        VIII.--The Prison
-   IX.--The Assassination                  IX.--The Embassy
-   X.--The Sachem of the Coras             X.--The Presentation
-   XI.--Conversation                       XI.--Psychological
-   XII.--El Meson                          XII.--Diamond Cut Diamond
-   XIII--Red Cedar                         XIII.--A Stormy Discussion
-   XIV.--The Two Hunters                   XIV.--The Mystery
-   XV.--Fray Ambrosio                      XV.--The Ambuscade
-   XVI.--Two Varieties of Villains         XVI.--A Friendly Discussion
-   XVII.--El Canyon Del Buitre             XVII.--Nathan
-   XVIII.--Father Seraphin                 XVIII.--The Wounded Man
-   XIX.--Unicorn                           XIX.--Indian Diplomacy
-   XX.--The Hunt of Wild Horses            XX--The Stranger
-   XXI.--The Surprise                      XXI.--General Ventura
-   XXII.--The Meeting                      XXII.--The Comanches
-   XXIII.--The Abduction                   XXIII.--Negotiations
-   XXIV.--The Revolt                       XXIV.--Free
-                                           XXV.--The Meeting
-                                           XXVI.--Dona Clara
-                                           XXVII.--El Vado del Toro
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-TRAIL HUNTER BY GUSTAVE AIMARD.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-THE VIRGIN FOREST.
-
-
-In Mexico the population is only divided into two classes, the upper and
-the lower. There is no intermediate rank to connect the two extremes,
-and this is the cause of the two hundred and thirty-nine revolutions
-which have overthrown this country since the declaration of its
-independence. Why this is so is simple enough. The intellectual power is
-in the hands of a small number, and all the revolutions are effected by
-this turbulent and ambitious minority; whence it results that the
-country is governed by the most complete military despotism, instead of
-being a free republic.
-
-Still the inhabitants of the States of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Texas have
-retained, even to the present day, that stern, savage, and energetic
-physiognomy which may be sought in vain among the other States of the
-Confederation.
-
-Beneath a sky colder than that of Mexico, the winter, which frequently
-covers the rivers of the region with a thick layer of ice, hardens the
-muscles of the inhabitants, cleanses their blood, purifies their hearts,
-and renders them picked men, who are distinguished for their courage,
-their intelligence, and their profound love of liberty.
-
-The Apaches, who originally inhabited the greater portion of New Mexico,
-have gradually fallen back before the axe of the pioneers; and after
-retiring into the immense deserts that cover the triangle formed by the
-Rio Gila, the Del Norte, and the Colorado, they ravage almost with
-impunity the Mexican frontiers, plundering, firing, and devastating all
-they meet with on their passage.
-
-The inhabitants of the countries we alluded to above, held in respect by
-these ever-shifting savages, are in a state of continual warfare with
-them, always ready to fight, fortifying their haciendas, and only
-travelling with weapons in their hands.
-
-El Paso del Norte may be regarded as the outpost of the civilised
-portion of Mexico. Beyond that, to the north and north-west, extend the
-vast unfilled plains of Chihuahua, the _bolson_ of Mapimi, and the arid
-deserts of the Rio Gila. These immense deserts, known by the name of
-Apacheria, are still as little investigated as they were at the close of
-the eighteenth century. El Paso del Norte owes its name to its situation
-near a ford of the Rio Del Norte. It is the oldest of all the New
-Mexican settlements, and its establishment dates back to the close of
-the sixteenth century. The present settlement is scattered for a
-distance of about ten miles along the banks of the Del Norte, and
-contains four thousand inhabitants at the most. The _plaza_, or village
-of the Paso, is situated at the head of the valley: at the other
-extremity is the Presidio of San Elezario. All the interval is occupied
-by a continuous line of white, flat-roofed houses, buried in gardens,
-and surrounded by vineyards. About a mile above the ford the stream is
-dammed up, and led by a canal into the valley, which it waters.
-Apacheria begins only a few miles from this settlement.
-
-It is easily seen that the foot of civilised man has only trodden
-timidly and at rare intervals this thoroughly primitive country, in
-which nature, free to develop herself under the omnipotent eye of the
-creator, assumes an aspect of incredible beauty and fancifulness.
-
-On a lovely morning in the month of May, which the Indians call "the
-moon of the flowers," a man of high stature, with harsh and marked
-features, mounted on a tall, half-tamed steed, started at a canter from
-the plaza, and after a few minutes of hesitation, employed in realising
-his position, resolutely buried his spurs in the horse's flanks, crossed
-the ford, and after leaving behind him the numerous cottonwood trees
-which at this spot cover the river banks, proceeded toward the dense
-forest that flashed on the horizon.
-
-This horseman was dressed in the costume generally adopted on the
-frontiers, and which was so picturesque that we will give a short
-description of it. The stranger wore a pelisse of green cloth,
-embroidered with silver, allowing a glimpse of an elegantly-worked
-shirt, the collar of which was fastened by a loosely-knotted black silk
-handkerchief, the ends passed through a diamond ring. He wore green
-cloth breeches, trimmed with silver, and two rows of buttons of the same
-metal, and fastened round the hips by a red silken scarf with gold
-fringe. The breeches, open on the side half way up the thigh, displayed
-his fine linen drawers beneath: his legs were defended by a strip of
-brown embossed and stamped leather, called _botas vaqueras_, attached
-below the knee by a silver garter. On his heels enormous spurs clanked.
-A _manga_, glistening with gold, and drawn up on the shoulder, protected
-the upper part of his body, while his head was sheltered from the
-burning sunbeams by a broad-leafed hat of brown stamped felt, the crown
-of which was contracted by a large silver _toquilla_ passed twice or
-thrice round it.
-
-His steed was caparisoned with graceful luxuriousness, which heightened
-all its beautiful points: a rich saddle of embossed leather, adorned
-with massive silver, on the back of which the _zarape_ was fastened;
-wide Moorish silver stirrups, and handsome water bottles at the
-saddle-bow; while an elegant _anquera_, made of openwork leather, and
-decorated with small steel chains, entirely covered the horse's croup,
-and sparkled with its slightest movement.
-
-The stranger appeared, judging from the luxury he displayed, to belong
-to the high class of society. A _machete_ hung down his right side,
-two pistols were passed through his girdle, the handle of a long knife
-protruded from his right boot, and he held a superbly damascened rifle
-across the saddle in front of him.
-
-Bending over the neck of his galloping steed, he advanced rapidly
-without looking round him, although the landscape that lay extended
-before him was one of the most attractive and majestic in those regions.
-
-The river formed the most capricious windings in the centre of a terrain
-diversified in a thousand strange ways. Here and there on the sandy
-banks enormous trees might be seen lying, which, dried up by the sun,
-evidenced, in their washed-out appearance, that they had been dead for
-centuries. Near the shallow and marshy spots, caymans and alligators
-wandered about awkwardly. At other places, where the river ran almost
-straight, its banks were uniform, and covered with tall trees, round
-which creepers had twined, and then struck root in the ground again,
-thus forming the most inextricable confusion. Here and there small
-clearings or marshy spots might be detected in the midst of the dense
-wood, often piled up with trees that had died of old age. Further on,
-other trees, which seemed still young, judging from their colour and the
-solidity of their bark, fell into dust with the slightest breath of
-wind.
-
-At times, the earth, entirely undermined beneath, drawn down by its own
-weight, dragged with it the wood which it bore, and produced a crashing,
-confused sound, which was returned on all sides by the echo, and
-possessed a certain degree of grandeur in this desert, whose depths no
-man has ever yet ventured to scrutinise.
-
-Still the stranger galloped on, with his eye ardently fixed before him,
-and not appearing to see anything. Several hours passed thus: the
-horseman buried himself deeper in the forest. He had left the banks of
-the river, and only progressed with extreme difficulty, through the
-entanglement of branches, grass, and shrubs, which at every step
-arrested his movements, and forced him to make innumerable turnings. He
-merely reined in his horse now and then, took a glance at the sky, and
-then started again, muttering to himself but one word:
-
-"_Adelante_! (Forward!)"
-
-At length he stopped in a vast clearing, took a suspicious glance around
-him, and probably reassured by the leaden silence which weighed on the
-desert, he dismounted, hobbled his horse, and took off its bridle that
-it might browse on the young tree shoots. This duty accomplished, he
-carelessly lay down on the ground, rolled a maize cigarette in his
-fingers, produced a gold _mechero_ from his waist belt, and struck a
-light.
-
-The clearing was of considerable extent. On one side the eye could
-survey with ease, through the trees, the widely extending prairie, on
-which deer were browsing with security. On the other side, the forest,
-wilder than ever, seemed, on the contrary, an impassable wall of
-verdure. All was abrupt and primitive at this spot, which the foot of
-man had so rarely trodden. Certain trees, either entirely or partially
-dried up, offered the vigorous remains of a rich and fertile soil;
-others, equally ancient, were sustained by the twisted creepers, which
-in the course of time almost equalled their original support in size:
-the diversity of the leaves produced the strangest possible mixture.
-Others, containing in their hollow trunk a manure which, formed of the
-remains of their leaves and half-dead branches, had warmed the seeds
-they had let fall, and offered, in the young shoots they contained, some
-compensation for the loss of their father tree.
-
-In the prairies, nature, ever provident, seems to have been desirous to
-shelter from the insults of time certain old trees, patriarchs of the
-forest which are crushed beneath the weight of ages, by forming them a
-cloak of greyish moss, which hangs in festoons from the highest branches
-to the ground, assuming the wildest and most fantastic shapes.
-
-The stranger, lying on his back, with his head resting on his two
-crossed hands, was smoking with that beatitude, full of ease and sloth,
-which is peculiar to the Hispano-Americans. He only interrupted this
-gentle occupation to roll a fresh cigarette and cast a glance around,
-while muttering:
-
-"Hum! He keeps me waiting a long time."
-
-He emitted a puff of bluish smoke, and resumed his first position.
-Several hours passed thus. Suddenly, a rather loud rustling was heard in
-the thicket, some distance behind the stranger.
-
-"Ah, ah!" he said, "I fancy my man is coming at last."
-
-In the meanwhile, the sound became louder, and rapidly approached.
-
-"Come on, hang it!" the horseman shouted, as he rose. "By our Lady of
-Pilar! You have surely been keeping me waiting long enough."
-
-Nothing appeared: the clearing was still deserted, although the sound
-had attained a certain degree of intensity. The stranger, surprised at
-the obstinate silence of the man he was addressing, and specially by his
-continuing not to show himself, at length rose to see for himself the
-reason. At this moment, his horse pricked up its ears, snorted
-violently, and made a sudden effort to free itself from the lasso that
-held it; but our new acquaintance rushed toward it and patted it. The
-horse trembled all over, and made prodigious bounds in order to escape.
-The stranger, more and more surprised, looked round for an explanation
-of these extraordinary movements, and was soon satisfied.
-
-Scarce twenty yards from him a magnificent jaguar, with a
-splendidly-spotted hide, was crouched on the main branch of an enormous
-cypress, and fixed on him two ferocious eyes, as it passed its
-blood-red, rugged tongue over its lips with a feline pleasure.
-
-"Ah, ah!" the stranger said to himself in a low voice, but displaying no
-further excitement, "I did not expect you; but no matter, you are
-welcome, comrade. _Caray_! We shall have a fight for it."
-
-Without taking his eye off the jaguar, he convinced himself that his
-machete quitted its scabbard readily, picked up his rifle, and, after
-these precautions were taken, he advanced resolutely toward the
-ferocious brute, which saw him coming without changing its position. On
-arriving within ten yards of the jaguar, the stranger threw away the
-cigarette he had till now held between his lips, shouldered his rifle,
-and put his finger on the trigger. The jaguar drew itself together and
-prepared to leap forward. At the same moment a hoarse yell was heard
-from the opposite side of the clearing.
-
-"Wait a minute," the stranger said to himself with a smile; "it seems
-there are two of them, and I fancied I had to do with a bachelor jaguar.
-This is beginning to grow interesting."
-
-And he threw a glance on one side. He had not deceived himself: a second
-jaguar, rather larger than the first, had fixed its flashing eyes upon
-him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE CONTEST.
-
-
-The dwellers on the Mexican frontiers are accustomed to fight
-continually with wild animals, both men and brutes, that continually
-attack them. Hence the stranger was but slightly affected by the
-unexpected visit of the two jaguars. Although his position between his
-two ferocious enemies was somewhat precarious, and he did not at all
-conceal from himself the danger he ran alone against two, he did not the
-less resolve to confront them bravely. Not taking his eye off the jaguar
-he had first seen, he went back a few steps obliquely, so as to have his
-foes nearly opposite him, instead of standing between them. This
-manoeuvre, which demanded some little time, succeeded beyond his hopes.
-The jaguars watched him, licking their lips, and passing their paws
-behind their ears with those graceful movements peculiar to the feline
-race. The two wild beasts, certain of their prey, seemed to be playing
-with it and not over eager to pounce on it.
-
-While keeping his eye on the watch, the Mexican did not yield to any
-treacherous feeling of security: he knew that the struggle he was about
-to undertake was a supreme one, and he took his precautions. Jaguars
-never attack a man unless forced by necessity; and the latter tried,
-before all, to seize the horse. The noble animal, securely fastened by
-its master, exhausted itself in efforts to break the bonds that held it,
-and escape. It trembled with terror on scenting its ferocious enemies.
-
-The stranger, when his precautions were completely taken, shouldered his
-rifle for the second time. At this moment the jaguars raised their
-heads, while laying back their ears and snuffing anxiously. An almost
-imperceptible sound was audible in the bushes.
-
-"Who goes there?" the Mexican asked in a loud voice.
-
-"A friend, Don Miguel Zarate," was the reply.
-
-"Ah! It is Don Valentine," the Mexican continued. "You have arrived just
-in time to see some fine sport."
-
-"Ah, ah!" the man who had already spoken went on. "Can I help you?"
-
-"It is useless; but make haste if you want to see."
-
-The branches were sharply drawn aside, and two men appeared in the
-clearing. At the sight of the jaguars they stopped, not through alarm,
-for they quietly placed the butts of their rifles on the ground, but in
-order to give the hunter every facility to emerge victoriously from his
-rash combat.
-
-The jaguars seemed to comprehend that the moment for action had arrived.
-As if by one accord, they drew themselves up and bounded on their enemy.
-The first, struck in its leap by a bullet which passed through its right
-eye, rolled on the ground, where it remained motionless. The second was
-received on the point of the hunter's machete, who after discharging his
-rifle, had fallen on his knee, with his left arm folded in his blanket
-in front, and the machete in the other hand. The man and the tiger
-writhed together in a deadly embrace, and after a few seconds only one
-of the adversaries rose: it was the man. The tiger was dead: the
-hunter's machete, guided by a firm hand, had passed right through its
-heart.
-
-During this rapid fight the newcomers had not made a sign, but remained
-stoical spectators of all that was taking place. The Mexican rose,
-thrust his machete in the grass to clean the blade, and turning coldly
-to the strangers, said:
-
-"What do you say to that?"
-
-"Splendidly played," the first answered; "it is one of the best double
-strokes I ever saw in my life."
-
-The two men threw their rifles on their shoulders, and walked up to the
-Mexican, who reloaded his piece with as much coolness and tranquillity
-as if he had not just escaped from a terrible danger by a miracle of
-skill.
-
-The sun was sinking on the horizon, the shadow of the trees assumed a
-prodigious length, and the luminary appeared like a ball of fire amid
-the limpid azure of the heavens. The night would soon arrive, and the
-desert was awaking. On all sides could be heard, in the gloomy and
-mysterious depths of the virgin forest, the hoarse howling of the
-coyotes and the other wild beasts, mingled with the song of the birds
-perched on all the branches. The desert, silent and gloomy during the
-oppressive heat of the day, emerged from its unhealthy torpor on the
-approach of dark, and was preparing to resume its nocturnal sports.
-
-The three men in the clearing collected dried branches, made a pile of
-them and set fire to it. They doubtlessly intended to camp for a portion
-of the night at this spot. So soon as the flames rose joyously, skyward
-in long spirals, the two strangers produced from their game bags maize
-tortillas, jerked meat, and a gourd of pulque. These various comestibles
-were complacently spread out on the grass, and the three men began a
-hunter's meal. When the gourd had gone the round several times, and the
-tortillas had disappeared, the newcomers lit their Indian pipes, and the
-Mexican rolled a papelito.
-
-Although this meal had been short, it lasted, however, long enough for
-night to have completely set in ere it was ended. Perfect darkness
-brooded over the clearing, the ruddy reflections of the fire played on
-the energetic faces of the three men, and gave them a fantastic
-appearance.
-
-"And now," the Mexican said, after lighting his cigarette, "I will, with
-your permission, explain to you why I was so anxious to see you."
-
-"One moment," one of the hunters answered. "You know that in the deserts
-the leaves have often eyes, and the trees ears. If I am not mistaken in
-your hints, you invited us here that our interview might be secret."
-
-"In truth, I have the greatest interest in nothing of what is said here
-being overheard, or even suspected."
-
-"Very good. Curumilla, to work."
-
-The second hunter rose, seized his rifle and disappeared noiselessly in
-the gloom. His absence was rather long; but as long as it lasted, the
-two men left at the fire did not exchange a syllable. In about half an
-hour the hunter returned, however, and seated himself by his comrades'
-side.
-
-"Well?" the one who had sent him off asked him.
-
-"My brother can speak," he replied laconically; "the desert is quiet."
-
-On this assurance the three men banished all anxiety. Still prudence did
-not abandon them: they took up their pipes, and turned their backs to
-the fire, so that they might watch the neighbourhood while conversing.
-
-"We are ready to listen to you," the first hunter said.
-
-"Listen to me with the greatest attention," the Mexican began; "what you
-are about to hear is of the utmost importance."
-
-The two men bowed silently, and the Mexican prepared to speak again.
-
-Before going further we must introduce to the reader the two men we have
-just brought on the stage, and go back a few paces in order to make it
-perfectly understood why Don Miguel Zarate, in lieu of receiving them at
-his own house, had given them the meeting in the heart of the virgin
-forest.
-
-The two hunters seemed at the first glance to be Indians; but on
-examining them more attentively, you could recognise that one of them
-belonged to those white trappers whose boldness has become proverbial in
-Mexico. Their appearance and equipment offered a singular medley of
-savage and civilised life. Their hair was of a remarkable length; for in
-those countries, where a man is frequently only fought for the glory of
-lifting his scalp, it is considered the thing to wear it long and easy
-to seize.
-
-The hunters had their hair neatly plaited, and intertwined with beaver
-skins and bright coloured ribbons. The rest of their garb harmonised with
-this specimen of their taste. A hunting shirt of bright red calico fell
-down to their knees; gaiters decorated with woolen ribbons and bells
-surrounded their legs; and their feet were shod with moccasins
-embroidered with beads which the squaws know so well how to make. A
-striped blanket, fastened round the hips by a belt of tanned deer hide,
-completed their clothing, but was not so closely drawn that at their
-every movement the butt of the pistols and the hilt of the machetes
-might be seen glistening. As for their rifles, useless at this moment,
-and carelessly thrown on the ground by their side, if they had been
-stripped of the plume-worked elk skin that covered them, it would have
-been possible to see, with what care their owners had decorated them
-with copper nails painted of various colours; for all about these two men
-bore the imprint of Indian habits.
-
-The first of the two hunters was a man of thirty-eight at the most, tall
-and well-built; his muscular limbs denoted great bodily strength, allied
-to unequalled lightness. Although he affected all the manners of the
-redskins, it was an easy matter to perceive that he not only belonged to
-the unmixed white race, but also to the Norman or Gaulish type. He was
-fair; his large, blue and pensive eyes, adorned with long lashes, had an
-expression of undefinable sadness: his nose was slightly aquiline; his
-mouth large, and filled with teeth of dazzling whiteness; a thick
-chestnut beard covered the lower part of his face, which revealed
-gentleness, kindness, and courage without boasting, though the whole
-were combined with a will of iron.
-
-His companion evidently belonged to the Indian race, all the
-characteristic signs of which he displayed; but, strange to say, he was
-not coppery like the American aborigines of Texas and North America; and
-his skin was brown and slightly of an olive hue. He had a lofty brow, a
-bent nose, small but piercing eyes, a large mouth and square chin; in
-short, he presented the complete type of the American race, which
-inhabits a limited territory in the South of Chili. This hunter had
-round his brow a purple-coloured fillet, in which was thrust over the
-right ear a plume of the Andes Eagle, a sign which serves to distinguish
-the chiefs of the Aucas.
-
-These two men, whom the reader has doubtless already recognised, as they
-played an important part in our previously published works[1], were
-Valentine Guillois, an ex-noncommissioned officer in the Spahis, and
-Curumilla, his friend--Ulmen of the Great Hare tribe.
-
-We will introduce a parenthesis to explain their present position, and
-which is indispensable for a right understanding of what follows. The
-moment is capitally selected, by the way, for opening this parenthesis;
-for the three hunters are gaily talking round their fire, the night is
-gloomy, the forest quiet, and it does not appear likely that anything
-will arise to disturb them.
-
-
-
-[1] "The Chief of the Aucas," "The Tiger Slayer," "The Gold Finders,"
-"The Indian Chief."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-DON MIGUEL ZARATE.
-
-
-Were Mexico better governed, it would be, without contradiction, one of
-the richest countries on the face of the globe. Indeed the largest
-private fortunes must still be sought in that country. Since the United
-States Americans have revealed to the world, by seizing one-half of
-Mexico, whither their ambition tends, the inhabitants of that fine
-country have slightly emerged from the torpor they enjoyed, and have
-made great efforts to colonise their provinces, and summon to their
-soil, which is so rich and fertile, intelligent and industrious
-labourers, who might change the face of affairs, and cause abundance and
-wealth to abound at spots, where, prior to their arrival, there was
-naught save ruin, desolation, carelessness, and misery.
-
-Unfortunately, the noble efforts made up to the present day have,
-through an inexplicable fatality, remained without result, either owing
-to the natural apathy of the inhabitants, or the fault of the Mexican
-Government itself. Still the large landowners, comprehending all the
-advantages of the proposed measure, and how much it is to their interest
-to combat the deadly influence of the American invasions, have
-generously devoted themselves to the realization of this great question
-of social economy, which, unluckily is growing more and more
-unrealisable.
-
-In fact, in Northern America two hostile races--the Anglo-Saxon and the
-Spanish--stand face to face. The Anglo-Saxons are devoured by an ardour
-for conquest, and a rage for invasion, which nothing can arrest, or even
-retard. It is impossible to see without amazement the expansive
-tendencies of this active and singular people, a heterogeneous composite
-of all the races which misery or evil instincts expelled from Europe
-originally, and which feels restricted in the immense territory which
-its numerical weakness yet prevents it entirely occupying.
-
-Imprisoned within its vast frontiers, making a right of strength, it is
-continually displacing its neighbours' landmarks, and encroaching on
-territory of which it can make no use. Daily, bands of emigrants abandon
-their dwellings, and with their rifles on their shoulders, their axes in
-their hand, they proceed south, as if impelled by a will stronger than
-themselves; and neither mountains, deserts, nor virgin forests are
-sufficient obstacles to make them halt even for an instant. The Yankees
-imagine themselves generally the instruments of Providence, and
-appointed by the decrees of the Omnipotent to people and civilise the
-New World. They count with feverish impatience the hours which must
-elapse ere the day (close at hand in their ideas) arrive in which their
-race and government system will occupy the entire space contained
-between Cape North and the Isthmus of Panama, to the exclusion of the
-Spanish republics on one side, and the English colonies on the other.
-
-These projects, of which the Americans make no mystery, but, on the
-contrary, openly boast, are perfectly well known to the Mexicans, who
-cordially detest their neighbours, and employ all the means in their
-power to create difficulties for them, and impede their successive
-encroachments.
-
-Among the New Mexican landowners who resolved to make sacrifices in
-order to stop, or at least check, the imminent invasion from North
-America, the richest, and possibly, first of all, through his
-intelligence and the influence he justly enjoyed in the country, was Don
-Miguel Acamarichtzin Zarate.
-
-Whatever may be asserted, the Indian population of Mexico is nearly
-double in number to the white men, and possesses an enormous influence.
-Don Miguel descended in a straight line from Acamarichtzin, first king
-of Mexico, whose name had been preserved in the family as a precious
-relic. Possessed of an incalculable fortune, Don Miguel lived on his
-enormous estates like a king in his empire, beloved and respected by the
-Indians, whom he effectively protected whenever the occasion presented
-itself, and who felt for him a veneration carried almost to idolatry;
-for they saw in him the descendant from one of their most celebrated
-kings, and the born defender of their race.
-
-In New Mexico the Indian population has very largely increased during
-the past fifty years. Some authors, indeed, assert that it is now more
-numerous than prior to the conquest, which is very probable, through the
-apathy of the Spaniards, and the carelessness they have ever displayed
-in their struggles against it. But the Indians have remained stationary
-amid the incessant progress of civilization, and still retain intact the
-principal traits of their old manners. Scattered here and there in
-miserable ranchos or villages, they live in separate tribes, governed by
-their caciques, and they have mingled but very few Spanish words with
-their idioms, which they speak as in the time of the Aztecs. The sole
-apparent change in them is their conversion to Catholicism--a conversion
-more than problematical, as they preserve with the utmost care all the
-recollections of their ancient religion, follow its rites in secret, and
-keep up all its superstitious practices.
-
-The Indians--above all, in New Mexico--although called _Indios fideles_,
-are always ready on the first opportunity to ally themselves with their
-desert congeners; and in the incursions of the Apaches and Comanches it
-is rare for the faithful Indians not to serve them as scouts, guides,
-and spies.
-
-The family of Don Miguel Zarate had retired to New Mexico, which country
-it did not leave again--a few years after the conquests of the
-adventurer Cortez. Don Miguel had closely followed the policy of his
-family by maintaining the bonds of friendship and good neighbourhood
-which, from time immemorial, attached it to the Indians, believers or
-not. This policy had borne its fruit. Annually, in September, when the
-terrible red warriors, preceded by murder and arson, rushed like a
-torrent on the wretched inhabitants, whom they massacred in the farms
-they plundered, without pity of age or sex, Don Miguel Zarate's estates
-were respected; and not merely was no damage inflicted on them, but even
-if at times a field were unwittingly trampled by the horses' hoofs, or a
-few trees destroyed by plunderers, the evil was immediately repaired ere
-the owner had opportunity for complaint.
-
-This conduct of the Indians had not failed to arouse against Don Miguel
-extreme jealousy on the part of the inhabitants, who saw themselves
-periodically ruined by the _Indios Bravos._ Earnest complaints had been
-laid against him before the Mexican Government; but whatever might be
-the power of his enemies, and the means they employed to ruin him, the
-rich hacendero had never been seriously disturbed: in the first place,
-because New Mexico is too remote from the capital for the inhabitants to
-have anything to fear from the governing classes; and secondly, Don
-Miguel was too rich not to render it easy for him to impose silence on
-those who were most disposed to injure him.
-
-Don Miguel, whose portrait we drew in a previous chapter, was left a
-widower after eight years' marriage, with two children, a boy and a
-girl, the son being twenty-four, the daughter seventeen, at the period
-when our story opens. Dona Clara--such was the daughter's name--was one
-of the most delicious maidens that can be imagined. She had one of those
-Murillo's virgin heads, whose black eyes, fringed with long silky
-lashes, pure mouth, and dreamy brow seem to promise divine joys. Her
-complexion, slightly bronzed by the warm sunbeams, wore that gilded
-reflection which so well becomes the women of these intertropical
-countries. She was short of stature, but exquisitely modelled. Gentle
-and simple, ignorant as a Creole, this delicious child was adored by her
-father, who saw in her the wife he had so loved living once more. The
-Indians looked after her when she at times passed pensively, plucking a
-flower before their wretched huts, and scarce bending the slants on
-which she placed her delicate foot. In their hearts they compared this
-frail maiden, with her soft and vaporous outline, to the "virgin of the
-first loves," that sublime creation of the Indian religion which holds
-so great a place in the Aztec mythology.
-
-Don Pablo Zarate, the hacendero's son, was a powerfully built man, with
-harshly marked features, and a haughty glance, although at times it was
-imprinted with gentleness and kindness. Endowed with more than ordinary
-strength, skilled in all bodily exercises, Don Pablo was renowned
-through the whole country for his talent in taming the most spirited
-horses, and the correctness of his aim when on the chase. A determined
-hunter and daring wood ranger, this young man, when he had a good horse
-between his legs, and his rifle in his hand, knew none, man or animal,
-capable of barring his passage. The Indians, in their simple faith,
-yielded to the son the same respect and veneration they entertained for
-the father, and fancied they saw in him the personification of
-_Huitzilopochtli_, that terrible war god of the Aztecs, to whom 62,000
-human victims were sacrificed in one day, upon the inauguration of his
-_teocali_.
-
-The Zarates, then, at the period when our story opens, were real kings
-of New Mexico. The felicity they enjoyed was suddenly troubled by one of
-those vulgar incidents which, though unimportant in themselves, do not
-fail to cause a general perturbation, and a discomfort possessing no
-apparent cause, from the fact that it is impossible to foresee or
-prevent them. The circumstance was as follows:--
-
-Don Miguel possessed, in the vicinity of the Paso, vast estates
-extending for a great distance, and consisting principally of haciendas,
-prairies, and forests. One day Don Miguel was returning from a visit to
-his haciendas. It was late, and he pressed on his horse in order to
-reach ere night the ford, when, at about three or four leagues at the
-most from the spot to which he was proceeding, and just as he was
-entering a dense forest of cottonwood trees, through which he must pass
-ere reaching the ford, his attention was attracted by cries mingled with
-growls emerging from the wood he was about to enter. The hacendero
-stopped in order to account for the unusual sounds he heard, and bent
-his head forward to detect what was happening. But it was impossible for
-him to distinguish anything through the chaos of creepers and shrubs
-which intercepted vision. In the meanwhile, the noise grew louder, and
-the shouts were redoubled, and mingled with oaths and passionate
-exclamations.
-
-The Mexican's horse laid back its ears, neighed, and refused to advance.
-Still Don Miguel must make up his mind. Thinking that a man was probably
-attacked by wild beasts, he only consulted his heart; and, in spite of
-the visible repugnance of his steed, he compelled it to go forward and
-enter the wood. He had scarce gone a few yards ere he stopped in
-amazement at the strange spectacle that presented itself to him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-THE PECCARIES.
-
-
-In the middle of the clearing lay a ripped up horse, which six or eight
-peccaries were rending, while a dozen others were attacking with their
-tusks the stem of an enormous tree, in the topmost branches of which a
-man had sought shelter.
-
-Let us explain to our readers, who probably know little about them, what
-sort of animals the peccaries are. The peccaries hold the intermediate
-grade between the domestic pig and the wild boar. Although this animal
-does not exceed two feet in height, and is not more than three feet long
-from the end of the snout to the beginning of the tail, it is
-indubitably one of the most dangerous animals in North America. The
-animal's jaw is provided with tusks rather like those of the boar, but
-straight and sharp, their length varying between four and six inches. In
-the shape of the body it resembles a pig, but the bristles scattered
-over its warty hide are in colored strips; the part nearest the skin is
-white, and the point of a chocolate tinge. So soon as the animal is
-enraged, these bristles stand out like the quills of a porcupine.
-
-The movements of the peccaries are as quick and sharp as those of a
-squirrel. They ordinarily live in herds of fifteen, thirty, and even
-fifty. The strength of the head, neck, and shoulders is so great when
-they charge, that nothing can resist the impetuosity of their attacks. A
-remarkable peculiarity of this genus is the clumsy wart they have on
-their backs, whence a musty fluid evaporates when the animal is in a
-fury.
-
-The peccary lives in preference on acorns, roots, wheat, sugar cane, and
-reptiles of every description. It is a proved fact that the most
-venomous serpents are devoured by them without their feeling in the
-slightest degree incommoded.
-
-The mode in which the peccary forms its lair is very singular. This lair
-is generally in the midst of tufted and impenetrable canes, found in
-marshy spots round the monarchs of the forest, which still stand like
-crushed giants, with their grappling lines of creepers and virgin vines.
-The trunks of these trees, which at times measure forty feet in
-circumference, are nearly all hollow, and thus afford a convenient
-shelter for the peccaries, which retire to them every night in herds of
-twenty to twenty-five, entering the cavity one after the other
-backwards; so that the last has the end of its snout placed just at the
-entrance of the hole, thus watching, as it were, over the rest of its
-companions.
-
-The peccaries are unboundedly ferocious: they know not danger, or at
-least despise it completely. They always attack in herds, and fight with
-unequalled rage until the last succumbs, no matter the nature of their
-foe.
-
-Hence men and animals all fly a meeting with these terrible beasts: the
-jaguar, so strong and redoubtable, will become their prey if it be so
-imprudent as to attack them. This is the way they set about conquering
-this wild beast:--
-
-When a jaguar has wounded a peccary, the latter collect, chase it, and
-pursue until they can contrive to surround the common enemy. When every
-issue is closed, the jaguar, believing it can thus escape, seeks refuge
-up a tree. But the peccaries do not resign the vengeance; they establish
-themselves at the foot of the tree, being incessantly recruited by fresh
-allies, and patiently waiting till the jaguar, driven to extremities by
-hunger and thirst, decides on descending from its improvised fortress.
-This is almost always sure to happen at the end of two or three days at
-the most. The jaguar bounds into the midst of its enemies, which boldly
-await it, and attack it bravely; a terrible fight commences; and the
-tiger, after covering the ground with victims, at length succumbs
-beneath the efforts of its assailants, and is ripped up by their tusks.
-
-After what we have said, it is easy to understand how precarious was the
-position of the man perched on the top of the tree, and surrounded by
-peccaries. His enemies seemed determined not to leave their ground; they
-craftily crept round the tree, attacked its base with their tusks, and
-then recognising the inutility of their onsets, they quietly lay down by
-the carcass of the horse, which they had already sacrificed to their
-fury. Don Miguel felt moved to pity for the poor fellow, whose position
-grew momentarily more critical; but in vain did he rack his brains how
-to help the unhappy man whose destruction was assured.
-
-To attack the peccaries would have been extreme imprudence, and have
-produced no other result than that of turning on himself the fury of the
-animals, while not saving the man he wished to help. Still time pressed.
-What was to be done? How, without sacrificing himself, save the man who
-ran so great a risk?
-
-The Mexican hesitated for a long period. It seemed to Don Miguel
-impossible to leave, without help, this man whose death was certain.
-This idea, which presented itself to his mind several times, he had
-energetically repulsed, so monstrous did it appear to him. At length he
-resolved at all risks to attempt impossibilities in favour of this
-stranger, of whose death he would have eventually accused himself had he
-left him to perish in the desert.
-
-The stranger's position was the more critical because, in his haste to
-defend himself from the attacks of his enemies, he had left his rifle
-fall at the foot of the tree, and was consequently unable to reduce the
-number of the peccaries. In spite of their fineness of scent, the latter
-had not noticed Don Miguel's approach, who, by a providential accident,
-had entered the wood on the side opposite the wind. The Mexican
-dismounted with a sigh, patted his horse, and then took off its
-accoutrements. The noble animal, habituated to its master's caresses,
-shook his head joyously, and fixed its large intelligent eyes on him.
-Don Miguel could not repress another sigh: a tear fell down on his
-bronzed cheeks. On the point of accomplishing the sacrifice, he
-hesitated.
-
-It was a faithful companion, almost a friend, he was about to separate
-from; but the life of a man was at stake. The Mexican drove back the
-feelings that agitated him, and his resolution was formed. He passed a
-lasso round his horse's neck, and, in spite of its obstinate resistance,
-compelled it to advance to the entrance of the clearing in which the
-peccaries were assembled. A frail curtain of creepers and leaves alone
-hid it from their sight. On arriving here Don Miguel stopped: he had one
-more moment's hesitation, but only one; for then seizing a piece of
-tinder, which he lighted, he thrust it into the poor animal's ear while
-caressing it.
-
-The effect was sudden and terrible. The horse uttered a snort of pain;
-and rendered mad by the burning, bounded forward into the clearing,
-striving in vain to get rid of the tinder which caused it intolerable
-suffering. Don Miguel had smartly leaped aside, and now followed with an
-anxious glance the result of the terrible tentative he had just made to
-save the stranger. On seeing the horse appear suddenly in their midst,
-the peccaries rose, formed a compact group and rushed with their heads
-down in pursuit of the horse, thinking no longer of the man. The animal,
-spurred on still more by the sight of its ferocious enemies, shot ahead
-with the speed of an arrow, breaking down with its chest all the
-obstacles in its way, and followed closely by the peccaries.
-
-The man saved; but at what a price! Don Miguel repressed a last sigh of
-regret, and leaped into the clearing. The stranger had already descended
-from the tree; but the emotion he had undergone was so extreme, that he
-remained seated on the ground, almost in a state of unconsciousness.
-
-"Quick, quick!" Don Miguel said to him sharply. "We have not a moment to
-lose: the peccaries may alter their minds and return."
-
-"That is true," the stranger muttered in a hollow voice, as he cast a
-terrified glance around. "Let us be off--off at once."
-
-He made an effort over himself, seized his rifle, and rose. Through a
-presentiment for which he could not account to himself, Don Miguel
-experienced at the sight of this man, whom he had hitherto scarce looked
-at, a feeling of invincible doubt and disgust. Owing to the life he was
-obliged to lead on these frontiers, frequented by people of every
-description, the hacendero had been often brought into relation with
-trappers and hunters whose faces were no recommendation to them; but
-never ere now had chance brought him in contact with an individual of
-such sinister appearance as this one.
-
-Still he did not allow his feelings to be seen through, and invited this
-man to follow him. The latter did not let the invitation be repeated;
-for he was anxious to escape from the spot where he had been so near
-death. Thanks to the Mexican's acquaintance with the country, the wood
-was speedily traversed, and the two men, after a walk of scarce an
-hour's duration, reached the banks of the Del Norte, just opposite the
-village. Their speed had been so great, their anxiety so serious, that
-they had not exchanged a syllable, so terrified were they of seeing the
-peccaries appear at any moment. Fortunately this was not the case, and
-they reached the ford without being again disturbed.
-
-Don Miguel was burdened with his horse's trappings, which he now threw
-on the ground, and looked around him in the hope of finding someone who
-would help him in crossing the river. His expectations were not
-deceived; for just as they reached the ford an _arriero_ was preparing
-to cross to the other side of the river with his _recca_ of mules, and,
-with the generosity innate in all Mexicans, he offered to carry them
-both to the Paso. The two men eagerly accepted, each mounted a mule, and
-half an hour later they found themselves in safety at the village. After
-giving the arriero a few reals to requite him for his services, Don
-Miguel took up his horse's trappings again, and prepared to start. The
-stranger stopped.
-
-"We are about to part here, caballero," he said in a rough voice, with a
-very marked English accent; "but before leaving, let me express to you
-my deep gratitude for the noble and generous manner in which you saved
-my life at the peril of your own."
-
-"Sir," the Mexican simply answered, "I only did my duty in saving you.
-In the desert all men are brothers, and owe each other protection. Hence
-do not thank me, I beg, for a very simple action: any other in my place
-would have acted as I have done."
-
-"Perhaps so," the stranger continued; "but be kind enough, pray, to tell
-me your name, so that I may know to whom I owe my life."
-
-"That is needless," Don Miguel said with a smile. "Still, as I fancy you
-are a stranger in these parts, let me give you a piece of advice."
-
-"What is it, sir?"
-
-"Never in future to attack the peccaries. They are terrible enemies,
-only to be conquered by a strong body of men; and an individual in
-attacking them commits an unpardonable folly, to which he must fall a
-victim."
-
-"Be assured, sir, that I shall profit by the lesson I have received this
-day, and shall never put myself in such a wasps' nest again. I was too
-near paying dearly for my imprudence. But I beg you, sir, do not let us
-separate ere I know the name of my preserver."
-
-"As you insist, sir, you shall learn it. I am Don Miguel de Zarate."
-
-The stranger took a peculiar glance at the speaker, while repressing a
-movement of surprise.
-
-"Ah!" he said in a singular tone, "Thanks, Don Miguel Zarate. Without
-knowing you personally, I was already acquainted with your name."
-
-"That is possible," the hacendero answered; "for I am well known in
-this country, where my family has been established for many a long
-year."
-
-"I, sir, am the man whom the Indians call Witchasta Joute, the Maneater,
-and the hunters, my companions, Red Cedar."
-
-And after lifting his hand to his cap in salute, this man threw his
-rifle on his shoulder, turned on his heel, and went off at full speed.
-Don Miguel looked after him for a while, and then walked pensively
-toward the house he inhabited at el Paso. The hacendero did not suspect
-that he had sacrificed his favourite horse to save the life of his most
-implacable enemy.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE WOUND.
-
-
-At sunrise, Don Miguel, mounted on an excellent horse, left the Paso,
-and proceeded toward the hacienda where he resided with his family. It
-was situated a few miles from the Presidio of San Elezario, in a
-delicious position, and was known as the _Hacienda de la Noria_ (the
-Farm of the Well). The estate inhabited by Don Miguel stood in the
-centre of the vast delta formed by the Del Norte and the Rio San Pedro,
-or Devil's River. It was one of those strong and massive buildings which
-the Spaniards alone knew how to erect when they were absolute masters of
-Mexico.
-
-The hacienda formed a vast parallelogram, supported at regular distances
-by enormous cross walls of carved stone. Like all the frontier
-habitations, which are rather fortresses than houses, it was only
-pierced on the side of the plain with a few narrow windows resembling
-loopholes, and protected by solid iron bars. This abode was begirt by a
-thick wall of circumvallation, defended on the top by that fretwork
-called _almenas_, which indicated the nobility of the owner. Within this
-wall, but separated from the chief apartments, were the stables,
-outhouses, barns and cabins for the peons.
-
-At the extremity of the courtyard, in an angle of the hacienda, was the
-tall square belfry of the chapel, rising above its terraced roof. This
-chapel was served by a monk called Fray Ambrosio. A magnificent plain
-closed in this splendid farm. At the end of a valley more than fifty
-miles in length were cactus trees of a conical shape, loaded with fruit
-and flowers, and whose stems were as much as six feet in diameter.
-
-Don Miguel employed a considerable number of peons in the cultivation of
-the sugar cane, which he carried on upon a very large scale. As
-everybody knows, the cane is planted by laying it horizontally in
-furrows half a foot deep. From each knot springs a shoot which reaches a
-height of about three yards, and which is cut at the end of a year to
-extract the juice.
-
-Nothing can be more picturesque than the sight of a field of sugar
-canes. It was one of those superb American mornings during which nature
-seems to be holding a festival. The _centzontle_ (American nightingale)
-frequently poured forth its harmonious notes; the red throstled
-cardinals, the blue birds, the parakeets, chattered gaily beneath the
-foliage; far away on the plain galloped flocks of light antelopes and
-timid ashatas, while on the extreme verge of the horizon rushed startled
-_manadas_ of wild horses, which raised clouds of impalpable dust beneath
-the vibration of their rapid hoofs. A few alligators, carelessly
-stretched out on the river mud, were drying their scales in the sun, and
-in mid air the grand eagles of the Sierra Madre hovered majestically
-above the valley.
-
-Don Miguel advanced rapidly at the favourite pace of the Mexican
-_jinetes,_ and which consists in making the horse raise its front legs,
-while the hind ones almost graze the ground--a peculiar sort of amble
-which is very gentle and rapid. The hacendero only employed four hours
-in traversing the distance separating him from the hacienda, where he
-arrived about nine in the morning. He was received on the threshold of
-the house by his daughter, who, warned of his arrival, had hastened to
-meet him.
-
-Don Miguel had been absent from home a fortnight; hence, he received his
-daughter's caresses with the greatest pleasure. When he had embraced her
-several times, while continuing to hold her tightly clasped in his arms,
-he regarded her attentively during several seconds.
-
-"What is the matter, _mi querida_ Clara?" he asked with sympathy. "You
-seem very sad. Can you feel vexed at the sight of me?" he added, with a
-smile.
-
-"Oh, you cannot believe that, father!" she answered quickly; "for you
-know how happy your presence must render me."
-
-"Thanks, my child! But whence, in that case, comes the sorrow I see
-spread over your features?"
-
-The maiden let her eyes sink, but made no reply.
-
-Don Miguel threw a searching glance around.
-
-"Where is Don Pablo?" he said. "Why has he not come to greet me? Can he
-be away from the hacienda?"
-
-"No, father, he is here."
-
-"Well, then, what is the reason he is not by your side?"
-
-"Because--" the girl said, with hesitation.
-
-"Well?"
-
-"He is ill."
-
-"My son ill!" Don Miguel exclaimed.
-
-"I am wrong," Dona Clara corrected herself.
-
-"Explain yourself, in Heaven's name!"
-
-"My father, the fact is that Pablo is wounded."
-
-"Wounded!" the hacendero sharply said; and thrusting his daughter
-aside, he rushed toward the house, bounded up the few steps leading to
-the porch, crossed several rooms without stopping, and reached his son's
-chamber. The young man was lying, weak and faint, on his bed; but on
-perceiving his parent he smiled, and held his hand to him. Don Miguel
-was fondly attached to his son, his sole heir, and walked up to him.
-
-"What is this wound of which I have heard?" he asked him in great
-agitation.
-
-"Less than nothing, father," the young man replied, exchanging a meaning
-glance with his sister, who entered at the moment. "Clara is a foolish
-girl, who, in her tenderness, wrongly alarmed you."
-
-"But, after all, you are wounded?" the father continued.
-
-"But I repeat that it is a mere nothing."
-
-"Come, explain yourself. How and when did you receive this wound?"
-
-The young man blushed, and maintained silence.
-
-"I insist on knowing," Don Miguel continued pressingly.
-
-"Good heavens, father!" Don Pablo replied with an air of ill-humour, "I
-do not understand why you are alarmed for so futile a cause. I am not a
-child, whom a scratch should make frightened; and many times have I been
-wounded previously, and you have not disturbed yourself so much."
-
-"That is possible; but the mode in which you answer me, the care you
-seem trying to take to keep me ignorant of the cause of this wound--in a
-word, everything tells me that this time you are trying to hide
-something grave from me."
-
-"You are mistaken, father, and shall convince yourself."
-
-"I wish nothing more: speak. Clara, my child, go and give orders to have
-breakfast prepared, for I am dying of hunger."
-
-The girl went out.
-
-"Now it is our turn," Don Miguel continued. "In the first place, where
-are you wounded?"
-
-"Oh! I have merely a slight scratch on my shoulder: if I went to bed it
-was more through indolence than any other motive."
-
-"Hum! and what scratched your shoulder?"
-
-"A bullet."
-
-"What! A bullet! Then you must have fought a duel, unhappy boy!" Don
-Miguel exclaimed with a shudder.
-
-The young man smiled, pressed his father's hand, and bending toward him,
-said,--
-
-"This is what has happened."
-
-"I am listening to you," Don Miguel replied, making an effort to calm
-himself.
-
-"Two days after your departure, father," Don Pablo continued, "I was
-superintending, as you wished me to do, the cutting of the cane crop,
-when a hunter whom you will probably remember having seen prowling about
-the estate, a man of the name of Andres Garote, accosted me at the
-moment I was about to return home after giving my orders to the
-majordomo. After saluting me obsequiously as his wont, the scamp smiled
-cunningly, and lowering his voice so as not to be overheard by those
-around us, said, 'Don Pablo, I fancy you would give half an ounce to the
-man who brought you important news?' 'That depends,' I answered; for,
-having known the man a long time, I was aware much confidence could not
-be placed in him. 'Bah! Your grace is so rich,' he continued
-insidiously, 'that a miserable sum like that is less than nothing in his
-pocket, while in mine it would do me a deal of good.'
-
-"Apart from his defects, this scamp had at times done us a few small
-services; and then, as he said, a half-ounce is but a trifle, so I gave
-it to him. He stowed it away in his pockets, and then bent down to my
-ear. 'Thanks, Don Pablo,' he said to me. 'I shall not cheat you of your
-money. Your horse is rested, and can stand a long journey. Proceed to
-Buffalo Valley, and there you will learn something to interest you.' It
-was in vain that I urged him to explain himself more clearly; I could
-draw no more from him. He merely added before parting from me, 'Don
-Pablo, you have good weapons; so take them with you, for no man knoweth
-what may happen.' Somehow the scamp's veiled confidence aroused my
-curiosity: hence I resolved to go to Buffalo Valley, and gain the clue
-of this riddle."
-
-"Andres Garote is a villain, who laid a snare for you, into which you
-fell," Don Miguel interrupted.
-
-"No, father, you are mistaken. Andres was honest towards me, and I have
-only thanks to give him. Still he should have explained himself,
-perhaps, more distinctly."
-
-The hacendero shook his head with a doubting air.
-
-"Go on," he said.
-
-"I entered my house, procured the weapons, and then, mounted on Negro,
-my black charger, I proceeded toward Buffalo Valley. As you are aware,
-father, the place we call so, and which belongs to us, is an immense
-forest of cedars and maples, nearly forty miles in circumference, and
-traversed almost through its entire length by a wide confluent of the
-Rio San Pedro."
-
-"Of course I know it, and I intend next year to fell some of the wood
-there."
-
-"You need not take the trouble," the young man said with a smile, "for
-someone has done it for you."
-
-"What do you mean?" the hacendero asked wrathfully. "Who dared?"
-
-"Oh! One of those wretched heretic squatters, as they call themselves.
-The villain found the spot to suit him, and has quietly settled there
-with his three whelps--three big fellows with hang-dog faces, who
-laughed at me when I told them the forest was mine, and answered, while
-aiming at me, that they were North Americans, who cared as little for me
-as they did for a coyote; that the ground belonged to the first comer;
-and that I shall afford them lively pleasure by being off at full speed.
-What more shall I tell you, father? I take after you. I have hot blood,
-and I cordially hate that race of Yankee pirates, who, for some years
-back, have settled on our lovely country like a swarm of mosquitoes. I
-saw our forest plundered, our finest trees cut down. I could not remain
-unmoved in the presence of these scoundrels' insolence, and the quarrel
-became so sharp that they fired at me."
-
-"_Virgen Santisima_!" Don Miguel exclaimed in fury, "They shall pay
-dearly for the affront they have offered you I swear it! I will take
-exemplary vengeance."
-
-"Why be so angry, father?" the young man replied, visibly annoyed at the
-effect his story had produced. "The harm these people do us is really
-very trifling. I was in the wrong to let my passion carry me away."
-
-"On the contrary, you were right. I will not have these Northern thieves
-come and commit their plunder here. I will put a stop to it."
-
-"I assure you that, if you will leave me to act, I feel certain of
-arranging this affair to your entire satisfaction."
-
-"I forbid you taking the slightest steps, for this matter concerns me
-now. Whatever may occur, I do not wish you to interfere. Will you
-promise me this?"
-
-"As you insist, I do so, father."
-
-"Very good. Get cured as speedily as possible, and keep your mind at
-rest. The Yankees shall pay me dearly for the blood they have shed."
-
-With these words Don Miguel retired, and his son fell back on his bed
-stifling a sigh, and uttering a hoarse exclamation of passion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE SQUATTER'S SHANTY.
-
-
-Don Pablo had not told his father the facts in all their truth or
-detail. He had fallen into a perfect ambuscade. He was suddenly attacked
-by the three brothers, who would have mercilessly killed him, resolved
-to lay the blame of his death on the wild beasts, had not, at the moment
-when one of them lifted his knife on the young man, who was thrown down
-and rendered motionless by the others, a providential succour reached him
-in the person of a charming maid scarce sixteen years of age.
-
-The courageous girl rushed from a copse with the rapidity of a fawn, and
-threw herself resolutely into the midst of the assassins.
-
-"What are you about, brother?" she exclaimed in a melodious voice, whose
-harmonious notes echoed amorously in Don Pablo's ears. "Why do you wish
-to kill this stranger?"
-
-The three squatters, surprised by this apparition, which they were far
-from expecting, fell back a few paces. Don Pablo profited by this truce
-to jump up and regain possession of his arms, which had fallen by his
-side.
-
-"Was it not enough," the girl continued, "to rob this man, that you must
-now try to take his life? Fie, brothers! Do you not know that blood
-leaves on the hands of him who spills it stains which nothing can
-efface? Let this man retire in peace."
-
-The young men hesitated. Although unconsciously yielding to their
-sister's influence, they were ashamed of thus executing her wishes.
-Still they did not dare express their thoughts, and merely bent on their
-enemy, who awaited them with a firm foot and pistols in hand, glances
-laden with hatred and anger.
-
-"Ellen is right," the youngest of her brothers suddenly said. "No, I
-will not allow any harm to be done the stranger."
-
-The others looked at him savagely.
-
-"You would defend him, if necessary, I suppose, Shaw?" Nathan said to
-him ironically.
-
-"Why should I not, were it required?" the young man said boldly.
-
-"Eh!" Sutter remarked with a grin, "He is thinking of the Wood
-Eglantine."
-
-This word had been scarce uttered ere Shaw, with purpled face,
-contracted features, and eyes injected with blood, rushed with uplifted
-knife on his brother, who awaited him firmly. The girl dashed between
-them.
-
-"Peace, peace!" she shrieked in a piercing voice, "Do brothers dare
-threaten one another?"
-
-The two young fellows remained motionless, but watching and ready to
-strike in a moment. Don Pablo fixed an ardent glance on the girl, who
-was really admirable at this moment. With her features animated by
-anger, her head erect, and her arms stretched out between the two men,
-she bore a startling likeness to those Druidesses who in olden times
-summoned the warriors to combat beneath the forests of Germany.
-
-In her whole person she offered the complete type of the gentle Northern
-woman. Her hair light and golden like ripe corn; her eyes of extreme
-purity, which reflected the azure of the sky; her earnest mouth, with
-rosy lips and pearly teeth; her flexible and small waist; the whiteness
-of her complexion, whose delicate and transparent skin still bore the
-flush of adolescence--all was combined in this charming maiden to render
-her the most seductive creature imaginable.
-
-Don Pablo, a stranger to this kind of beauty, felt himself involuntarily
-attracted toward the girl, and entirely subjugated by her. Forgetting
-the reason that had brought him to this spot, the danger he had
-incurred, and that which still menaced him, he was fascinated and
-trembling before this delicious apparition, fearing at each instant to
-see it vanish like a vision, and not daring to turn his glance from her
-while he felt he had no strength left to admire her.
-
-This young creature, so frail and delicate, formed a strange contrast
-with the tall statures and marked features of her brothers, whose coarse
-and savage manners only served to heighten the elegance and charm
-exhaled by her whole person. Still this scene could not be prolonged,
-and must be ended at once. The maiden walked toward Don Pablo.
-
-"Sir," she said to him with a soft smile, "You have nothing more to fear
-from my brothers; you can mount your horse again, and set out, and no
-one will oppose your departure."
-
-The young man understood that he had no pretext to prolong his stay at
-this spot; he therefore let his head sink, placed his pistols in his
-holsters, leaped on his horse, and set out with regret, and as slowly as
-possible.
-
-He had scarce gone a league when he heard the hasty clatter of a horse
-behind him. He turned back. The approaching horseman was Shaw, who soon
-caught up with Don Pablo. The pair then proceeded some distance side by
-side without exchanging a syllable, and both seemed plunged in profound
-thought. On reaching the skirt of the forest, Shaw checked his horse,
-and softly laid his right hand on the Mexican's bridle. Don Pablo also
-stopped on this hint, and waited, while fixing an inquiring glance on
-his strange comrade.
-
-"Stranger," the young man said, "my sister sends me. She implores you,
-if it be possible, to keep secret what occurred between us today. She
-deeply regrets the attack to which you fell a victim, and the wound you
-have received; and she will try to persuade Red Cedar, our father, to
-retire from your estates."
-
-"Thank your sister for me," Don Pablo answered. "Tell her that her
-slightest wish will ever be a command to me, and that I shall be happy
-to execute it."
-
-"I will repeat your words to her."
-
-"Thanks. Render me a parting service."
-
-"Speak."
-
-"What is your sister's name?"
-
-"Ellen. She is the guardian angel of our hearth. My name is Shaw."
-
-"I am obliged to you for telling me your name, though I cannot guess the
-reason that induces you to do so."
-
-"I will tell you. I love my sister Ellen before all: she urged me to
-offer you my friendship. I obey her. Remember, stranger, that Shaw is
-yours to the death."
-
-"I shall not forget it, though I hope never to be under the necessity of
-reminding you of your words."
-
-"All the worse," the American said, with a shake of his head; "but if at
-any time the opportunity offers, I will prove to you that I am a man of
-my word, so surely as I am a Kentuckian."
-
-And hurriedly turning his horse's head, the young man rapidly
-disappeared in the windings of the forest.
-
-Buffalo Valley, illumined by the parting rays of the setting sun, seemed
-a lake of verdure to which the golden mist of night imparted magical
-tones. A light breeze rustled through the lofty crests of the cedars,
-catalpas, tulip and Peru trees, and agitated the grass on the banks of
-the Rio San Pedro. Don Pablo let the reins float idly on his horse's
-neck, and advanced dreamily through the forest, where the birds were
-leaping from spray to spray, each saluting in its language the arrival
-of night.
-
-An hour later, the young man reached the hacienda; but the wound he had
-received in his shoulder was more serious than was at first supposed. He
-was obliged, to his great regret, to keep his bed, which prevented him
-seeking to meet again the maiden whose image was deeply engraved on his
-heart.
-
-So soon as the Mexican had gone off, the squatters continued felling
-trees and sawing planks, and did not abandon this work till the night
-had grown quite black. Ellen had returned to the interior of the jacal,
-where she attended to the housekeeping duties with her mother. This
-jacal was a wretched hut, hastily made with branches of intertwined
-trees, which trembled with every breeze, and let the sun and rain
-penetrate to the interior.
-
-This cabin was divided into three compartments: the one to the right
-served as the bedroom of the two females, while the men slept in the one
-to the left. The central compartment, furnished with worm-eaten benches
-and a clumsily-planed table, was at once keeping room and kitchen.
-
-It was late: the squatters, assembled round the fire, over which a huge
-pot was boiling, were silently awaiting the return of Red Cedar, who had
-been absent since the morning. At length, a horse's hoofs sounded
-sharply on the detritus collected for years on the floor of the forest,
-the noise grew gradually nearer, the horse stopped in front of the
-jacal, and a man made his appearance. It was Red Cedar. The men slowly
-turned their heads toward him, but did not otherwise disturb themselves,
-or address a syllable to him.
-
-Ellen alone rose and embraced her father affectionately. The giant
-seized the girl in his nervous arms, raised her from the ground, and
-kissed her several times, saying in his rough voice, which his
-tenderness sensibly softened,--
-
-"Good evening, my dear."
-
-Then he put her down on the ground again, and not troubling himself
-further about her, fell heavily on a bench near the fire, and thrust his
-feet toward the fire.
-
-"Come, wife," he said, after the expiration of a moment, "the supper, in
-the fiend's name! I have a coyote's hunger."
-
-The wife did not let this be repeated. A few moments later an immense
-dish of _frijoles_, with pimiento, smoked on the table, with large pots
-of pulque. The meal was short and silent, the four men eating with
-extreme rapacity. So soon as the beans had disappeared Red Cedar and his
-sons lit their pipes, and began smoking, while drinking large draughts
-of whiskey, though still not speaking. At length Red Cedar took his pipe
-from his lips, and hit the table sharply, while saying in a rough
-voice,--
-
-"Come, women, decamp! You have nothing more to do here. You are in our
-way, so go to the deuce!"
-
-Ellen and her mother immediately went out, and entered their separate
-apartment. For a few minutes they could be heard moving about, and then
-all became silent again.
-
-Red Cedar made a sign, and Sutter rose and gently put his ear to the
-parting board. He listened for a few moments while holding his breath,
-and then returned to his seat, saying laconically,--
-
-"They are asleep."
-
-"Quick, my whelps!" the old squatter said in a low voice. "We have not a
-minute to lose: the others are expecting us."
-
-A strange scene then occurred in this mean room, which was merely
-illumined by the expiring light of the hearth. The four men arose,
-opened a large chest, and produced from it various objects of strange
-shapes--leggings, mittens, buffalo robes, collars of grizzly bear claws;
-in a word, the complete costumes of Apache Indians.
-
-The squatters disguised themselves as redskins; and when they had put on
-their garments, which rendered it impossible to recognise them, they
-completed the metamorphosis by painting their faces of different colours.
-
-Assuredly the traveller whom accident had brought at this moment to the
-jacal would have fancied it inhabited by Apaches or Comanches.
-
-The garments which the squatters had taken off were locked up in the
-chest, of which Red Cedar took the key; and the four men, armed with
-their American rifles, left the cabin, mounted their horses, which were
-awaiting them ready saddled, and started at full gallop through the
-winding forest paths.
-
-At the moment they disappeared in the gloom Ellen stood in the doorway
-of the cabin, took a despairing glance in the direction where they had
-gone, and fell to the ground murmuring sadly,--
-
-"Good Heaven! What diabolical work are they going to perform this
-night?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE RANGERS.
-
-
-On the banks of the Rio San Pedro, and on the side of a hill, stood a
-_rancheria_ composed of some ten cabins, inhabited by a population of
-sixty persons at the most, including men, women and children. These
-people were Coras Indians, hunters and agriculturists, belonging to the
-Tortoise tribe. These poor Indians lived there on terms of peace with
-their neighbours, under the protection of the Mexican laws. Quiet and
-inoffensive beings, during the nearly twenty years they had been
-established at this place they had never once offered a subject of
-complaint to their neighbours, who, on the contrary, were glad to see
-them prosper, owing to their gentle and hospitable manners. Though
-Mexican subjects, they governed themselves after their fashion, obeying
-their caciques, and regulating in the assembly of their elders all the
-difficulties that arose in their village.
-
-On the night when we saw the squatters leave the cabin in disguise, some
-twenty individuals, armed to the teeth and clothed in strange costumes,
-with their faces blackened so as to render them unrecognizable, were
-bivouacked at about two leagues from the rancheria, in a plain on the
-river's bank. Seated or lying round huge fires, they were singing,
-laughing, quarrelling or gambling with multitudinous yells and oaths.
-Two men seated apart at the foot of an enormous cactus, were conversing
-in a low tone, while smoking their husk cigarettes. These two men, of
-whom we have already spoken to the reader, were Fray Ambrosio, chaplain
-to the Hacienda de la Noria, and Andres Garote, the hunter.
-
-Andres was a tall, thin fellow, with a sickly and cunning face, who
-draped himself defiantly in his sordid rags, but whose weapons were in a
-perfectly good condition.
-
-Who were the men causing this disturbance? They were "rangers," but this
-requires explanation.
-
-Immediately after each of the different revolutions which have
-periodically overturned Mexico since that country so pompously declared
-its independence, the first care of the new president who reaches power
-is to dismiss the volunteers who had accidentally swollen the ranks of his
-army, and supplied him the means of overthrowing his predecessor. These
-volunteers, we must do them the justice of allowing, are the very scum
-of society, and the most degraded class human nature produces. These
-sanguinary men, without religion or law, who have no relations or
-friends, are an utter leprosy to the country.
-
-Roughly driven back into society, the new life they are forced to adopt
-in no way suits their habits of murder and pillage. No longer able to
-wage war on their countrymen, they form free corps, and engage
-themselves for a certain salary, to hunt the Indios Bravos--that is to
-say, the Apaches and Comanches--who desolate the Mexican frontiers. In
-addition to this, the paternal government of North America in Texas, and
-of Mexico in the States of the Confederation, allots them a certain sum
-for each Indian scalp they bring in.
-
-We do not fancy we are saying anything new in asserting that they are
-the scourge of the colonists and inhabitants, they plunder shamelessly
-in every way when they are not doing worse.
-
-The men assembled at this moment on the banks of the Rio San Pedro were
-preparing for a war party--the name they give to the massacres they
-organise against the redskins.
-
-Toward midnight Red Cedar and his three sons reached the rangers' camp.
-They must have been impatiently expected, for the bandits received them
-with marks of the greatest joy and the warmest enthusiasm. The dice, the
-cards, and botas of mezcal and whiskey were immediately deserted. The
-rangers mounted their horses, and grouped round the squatters, near whom
-stood Fray Ambrosio and his friend Andres Garote.
-
-Red Cedar took a glance round the mob, and could not repress a smile of
-pride at the sight of the rich collection of bandits of every
-description whom he had around him, and who recognised him as chief. He
-extended his arm to command peace. When all were silent the giant took
-the word.
-
-"Senores caballeros," he said, in a powerful and marked voice, which
-made all these scamps quiver with delight at being treated like honest
-people, "the audacity of the redskins is growing intolerable. If we let
-them alone they would soon inundate the country, when they would end by
-expelling us. This state of things must have an end. The government
-complains about the few scalps we supply; it says we do not carry out
-the clauses of the agreement we have formed with it; it talks about
-disbanding us, as our services are useless, and therefore burdensome to
-the republic. It is our bounden duty to give a striking denial to these
-malevolent assertions, and prove to those who have placed confidence in
-us that we are ever ready to devote ourselves to the cause of humanity
-and civilisation. I have assembled you here for a war party, which I
-have been meditating for some time, and shall carry out this night. We
-are about to attack the rancheria of the Coras, who for some years past
-have had the impudence to establish themselves near this spot. They are
-pagans and thieves, who have one hundred times merited the severe
-chastisement we are about to inflict on them. But I implore you, senores
-caballeros, display no mistaken pity. Crush this race of vipers--let not
-one escape! The scalp of a child is worth as much as that of a man; so
-do not let yourselves be moved by cries or tears, but scalp, scalp to
-the end."
-
-This harangue was greeted as it deserved to be; that is, by yells of
-joy.
-
-"Senores," Red Cedar continued, "the worthy monk who accompanies me will
-call down the blessing of Heaven on our enterprise; so kneel down to
-receive the absolution he is about to give you."
-
-The bandits instantaneously dismounted, took off their hats, and knelt
-on the sand. Fray Ambrosio then repeated a long prayer, to which they
-listened with exemplary patience, repeating _amen_ after each occasion,
-and he ended by giving them absolution. The rangers rose, delighted at
-being thus freed from the burden of their sins, and got into their
-saddles again.
-
-Red Cedar then whispered a few words in Fray Ambrosio's ears, who bowed
-his head in assent, and immediately set out in the direction of the
-Hacienda de la Noria, followed by Andres Garote. The squatter then
-turned to the rangers, who were awaiting his orders.
-
-"You know where we are going, gentlemen," he said. "Let us start, and,
-before all, be silent, if we wish to catch our game in its lair; for you
-know that the Indians are as cunning as opossums."
-
-The band started at a gallop, Red Cedar and his sons being at their
-head. It was one of those calm nights which predispose the soul to
-reverie, such as America alone has the privilege of possessing. The dark
-blue sky was spangled with an infinite number of stars, in the centre of
-which shone the majestic Southern Cross, sparkling like a king's mantle;
-the atmosphere was extraordinarily transparent, and allowed objects to
-be noticed at a great distance; the moon profusely spread around her
-silvery rays, which gave the scenery a fantastic appearance; a
-mysterious breeze sported through the tops of the great trees; and at
-times vague rumours traversed the space, and were lost in the distance.
-
-The gloomy horsemen still went on, silent and frowning, like the
-phantoms of the ancient legends, which glide through the shadows to
-accomplish a deed without a name. At the end of scarce an hour the
-rancheria was reached. All were resting in the village--not a light
-flashed in the hut. The Indians, wearied with the hard toil of the day,
-were reposing, full of confidence in the sworn faith, and apprehending
-no treason.
-
-Red Cedar halted twenty yards from the rancheria, and drew up his
-horsemen so as to surround the village on all sides. When each had taken
-his post, and the torches were lighted, Red Cedar uttered the terrible
-war cry of the Apaches, and the rangers galloped at full speed on the
-village, uttering ferocious howls, and brandishing the torches, which
-they threw on the cabins.
-
-A scene of carnage then took place which the human pen is powerless to
-describe. The unhappy Indians, surprised in their sleep, rushed
-terrified and half naked out of their poor abodes, and were pitilessly
-massacred and scalped by the rangers, who waved with a demoniac laugh
-their smoking, blood-dripping scalps. Men, women, and children, all were
-killed with refinements of barbarity. The village, fired by the rangers'
-torches, soon became an immense funebral pile, in which victims and
-murderers were huddled pell-mell.
-
-Still a few Indians had succeeded in collecting. Formed in a compact
-troop of twenty men, they opposed a desperate resistance to their
-assassins, exasperated by the odour of blood and the intoxication of
-carnage. At the head of this band was a half-nude, tall Indian of
-intelligent features, who, armed with a ploughshare, which he wielded
-with extreme force and skill, felled all the assailants who came within
-reach of his terrible weapon. This man was the cacique of the Coras. At
-his feet lay his mother, wife, and two children--dead. The unhappy man
-struggled with the energy of despair. He knew his life would be
-sacrificed, but he wished to sell it as dearly as possible.
-
-In vain had the rangers fired on the cacique--he seemed invulnerable:
-not one of the bullets aimed at him had struck him. He still fought, and
-the weight of his weapon did not seem to fatigue his arm. The rangers
-excited each other to finish him; but not one dared to approach him.
-
-But this combat of giants could not endure longer. Of the twenty
-companions he had round him on commencing the struggle, the cacique now
-only saw two or three upright: the rest were dead. There must be an end.
-The circle that inclosed the hapless Indian drew closer and closer.
-Henceforth it was only a question of time with him. The rangers,
-recognising the impossibility of conquering this lion-hearted man, had
-changed their tactics: they no longer attacked him, but contented
-themselves with forming an impassable circle round him, waiting
-prudently for the moment when the strength of the prey, which could not
-escape them, was exhausted, in order to rush upon him.
-
-The Coras understood the intention of his enemies. A contemptuous smile
-contracted his haughty lips, and he rushed resolutely toward these men
-who recoiled before him. Suddenly, with a movement quicker than thought,
-he threw with extraordinary strength the ploughshare among the rangers,
-and bounding like a tiger, leaped on a horse, and clutched its rider
-with superhuman vigour.
-
-Ere the rangers had recovered from the surprise this unforeseen attack
-occasioned in them, by a desperate effort, and still holding the
-horseman, the chieftain drew from his girdle a short sharp knife, which
-he buried up to the hilt in the flanks of the horse. The animal uttered
-a shriek of pain, rushed headlong into the crowd, and bore both away
-with maddening speed.
-
-The rangers, rendered furious at being played with by a single man, and
-seeing their most terrible enemy escape them, started in pursuit; but
-with his liberty the Coras had regained all his energy: he felt himself
-saved. In spite of the desperate efforts the rangers made to catch him
-up, he disappeared in the darkness.
-
-The cacique continued to fly till he felt his horse tottering under him.
-He had not loosed his hold of the horseman, who was half strangled by
-the rude embrace, and both rolled on the ground. This man wore the
-costume of the Apache Indians. The Coras regarded him for an instant
-attentively, and then a smile of contempt played round his lips.
-
-"You are not a redskin," he said, in a hollow voice; "you are only a
-paleface dog. Why put on the skin of the lion when you are a cowardly
-coyote?"
-
-The ranger, still stunned by the fall he had suffered, and the hug he
-had endured, made no reply.
-
-"I could kill you," the Indian continued; "but my vengeance would not be
-complete. You and yours must pay me for all the innocent blood you have
-shed like cowards this night. I will mark you, so that I may know you
-again."
-
-Then, with fearful coolness, the Coras threw the ranger on his back, put
-his knee on his chest, and burying his finger in the socket of his eye,
-gave it a sharp rotatory movement, and plucked out his eyeball. On this
-frightful mutilation, the wretch uttered a cry of pain impossible to
-describe. The Indian got up.
-
-"Go!" he said to him. "Now I am certain of finding you again whenever I
-want you."
-
-At this moment the sound of hoofs could be heard a short distance off:
-the rangers had evidently heard their comrade's cry, and were hurrying
-to his aid. The Coras, rushed into the bushes and disappeared. A few
-moments later the rangers came up.
-
-"Nathan, my son!" Red Cedar shouted as he leaped from his horse and
-threw himself on the body of the wounded man. "Nathan, my firstborn, is
-dead!"
-
-"No," one of the rangers answered; "but he is very bad."
-
-It was really the squatter's eldest son whom the cacique had mutilated.
-Red Cedar seized him in his arms, placed him before him on the saddle,
-and the band started again at a gallop. The rangers had accomplished
-their task: they had sixty human scalps hanging from their girdles. The
-rancheria of the Coras was no longer aught save a pile of ashes.
-
-Of all the inhabitants of this hapless village only the cacique
-survived; but he would suffice to avenge his brothers.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE VALLEY OF THE BUFFALO.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate, on leaving his son, remounted his horse and rode
-straight to Paso, to the house of Don Luciano Perez, the _juez de
-letras_ (police magistrate).
-
-The hacendero was one of the richest landed proprietors in the country;
-and as he was thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of the depositaries
-of justice in those parts, he had consequently been careful to line his
-purse well. Here were two reasons, then, to interest the judge in his
-favour, and this really happened.
-
-The worthy Don Luciano shuddered on hearing the details of what had
-occurred between Don Pablo and the squatters. He swore that he would,
-without delay, take an exemplary vengeance for this starting felony on
-the part of the heretic dogs, and that it was high time to bring them
-reason. Confirming himself more and more in his resolution, he buckled
-on his sword, gave orders to twenty well-armed alguaciles to mount, and
-placing himself at the head of this numerous escort, he proceeded toward
-Buffalo Valley.
-
-Don Miguel had witnessed with secret annoyance all these formidable
-preparations. He placed but slight confidence in the courage of the
-policemen, and he would have preferred the judge leaving him master to
-act as he pleased. He had even adroitly attempted to obtain from Don
-Luciano a regular warrant, which he would have executed however he might
-think proper; but the judge, burning with an unusual warlike ardor, and
-spurred on by the large sum he had received, would listen to nothing,
-but insisted on himself taking the head of the expedition.
-
-Don Luciano Perez was a plump little man of about sixty years of age,
-round as a tub, with a jolly face, adorned with a rubicund nose and two
-cunning little eyes. This man cordially detested the North Americans;
-and, in the courageous deed he was committing at this moment, hatred was
-as much the instigation as avarice.
-
-The little band set out at a canter, and proceeded rapidly toward the
-forest. The judge hurled fire and flames at the audacious usurpers, as
-he called them; he spoke of nothing less than killing them without
-mercy, if they attempted even the slightest resistance to the orders he
-was about to give them. Don Miguel, who was much calmer, and foreboded
-no good from this great wrath, sought in vain to pacify him by telling
-him that he would in all probability have to do with men difficult to
-intimidate, against whom coolness would be the best weapon.
-
-They gradually approached. The hacendero, in order to shorten the
-journey, had led the band by a cross road, which saved at least
-one-third the distance; and the first trees of the forest already
-appeared about two miles off. The mischief produced by the squatters was
-much more considerable than Don Pablo had represented to his father;
-and, at the first glance, it seemed impossible that, in so short a time,
-four men, even though working vigorously, could have accomplished it.
-The finest trees lay on the ground; enormous piles of planks were
-arranged at regular distances, and on the San Pedro an already completed
-raft only awaited a few more stems of trees to be thrust into the water.
-
-Don Miguel could not refrain from sighing at the sight of the
-devastation committed in one of his best forests; but the nearer they
-approached the spot where they expected to meet the squatters, the more
-lukewarm grew the warlike zeal of the judge and his acolytes, and the
-hacendero soon found himself compelled to urge them on, instead of
-restraining them as he had hitherto done. Suddenly the sound of an axe
-re-echoed a few paces ahead of the band. The judge impelled by the
-feeling of his duty, and shame of appearing frightened, advanced boldly
-in the direction of the sound, followed by his escort.
-
-"Stop!" a rough voice shouted at the moment the policemen turned the
-corner of a lane.
-
-With that instinct of self-preservation which never abandons them, the
-alguaciles stopped as if their horses' feet had been suddenly welded to
-the ground. Ten paces from them stood a man in the centre of the ride,
-leaning on an American rifle. The judge turned to Don Miguel with such
-an expression of hesitation and honest terror that the hacendero could
-not refrain from laughing.
-
-"Come, courage, Don Luciano," he said to him. "This man is alone; he
-cannot venture to bar our passage."
-
-"_Con mil diablos!_" the judge exclaimed, ashamed of this impression
-which he could not master, and frowning portentously, "forward, you
-fellows, and fire on that scoundrel if he make but a sign to resist
-you."
-
-The alguaciles set out again with prudential hesitation.
-
-"Stop! I tell you again," the squatter repeated. "Did you not hear the
-order I gave you!"
-
-The judge, reassured by the presence of the hacendero, then advanced,
-and said with a tone which he strove to render terrible, but which was
-only ridiculous through the terror he revealed,--
-
-"I, Don Luciano Perez, _juez de letras_ of the town of Paso, have come,
-by virtue of the powers delegated to me by the Government, to summon you
-and your adherents to quit within twenty-four hours this forest you have
-illegally entered, and which--"
-
-"Ta, ta!" the stranger shouted, rudely interrupting the judge, and
-stamping his foot savagely. "I care as much for all your words and laws
-as I do for an old moccasin. The ground belongs to the first comers. We
-are comfortable here, and mean to remain."
-
-"Your language is very bold, young man," Don Miguel then said. "You do
-not consider that you are alone, and that, failing other rights, we have
-strength on our side."
-
-The squatter burst into a laugh.
-
-"You believe that," he said. "Learn, stranger, that I care as little for
-the ten humbugs I now have before me as I do for a woodcock, and that
-they will do well to leave me at peace, unless they want to learn the
-weight of my arm at their expense. However, here is my father; settle it
-with him."
-
-And he began carelessly whistling "Yankee Doodle." At the same instant
-three men, at the head of whom was Red Cedar, appeared on the path. At
-the sight of these unexpected reinforcements for their arrogant enemy
-the alguaciles made a movement in retreat. The affair was becoming
-singularly complicated, and threatened to assume proportions very grave
-for them.
-
-"Halloh! What's up?" the old man asked roughly. "Anything wrong,
-Sutter?"
-
-"These people," the young man answered, shrugging his shoulders
-contemptuously, "are talking about driving us from the forest by virtue
-of some order."
-
-"Halloh!" Red Cedar said, his eyes flashing as he cast a savage glance
-at the Mexicans. "The only law I recognise in the desert," he continued
-with a gesture of terrible energy as he struck his rifle barrel, "is
-this. Withdraw, strangers, if you do not wish blood to be shed between
-us. I am a peaceful man, wishing to do no one hurt; but I warn you that
-I will not allow myself to be kicked out without striking a blow."
-
-"You will not be turned out," the judge remarked timidly; "on the
-contrary, you have seized on what belongs to other people."
-
-"I won't listen to your arguments, which I do not understand," the
-squatter roughly exclaimed. "God gave the ground to man that he might
-labour on it. Every proprietor that does not fulfil this condition
-tacitly renounces his rights, and the earth then becomes the property of
-the man who tills it with the sweat of his brow; so go to the devil! Be
-off at full speed, if you do not wish harm to happen to you!"
-
-"We will not suffer ourselves to be intimidated by your threats," the
-judge said, impelled by his anger, and forgetting for a moment his
-alarm; "we will do our duty, whatever may happen."
-
-"Try it," Red Cedar said with a grin.
-
-And he made a sign to his sons. The latter arranged themselves in a
-single line, and occupied the entire width of the path.
-
-"In the name of the law," the judge said with energy, as he pointed out
-the old man, "alguaciles, seize that person."
-
-But, as so frequently happens under similar circumstances, this order
-was more easy to give than to execute. Red Cedar and his sons did not
-appear at all disposed to let themselves be collared. We must, however,
-do the alguaciles the justice of stating that they did not hesitate for
-a moment. They plainly refused to carry out the order they had received.
-
-"For the last time, will you be off?" the squatter shouted. "Let them
-have it."
-
-His three sons raised their rifles. At this movement, which removed all
-doubts that might still remain on their minds, and which proved to them
-that the squatters would not hesitate to proceed to extremities, the
-alguaciles were seized with an invincible terror. They turned bridle and
-galloped off at full speed, followed by the yells of the Americans.
-
-One man alone remained motionless before the squatters--Don Miguel
-Zarate. Red Cedar had not recognised him, either owing to the distance
-that separated them, or because the hacendero had purposely pulled over
-his eyes his broad-brimmed hat. Don Miguel dismounted, placed the
-pistols from his holsters through his belt, fastened his horse to a
-tree, and coolly throwing his rifle across his shoulders, boldly
-advanced toward the squatters. The latter, surprised by the courage of
-this man, who alone attempted what his comrades had given up all hopes
-of achieving, let him come up to them without offering the slightest
-opposition. When Don Miguel was a couple of paces from the old squatter;
-he stopped, put the butt of his rifle on the ground, and removing his
-hat, said,--
-
-"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar?"
-
-"Don Miguel Zarate!" the bandit shouted in surprise.
-
-"As the judge deserts me," the hacendero continued, "and fled like a
-coward before your threats, I am obliged to take justice for myself,
-and, by heavens! I will do so! Red Cedar, I, as owner of this forest, in
-which you have settled without permission, order you to depart at once."
-
-The young men exchanged a few muttered threats.
-
-"Silence!" Red Cedar commanded. "Let the caballero speak."
-
-"I have finished, and await your answer."
-
-The squatter appeared to reflect deeply for a few minutes.
-
-"The answer you demand is difficult to give," he at length said: "my
-position toward you is not a free one."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because I owe you my life."
-
-"I dispense you from all gratitude."
-
-"That is possible. You are at liberty to do so; but I cannot forget the
-service you rendered me."
-
-"It is of little consequence."
-
-"Much more than you fancy, caballero. I may be, through my character,
-habits, and the mode of life I lead, beyond the law of civilised beings;
-but I am not the less a man, and if of the worst sort, perhaps, I no
-more forget a kindness than I do an insult."
-
-"Prove it, then, by going away as quickly as you can, and then we shall
-be quits."
-
-The squatter shook his head.
-
-"Listen to me, Don Miguel," he said. "You have in this country the
-reputation of being the providence of the unfortunate. I know from
-myself the extent of your kindness and courage. It is said that you
-possess an immense fortune, of which you do not yourself know the
-extent."
-
-"Well, what then?" the hacendero impatiently interrupted him.
-
-"The damage I can commit here, even if I cut down all the trees in the
-forest, would be but a trifle to you; then whence comes the fury you
-display to drive me out?"
-
-"Your question is just, and I will answer it. I demand your departure
-from my estates, because, only a few days back, my son was grievously
-wounded by your lads, who led him into a cowardly snare; and if he
-escaped death, it was only through a miracle. That is the reason why we
-cannot live side by side, for blood severs us."
-
-Red Cedar frowned.
-
-"Is this true?" he said, addressing his sons.
-
-The young men only hung their heads in reply.
-
-"I am waiting," Don Miguel went on.
-
-"Come, the question cannot be settled thus, so we will proceed to my
-jacal."
-
-"For what purpose? I ask you for a yes or no."
-
-"I cannot answer you yet. We must have a conversation together, after
-which you shall decide to my future conduct. Follow me, then, without
-fear."
-
-"I fear nothing, as I believe I have proved to you. Go on, as you demand
-it: I will follow you."
-
-Red Cedar made his sons a sign to remains here they were, and proceeded
-with long strides toward his jacal, which was but a short distance off.
-Don Miguel walked carelessly after him. They entered the cabin. It was
-deserted. The two females were doubtless also occupied in the forest.
-Red Cedar closed the door after him, sat down on a bench, made his guest
-a sign to do the same, and began speaking in a low and measured voice,
-as if afraid what he had to say might be heard outside.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE ASSASSINATION.
-
-
-"Listen to me, Don Miguel," Red Cedar said, "and pray do not mistake my
-meaning. I have not the slightest intention of intimidating you, nor do
-I think of attempting to gain your confidence by revelations which you
-may fairly assume I have accidentally acquired."
-
-The hacendero regarded with amazement the speaker, whose tone and
-manner had so suddenly changed.
-
-"I do not understand you," he said to him. "Explain yourself more
-clearly, for the words you have just uttered are an enigma, the key to
-which I seek in vain."
-
-"You shall be satisfied, caballero; and if you do not catch the meaning
-of my words this time it must be because you will not. Like all
-intelligent men, you are wearied of the incessant struggles in which the
-vital strength of your country is exhausted unprofitably. You have seen
-that a land so rich, so fertile, so gloriously endowed as Mexico, could
-not--I should say ought not--to remain longer the plaything of paltry
-ambitions, and the arena on which all these transitory tyrannies sport
-in turn. For nearly thirty years you have dreamed of emancipation, not
-of your entire country, for that would be too rude a task, and
-unrealisable; but you said to yourself, 'Let us render New Mexico
-independent; form it into a new State, governed by wise laws rigorously
-executed. By liberal institutions let us give an impetus to all the
-riches with which it is choked, give intellect all the liberty it
-requires, and perhaps within a few years the entire Mexican
-Confederation, amazed by the magnificent results I shall obtain, will
-follow my example. Then I shall die happy at what I have effected--my
-object will be carried out. I shall have saved my country from the abyss
-over which it hangs, through the double pressure of the invasion of the
-American Union and the exhaustion of the Spanish race.' Are not those
-ideas yours, caballero? Do you consider that I have explained myself
-clearly this time?"
-
-"Perhaps so, though I do not yet see distinctly the point you wish to
-reach. The thoughts you attribute to me are such as naturally occur to
-all men who sincerely love their country, and I will not pretend that I
-have not entertained them."
-
-"You would be wrong in doing so, for they are great and noble, and
-breathe the purest patriotism."
-
-"A truce to compliments, and let us come to the point, for time
-presses."
-
-"Patience: I have not yet ended. These ideas must occur to you sooner
-than to another, as you are the descendant of the first Aztec kings, and
-born defender of the Indians in this hapless country. You see that I am
-well acquainted with you, Don Miguel Zarate."
-
-"Too well, perhaps," the Mexican gentleman muttered.
-
-The squatter smiled and went on:--
-
-"It is not chance that led me to this country. I knew what I was doing,
-and why I came. Don Miguel, the hour is a solemn one. All your
-preparations are made: will you hesitate to give New Mexico the signal
-which must render it independent of the metropolis which has so long
-been fattening at its expense? Answer me."
-
-Don Miguel started. He fixed on the squatter a burning glance, in which
-admiration at the man's language could be read. Red Cedar shrugged his
-shoulders.
-
-"What! You still doubt?" he said.
-
-He rose, went to a box from which he took some papers, and threw them on
-the table before the hacendero, saying,--
-
-"Read."
-
-Don Miguel hurriedly seized the papers, and ran his eye over them.
-
-"Well?" he asked, looking fixedly at the strange speaker.
-
-"You see," the squatter answered, "that I am your accomplice. General
-Ibanez, your agent in Mexico, is in correspondence with me, as is Mr.
-Wood, your agent at New York."
-
-"It is true," the Mexican said coldly, "you have the secret of the
-conspiracy. The only point left is to what extent that goes."
-
-"I possess it entirely. I have orders to enlist the volunteers who will
-form the nucleus of the insurrectionary army."
-
-"Good!"
-
-"Now, you see, by these letters of General Ibanez and Mr. Wood, that I
-am commissioned by them to come to an understanding with you, and
-receive your final orders."
-
-"I see it."
-
-"What do you purpose doing?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"What, nothing!" the squatter exclaimed, bounding with surprise. "You
-are jesting, I suppose."
-
-"Listen to me in your turn, and pay attention to my words, for they
-express my irrevocable resolution. I know not nor care to know, by what
-means, more or less honourable, you have succeeded in gaining the
-confidence of my partners, and becoming master of our secrets. Still it
-is my firm conviction that a cause which employs such men as yourself is
-compromised, if not lost; hence I renounce every combination in which
-you are called to play a part. Your antecedents, and the life you lead,
-have placed you without the pale of the law."
-
-"I am a bandit--out with it! What matter so long as you succeed? Does
-not the end justify the means?"
-
-"That may be your morality, but it will never be mine. I repudiate all
-community of ideas with men of your stamp. I will not have you either as
-accomplice or partner."
-
-The squatter darted a look at him laden with hatred and disappointment.
-
-"In serving us," Don Miguel continued, "you can only have an interested
-object, which I will not take the trouble of guessing at. An
-Anglo-American will never frankly aid a Mexican to conquer his liberty;
-he would lose too much by doing it."
-
-"Then?"
-
-"I renounce forever the projects I had formed. I had, I grant, dreamed
-of restoring to my country the independence of which it was unjustly
-stripped: but it shall remain a dream."
-
-"That is your last word?"
-
-"The last."
-
-"You refuse?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Good; then I now know what is left me to do."
-
-"Well, what is it? Let me hear," the hacendero said, as he crossed his
-arms on his breast, and looked him boldly in the face.
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-"I am waiting for you to do so."
-
-"I hold your secret."
-
-"Entirely?"
-
-"Hence you are in my power."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Who will prevent me going to the Governor of the State and denouncing
-you?"
-
-"He will not believe you."
-
-"You think so?"
-
-"I am sure of it."
-
-"Perhaps, I will say in my turn."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Oh! you shall easily see."
-
-"I am curious to learn it."
-
-"However rich you may be, Don Miguel Zarate, and perhaps because of
-those very riches, and in spite of the kindness you sow broadcast, the
-number of your enemies is very considerable."
-
-"I know it."
-
-"Very good. Those enemies will joyfully seize the first opportunity that
-presents itself to destroy you."
-
-"It is probable."
-
-"You see, then. When I go to the governor and tell him you are
-conspiring, and, in support of my denunciation, hand him not only these
-letters, but, several others written and signed by you, lying in that
-chest, do you believe that the governor will treat me as an impostor,
-and refuse to arrest you?"
-
-"Then you have letters in my hand-writing?"
-
-"I have three, which will be enough to have you shot."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-"Yes. Hang it all! you understand: that, in an affair so important as
-this, it is wise to take one's precautions, for no one knows what may
-happen; and men of my stamp," he added, with an ironical smile, "have
-more reasons than others for being prudent."
-
-"Come, that is well played," the hacendero said, carelessly.
-
-"Is it not?"
-
-"Yes, and I compliment you on it: you are a better player than I gave
-you credit for."
-
-"Oh! You do not know me yet."
-
-"The little I do know suffices me."
-
-"Then?"
-
-"We will remain as we are, if you will permit me."
-
-"You still refuse?"
-
-"More than ever."
-
-The squatter frowned.
-
-"Take care, Don Miguel," he muttered, hoarsely. "I will do what I told
-you."
-
-"Yes, if I allow you time."
-
-"Eh?"
-
-"_Caspita!_ If you are a clever scamp, I am not altogether a fool. Do
-you believe, in your turn, that I will let myself be intimidated by your
-threats, and that I should not find means to keep you from acting, not
-for my own sake, as I care little personally for what you can do, but
-for my friends, who are men of honour, and whose lives I do not wish to
-be compromised by your treachery?"
-
-"I am curious to know the means you will employ to obtain this result."
-
-"You shall see," Don Miguel replied with perfect coolness.
-
-"Well?"
-
-"I shall kill you."
-
-"Oh, oh!" the squatter said, as he looked complacently at his muscular
-limbs, "That is not easy."
-
-"More so than you suppose, my master."
-
-"Hum! and when do you reckon on killing me?"
-
-"At once!"
-
-The two men were seated in front of the hearth, each at the end of a
-bench: the table was between them, but a little back, so that while
-talking they only leaned an elbow on it. While uttering the last word,
-Don Miguel bounded like a tiger on the squatter, who did not at all
-expect the attack, seized him by the throat, and hurled him to the
-ground. The two enemies rolled on the uneven flooring of the jacal.
-
-The Mexican's attack had been so sudden and well directed that the
-half-strangled squatter, in spite of his Herculean strength, could not
-free himself from his enemy's iron clutch, which pressed his throat like
-a vice. Red Cedar could neither utter a cry nor offer the slightest
-resistance: the Mexican's knee crushed his chest, while his fingers
-pressed into his throat.
-
-So soon as he had reduced the wretch to utter impotence, Don Miguel drew
-from his vaquera boot a long sharp knife, and buried the entire blade in
-his body. The bandit writhed convulsively for a few seconds; a livid
-pallor suffused his face; his eyes closed, and he then remained
-motionless. Don Miguel left the weapon in the wound, and slowly rose.
-
-"Ah, ah!" he muttered as he gazed at him with a sardonic air, "I fancy
-that rogue will not denounce me now."
-
-Without loss of time he seized the letters lying on the table, took from
-the box the few documents he found in it, hid them all in his bosom,
-opened the door of the cabin, which he carefully closed after him, and
-went off with long strides.
-
-The squatter's sons had not quitted their post; but, so soon as they
-perceived the Mexican, they went up to him.
-
-"Well," Shaw asked him, "have you come to an understanding with the old
-man?"
-
-"Perfectly so," the Mexican answered.
-
-"Then the affair is settled?"
-
-"Yes, to our mutual satisfaction."
-
-"All the better," the young men exclaimed joyously.
-
-The hacendero unfastened his horse and mounted.
-
-"Good-bye, gentlemen!" he said to them.
-
-"Good-bye!" they replied, returning his bow.
-
-The Mexican put his horse to a trot, but at the first turn in the road
-he dug his spurs into its flanks, and started at full speed.
-
-"Now," Sutter observed, "I believe that we can proceed to the cabin
-without inconvenience."
-
-And they gently walked toward the jacal, pleasantly conversing together.
-
-Don Miguel, however, had not succeeded so fully as he imagined. Red
-Cedar was not dead, for the old bandit kept a firm hold on life.
-Attacked unawares, the squatter had not attempted a resistance, which he
-saw at the first glance was useless, and would only have exasperated his
-adversary. With marvellous sagacity, on feeling the knife blade enter
-his body, he stiffened himself against the pain, and resolved on
-"playing 'possum;" that is to say, feigning death. The success of his
-stratagem was complete. Don Miguel, persuaded that he had killed him,
-did not dream of repeating his thrust.
-
-So long as his enemy remained in the jacal the squatter was careful not
-to make the slightest movement that might have betrayed him; but, so
-soon as he was alone, he opened his eyes, rose with an effort, drew the
-dagger from the wound, which emitted a jet of black blood, and looking
-at the door, through which his assassin had departed, with a glance so
-full of hatred that it is impossible to describe, he muttered,--
-
-"Now we are quits, Don Miguel Zarate, since you have tried to take back
-the life of him you saved. Pray God never to bring us face to face
-again!"
-
-He uttered a deep sigh, and rolled heavily on the ground in a fainting
-fit. At this moment his sons entered the cabin.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE SACHEM OF THE CORAS.
-
-
-A few days after the events we have described in the previous chapter
-there was one of those lovely mornings which are not accorded to our
-cold climates to know. The sun poured down in profusion its warm beams,
-which caused the pebbles and sand to glisten in the walks of the garden
-of the Hacienda de la Noria. In a clump of flowering orange and lemon
-trees, whose sweet exhalations perfumed the air, and beneath a copse of
-cactus, nopals, and aloes, a maiden was asleep, carelessly reclining in
-a hammock made of the thread of the _Phormium tenax,_ which hung between
-two orange trees.
-
-With her head thrown back, her long black hair unfastened, and falling
-in disorder on her neck and bosom; with her coral lips parted, and
-displaying the dazzling pearl of her teeth, Dona Clara (for it was she
-who slept thus with an infantile slumber) was really charming. Her
-features breathed happiness, for not a cloud had yet arisen to perturb
-the azure horizon of her calm and tranquil life.
-
-It was nearly midday: there was not a breath in the air. The sunbeams,
-pouring down vertically, rendered the heat so stifling and
-unsupportable, that everyone in the hacienda had yielded to sleep, and
-was enjoying what is generally called in hot countries the _siesta._
-Still, at a short distance from the spot where Dona Clara reposed, calm
-and smiling, a sound of footsteps, at first almost imperceptible, but
-gradually heightening, was heard, and a man made his appearance. It was
-Shaw, the youngest of the squatter's sons. How was he at this spot?
-
-The young man was panting, and the perspiration poured down his cheeks.
-On reaching the entrance of the clump he bent an anxious glance on the
-hammock.
-
-"She is there," he murmured with a passionate accent. "She sleeps."
-
-Then he fell on his knees upon the sand, and began admiring the maiden,
-dumb and trembling. He remained thus a long time, with his glance fixed
-on the slumberer with a strange expression. At length he uttered a sigh
-and tearing himself with an effort from this delicious contemplation, he
-rose sadly, muttering in a whisper,--
-
-"I must go--if she were to wake--oh, she will never know how much I love
-her!"
-
-He plucked an orange flower, and softly laid it on the maiden; then he
-walked a few steps from her, but almost immediately returning, he
-seized, with a nervous hand, Dona Clara's _rebozo,_ which hung down from
-the hammock, and pressed it to his lips several times, saying, in a
-voice broken by the emotion he felt,--
-
-"It has touched her hair."
-
-And rushing from the thicket, he crossed the garden and disappeared. He
-had heard footsteps approaching. In fact, a few seconds after his
-departure, Don Miguel, in his turn, entered the copse.
-
-"Come, come," he said gaily, as he shook the hammock, "sleeper, will you
-not have finished your siesta soon?"
-
-Dona Clara opened her eyes, with a smile.
-
-"I am no longer asleep, father," she said.
-
-"Very good. That is the answer I like."
-
-And he stepped forward to kiss her; but, with sudden movement, the
-maiden drew herself back as if she had seen some frightful vision, and
-her face was covered with a livid pallor.
-
-"What is the matter with you?" the hacendero exclaimed with terror.
-
-The girl showed him the orange flower.
-
-"Well," her father continued, "what is there so terrific in that flower?
-It must have fallen from the tree during your sleep."
-
-Dona Clara shook her head sadly.
-
-"No," she said: "for some days past I have always noticed, on waking a
-similar flower thrown on me."
-
-"You are absurd; chance alone is to blame for it all. Come, think no
-more about it; you are pale as death, child. Why frighten yourself thus
-about a trifle? Besides the remedy may be easily found. If so afraid of
-flowers now, why not take your siesta in your bedroom, instead of
-burying yourself in this thicket?"
-
-"That is true, father," the girl said, all joyous, and no longer
-thinking of the fear she had undergone. "I will follow your advice."
-
-"Come, that is settled, so say no more about it. Now give me a kiss."
-
-The maiden threw herself into her father's arms, whom she stifled with
-kisses. Both sat down on a grassy mound, and commenced one of those
-delicious chit-chats whose charm only those who are parents can properly
-appreciate. Presently a peon came up.
-
-"What has brought you?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Excellency," the peon answered, "a redskin warrior has just arrived at
-the hacienda, who desires speech with you."
-
-"Do you know him?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Yes, Excellency; it is Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras of the Rio
-San Pedro."
-
-"Mookapec! (Flying Eagle)" the hacendero repeated with surprise. "What
-can have brought him to me? Lead him here."
-
-The peon retired and in a few minutes returned, preceding Eagle-wing.
-
-The chief had donned the great war-dress of the sachems of his nation.
-His hair, plaited with the skin of a rattlesnake, was drawn up on the
-top of his head; in the centre an eagle plume was affixed. A blouse of
-striped calico, adorned with a profusion of bells, descended to his
-thighs, which were defended from the stings of mosquitoes by drawers of
-the same stuff. He wore moccasins made of peccary skin, adorned with
-glass beads and porcupine quills. To his heels were fastened several
-wolves' tails, the distinguishing mark of renowned warriors. Round his
-loins was a belt of elk hide, through which passed his knife, his pipe
-and his medicine bag. His neck was adorned by a collar of grizzly bear
-claws and buffalo teeth. Finally, a magnificent robe of a white female
-buffalo hide, painted red inside, was fastened to his shoulders, and
-fell down behind him like a cloak. In his right hand he held a fan
-formed of a single eagle's wing, and in his left hand an American rifle.
-There was something imposing and singularly martial in the appearance
-and demeanor of this savage child of the forest.
-
-On entering the thicket, he bowed gracefully to Dona Clara, and then
-stood motionless and dumb before Don Miguel. The Mexican regarded him
-attentively, and saw an expression of gloomy melancholy spread over the
-Indian chief's features.
-
-"My brother is welcome," the hacendero said to him. "To what do I owe
-the pleasure of seeing him?"
-
-The chief cast a side glance at the maiden. Don Miguel understood what
-he desired, and made Dona Clara a sign to withdraw. They remained alone.
-
-"My brother can speak," the hacendero then said; "the ears of a friend
-are open."
-
-"Yes, my father is good," the chief replied in his guttural voice. "He
-loves the Indians: unhappily all the palefaces do not resemble him."
-
-"What does my brother mean? Has he cause to complain of anyone?"
-
-The Indian smiled sadly.
-
-"Where is there justice for the redskins?" he said. "The Indians are
-animals: the Great Spirit has not given them a soul, as He has done for
-the palefaces, and it is not a crime to kill them."
-
-"Come, chief, pray do not speak longer in riddles, but explain why you
-have quitted your tribe. It is far from Rio San Pedro to this place."
-
-"Mookapec is alone: his tribe no longer exists."
-
-"How?"
-
-"The palefaces came in the night, like jaguars without courage. They
-burned the village, and massacred all the inhabitants, even to the women
-and little children."
-
-"Oh, that is frightful!" the hacendero murmured, in horror.
-
-"Ah!" the chief continued with an accent full of terrible irony, "The
-scalps of the redskins are sold dearly."
-
-"And do you know the men who committed this atrocious crime?"
-
-"Mookapec knows them, and will avenge himself."
-
-"Tell me their chief, if you know his name."
-
-"I know it. The palefaces call him Red Cedar, the Indians the Maneater."
-
-"Oh! As for him, chief, you are avenged, for he is dead."
-
-"My father is mistaken."
-
-"How so? Why, I killed him myself."
-
-The Indian shook his head.
-
-"Red Cedar has a hard life," he said: "the blade of the knife my father
-used was too short. Red Cedar is wounded, but in a few days he will be
-about again, ready to kill and scalp the Indians."
-
-This news startled the hacendero: the enemy he fancied he had got rid
-of still lived, and he would have to begin a fresh struggle.
-
-"My father must take care," the chief continued. "Red Cedar has sworn to
-be avenged."
-
-"Oh! I will not leave him the time. This man is a demon, of whom the
-earth must be purged at all hazards, before his strength has returned,
-and he begins his assassinations again."
-
-"I will aid my father in his vengeance."
-
-"Thanks, chief. I do not refuse your offer: perhaps I shall soon need
-the help of all my friends. And now, what do you purpose doing?"
-
-"Since the palefaces reject him, Eagle-wing will retire to the desert.
-He has friends among the Comanches. They are redskins, and will welcome
-him gladly."
-
-"I will not strive to combat your determination, chief, for it is just;
-and if, at a later date, you take terrible reprisals on the white men,
-they will have no cause of complaint, for they have brought it on
-themselves. When does my brother start?"
-
-"At sunset."
-
-"Rest here today: tomorrow will be soon enough to set out."
-
-"Mookapec must depart this day."
-
-"Act as you think proper. Have you a horse?"
-
-"No; but at the first manada I come to I will lasso one."
-
-"I do not wish you to set out thus, but will give you a horse."
-
-"Thanks; my father is good. The Indian chief will remember--"
-
-"Come, you shall choose for yourself."
-
-"I have still a few words to say to my father."
-
-"Speak, chief; I am listening to you."
-
-"Koutonepi, the pale hunter, begged me to give my father an important
-warning."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"A great danger threatens my father. Koutonepi wishes to see him as soon
-as possible, in order himself to tell him its nature."
-
-"Good! My brother will tell the hunter that I shall be tomorrow at the
-'clearing of the shattered oak,' and await him there till night."
-
-"I will faithfully repeat my father's words to the hunter."
-
-The two men then quitted the garden, and hurriedly proceeded toward the
-hacienda. Don Miguel let the chief choose his own horse, and while the
-sachem was harnessing his steed in the Indian fashion, he withdrew to
-his bedroom, and sent for his son to join him. The young man had
-perfectly recovered from his wound. His father told him that he was
-obliged to absent himself for some days: he intrusted to him the
-management of the hacienda, while recommending him on no consideration
-to leave the farm, and to watch attentively over his sister. The young
-man promised him all he wished, happy at enjoying perfect liberty for a
-few days.
-
-After embracing his son and daughter for the last time Don Miguel
-proceeded to the _patio_, where in the meanwhile, the chief had been
-amusing himself by making the magnificent horse he had chosen curvet.
-Don Miguel admired for several moments the Indian's skill and grace, for
-he managed a horse as well as the first Mexican _jinete;_ then mounted,
-and the two men proceeded together toward the Paso del Norte, which they
-must cross in order to enter the desert, and reach the clearing of the
-shattered oak.
-
-The journey passed in silence, for the two men were deeply reflecting.
-At the moment they entered Paso the sun was setting on the horizon in a
-bed of red mist, which foreboded a storm for the night. At the entrance
-of the village they separated; and on the morrow, as we have seen in our
-first chapter, Don Miguel set out at daybreak, and galloped to the
-clearing.
-
-We will now end this lengthy parenthesis, which was, however,
-indispensable for the due comprehension of the facts that are about to
-follow, and take up our story again at the point where we left it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-CONVERSATION.
-
-
-Valentine Guillois, whom we have already introduced to the reader in
-previous works[1], had inhabited, or, to speak more correctly, traversed
-the vast solitudes of Mexico and Texas during the past five or six
-years. We saw him just now accompanied by the Araucano chief. These two
-men were the boldest hunters on the frontier. At times, when they had
-collected an ample harvest of furs, they went to sell them in the
-villages, renewed their stock of powder and ball, purchased a few
-indispensable articles, and then returned to the desert.
-
-Now and then they engaged themselves for a week, or even a fortnight,
-with the proprietors of the haciendas, to free them from the wild beasts
-that desolated their herds; but so soon as the ferocious animals were
-destroyed, and the reward obtained, no matter the brilliancy of the
-offers made them by the landowners, the two men threw their rifles on
-their shoulders and went off.
-
-No one knew who they were, or whence they came. Valentine and his friend
-maintained the most complete silence as to the events of their life
-which had preceded their appearance in these parts. Only one thing had
-betrayed the nationality of Valentine, whom his comrade called
-Koutonepi, a word belonging to the language of the Aucas, and signifying
-"The Valiant." On his chest the hunter wore the cross of the Legion of
-Honor. The deeds of every description performed by these hunters were
-incalculable, and their stories were the delight of the frontier
-dwellers during the winter night. The number of tigers they had killed
-was no longer counted.
-
-Chance had one day made them acquainted with Don Miguel Zarate under
-strange circumstances, and since then an uninterrupted friendship had
-been maintained between them. Don Miguel, during a tempestuous night,
-namely, had only owed his life to the accuracy of Valentine's aim, who
-sent a bullet through the head of the Mexican's horse at the moment
-when, mad with terror, and no longer obeying the bridle, it was on the
-point of leaping into an abyss with its master. Don Miguel had sworn
-eternal gratitude to his saviour.
-
-Valentine and Curumilla had made themselves the tutors of the
-hacendero's children, who, for their part, felt a deep friendship for
-the hunters. Don Pablo had frequently made long hunting parties in the
-desert with them; and it was to them he owed the certainty of his aim,
-his skill in handling weapons, and his knack in taming horses.
-
-No secrets existed between Don Miguel and the hunters: they read in his
-mind as in an ever open book. They were the disinterested confidants of
-his plans; for these rude wood rangers esteemed him, and only required
-for themselves one thing--the liberty of the desert. Still, despite the
-sympathy and friendship which so closely connected these different
-persons, and the confidence which formed the basis of that friendship,
-Don Miguel and his children had never been able to obtain from the
-hunters information as to the events that had passed prior to their
-arrival in this country.
-
-Frequently Don Miguel, impelled, not by curiosity, but merely by the
-interest he felt in them, had tried, by words cleverly thrown into the
-conversation, to give them an opening for confidence; but Valentine had
-always repelled those hints, though cleverly enough for Don Miguel not
-to feel offended by this want of confidence. With Curumilla they had
-been even more simple. Wrapped in his Indian stoicism, intrenched in his
-habitual sullenness, he was wont to answer all questions by a shake of
-the head, but nothing further.
-
-At length, weary of the attempt, the hacendero and his family had given
-up trying to read those secrets which their friends seemed obstinately
-determined to keep from them. Still the friendship subsisting between
-them had not grown cold in consequence, and it was always with equal
-pleasure that Don Miguel met the hunters again after a lengthened ramble
-in the prairies, which kept them away from his house for whole months at
-a time.
-
-The hunter and the Mexican were seated by the fire, while Curumilla,
-armed with his scalping knife, was busy flaying the two jaguars so
-skillfully killed by Don Miguel, and which were magnificent brutes.
-
-"Eh, _compadre!_" Don Miguel said with a laugh; "I was beginning to lose
-patience, and fancy you had forgotten the meeting you had yourself given
-me."
-
-"I never forgot anything, as you know," Valentine answered seriously;
-"and if I did not arrive sooner, it was because the road is long from my
-jacal to this clearing."
-
-"Heaven forbid that I should reproach you, my friend! Still I confess to
-you that the prospect of passing the night alone in this forest only
-slightly pleased me, and I should have been off had you not arrived
-before sunset."
-
-"You would have done wrong, Don Miguel: what I have to tell you is of
-the utmost importance to you. Who knows what the result might have been
-had I not been able to warn you?"
-
-"You alarm me, my friend."
-
-"I will explain. In the first place let me tell you that you committed,
-a few days back, a grave imprudence, whose consequences threaten to be
-most serious for you."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"I said one, but ought to have said two."
-
-"I am waiting till you think proper to express yourself more clearly,"
-Don Miguel said with a slight tinge of impatience, "before I answer."
-
-"You have quarrelled with a North American bandit."
-
-"Red Cedar."
-
-"Yes; and when you had him in your power you let him escape, instead of
-killing him out and out."
-
-"That is true, and I was wrong. What would you? The villain has as tough
-a life as an alligator. But be at ease. If ever he fall into my hands
-again, I swear that I will not miss him."
-
-"In the meanwhile you did do so--that is the evil."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"You will understand me. This man is one of those villains, the scum of
-the United States, too many of whom have lived on the frontier during
-the last few years. I do not know how he contrived to deceive your New
-York agent; but he gained his confidence so cleverly that the latter
-told him all the secrets he knew about your enterprise."
-
-"He told me so himself."
-
-"Very good. It was then, I suppose, that you stabbed him?"
-
-"Yes, and at the same time I plucked out his claws; that is to say, I
-seized the letters he held, and which might compromise me."
-
-"A mistake. This man is too thorough-paced a scoundrel not to foresee
-all the chances of his treason. He had a last letter, the most important
-of all; and that you did not take from him."
-
-"I took three."
-
-"Yes, but there were four. As the last, however, in itself was worth as
-much as the other three, he always wore it about him in a leathern bag
-hung round his neck by a steel chain; you did not dream of looking for
-that."
-
-"But what importance can this letter, I do not even remember writing,
-possess, that you should attach such weight to it?"
-
-"It is merely the agreement drawn up between yourself, General Ibanez,
-and Mr. Wood, and bearing your three signatures."
-
-"_Con mil demonios!_" the hacendero exclaimed in terror. "In that case
-I am lost; for if this man really possesses such a document, he will not
-fail to employ it in order to be revenged on me."
-
-"Nothing is lost so long as a man's heart beats in his breast, Don
-Miguel. The position is critical, I allow, but I have saved myself in
-situations far more desperate than the one you are now in."
-
-"What is to be done?"
-
-"Red Cedar has been about again for two days. His first care, so soon as
-he could sit a horse, was to go to Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico,
-and denounce you to the Governor. That has nothing to surprise you from
-such a man."
-
-"Then I can only fly as speedily as I can?"
-
-"Wait. Every man has in his heart at least one of the seven deadly sins
-as a bait for the demon."
-
-"What are you driving at?"
-
-"You will see. Fortunately for us, Red Cedar has them all seven, I
-believe, in the finest stage of development. Avarice, before all, has
-reached its acme with him."
-
-"Well?"
-
-"This happened. Our man denounced you to the governor as a conspirator,
-etc., but was careful not to give up the proofs he possessed in support
-of the denunciation at the outset. When General Isturitz, the governor,
-asked him for these proofs, he answered that he was ready to supply them
-in exchange for the sum of one hundred thousand piastres in gold."
-
-"Ah!" the hacendero said, with a breath of relief, "and what did
-Isturitz say?"
-
-"The general is one of your most inveterate enemies, I grant, and he
-would give a good deal for the pleasure of having you shot."
-
-"That is true."
-
-"Yes, but still the sum appeared to him, as it really is, exorbitant,
-the more so as he would have to pay it all himself, as the government
-does not recognise transactions of that nature."
-
-"Well, what did Red Cedar do then?"
-
-"He did not allow himself beaten; on the contrary, he told the general
-he would give him a week to reflect, and quietly left the Cabildo."
-
-"Hum! And on what day was this visit paid?"
-
-"Yesterday morning; so that you have six days still left for action."
-
-"Six days--that is very little."
-
-"Eh?" the Frenchman said, with a shrug of his shoulders impossible to
-describe. "In my country--"
-
-"Yes, but you are Frenchmen."
-
-"That is true: hence I allow you twice the time we should require. Come,
-let us put joking aside. You are a man of more than common energy; you
-really wish the welfare of your country, so do not let yourself be
-crushed by the first reverse. Who knows but that it may all be for the
-best?"
-
-"Ah, my friend, I am alone! General Ibanez, who alone could help me in
-this critical affair, is fifty leagues off. What can I do? Nothing."
-
-"All. I foresaw your objection. Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras, has
-gone from me to warn the general. You know with what speed Indians
-travel; so he will bring us the general in a few hours, I feel
-convinced."
-
-Don Miguel regarded the hunter with mingled admiration and respect.
-
-"You have done that, my friend?" he said to him as he warmly pressed his
-hand.
-
-"By Jove!" Valentine said, gaily, "I have done something else too. When
-the time arrives I will tell you what it is. But let us not lose an
-hour. What do you intend to do for the present?"
-
-"Act."
-
-"Good: that is the way I like to hear you talk."
-
-"Yes, but I must first come to an understanding with the general."
-
-"That is true; but it is the least thing," Valentine answered, as he
-looked skyward, and attentively consulted the position of the stars. "It
-is now eight o'clock. Eagle-wing and the man he brings must be at
-midnight at the entrance of the _Canyon del Buitre_. We have four hours
-before us, and that is more than we require, as we have only ten leagues
-to go."
-
-"Let us go, let us go!" Don Miguel exclaimed eagerly.
-
-"Wait a moment; there is no such hurry. Don't be alarmed; we shall
-arrive in time."
-
-He then turned to Curumilla, and said to him in Araucano a few words
-which the hacendero did not understand. The Indian rose without
-replying, and disappeared in the density of the forest.
-
-"You know," Valentine continued, "that I prefer, through habit,
-travelling on foot; still, as under present circumstances minutes are
-precious, and we must not lose them, I have provided two horses."
-
-"You think of everything, my friend."
-
-"Yes, when I have to act for those I love," Valentine answered with a
-retrospective sigh.
-
-There was a moment's silence between the two men, and at the end of
-scarce a quarter of an hour there was a noise in the shrubs, the
-branches parted, and Curumilla re-entered the clearing, holding two
-horses by the bridle. These noble animals, which were nearly untamed
-_mustangs_, bore a striking resemblance to the steeds of the Apaches, on
-whose territory our friends now were. They were literally covered with
-eagle plumes, beads, and ribbons, while long red and white spots
-completed their disguise, and rendered it almost impossible to recognise
-them.
-
-"Mount!" Don Miguel exclaimed so soon as he saw them. "Time is slipping
-away."
-
-"One word yet," Valentine remarked.
-
-"Speak."
-
-"You still have as chaplain a certain monk by the name of 'Fray
-Ambrosio.'"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Take care of that man--he betrays you."
-
-"You believe it?"
-
-"I am sure of it."
-
-"Good! I will remember."
-
-"All right. Now we will be off," Valentine said, as he buried his spurs
-in his horse's flanks.
-
-And the three horsemen rushed into the darkness with headlong speed.
-
-
-[1] "Tiger-Slayer," etc. Same publishers.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-EL MESON.
-
-
-The day on which our story commences the village of the Paso del Norte
-presented an extraordinary appearance. The bells were ringing out full
-peals, for the three hundredth anniversary of its foundation was
-celebrated. The population of Paso, greatly diminished since the
-proclamation of Mexican independence, was hurrying to the churches,
-which flashed with silver and gold. The houses were decorated with rich
-tapestry, and the streets strewn with flowers.
-
-Toward nightfall the inhabitants, whom the intolerable heat of the
-tropical sun had kept prisoners in the interior of the houses, flocked
-out to inhale the sharp perfumes of the desert breeze, and bring back a
-little fresh air into their parched lungs. The town, which had for
-several hours appeared deserted, suddenly woke up: shouts and laughter
-were heard afresh. The walks were invaded by the mob, and in a few
-minutes the _mesons_ were thronged with idlers, who began drinking
-pulque and mezcal, while smoking their cigarettes, and strumming the
-jarabe and vihuela.
-
-In a house of poor appearance, built like all its neighbours, of earth
-bricks, and situated at the angle formed by the Plaza Mayor and the
-Calle de la Merced, some twenty-five fellows, whom it was easy to
-recognise as adventurers by the feather in their hats, their upturned
-moustaches, and specially by the long bronzed-hilted sword they wore on
-the thigh, were drinking torrents of aguardiente and pulque at the
-gambling tables, while yelling like deaf men, swearing like pagans, and
-threatening at every moment to unsheathe their weapons.
-
-In a corner of the room occupied by these troublesome guests two men,
-seated opposite each other at a table, seemed plunged in deep thought,
-and looked round them absently, not thinking about drinking the contents
-of their glasses, which had not been emptied for more than half an hour.
-These two men presented the most striking contrast. They were still
-young. The first, aged twenty-five at the most, had one of those frank,
-honest, and energetic faces which call for sympathy, and attract
-respect. His pallid brow, his face of a delicate hue, surrounded by his
-long black curls, his straight and flexible nose, his mouth filled with
-a double row of teeth of dazzling whiteness, and surmounted by a slight
-brown moustache, gave him a stamp of distinction, which was the more
-striking owing to the strict, and perhaps common, style of his attire.
-
-He wore the costume of the wood rangers; that is to say, the Canadian
-_mitasse_, fastened round the hips, and descending to the ankle; _botas
-vaqueras_ of deer skin, fastened at the knee; and a striped zarape of
-brilliant colours. A panama straw hat was thrown on the table, within
-reach of his hand, by the side of an American rifle and two
-double-barrelled pistols. A machete hung on his left side, and the hilt
-of a long knife peeped out of his left boot.
-
-His companion was short and thick-set; but his well-knit limbs and his
-outstanding muscles indicated no ordinary strength. His face, the
-features of which were commonplace enough, had a cunning look, which
-suddenly disappeared to make room for a certain nobility whenever under
-the influence Of any sudden emotion; his eyebrows contracted; and his
-glance, ordinarily veiled, flashed forth. He wore nearly the same garb
-as his comrade; but his hat stained with rain, and the colours of his
-zarape faded by the sun, evidenced lengthened wear. Like the first one
-we described, he was well armed.
-
-It was easy to see at the first glance that these two men did not belong
-to the Hispano-American race, indeed, their conversation would have
-removed any doubts on that head, for they spoke in the French dialect
-employed in Canada.
-
-"Hum!" the first said, taking up his glass, which he carelessly raised
-to his lips. "After due consideration, Harry, I believe we shall do
-better by mounting our horses again, and starting, instead of remaining
-in this horrible den, amid these _gachupinos_, who croak like frogs
-before a storm."
-
-"Deuce take your impatience!" the other replied ill-temperedly. "Can't
-you remain a moment at rest?"
-
-"You call it a moment, Harry. Why, we have been here an hour."
-
-"By Jove! Dick, you're a wonderful fellow," the other continued with a
-laugh. "Do you think that business can be settled all in a moment?"
-
-"After all, what is our game? For may the old one twist my neck, or a
-grizzly give me a hug, if I know the least in the world! For five years
-we have hunted and slept side by side. We have come from Canada together
-to this place. I have grown into a habit--I cannot say why--of referring
-to you everything that concerns our mutual interests. Still I should not
-be sorry to know, if only for the rarity of the fact, why on earth we
-left the prairies, where we were so well off, to come here, where we are
-so badly off."
-
-"Have you ever repented, up to today, the confidence you placed in me?"
-
-"I do not say so, Harry. Heaven forbid! Still I think--"
-
-"You think wrong," the young man sharply interrupted. "Let me alone, and
-before three months you shall have three times your hat full of massive
-gold, or call me a fool."
-
-At this dazzling promise the eyes of Dick, the smaller of the hunters,
-glistened like two stars. He regarded his comrade with a species of
-admiration.
-
-"Oh, oh!" he said in a low voice, "It is a placer, is it?"
-
-"Hang it!" the other said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "were it not,
-should I be here? But silence, our man has arrived."
-
-In fact, a man entered at this moment. On his appearance a sudden
-silence fell on the meson; the adventurers gambling and cursing at all
-the tables, rose as if moved by a spring, respectfully took off their
-plumed hats, and ranged themselves with downcast eyes to let him pass.
-The man remained for an instant on the threshold of the venta, took a
-profound glance at the company, and then walked toward the two hunters.
-
-This man wore the gown of a monk; he had the ascetic face, with the
-harsh features and sharply-marked lines, that forms, as it were, the
-type of the Spanish monks of which Titian has so admirably caught the
-expression on his canvas. He passed through the adventurers, holding out
-right and left his wide sleeves, which they reverentially kissed. On
-approaching the two hunters he turned round.
-
-"Continue your sports, my sons," he said to the company; "my presence
-need not disturb your frolics, for I only wish to speak for a few
-moments with those two gentlemen."
-
-The adventurers did not let the invitation be repeated, but took their
-places again tumultuously, and soon cries and oaths recommenced with
-equal intensity. The monk smiled, took a butaca, and seated himself
-between the two hunters, while bending a searching glance on them. The
-latter had followed with a mocking eye all the interludes of this little
-scene, and without making a movement, they let the monk seat himself by
-their side. So soon as he had done so, Harry poured him out a large
-glass of pulque, and placed within his reach the squares of maize leaf
-and tobacco.
-
-"Drink and smoke, senor padre," he said to him.
-
-The monk, without any observation, rolled a cigarette, emptied the glass
-of pulque at a draught, and then leaning his elbows on the table and
-bending forward, said,--
-
-"You are punctual."
-
-"We have been waiting an hour," Dick observed in a rough voice.
-
-"What is an hour in the presence of eternity?" the monk said with a
-smile.
-
-"Let us not lose any more time," Harry continued. "What have you to
-propose to us?"
-
-The monk looked around him suspiciously, and lowered his voice.
-
-"I can, if you like, make you rich in a few days."
-
-"What is the business?" Dick asked.
-
-"Of course," the monk continued, "this fortune I offer you is a matter
-of indifference to me. If I have an ardent desire to obtain it, it is,
-in the first place, because it belongs to nobody, and will permit me to
-relieve the wretchedness of the thousands of beings confided to my
-charge."
-
-"Of course, senor padre," Harry answered seriously. "Let us not weigh
-longer on these details. According to what you told me a few days back,
-you have discovered a rich placer."
-
-"Not I," the monk sharply objected.
-
-"No consequence, provided that it exists," Dick answered.
-
-"Pardon me, but it is of great consequence to me. I do not wish to take
-on myself the responsibility of such a discovery. If, as I believe,
-people will go in search of it, it may entail the death of several
-persons, and the church abhors bloodshed."
-
-"Very good: you only desire to profit by it."
-
-"Not for myself."
-
-"For your parishioners. Very good; but let us try to come to an
-understanding, if possible, for our time is too precious for us to waste
-it in empty talk."
-
-"_Valgame Dios_!" the monk said, crossing himself, "How you have
-retained the impetuosity of your French origin! Have a little patience,
-and I will explain myself."
-
-"That is all we desire."
-
-"But you will promise me--"
-
-"Nothing," Dick interrupted. "We are honest hunters, and not accustomed
-to pledge ourselves so lightly before knowing positively what is asked
-of us."
-
-Harry supported his friend's words by a nod. The monk drank a glass of
-pulque, and took two or three heavy puffs at his cigarette.
-
-"Your will be done," he then said. "You are terrible men. This is the
-affair."
-
-"Go on."
-
-"A poor scamp of a gambusino, lost, I know not how, in the great desert,
-discovered at a considerable distance off, between the Rio Gila and the
-Colorado, the richest placer the wildest imagination can conceive.
-According to his statement the gold is scattered over the surface, for
-an extent of two or three miles, in nuggets, each of which would make a
-man's fortune. This gambusino, dazzled by such treasures, but unable to
-appropriate them alone, displayed the greatest energy, and braved the
-utmost perils, in order to regain civilised regions. It was only through
-boldness and temerity that he succeeded in escaping the countless
-enemies who spied, and tracked him on all sides; but Heaven at length
-allowed him to reach Paso safe and sound."
-
-"Very good," Dick observed. "All this may very possibly, be true; but
-why did you not bring this gambusino, instead of talking to us about the
-placer, of which you know as little as we do? He would have supplied us
-with information which is indispensable for us, in the event of our
-consenting to help you in looking for this treasure."
-
-"Alas!" the monk replied, hypocritically casting his eyes down, "the
-unhappy man was not destined to profit by this discovery, made at the
-price of so many perils. Scarce two days after his arrival at Paso, he
-quarrelled with another gambusino, and received a stab which sent him a
-few hours later to the tomb."
-
-"In that case," Harry observed, "how did you learn all these details,
-senor padre?"
-
-"In a very simple way, my son. It was I who reconciled the poor wretch
-in his last moments with Heaven; and," he added, with an air of
-compunction splendidly assumed, "when he understood that his end was at
-hand, and that nothing could save him, he confided to me, in gratitude
-for the consolation I bestowed on him, what I have just told you,
-revealed to me the situation of the placer, and for greater certainty
-gave me a clumsy chart he had drawn out on the spot. You see that we can
-proceed almost with certainty."
-
-"Yes," Harry said, thoughtfully; "but why, instead of first applying to
-the Mexicans, your countrymen, did you propose to us to help you in your
-enterprise?"
-
-"Because the Mexicans are men who cannot be trusted, and before reaching
-the placer we should have to fight the Apaches and Comanches, on whose
-territory it is situated."
-
-After these words, there was a lengthened silence between the three
-speakers: each was reflecting deeply on what he had just heard. The monk
-tried to read with cunning eye the impression produced on the hunters by
-his confidence; but his hopes were deceived. Their faces remained
-unmoved. At length Dick spoke in a rough voice, after exchanging a
-meaning look with his comrade.
-
-"All that is very fine," he said; "but it is absurd to suppose that two
-men, however brave they may be, can attempt such an enterprise in
-unknown regions peopled by ferocious tribes. It would require at least
-fifty resolute and devoted men, otherwise nothing could be possible."
-
-"You are right, and hence I did not calculate on you alone. You will
-have determined men under your orders, chosen carefully by myself, and I
-shall also accompany you."
-
-"Unluckily, if you have counted on us, you are mistaken, senor padre,"
-Harry said, peremptorily. "We are honest hunters; but the trade of a
-gambusino does not at all suit us. Even if we had a chance of gaining an
-incalculable fortune, we would not consent to take part in an expedition
-of gold seekers."
-
-"Not even if Red Cedar were at the head of the expedition, and consented
-to take the direction?" the monk said in a honeyed voice, and with a
-side glance.
-
-The hunter started, a feverish blush suffused his face, and it was in a
-voice choked by emotion that he exclaimed,--
-
-"Have you spoken with him about it?"
-
-"Here he is; you can ask him," the monk answered.
-
-In fact, a man was entering the meson at this moment. Harry looked down
-in confusion, while Dick tapped the table with his dagger and whistled.
-A smile of undefinable meaning wandered over the monk's pallid lips.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-RED CEDAR.
-
-
-Red Cedar was more than six feet in height; his enormous head was
-fastened to his square shoulders by a short and muscular neck, like a
-bull's; his bony members were covered with muscles hard as ropes. In
-short, his whole person was a specimen of brute strength at its
-culminating point.
-
-A fox-skin cap, pressed down on his head, allowed escape to a few tufts
-of coarse greyish hair, and fell on his little grey eyes, which were
-close to a nose that was hooked like the beak of a bird of prey; his
-wide mouth was filled with white, large teeth; his cheekbones were
-prominent and purpled; and the lower part of his face disappeared in a
-thick black beard, mingled with grey hairs. He wore a hunting shirt of
-striped calico, fastened round the waist by a strap of brown leather,
-through which were passed two pistols, an axe, and a long knife; a pair
-of leggings of tawny leather, sewed at equal distances with hair, fell
-down to his knees; while his legs were protected by Indian moccasins,
-ornamented with a profusion of beads and bells. A game bag of fawn skin,
-which seemed full, fell over his right hip; and he held in his hand an
-American rifle, studded with copper nails.
-
-No one knew who Red Cedar was, or whence he came. About two years prior
-to the period of our story opening he had suddenly made his appearance
-in the country, accompanied by a wife of a certain age--a species of
-Megaera, of masculine form and repellant aspect; a girl of seventeen;
-and three vigorous lads, who resembled him too closely not to be his
-own, and whose age varied from nineteen to twenty-four.
-
-Red Cedar himself appeared to be fifty-five at the most. The name by
-which he was known had been given to him by the Indians, of whom he had
-declared himself the implacable enemy, and boasted that he had killed
-two hundred. The old woman was called Betsy; the girl, Ellen; the eldest
-son, Nathan; the second, Sutter; and the last, Shaw.
-
-This family had built a shanty in the forest, a few miles from Paso, and
-lived alone in the desert, without having entered into any relations
-with the inhabitants of the village; or the trappers and wood rangers,
-its neighbours. The mysterious conduct of these strangers had given rise
-to numerous comments; but all had remained without reply or solution,
-and after two years they remained as perfect strangers as on the day of
-their arrival.
-
-Still, mournful and sad stories were in circulation on their account:
-they inspired an instinctive hatred and involuntary terror in the
-Mexicans. Some said in a whisper that old Red Cedar and his three sons
-were nothing less than "scalp hunters;" that is to say, in the public
-esteem, people placed beneath the pirates of the prairies, that unclean
-breed of birds of prey which everybody fears and despises.
-
-The entry of Red Cedar was significant; the otherwise unscrupulous men
-who filled the venta hurriedly retired on his approach, and made room
-for him with a zeal mingled with disgust. The old partisan crossed the
-room with head erect; a smile of haughty disdain played round his thin
-lips at the sight of the effect his presence produced, and he went up to
-the monk and his two companions. On reaching them he roughly placed the
-butt of his rifle on the ground, leaned his two crossed hands upon the
-barrel, and after bending a cunning glance on the persons before him,
-said to the monk in a hoarse voice,--
-
-"The deuce take you, senor padre! Here I am: what do you want with me?"
-
-Far from being vexed at this brutal address, the latter smiled on the
-colossus, and held out his hand to him, as he graciously made answer,--
-
-"You are welcome, Red Cedar; we were expecting you impatiently. Sit down
-by my side on this butaca, and we will talk while drinking a glass of
-pulque."
-
-"The deuce twist your neck, and may your accursed pulque choke you! Do
-you take me for a wretched abortion of your sort?" the other answered as
-he fell into the seat offered him. "Order me some brandy, and that of
-the strongest. I am not a babe, I suppose."
-
-Without making the slightest observation, the monk rose, went to speak
-with the host, and presently returned with a bottle, from which he
-poured a bumper for the old hunter. The latter emptied the glass at a
-draught, put it back on the table with a sonorous "hum!" and turned to
-the monk with a grimacing smile.
-
-"Come, the devil is not always so black as he looks, senor padre," he
-said, as he passed his hand over his mouth to wipe his moustache. "I see
-that we can come to an understanding."
-
-"It will only depend on you, Red Cedar. Here are two worthy Canadian
-hunters who will do nothing without your support."
-
-The Hercules took a side glance at the young men.
-
-"Eh!" he said, "what do you want with these children? Did I not promise
-you to reach the placer with my sons only?"
-
-"He, he! You are powerfully built, both you and your lads, I allow; but
-I doubt whether four men, were they twice as strong as you are, could
-carry out this affair successfully. You will have numerous enemies to
-combat on your road."
-
-"All the better! The more there are, the more we shall kill," he
-answered with a sinister laugh.
-
-"Senor padre," Dick interrupted, "as far as I am concerned, I care
-little about it."
-
-But he was suddenly checked by a meaning glance from his mate.
-
-"What do you care little about, my pretty lad?" the giant asked in a
-mocking voice.
-
-"Nothing," the young man answered drily. "Suppose I had not spoken."
-
-"Good," Red Cedar remarked; "it shall be as you wish. Here's your
-health."
-
-And he poured the rest of the bottle into his glass.
-
-"Come," said Harry, "Let us have but few words. Explain yourself once
-for all, without beating about the bush, senor padre."
-
-"Yes," Red Cedar observed, "men ought not to waste their time thus in
-chattering."
-
-"Very good. This, then, is what I propose. Red Cedar will collect within
-three days from this time thirty resolute men, of whom he will take the
-command, and we will start immediately in search of the placer. Does it
-suit you in that way?"
-
-"Hum!" Red Cedar said. "In order to go in search of the placer we must
-know a little in what direction it is, or deuce take me if I undertake
-the business!"
-
-"Do not trouble yourself about that, Red Cedar; I will accompany you.
-Have I not got a plan of the country?"
-
-The colossus shot at the monk a glance which sparkled under his dark
-eyelash, but he hastened to moderate its brilliancy by letting his eyes
-fall.
-
-"That is true," he said with feigned indifference; "I forgot that you
-were coming with us. Then you will leave your parishioners during your
-absence?"
-
-"Heaven will watch over them."
-
-"Eh! It will have its work cut out. However, that does not concern me at
-all. But why did you oblige me to come to this meson?"
-
-"In order to introduce you to these two hunters, who will accompany us."
-
-"I beg your pardon," Dick observed, "but I do not exactly see of what
-use I can be to you in all this: my aid, and that of my mate, do not
-appear to me to be indispensable."
-
-"On the contrary," the monk answered quickly, "I reckon entirely on
-you."
-
-The giant had risen.
-
-"What!" he said, as he roughly laid his enormous hand on Dick's
-shoulder, "You do not understand that this honourable personage, who did
-not hesitate to kill a man in order to rob him of the secret of the
-placer, has a terrible fear of finding himself alone with me on the
-prairie? He fears that I shall kill him in my turn to rob him of the
-secret of which he became master by a crime. Ha, ha, ha!"
-
-And he turned his back unceremoniously.
-
-"How can you suppose such things, Red Cedar?" the monk exclaimed.
-
-"Do you fancy that I did not read you?" the latter answered. "But it is
-all the same to you. Do as you please: I leave you at liberty to act as
-you like."
-
-"What! You are off already?"
-
-"Hang it! What have I to do any longer here? All is settled between us.
-In three days thirty of the best frontiersmen will be assembled by my
-care at Grizzly Bear Creek, where we shall expect you."
-
-After shrugging his shoulders once again he went off without any salute,
-or even turning his head.
-
-"It must be confessed," Dick observed, "that the man has a most
-villainous face. What a hideous fellow!"
-
-"Oh!" the monk answered with a sigh, "The exterior is nothing. You
-should know the inner man."
-
-"Why, in that case, do you have any dealings with him?"
-
-The monk blushed slightly.
-
-"Because it must be so," he muttered.
-
-"All right for you," Dick continued; "but as nothing obliges my friend
-and myself to have any more intimate relations with that man, you must
-not mind, senor Padre, if--"
-
-"Silence, Dick!" Harry shouted, angrily. "You do not know what you are
-talking about. We will accompany you, senor padre. You can reckon on us
-to defend you if necessary, for I suppose that Red Cedar is right."
-
-"In what way?"
-
-"You do not wish to trust your life defencelessly in his hands, and you
-reckoned on us to protect you. Is it not so?"
-
-"Why should I feign any longer? Yes, that man terrifies me, and I do not
-wish to trust myself to his mercy."
-
-"Do not be alarmed; we shall be there, and on our word as hunters, not a
-hair of your head shall fall."
-
-A lively satisfaction appeared on the monk's pale face at this generous
-promise.
-
-"Thanks," he said warmly.
-
-Harry's conduct appeared so extraordinary to Dick, who knew the lofty
-sentiments and innate honor of his comrade, that, without striving to
-fathom the motives which made him act thus, he contented himself by
-backing up his words by an affirmative nod of the head.
-
-"Be assured, caballeros, that when we have reached the placer, I will
-give you a large share, and you will have no cause to regret
-accompanying me."
-
-"The money question has but slight interest with us," Harry answered.
-"My friend and I are free hunters, caring very little for riches, which
-would be to us rather a source of embarrassment than of pleasure and
-enjoyment. Curiosity alone, and the desire of exploring strange
-countries, are sufficient to make us undertake this journey."
-
-"Whatever the reason that makes you accept my proposals, I am not the
-less obliged to you."
-
-"Now you will permit us to take leave of you, and we shall hold
-ourselves at your orders."
-
-"Go, gentlemen; I will not keep you longer. I know where to find you
-when I want you."
-
-The young men took up their hats, slung their rifles on their shoulders,
-and left the meson. The monk looked after them.
-
-"Oh!" he muttered, "I believe I can trust to those men: they have still
-in their veins a few drops of that honest French blood which despises
-treachery. No matter," he added, as if on reflection; "I will take my
-precautions."
-
-After this aside, he rose and looked around him. The room was full of
-adventurers, who drank or played at _monte_, and whose energetic faces
-stood out in the semi-obscurity of the room, which was scarce lighted by
-a smoky lamp. After a moment's reflection the monk boldly struck the
-table with his clenched fist, and shouted in a loud voice:
-
-"Senores caballeros, I invite you to listen to me. I have, I fancy, an
-advantageous proposal to make to you."
-
-The company turned their heads; those who were gambling for a moment
-abandoned their cards and dice; the drinkers alone kept in their hands
-the glasses they held; but all approached the monk, round whom they
-grouped themselves curiously.
-
-"Caballeros," he continued, "if I am not mistaken, all present are
-gentlemen whom fortune has more or less ill-treated."
-
-The adventurers, by an automatic movement of extraordinary regularity,
-bowed their heads in affirmation.
-
-"If you wish it," he continued with an imperceptible smile, "I will
-undertake to repair the wrong by it done you."
-
-The adventurers pricked up their ears.
-
-"Speak, speak, senor padre!" they shouted with delight.
-
-"What is the affair?" a man with a hang-dog face said, who stood in the
-front ranks.
-
-"A war party which I intend to lead shortly into Apacheria," the monk
-said, "and for which purpose I need you."
-
-At this proposition the first ardor of the adventurers visibly cooled
-down. The Apaches and Comanches inspire an invincible terror in the
-inhabitants of the Mexican frontiers. The monk guessed the effect he had
-produced; but he continued, as if not observing anything:--
-
-"I take you all into my service for a month, at the rate of four
-piastres a day."
-
-At this magnificent offer the eyes of the adventurers sparkled with
-greed, fear gave way to avarice, and they all exclaimed,--
-
-"We accept, reverend father!
-
-"But," the man continued who had already spoken, "we shall be happy,
-senor padre, if, before starting, you would give us your holy
-benediction, and absolve us from the few sins we may have committed."
-
-"Yes," the company yelled, "we shall be happy if you consent to that,
-reverend father."
-
-The monk appeared to reflect: the adventurers, anxiously waited.
-
-"Well, be it so," he answered after a moment. "As the work in which I am
-about to employ you is so meritorious, I will give you my blessing, and
-grant you absolution of your sins."
-
-For a few minutes there was a shout and exclamations of joy in the room.
-The monk demanded silence, and when it was restored he said,--
-
-"Now, caballeros, give me each your name, that I may find you when I
-need you."
-
-He sat down and began enrolling the adventurers, who, with the men Red
-Cedar supplied, would form the band with which he hoped to reach the
-placer. We will leave the worthy monk for a few moments, and follow the
-two Canadian hunters.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-THE TWO HUNTERS.
-
-
-Harry and Dick, whom we saw seated at a table in the meson with Red
-Cedar and Fray Ambrosio, were however, very far from resembling those
-two men morally. They were free and bold hunters, who had spent the
-greater part of their life in the desert, and who, in the vast solitude
-of the prairie, had accustomed themselves to a life free and exempt from
-those vices which accompany a town residence.
-
-For them gold was only the means to procure the necessary objects for
-their trade as hunters and trappers; and they never imagined that the
-possession of a large quantity of that yellow metal they despised would
-place them in a position to enjoy other pleasures than those they found
-in their long hunts of wild beasts--hunts so full of strange incidents
-and striking joys.
-
-Thus Dick had been to the highest degree surprised when he saw his
-friend eagerly accept the monk's offer, and agree to go in search of the
-placer; but what even more surprised him was Harry's insisting that Red
-Cedar must take the lead of the expedition. Though no one could
-positively accuse the squatter, owing to the precautions he took, of
-leading a life of rapine and murder, still the mysterious conduct he
-affected, and the solitude in which he lived with his family, had cast
-on him a shadow of reprobation.
-
-Every one regarded him as a scalp hunter, and yet no one would have
-ventured to affirm the odious deeds of which he was accused. The result
-of the general reprobation that fell on the squatter, and which we know
-to be fully merited, was that he and his family were placed under a ban
-by the frontier hunters and trappers, and every one fled not only their
-society, but any contact with them. Dick was thoroughly acquainted with
-his friend's upright character and nobility of heart. Hence his conduct
-under the present circumstances seemed to him perfectly
-incomprehensible, and he resolved to have an explanation with him.
-
-They had scarce quitted the meson ere Dick bent down to his companion,
-and said, while looking at him curiously,--
-
-"We have been hunting together for five years, Harry, and up to the
-present I have ever let myself be guided by you, leaving you free to act
-as you pleased for our mutual welfare. Still this evening your conduct
-has appeared to me so extraordinary that I am obliged, in the name of
-our friendship, which has never suffered a break up to this day, to ask
-you for an explanation of what has occurred in my presence."
-
-"For what good, my boy? Do you not know me well enough to be certain
-that I would not consent to do any dishonourable deed?"
-
-"Up to this evening I would have sworn it, Harry: yes, on my honor I
-would have sworn it--"
-
-"And now?" the young man asked, stopping and looking his friend in the
-face.
-
-"Now," Dick answered, with a certain degree of hesitation, "hang it all!
-I will be frank with you, Harry, as an honest hunter should ever be. Now
-I do not know if I should do so: no, indeed I should not."
-
-"What you say there causes me great pain, Dick. You oblige me, in order
-to dissipate your unjust suspicions, to confide to you a secret which is
-not my own, and which I would not have revealed for anything in the
-world."
-
-"Pardon me, Harry, but in my place I am convinced you would act as I am
-doing. We are very far from our country, which we shall never see again,
-perhaps. We are responsible for each other, and our actions must be free
-from all double interpretation."
-
-"I will do what you ask, Dick, whatever it may cost me. I recognise the
-justice of your observations. I understand how much my conduct this
-night must have hurt you and appeared ambiguous. I do not wish our
-friendship to receive the least wound, or the slightest cloud to arise
-between us. You shall be satisfied."
-
-"I thank you, Harry. What you tell me relieves my bosom of a heavy load.
-I confess that I should have been in despair to think badly of you; but
-the words of that intriguing monk, and the manners of that worthy
-acolyte, Red Cedar, put me in a passion. Had you not warned me so
-quickly to silence, I believe--Heaven pardon me!--that I should have
-ended by telling them a piece of my mind."
-
-"You displayed considerable prudence in keeping silence, and be assured
-you will completely approve me."
-
-"I do not doubt it, Harry; and now I feel certain I deceived myself. I
-feel all jolly again."
-
-While speaking thus the two hunters, who were walking with that rapid
-step peculiar to men habituated to traverse great distances on foot, had
-crossed the village, and found themselves already far in the plain. The
-night was magnificent--the sky of a deep blue. An infinite number of
-glistening stars seemed floating in ether. The moon spread its silvery
-rays profusely over the landscape. The sharp odour of the flowers
-perfumed the atmosphere. The two hunters still walked on.
-
-"Where are we going now, Harry?" Dick asked. "I fancy we should do
-better by taking a few hours' rest, instead of fatiguing ourselves
-without any definite object."
-
-"I never do anything without a reason, friend, as you know," Harry
-answered; "so let me guide you, and we shall soon arrive."
-
-"Do as you think proper, my boy; I shall say nothing."
-
-"In the first place you must know that the French hunter, Koutonepi, has
-begged me, for reasons he did not tell me, to watch Fray Ambrosio. That
-is one of the motives which made me be present at this night's
-interview, although I care as little for a placer as for a musk-rat's
-skin."
-
-"Koutonepi is the first hunter on the frontier; he has often done us a
-service in the desert. You acted rightly, Harry, in doing what he
-asked."
-
-"As for the second reason that dictated my conduct, Dick, you shall soon
-know it."
-
-Half talking, half dreaming, the young men reached Buffalo Valley, and
-soon entered the forest which served as a lair for the squatter and his
-family.
-
-"Where the deuce are we going?" Dick could not refrain from saying.
-
-"Silence!" said the other: "We are approaching."
-
-The darkness was profound in the forest: the density of the leafy dome
-under which they walked completely intercepted the light of the
-moonbeams. Still the Canadians, long accustomed to a night march,
-advanced as easily through the chaos of creepers and trees tangled in
-each other as if they had been in open day. On reaching a certain spot
-where the trees, growing less closely together, formed a species of
-clearing, and allowed an uncertain and tremorous light to pass, Harry
-stopped, and made his comrade a sign to do the same.
-
-"This is the place," he said. "Still, I as the person I have come to see
-expects me to be alone, and your unexpected presence might cause alarm,
-hide yourself behind that larch tree: above all, be careful not to stir
-till I call I you."
-
-"Oh, oh!" the hunter said, with a laugh, "have you perchance led me to a
-love meeting, Harry?"
-
-"You shall judge," Harry replied laconically. "Hide yourself."
-
-Dick, greatly troubled, did not need the invitation to be repeated: he
-concealed himself behind the tree his friend had indicated, and which
-would have sheltered a dozen men behind its enormous stem. So soon as
-Harry was alone, he raised his fingers to his lips, and at three
-different intervals imitated the cry of an owl with such perfection that
-Dick himself was deceived, and mechanically looked up to seek the bird
-in the tall branches of the tree by which he stood. Almost immediately,
-a slight noise was audible in the shrubs, and a graceful and white form
-appeared in the glade. It was Ellen, who rapidly walked toward the young
-man.
-
-"Oh, it is you, Harry!" she said with joy. "Heaven be blessed, I was
-afraid you would not come, as it is late."
-
-"It is true, Ellen: pardon me. I made all possible speed, however; and
-it is not my fault that I did not arrive sooner."
-
-"How good you are, Harry, to take so much trouble for my sake! How can I
-ever recognise the continual services you do me?"
-
-"Oh! Do not speak about them. It is a happiness for me to do anything
-agreeable to you."
-
-"Alas!" the maiden murmured, "Heaven is my witness that I feel a deep
-friendship for you, Harry."
-
-The young man sighed gently.
-
-"I have done what you asked of me," he said suddenly.
-
-"Then it is true my father is thinking about leaving this country to go
-further still?"
-
-"Yes, Ellen, and into frightful countries, among the ferocious Indians."
-
-The girl gave a start of terror.
-
-"Do you know the reason of his going?" she continued.
-
-"Yes; he is about to look for a gold placer."
-
-"Alas! Who will protect me, who will defend me in future, if we go
-away?"
-
-"I, Ellen!" the hunter exclaimed impetuously. "Have I not sworn to
-follow you everywhere?"
-
-"It is true," she said sadly; "but why should you risk your life on the
-distant journey we are about to undertake? No, Harry, remain here; I
-cannot consent to your departure. From what I have heard say, the band
-my father commands will be numerous--it will have scarce anything to
-fear from the Indians; while, on the other hand, you, compelled to hide
-yourself, will be exposed alone to terrible danger. No, Harry, I will
-not permit it."
-
-"Undeceive yourself, Ellen. I shall not be forced to conceal myself; I
-shall not be alone, for I am a member of your father's band."
-
-"Is it possible, Harry?" she exclaimed, with an expression of joy that
-made the young man quiver.
-
-"I enrolled myself this very evening."
-
-"Oh!" she said, "Then in that case we can often meet?"
-
-"Whenever you please, Ellen, as I shall be there."
-
-"Oh! Now I am anxious to be away from here, and wish we had already
-started."
-
-"It will not be long first, set your mind at rest. I am convinced that
-we shall start within the week."
-
-"Thanks for the good news you bring me, Harry."
-
-"Are your father and mother still unkind to you, Ellen?"
-
-"It is nearly always the same thing; and yet their conduct toward me is
-strange. It often seems to me incomprehensible, as it is so marked with
-peculiarities. There are moments in which they seem to love me dearly.
-My father especially caresses and embraces me, and then all at once, I
-know not why, repulses me rudely, and looks at me in a way that causes
-me to shudder."
-
-"That is indeed strange, Ellen."
-
-"Is it not? There is one thing above all I cannot explain."
-
-"Tell it me, Ellen; perhaps I can do so."
-
-"You know that all my family are Protestants?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Well, I am a Catholic."
-
-"That is certainly curious."
-
-"I wear around my neck a small golden crucifix. Every time accident
-makes this trinket glisten before my father and mother they grow
-furious, threaten to beat me, and order me to hide it at once. Do you
-understand the meaning of this, Harry?"
-
-"No, I do not, Ellen; but, believe me, leave everything to time; perhaps
-it will enable us to find the clue to the mystery which we seek in vain
-at this moment."
-
-"Well, your presence has rendered me happy for a long time, Harry, so
-now I will retire."
-
-"Already?"
-
-"I must, my friend. Believe me that I am as sad as yourself at this
-separation; but my father has not yet returned, and may arrive at any
-moment. If he noticed that I was not asleep, who knows what might
-happen?"
-
-While saying the last words the girl held out her delicate hand to the
-hunter, who raised it to his lips passionately. Ellen withdrew it
-suddenly, and bounding like a startled fawn, darted into the forest,
-where she soon disappeared, giving the young man a parting word, which
-caused him to quiver with joy:--
-
-"We shall meet soon."
-
-Harry stood for a long time with his eyes fixed on the spot where the
-seductive vision had disappeared. At length he uttered a sigh, threw his
-rifle over his shoulder, and turned as if to depart. Dick was before
-him. Harry gave a start of surprise, for he had forgotten his friend's
-presence; but the latter smiled good-humouredly.
-
-"I now comprehend your conduct, Harry," he said to him; "you were right
-to act as you did. Pardon my unjust suspicions, and count on me
-everywhere and always."
-
-Harry silently pressed the hand his friend offered him, and they walked
-back rapidly in the direction of the village. As they emerged from the
-forest they passed, a man who did not see them. It was Red Cedar. So
-soon as he had gone a short distance Harry stopped his companion, and
-pointing to the squatter, whose long black shadow glided through the
-trees, said, as he laid his hand on his shoulder,--
-
-"That man hides in his heart a horrible secret, which I am ignorant of,
-but have sworn to discover."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-FRAY AMBROSIO.
-
-
-The monk remained for a long time in the room of the meson, taking down
-the names of the adventurers he wished to enrol in his band. It was late
-when he left it to return to the Hacienda de la Noria; but he was
-satisfied with his night's work, and internally rejoiced at the rich
-collection of bandits of the purest water he had recruited.
-
-The monks form a privileged caste in Mexico: they can go at all hours of
-the night wherever they please without fearing the numerous "gentlemen
-of the road," scattered about the highways. Their gown inspires a
-respect which guarantees them from any insult, and preserves them better
-than anything from unpleasant rencontres. Besides, Fray Ambrosio, as the
-reader has doubtless already perceived, was not the man to neglect
-indispensable precautions in a country where, out of ten persons you
-meet on your road, you may boldly assert that nine are rogues, the tenth
-alone offering any doubts. The worthy chaplain carried under his gown a
-pair of double-barrelled pistols, and in his right sleeve he concealed a
-long _navaja_, sharp as a razor, and pointed as a needle.
-
-Not troubling himself about the solitude that reigned around him, the
-monk mounted his mule and proceeded quietly to the hacienda. It was
-about eleven o'clock.
-
-A few words about Fray Ambrosio, while he is peacefully ambling along
-the narrow path which will lead him in two hours to his destination,
-will show all the perversity of the man who is destined to play an
-unfortunately too important part in the course of our narrative.
-
-One day a gambusino, or gold seeker, who had disappeared for two years,
-no one knowing what had become of him, and who was supposed to be dead
-long ago, assassinated in the desert by the Indians, suddenly reappeared
-at the Paso del Norte. This man, Joaquin by name, was brother to Andres
-Garote, an adventurer of the worst stamp, who had at least a dozen
-_cuchilladas_ (knife stabs) on his conscience, whom everybody feared,
-but who, through the terror he inspired, enjoyed at the Paso, in spite
-of his well-avouched crimes, a reputation and species of impunity which
-he abused whenever the opportunity offered.
-
-The two brothers began frequenting together the mesones and ventas of
-the village, drinking from morn till night, and paying either in gold
-dust enclosed in stout quills, or in lumps of native gold. The rumour
-soon spread at Paso that Joaquin had discovered a rich placer, and that
-his expenses were paid with the specimens he had brought back. The
-gambusino replied neither yes nor no to the several insinuations which
-his friends, or rather his boon companions, attempted on him. He
-twinkled his eyes, smiled mysteriously, and if it were observed that, at
-the rate he was living at, he would soon be ruined, he shrugged his
-shoulders, saying:--
-
-"When I have none left I know where to find others."
-
-And he continued to enjoy his fill of all the pleasures which a wretched
-hole like Paso can furnish.
-
-Fray Ambrosio had heard speak, like everyone else, of the gambusino's
-asserted discovery; and his plan was at once formed to become master of
-this man's secret, and rob him of his discovery, were that possible.
-
-The same evening Joaquin and his brother Andres were drinking, according
-to their wont, in a meson, surrounded by a crowd of scamps like
-themselves. Fray Ambrosio, seated at a table with his hands hidden in
-the sleeves of his gown, and hanging head, appeared plunged in serious
-reflections, although he followed with a cunning eye the various
-movements of the drinkers, and not one of their gestures escaped him.
-
-Suddenly a man entered, with his hand on his hip, and throwing in the
-face of the first person he passed the cigarette he was smoking. He
-planted himself in front of Joaquin, to whom he said nothing, but began
-looking at him impudently, shrugging his shoulders, and laughing
-ironically at all the gambusino said. Joaquin was not patient, he saw at
-the first glance that this person wished to pick a quarrel with him; and
-as he was brave, and feared nobody, man or devil, he walked boldly up to
-him, and looking at him fixedly in his turn, he said to him, as he
-thrust his face in his:
-
-"Do you seek a quarrel, Tomaso?"
-
-"Why not?" the latter said impudently, as he set his glass on the table.
-
-"I am your man. We will fight how you please."
-
-"Bah!" Tomaso said carelessly, "let us do things properly, and fight
-with the whole blade."
-
-"Be it so."
-
-The combats which take place between the adventurers are truly like
-those of wild beasts. These coarse men, with their cruel instincts, like
-fighting beyond all else, for the smell of blood intoxicates them. The
-announcement of this duel caused a thrill of pleasure to run through the
-ranks of the leperos and bandits who pressed round the two men. The fun
-was perfect: one of the adversaries would doubtless fall--perhaps
-both--and blood flow in streams. Cries and yells of delight were raised
-by the spectators.
-
-The duel with knives is the only one that exists in Mexico, and is
-solely left to the leperos and people of the lowest classes. This duel
-has its rules, which cannot be broken under any pretext. The knives
-usually employed, have blades from fourteen to sixteen inches in length,
-and the duelists fight according to the gravity of the insult, with one,
-two, three, six inches, or the entire blade. The inches are carefully
-measured and the hand clutches the knife at the marked spot.
-
-This time it was a duel with the whole blade, the most terrible of all.
-With extraordinary politeness and coolness the landlord had a large ring
-formed in the middle of the room, where the two adversaries stationed
-themselves, about six paces from each other at the most.
-
-A deep silence hung over the room, a moment previously so full of life
-and disturbance; every one anxiously awaited the _denouement_ of the
-terrible drama that was preparing. Fray Ambrosio alone had not quitted
-his seat or made a sign.
-
-The two men rolled their zarapes round their left arm, planted
-themselves firmly on their outstretched legs, bent their bodies slightly
-forward and gently placing the point of the knife blade on the arm
-rounded in front of the chest, they waited, fixed on each other flashing
-glances. A few seconds elapsed, during which the adversaries remained
-perfectly motionless: all hearts were contracted, all bosoms heaving.
-
-Worthy of Callot's pencil was the scene offered by these men, with their
-weather-stained faces and harsh features, and their clothes in rags,
-forming a circle round two combatants ready to kill each other in this
-mean room, slightly illumined by a smoky lamp, which flashed upon the
-blue blades of the knives, and in the shadow, almost disappearing in his
-black gown, the monk, with his implacable glance and mocking smile, who,
-like a tiger thirsting for blood, awaited the hour to pounce on his
-prey.
-
-Suddenly, by a spontaneous movement rapid as lightning, the adversaries
-rushed on each other, uttering a yell of fury. The blades flashed, there
-was a clashing of steel, and both fell back again. Joaquin and Tomaso
-had both dealt the same stroke, called, in the slang of the country, the
-"blow of the brave man." Each had his face slashed from top to bottom
-with a gaping wound.
-
-The spectators frenziedly applauded this magnificent opening scene: the
-jaguars had scented blood, and were mad.
-
-"What a glorious fight!" they exclaimed with admiration.
-
-In the meanwhile the two combatants, rendered hideous by the blood that
-streamed from their wounds and stained their faces, were again watching
-for the moment to leap on one another. Suddenly they broke ground; but
-this time it was no skirmish, but the real fight, atrocious and
-merciless. The two men seized each other round the waist, and entwined
-like serpents, they twisted about, trying to stab each other, and
-exciting themselves to the struggle by cries of rage and triumph. The
-enthusiasm of the spectators was at its height: they laughed, clapped
-hands, and uttered inarticulate howls as they urged the fighters not to
-loose their hold.
-
-At length the enemies rolled on the ground still enclasped. For some
-seconds the combat continued on the ground, and it was impossible to
-distinguish who was the conqueror. All at once one of them, who no
-longer had a human form, and whose body was as red as an Indian's,
-bounded to his feet brandishing his knife. It was Joaquin.
-
-His brother rushed toward him to congratulate him on his victory, but
-all at once the gambusino tottered and fainted. Tomaso did not rise
-again: he remained motionless, stretched out on the uneven floor of the
-meson. He was stark dead.
-
-This scene had been so rapid, its conclusion so unforeseen, that, in
-spite of themselves, the spectators had remained dumb, and as if struck
-with stupor. Suddenly the priest, whom all had forgotten, rose and
-walked into the centre of the room, looking round with a glance that
-caused all to let their eyes fall.
-
-"Retire, all of you," he said in a gloomy voice, "now that you have
-allowed this deed worthy of savages to be accomplished. The priest must
-offer his ministry, and get back from Satan, if there be still time, the
-soul of this Christian who is about to die. Begone!"
-
-The adventurers hung their heads, and in a few moments the priest was
-left alone with the two men, one of whom was dead, the other at the last
-gasp. No one could say what occurred in that room; but when the priest
-left it, a quarter of an hour later, his eyes flashed wildly. Joaquin
-had given his parting sigh. On opening the door to go out Fray Ambrosio
-jostled against a man, who drew back sharply to make room for him. It
-was Andres Garote. What was he doing with his eye at the keyhole while
-the monk was shriving his brother?
-
-The adventurer told no one what he had seen during this last quarter of
-an hour, nor did the monk notice in the shade the man he had almost
-thrown down.
-
-Such was the way in which Fray Ambrosio became master of the gambusino's
-secret, and how he alone knew at present the spot where the placer was.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-TWO VARIETIES OF VILLAINS.
-
-
-Now that the reader is well informed touching Fray Ambrosio, we will
-follow him on his road home from the meson. The night was calm, silent
-and serene. Not a sound troubled the silence, save the trot of the mule
-over the pebbles on the road, or at times, in the distance, the snapping
-bark of the coyotes chasing in a pack, according to their wont, some
-straggling hind.
-
-Fray Ambrosio ambled gently on, while reflecting on the events of the
-evening, and calculating mentally the probable profits of the expedition
-he meditated. He had left far behind him the last houses of the village,
-and was advancing cautiously along a narrow path that wound through an
-immense sugar cane field. Already the shadow of the tall hacienda walls
-stood out blackly in the horizon. He expected to reach it within twenty
-minutes, when suddenly his mule, which had hitherto gone so quietly,
-pricked up its ears, raised its head, and stopped short.
-
-Roughly aroused from his meditations by this unexpected halt, the monk
-looked about for some obstacle that might impede his progress. About ten
-paces from him a man was standing right in the middle of the path. Fray
-Ambrosio was a man not easily to be frightened: besides, he was well
-armed. He drew out one of the pistols hidden under his gown, cocked it,
-and prepared to cross-question the person who so resolutely barred his
-way. But the latter, at the sharp sound of the setting hammer, thought
-it prudent to make himself known, and not await the consequences of an
-address nearly always stormy under similar circumstances.
-
-"Halloh!" he shouted in a loud voice, "Return your pistol to your belt,
-Fray Ambrosio; I only want to talk with you."
-
-"_Diavolo_!" the monk said, "the hour and moment are singularly chosen
-for a friendly conversation, my good fellow."
-
-"Time belongs to nobody," the stranger answered sententiously. "I am
-obliged to choose that which I have at my disposal."
-
-"That is true," the monk said as he quietly uncocked his pistol, though
-not returning it to his belt. "Who the deuce are you, and why are you so
-anxious to speak with me? Do you want to confess?
-
-"Have you not recognised me yet, Fray Ambrosio? Must I tell you my name
-that you may know with whom you have to deal?"
-
-"Needless, my good sir, needless; but how the deuce is it, Red Cedar,
-that I meet you here! What can you have so pressing to communicate to
-me?"
-
-"You shall know if you will stop for a few moments and dismount."
-
-"The deuce take you with your whims! Cannot you tell me that as well
-tomorrow! Night is getting on, my home is still some distance off and I
-am literally worn out."
-
-"Bah! you will sleep capitally by the side of a ditch, where you could
-not be more comfortable. Besides, what I have to say to you does not
-admit of delay."
-
-"You wish to make a proposal to me, then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"What about, if you please?"
-
-"About the affair we discussed this evening at the Paso."
-
-"Why, I fancied we had settled all that, and you accepted my offer."
-
-"Not yet, not yet, my master. That will depend on the conversation we
-are about to have, so you had better dismount and sit down quietly by my
-side; for if you don't do it, it will come to nothing."
-
-"The deuce take people that change their minds every minute, and on whom
-one cannot reckon more than on an old surplice!" the monk growled with
-an air of annoyance, while, for all that, getting off his mule, which he
-fastened to a shrub.
-
-The squatter did not seem to remark the chaplain's ill temper, and let
-him sit down by his side without uttering a syllable.
-
-"Here I am," the monk went on, so soon as he was seated. "I really do
-not know, Red Cedar, why I yield so easily to all your whims."
-
-"Because you suspect that your interest depends on it: were it not for
-that, you would not do so."
-
-"Why talk thus in the open country, instead of going to your house,
-where we should be much more comfortable?"
-
-Red Cedar shook his head in denial.
-
-"No," he said; "the open is better for what we have to talk about. Here
-we need not fear listeners at out doors."
-
-"That is true. Well, go on; I am listening."
-
-"Hum! You insist upon my commanding the expedition you project?"
-
-"Of course. I have known you a long time. I am aware that you are a sure
-man, perfectly versed in Indian signs; for, if I am not mistaken, the
-greater part of your life has been spent among them."
-
-"Do not speak about what I have done? The question now concerns you, and
-not me."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Good, good! Let me speak. You need me, so it is to my interest to make
-you pay as dearly as I can for me."
-
-"Eh?" the monk muttered, as he made a grimace. "I am not rich, gossip,
-as you are aware."
-
-"Yes, yes; I know that, so soon as you have a few piastres or ounces,
-the monte table strips you of them immediately."
-
-"Hang it! I have always been unlucky at play."
-
-"For that reason I do not intend asking you for money."
-
-"Very good. If you have no designs on my purse we can easily come to an
-understanding. You may speak boldly."
-
-"I hope that we shall easily understand one another, the mere so as the
-service I expect from you is almost a mere nothing."
-
-"Come to the point, Red Cedar: with your deuced way of twining your
-phrases together in the Indian way, you never make an end of it."
-
-"You know that I have a deadly hatred against Don Miguel Zarate?"
-
-"I have heard some say about it. Did he not lodge his knife somewhere in
-your chest?"
-
-"Yes, and the blow was so rude that I all but died of it; but, thanks to
-the devil, I am on my legs again, after remaining three weeks on my back
-like a cast sheep. I want my revenge."
-
-"I can't help saying you are right: in your place, may Satan twist my
-neck if I would not do the same!"
-
-"For that I count on your help."
-
-"Hum! that is a delicate affair. I have no cause of complaint against
-Don Miguel--on the contrary: besides, I do not see how I can serve you."
-
-"Oh! very easily."
-
-"You believe so?"
-
-"You shall see."
-
-"Go on, then; I am listening."
-
-"Don Miguel has a daughter?"
-
-"Dona Clara."
-
-"I mean to carry her off."
-
-"Deuce take the mad ideas that pass through your brain-pan, gossip! How
-would you have me help you in carrying off the daughter of Don Miguel,
-to whom I owe so many obligations? No, I cannot do that, indeed."
-
-"You must, though."
-
-"I will not, I tell you."
-
-"Measure your words well, Fray Ambrosio, for this conversation is
-serious. Before refusing so peremptorily to give me the help I ask,
-reflect well."
-
-"I have reflected well, Red Cedar, and never will I consent to help you
-in carrying off the daughter of my benefactor. Say what you like,
-nothing will ever change my resolution on that head, for it is
-inflexible."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Oh! Whatever may happen, I swear that nothing will make me alter."
-
-"Swear not, Fray Ambrosio, for you will be a perjurer."
-
-"Ta, ta, ta! You are mad, my good fellow. Don't let us waste our time.
-If you have nothing else to say to me, I will leave you, though I take
-such pleasure in your society."
-
-"You have become scrupulous all of a sudden, my master."
-
-"There is a beginning to everything, compadre; so let us say no more,
-but good-bye."
-
-And the monk rose.
-
-"You are really going?"
-
-"_Caray_! Do you fancy I mean to sleep here?"
-
-"Very good. You understand that you need not count on me for your
-expedition?"
-
-"I am sorry for it; but I will try to find someone to take your place."
-
-"Thank you."
-
-The two men were standing, and the monk had put his foot in the stirrup.
-Red Cedar also appeared ready to make a start. At the moment of
-separation a sudden idea seemed to occur to the squatter.
-
-"By the way," he said carelessly, "be kind enough to give me some
-information I require."
-
-"What is it now?" the monk asked.
-
-"Oh! a mere trifle," the squatter remarked indifferently. "It concerns a
-certain Don Pedro de Tudela, whom I think you formerly knew."
-
-"Eh!?" the monk exclaimed, as he turned, with his leg still in the air.
-
-"Come, come, Fray Ambrosio," Red Cedar continued in a jeering voice,
-"let us have a little more talk together. I will tell you, if you like,
-a very remarkable story about this Don Pedro, with whom you were
-acquainted."
-
-The monk was livid; a nervous tremor agitated all his limbs; he let
-loose his mule's bridle, and followed the squatter mechanically, who
-seated himself tranquilly on the ground, making him a sign to follow his
-example. The monk fell, suppressing a sigh, and wiping away the drops of
-cold perspiration that beaded on his forehead.
-
-"Eh, eh!" the squatter continued at the end of a moment, "we must allow
-that Don Pedro was a charming gentleman--a little wild, perhaps; but
-what would you have? He was young. I remember meeting him at Albany a
-long time ago--some sixteen or seventeen years ago--how old one
-gets!--at the house of one--wait awhile, the name has slipped my
-memory--could you not help me to it, Fray Ambrosio?"
-
-"I do not know what you mean," the monk said in a hollow voice.
-
-The man was in a state that would have produced pity; the veins in his
-forehead were swollen ready to burst; he was choking; his right hand
-clutched the hilt of his dagger; and he bent on the squatter a glance
-full of deadly hatred. The latter seemed to see nothing of all this.
-
-"I have it!" he continued. "The man's name was Walter Brunnel, a very
-worthy gentleman."
-
-"Demon!" the monk howled in a gasping voice, "I know not who made you
-master of that horrible secret, but you shall die."
-
-And he rushed upon him, dagger in hand.
-
-Red Cedar had known Fray Ambrosio a long time, and was on his guard. By
-a rapid movement he checked his arm, twisted it, and seized the dagger,
-which he threw a long distance off.
-
-"Enough," he said in a harsh voice. "We understand one another, my
-master. Do not play that game with me, for you will be sick of it, I
-warn you."
-
-The monk fell back on his seat, without the strength to make a sign or
-utter a syllable. The squatter regarded him for a moment with mingled
-pity and contempt and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"For sixteen years I have held that secret," he said, "and it has never
-passed my lips. I will continue to keep silence on one condition."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"I want you to help me in carrying off the hacendero's daughter."
-
-"I will do it."
-
-"Mind, I expect honest assistance; so do not attempt any treachery."
-
-"I will help you, I tell you."
-
-"Good! I count on your word. Besides you may be easy, master; I will
-watch you."
-
-"Enough of threats. What is to be done?"
-
-"When do we start for Apacheria?"
-
-"You are coming, then?"
-
-"Of course."
-
-A sinister smile played round the monk's pale lips.
-
-"We shall start in a week," he said.
-
-"Good! On the day of the start you will hand over the girl to me, one
-hour before our departure."
-
-"What shall I do to compel her to follow me?"
-
-"That is not my business."
-
-"Still--"
-
-"I insist."
-
-"Be it so," the monk said with an effort. "I will do it; but remember,
-demon, if I ever hold you in my hands, as I am this day in yours, I
-shall be pitiless and make you pay for all I suffer at this moment."
-
-"You will be right to do so--it is your due; still I doubt whether you
-will ever be able to reach me."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Live and learn. In the meanwhile I am your master, and I reckon on your
-obedience."
-
-"I will obey."
-
-"That is settled. Now, one thing more; how many men have you enlisted
-this evening?"
-
-"About twenty."
-
-"That's not many; but, with the sixty I shall supply, we shall have a
-very decent band to hold the Indians in check."
-
-"May Heaven grant it!"
-
-"Don't be alarmed, my master," the squatter said, re-assuming the
-friendly tone which he employed at the outset of the conversation; "I
-pledge myself, to lead you straight to your placer. I have not lived ten
-years with the Indians not to be up to all their tricks."
-
-"Of course," the monk answered as he rose, "You know, Red Cedar, what
-was agreed upon; the placer will be shared between us. It is, therefore,
-to your interest to enable us to reach it without obstacle."
-
-"We shall reach it. Now that we have nothing more to say to each other
-and have agreed on all points--for we have done so, I think?" he said
-significantly.
-
-"Yes, all."
-
-"We can part, and go each home. No matter, my master! I told you that I
-should succeed in making you alter your mind. Look you, Fray Ambrosio,"
-he added in impudent tone, which made the monk turn pale with rage;
-"people need only to understand one another to do anything."
-
-He rose, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and turning away sharply,
-went off with lengthened strides. The monk remained for a moment as if
-stunned by what had happened. Suddenly he thrust his hand under his
-gown, seized a pistol, and aimed at the squatter. But ere he had time to
-pull the trigger his enemy disappeared round a turning, uttering a
-formidable burst of laughter, which the mocking echo bore to his ear,
-and revealed to him all the immensity of his impotence.
-
-"Oh!" he muttered as he got in the saddle, "How did this fiend discover
-the secret which I believed no one knew?"
-
-And he went off gloomy and thoughtful. Half an hour later he reached the
-Hacienda de la Noria, when the gate was opened for him by a trusty peon,
-for everybody was asleep. It was past midnight.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-EL CANYON DEL BUITRE.
-
-
-We will now return to the hacendero, who, accompanied by his two
-friends, is galloping at full speed in the direction of Valentine's
-jacal. The road the three men followed led them further and further from
-the Paso del Norte. Around them nature grew more abrupt, the scenery
-sterner. They had left the forest, and were galloping over a wide and
-arid plain. On each side of the way the trees, becoming rarer, defiled
-like a legion of phantoms. They crossed several tributary streams of the
-Del Norte, in which their horses were immersed up to the chest.
-
-At length they entered a ravine deeply imbedded between two wooded
-hills, the soil of which, composed of large flat stones and rounded
-pebbles, proved that this spot was one of those _desaguaderos_ which
-serve to carry off the waters in the rainy season. They had reached the
-Canyon del Buitre, so named on account of the numerous vultures
-constantly perched on the tops of the surrounding hills.
-
-The defile was deserted, and Valentine had his cabin not far from this
-spot. So soon as the three men had dismounted, Curumilla took the horses
-and led them to the jacal.
-
-"Follow me," Valentine said to Don Miguel.
-
-The latter obeyed, and the two men began then climbing the escarped
-flanks of the right hand hill. The climb was rude, for no road was
-traced; but the two hunters, long accustomed to force a passage through
-the most impracticable places, seemed hardly to perceive the difficulty
-of the ascent, which would have been impossible for men less used to a
-desert life.
-
-"This spot is really delicious," Valentine said with the complacent
-simplicity of a landowner who boasts of his estate. "If it were day, Don
-Miguel, you would enjoy from this spot a magnificent view. A few hundred
-yards from the place where we are, down there on that hill to the right,
-are the ruins of an ancient Aztec camp in a very fine state of
-preservation. Just imagine that this hill, carved by human hands, though
-you cannot see it in the darkness, is of the shape of a pyramidal cone:
-its base is triangular, the sides are covered with masonry, and it is
-divided into several terraces. The platform is about ninety yards long
-by seventy-five in width, and is surrounded on three sides by a
-platform, and flanked by a bastion on the north. You see that it is a
-perfect fortress, constructed according to all the rules of military
-art. On the platform are the remains of a species of small teocali,
-about twenty feet high, composed of large stones covered with
-hieroglyphics sculptured in relief, representing weapons, monsters,
-rabbits, crocodiles, and all sorts of things; for instance, men seated
-in the oriental fashion, and wearing spectacles. Is not that really
-curious? This little monument, which has no staircase, doubtless served
-as the last refuge to the besieged when they were too closely
-beleaguered by the enemy."
-
-"It is astonishing," Don Miguel answered, "that I never heard of these
-ruins."
-
-"Who knows them? Nobody. However, they bear a considerable likeness to
-those found at Jochicalco."
-
-"Where are you leading me, my friend? Are you aware that the road is not
-one of the pleasantest, and I am beginning to feel tired?"
-
-"A little patience: in ten minutes we shall arrive. I am leading you to
-a natural grotto which I discovered a short time back. It is admirable.
-It is probable that the Spaniards were unacquainted with it, although
-the Indians, to my knowledge, have visited it from time immemorial. The
-Apaches imagine it serves as a palace to the genius of the mountain. At
-any rate, I was so struck by its beauty that I abandoned my jacal, and
-converted it into my residence. Its extent is immense. I am certain,
-though I never tried to convince myself, that it goes for more than ten
-leagues under ground. I will not allude to the stalactites that hang
-from the roof, and form the quaintest and most curious designs; but the
-thing that struck me is this: this grotto is divided into an infinite
-number of chambers, some of them containing pools in which swim immense
-numbers of blind fish."
-
-"Blind fish! You are jesting, my friend," Don Miguel exclaimed, and
-stopped.
-
-"I am wrong: blind is not the word I should have employed, for these
-fish have no eyes."
-
-"What! No eyes?"
-
-"None at all; but that does not prevent them being very dainty food."
-
-"That is strange."
-
-"Is it not? But stay--we have arrived."
-
-In fact, they found themselves in front of a gloomy, gaping orifice,
-about ten feet high by eight wide.
-
-"Let me do the honours of my mansion," Valentine said.
-
-"Do so, my friend."
-
-The two men entered the grotto: the hunter struck a match, and lit a
-torch of candlewood. The fairy picture which suddenly rose before Don
-Miguel drew from him a cry of admiration. There was an indescribable
-confusion: here a gothic chapel, with its graceful soaring pillars;
-further on, obelisks, cones, trunks of trees covered with moss and
-acanthus leaves, hollow stalactites of a cylindrical form, drawn
-together and ranged side by side like the pipes of an organ, and
-yielding to the slightest touch varied metallic sounds which completed
-the illusion. Then, in the immeasurable depths of these cavernous halls,
-at times formidable sounds arose, which, returned by the echoes, rolled
-along the sides of the grotto like peals of thunder.
-
-"Oh, it is grand, it is grand!" Don Miguel exclaimed, struck with fear
-and respect at the sight.
-
-"Does not man," Valentine answered, "feel very small and miserable
-before these sublime creations of nature, which God has scattered here
-as if in sport? Oh, my friend! It is only in the desert that we
-understand the grandeur and infinite omnipotence of the Supreme Being;
-for at every step man finds himself face to face with Him who placed him
-on this earth, and traces the mark of His mighty finger engraved in an
-indelible manner on everything that presents itself to his sight."
-
-"Yes," Don Miguel said, who had suddenly become thoughtful, "it is only
-in the desert that a man learns to know, love, and fear God, for He is
-everywhere."
-
-"Come," said Valentine.
-
-He led his friend to a hall of not more than twenty square feet, the
-vault of which, however, was more than a hundred yards above them. In
-this hall a fire was lighted. The two men sat down on the ground and
-waited, while thinking deeply. After a few moments the sound of
-footsteps was audible, and the Mexican quickly raised his head.
-Valentine did not stir, for he had recognised his friend's tread. In
-fact, within a moment the Indian chief appeared.
-
-"Well?" Valentine asked him.
-
-"Nothing yet," Curumilla laconically answered.
-
-"They are late, I fancy," Don Miguel observed.
-
-"No," the chief continued, "it is hardly half past eleven: we are before
-our time."
-
-"But will they find us here?"
-
-"They know we shall await them in this hall."
-
-After these few words each fell back into his thoughts. The silence was
-only troubled by the mysterious sounds of the grotto, which re-echoed
-nearly at equal intervals with an horrific din. A long period elapsed.
-All at once, ere any sensible noise had warned Don Miguel, Valentine
-raised his head with a hurried movement.
-
-"Here they are," he said.
-
-"You are mistaken, my friend," Don Miguel observed; "I heard nothing."
-
-The hunter smiled.
-
-"If you had spent," he said, "like we have, ten years in the desert,
-interrogating the mysterious voices of the night, your ear would be
-habituated to the vague rumours and sighs of nature which have no meaning
-to you at this moment, but which have all a significance for me, and, so
-to speak, a voice every note of which I understand, and you would not
-say I was mistaken. Ask the chief: you will hear his answer."
-
-"Two men are climbing the hill at this moment," Curumilla answered
-sententiously. "They are an Indian and a white man."
-
-"How can you recognise the distinction?"
-
-"Very easily," Valentine responded with a smile. "The Indian wears
-moccasins, which touch the ground without producing any other sound than
-a species of friction: the step is sure and unhesitating, as taken by a
-man accustomed to walk in the desert, and only put down his foot firmly:
-the white man wears high-heeled boots, which at each step produce a
-distinct and loud sound; the spurs fastened to his boots give out a
-continuous metallic clink; the step is awkward and timid; at each moment
-a stone or crumble of earth rolls away under the foot, which is only put
-down hesitatingly. It is easy to see that the man thus walking is
-accustomed to a horse, and does not know the use of his feet. Stay! They
-are now entering the grotto: you will soon hear the signal."
-
-At this moment the bark of the coyote was raised thrice at equal
-intervals. Valentine answered by a similar cry.
-
-"Well, was I mistaken?" he said.
-
-"I know not what to think, my friend. What astonishes me most is that
-you heard them so long before they arrived."
-
-"The ground of this cave is an excellent conductor of sound," the hunter
-answered simply: "that is all the mystery."
-
-"The devil!" Don Miguel could not refrain from saying; "You neglect
-nothing, I fancy."
-
-"If a man wants to live in the desert he must neglect nothing: the
-smallest things have their importance, and an observation carefully made
-may often save a man's life."
-
-While these few words were being exchanged between the two friends the
-noise of footsteps was heard drawing nearer and nearer. Two men
-appeared: one was Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras; the second,
-General Ibanez.
-
-The general was a man of about thirty-five, tall and well-built, with a
-delicate and intelligent face. His manners were graceful and noble. He
-bowed cordially to the hacendero and Valentine, squeezed Curumilla's
-hand, and fell down in a sitting posture by the fire.
-
-"Ouf!" he said, "I am done, gentlemen. I have just ridden an awful
-distance. My poor horse is foundered, and to recover myself I made an
-ascent, during which I thought twenty times I must break down; and that
-would have infallibly happened, had not friend Eagle-wing charitably
-come to my aid. I must confess that these Indians climb like real cats:
-we _gente de razon_[1] are worth nothing for that trade."
-
-"At length you have arrived, my friend," Don Miguel answered. "Heaven be
-praised! I was anxious to see you."
-
-"For my part I confess that my impatience was equally lively, especially
-since I learned the treachery of that scoundrelly Red Cedar. That humbug
-of a Wood sent him to me with so warm a recommendation that, in spite of
-all my prudence, I let myself be taken in, and nearly told him all our
-secrets. Unfortunately, the little I did let him know is sufficient to
-have us shot a hundred times like vulgar conspirators of no
-consequence."
-
-"Do not feel alarmed, my friend. After what. Valentine told me today, we
-have, perchance, a way of foiling the tricks of the infamous spy who has
-denounced us."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! But nothing will remove my impression that Wood
-has something to do with what has happened to us. I always doubted that
-American, who is cold as an iceberg, sour as a glass of lemonade, and
-methodical as a Quaker. What good is to be expected from these men, who
-covet the possession of our territory, and who, unable to take it from
-us at one lump, tear it away in parcels?"
-
-"Who knows, my friend? Perhaps you are right. Unfortunately, what is
-done cannot be helped, and our retrospective recriminations will do us
-no good."
-
-"That is true; but, as you know, man is the same everywhere. When he has
-committed a folly he is happy to find a scapegoat on which he can lay
-the iniquities with which he reproaches himself. That is slightly my
-case at this moment."
-
-"Do not take more blame on yourself, my friend, than you deserve; I
-guarantee your integrity and the loyalty of your sentiments. Whatever
-may happen, be persuaded that I will always do you justice, and, if
-needed, defend you against all."
-
-"Thanks, Don Miguel. What you say causes me pleasure and reconciles me
-with myself. I needed the assurance you give me in order to regain some
-slight courage, and not let myself be completely crushed by the
-unforeseen blow which threatens to overthrow our hopes at the very
-moment when we expected to find them realised."
-
-"Come, come, gentlemen," Valentine said, "the time is slipping away, and
-we have none to waste. Let us seek to find the means by which to repair
-the check we have suffered. If you permit me I will submit to your
-approval a plan which, I believe, combines all the desirable chances of
-success, and will turn in our favour the very treachery to which we have
-fallen victims."
-
-"Speak, speak, my friend!" the two men exclaimed, as they prepared to
-listen.
-
-Valentine took the word.
-
-
-[1] Literally, "men of reason"--a graceful expression the whites employ
-to distinguish themselves from the Indians, whom they affect to consider
-brute beasts, and to whom they do not even grant a soul.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-FATHER SERAPHIN.
-
-
-"Gentlemen," said Valentine, "this is what I propose. The treachery of
-Red Cedar, in surrendering to the Government the secret of your
-conspiracy, places you in a critical position, from which you cannot
-escape save by violent measures. You are between life and death. You
-have no alternative save victory or defeat. The powder is fired, the
-ground is mined under your feet, and an explosion is imminent. Well,
-then, pick up the glove treachery throws to you--accept frankly the
-position offered you. Do not wait till you are attacked, but commence
-the contest. Remember the vulgar adage, which is perfectly true in
-politics, and specially in revolution--that 'the first blow is half the
-battle.' Your enemies will be terrified by your boldness--dashed by this
-uprising which they are far from expecting, especially now, when they
-imagine they hold in their hands all the threads of the conspiracy--an
-error which makes them put faith in the revelations of a common spy, and
-will ruin them if you act with skill--above all, with promptitude. All
-depends on the first blow. It must be terrible, and terrify them: if
-not, you are lost."
-
-"All that is true; but we lack time," General Ibanez observed.
-
-"Time is never lacking when a man knows how to employ it properly,"
-Valentine answered peremptorily. "I repeat, you must be beforehand with
-your adversaries."
-
-At this moment the sound of footsteps was heard under the vault of the
-cave. The most extreme silence at once reigned in the chamber where the
-five conspirators were assembled. Mechanically each sought his weapons.
-The steps rapidly approached, and a man appeared in the entrance of the
-hall. On seeing him all present uttered a cry of joy and rose
-respectfully, repeating, "Father Seraphin!"
-
-The man advanced smiling, bowed gracefully, and answered in a gentle and
-melodious voice, which went straight to the soul,--
-
-"Take your places again, gentlemen, I beg of you. I should be truly
-vexed if I caused you any disturbance. Permit me only to sit down for a
-few moments by your side."
-
-They hastened to make room for him. Let us say in a few words who this
-person was, whose unexpected arrival caused so much pleasure to the
-people assembled in the grotto.
-
-Father Seraphin was a man of twenty-four at the most, although the
-fatigues he supported, the harsh labours he had imposed on himself, and
-which he fulfilled with more than apostolic abnegation, had left
-numerous traces on his face, with its delicate features, its gentle and
-firm expression, imprinted with a sublime melancholy, rendered even more
-touching by the beam of ineffable goodness which escaped from his large,
-blue and thoughtful eyes. His whole person, however, exhaled a perfume
-of youth and health which disguised his age, as to which a superficial
-observer might have been easily deceived.
-
-Father Seraphin was a Frenchman, and belonged to the order of the
-Lazarists. For five years he had been traversing as an indefatigable
-missionary, with no other weapon than his staff, the unexplored
-solitudes of Texas and New Mexico, preaching the gospel to the Indians,
-while caring nothing for the terrible privations and nameless sufferings
-he incessantly endured, and the death constantly suspended over his
-head.
-
-Father Seraphin was one of those numerous soldiers, ignored martyrs of
-the army of faith, who, making a shield of the Gospel, spread at the
-peril of their lives the word of God in those barbarous countries, and
-die heroically, falling bravely on their battlefield, worn out by the
-painful exigencies of their sublime mission, aged at thirty, but having
-gained over a few souls to the truth, and shed light among the ignorant
-masses.
-
-The abnegation and devotion of these modest men, yet so great in heart,
-are too much despised in France, where however, the greater number of
-these martyrs are recruited. Their sacrifices pass unnoticed; for, owing
-to the false knowledge possessed of beyond-sea countries, people are far
-from suspecting the continual struggles they have to sustain against a
-deadly climate. And who would credit it? The most obstinate adversaries
-they meet with in the accomplishment of their mission are not among the
-Indians, who always nearly welcome them with respect, if not joy, but
-among the men whom their labours benefit, and who ought to aid and
-protect them with all their might. There is no vexation or humiliation
-which they do not endure from the agents of Mexico and the American
-Union, to try and disgust and compel them to abandon the arena in which
-they combat so nobly.
-
-Father Seraphin had gained the friendship and respect of all those with
-whom accident had brought him into contact. Charmed with meeting a
-fellow countryman in the midst of those vast solitudes so distant from
-that France he never hoped to see again, he had attached himself closely
-to Valentine, to whom he vowed a deep and sincere affection. For the
-same motives, the hunter, who admired the greatness of character of this
-priest so full of true religion, felt himself drawn to him by an
-irresistible liking. They had frequently taken long journeys together,
-the hunter guiding his friend to the Indian tribes across the desolate
-regions of Apacheria.
-
-So soon as Father Seraphin had taken his place near the fire, Eagle-wing
-and Curumilla hastened to offer him all those slight services which they
-fancied might be agreeable to him, and offered him a few lumps of roast
-venison with maize tortillas. The missionary gladly gratified the two
-chiefs, and accepted their offerings.
-
-"It is a long time since we saw you, father," the hacendero said. "You
-neglect us. My daughter asked me about you only two days ago, for she is
-anxious to see you."
-
-"Dona Clara is an angel who does not require me," the missionary replied
-gently. "I have spent nearly two months with the Comanche tribe of the
-Tortoise. Those poor Indians claim all my care. They are thirsting for
-the Divine Word."
-
-"Are you satisfied with your journey?"
-
-"Sufficiently so, for these men are not such as they are represented to
-us. Their instincts are noble, and, as their primitive nature is not
-adulterated by contact with the vicious civilization that surrounds
-them, they easily understood what is explained to them."
-
-"Do you reckon on staying long among us?"
-
-"Yes; this last journey has fatigued me extremely. My health is in a
-deplorable state, and I absolutely need a few days' rest in order to
-regain the requisite strength to continue my ministry."
-
-"Well, father, come with me to the hacienda; you will remain with us,
-and make us all truly happy."
-
-"I am going to make that request to you, Don Miguel. I am delighted that
-you have thus met my wishes. If I accept your obliging offer, it is
-because I know I shall not incommode you."
-
-"On the contrary, we shall be delighted to have you among us."
-
-"Ah! I know the goodness of your heart."
-
-"Do not make me better than I am, father: there is a spice of egotism in
-what I am doing."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Hang it! By labouring at the education of the Indians you render an
-immense service to the race I have the honor of belonging to; for I,
-too, am an Indian."
-
-"That is true," the priest answered with a laugh. "Come, I absolve you
-from the sin of egotism, in favour of the intention which makes you
-commit it."
-
-"Father," Valentine then said, "is the game plentiful in the desert just
-at present?"
-
-"Yes, there is a great deal: the buffaloes have come down from the
-mountains in herds--the elks, the deer, and the antelopes swarm."
-
-Valentine rubbed his hands.
-
-"It will be a good season," he said.
-
-"Yes, for you. As for myself, I have no cause of complaint, for the
-Indians have been most attentive to me."
-
-"All the better. I ever tremble when I know you are among those red
-devils. I do not say that of the Comanches, who are warriors I esteem,
-and have always displayed the sincerest affection for you; but I have a
-terrible fear lest those villains of Apaches may play you a wicked trick
-some fine day."
-
-"Why entertain such ideas, my friend?"
-
-"They are correct. You cannot imagine what treacherous and cruel cowards
-those Apache thieves are. I know them, and carry their marks; but do not
-frighten yourself. If ever they ventured on any extremities against you,
-I know the road to their villages: there is not a nook in the desert
-which I have not thoroughly explored. It is not for nothing I have
-received the name of the 'Trail-hunter.' I swear to you I will not leave
-them a scalp."
-
-"Valentine, you know I do not like to hear you speak so. The Indians are
-poor ignorant men, who know not what they do, and must be pardoned for
-the evil they commit."
-
-"All right--all right!" the hunter growled. "You have your ideas on that
-score, and I mine."
-
-"Yes," the missionary replied with a smile, "but I believe mine be
-better."
-
-"It is possible. You know I do not discuss that subject with you; for I
-do not know how you do it, but you always succeed in proving to me that
-I am wrong."
-
-Everybody laughed at this sally.
-
-"And what are the Indians doing at this moment?" Valentine continued.
-"Are they still fighting?"
-
-"No; I succeeded in bringing Unicorn, the principal chief of the
-Comanches, and Stanapat (the Handful of Blood), the Apache sachem, to an
-interview, at which peace was sworn."
-
-"Hum!" Valentine said incredulously, "that peace will not last long, for
-Unicorn has too many reasons to owe the Apaches a grudge."
-
-"Nothing leads to the supposition, at present, that your forebodings
-will be speedily realised."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because, when I left Unicorn, he was preparing for a grand buffalo
-hunt, in which five hundred picked warriors were to take part."
-
-"Ah, ah! and where do you think the hunt will take place, father?"
-
-"I know for a certainty, because, when I left Unicorn, he begged me to
-invite you to it, as he knew I should see you shortly."
-
-"I willingly accept, for a buffalo hunt always had great attractions for
-me."
-
-"You will not have far to go to find Unicorn, for he is scarce ten
-leagues from this place."
-
-"The hunt will take place, then, in the neighbourhood?"
-
-"The meeting-place is Yellowstone Plain."
-
-"I shall not fail to be there, father. Ah! I am delighted, more than you
-can suppose, at the happy news you have brought me."
-
-"All the better, my friend. Now, gentlemen, I will ask you to excuse me;
-for I feel so broken with fatigue that, with your permission, I will go
-and take a few hours' rest."
-
-"I was a fool not to think of it before," Valentine exclaimed with
-vexation as he struck his forehead. "Pardon me, father."
-
-"I thought for my brother," said Curumilla. "If my father will follow me
-all is ready."
-
-The missionary thanked him with a smile and rose, bowed to all present,
-and supported by Eagle-wing, he followed Curumilla into another chamber
-of the grotto. Father Seraphin found a bed of dry leaves covered with
-bear skins, and a fire so arranged as to burn all night. The two Indians
-retired after bowing respectfully to the father, and assuring themselves
-that he needed nothing more.
-
-After kneeling on the ground of the grotto Father Seraphin laid himself
-on his bed of leaves, crossed his arms on his chest, and fell into that
-childlike sleep which only the just enjoy. After his departure Valentine
-bent over to his two friends.
-
-"All is saved," he said in a low voice.
-
-"How? Explain yourself," they eagerly answered.
-
-"Listen to me. You will spend the night here; at daybreak you will start
-for the Hacienda de la Noria, accompanied by Father Seraphin."
-
-"Good! What next?"
-
-"General Ibanez will proceed, as from you, to the governor, and invite
-him to a grand hunt of wild horses, to take place in three days."
-
-"I do not understand what you are driving at."
-
-"That is not necessary at this moment. Let me guide you; but, above all,
-arrange it so that all the authorities of the town accept your
-invitation and are present at the hunt."
-
-"That I take on myself."
-
-"Very good. You, general, will collect all the men you can, so that they
-can support you on a given signal, but hide themselves so that no one
-can suspect their presence."
-
-"Very good," Don Miguel answered; "all shall be done as you recommend.
-But where will you be all this while?"'
-
-"You know very well," he answered with a smile of undefinable meaning.
-"I shall be hunting the buffalo with my friend Unicorn, the great chief
-of the Comanches."
-
-Hastily breaking off the interview, the hunter wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe, stretched himself before the fire, closed his eyes, and
-slept, or feigned to sleep. After a few minutes' hesitation his friend
-imitated his example, and the grotto became calm and silent as on the
-day of the creation.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-UNICORN.
-
-
-Before retiring to rest Father Seraphin, on the previous evening, had
-whispered a couple of words in the Indians' ears. The sun had scarce
-begun to rise a little above the extreme blue line of the horizon ere
-the missionary opened his eyes, and after a short prayer hurried to the
-hall in which his companions had remained. The four men were still
-asleep, wrapped in their furs and buffalo skins.
-
-"Wake up, brothers," Father Seraphin said, "for day is appearing."
-
-The four men started up in an instant.
-
-"My brothers," the young missionary said in a gentle and penetrating
-voice, "I thought that we ought, before separating, to thank God in
-common: for the blessings He does not cease to vouchsafe to us--to
-celebrate our happy meeting of last night. I have, therefore, resolved
-to hold a mass, at which I shall be happy to see you with that purity of
-heart which such a duty demands."
-
-At this proposition the four men exclaimed gladly their assent.
-
-"I will help you to prepare the altar, father," Valentine said; "the
-idea is excellent."
-
-"The altar is all ready, my friends. Have the kindness to follow me."
-
-Father Seraphin then led them out of the grotto.
-
-In the centre of a small esplanade in front of the cave an altar had
-been built by Eagle-wing and Curumilla on a grassy mound. It was very
-simple. A copper crucifix planted in the centre of the mound, covered by
-a cloth of dazzling whiteness; on either side of it two block-tin
-candlesticks, in which burned candles of yellow tallow, a Bible on the
-right, the pyx in the centre--that was all.
-
-The hunter and the two Mexicans knelt piously, and Father Seraphin
-commenced offering the holy sacrifice, served devotedly by the two
-Indian chiefs.
-
-It was a magnificent morning; thousands of birds, hidden beneath the
-foliage, saluted the birth of day with their harmonious songs; a fickle
-breeze poured through the branches, and refreshed the air; in the
-distance, far as eye could extend, undulated the prairie, with its
-oceans of tall grass incessantly agitated by the hurried foot falls of
-the wild beasts returning to their dens; and on the naked side of this
-hill, at the entrance of this grotto--one of the marvels of the New
-World--a priest, simple as an apostle, was celebrating mass on a grass
-altar under the eye of Heaven, served by two poor savages, and having as
-sole congregation three half-civilised men.
-
-This spectacle, so simple primitive, had something about it imposing and
-sublime, which inspired respect and summoned up dreams of ancient days,
-when the persecuted church took refuse in the desert, to find itself
-face to face with God. Hence the emotion experienced by the witnesses of
-this religious act was sincere. A beam of happiness descended into their
-souls, and it was with real effusion that they thanked the priest for
-the pleasant surprise he had reserved for them. Father Seraphin was
-delighted at the result he had attained. Seeing the truly profound faith
-of his friends, he felt his courage heightened to continue the rude and
-noble task he had imposed on himself.
-
-The mass lasted about three quarters of an hour. When it was finished
-the missionary placed the poor holy vessels in the bag he constantly
-carried with him, and they returned to the grotto for breakfast. An hour
-later, Don Miguel, General Ibanez, and the missionary took leave of
-Valentine, and mounted on their horses, which Curumilla had led to the
-entrance of the ravine. They started at a gallop in the direction of the
-Paso del Norte, whence they were about twenty leagues distant. Valentine
-and the two Indian chiefs remained behind.
-
-"I am about to leave my brother," Eagle-wing said.
-
-"Why not remain with us, chief?"
-
-"My pale brother no longer requires Eagle-wing. The chief hears the
-cries of the men and women of his tribe who were cowardly assassinated,
-and demand vengeance."
-
-"Where goes my brother?" the hunter asked, who was too thoroughly
-acquainted with the character of the Indians to try and change the
-warrior's determination, though he was vexed at his departure.
-
-"The Coras dwell in villages on the banks of the Colorado. Eagle-wing is
-returning to his friends. He will ask for warriors to avenge his
-brothers who are dead."
-
-Valentine bowed.
-
-"May the Great Spirit protect my father!" he said. "The road is long to
-the villages of his tribe. The chief is leaving friends who love him."
-
-"Eagle-wing knows it: he will remember," the chief said with a deep
-intonation.
-
-And, after pressing the hands the two hunters held out to him, he
-bounded on his horse, and soon disappeared in the windings of the
-canyon.
-
-Valentine watched his departure with a sad and melancholy look.
-
-"Shall I ever see him again!" he murmured. "He is an Indian: he is
-following his vengeance. It is his nature: he obeys it, and God will
-judge him. Every man must obey his destiny."
-
-After this aside the hunter threw his rifle on his shoulder and started
-in his turn, followed by Curumilla. Valentine and his comrade were on
-foot: they preferred that mode of travelling, which seemed to them sure,
-and quite as quick as on horseback. The two men, after the Indian
-custom, walked one behind the other, not uttering a syllable; but toward
-midday the heat became so insupportable that they were obliged to stop
-to take a few moments' repose. At length the sunbeams lost their
-strength, the evening breeze rose, and the hunters could resume their
-journey. They soon reached the banks of the Rio Puerco (Dirty River),
-which they began ascending, keeping as close as they could to the banks,
-while following the tracks made since time immemorial by wild animals
-coming down to drink.
-
-The man unacquainted with the splendid American scenery will have a
-difficulty in imagining the imposing and savage majesty of the prairie
-the hunters were traversing. The river, studded with islets covered with
-cottonwood trees, flowed silent and rapid between banks of slight
-elevation, and overgrown with grass so tall that it obeyed the impulse
-of the wind from a long distance. Over the vast plain were scattered
-innumerable hills, whose summits, nearly all of the same height, present
-a flat surface; and for a greater distance northward the ground was
-broadcast with large lumps of pebbles resembling gravestones.
-
-At a few hundred yards from the river rose a conical mound, bearing on
-its summit a granite obelisk one hundred and twenty feet in height. The
-Indians, who, like all primitive nations, are caught by anything
-strange, frequently assembled at this spot; and here the hecatombs are
-offered to the Kitchi Manitou.
-
-A great number of buffalo skulls, piled up at the foot of the column,
-and arranged in circles, ellipses, and other geometrical figures, attest
-their piety for this god of the hunt, whose protecting spirit, they say,
-looks down from the top of the monolith. Here and there grew patches of
-the Indian potato, wild onion, prairie tomato, and those millions of
-strange flowers and trees composing the American flora. The rest of the
-country was covered with tall grass, continually undulating beneath the
-light footfall of the graceful antelopes or big horns, which bounded
-from one rock to the other, startled by the approach of the travellers.
-
-Far, far away on the horizon, mingling with the azure of the sky,
-appeared the denuded peaks of the lofty mountains that serve as
-unassailable fortresses to the Indians: their summits, covered with
-eternal snow, formed the frame of this immense and imposing picture,
-which was stamped with a gloomy and mysterious grandeur.
-
-At the hour when the _maukawis_ uttered its last song to salute the
-setting of the sun, which, half plunged in the purple of evening, still
-jaspered the sky with long red bands, the travellers perceived the tents
-of the Comanches picturesquely grouped on the sides of a verdurous hill.
-The Indians had, in a few hours, improvised a real village with their
-buffalo skin tents, aligned to form streets and squares.
-
-On arriving at about five hundred yards from the village the hunters
-suddenly perceived an Indian horseman. Evincing not the slightest
-surprise, they stopped and unfolded their buffalo robes, which floated
-in the breeze, as a signal of peace. The horseman uttered a loud cry. At
-this signal--for it was evidently one--a troop of Comanche warriors
-debouched at a gallop from the village, and poured like a torrent down
-the sides of the hill, coming up close to the motionless travellers,
-brandishing their weapons, and uttering their war yell.
-
-The hunters waited, carelessly leaning on their guns. Assuredly, to a
-man not acquainted with the singular manners of the prairie, this mode
-of reception would have seemed overt hostilities. But it was not so;
-for, on coming within range of the hunters, the Comanches began making
-their horses leap and curvet with that grace and skill characteristic of
-the Indians, and deploying to the right and left, they formed a vast
-circle, inclosing the two unmoved hunters.
-
-Then a horseman quitted the group, dismounted, and rapidly approached
-the newcomers: the latter hastened to meet him. All three had their arm
-extended with the palm forward in sign of peace. The Indian who thus
-advanced to meet the hunters was Unicorn, the great chief of the
-Comanches.
-
-As a distinctive sign of his race, his skin was of a red tinge, brighter
-than the palest new copper. He was a man of thirty at the most, with
-masculine and expressive features; his face possessed a remarkable
-intelligence, and was stamped with that natural majesty found among the
-savage children of the prairie; he was tall and well built; and his
-muscular limbs evidenced a vigour and suppleness against which few men
-would have contended with advantage.
-
-He was completely painted and armed for war; his black hair was drawn up
-on his head in the form of a casque, and fell down his back like a mane;
-a profusion of wampum collars, claws of grizzly bear, and buffalo teeth
-adorned his breast, on which was painted with rare dexterity a blue
-tortoise, the distinctive sign of the tribe to which he belonged, and of
-the size of a hand.
-
-The rest of his costume was composed of the _mitasses_, fastened round
-the hips by a leathern belt, and descending to the ankles; a deerskin
-shirt, with long hanging sleeves, the seams of which, like those of the
-mitasse, were fringed with leather strips and feathers; a wide cloak, of
-the hide of a female buffalo, was fastened across his shoulders with a
-buckle of pure gold, and fell down to the ground; on his feet he had
-elegant moccasins of different colours, embroidered with beads and
-porcupine quills, from the heels of which trailed several wolf tails; a
-light round shield, covered with buffalo hide, and decorated with human
-scalps, hung on his left side by his panther skin quiver full of arrows.
-His weapons were those of the Comanche Indians; that is to say, the
-scalping knife, the tomahawk, a bow, and an American rifle; but a long
-whip, the handle of which painted red, was adorned with scalps,
-indicated his rank as chief.
-
-When the three men were close together they saluted by raising their
-hands to their foreheads; then Valentine and Unicorn crossed their arms
-by passing the right hand over the left shoulder, and bowing their heads
-at the same time, kissed each other's mouth after the prairie fashion.
-Unicorn then saluted Curumilla in the same way; and this preliminary
-ceremony terminated, the Comanche chief took the word.
-
-"My brothers are welcome at the village of my tribe," he said. "I was
-expecting them impatiently. I had begged the Chief of Prayer of the
-palefaces to invite them in my name."
-
-"He performed his promise last night. I thank my brother for having
-thought of me."
-
-"The two stranger great hunters are friends of Unicorn. His heart was
-sad not to see them near him for the buffalo hunt his young people are
-preparing."
-
-"Here we are! We set out this morning at sunrise."
-
-"My brothers will follow me, and rest at the council fire."
-
-The hunters bowed assent. Each received a horse, and at a signal from
-Unicorn, who had placed himself between them, the troop started at a
-gallop, and returned to the village, which it entered to the deafening
-sound of drums, chikikouis, shouts of joy from the women and children
-who saluted their return, and the furious barking of the dogs. When the
-chiefs were seated round the council fire the pipe was lit, and
-ceremoniously presented to the two strangers, who smoked in silence for
-some minutes. When the pipe had gone the round several times Unicorn
-addressed Valentine.
-
-"Koutonepi is a great hunter," he said to him; "he has often followed
-the buffalo on the plains of the Dirty River. The chief will tell him
-the preparations he has made, that the hunter may give his opinion."
-
-"It is needless, chiefs," Valentine replied. "The buffalo is the friend
-of the redskins: the Comanches know all its stratagems. I should like to
-ask a question of my brother."
-
-"The hunter can speak; my ears are open."
-
-"How long will the chief remain on the hunting grounds with his young
-men?"
-
-"About a week. The buffaloes are suspicious: my young men are
-surrounding them, but they drive them in our direction before four or
-five days."
-
-Valentine gave a start of joy.
-
-"Good," he said. "Is my brother sure of it?"
-
-"Very sure."
-
-"How many warriors have remained with the chief?"
-
-"About four hundred: the rest are scattered over the plain to announce
-the approach of the buffaloes."
-
-"Good! If my brother likes I will procure him a fine hunt within three
-days."
-
-"Ah!" the chief exclaimed, "then my brother has started some game?"
-
-"Oh!" Valentine answered with a laugh, "Let my brother trust to me, and
-I promise him rich spoils."
-
-"Good! Of what game does my brother speak?"
-
-"Of _gachupinos_[1]. In two days they will meet in large numbers not far
-from here."
-
-"Wah!" said the Comanche, whose eyes sparkled at this news, "My young
-men will hunt them. My brother must explain."
-
-Valentine shook his head.
-
-"My words are for the ears of a chief," he said.
-
-Without replying, Unicorn made a signal: the Indians rose silently, and
-left the tent. Curumilla and Unicorn alone remained near the fire.
-Valentine then explained to the Comanche, in its fullest details, the
-plan he had conceived, in the execution of which the aid of the Indians
-was indispensable for him. Unicorn listened attentively without
-interrupting. When Valentine had ended,--
-
-"What does my brother think?" the latter asked, fixing a scrutinising
-glance on the impassive countenance of the chief.
-
-"Wah!" the other replied, "the paleface is very crafty. Unicorn will do
-what he desires."
-
-This assurance filled Valentine's heart with joy.
-
-
-[1] Wearers of shoes--a name given by the Indians to the Spaniards at
-the conquest.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-THE HUNT OF WILD HORSES.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate and his two friends did not reach the hacienda till
-late. They were received in the porch by Don Pablo and Dona Clara, who
-manifested great joy at the sight of the French missionary, for whom
-they felt a sincere esteem and great friendship. Spite of all his care,
-Fray Ambrosio had always seen his advances repelled by the young people,
-in whom he instinctively inspired that fear mingled with disgust that is
-experienced at the sight of a reptile.
-
-Dona Clara, who was very pious, carried this repulsion to such a pitch
-that she only confessed her faults and approached the holy table when
-Father Seraphin came to spend a few days at the hacienda.
-
-Fray Ambrosio was too adroit to appear to notice the effect his presence
-produced on the hacendero's children: he feigned to attribute to
-timidity and indifference on religious matters what was in reality a
-strongly expressed loathing for himself personally. But in his heart a
-dull hatred fermented against the two young folk, and especially against
-the missionary, whom he had several times already attempted to destroy
-by well-laid snares.
-
-Father Seraphin had always escaped them by a providential chance; but in
-spite of the chaplain's obsequious advances, and the offers of service
-he did not fail to overwhelm him with each time they met, the missionary
-had thoroughly read the Mexican monk. He had guessed what fearful
-corruption was hidden beneath his apparent simplicity and feigned piety:
-and while keeping to himself the certainty he had acquired, he remained
-on his guard, and carefully watched this man, whom he suspected of
-incessantly planning some dark treachery against him. Don Miguel left
-his children with the missionary, who immediately took possession of him
-and dragged him away, lavishing on him every possible attention. The
-hacendero retired to his study with General Ibanez, when the two men
-drew up a list of the persons they intended to invite; that is to say,
-the persons Valentine proposed to get out of the way, though they were
-innocent of his scheme. The general then mounted his horse, and rode off
-to deliver the invitations personally. For his part Don Miguel sent off
-a dozen peons and vaqueros in search of the wild horses, and to drive
-them gradually toward the spot chosen for the hunt.
-
-Gen. Ibanez succeeded perfectly: the invitations were gladly accepted,
-and the next evening the guests began arriving at the hacienda, Don
-Miguel receiving them with marks of the most profound respect and lavish
-hospitality.
-
-The governor, General Isturitz, Don Luciano Perez, and seven or eight
-persons of inferior rank were soon assembled at the hacienda. At sunrise
-a numerous party, composed of forty persons, left the hacienda, and
-proceeded, accompanied by a crowd of well-mounted peons, towards the
-meet. This was a vast plain on the banks of the Rio del Norte, where the
-wild horses were accustomed to graze at this season. The caravan
-produced the most singular and picturesque effect with the brilliant
-costumes of the persons who composed it, and their horses glittering
-with gold and silver. Starting at about four a.m. from the hacienda,
-they reached four hours later a clump of trees, beneath whose shade
-tents had been raised and tables laid by Don Miguel's orders, so that
-they might breakfast before the hunt.
-
-The riders, who had been journeying for four hours, already exposed to
-the rays of the sun and the dust, uttered a shout of joy at the sight of
-the tents. Each dismounted: the ladies were invited to do the same,
-among them being the wives of the governor and General Isturitz, and
-Dona Clara, and they gaily sat down round the tables.
-
-Toward the end of the breakfast Don Pablo arrived, who had started the
-evening previously to join the vaqueros. He announced that the horses
-had been started, that a large manada was now crossing the Plain of the
-Coyotes, watched by the vaqueros, and that they must make haste if they
-wished to have good sport. This news augmented the ardor of the hunters.
-The ladies were left in camp under the guard of a dozen well-armed
-peons, and the whole party rushed at a gallop in the direction indicated
-by Don Pablo.
-
-The Plain of the Coyotes extended for an enormous distance along the
-banks of the river. Here and there rose wooded hills, which varied the
-landscape that was rendered monotonous by the tall grass, in which the
-riders disappeared up to their waists. When the hunting party reached
-the skirt of the plain Don Miguel ordered a halt, that they might hold a
-council, and hear the report of the leader of the vaqueros.
-
-The races of wild horses that nowadays people the deserts of North
-America, and especially of Mexico, is descended from Cortez' cavalry.
-Hence it is a pure breed, for at the period of the Spanish conquest only
-Arab horses were employed. These horses have multiplied in really an
-extraordinary manner. It is not rare to meet with manadas of twenty and
-even thirty thousand head. They are small, but gifted with an energy and
-vigour of which it is impossible to form a fair idea without having seen
-them. They accomplish without fatigue journeys of prodigious length.
-Their coat is the same as that of other horses, save that during winter
-it grows very long, and frizzy like the wool of sheep. In spring this
-species of fur falls off. The American horses may be easily trained.
-Generally, so soon as they find themselves caught they easily submit to
-the saddle.
-
-The Mexicans treat their steeds very harshly, make them journey the
-whole day without food or drink, and only give them their ration of
-maize and water on reaching the bivouac, where they let them wander
-about the whole night under guard of the _nena_, a mare whose bell the
-horses follow, and will never leave. It is not from any cruel motive,
-however, that the Mexicans treat their horses thus, for the riders are
-very fond of their animals, which at a given moment may save their
-lives. But it seems that this mode of treatment, which would be
-impracticable in Europe, is perfectly successful in Mexico, where the
-horses are much better off than if treated in a more gentle way.
-
-The leader of the vaqueros made his report. A manada of about ten
-thousand head was two leagues off on the plain, quietly grazing in the
-company of a few elks and buffaloes. The hunters scaled a hill, from the
-top of which they easily saw on the horizon a countless mob of animals,
-grouped in a most picturesque way, and apparently not at all suspecting
-the danger that threatened them.
-
-To hunt the wild horses men must be like the Mexicans, perfect centaurs.
-I have seen the _jinetes_ of that country accomplish feats of
-horsemanship before which our Europeans would turn pale.
-
-After the vaquero's report Don Miguel and his friends held a council,
-and this is the resolution they came to. They formed what is called in
-Mexico the grand circle of the wild horses; that is to say, the most
-skilful riders were echeloned in every direction at a certain distance
-from each other, so as to form an immense circle. The wild horses are
-extremely suspicious: their instinct is so great, their scent is so
-subtle, that the slightest breath of wind is sufficient to carry to them
-the smell of their enemies, and make them set off at headlong speed.
-Hence it is necessary to act with the greatest prudence, and use many
-precautions, if a surprise is desired.
-
-When all the preparations were made the hunters dismounted, and dragging
-their horses after them, glided through the tall grass so as to contract
-the circle. This manoeuvre had gone on for some time, and they had
-sensibly drawn nearer, when the manada began to display some signs of
-restlessness. The horses, which had hitherto grazed calmly, raised their
-heads, pricked their ears, and neighed as they inhaled the air. Suddenly
-they collected, formed a compact band, and started at a trot in the
-direction of some cottonwood trees which stood on the banks of the
-river. The hunt was about to commence.
-
-At a signal from Don Miguel six well-mounted vaqueros rushed at full
-speed ahead of the manada, making their lassoes whistle round their
-heads. The horses, startled by the apparition of the riders, turned back
-hastily, uttering snorts of terror, and fled in another direction. But
-each time they tried to force the circle, horsemen rode into the midst
-of them, and compelled them to turn back.
-
-It is necessary to have been present at such a chase, to have seen this
-hunt on the prairies, to form an idea of the magnificent sight offered
-by all these noble brutes, their eyes afire, their mouths foaming, their
-heads haughtily thrown up, and their manes fluttering in the wind, as
-they bounded and galloped in the fatal circle the hunters had formed
-round them. There is in such a sight something intoxicating, which
-carries away the most phlegmatic, and renders them mad with enthusiasm
-and pleasure.
-
-When this manoeuvre had lasted long enough, and the horses began to grow
-blinded with terror, at a signal given by Don Miguel the circle was
-broken at a certain spot. The horses rushed, with a sound like thunder,
-toward this issue which opened before them, overturning with their
-chests everything that barred their progress. But it was this the
-hunters expected. The horses, in their mad race, galloped on without
-dreaming that the road they followed grew gradually narrower in front of
-them, and terminated in inevitable captivity.
-
-Let us explain the termination of the hunt. The manada had been cleverly
-guided by the hunters toward the entrance of a canyon, or ravine, which
-ran between two rather lofty hills. At the end of this ravine the
-vaqueros had formed, with stakes fifteen feet long, planted in the
-ground, and firmly fastened together with cords of twisted bark, an
-immense corral or inclosure, into which the horses rushed without seeing
-it. In less than no time the corral was full; then the hunters went to
-meet the manada, which they cut off at the risk of their lives, while
-the others closed the entrance of the corral. More than fifteen hundred
-magnificent wild horses were thus captured at one stroke.
-
-The noble animals rushed with snorts of fury at the walls of the
-inclosure, trying to tear up the stakes with their teeth, and dashing
-madly against them. At length they recognised the futility of their
-efforts, lay down, and remained motionless. In the meanwhile a
-tremendous struggle was going on in the ravine between the hunters and
-the rest of the manada. The horses confined in this narrow space made
-extraordinary efforts to open a passage and fly anew. They neighed,
-stamped, and flew at everything that came within their reach. At length
-they succeeded in regaining their first direction, and rushed into the
-plain with the velocity of an avalanche. Several vaqueros had been
-dismounted and trampled on by the horses, and two of them had received
-such injuries that they were carried off the ground in a state of
-insensibility.
-
-With all the impetuosity of youth Don Pablo had rushed into the very
-heart of the manada. Suddenly his horse received a kick which broke its
-off foreleg, and it fell to the ground, dragging its rider with it. The
-hunters uttered a cry of terror and agony. In the midst of this band of
-maddened horses the young man was lost, for he must be trampled to death
-under their hoofs. But he rose with the rapidity of lightning, and quick
-as thought seizing the mane of the nearest horse, he leaped on its back,
-and held on by his knees. The horses were so pressed against one another
-that any other position was impossible. Then a strange thing
-occurred--an extraordinary struggle between the horse and its rider. The
-noble beast, furious at feeling its back dishonoured by the weight it
-bore, bounded, reared, rushed forward; but all was useless, for Don
-Pablo adhered firmly.
-
-So long as it was in the ravine, the horse, impeded by its comrades,
-could not do all it might have wished to get rid of the burden it bore;
-but so soon as it found itself on the plain it threw up its head, made
-several leaps on one side, and then started forward at a speed which
-took away the young man's breath.
-
-Don Pablo held on firmly by digging his knees into the panting sides of
-his steed; he unfastened his cravat, and prepared to play the last scene
-in this drama, which threatened to terminate in a tragic way for him.
-The horse had changed its tactics; it was racing in a straight line to
-the river, resolved to drown itself with its rider sooner than submit.
-The hunters followed with an interest mingled with terror the moving
-interludes of this mad race, when suddenly the horse changed its plans
-again, reared, and tried to fall back with its rider. The hunters
-uttered a shout of agony. Don Pablo clung convulsively to his animal's
-neck, and, at the moment it was falling back, he threw his cravat over
-its eyes with extraordinary skill.
-
-The horse, suddenly blinded, fell back again on its feet, and stood
-trembling with terror. Then the young man dismounted, put his face to
-the horse's head, and breathed into its nostrils, while gently
-scratching its forehead. This operation lasted ten minutes at the most,
-the horse panting and snorting, but not daring to leave the spot. The
-Mexican again leaped on the horse's back, and removed the bandage; it
-remained stunned--Don Pablo had tamed it[1]. Everybody rushed toward the
-young man, who smiled proudly, in order to compliment him on his
-splendid victory. Don Pablo dismounted, gave his horse to a vaquero, who
-immediately passed a bridle round its neck, and then walked toward his
-father, who embraced him tenderly. For more than an hour Don Miguel had
-despaired of his son's life.
-
-
-[1] This mode of taming horses is well known to the Indians, and we
-submit the fact to our readers without comment.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI.
-
-THE SURPRISE.
-
-
-So soon as the emotion caused by Don Pablo's prowess was calmed they
-began thinking about returning. The sun was rapidly descending in the
-horizon: the whole day had been spent with the exciting incidents of the
-chase. The Hacienda de la Noria was nearly ten leagues distant: it was,
-therefore, urgent to start as speedily as possible, unless the party
-wished to run the risk of bivouacking in the open air.
-
-The men would easily have put up with this slight annoyance, which, in a
-climate like that of New Mexico, and at this season of the year, has
-nothing painful about it; but they had ladies with them. Left one or two
-leagues in the rear, they must feel alarmed by the absence of the
-hunters--an absence which, as so frequently happens when out hunting,
-had been protracted far beyond all expectation.
-
-Don Miguel gave the vaqueros orders to brand the captured horses with
-his cipher; and the whole party then returned, laughing and singing, in
-the direction of the tents where the ladies had been left. The vaqueros
-who had served as beaters during the day remained behind to guard the
-horses.
-
-In these countries, where there is scarce any twilight, night succeeds
-the day almost without transition. As soon as the sun had set the
-hunters found themselves in complete darkness; for, as the sun descended
-on the horizon, the shade invaded the sky in equal proportions, and, at
-the moment when the day planet disappeared, the night was complete. The
-desert, hitherto silent, seemed to wake up all at once: the birds,
-stupefied by the heat, commenced a formidable concert, in which joined
-at intervals, from the inaccessible depths of the forest, the snapping
-of the _carcajous_ and the barking of the coyotes mingled with the
-hoarse howling of the wild beasts that had left their dens to come down
-and drink in the river.
-
-Then gradually the cries, the songs, and the howling ceased, and nothing
-was audible save the hurried footfalls of the hunters' horses on the
-pebbles of the road. A solemn silence seemed to brood over this abrupt
-and primitive scenery. At intervals the green tufts of the trees and the
-tall grass bowed slowly with a prolonged rustling of leaves and
-branches, as if a mysterious breath passed over them, and compelled them
-to bend their heads. There was something at once striking and terrible
-in the imposing appearance offered by the prairie at this hour of the
-night, beneath this sky studded with brilliant stars, which sparkled
-like emeralds, in the presence of this sublime immensity, which only
-suffered one voice to be heard--that of Deity.
-
-The young and enthusiastic man to whom it is given to be present at such
-a spectacle feels a thrill run over all his body: he experiences an
-undefinable feeling of happiness and extraordinary pleasure on looking
-round him at the desert, whose unexplored depths conceal from him so
-many secrets, and display to him Divine Majesty in all its grandeur and
-omnipotence. Many a time during our adventurous journeys on the American
-continent, when marching at hazard during these lovely nights so full of
-charms, which nothing can make those comprehend who have not experienced
-them, we have yielded to the soft emotions that overcame us. Isolating
-and absorbing ourselves within ourselves, we, have fallen into a state
-of beatitude, from which nothing had the power of drawing us.
-
-The hunters so gay and talkative at the start, had yielded to this
-omnipotent influence of the desert, and advanced rapidly and silently,
-only exchanging a few syllables at lengthened intervals. The profoundest
-calm still continued to reign over the desert; and while, owing to the
-astonishing transparency of the atmosphere, the eye could embrace a
-horizon, nothing suspicious was visible.
-
-The fireflies buzzed carelessly round the top of the grass, and the
-flickering fires burning before the tents to which the hunters were
-bound could be already seen about half a league ahead. At a signal from
-Don Miguel the party, which had, up to the present, only trotted, set
-out at a long canter; for each felt anxious to leave a scene which, in
-the darkness, had assumed a sinister aspect.
-
-They thus arrived within a hundred yards of the fires, whose ruddy glow
-was reflected on the distant trees, when suddenly a fearful yell crossed
-the air, and from behind every bush out started an Indian horseman
-brandishing his weapons, and making his horse curvet round the white
-men, while uttering his war cry. The Mexicans, taken unawares, were
-surrounded ere they sufficiently recovered from their stupor to think
-about employing their weapons. At a glance Don Miguel judged the
-position: it was a critical one. The hunters were at the most but
-twenty: the number of Comanche warriors surrounding them was at least
-three hundred.
-
-The Comanches and Apaches are the most implacable foes of the white
-race. In their periodical invasions of the frontiers they hardly ever
-make any prisoners: they mercilessly kill all who fall into their hands.
-Still the Mexicans rallied. Certain of the fate that awaited them, they
-were resolved to sell their lives dearly. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation before the commencement of the deadly combat, when suddenly
-an Indian galloped out of the ranks of the warriors, and rode within
-three paces of the little band of Mexicans. On arriving there he
-stopped, and waved his buffalo robe in sign of peace. The governor of
-the provinces prepared to speak.
-
-"Let me carry on the negotiations," Don Miguel said. "I know the Indians
-better than you do, and perhaps I shall succeed in getting out of this
-awkward position."
-
-"Do so," the governor answered.
-
-General Ibanez was the only one who had remained calm and impassive
-since the surprise: he did not make a move to seize his weapons; on the
-contrary, he crossed his arms carelessly on his chest, and took a
-mocking glance at his comrades as he hummed a seguidilla between his
-teeth. Don Pablo had placed himself by his father's side, ready to
-defend him at the peril of his life. The Indian chief took the word.
-
-"Let the palefaces listen," he said; "an Indian sachem is about to
-speak."
-
-"We have no time to spare in listening to the insidious words which you
-are preparing to say to us," Don Miguel replied in a haughty voice.
-"Withdraw, and do not obstinately bar our passage, or there will be
-blood spilt."
-
-"The palefaces will have brought it on themselves," the Comanche
-answered in a gentle voice. "The Indians mean no harm to the pale
-warriors."
-
-"Why, then, this sudden attack? The chief is mad. We do not let
-ourselves be so easily deceived as he seems to suppose: we know very
-well that he wants our scalps."
-
-"No; Unicorn wishes to make a bargain with the palefaces."
-
-"Come, chief, explain yourself; perhaps your intentions are as you
-describe them. I do not wish to reproach myself with having refused to
-listen to you."
-
-The Indian smiled.
-
-"Good!" he said. "The great white chief is becoming reasonable. Let him
-listen, then, to the words Unicorn will pronounce."
-
-"Go on, chief; my comrades and myself are listening."
-
-"The palefaces are thieving dogs," the chief said in a rough voice;
-"they carry on a continual war with the redskins, and buy their scalps
-as if they were peltry; but the Comanches are magnanimous warriors, who
-disdain to avenge themselves. The squaws of the white men are in their
-power: they will restore them."
-
-At these words a shudder of terror ran along the ranks of the hunters;
-their courage failed them; they had only one desire left--that of saving
-those who had so wretchedly fallen into the hands of these bloodthirsty
-men.
-
-"On what conditions will the Comanches restore their prisoners?" Don
-Miguel asked, whose heart was contracted at the thought of his daughter,
-who was also a prisoner. He secretly cursed Valentine, whose fatal
-advice was the sole cause of the frightful evil that assailed him at
-this moment.
-
-"The palefaces," the chief continued, "will dismount and arrange
-themselves in a line. Unicorn will choose from among his enemies those
-whom he thinks proper to carry off as prisoners; the rest will be free,
-and all the women restored."
-
-"Those conditions are harsh, chief. Can you not modify them?"
-
-"A chief has only one word. Do the palefaces consent?"
-
-"Let us consult together for a few moments at any rate."
-
-"Good! Let the white men consult. Unicorn grants them ten minutes," the
-chief made answer.
-
-And turning his horse, he went back to his men. Don Miguel then
-addressed his friends.
-
-"Well; what do you think of what has occurred?"
-
-The Mexicans were terrified: still they were compelled to allow that the
-conduct of the Indians was extraordinary, and that they had never before
-evinced such lenity. Now that reflection had followed on the first
-feeling of excitement, they understood that a struggle against enemies
-so numerous was insensate, and could only result in rendering their
-position worse than it was before, and that the chiefs conditions, harsh
-as they were, offered at least some chance of safety for a portion of
-them, and the ladies would be saved.
-
-This last and all powerful consideration decided them. Don Miguel had no
-occasion to convince them of the necessity of submission. Whatever
-struggle it cost them, they dismounted and arranged themselves in a
-line, as the chief had demanded, Don Miguel and his son placing
-themselves at the head.
-
-Unicorn, with that cool courage characteristic of the Indians, then
-advanced alone toward the Mexicans, who still held their weapons, and
-who, impelled by their despair, and at the risk of being all massacred,
-would have sacrificed him to their vengeance. The chief had also
-dismounted. With his hands crossed on his back, and frowning brow, he
-now commenced his inspection.
-
-Many a heart contracted at his approach, for a question of life and
-death was being decided for these hapless men: only the perspective of
-the atrocious tortures which menaced the ladies could have made them
-consent to this humiliating and degrading condition. The Unicorn,
-however, was generous: he only selected eight of the Mexicans, and the
-rest received permission to mount their horses, and leave the fatal
-circle that begirt them. Still, by a strange accident, or a
-premeditation of which the reason escaped them, these, eight
-prisoners--among whom were the governor, General Isturitz, and the
-criminal judge, Don Luciano Perez--were the most important personages in
-the party, and the members of the Provincial Government.
-
-It was not without surprise that Don Miguel observed this; the
-Comanches, however, faithfully fulfilled their compact, and the ladies
-were at once set at liberty. They had been treated with the greatest
-respect by the Indians, who had surprised their camp, and seized them
-almost in the same way as they had done the hunters--that is to say, the
-camp was invaded simultaneously on all sides. It was a matter worthy of
-remark in an Indian ambuscade that not a drop of blood had been spilt.
-
-After the moments given up to the happiness of seeing his daughter again
-safe and sound, Don Miguel resolved to make a last attempt with Unicorn
-in favour of the unhappy men who remained in his hands. The chief
-listened with deference, and let him speak without interruption; then he
-replied with a smile whose expression the hacendero tried in vain to
-explain,--
-
-"My father has Indian blood in his veins; the redskins love him: never
-will they do him the slightest injury. Unicorn would like to restore him
-immediately the prisoners, for whom he cares very little; but that is
-impossible. My father himself would speedily regret Unicorn's obedience
-to his Wish; but, in order to prove to my father how much the chief
-desires to do a thing that will be agreeable to him, the prisoners will
-not be ill-treated, and will be let off with a few days' annoyance.
-Unicorn consents to accept a ransom for them, instead of making them
-slaves. My father can himself tell them this good news."
-
-"Thanks, chief," Don Miguel answered. "The nobility of your character
-touches my heart: I shall not forget it. Be persuaded that, under all
-circumstances, I shall be happy to prove to you how grateful I am."
-
-The chief bowed gracefully and withdrew, in order to give the hacendero
-liberty to communicate with his companions. The latter were seated sadly
-on the ground, gloomy and downcast. Don Miguel repeated to them the
-conversation he had held with Unicorn, and the promise he had made with
-respect to them. This restored them all their courage; and, with the
-most affectionate words and marks of the liveliest joy, they thanked the
-hacendero for the attempt he had made in their favour.
-
-In fact, thanks to the promise of liberating them for a ransom at the
-end of a week, and treating them well during the period of their
-captivity, there was nothing so very terrifying about the prospect; and
-it was one of those thousand annoyances to which men are exposed by
-accident, but whose proportions had been so reduced in their eyes, that,
-with the carelessness which forms the staple of the national character,
-they were the first to laugh at their mishap.
-
-Don Miguel, however, was anxious to retire; so he took leave of his
-companions, and rejoined the chief. The latter repeated his assurances
-that the prisoners should be free within a week, if they consented each
-to pay a ransom of one thousand piastres, which was a trifle. He assured
-the hacendero that he was at liberty to withdraw whenever he pleased,
-and he should not oppose his departure.
-
-Don Miguel did not allow the invitation to be repeated. His friends and
-himself immediately mounted their horses, together with the ladies, who
-were placed in the centre of the detachment; and after taking leave of
-Unicorn, the Mexicans dug their spurs into their horses, and started at
-a gallop, glad to have got off so cheaply. The campfires were soon left
-far behind them, and General Ibanez then approached his friend, and
-bending down to his ear, whispered,--
-
-"Don Miguel, can the Comanches be our allies? I fancy that they have
-this night given a bold push to the success of our enterprise."
-
-This thought, like a ray of light, had already crossed the hacendero's
-brain several times.
-
-"I do not know," he said with a clever smile; "but at any rate, my dear
-general, they are very adroit foes."
-
-The little band continued to advance rapidly toward the hacienda, which
-was now no great distance, and which they hoped to reach before sunrise.
-The events we have described had occurred in less than an hour.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII.
-
-THE MEETING.
-
-
-"By Jove!" General Ibanez said, "it must be confessed that these red
-devils have done us an immense service without suspecting it. It might
-be said, deuce take me, that they acted under a knowledge of facts. This
-Unicorn, as the chief is called, is a precious man in certain
-circumstances. I am anxious to cultivate his acquaintance, for no one
-knows what may happen. It is often good to have so intelligent a friend
-as him at hand."
-
-"You are always jesting, general. When will you be serious for once?"
-Don Miguel said with a smile.
-
-"What would you have, my friend? We are at this moment staking our heads
-in a desperate game, so let us at any rate keep our gaiety. If we are
-conquered, it will be time enough then to be sad, and make bitter
-reflections about the instability of human affairs."
-
-"Yes, your philosophy is not without a certain dose of fatalism, which
-renders it more valuable to me. I am happy to see you in this good
-temper, especially at a moment when we are preparing to play our last
-card."
-
-"All is not desperate yet, and I have a secret foreboding, on the
-contrary, that all is for the best. Our friend the Trail-hunter, I feel
-convinced, has something to do, if not all, with what has happened to
-us."
-
-"Do you believe it?" Don Miguel asked quickly.
-
-"I am certain of it. You know as well as I do these Indios Bravos, and
-the implacable hatred they have vowed against us. The war they wage with
-us is atrocious; and for them to be suddenly changed from wolves into
-lambs requires some powerful motive to make them act thus. People do not
-lay aside in a moment a hatred which has endured for ages. The
-Comanches, by the choice they made, know the importance of the prisoners
-they have seized. How is it that they consent so easily to give them up
-for a trifling ransom? There is some inexplicable mystery in all this."
-
-"Which is very easy to explain though," a laughing voice interrupted
-from behind the shrubs.
-
-The two Mexicans started, and checked their horses. A man leaped from a
-thicket, and suddenly appeared in the centre of the track the little
-band of hunters was following. The latter, believing in a fresh attack
-and treachery on the part of the Comanches, seized their weapons.
-
-"Stop!" Don Miguel said sharply, "the man is alone. Let me speak with
-him."
-
-Each waited with his hand on his weapon.
-
-"Hold!" Don Miguel continued, addressing the stranger, who stood
-motionless, carelessly resting on his gun. "Who are you, my master?"
-
-"Do you not recognise me, Don Miguel? and must I really tell you my
-name?" the stranger answered with a laugh.
-
-"The Trail-hunter!" Don Miguel exclaimed.
-
-"Himself," Valentine continued. "Hang it all! You take a long time to
-recognise your friends."
-
-"You will forgive us when you know all that has happened to us, and how
-much we must keep on our guard."
-
-"Confound it!" Valentine said laughingly, as he regulated his pace by
-the trot of the horses, "do you fancy you are going to tell me any news?
-Did you not really suspect from what quarter the blow came?"
-
-"What!" Don Miguel exclaimed in surprise, "did you--"
-
-"Who else but I? Do you think the Spaniards are such friends of the
-Indians that the latter would treat them so kindly when meeting them
-face to face in the desert?"
-
-"I was sure of it," General Ibanez affirmed. "I guessed it at the first
-moment."
-
-"Good heavens! Nothing was more simple. Your position, through Red
-Cedar's treachery, was most critical. I wished to give you the time to
-turn round by removing, for a few days, the obstacles that prevented the
-success of your plans. I have succeeded, I fancy."
-
-"You could not have managed better," exclaimed the general.
-
-"Oh!" Don Miguel said with a reproachful accent, "why did you hide it
-from me?"
-
-"For a very simple reason, my friend. I wished that in these
-circumstances your will and conscience should be free."
-
-"But--"
-
-"Let me finish. Had I told you of my plan, it is certain that you would
-have opposed it. You are a man of honor, Don Miguel: your heart is most
-loyal."
-
-"My friend--"
-
-"Answer me. Had I explained to you the plan I formed, what would you
-have done?"
-
-"Well--"
-
-"Answer frankly."
-
-"I should have refused."
-
-"I was sure of it. Why would you have done so? Because you would never
-have consented to violate the laws of hospitality, and betray enemies
-you sheltered beneath your roof, though you knew all the while that
-these men, on leaving you, would have considered it their duty to seize
-you, and that they watched your every movement while sitting by your
-side, and eating at your table. Is it not so?"
-
-"It is true; my honor as a gentleman would have revolted. I could not
-have suffered such horrible treachery to be carried out under my very
-eyes."
-
-"There! You see that I acted wisely in saying nothing to you. In that
-way your honor is protected, your conscience easy, and I have in the
-most simple fashion freed you for some days from your enemies."
-
-"That is true; still--"
-
-"What? Have the prisoners to complain of the way in which they have been
-treated?"
-
-"Not at all; on the contrary, the Comanches, and Unicorn in particular,
-treated them most kindly."
-
-"All is for the best, then. You must congratulate yourself on the
-unexpected success you have achieved, and must now profit by it without
-delay."
-
-
-"I intend to do so."
-
-"You must act at once."
-
-"I ask nothing better. All is ready. Our men are warned, and they will
-rise at the first signal."
-
-"It must be given immediately."
-
-"I only ask the time to leave my daughter at the hacienda; then
-accompanied by my friends, I will march on Paso, while General Ibanez,
-at the head of a second band, seizes Santa Fe."
-
-"The plan is well conceived. Can you count on the persons who follow
-you?"
-
-"Yes; they are all my relatives or friends."
-
-"All for the best. Let us not go further. We are here at the place where
-the roads part; let your horses breathe awhile, and I will tell you a
-plan I have formed, and which, I think, will please you."
-
-The small party halted. The horsemen dismounted, and lay down on the
-grass. As all knew of the conspiracy formed by Don Miguel, and were his
-accomplices in different degrees, this halt did not surprise them, for
-they suspected that the moment for action was not far off, and that
-their chief doubtless wished to take his final measures before throwing
-off the mask, and proclaiming the independence of New Mexico. On
-inviting them to hunt the wild horses, Don Miguel had not concealed from
-them Red Cedar's treachery, and the necessity in which he found himself
-of dealing a great blow, if he did not wish all to be hopelessly lost.
-
-Valentine led the hacendero and the general a short distance apart.
-When they were out of ear-shot the hunter carefully examined the
-neighbourhood; then within a few minutes rejoined his friends, whom his
-way of acting considerably perplexed.
-
-"Caballeros," he said to them, "what do you intend doing? In our
-position minutes are ages. Are you ready to make your pronunciamento?"
-
-"Yes," they answered.
-
-"This is what I propose. You, Don Miguel, will proceed direct on Paso.
-At about half a league from that town you will find Curumilla, with
-twenty of the best rifles on the frontier. These men, in whom you can
-trust, are Canadian and Indian hunters devoted to me. They will form the
-nucleus of a band sufficient for you to seize on Paso without striking a
-blow, as it is only defended by a garrison of forty soldiers. Does that
-plan suit you?"
-
-"Yes; I will set about it at once. But my daughter?"
-
-"I will take charge of her. You will also leave me your son, and I will
-convey them both to the hacienda. As for the other ladies, on reaching
-the town, they will merely go to their homes, which I fancy, presents no
-difficulty."
-
-"None."
-
-"Good! Then that is settled?"
-
-"Perfectly."
-
-"As for you, general, your men have been echelonned by my care in
-parties of ten and twenty along the Santa Fe road, up to two leagues of
-the city, so that you will only have to pick them up. In this way you
-will find yourself, within three hours, at the head of five hundred
-resolute and well-armed men."
-
-"Why, Valentine, my friend," the general said laughingly, "do you know
-there is the stuff in you to make a partisan chief, and that I am almost
-jealous of you."
-
-"Oh! that would be wrong, general: I assure you I am most disinterested
-in the affair."
-
-"Well, my friend, I know it: you are a free desert hunter, caring very
-little for our paltry schemes."
-
-"That is true; but I have vowed to Don Miguel and his family a
-friendship which will terminate with my life. I tremble for him and his
-children when I think of the numberless dangers that surround him, and I
-try to aid him as far as my experience and activity permit me. That is
-the secret of my conduct."
-
-"This profession of faith was at least useless, my friend. I have known
-you too intimately and too long to doubt your intentions. Hence, you
-see, I place such confidence in you, that I accept your ideas without
-discussion, so convinced am I of the purity of your intentions."
-
-"Thanks, Don Miguel; you have judged me correctly. Come, gentlemen, to
-horse, and start. We must separate here--you, Don Miguel, to proceed by
-the right-hand track to Paso; you, general, by the left hand one to
-Santa Fe; while I, with Don Pablo and his sister proceed straight on
-till we reach the Hacienda de la Noria."
-
-"To horse, then!" the hacendero shouted resolutely; "And may God defend
-the right!"
-
-"Yes," the general added; "for from this moment the revolution is
-commenced."
-
-The three men returned to their friends. Don Miguel said a few words to
-his children, and in an instant the whole party were in the saddle.
-
-"The die is cast!" Valentine exclaimed. "May Heaven keep you,
-gentlemen!"
-
-"Forward!" Don Miguel commanded.
-
-"Forward!" General Ibanez shouted, as he rushed in the opposite
-direction.
-
-Valentine looked after his departing friends. Their black outlines were
-soon blended with the darkness, and then the footfalls of their horses
-died out in the night. Valentine gave a sigh and raised his head.
-
-"God will protect them," he murmured; then turning to the two young
-people, "Come on, children," he said.
-
-They started, and for some minutes kept silence. Valentine was too busy
-in thought to address his companions; and yet Dona Clara and Don Pablo,
-whose curiosity was excited to the highest pitch, were burning to
-question him. At length the girl, by whose side the hunter marched with
-that quick step which easily keeps up with a horse, bent down to him.
-
-"My friend," she said to him in her soft voice, "what is taking place?
-Why has my father left us, instead of coming to his house?"
-
-"Yes," Don Pablo added, "he seemed agitated when he parted from us. His
-voice was stern, his words sharp. What is happening, my friend? Why did
-not my father consent to my accompanying him?"
-
-Valentine hesitated to answer.
-
-"I implore you, my friend," Dona Clara continued, "do not leave us in
-this mortal anxiety. The announcement of a misfortune would certainly
-cause us less pain than the perplexity in which we are."
-
-"Why force me to speak, my children?" the hunter answered in a saddened
-voice. "The secret you ask of me is not mine. If your father did not
-impart his plans to you, it was doubtless because weighty reasons oppose
-it. Do not force me to render you more sorrowful by telling you things
-you ought not to know."
-
-"But I am not a child," Don Pablo exclaimed. "It seems tome that my
-father ought not to have thus held his confidence from me."
-
-"Do not accuse your father, my friend," Valentine answered gravely:
-"probably he could not have acted otherwise."
-
-"Valentine, Valentine! I will not accept those poor reasons," the young
-man urged. "In the name of our friendship I insist on your explaining
-yourself."
-
-"Silence!" the hunter suddenly interrupted him. "I hear suspicious
-sounds around us."
-
-The three travellers stopped and listened, but all was quiet. The
-hacienda was about five hundred yards at the most from the spot where
-they halted. Don Pablo and Dona Clara heard nothing, but Valentine made
-them a sign to remain quiet; then he dismounted and placed his ear to
-the ground.
-
-"Follow me," he said. "Something is happening here which I cannot make
-out; but it alarms me."
-
-The young people obeyed without hesitation; but they had only gone a few
-paces when Valentine stopped again.
-
-"Are your weapons loaded?" he sharply asked Don Pablo.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! Perhaps you will have to make use of them."
-
-All at once the gallop of a horse urged to its utmost speed was audible.
-
-"Attention!" Valentine muttered.
-
-Still the horseman, whoever he might be, rapidly advanced in the
-direction of the travellers, and soon came up to them. Suddenly
-Valentine bounded like a panther, seized the horse by the bridle and
-stopped it dead.
-
-"Who are you, and where are you going?" he shouted, as he put a pistol
-barrel against the stranger's chest.
-
-"Heaven be praised!" the latter said, not replying to the question.
-"Perhaps I shall be able to save you. Fly, fly, in all haste!"
-
-"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said with stupor, as he lowered his pistol.
-"What has happened?"
-
-"Fly, fly!" the missionary repeated, who seemed a prey to the most
-profound terror.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
-THE ABDUCTION.
-
-
-Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio had not remained inactive since their last
-interview up to the day when Don Miguel set out to hunt the wild horses.
-These two fellows, so suited to understand each other, had manoeuvred
-with extreme skill. Fray Ambrosio, all whose avaricious instincts had
-been aroused since he had so artfully stolen from poor Joaquin the
-secret of his placer, had assembled a formidable collection of the
-bandits who always swarm on the Indian frontiers. In a few days he found
-himself at the head of one hundred and twenty adventurers, all men who
-had cheated the gallows, and of whom he felt the more sure as the secret
-of the expedition was concealed from them, and they fancied they formed
-a war party engaged to go scalp hunting.
-
-These men, who all knew Red Cedar by reputation, burnt to set out, so
-convinced were they of carrying out a successful expedition under such a
-leader. Only two men formed an exception to this band of scoundrels, the
-smallest culprit of whom had at least three or four murders on his
-conscience. They were Harry, and Dick, who, for reasons the reader has
-doubtless guessed, found themselves, to their great regret, mixed up
-with these bandits. Still we must say, in justice to Fray Ambrosio's
-soldiers, that they were all bold hunters, accustomed for many a year to
-desert life, who knew all its perils, and feared none of its dangers.
-
-Fray Ambrosio; apprehending the effects of mezcal and pulque on his men,
-had made them bivouac at the entrance of the desert, at a sufficiently
-great distance from the Paso del Norte to prevent them easily going
-there. The adventurers spent their time joyously in playing, not for
-money, as they had none, but for the scalps they intended presently to
-lift from the Indians, each of which represented a very decent sum.
-Still Fray Ambrosio, so soon as his expedition was completely organised,
-had only one desire--to start as speedily as possible; but for two days
-Red Cedar was not to be found. At length Fray Ambrosio succeeded in
-catching him just as he was entering his jacal.
-
-"What has become of you?" he asked him.
-
-"What does that concern you?" the squatter answered brutally. "Have I to
-answer for my conduct to you?"
-
-"I do not say so: still, connected as we are at this moment, it would be
-as well for me to know where to find you when I want you."
-
-"I have been attending to my business, as you have to yours."
-
-"Well, are you satisfied?"
-
-"Very much so," he answered with a sinister smile. "You will soon learn
-the result of my journey."
-
-"All the better. If you are satisfied, I am so too."
-
-"Ah, ah!"
-
-"Yes, all is ready for departure."
-
-"Let us be off--tomorrow if you like."
-
-"On this very night."
-
-"Very good. You are like me, and don't care to travel by day on account
-of the heat of the sun."
-
-The two accomplices smiled at this delicate jest.
-
-"But before starting," the squatter continued, becoming serious again,
-"we have something left to do here."
-
-"What is it?" Fray Ambrosio asked with candor.
-
-"It is wonderful what a short memory you have. Take care: that failing
-may play an awkward trick some day."
-
-"Thanks! I will try to correct it."
-
-"Yes, and the sooner the better: in the meanwhile I will refresh your
-memory."
-
-"I shall feel obliged to you."
-
-"And Dona Clara, do you fancy we are going to leave her behind?"
-
-"Hum! Then you still think of that?"
-
-"By Jove! More than ever."
-
-"The fact is it will not be easy to carry her off at this moment."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"In the first place, she is not at the hacienda."
-
-"That is certainly a reason."
-
-"Is it not?"
-
-"Yes; but she must be somewhere, I suppose?" the squatter said with a
-coarse laugh.
-
-"She has gone with her father to a hunt of wild horses."
-
-"The hunt is over and they are on their return."
-
-"You are well informed."
-
-"It is my trade. Come, do you still mean serving me?"
-
-"I must."
-
-"That is how I like you. There cannot be many people at the hacienda?"
-
-"A dozen at the most."
-
-"Better still. Listen to me: it is now four in the afternoon. I have a
-ride to take. Return to the hacienda, and I will come there this evening
-at nine, with twenty resolute men. You will open the little gate of the
-corral, and leave me to act. I'll answer for all."
-
-"If you wish it it must be so," Fray Ambrosio said with a sigh.
-
-"Are you going to begin again?" the squatter asked in a meaning voice as
-he rose.
-
-"No, no, it is unnecessary," the monk exclaimed. "I shall expect you."
-
-"Good: till this evening."
-
-"Very well."
-
-On which the two accomplices separated. All happened as had been
-arranged between them. At nine o'clock Red Cedar reached the little
-gate, which was opened for him by Fray Ambrosio, and the squatter
-entered the hacienda at the head of his three sons and a party of
-bandits. The peons, surprised in their sleep, were bound before they
-even knew what was taking place.
-
-"Now," Red Cedar said, "we are masters of the place, the girl can come
-as soon as she likes."
-
-"Eh?" the monk went on. "All is not finished yet. Don Miguel is a
-resolute man, and is well accompanied: he will not let his daughter be
-carried off under his eyes without defending her."
-
-"Don Miguel will not come," the squatter said with a sardonic grin.
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"That is not your business."
-
-"We shall see."
-
-But the bandits had forgotten Father Seraphin. The missionary, aroused
-by the unusual noise he heard in the hacienda, had hastily risen. He had
-heard the few words exchanged between the accomplices, and they were
-sufficient to make him guess the fearful treachery they meditated. Only
-listening to his heart, the missionary glided out into the corral,
-saddled a horse, and opening a door, of which he had a key, so that he
-could enter or leave the hacienda as his duties required, he started at
-full speed in the direction which he supposed the hunters must follow in
-returning to the hacienda. Unfortunately, Father Seraphin had been
-unable to effect his flight unheard by the squatter's practised ear.
-
-"Malediction!" Red Cedar shouted, as he rushed, rifle in hand, toward a
-window, which he dashed out with his fist, "We are betrayed."
-
-The bandits rushed in disorder into the corral where their horses were
-tied up, and leaped into their saddles. At this moment a shadow flitted
-across the plain in front of the squatter, who rapidly shouldered his
-rifle and fired. Then he went out: a stifled cry reached his ear, but
-the person the bandit had fired at still went on.
-
-"No matter," the squatter muttered; "that fine bird has lead in its
-wing. Sharp, sharp, my men, on the trail!"
-
-And all the bandits rushed off in pursuit of the fugitive.
-
-Father Seraphin had fallen in a fainting condition at Valentine's feet.
-
-"Good heavens!" the hunter exclaimed in despair, "what can have
-happened?"
-
-And he gently carried the missionary into a ditch that ran by the side
-of the road. Father Seraphin had his shoulder fractured, and the blood
-poured in a stream from the wound. The hunter looked around him; but at
-this moment a confused sound could be heard like the rolling of distant
-thunder.
-
-"We must fall like brave men, Don Pablo, that is all," he said sharply.
-
-"Be at your ease," the young man answered coldly.
-
-Dona Clara was pale and trembling.
-
-"Come," Valentine said.
-
-And, with a movement rapid as thought, he bounded on to the missionary's
-horse. The three fugitives started at full speed. The flight lasted a
-quarter of an hour, and then Valentine stopped. He dismounted, gave the
-young people a signal to wait, lay down on the ground, and began
-crawling on his hands and knees, gliding like a serpent through the long
-grass that concealed him, and stopping at intervals to look around him,
-and listen attentively to the sounds of the desert. Suddenly he rushed
-towards his companions, seized the horses by the bridle, and dragged
-them behind a mound, where they remained concealed, breathless and
-unable to speak.
-
-A formidable noise of horses was audible. Some twenty black shadows
-passed like a tornado within ten paces of their hiding place, not seeing
-them in consequence of the darkness.
-
-Valentine drew a deep breath.
-
-"All hope is not lost," he muttered.
-
-He waited anxiously for five minutes: their pursuers were going further
-away. Presently the sound of their horses' hoofs ceased to disturb the
-silence of the night.
-
-"To horse!" Valentine said.
-
-They leaped into their saddles and started again, not in the direction
-of the hacienda, but in that of the Paso.
-
-"Loosen your bridles," the hunter said: "more still--we are not moving."
-
-Suddenly a loud neigh was borne on the breeze to the ears of the
-fugitives.
-
-"We are lost!" Valentine muttered. "They have found our trail."
-
-Red Cedar was too old a hand on the prairie to be long thrown out: he
-soon perceived that he was mistaken, and was now turning back, quite
-certain this time of holding the trail. Then began one of those fabulous
-races which only the dwellers on the prairie can witness--races which
-intoxicate and cause a giddiness, and which no obstacle is powerful
-enough to stop or check, for the object is success or death. The
-bandits' half wild horses, apparently identifying themselves with the
-ferocious passions of their riders, glided through the night with the
-rapidity of the phantom steed in the German ballad, bounded over
-precipices, and rushed with prodigious speed.
-
-At times a horseman rolled with his steed from the top of a rock, and
-fell into an abyss, uttering a yell of distress; but his comrades passed
-over his body, borne along like a whirlwind, and responding to this cry
-of agony, the final appeal of a brother, by a formidable howl of rage.
-This pursuit had already lasted two hours, and the fugitives had not
-lost an inch of ground: their horses, white with foam, uttered hoarse
-cries of fatigue and exhaustion as a dense smoke came out of their
-nostrils. Dona Clara, with her hair untied and floating in the breeze,
-with sparkling eye and closely pressed lips, constantly urged her horse
-on with voice and hand.
-
-"All is over!" the hunter suddenly said. "Save yourselves! I will let
-myself be killed here, so that you may go on for ten minutes longer, and
-be saved. I will hold out for that time, so go on."
-
-"No," Don Pablo answered nobly; "we will be all saved or perish
-together."
-
-"Yes," the maiden remarked.
-
-Valentine shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"You are mad," he said.
-
-All at once he started, for their pursuers were rapidly approaching.
-
-"Listen," he said. "Do you two let yourselves be captured; they will not
-follow me, as they owe me no grudge. I swear to you that if I remain at
-liberty I will deliver you, even if they hide you in the bowels of the
-earth."
-
-Without replying Don Pablo dismounted, and Valentine leaped on to his
-horse.
-
-"Hope for the best!" he shouted hoarsely, and disappeared.
-
-Don Pablo, so soon as he was alone with his sister, made her dismount,
-seated her at the foot of a tree, and stood before her with a pistol in
-either hand. He had not to wait long, for almost immediately he was
-surrounded by the bandits.
-
-"Surrender!" Red Cedar shouted in a panting voice.
-
-Don Pablo smiled disdainfully.
-
-"Here is my answer," he said.
-
-And with two pistol shots he laid two bandits low; then he threw away
-his useless weapons, and crossing his arms on his breast said,--
-
-"Do what you please now; I am avenged."
-
-Red Cedar bounded with fury.
-
-"Kill that dog!" he shouted.
-
-Shaw rushed toward the young man, threw his nervous arms around him, and
-whispered in his ear,--
-
-"Do not resist, but fall as if dead."
-
-Don Pablo mechanically followed his advice.
-
-"It is all over," said Shaw. "Poor devil! He did not cling to life."
-
-He returned his knife to his belt, threw the supposed corpse on his
-shoulders, and dragged it into a ditch. At the sight of her brother's
-body, whom she supposed to be dead, Dona Clara uttered a shriek of
-despair and fainted. Red Cedar laid the maiden across his saddle-bow,
-and the whole band, starting at a gallop was soon lost in the darkness.
-Don Pablo then rose slowly, and took a sorrowful glance around.
-
-"My poor sister!" he murmured.
-
-Then he perceived her horse near him.
-
-"Valentine alone can save her," he said.
-
-He mounted the horse, and proceeded toward the Paso, asking himself this
-question, which he found it impossible to answer:--
-
-"But why did not that man kill me?"
-
-A few paces from the village he perceived two men halting on the road,
-and conversing with the greatest animation. They hurriedly advanced
-toward him, and the young man uttered a cry of surprise on recognising
-them. They were Valentine and Curumilla.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV.
-
-THE REVOLT.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate had marched rapidly on the Paso, and an hour after
-leaving Valentine he saw flashing in the distance the lights that shone
-in the village windows. The greatest calmness prevailed in the vicinity;
-only at times could be heard the barking of the dogs baying at the moon,
-or the savage miawling of the wild cats hidden in the shrubs. At about
-one hundred yards from the village a man suddenly rose before the small
-party.
-
-"Who goes there?" he shouted.
-
-"_Mejico e independencia!_" the hacendero answered.
-
-"_?Que gente?_" the stranger continued.
-
-"Don Miguel Zarate."
-
-At these words twenty men hidden in the brushwood rose suddenly, and
-throwing their rifles on their shoulders, advanced to meet the horsemen.
-They were the hunters commanded by Curumilla, who, by Valentine's
-orders, were awaiting the hacendero's arrival to join him.
-
-"Well," Don Miguel asked the chief, "is there anything new?"
-
-Curumilla shook his head.
-
-"Then we can advance?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"What is the matter, chief? Have you seen anything alarming?"
-
-"No; and yet I have a feeling of treachery."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"I cannot tell you. Apparently everything is as usual: still there is
-something which is not so. Look you, it is scarce ten o'clock: generally
-at that hour all the mesones are full, the ventas are crammed with
-gamblers and drinkers, the streets flocked with promenaders. This night
-there is nothing of the sort: all is closed--the town seems abandoned.
-This tranquillity is factitious. I am alarmed, for _I hear the silence_.
-Take care."
-
-Don Miguel was involuntarily struck by the chief's remarks. He had known
-Curumilla for a long time. He had often seen him display in the most
-dangerous circumstances a coolness and contempt for death beyond all
-praise: hence some importance must be attached to the apprehensions and
-anxiety of such a man. The hacendero ordered his party to halt,
-assembled his friends, and held a council. All were of opinion that,
-before venturing to advance further, they should send as scout a clever
-man to traverse the town, and see for himself if the fears of the Indian
-chief were well founded.
-
-One of the hunters offered himself. The conspirators concealed
-themselves on either side the road, and awaited, lying in the shrubs,
-the return of their messenger. He was a half-breed, Simon Munez by
-name, to whom the Indians had given the soubriquet of "Dog-face," owing
-to his extraordinary likeness to that animal. This name had stuck to the
-hunter, who, _nolens volens_, had been compelled to accept it. He was
-short and clumsy, but endowed with marvellous strength; and we may say
-at once that he was an emissary of Red Cedar, and had only joined the
-hunters in order to betray them.
-
-When he left the conspirators he proceeded toward the village whistling.
-He had scarce taken a dozen steps into the first street ere a door
-opened, and a man appeared. This man stepped forward and addressed the
-hunter.
-
-"You whistle very late, my friend."
-
-"A whistle to wake those who are asleep," the half breed made answer.
-
-"Come in," the man continued.
-
-Dog-face went in, and the door closed upon him. He remained in the house
-half an hour, then went out, and hurried back along the road he had
-traversed.
-
-Red Cedar, who wished before all to avenge himself on Don Miguel Zarate,
-had discovered, through Fray Ambrosio, the conspirators' new plan.
-Without loss of time he had taken his measures in consequence, and had
-managed so well that, although the general, the governor, and the
-criminal judge were prisoners, Don Miguel must succumb in the contest he
-was preparing to provoke. Fray Ambrosio, to his other qualities, joined
-that of being a listener at doors. In spite of the distrust which his
-patron was beginning to display toward him on Valentine's
-recommendation, he had surprised a conversation between Don Miguel and
-General Ibanez. This conversation, immediately reported to Red Cedar,
-who, according to his usual custom, had appeared to attach no importance
-to it, had been sufficient, however, to make the squatter prepare his
-batteries and countermine the conspiracy.
-
-Dog-face rejoined his companions after an hour's absence.
-
-"Well?" Don Miguel asked him.
-
-"All is quiet," the half-breed answered; "the inhabitants have retired
-to their houses, and everybody is asleep."
-
-"You noticed nothing of a suspicious nature?"
-
-"I went through the town from one end to the other, and saw nothing."
-
-"We can advance, then?"
-
-"In all security: it will only be a promenade."
-
-On this assurance the conspirators regained their courage, Curumilla was
-treated as a visionary, and the order was given to advance. Still
-Dog-face's report, far from dissipating the Indian chief's doubts, had
-produced the contrary effect, and considerably augmented them. Saying
-nothing, he placed himself by the hunter's side, with the secret
-intention of watching him closely.
-
-The plan of the conspirators was very simple. They would march directly
-on the Cabildo (Town hall), seize it, and proclaim a Provisional
-Government. Under present circumstances nothing appeared to be easier.
-Don Miguel and his band entered the Paso, and nothing occurred to arouse
-their suspicions. It resembled that town in the "Arabian Nights," in
-which all the inhabitants, struck by the wand of the wicked enchanter,
-sleep an eternal sleep. The conspirators advanced into the town with
-their rifle barrels thrust forward, with eye and ear on the watch, and
-ready to fire at the slightest alarm; but nothing stirred. As Curumilla
-had observed, the town was too quiet. This tranquillity hid something
-extraordinary, and must conceal the tempest. In spite of himself Don
-Miguel felt a secret apprehension which he could not master.
-
-To our European eyes Don Miguel will perhaps appear a poor conspirator,
-without foresight or any great connection in his ideas. From our point
-of view that is possible; but in a country like Mexico, which counts its
-revolutions by hundreds, and where _pronunciamentos_ take place, in most
-cases, without sense or reason because a colonel wishes to become a
-general, or a lieutenant a captain, things are not regarded so closely;
-and the hacendero, on the contrary, had evidenced tact, prudence, and
-talent in carrying out a conspiracy which, during the several years it
-had been preparing, had only come across one traitor. And now it was too
-late to turn back: the alarm had been given, and the Government was on
-its guard. They must go onwards, even if they succumbed in the struggle.
-
-All these considerations had been fully weighed by Don Miguel; and he
-had not given the signal till he was driven into his last intrenchments,
-and convinced that there was no way of escape left him. Was it not a
-thousand fold better to die bravely with arms in their hands, in support
-of a just cause, than wait to be arrested without having made an attempt
-to succeed? Don Miguel had sacrificed his life, and no more could be
-expected of him.
-
-In the meanwhile the conspirators advanced. They had nearly reached the
-heart of the town; they were at this moment in a little, dirty, and
-narrow street, called the Calle de San Isidro, which opens out on the
-Plaza Mayor, when suddenly a dazzling light illumined the darkness;
-torches flashed from all the windows; and Don Miguel saw that the two
-ends of the street in which he was were guarded by strong detachments of
-cavalry.
-
-"Treachery!" the conspirators shouted in terror.
-
-Curumilla bounded on Dog-face, and buried his knife between his
-shoulders. The half-breed fell in a lump, quite dead, and not uttering a
-cry. Don Miguel judged the position at the first glance: he saw that he
-and his party were lost.
-
-"Let us die!" he said.
-
-"We will!" the conspirators resolutely responded.
-
-Curumilla with the butt of his rifle beat in the door of the nearest
-house, and rushed in, the conspirators following him. They were soon
-intrenched on the roof. In Mexico all the houses have flat roofs, formed
-like terraces. Thanks to the Indian chief's idea, the rebels found
-themselves in possession of an improvised fortress, where they could
-defend themselves for a long time, and sell their lives dearly.
-
-The troops advanced from each end of the street, while the roofs of all
-the houses were occupied by soldiers. The battle was about to begin
-between earth and heaven, and promised to be terrible. At this moment
-General Guerrero, who commanded the troops, bade them halt, and advanced
-alone to the house on the top of which the conspirators were intrenched.
-Don Miguel beat up the guns of his comrades, who aimed at the officer.
-
-"Wait," he said to them; and, addressing the general, "What do you
-want?" he shouted.
-
-"To offer you propositions."
-
-"Speak."
-
-The general came a few paces nearer, so that those he addressed could
-not miss one of his words.
-
-"I offer you life and liberty if you consent to surrender your leader,"
-he said.
-
-"Never!" the conspirators shouted in one voice.
-
-"It is my place to answer," Don Miguel said; and then turning to the
-general, "What assurance do you give me that these conditions will be
-honourably carried out?"
-
-"My word of honor as a soldier," the general answered.
-
-"Very good," Don Miguel went on; "I accept. All the men who accompany me
-will leave the town one after the other."
-
-"No, we will not!" the conspirators shouted as they brandished their
-weapons; "we would sooner die."
-
-"Silence!" the hacendero said in a loud voice. "I alone have the right
-to speak here, for I am your chief. The life of brave men like you must
-not be needlessly sacrificed. Go, I say; I order you--I implore it of
-you," he added with tears in his voice. "Perhaps you will soon take your
-revenge."
-
-The conspirators hung their heads mournfully.
-
-"Well?" the general asked.
-
-"My friends, accept. I will remain alone here. If you break your word I
-will kill myself."
-
-"I repeat that you hold my word," the general answered.
-
-The conspirators came one after the other to embrace Don Miguel, and
-then went down into the street without being in any way interfered with.
-Things happen thus in this country, where conspiracies and revolutions
-are on the order of the day, as it were. The defeated are spared as far
-as possible, from the simple reason that the victors may find themselves
-tomorrow fighting side by side with them for the same cause. Curumilla
-was the last to depart.
-
-"All is not ended yet," he said to Don Miguel. "Koutonepi will save you,
-father."
-
-The hacendero shook his head sadly.
-
-"Chief," he said in a deeply moved voice, "I leave my daughter to
-Valentine, Father Seraphin, and yourself. Watch over her: the poor child
-will soon have no father."
-
-Curumilla embraced Don Miguel silently and retired; he had soon
-disappeared in the crowd, the general having honourably kept his word.
-
-Don Miguel threw down his weapons and descended.
-
-"I am your prisoner," he said.
-
-General Guerrero bowed, and made him a sign to mount the horse a soldier
-had brought up.
-
-"Where are we going?" the hacendero said.
-
-"To Santa Fe," the general answered, "where you will be tried with
-General Ibanez, who will doubtless soon be a prisoner like yourself."
-
-"Oh!" Don Miguel muttered thoughtfully, "who betrayed us this time?"
-
-"It was still Red Cedar," the general answered.
-
-The hacendero let his head sink on his chest, and remained silent. A
-quarter of an hour later the prisoner left the Paso del Norte, escorted
-by a regiment of dragoons. When the last trooper had disappeared in the
-windings of the road three men left the shrubs that concealed them, and
-stood like three phantoms in the midst of the desolate plain.
-
-"O heavens!" Don Pablo cried in a heart-rending voice, "my father, my
-sister--who will restore them to me?"
-
-"I!" Valentine said in a grave voice, as he laid his hand on his
-shoulder. "Am I not the TRAIL-HUNTER?"
-
-
-
-
-PART II.--EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-EL RANCHO DEL COYOTE.
-
-
-About a month after the events we have described in the first part of
-this veracious history, two horsemen, well mounted, and carefully
-enwrapped in their cloaks, entered at a smart trot the town of Santa Fe
-between three and four o'clock in the afternoon.
-
-Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, is a pretty town, built in the
-midst of a laughing and fertile plain. One of its sides occupies the
-angle formed by a small stream: it is surrounded by the _adobe_ walls of
-the houses by which it is bordered. The entrance of each street is
-closed by stakes in the form of palisades; and like the majority of
-towns in Spanish America, the houses, built only one story high in
-consequence of the earthquakes, are covered with terraces of well-beaten
-earth, called _azoteas,_ which are a sufficient protection in this
-glorious climate, where the sky is constantly pure.
-
-In the time of the Castilian rule Santa Fe enjoyed a certain importance,
-owing to its strategic position, which allowed an easy defence against
-the incursions of the Indians; but since the emancipation of Mexico this
-city, like all the other centres of population in his unhappy country,
-has seen its splendour vanish forever, and despite the fertility of its
-soil and the magnificence of its climate, it has entered into such a
-state of decadence that the day is at hand when it will be only an
-uninhabited ruin. In a word, this city, which fifty years back contained
-more than ten thousand inhabitants, has now scarcely three thousand,
-eaten up by fevers and the utmost wretchedness.
-
-Still during the last few weeks Santa Fe had appeared to emerge, as if
-by magic from the lethargy into which it is ordinarily plunged; a
-certain degree of animation prevailed in its usually deserted streets;
-in short, a new life circulated in the veins of this population, to
-whom, however, all must appear a matter of indifference. The fact was
-that an event of immense importance had recently taken place in this
-town. The two leaders of the conspiracy lately attempted had been
-transferred to safe keeping at Santa Fe.
-
-The Mexicans, ordinarily so slow when justice has to be dealt, are the
-most expeditious people in the world when a conspiracy has to be
-punished. Don Miguel and General Ibanez had not pined long in prison. A
-court martial, hurriedly convened, had assembled under the presidency of
-the governor, and the two conspirators were unanimously condemned to be
-shot.
-
-The hacendero, through his name and his position, and especially on
-account of his fortune, had numerous partisans in the province: hence
-the announcement of the verdict had caused a profound stupor, which
-almost immediately changed into anger, among the rich land owners and
-the Indians of New Mexico. A dull agitation prevailed throughout the
-country; and the governor, who felt too weak to hold head against the
-storm that threatened him, and regretted that he had carried matters so
-far, was temporising, and trying to evade the peril of his position
-until a regiment of dragoons he had asked of the Government arrived, and
-gave strength to the law. The condemned men, whom the governor had not
-yet dared to place in _capilla_, were still provisionally detained in
-the prison.
-
-The two men of whom we have spoken, rode without stopping through the
-streets of the town, deserted at this hour, when everybody is at home
-enjoying his siesta, and proceeded toward an unpretending rancho, built
-on the banks of the stream, at the opposite end of the town from that by
-which they entered.
-
-"Well," one of the horsemen said, addressing his comrade, "was I not
-right? You see everyone is asleep: there is nobody to watch us. We have
-arrived at a capital moment."
-
-"Bah!" the other answered in a rough voice, "Do you believe that? In
-towns there is always somebody watching to see what does not concern
-him, and report it after his fashion."
-
-"That is possible," the first said, shrugging his shoulders
-disdainfully. "I care about it as little as I do for a stringhalt
-horse."
-
-"And I, too," the other said sharply. "Do you imagine that I care more
-than you do for the gossips? But stay; I fancy we have reached the
-rancho of Andres Garote. This must be the filthy tenement, unless I am
-mistaken."
-
-"It is the house. I only hope the scamp has not forgotten, the meeting I
-gave him. Wait a minute, senor padre; I will give the agreed-on signal."
-
-"It is not worth while, Red Cedar. You know that I am always at your
-excellency's orders when you may please to give them," a mocking voice
-said from inside the rancho, the door of which immediately opened to
-give admission to the newcomers, and allowed a glimpse of the tall
-figure and intelligent face of Andres Garote himself.
-
-"_Ave Maria purisima!_" the travellers said, as they dismounted and
-entered the rancho.
-
-"_Sin pecado concebida!_" Andres replied, as he took the bridles of the
-horses and led them to the corral, where he unsaddled them and gave each
-a truss of alfalfa.
-
-The travellers, fatigued by a long journey, sat down on butacas arranged
-against the wall, and awaited the host's return, while wiping their dank
-foreheads and twisting a maize cigarette between their fingers. The room
-in which they were had nothing extremely attractive about it. It was a
-large chamber with two windows, protected by iron bars, the greasy panes
-allowing but a doubtful light to pass. The naked and smoky walls were
-covered with clumsily-painted pictures, representing various holy
-objects. The furniture only consisted of three or four halting tables,
-the same number of benches, and a few butacas, the torn and harsh
-leather of which evinced lengthened use. As for the floor, it was merely
-of beaten earth, but rendered uneven by the mud incessantly brought in
-upon the feet of visitors. A door carefully closed led to an inner room,
-in which the ranchero slept. Another door was opposite to it, and
-through this Andres speedily entered after giving the horses their
-provender.
-
-"I did not expect you yet," he said as he entered; "but you are welcome.
-Is there anything new?"
-
-"My faith, I know nothing but the affair that brings us. It is rather
-serious, I fancy, and prevents us attending to anything else," Red Cedar
-remarked.
-
-"_Caspita_! what vivacity, compadre!" Andres exclaimed. "But, before
-talking, I hope you will take some refreshment at any rate. There is
-nothing like a cup of mezcal or pulque to clear the brain."
-
-"Not to forget," Fray Ambrosio said, "that it is infernally hot, and my
-tongue is glued to my palate, as I have swallowed so much dust."
-
-"_Cuerpo de Dios_!" Andres said as he went to look for a bottle among
-several others arranged on a sort of bar, and placed it before the
-travellers. "Pay attention to that, senor padre; for it is serious, and
-you run a risk of death, _caray!_"
-
-"Give me the remedy, then, chatterer," the monk replied as he held out
-his glass.
-
-The mezcal, liberally poured out, was swallowed at a draught by the
-three men, who put back their glasses on the table with a "hum" of
-satisfaction, and that clinking of the tongue peculiar to topers when
-they are swallowing anything that tickles the throat.
-
-"And now suppose we talk seriously," Red Cedar said.
-
-"At your orders, senores caballeros," Andres replied. "Still, if you
-prefer a hand at monte, you know that I have cards at your service."
-
-"Presently, senor Andres, presently. Everything will have its turn. Let
-us first settle our little business," Fray Ambrosio judiciously
-observed.
-
-Andres Garote bowed his head in resignation, while thrusting back into
-his pocket the pack of cards he had already half drawn out. The three
-men made themselves as comfortable as they could, and Red Cedar, after
-casting a suspicious glance around him, at length took the word.
-
-"You know, caballeros," he said, "how, when we thought we had nothing to
-do but proceed straight to Apacheria, the sudden desertion of nearly all
-our gambusinos checked us. The position was most critical for us, and
-the abduction of Dona Clara compelled us to take the utmost
-precautions."
-
-"That is true," Andres Garote observed with an air of conviction.
-
-"Although certain influential persons protect us under the rose," Red
-Cedar continued, "we are compelled to keep in the shade as far as we
-can. I therefore sought to remedy the gravest points in the business. In
-the first place, the girl was hidden in an inaccessible retreat, and
-then I began looking for comrades to take the place of those who
-abandoned us so suddenly."
-
-"Well?" the two men interrupted him sharply.
-
-"At this moment," Red Cedar calmly continued, "when the placers of
-California call away all the men belonging to the profession, it was
-certainly no easy task to collect one hundred men of the sort we want,
-the more so as we shall have to fight the Indios Bravos in our
-expedition. I did not care to enlist novices, who at the sight of the
-first Apache or Comanche savages, would bolt in terror, and leave us in
-the lurch on the prairies. What I wanted were resolute men, whom no
-fatigue would disgust, and who, once attached to our enterprise, would
-follow it out to the end. I have, therefore, during the past month, been
-running about to all the frontier presidios; and the devil has come to
-my help tolerably well, for the evil is now repaired, and the band
-complete."
-
-"I hope, Red Cedar," Fray Ambrosio asked, "that you have not spoken
-about the placer to your men?"
-
-"Do you take me for a fool! No, padre," the squatter answered sharply,
-"no, no. A hundred thousand reasons urge us to be prudent, and keep the
-expedition secret. In the first place, I do not wish to make the fortune
-of the Government while making our own. An indiscretion would ruin us
-now, when the whole world only dreams of mines and placers, and Europe
-sends us a mob of lean and starving vagabonds, greedy to grow fat at our
-expense."
-
-"Famously reasoned," said Andres.
-
-"No, no, trust to me. I have assembled the finest collection of picaros
-ever brought together for an expedition, all food for the gallows,
-ruined by monte, who do not care for hard blows, and on whom I can fully
-count, while being very careful not to drop a word that can enlighten
-them as to the spot whither we propose leading them; for, in that case,
-I know as well as you do that they would abandon us without the
-slightest scruples, or, as is even more probable, assassinate us to gain
-possession of the immense treasures we covet."
-
-"Nothing can be more just," Fray Ambrosio answered. "I am quite of your
-opinion, Red Cedar. Now what have you resolved on?"
-
-"We have not an instant to lose," the squatter continued. "This very
-evening, or tomorrow at the latest, we must set out. Who knows whether
-we have not already delayed our start too long? Perhaps one of those
-European vagabonds may have discovered our placer, for those scoundrels
-have a peculiar scent for gold."
-
-Fray Ambrosio cast a suspicious glance at his partner.
-
-"Hum!" he muttered, "that would be very unlucky, for hitherto the
-business has been well managed."
-
-"For that reason," Red Cedar hastened to add, "I only suggest a doubt
---nothing more."
-
-"Come, Red Cedar," the monk said, "you have yourself narrated all the
-embarrassments of our position, and the countless difficulties we shall
-have to surmount before reaching our object. Why, then, complicate the
-gravity of our situation still more, and create fresh enemies
-needlessly?"
-
-"I do not understand you, senor padre. Be good enough to explain
-yourself more clearly."
-
-"I allude to the young girl you carried off."
-
-"Ah, ah!" Red Cedar said with a grin, "Is that where the shoe pinches
-you, comrade? I am vexed at it; but I will not answer your question. If
-I carried off that woman, it was because I had pressing reasons to do
-so. These reasons still exist; that is all I can tell you. All the
-better if these explanations are sufficient for you; if not, you must
-put up with them, for you will get no others."
-
-"Still it appears to me that, regarding the terms on which we stand to
-each other--"
-
-"What can there be in common between the abduction of Dona Clara and the
-discovery of a placer in the heart of Apacheria? Come, you are mad, Fray
-Ambrosio; the mezcal is getting to your head."
-
-"Still--" the monk insisted.
-
-"Enough of that!" Red Cedar shouted as he roughly smote the table with
-his clenched fist. "I will not hear another word on the subject."
-
-At this moment two smart blows were heard on the carefully-bolted door.
-
-The three men started, and Red Cedar broke off.
-
-"Shall I open?" Andres asked.
-
-"Yes," Fray Ambrosio answered: "hesitation or refusal might give an
-alarm. We must foresee everything."
-
-Red Cedar consented with a toss of his head, and the ranchero went with
-an ill grace toward the door, which was being struck as if about to be
-beaten in.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE CUCHILLADA.
-
-
-So soon as the door was opened two men appeared on the threshold. The
-first was Curumilla; the other, wrapped up in a large cloak, and with
-his broad-brimmed hat drawn over his eyes, entered the room, making the
-Indian chief a sign to follow him. The latter was evidently a Mexican.
-
-"_Santas tardes!_" he said as he raised his hand to his hat, but not
-removing it.
-
-"_Dios las de a usted buenas!_" the ranchero answered. "What shall I
-serve to your excellencies?"
-
-"A bottle of mezcal," the stranger said.
-
-The newcomers seated themselves at the end of the room, at a spot which
-the light reached in such a weakened state that it was almost dark. When
-they were served each poured out a glass of liquor, which he drank; and
-leaning his head on his hands, the Mexican appeared plunged in deep
-thought, not occupying himself the least in the world about the persons
-near him. Curumilla crossed his arms on his chest, half closed his eyes,
-and remained motionless.
-
-Still the arrival of these two men, especially the presence of the
-stranger, had suddenly frozen the eloquence of our three friends. Gloomy
-and silent, they instinctively felt that the newcomers were enemies, and
-anxiously waited for what was about to occur. At length Red Cedar,
-doubtless more impatient than his comrades, and wishful to know at once
-what he had to expect, rose, filled his glass, and turned toward the
-strangers.
-
-"Senores caballeros," he said, imitating that exquisite politeness which
-the Mexicans possess in the highest degree. "I have the honor of
-drinking to your health."
-
-At this invitation Curumilla remained insensible as a granite statue:
-his companion slowly raised his head, fixed his eye for a moment on the
-speaker, and answered in a loud and firm voice,--
-
-"It is needless, senor, for I shall not drink to yours. What I say to
-you," he added, laying a stress on the words, "your friends can also
-take for themselves if they think proper."
-
-Fray Ambrosio rose violently.
-
-"What do you say?" he exclaimed in a threatening voice. "Do you mean to
-insult me?"
-
-"There are people whom a man cannot mean to insult," the stranger
-continued in a cutting voice. "Remember this, senor padre--I do not wish
-to have any dealings with you."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because I do not please--that is all. Now, gentlemen, do not trouble
-yourselves about me, I beg, but continue your conversation: it was most
-interesting when I arrived. You were speaking, I believe, about an
-expedition you are preparing: there was a question too, I fancy, when I
-entered, about a girl your worthy friend, or partner--I do not know
-which he is--carried off with your assistance. Do not let me disturb
-you. I should, on the contrary, be delighted to learn what you intend
-doing with that unhappy creature."
-
-No words could render the feeling of stupor and terror which seized on
-the three partners at this, crushing revelation of their plans. When
-they fancied they had completely concealed them by their cunning and
-skill, to see them thus suddenly unveiled in all their extent by a man
-whom they did not know, but who knew them, and in consequence could only
-be an enemy--this terrified them to such a degree that for a moment they
-fancied they had to do with the spirit of evil. The two Mexicans crossed
-themselves simultaneously, while the American uttered a hoarse
-exclamation of rage.
-
-But Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio were men too hardened in iniquity for
-any event, however grave in its nature, to crush them for long. The
-first moment past, they recovered themselves, and amazement gave way to
-fury. The monk drew from his vaquera boot a knife, and posted himself
-before the door to prevent egress; while Red Cedar, with frowning brow
-and a machete in his hand, advanced resolutely toward the table, behind
-which their bold adversary, standing with folded arms, seemed to defy
-them by his ironical smile.
-
-"Whoever you may be," Red Cedar said, stopping two paces from his
-opponent, "chance has made you master of a secret that kills, and you
-shall die."
-
-"Do you really believe that I owe a knowledge of your secrets to
-chance?" the other said with a mocking accent.
-
-"Defend yourself," Red Cedar howled furiously, "If you do not wish me to
-assassinate you; for, _con mil diablos!_ I shall not hesitate, I warn
-you."
-
-"I know it," the stranger replied quietly. "I shall not be the first
-person to whom that has happened: the Sierra Madre and El Bolson de
-Mapimi have often heard the agonising cries of your victims, when
-Indians were wanting to fill up your number of scalps."
-
-At this allusion to his frightful trade the squatter felt a livid pallor
-cover his face, a tremor agitated all his limbs, and he yelled in a
-choking voice,--
-
-"You lie! I am a hunter."
-
-"Of scalps," the stranger immediately retorted, "unless you have given
-up that lucrative and honourable profession since your last expedition to
-the village of the Coras."
-
-"Oh!" the squatter shouted with an indescribable burst of fury, "He is a
-coward who hides his face while uttering such words."
-
-The stranger shrugged his shoulders contemptuously, and let the folds of
-his mantle fall sharply.
-
-"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar, since your conscience has not yet
-whispered my name to you?"
-
-"Oh!" the three men exclaimed in horror, and instinctively recoiling
-"Don Pablo de Zarate!"
-
-"Yes," the young man continued, "Don Pablo, who has come, Red Cedar, to
-ask of you an account of his sister, whom you carried off."
-
-Red Cedar was in a state of extraordinary agitation: with eyes dilated
-by terror, and contracted features, he felt the cold perspiration
-beading on his temples at this unexpected apparition.
-
-"Ah!" he said in a hollow voice, "Do the dead, then, leave the tomb?"
-
-"Yes," the young man shouted loudly, "they leave their tomb to tear your
-victims from you. Red Cedar, restore me my sister!"
-
-The squatter leaped like a hyena on the young man, brandishing his
-machete.
-
-"Dog!" he yelled, "I will kill you a second time."
-
-But his wrist was suddenly seized by a hand of iron, and the bandit
-tottered back to the wall of the rancho, against which he was forced to
-lean, lest he should roll on the ground. Curumilla, who had hitherto
-remained an impassive witness of the scene that took place before him,
-had thought the moment for interference, had arrived, and had sharply
-hurled him back. The squatter, with eyes injected with blood, and lips
-clenched by rage, looked around him with glaring worthy of a wild beast.
-Fray Ambrosio and the ranchero, held in check by the Indian chief, did
-not dare to interfere. Don Pablo walked with slow and measured step
-toward the bandit. When he was ten paces from him he stopped, and looked
-fixedly at him.
-
-"Red Cedar," he repeated in a calm voice, "give me back my sister."
-
-"Never!" the squatter answered in a voice choked by rage.
-
-In the meanwhile the monk and the ranchero had treacherously approached
-the young man, watching for the propitious moment to fall on him. The
-five men assembled in this room offered a strange and sinister scene by
-the uncertain light that filtered through the windows, as each stood
-with his hand on his weapon, ready to kill or be killed, and only
-awaiting the opportunity to rush on his enemy. There was a moment of
-supreme silence. Assuredly these men were brave. In many circumstances
-they had seen death under every aspect; and yet their hearts beat as if
-to burst their breasts, for they knew that the combat about to commence
-between them was without truce or mercy. At length Don Pablo spoke
-again.
-
-"Take care, Red Cedar," he said. "I have come to meet you alone and
-honourably. I have asked you for my sister several times, and you have
-not answered; so take care."
-
-"I will sell your sister to the Apaches," the squatter howled. "As for
-you, accursed one, you shall not leave this room alive. May I be
-eternally condemned if your heart does not serve as a sheath to my
-knife!"
-
-"The scoundrel is mad!" the young man said contemptuously.
-
-He fell back a pace, and then stopped.
-
-"Listen," he continued. "I will now retire, but we shall meet again; and
-woe to you then, for I shall be as pitiless to you as you have been to
-me. Farewell!"
-
-"Oh! you shall not go in that way, my master," replied the squatter, who
-had regained all his boldness and impudence. "Did I not tell you I would
-kill you?"
-
-The young man fixed upon him a glance of undefinable expression, and
-crossed his arms boldly on his chest.
-
-"Try it," he said in a voice rendered harsh by the fury boiling in his
-heart.
-
-Red Cedar uttered a yell of rage, and bounded on Don Pablo. The latter
-calmly awaited the attack; but, so soon as the squatter was within reach
-he suddenly took off his mantle, and threw it over his enemy's head,
-who, blinded by the folds of the thick garment, rolled about on the
-ground, unable to free himself from the accursed cloth that held him
-like a net. With one bound the young man was over the table, and
-troubling himself no further about Red Cedar, proceeded toward the door.
-
-At this moment Fray Ambrosio rushed upon him, trying to bury his knife
-in his chest. Feeling not the slightest alarm, Don Pablo seized his
-assailant's wrist, and with a strength he was far from anticipating,
-twisted his arm so violently that his fingers opened, and he let the
-knife fall with a yell of pain. Don Pablo picked it up, and seized the
-monk by the throat.
-
-"Listen, villain!" he said to him. "I am master of your life. You
-betrayed my father, who took pity on you, and received you into his
-house. You dishonour the gown you wear by your connection with
-criminals, whose ill deeds you share in. I could kill you, and perhaps
-ought to do so; but it would be robbing the executioner to whom you
-belong, and cheating the garrote which awaits you. This gown, of which
-you are unworthy, saves your life; but I will mark you so that you shall
-never forget me."
-
-And placing the point of the knife on the monk's livid face, he made two
-gashes in the shape of a cross along the whole length and breadth of his
-face.
-
-"We shall meet again!" he added in a thundering voice, as he threw the
-knife away in disgust.
-
-Andres Garote had not dared to make a move: terror nailed him motionless
-to the ground beneath the implacable eye of the Indian warrior. Don
-Pablo and Curumilla then rushed from the room and disappeared, and ere
-long the hoofs of two horses departing at full speed from the town could
-be heard clattering over the pavement.
-
-By the aid of the ranchero, Red Cedar presently succeeded in freeing
-himself from the fold of the cloak that embarrassed him. When the three
-accomplices found themselves alone again an expression of impotent rage
-and deadly hatred distorted their faces.
-
-"Oh!" the squatter muttered, grinding his teeth, and raising his fist to
-heaven, "I will be revenged."
-
-"And I too," said Fray Ambrosio in a hollow voice, as he wiped away the
-blood that stained his face.
-
-"Hum! I do not care," Andres Garote said to himself aside. "That family
-of the Zarates is a fine one; but, _caray_! it must be confessed that
-Don Pablo is a rough fellow."
-
-The worthy ranchero was the only one chance had favoured in this meeting
-by letting him escape safe and sound.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-THE HUNTERS.
-
-
-At about two leagues from Santa Fe, in a clearing situated on the banks
-of the stream which borders that town, and on the evening of the same
-day, a man was seated before a large fire, which he carefully kept up,
-while actively engaged in making preparations for supper. A frugal meal,
-at any rate, this supper! It was composed of a buffalo hump, a few
-potatoes, and maize tortillas baked on the ashes, the whole washed down
-with pulque.
-
-The night was gloomy. Heavy black clouds coursed athwart the sky, at
-times intercepting the sickly rays of the moon, which only shed an
-uncertain light over the landscape, which was itself buried in one of
-those dense mists that, in equatorial countries, exhale from the ground
-after a hot day. The wind blew violently through the trees, whose
-branches came in contact, with plaintive moans: and in the depths of the
-woods the miawling of the wild cats was mingled with the snarl of the
-coyotes and the howls of the pumas and jaguars. All at once the sound of
-galloping horses could be heard in the forest, and two riders burst into
-the clearing. On seeing them the hunter uttered an exclamation of joy,
-and hurried to meet them. They were Don Pablo and Curumilla.
-
-"Heaven be praised!" the hunter said. "Here you are at last. I was
-beginning to grow alarmed at your long absence."
-
-"You see that nothing has happened to me," the young man answered,
-affectionately pressing the hunter's hands.
-
-Don Pablo had dismounted, and hobbled his own horse and Curumilla's near
-Valentine, while the Indian chief busied himself in preparing the
-supper.
-
-"Come, come," the hunter said gaily, "to table. You must be hungry, and
-I am dying of inanition. You can tell me all that has occurred while we
-are eating."
-
-The three men went to the table; that is, they seated themselves on the
-grass in front of the fire, and vigorously assailed their meagre repast.
-Desert life has this peculiarity--that in whatever position you may find
-yourself, as the struggles you go through are generally physical rather
-than moral, nature never resigns her claims: you feel the need of
-keeping up your strength, so as to be ready for all eventualities. There
-is no alarm great enough to prevent you from eating and drinking.
-
-"Now," Valentine asked presently, "what have you done? I fancy you
-remained much longer than was necessary in that accursed town."
-
-"We did, my friend. Certain reasons forced me to remain longer than I
-had at first intended."
-
-"Proceed in regular order, if you have no objection. I fancy that is the
-only way of understanding each other."
-
-"Act as you please, my friend."
-
-"Very good: the chief and I will light our Indian pipes while you make
-your cigarette. We will sit with our backs to the fire, so as to watch
-the neighbourhood, and in that way can converse without apprehension.
-What do you say, Pablo?"
-
-"You are always right, my friend. Your inexhaustible gaiety, your honest
-carelessness, restore me all my courage, and make me quite a different
-man."
-
-"Hum!" Valentine said, "I am glad to hear you speak so. The position is
-serious, it is true; but it is far from being desperate. The chief and I
-have many times been in situations were our lives only depended on a
-thread: and yet we always emerged from them honourably--did we not,
-chief?"
-
-"Yes," the Indian answered laconically, drawing in a mouthful of smoke,
-which he sent forth again from his mouth and nostrils.
-
-"But that is not the question of the moment. I have sworn to save your
-father and sister, Pablo, and will do so, or my carcass shall be food
-for the wild beasts of the prairie; so leave me to act. Have you seen
-Father Seraphin?"
-
-"Yes, I have. Our poor friend is still very weak and pale, and his wound
-is scarce cicatrised. Still, paying no heed to his sufferings, and
-deriving strength from his unbounded devotion to humanity, he has done
-all we agreed on. For the last week he has only left my father to hasten
-to his judges. He has seen the general, the governor, the
-bishop--everybody, in short--and has neglected nothing. Unfortunately
-all his exertions have hitherto been fruitless."
-
-"Patience!" the hunter said with a smile of singular meaning.
-
-"Father Seraphin believes for certain that my father will be placed in
-the capilla within two days. The governor wishes to have done with
-it--that is the expression he employed; and Father Seraphin told me that
-we have not a moment to lose."
-
-"Two days are a long time, my friend; before they have elapsed many
-things may have occurred."
-
-"That is true; but my father's life is at stake, and I feel timid."
-
-"Good, Don Pablo; I like to hear you speak so. But reassure yourself;
-all is going on well, I repeat."
-
-"Still, my friend, I believe it would be wise to take certain
-precautions. Remember it is a question of life or death, and we must
-make haste. How many times, under similar circumstances, have the best
-arranged plans failed! Do you think that your measures are well taken?
-Do you not fear lest an unhappy accident may derange all your plans at
-the decisive moment?"
-
-"We are playing at this moment the devil's own game, my friend,"
-Valentine answered coldly. "We have chance on our side; that is to say,
-the greatest power that exists, and which governs the world."
-
-The young man lowered his head, as if but slightly convinced. The hunter
-regarded him for a moment with a mixture of interest and tender pity,
-and then continued in a soothing voice,--
-
-"Listen, Don Pablo de Zarate," he said. "I have said that I will save
-your father, and mean to do so. Still I wish him to leave the prison in
-which he now is, like a man of his character ought to leave it, in open
-day, greeted by the applause of the crowd, and not by escaping furtively
-during the night, like a vile criminal. Hang it all! Do you think it
-would have been difficult for me to enter the town, and effect your
-father's escape by filing the bars or bribing the jailer? I would not do
-it. Don Miguel would not have accepted that cowardly and shameful
-flight. Your father shall leave his prison, but begged to do so by the
-governor himself, and all the authorities of Santa Fe. So regain your
-courage, and no longer doubt a man whose friendship and experience
-should, on the contrary, restore your confidence."
-
-The young man had listened to these words with even increasing interest.
-When Valentine ceased speaking he seized his hand.
-
-"Pardon me, my friend," he answered him. "I know how devoted you are to
-my family; but I suffer, and grief renders me unjust. Forgive me."
-
-"Child, let us forget it all. Was the town quiet today?"
-
-"I cannot tell you, for I was so absorbed in thought that I saw nothing
-going on around me. Still I fancy there was a certain agitation, which
-was not natural, on the Plaza Mayor, near the governor's palace."
-
-Valentine indulged once again in that strange smile that had already
-played round the corners of his delicate lips.
-
-"Good!" he said. "And did you, as I advised, try to gain any information
-about Red Cedar?"
-
-"Yes," he answered with a start of joy, "I did; and I have positive
-news."
-
-"Ah, ah! How so?"
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-And Don Pablo described the scene that had taken place in the rancho.
-The hunter listened to it with the utmost attention, and when it was
-finished he tossed his head several times with an air of
-dissatisfaction.
-
-"All young people are so," he muttered; "they always allow their passion
-to carry them beyond the bounds of reason. You were wrong, extremely
-wrong, Don Pablo," he then added. "Red Cedar believed you dead, and that
-might have been of great use to us presently. You do not know the
-immense power that demon has at his disposal: all the bandits on the
-frontier are devoted to him. Your outbreak will be most injurious to
-your sister's safety."
-
-"Still, my friend--"
-
-"You acted like a madman in arousing the slumbering fury of the tiger.
-Red Cedar will persist in destroying you. I have known the wretch for a
-long time. But that is not the worst you have done."
-
-"What is it, then?"
-
-"Why, madman as you are, instead of keeping dark, watching your enemies
-without saying a word--in short, seeing through their game--by an
-unpardonable act of bravado you have unmasked all your batteries."
-
-"I do not understand you, my friend."
-
-"Fray Ambrosio is a villain of a different stamp from Red Cedar, it is
-true; but I consider him even a greater scoundrel than the scalp hunter.
-At any rate, the latter is purely a rogue, and you know what to expect
-from him: all about him bears the stamp of his hideous soul. Had you
-stabbed that wild beast, who perspires blood by every pore, and dreams
-of naught but murder, I might possibly have pardoned you; but you have
-completely failed, not only in prudence, but in good sense, by acting as
-you have done with Fray Ambrosio. That man is a hypocrite. He owes all
-to your family, and is furious at seeing this treachery discovered. Take
-care, Don Pablo. You have made at one blow two implacable enemies, the
-more terrible now because they have nothing to guard against."
-
-"It is true," the young man said; "I acted like a fool. But what would
-you? At the sight of those two men, when I heard from their very lips
-the crimes they had committed, and those they still meditate against us,
-I was no longer master of myself. I entered the rancho, and you know the
-rest."
-
-"Yes, yes, the cuchillada was a fine one. Certainly the bandit deserved
-it; but I fear lest the cross you so smartly drew on his face will cost
-you dearly some day."
-
-"Well, let us leave it in the hand of Heaven. You know the proverb, 'It
-is better to forget what cannot be remedied.' Provided my father escape
-the fate that menaces him, I shall be happy. I shall take my precautions
-to defend myself."
-
-"Did you learn nothing further?"
-
-"Yes; Red Cedar's gambusinos are encamped a short distance from us. I
-know that their chief intends starting tomorrow at the latest."
-
-"Oh, oh! Already? We must make haste and prepare our ambuscade, if we
-wish to discover the road they mean to follow."
-
-"When shall we start?"
-
-"At once."
-
-The three men made their preparations; the horses were saddled, the
-small skins the horseman always carries at his saddle-bow in these dry
-countries were filled with water, and five minutes later the hunters
-mounted. At the moment they were leaving the clearing a rustling of
-leaves was heard, the branches parted, and an Indian appeared. It was
-Unicorn, the great sachem of the Comanches. On seeing him the three men
-dismounted and waited. Valentine advanced alone to meet the Indian.
-
-"My brother is welcome," he said. "What does he want of me?"
-
-"To see the face of a friend," the chief answered in a gentle voice.
-
-The two men then bowed after the fashion of the prairie. After this
-ceremony Valentine went on:
-
-"My father must approach the fire, and smoke from the calumet of his
-white friends."
-
-"I will do so," Unicorn answered.
-
-And drawing near the fire, he crouched down in Indian fashion, took his
-pipe from his belt, and smoked in silence. The hunters, seeing the turn
-this unexpected interview was taking, had fastened up their horses, and
-seated themselves again round the fire. A few minutes passed thus, no
-one speaking, each waiting till the Indian chief should explain the
-motive of his coming. At length Unicorn shook the ashes from his
-calumet, returned it to his belt, and addressed Valentine.
-
-"Is my brother setting out to hunt buffaloes again?" he said. "There are
-many this year on the prairies of the Rio Gila."
-
-"Yes," the Frenchman replied, "we are going hunting. Does my brother
-intend to accompany us?"
-
-"No; my heart is sad.
-
-"What means the chief? Has any misfortune happened to him?"
-
-"Does not my brother understand me, or am I really mistaken? It is that
-my brother only really loves the buffaloes, whose meat he eats, and
-whose hides he sells at the _tolderia_?"
-
-"Let my brother explain himself more clearly; then I will try to answer
-him."
-
-There was a moment of silence. The Indian seemed to be reflecting
-deeply: his nostrils were dilated, and at times his black eye flashed
-fire. The hunters calmly awaited the issue of this conversation, whose
-object they had not yet caught. At length Unicorn raised his head,
-restored all the serenity to his glance, and said in a soft and
-melodious voice,--
-
-"Why pretend not to understand me, Koutonepi? A warrior must not have a
-forked tongue. What a man cannot do alone, two can attempt and carry
-out. Let my brother speak: the ears of a friend are open."
-
-"My brother is right. I will not deceive his expectations. The hunt I
-wish to make is serious. I am anxious to save a woman of my colour; but
-what can the will of one man effect?"
-
-"Koutonepi is not alone: I see at his side the best two rifles of the
-frontier. What does the white hunter tell me? Is he no longer the great
-warrior I knew? Does he doubt the friendship of his brother Haboutzelze,
-the great sachem of the Comanches?"
-
-"I never doubted the friendship of my brother. I am an adopted son of
-his nation. At this very moment is he not seeking to do me a service?"
-
-"That service is only half what I wish to do. Let my brother speak the
-word, and two hundred Comanche warriors shall join him to deliver the
-virgin of the palefaces, and take the scalps of her ravishers."
-
-Valentine started with joy at this noble offer.
-
-"Thanks, chief," he said eagerly. "I accept; and I know that your word
-is sacred."
-
-"Michabou protects us," the Indian said. "My brother can count on me. A
-chief does not forget a service. I owe obligations to the pale hunter,
-and will deliver to him the gachupino robbers."
-
-"Here is my hand, chief: my heart has long been yours."
-
-"My brother speaks well. I have done what he requested of me."
-
-And, bowing courteously, the Comanche chief withdrew without adding a
-word.
-
-"Don Pablo," Valentine exclaimed joyously, "I can now guarantee your
-father's safety: this night--perhaps tomorrow--he will be free."
-
-The young man fell into the hunter's arms, and hid his head on his
-honest chest, not having the strength to utter a word. A few minutes
-later, the hunters left the clearing to go in search of the gambusinos,
-and prepare their ambuscade.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-SUNBEAM.
-
-
-We will now go a little way back, in order to clear up certain portions
-of the conversation between Valentine and Unicorn, whose meaning the
-reader can not have caught.
-
-Only a few months after their arrival in Apacheria the Frenchman and
-Curumilla were hunting the buffalo on the banks of the Rio Gila. It was
-a splendid day in the month of July. The two hunters, fatigued by a long
-march under the beams of the parching sun, that fell vertically on their
-heads, had sheltered themselves under a clump of cedar wood trees, and,
-carelessly stretched out on the ground, were smoking while waiting till
-the great heat had passed, and the evening breeze rose to enable them to
-continue their hunt. A quarter of elk was roasting for their dinner.
-
-"Eh, _penni_," Valentine said, addressing his comrade, and rising on his
-elbow, "the dinner seems to be ready; so suppose we feed? The sun is
-rapidly sinking behind the virgin forest, and we shall soon have to
-start again."
-
-"Eat," Curumilla answered, sharply.
-
-The meat was laid on a leaf between the two hunters, who began eating
-with good appetite, and indulging in cakes of _hautle_. These cakes,
-which are very good, are certainly curious. They are made of the pounded
-eggs of a species of water bug, collected by a sort of harvest in the
-Mexican lakes. They are found on the leaves of the _toule_ (bulrush),
-and the farina is prepared in various ways. It is an Aztec preparation
-_par excellence_, for so long back as 1625 they were sold on the
-marketplace of the Mexican capital. They form the chief food of the
-Indians, who consider them as great a dainty as the Chinese do their
-swallow nests, with which this article of food has a certain resemblance
-in taste. Valentine had taken a third bite at his hautle cake when he
-stopped, with his arm raised and his head bent forward, as if an unusual
-sound had suddenly smitten his ear. Curumilla imitated his friend, and
-both listened with that deep attention that only results from a
-lengthened desert life; for on the prairie every sound is
-suspicious--every meeting is feared, especially with man.
-
-Some time elapsed ere the noise which startled the hunters was repeated.
-For a moment they fancied themselves deceived, and Valentine took
-another bite, when he was again checked. This time he had distinctly
-heard a sound resembling a stifled sigh, but so weak and hollow that it
-needed the Trail-hunter's practised ear to catch it. Curumilla himself
-had perceived nothing. He looked at his friend in amazement, not knowing
-to what he should attribute his state of agitation. Valentine rose
-hurriedly, seized his rifle, and rushed in the direction of the river,
-his friend following him in all haste.
-
-It was from the river, in fact, that the sigh heard by Valentine had
-come, and fortunately it was but a few paces distant. So soon as the
-hunters had leaped over the intervening bushes they found themselves on
-the bank, and a fearful sight presented itself to their startled eyes. A
-long plank was descending the river, turning on its axis, and borne by
-the current, which ran rather strongly at this point. On this plank was
-fastened a woman, who held a child in her clasped arms. Each time the
-plank revolved the unhappy woman plunged with her child into the stream,
-and at ten yards at the most from it an enormous cayman was swimming
-vigorously to snap at its two victims.
-
-Valentine raised his rifle. Curumilla at the same moment glided into the
-water, holding his knife blade between his teeth, and swam toward the
-plank. Valentine remained for a few seconds motionless, as if changed
-into a block of marble. All at once he pulled the trigger, and the
-discharge was re-echoed by the distant mountains. The cayman leaped out
-of the water, and plunged down again; but it reappeared a moment later,
-belly upwards. It was dead. Valentine's bullet had passed through its
-eye.
-
-In the meanwhile Curumilla, had reached the plank with a few strokes,
-without loss of time he turned it in the opposite direction from what it
-was following; and while holding it so that it could not revolve, he
-pushed it onto the sand. In two strokes he cut the bonds that held the
-hapless woman, seized her in his arms, and ran off with her to the
-bivouac fire.
-
-The poor woman gave no signs of life, and the two hunters eagerly sought
-to restore her. She was an Indian, apparently not more than eighteen,
-and very beautiful. Valentine found great difficulty in loosening her
-arms and removing the baby; for the frail creature about a year old, by
-an incomprehensible miracle, had been preserved--thanks, doubtless to
-its mother's devotion. It smiled pleasantly at the hunter when he laid
-it on a bed of dry leaves.
-
-Curumilla opened the woman's mouth slightly with his knife blade, placed
-in it the mouth of his gourd, and made her swallow a few drops of
-mezcal. A long time elapsed ere she gave the slightest move that
-indicated an approaching return to life. The hunters, however, would not
-be foiled by the ill-success of their attentions, but redoubled their
-efforts. At length a deep sigh burst painfully from the sufferer's
-oppressed chest, and she opened her eyes, murmuring in a voice weak as a
-breath!
-
-"_Xocoyotl_ (My child)!"
-
-The cry of the soul--this first and supreme appeal of a mother on the
-verge of the tomb--affected the two men with their hearts of bronze.
-Valentine cautiously lifted the child, which had gone to sleep
-peacefully on the leaves, and presented it to the mother, saying in a
-soft voice:
-
-"_Nantli joltinemi_ (Mother, he lives)!"
-
-At these words, which restored her hope, the woman leaped up as if moved
-by a spring, seized the child, and covered it with kisses, as she burst
-into tears. The hunters respected this outpouring of maternal love: they
-withdrew, leaving food and water by the woman's side. At sunset the two
-men returned. The woman was squatting by the fire, nursing her child,
-and lulling it to sleep by singing an Indian song. The night passed
-tranquilly, the two hunters watching in turn over the slumbers of the
-woman they had saved, and who reposed in peace.
-
-At sunrise she awoke; and, with the skill and handiness peculiar to the
-women of her race, she rekindled the fire and prepared breakfast. The
-two men looked at her with a smile, then threw their rifles over their
-shoulders, and set out in search of game. When they returned to the
-bivouac the meal was ready. After eating, Valentine lit his Indian pipe,
-seated himself at the foot of a tree, and addressed the young woman.
-
-"What is my sister's name?" he asked.
-
-"Tonameyotl (the Sunbeam)," she replied, with a joyous smile that
-revealed the double row of pearls that adorned her mouth.
-
-"My sister has a pretty name," Valentine answered. "She doubtless
-belongs to the great nation of the Apaches."
-
-"The Apaches are dogs," she said in a hollow voice, and with a flash of
-hatred in her glance. "The Comanche women will weave them petticoats.
-The Apaches are cowardly as the coyotes: they only fight a hundred
-against one. The Comanche warriors are like the tempest."
-
-"Is my sister the wife of a cacique?"
-
-"Where is the warrior who does not know Unicorn?" she said proudly.
-
-Valentine bowed. He had already heard the name of this terrible chief
-pronounced several times. Mexicans and Indians, trappers, hunters, and
-warriors, all felt for him a respect mingled with terror.
-
-"Sunbeam is Unicorn's wife," the Indian girl continued.
-
-"Good!" Valentine answered. "My sister will tell me where to find the
-village of her tribe, and I will lead her back to the chief."
-
-The young woman smiled.
-
-"I have in my heart a small bird that sings at every instant of the
-day," she said in her gentle and melodious voice. "The swallow cannot
-live without its mate, and the chief is on the trail of Sunbeam."
-
-"We will wait the chief here, then," Valentine said.
-
-The hunter felt great pleasure in conversing with this simple child.
-
-"How was my sister thus fastened to the trunk of tree, and thrown into
-the current of the Gila, to perish there with her child? It is an
-atrocious vengeance."
-
-"Yes, it is the vengeance of an Apache dog," she answered. "Aztatl (the
-Heron), daughter of Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, loved
-Unicorn--her heart bounded at the mere name of the great Comanche
-warrior; but the chief of my nation has only one heart, and it belongs
-to Sunbeam. Two days ago the warriors of my tribe set out for a great
-buffalo hunt, and the squaws alone remained in the village. While I
-slept in my hut four Apache thieves, taking advantage of my slumber,
-seized me and my child, and delivered us into the hands of Stanapat's
-daughter. 'You love your husband,' she said with a grin: 'you doubtless
-suffer at being separated from him. Be happy: I will send you to him by
-the shortest road. He is hunting on the prairies down the river, and in
-two hours you will be in his arms, unless,' she added with a laugh, 'the
-caymans stop you on the road.'--'The Comanche women despise death,' I
-answered her. 'For a hair you pluck from me, Unicorn will take the
-scalps of your whole tribe; so act as you think proper;' and I turned my
-head away, resolved to answer her no more. She herself fastened me to
-the log, with my face turned to the sky, in order, as she said, that I
-might see my road; and then she hurled me into the river, yelling:
-'Unicorn is a cowardly rabbit, whom the Apache women despise. This is
-how I revenge myself.' I have told my brother, the pale hunter,
-everything as it happened."
-
-"My sister is a brave woman," Valentine replied: "she is worthy to be
-the wife of a renowned chief."
-
-The young mother smiled as she embraced her child, which she presented,
-with a movement full of grace, to the hunter, who kissed it on the
-forehead. At this moment the song of the maukawis was heard at a short
-distance off. The two hunters raised their heads in surprise, and looked
-around them.
-
-"The quail sings very late, I fancy," Valentine muttered suspiciously.
-
-The Indian girl smiled as she looked down, but gave no answer. Suddenly
-a slight cracking of dry branches disturbed the silence. Valentine and
-Curumilla made a move, as if to spring up and seize their rifles that
-lay by their side.
-
-"My brothers must not stir," the squaw said quickly: "it is a friend."
-
-The hunters remained motionless, and the girl then imitated with rare
-perfection the cry of the blue jay. The bushes parted, and an Indian
-warrior, perfectly painted and armed for war, bounded like a jackal over
-the grass and herbs that obstructed his passage, and stopped in face of
-the hunters. This warrior was Unicorn. He saluted the two men with that
-grace innate in the Indian race; then he crossed his arms on his breast
-and waited, without taking a glance at his squaw, or even appearing to
-have seen her. On her side the Indian woman did not stir.
-
-During several moments a painful silence fell on the four persons whom
-chance had assembled in so strange a way. At length Valentine, seeing
-the warrior insisted on being silent, decided he would be the first to
-speak.
-
-"Unicorn is welcome to our camp," he said. "Let him take a seat by the
-fire of his brothers, and share with them the provisions they possess."
-
-"I will take a seat by the fire of my paleface brother," he replied;
-"but he must first answer me a question I wish to ask of him."
-
-"My brother can speak: my ears are open."
-
-"Good!" the chief answered. "How is it the hunters have with them
-Unicorn's wife?"
-
-"Sunbeam can answer that question best," Valentine said gravely.
-
-The chief turned to his squaw.
-
-"I am waiting," he remarked.
-
-The Indian woman repeated, word for word, to her husband the story she
-had told a few minutes before. Unicorn listened without evincing either
-surprise or wrath: his face remained impassive, but his brows were
-imperceptibly contracted. When the woman had finished speaking, the
-Comanche chief bowed his head on his chest, and remained for a moment
-plunged in serious thought. Presently he raised his head.
-
-"Who saved Sunbeam from the river when she was about to perish?" he
-asked her.
-
-The young woman's face lit up with a charming smile.
-
-"These hunters," she replied.
-
-"Good!" the chief said, laconically, as he bent on the two men glances
-full of the most unspeakable gratitude.
-
-"Could we leave her to perish?" Valentine said.
-
-"My brothers did well. Unicorn is one of the first sachems of his
-nation. His tongue is not forked: he gives his heart once, and takes it
-back no more. Unicorn's heart belongs to the hunters."
-
-These simple words were uttered with the majesty and grandeur the
-Indians know so well how to assume when they think proper. The two men
-vowed their gratitude, and the chief continued:--
-
-"Unicorn is returning to his village with his wife: his young men are
-awaiting him twenty paces from here. He would be happy if the hunters
-would consent to accompany him there."
-
-"Chief," Valentine answered, "we came into the prairie to hunt the
-buffalo."
-
-"Well, what matter? My brothers will hunt with me and my young men; but
-if they wish to prove to me that they accept my friendship, they will
-follow me to my village."
-
-"The chief is mounted, while we are on foot."
-
-"I have horses."
-
-Any further resistance would have been a breach of politeness, and the
-hunters accepted the invitation. Valentine, whom accident had brought on
-to the prairies of the Rio Gila and Del Norte, was in his heart not
-sorry to make friends there, and have allies on whose support he could
-reckon in case of need. The squaw had by this time risen: she timidly
-approached her husband, and held up the child, saying in a soft and
-frightened voice,--
-
-"Kiss this warrior."
-
-The chief took the frail creature in his muscular arms, and kissed it
-repeatedly with a display of extraordinary tenderness, and then returned
-it to the mother. The latter wrapped the babe in a small blanket, then
-placed it on a plank shaped like a cradle, and covered with dry moss,
-fastened a hoop over the place where its head rested, to guard it from
-the burning beams of the sun, and hung the whole on her back by means of
-a woolen strap passing over her forehead.
-
-"I am ready," she said.
-
-"Let us go," the chief replied.
-
-The hunters followed him, and they were soon on the prairie.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIX.
-
-THE ADOPTION.
-
-
-Some sixty Comanche warriors were lying in the grass awaiting their
-sachem, while the tethered horses were nibbling the tall prairie grasses
-and the tree shoots. It could be seen at the first glance that these men
-were picked warriors, selected for a dangerous expedition. From the
-heels of all dangled five or six wolf tails--marks of honor which only
-renowned warriors have the right to wear.
-
-On seeing their chief, they hurriedly rose and leaped into their
-saddles. All were aware that their sachem's wife had been carried off,
-and that the object of their expedition was to deliver her. Still, on
-noticing her, they evidenced no surprise, but saluted her as if she had
-left them only a few moments previously. The war party had with it
-several horses, which the chief ordered to be given to his squaw and his
-new friends; then, at a signal from him, the whole party started at full
-speed, for the Indians know no other pace than the gallop.
-
-After about two hours' ride they reached the vicinity of the village,
-which could be smelt some time before reaching, owing to the habit the
-Comanches have of placing their dead on scaffoldings outside the
-villages, where they moulder away: these scaffoldings, composed of four
-stakes planted in the ground, terminated in a fork, while from poles
-stuck up near them hung skins and other offerings made by the Indians to
-the genius of good.
-
-At the entrance of the village a number of horsemen were assembled,
-awaiting the return of the sachem. So soon as they perceived him they
-burst into a formidable yell, and rushed forward like a whirlwind,
-shouting, firing guns, and brandishing their weapons. Unicorn's band
-followed this example, and there was soon a most extraordinary
-confusion.
-
-The sachem made his entry into the village in the midst of shouts,
-barking of dogs, and shots; in short, he was accompanied to the square
-by an indescribable row. On reaching it the warriors stopped. Unicorn
-begged the hunters to dismount, and guided them to his cabin, which he
-made them enter before him.
-
-"Now," he said to them, "brothers, you are at home: rest in peace, eat
-and drink. This evening I will come and talk with you, and make you a
-proposal which I sincerely hope you will not reject."
-
-The two hunters, wearied by the long ride they had made, fell back with
-extreme satisfaction on the beds of dried leaves which awaited them.
-
-"Well," Valentine asked Curumilla, "penni, what do you say about what is
-happening to us?"
-
-"It may be good."
-
-"Can it not?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-On which Curumilla fell asleep, and Valentine soon followed his example.
-As he had promised, toward evening Unicorn entered the cabin.
-
-"Have my brothers rested?" he asked.
-
-"Yes," Valentine answered.
-
-"Are they disposed to listen to me?"
-
-"Speak, chief; we are listening."
-
-The Comanche sachem then squatted near the fire, and remained for
-several minutes, with his head bent forward and his eyes fixed on the
-ground, in the position of a man who is reflecting. At length he raised
-his head, stretched forth his arm as if to give greater authority to the
-words he was about to utter, and began thus:--
-
-"Brother, you and your friend are two brave warriors. The prairies
-rejoice at your arrival among us; the deer and the buffaloes fly at your
-approach; for your arm is strong, and your eye unerring. Unicorn is only
-a poor Indian; but he is a great warrior among the Comanches, and a much
-feared chief of his tribe. You have saved his wife, Sunbeam, whom the
-Apache dogs threw into the Gila, and whom the hideous alligators were
-preparing to devour. Since his wife, the joy of his hearth, and his son,
-the hope of his old days, have been restored to him, Unicorn has sought
-in his heart the means to prove to you his gratitude. He asked the Chief
-of Life what he could do to attach you to him. Unicorn is terrible in
-combat; he has the heart of the grizzly bear for his enemies--he has the
-heart of the gazelle for those he loves."
-
-"Chief," Valentine answered, "the words you utter at this moment amply
-repay us for what we have done. We are happy to have saved the wife and
-son of a celebrated warrior: our reward is in our hearts, and we wish
-for no other."
-
-The chief shook his head.
-
-"No," he said; "the two hunters are no longer strangers for the
-Comanches; they are the brothers of our tribe. During their sleep
-Unicorn assembled round the council fire the chiefs of his nation, and
-told them what has passed. The chiefs have ranged themselves on
-Unicorn's side, and have ordered him to make known to the hunters the
-resolution they have formed."
-
-"Speak, then, chief," Valentine said, "and believe that the wishes of
-the council will be commands to us."
-
-A smile of joy played round the chief's lips.
-
-"Good!" he said. "This is what was agreed on among the great chiefs. My
-brothers the hunters will be adopted by the tribe, and be henceforth
-sons of the great Comanche nation. What say my brothers?"
-
-A lively feeling of pleasure made Valentine quiver at this unexpected
-proposition. To be adopted by the Comanche tribe, was obtaining the
-right of hunting over the whole extent of the immense prairies which
-that powerful nation holds through its indomitable courage and the
-number of its warriors. The hunter exchanged a glance with his silent
-comrade and rose.
-
-"I accept for myself and friend," he said as he held out his hand to the
-chief, "the honor the Comanches do us in admitting us into the number of
-the sons of their warlike nation. We shall prove ourselves worthy of
-this marked favour."
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"Tomorrow," he said as he rose, "my brothers will be adopted by the
-nation."
-
-After bowing gracefully to the hunters he took leave of them and
-withdrew. The next daybreak the chiefs entered the cabin. Valentine and
-Curumilla were ready, and had long been acquainted with the trials they
-would have to undergo. The neophytes were conducted into the great
-medicine hut, where a copious meal was prepared. It consisted of dog
-meat boiled in bear fat, tortillas, maize, and hautle cakes. The chiefs
-squatted in a circle, while the squaws waited on them.
-
-When the meal was ended all rose. Unicorn placed himself between the
-hunters, laid his hands on their heads, and struck up the great war
-song. This song was repeated in chorus by the company to the sound of
-the war whistles, the drums and the _chikikouis._ The following is the
-translation of the song:--
-
-   "Master of Life, regard us with a favourable eye.
-   We are receiving two brothers in arms who appear to have sense.
-   They display vigour in their arms.
-   They fear not to expose their bodies to the blows of their enemies."
-
-It is impossible for anyone who has not been present at the ceremony to
-form even a distant idea of the frightful noise produced by their hoarse
-voices mingled with the shrill and discordant instruments: it was enough
-to produce a deafness. When the song was ended each took his seat by the
-council fire.
-
-The hunters were seated on beaver skins, and the great war calumet was
-presented to them, from which each took several puffs, and it went the
-round. Unicorn then rose, and fastened round the neck of each a wampum
-collar, and another made of the claws of the grizzly bear. The Indians,
-during this time, had built near the medicine lodge a cabin for the
-sweating, and when it was finished the hunters took off their clothes
-and entered it. The chiefs then brought two large stones which had been
-previously made red hot, and after closing the hut carefully, left the
-neophytes in it.
-
-The latter threw water on the stones, and the steam which arose almost
-immediately produced a profuse perspiration. When this was at its height
-the hunters ran out of the hut, passed through the double row of
-warriors, and leaped into the river, according to the usual fashion.
-They were immediately drawn from the water, wrapped in blankets, and led
-to Unicorn's hut, in order to undergo the final trial, which is also the
-most painful. The hunters were laid on their backs, then Unicorn traced
-on their chests with a sharp stick dipped in water in which gunpowder
-had been dissolved, the figure of the animal serving as _totem_
-(protector) to the tribe. Then with two spikes fastened to a small piece
-of wood, and dipped in vermillion, he proceeded to prick the design.
-
-Whenever Unicorn came to a place that was too hard he made an incision
-in the flesh with a gun-flint. The places that were not marked with
-vermillion were rubbed in with powder, so that the result was a red and
-blue tattooing. During the course of this operation the war songs and
-chikikouis were constantly heard, in order to drown the cries which the
-atrocious pain might draw from the patients; but the latter endured it
-all without even a contraction of the eyebrows evidencing the pain they
-must have felt.
-
-When the tattooing was over the wounds were cauterised with rotten wood
-to prevent suppuration; they were washed with cold water, in which had
-been infused a herb resembling box, a great deal of which the Indians
-mix with their tobacco to reduce the strength. The trial we have
-described is so painful to endure, that nearly always it is only
-accomplished at intervals, and often lasts a week. This time the hunters
-endured it bravely during the six hours it lasted, not uttering a cry,
-or giving a sign of weakness. Hence the Indians, from this moment,
-regarded them with a species of respect; for with them courage is the
-first of qualities.
-
-"My brothers are children of the tribe," the chief said, offering each a
-horse. "The prairie belongs to them. These coursers will bear them to
-the most remote limits of the desert, chasing the wild beasts, or
-pursuing the Apache dogs."
-
-"Good!" Valentine answered.
-
-At one bound the two hunters were in their saddles, and made their
-horses perform the most elegant and graceful curvets. This last and
-heroic deed, after all they had suffered during the course of the day,
-raised to their full height the joy and enthusiasm of the Comanches, who
-applauded with frenzied shouts and yells all they saw their new brothers
-execute. After remaining nearly an hour on horseback they dismounted,
-and followed the chiefs into the medicine lodge; and when each had taken
-his seat round the council fire, and the calumet had again been smoked,
-Unicorn rose.
-
-"The Master of Life loves His Comanche sons, since He gives them for
-brothers such warriors as Koutonepi and Curumilla. Who can equal their
-courage! Who would dare to contend with them! On their approach the
-grizzly bear hides at the extremity of its den; the jaguar bounds far
-away on seeing them; the eagle itself, which looks the sun in the face,
-flies from their unerring bullet. Brothers, we congratulate ourselves on
-counting you among our warriors. Henceforth we shall be invincible.
-Brothers, give up the names you have up to this day borne, and assume
-those we now give you. You, Koutonepi, are henceforth Quauhtli, and bear
-the name of that eagle, whose courage and strength you possess. You,
-Curumilla, will be called Vexolotl, and the cock will be proud to see
-that you have taken possession of its name."
-
-The two hunters warmly thanked their new brothers, and were led back by
-the chiefs to their cabin, who wished them a pleasant night after so
-rude a day. Such was the way in which Valentine and Curumilla, to whom
-we shall continue to give their old names, formed the acquaintance of
-Unicorn, and the result of it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE MISSIONARY.
-
-
-With time the relations existing between the hunters and the Indians
-were drawn closer, and became more friendly. In the desert physical
-strength is the quality most highly esteemed. Man, compelled to struggle
-incessantly against the dangers of every description that rise each
-moment before him, is bound to look only to himself for the means to
-surmount them. Hence the Indians profess a profound contempt, for sickly
-people, and weak and timid nerves.
-
-Valentine easily induced Unicorn to seize, during the hunt of the wild
-horses, the Mexican magistrates, in order to make hostages of them if
-the conspiracy were unsuccessful. What the hunter foresaw happened. Red
-Cedar had opposed stratagem to stratagem; and, as we have seen, Don
-Miguel was arrested in the midst of his triumph, at the very moment when
-he fancied himself master of the Paso del Norte.
-
-After Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo had seen, from their hiding
-place in the bushes, the mournful escort pass that was taking Don Miguel
-as a prisoner to Santa Fe, they held a council. Moments were precious;
-for in Mexico conspirators have the sad privilege over every other
-prisoner of being tried quickly, and not left to pine. The prisoner must
-be saved. Valentine, with that promptitude of decision which formed the
-salient point of his character, soon arranged in his head one of those
-bold schemes which only he could discover.
-
-"Courage!" he said to Don Pablo. "As long as the heart beats in the
-breast there is hope, thank Heaven! The first hand is lost, I allow; but
-now for the second game."
-
-Don Pablo had entire faith in Valentine: he had often been in the
-position to try his friend. If these words did not completely reassure
-him, they at least almost restored his hope, and gave him back that
-courage so necessary to him at this supreme moment, and which had
-abandoned him.
-
-"Speak, my friend," he said. "What is to be done?"
-
-"Let us attend to the most important thing first, and save Father
-Seraphin, who devoted himself for us."
-
-The three men started. The night was a gloomy one. The moon only
-appeared at intervals: incessantly veiled by thick clouds which passed
-over its disc, it seemed to shed its sickly rays regretfully on the
-earth. The wind whistled through the branches of the trees, which
-uttered mysterious murmurs as they came into collision. The coyotes
-howled in the plain, and at times their sinister form shot athwart the
-skyline. After a march of about an hour the three men approached the
-spot where the missionary had fallen from the effect of Red Cedar's
-bullet; but he had disappeared. An alarm mingled with a frightful agony
-contracted the hunter's hearts. Valentine took a despairing glance
-around; but the darkness was too dense for him possibly to distinguish
-anything.
-
-"What is to be done?" Don Pablo asked sadly.
-
-"Seek," Valentine replied sharply: "he cannot be far."
-
-Curumilla had already taken up the trail, and had disappeared in the
-gloom. The Araucano had never been a great speaker naturally: with age
-he had grown almost dumb, and never uttered a word save when absolutely
-necessary. But if the Indian did not talk, he acted; and in critical
-situations his determination was often worth long harangues. Don Pablo,
-obedient to Valentine's orders, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and
-prepared to execute them.
-
-"Where are you going?" the hunter asked him, as he seized his arm.
-
-"To look for Father Seraphin."
-
-"Wait."
-
-The two men stood motionless, listening to the mysterious sounds of the
-desert, that nameless melody which plunges the soul into a soft reverie.
-Nearly an hour passed thus, nothing revealing to the hunters that
-Curumilla's search had proved successful. Valentine, growing impatient
-at this long delay, was also preparing to go on, at once the weak,
-snapping cry of the walkon rose in the air.
-
-"What's that?" Don Pablo asked in surprise.
-
-"Silence!" Valentine muttered.
-
-A second time the walkon sang, but this time stronger, and much nearer.
-Valentine raised his fingers to his lips, and imitated the sharp, shrill
-yell of the ocelot twice, with such perfection that Don Pablo started
-involuntarily, and looked round for the wild beast, whose eyes he
-fancied he could see flashing behind a thicket. Almost immediately the
-note of the walkon was heard a third time. Valentine rested the butt of
-his rifle on the ground.
-
-"Good!" he said. "Do not be alarmed, Don Pablo. Curumilla has found
-Father Seraphin."
-
-The young man looked at him in amazement. The hunter smiled.
-
-"They will both arrive directly," he said.
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"Child!" Valentine interrupted him, "In the desert the human voice is
-more injurious than useful. The song of birds, the cry of wild beasts,
-serve us as a language."
-
-"Yes," the young man answered simply, "that is true. I have often heard
-it stated; but I was not aware you could understand one another so
-easily."
-
-"That is nothing," the hunter answered good-humouredly: "you will see
-much more if you only pass a month in our company."
-
-In a few moments the sound of footsteps became audible, at first faint,
-then gradually coming nearer, and two shadows were dimly drawn on the
-night.
-
-"Halloa!" Valentine shouted as he Raised and cocked his rifle, "friend
-or foe?"
-
-"_Pennis_ (brothers)," a voice answered.
-
-"It is Curumilla," said Valentine. "Let us go to meet him."
-
-Don Pablo followed him, and they soon reached the Indian, who walked
-slowly, obliged as he was to support, almost carry, the missionary.
-
-When Father Seraphin fell off his horse he almost immediately lost his
-senses. He remained for a long time lying in the ditch, but by degrees
-the night cold had brought him round again. At the first moment the poor
-priest, whose ideas were still confused, had cast anxious glances around
-him, while asking himself how he came there. He tried to rise; but then
-a poignant pain he felt in his shoulder reminded him of what had
-occurred. Still he did not despair. Alone, by night in the desert,
-exposed to a thousand unknown dangers, of which the least was being
-devoured by wild beasts, without weapons to defend himself, too weak,
-indeed, to attempt it, even if he had them, he resolved not to remain in
-this terrible position, but make the greatest efforts to rise, and drag
-himself as well as he could to the Paso, which was three leagues distant
-at the most, where he was sure of finding that care his condition
-demanded.
-
-Father Seraphin, like the majority of the missionaries who generously
-devote themselves to the welfare of humanity, was a man who, under a
-Weak and almost feminine appearance, concealed an indomitable energy,
-and a resolution that would withstand all trials. So soon as he had
-formed his plan he began carrying it out. With extreme difficulty and
-atrocious pain he succeeded in fastening his handkerchief round his
-shoulder, so as to check the hemorrhage. It took more than an hour
-before he could stand on his legs: often he felt himself fainting, a
-cold perspiration beaded at the root of his hair, he had a buzzing in
-his ears, and everything seemed to be turning round him; but he wrestled
-with the pain, clasped his hands with an effort, raised his tear laden
-eyes to heaven, and murmured from the bottom of his heart,--
-
-"O God! Deign to support thy servant, for he has set on thee all his
-hopes and confidence."
-
-Prayer, when made with faith, produces in a man an effect whose
-consequences are immediate; it consoles him, gives him courage, and
-almost restores him the strength that has deserted him. This was what
-happened to Father Seraphin. After uttering these few words he set out
-boldly, supporting his tottering footsteps with a stick, which a
-providential chance had placed in his way. He walked thus for nearly
-half a league stopping at every instant to draw breath; but human
-endurance has limits beyond which it cannot go. In spite of the efforts
-he made, the missionary at length felt his legs give way under, him; he
-understood that he could not go further; and he sank at the foot of a
-tree, certain that he had attempted impossibilities, and henceforth
-resigning to Providence the care of saving him.
-
-It was at this moment Curumilla arrived near him. The Indian aided him
-to rise, and then warned his comrades of the success of his search.
-Father Seraphin, though the chief offered to carry him, refused, and
-wished to walk to join his friends; but his strength deserted him a
-second time, he lost his senses, and fell into the arms of the Indian,
-who watched him attentively; for he noticed his increasing weakness, and
-foresaw his fall. Valentine and Curumilla hastily constructed a litter
-of tree branches, on which they laid the poor wounded man, and raising
-him on their shoulders, went off rapidly. The night passed away, and the
-sun was already high on the horizon, and yet the hunters--were marching.
-At length, at about eleven o'clock, they reached the cavern which served
-Valentine as a shelter, and to which he had resolved to carry his
-patient, that he might himself nurse him.
-
-Father Seraphin was in a raging fever; his face was red, his eyes
-flashing. As nearly always happens with gunshot wounds, a suppurating
-fever had declared itself. The missionary was laid on a bed of furs, and
-Valentine immediately prepared to probe the wound. By a singular chance
-the ball had lodged in the shoulder without fracturing the blade bone.
-Valentine drew it; and then helped by Curumilla, who had quietly pounded
-oregano leaves, he formed a cataplasm, which he laid on the wound, after
-first carefully washing it. Scarcely had this been done ere the
-missionary fell into a deep sleep, which lasted till nightfall.
-
-Valentine's treatment had effected wonders. The fever had disappeared,
-the priest's features were calmed, the flush that purpled his cheeks had
-given place to a pallor caused by the loss of blood; in short, he was as
-well as could be expected. On opening his eyes he perceived the three
-hunters watching him anxiously. He smiled, and said in a weak voice,--
-
-"Thanks, my brothers, thanks for the help you have afforded me. Heaven
-will reward you. I feel much better."
-
-"The Lord be praised!" Valentine answered. "You will escape, my father,
-more cheaply than I had dared to hope."
-
-"Can it be possible?"
-
-"Yes, your wound, though serious, is not dangerous, and in a few days
-you can, if you think necessary, resume your avocations."
-
-"I thank you for this new good, my dear Valentine. I no longer count the
-times I have owed my life to you. Heaven, in its infinite goodness, has
-placed you near me to support me in my tribulations, and succour me in
-days of danger."
-
-The hunter blushed.
-
-"Do not speak so, my father," he said; "I have only performed a sacred
-duty. Do you feel strong enough to talk for a few minutes with me?"
-
-"Yes. Speak, my friend."
-
-"I wished to ask your advice."
-
-"My talents are very slight: still you know how I love you, Valentine.
-Tell me what vexes you, and perhaps I may be able to be useful to you."
-
-"I believe it, my father."
-
-"Speak, then, in Heaven's name, my friend; for, if you have recourse to
-me, the affair must be very serious."
-
-"It cannot be more so."
-
-"Go on: I am listening."
-
-And the missionary settled himself on his bed to hear as comfortably as
-he could the confession the hunter wished to make to him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE INTERVIEW.
-
-
-At daybreak the next morning Curumilla started for Unicorn's village. At
-sunset he returned to the cavern, accompanied by the Comanche chief. The
-sachem entertained the most profound respect for Father Seraphin, whose
-noble character he could appreciate, and felt pained at the state in
-which he found him.
-
-"Father," he said to him as he kissed his hand. "Who are the villains
-who thus wounded you, to whom the Master of Life has imparted the secret
-to make us happy? Whoever they may be, these men shall die."
-
-"My son," the priest answered gently, "I will not pronounce before you
-the name of the unhappy man who, in a moment of madness, raised his hand
-against me. My God is a God of peace; He is merciful, and recommends His
-creatures to forget injuries, and requite good for evil."
-
-The Indian looked at him in amazement. He did not understand the soft
-and touching sublimity of these precepts of love. Educated in the
-sanguinary principles of his race--persuaded, like all redskins, that a
-warrior's first duty is revenge--he only admitted that atrocious law of
-the prairies which commands, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth"--a terrible
-law, which we do not venture, however, utterly to condemn in these
-countries, where ambushes are permanent, and implacable death stands at
-every corner of the road.
-
-"My son," Father Seraphin continued, "you are a great warrior. Many a
-time you have braved the atrocious tortures of the stake of blood, a
-thousand fold more terrible than death itself. Often have you, with a
-pleasure I excuse (for it is in your nature), thrown down your enemy,
-and planted your knee on his chest. Have you never pardoned anybody in
-fight?"
-
-"Never!" the Indian answered, his eye sparkling with satisfied pride.
-"Unicorn has sent many Apache dogs to the happy hunting grounds: their
-scalps are drying at the door of his cabin."
-
-"Well," the missionary said gently, "try clemency once, only once, and
-you will know one of the greatest pleasures God has granted to man on
-earth--that of pardoning."
-
-The chief shook his head.
-
-"No," he said; "a dead enemy is no longer to be feared. Better to kill
-than leave him means to avenge himself at a later date."
-
-"My son, you love me, I believe?"
-
-"Yes. My father is good; he has behaved well to the Comanches, and they
-are grateful. Let my father command, and his son will obey."
-
-"I have no right to give you an order, my son. I can only ask a favour of
-you."
-
-"Good! My father can explain himself. Unicorn will do what he desires."
-
-"Well, then," said the missionary with a lively feeling of joy, "promise
-me to pardon the first unhappy man, whoever he may be, who falls into;
-your hands, and you will render me happy."
-
-The chief frowned, and an expression of dissatisfaction appeared on his
-features. Father Seraphin anxiously followed on the Comanche's
-intelligent countenance the different shadows reflected on it as in a
-mirror. At length the Indian regained his stoicism, and his face grew
-serene again.
-
-"Does my father demand it?" he asked in a gentle voice.
-
-"I desire it."
-
-"Be it so: my father shall be satisfied. I promise him to pardon the
-first enemy whom the Manitou causes to fall beneath the point of my
-lance."
-
-"Thanks, chief," the missionary exclaimed joyfully, "thanks! Heaven will
-reward you for this good idea."
-
-The Indian bowed silently and turned to Valentine, who had been
-listening to the conversation.
-
-"My brother called me, and I came. What does he want of Unicorn?"
-
-"My brother will take his seat at the council fire, and smoke the
-calumet with his friend. Chiefs do not speak without reflecting on the
-words they are about to utter."
-
-"My brother speaks well, and I will take my seat at his fire."
-
-Curumilla had lighted a large fire in the first grotto of the cavern.
-The four men left Father Seraphin to take a few moments' rest, and
-seated themselves round the fire, when the calumet passed from hand to
-hand. The Indians never undertake anything important, or commence a
-discussion, without first smoking the calumet in council, whatever may
-be the circumstances in which they are placed. When the calumet had gone
-the round Valentine rose.
-
-"Every day," he said, bowing to the chief, "I appreciate more and more
-the honor the Comanches did me in adopting me as a son. My brother's
-nation is powerful; its hunting grounds cover the whole surface of the
-earth. The Apaches fly before the Comanche warriors like cowardly
-coyotes before courageous men. My brother has already several times done
-me a service with that greatness of soul which distinguishes him, and
-can only belong to a warrior so celebrated as he is. Today I have again
-a service to ask of my brother, and will he do it me? I presume so; for
-I know his heart, and that the Great Spirit of the Master of Life dwells
-in him."
-
-"Let my brother explain," Unicorn answered. "He is speaking to a chief;
-he must remove the skin from his heart and let his blood flow red and
-bright before a friend. The great white hunter is a portion of myself. I
-should have to be prevented by an arrant impossibility if I refused any
-request emanating from him."
-
-"Thanks, brother," Valentine said with emotion. "Your words have passed
-from your lips into my breast, which they have rejoiced. I am not
-mistaken. I see that I can ever count on your well-tried friendship and
-honest aid. Acumapicthzin de Zarate, the descendant of the Mexican
-kings, the friend of the redskins, whom he has ever protected, is a
-prisoner to the gachupinos. They have carried him to Santa Fe in order
-to put him to death, and deprive the Indians of the last friend left
-them."
-
-"And what does my brother want?"
-
-"I wish to save my friend."
-
-"Good!" the chief answered. "My brother claims my help to succeed in
-that project, I suppose?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! The descendant of the Tlatoanis shall be saved. My brother can
-feel reassured."
-
-"I can count, then, on my brother's aid?" Valentine asked quickly.
-
-The chief smiled.
-
-"Unicorn holds in his hands Spaniards who will answer for the life of
-the prisoner."
-
-"That is true!" Valentine exclaimed as he struck his forehead. "Your
-idea is a good one, chief."
-
-"My brother will leave me to act. I answer for success on my head."
-
-"_Caramba!_ Act as you please, chief. Still, were it only form's sake, I
-should not be sorry to know what you intend doing."
-
-"My brother has a white skin, but his heart is Indian. Let him trust to
-the prudence of a chief; Unicorn knows how to treat with the
-gachupinos."
-
-"Doubtless."
-
-"Unicorn will go to Santa Fe to speak with the chief of the white men."
-
-Valentine looked at him in amazement. The chief smiled.
-
-"Have I not hostages?" he said.
-
-"That is true," Valentine remarked.
-
-The chief went on:--
-
-"The Spaniards are like chattering old women, prodigal of seductive
-words, but Unicorn knows them. How many times already has he trodden the
-warpath on their territory at the head of his warriors! They will not
-dare to deceive him. Ere the sun has twice accomplished its revolution
-round the tortoise whose immense shell supports the world, the chief of
-the Comanches will carry the bloody arrows to the whites, and propose to
-them peace or war. Is my brother satisfied?"
-
-"I am. My heart is full of gratitude toward my red brother."
-
-"Good! What is that to Unicorn? Less than nothing. Has my brother
-anything else to ask of me?"
-
-"One thing more."
-
-"Let my brother explain himself as quickly as possible, that no cloud
-may remain between him and his red brother."
-
-"I will do so. Men without fear of the Great Spirit, urged by some mad
-desire, have carried off Dona Clara, the daughter of the white chief
-whom my brother pledged to save."
-
-"Who are these? Does my brother know them?"
-
-"Yes, I know them only too well. They are bandits, at the head of whom
-is a monster with a human face, called Red Cedar."
-
-At this name the Indian started slightly, his eye flashed fire, and a
-deep wrinkle hollowed his forehead.
-
-"Red Cedar is a ferocious jaguar," he said with concentrated passion.
-"He has made himself the scourge of the Indians, whose scalps he
-desires. This man has no pity either for women or children, but he
-possesses no courage: he only attacks his enemies in the dark, twenty
-against one, and when he is sure of meeting with no resistance."
-
-"My brother knows this man, I see."
-
-"And this man has carried off the white gazelle?'
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! My brother wishes to know what Red Cedar has done with his
-prisoner?"
-
-"I do wish it."
-
-The Indian rose.
-
-"Time is slipping away," he said. "Unicorn will return to his friends.
-My brother the hunter need not feel alarmed: a chief is watching."
-
-After uttering these few words the chief went down into the cavern,
-mounted his horse, and disappeared in direction of the desert. Valentine
-had every reason to be satisfied with his interview with the Comanche
-chief; but Father Seraphin was less pleased than the hunter. The worthy
-priest, both through his nature and his vocation, was not disposed to
-employ violent measures, which were repugnant to him: he would have
-liked, were it possible, to settle everything by gentleness, and without
-running the risk of bloodshed.
-
-Three weeks elapsed, however, ere Unicorn appeared to be effectually
-carrying out the plan he had explained to Valentine, who only learnt
-indirectly that a strong party of Comanche warriors had invaded the
-Mexican frontiers. Father Seraphin, though not yet completely cured, had
-insisted on proceeding to Santa Fe to take some steps to save Don
-Miguel, whose trial had gone on rapidly, who was on the point of being
-executed. For his part Don Pablo, half mad with uneasiness, also
-insisted, in spite of Valentine's entreaties and remarks, on entering
-Santa Fe furtively, and trying to see his father.
-
-The night on which we found Valentine in the clearing Unicorn visited
-him for the first time in a month: he came to inform him of the success
-of the measures he had taken. Valentine, used to Indian habits,
-understood half a word: hence he had not hesitated to announce to Don
-Pablo as a positive fact that his father would soon be free.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE PRISON.
-
-
-Don Miguel had been transferred to the prison of Santa Fe. Europeans,
-accustomed to philanthropic manners, and regarding human life as of some
-value, cannot imagine what atrocities the word "prison" contains in
-Mexico. In countries beyond sea the penitentiary system is not even in
-its infancy; for it is completely ignored, and has not even been
-suggested yet. With the exception of the United States, prisons are in
-America what they were at the period of the Spanish dominion; that is to
-say, filthy dens, where the wretched prisoners suffer a thousand
-tortures.
-
-Among ourselves, so long as a man is not proved guilty, he is assumed to
-be innocent; but over there, so soon as a man is arrested, he is
-considered guilty, and consequently every consideration and all pity
-vanish, to make room for brutal and barbarous treatment. Thrown on a
-little straw in fetid holes, often inhabited by serpents and other
-unclean animals, the prisoners have more than once been found dead at
-the expiration of twenty-four hours, and half devoured. We have
-witnessed scores of times atrocious tortures inflicted by coarse and
-cruel soldiers on poor fellows whose crimes, in our country, would have
-merited a slight chastisement at the most. Still, in the great centres
-of populations, the prisons are better managed than in the towns and
-villages; and in this land, where money is the most powerful lever, a
-rich man easily succeeds in obtaining all he wishes, and rendering his
-position at any rate tolerable.
-
-Don Miguel and General Ibanez had managed to be confined together by the
-expenditure of many entreaties and a heavy sum of gold. They inhabited
-two wretched rooms, the entire furniture of which consisted in a halting
-table, a few leather covered butacas, and two benches which served them
-as beds. These two men, so powerful by nature, had endured without
-complaint all the humiliation and insults inflicted on them during their
-trial, resolved to die as they had lived, with head erect and firm
-heart, without giving the judges who had condemned them the satisfaction
-of seeing them turn weak at the last moment.
-
-It was toward evening of the same day on which we saw Valentine in the
-clearing. Darkness fell rapidly, and the only window, a species of
-narrow slit that served to light the prison, allowed but a weak and
-dubious light to penetrate. Don Miguel was walking with long strides up
-and down his prison, while the general, carelessly reclining on one of
-the benches, quietly smoking his cigarette, watching with childish
-pleasure the light clouds of bluish smoke which rose in a spiral to the
-ceiling, and which he constantly blew asunder.
-
-"Well," Don Miguel said all at once, "it seems it is not for today
-either."
-
-"Yes," the general said, "unless (though I do not believe it) they wish
-to do us the honor of a torchlight execution."
-
-"Can you at all account for this delay?"
-
-"On my honor, no. I have ransacked my brains in vain to guess the reason
-that prevents them shooting us, and I have given it up as a bad job."
-
-"Same with me. At first I fancied they were trying to frighten us by the
-continued apprehension of death constantly suspended over our heads like
-another sword of Damocles; but this idea seemed to me too absurd."
-
-"I am entirely of your opinion: still something extraordinary must be
-occurring."
-
-"What makes you suppose that?"
-
-"Why, for the last two days our worthy jailer, Tio Quesada, has become,
-not polite to us--for that is impossible--but less brutal. I noticed
-that he has drawn in his claws, and attempted a grin. It is true that
-his face is so little accustomed to assume that expression, that the
-only result he obtains is to make a wretched grimace."
-
-"And you conclude from that?"
-
-"Nothing positive," the general said. "Still I ask myself whence comes
-this incomprehensible change. It would be as absurd to attribute it to
-the pity he feels for our position as to suppose the governor will come
-to ask our pardon for having tried and condemned us."
-
-"Eh?" Don Miguel said with a toss of his head. "All is not over--we are
-not dead yet."
-
-"That is true; but keep your mind at rest--we shall be so soon."
-
-"Our life is in God's hands. He will dispose of it at His pleasure."
-
-"Amen!" the general said with a laugh, as he rolled a fresh cigarette.
-
-"Do you not consider it extraordinary that, during the whole month we
-have been here, our friends have not given a sign of life?"
-
-The general shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
-
-"Hum!" he said, "a prisoner is very sick, and our friends doubtless
-feared to make us worse by the sight of their grief: that is why they
-have deprived themselves of the pleasure of visiting us."
-
-"Do not jest, general. You accuse them wrongfully, I feel convinced."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! For my part, I heartily forgive them their
-indifference, and the oblivion in which; they have left us."
-
-"I cannot believe that Don Valentine, that true-hearted and noble-minded
-man, for whom I ever felt so deep a friendship, has not tried to see
-me."
-
-"Bah! How, Don Miguel, can you, so near death as you are, still believe
-in honourable feelings in any man?"
-
-At this moment there was a great clash of iron outside, and the door of
-the room was opened sufficiently to afford passage to the jailer, who
-preceded another person. The almost complete obscurity that prevailed in
-the prison prevented the condemned men from recognising the visitor, who
-wore a long black gown.
-
-"Eh, eh!" the general muttered in his comrade's ear, "I believe that
-General Ventura, our amiable governor, has at length made up his mind."
-
-"Why so?" Don Miguel asked in a low voice.
-
-"_Canarios!_ he has sent us a priest, which means that we shall be
-executed tomorrow."
-
-"On my word, all the better," Don Miguel could not refrain from saying.
-
-In the meanwhile the jailer, a short, thick-set man, with a ferret face
-and cunning eye, had turned to the priest, whom he invited to enter,
-saying in a hoarse voice,--
-
-"Here it is, senor padre: these are the condemned persons."
-
-"Will you leave us alone, my friend?" the stranger said.
-
-"Will you have my lantern? It is getting dark, and when people are
-talking they like to see one another."
-
-"Thanks; you can do so. You will open when I call you by tapping at the
-door."
-
-"All right--I will do so;" and he turned to the condemned, to whom he
-said savagely, "Well, senores, here is a priest. Take advantage of his
-services now you have got him. In your position there is no knowing what
-may happen from one moment to the other."
-
-The prisoners shrugged their shoulder's contemptuously, but made no
-reply. The jailer went out. When the sound of his footsteps had died
-away in the distance, the priest, who had till this moment stood with
-his body bent forward and his ear on the watch, drew himself up, and
-walked straight to Don Miguel. This manoeuvre on the part of the
-stranger surprised the two gentlemen, who anxiously awaited what was
-about to happen. The lantern left by the jailer only spread a faint and
-flickering light, scarcely sufficient to distinguish objects.
-
-"My father," the hacendero said in a firm voice, "I thank the person
-who sent you to prepare me for death, for I anxiously wished to fulfil
-my duties as a Christian before being executed. If you will proceed with
-me into the adjoining room I will confess my sins to you: they are those
-which an honest man ordinarily commits; for my heart is pure, and I have
-nothing to reproach myself with."
-
-The priest took off his hat, seized the lantern, and placed it near his
-pale face, whose noble and gentle features were suddenly displayed in
-the light.
-
-"Father Seraphin!" the prisoners exclaimed with a surprise mingled with
-joy.
-
-"Silence!" the priest ordered quickly. "Do not pronounce my name so
-loudly, brothers: everyone is ignorant of my being here except the
-jailer, who is my confidant."
-
-"He!" Don Miguel said with a stupor; "the man who has been insulting and
-humiliating us during a month!"
-
-"That man is henceforth ours. Lose no time, come. I have secure means to
-get you out of prison, and to leave the town ere your evasion can be
-even suspected: the horses are prepared--an escort is awaiting you.
-Come, gentlemen, for the moments are precious."
-
-The two prisoners interchanged a glance of sublime eloquence; then
-General Ibanez quietly seated himself on a butaca, while Don Miguel
-replied,--
-
-"Thanks, my father. You have undertaken the noble task of soothing all
-sorrow, and you do not wish to fail in your duty. Thanks for the offer
-you make us, which we cannot, however, accept. Men like us must not give
-our enemies right by flying like criminals. We fought for a sacred
-principle, and succumbed. We owe it to our countrymen and to ourselves
-to endure death bravely. When we conspired we were perfectly well aware
-of what awaited us if we were conquered. Once again, thanks; but we will
-only quit this prison as free men, or to walk to punishment."
-
-"I have not the courage, gentlemen, to blame your heroic resolution: in
-a similar case I should act as you are doing. You have a very slight
-hope still left, so wait. Perchance, within a few hours, unforeseen
-events will occur to change the face of matters."
-
-"We hope for nothing more, my father."
-
-"That word is a blasphemy in your mouth, Don Miguel. God can do all He
-wills. Hope, I tell you."
-
-"I am wrong, father: forgive me."
-
-"Now I am ready to hear your confession."
-
-The prisoners bowed. Father Seraphin shrived them in turn, and gave them
-absolution.
-
-"Hola!" the jailer shouted through the door. "Make haste; it is getting
-late. It will soon be impossible to leave the city."
-
-"Open the door," the missionary said in a firm voice.
-
-The jailer appeared.
-
-"Well?" he asked.
-
-"Light me and lead me out of the prison. These caballeros refuse to
-profit by the chance of safety I came to offer them."
-
-The jailer shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"They are mad," he said.
-
-And he went out, followed by the priest, who turned on the threshold and
-pointed to heaven. The prisoners remained alone.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE EMBASSY.
-
-
-On the selfsame day that Father Seraphin went to the prison to propose
-an escape to the condemned, a very strange circumstance had aroused the
-entire population of Santa Fe. At about midday, at the moment when the
-inhabitants were enjoying their siesta, and the streets, calcined by the
-beams of a tropical sun, were completely deserted, a formidable whoop,
-the terrible war yell of the Comanche Indians, burst forth at the
-entrance of the town.
-
-There was a general alarm, and everybody barricaded himself in his
-house, believing in a sudden assault of the savages. Presently an
-immense clamour, and cries of distress and despair uttered by a
-terrified population, could be heard throughout the town. Several times
-already the Comanches, in their periodical incursions, had come near
-Santa Fe, but never so closely as this time; and the remembrance of the
-cruelties they had practised on the hapless Spaniards who fell into
-their hands was still present to every mind.
-
-In the meanwhile a few inhabitants, bolder than the rest, or having
-nothing to lose, proceeded with the greatest precautions toward the spot
-whence the shouts were heard; and a singular spectacle presented itself.
-A detachment of dismounted Comanche warriors, about two hundred strong,
-was marching in close column, flanked on either wing by two troops, each
-of fifty horses. About twenty paces in front caracoled Unicorn.
-
-All these men had a martial aspect which was really remarkable: all were
-strangely painted, well adorned, and in their full war costume. The
-horsemen were loaded with all sorts of arms and ornaments: they had a
-bow and quiver on their backs, their guns slung and decorated with their
-medicine bags, and their lances in their hands. They were crowned with
-magnificent black and white eagle feathers, with a falling tuft. The
-upper part of the body, otherwise naked, was covered by a coyote skin
-rolled up and worn across the shoulder; their bucklers were ornamented
-with feathers, cloth of different colours, and human scalps. They were
-seated on handsome saddlecloth of panthers' skins, lined with red, which
-almost covered the horses' backs. According to the prairie fashion, they
-had no stirrups.
-
-Unicorn brandished in his right hand the long medicine lance, the
-distinctive mark of the powerful "dance of the prairie dogs." It was a
-staff in the shape of a crook, covered with an otter skin, and decorated
-through its entire length with owl feathers. This talisman, which he had
-inherited, possessed the power of bringing under his orders all the
-warriors of his nation scattered over the prairies: hence on all grand
-occasions he never failed to carry it. He wore a shirt made of the skin
-of the bighorn, embroidered on the sleeves with blue flowers, and
-adorned on the right arm with long stripes of rolled ermine and red
-feathers, and on the left arm with long tresses of black hair cut from
-the scalps he had raised. Over his shoulders he had thrown a cloak of
-gazelle skin, having at each end an enormous tuft of ermine. On his
-forehead the chief had fastened two buffalo horns, which with the blue,
-red, and green paint plastered on his face, gave him a terrible aspect.
-His magnificent horse, a mustang full of fire, which he managed with
-inimitable grace and skill, was painted red in different fashions: on
-its legs were stripes like a zebra, and on either side the backbone were
-designed arrowhead, lances, beavers, tortoises, &c. The same was the
-case with the face and the haunches.
-
-There was something at once imposing and striking in the appearance
-presented by this band of ferocious warriors as they advanced though the
-deserted streets of the city, brandishing their tremendous weapons, and
-uttering at intervals their sinister war cry, which they accompanied by
-the shrill sound of long whistles made of human thigh bones, which they
-wore suspended by strips of wild beast hide.
-
-By this time the Comanches had penetrated to the heart of the city,
-driving before them, though without violence, the few inhabitants who
-had ventured to get in their way. They marched in good order, not
-turning to the right or left to plunder, and doing no reprehensive
-action.
-
-The Spaniards, more and more surprised at the haughty and bold attitude
-of the Indians, and their exemplary conduct, asked themselves with
-terror what these men wanted, and what reason had led them to invade
-their frontiers in so sudden and secret a way, that the scouts the
-Mexican Government pays to watch them had no knowledge of their march.
-As usually happens in such cases, terror gradually gave way to
-curiosity. In the first place the leperos and adventurers dared to
-approach the Indians; then the inhabitants, if not completely
-tranquilised, still reassured by their peaceful attitude, mingled with
-the groups; so that when the Comanche war party arrived on the Plaza
-Mayor; it was followed by a crowd of Spaniards, who regarded them with
-the restless and stupid curiosity only to be found among the masses.
-
-The Comanches did not appear to notice the excitement they created. As
-soon as they were on the Plaza Mayor they halted, and remained
-motionless, as if their feet had suddenly grown to the ground. Unicorn
-made a sign with his talisman; a warrior quitted the ranks, and rode up
-to the sentry standing in front of the governor's palace, who regarded
-the singular scene with a dazed air.
-
-"Wah!" the Indian said sarcastically, as he lightly touched the soldier
-with the end of his lance. "Is my brother asleep, that he does not hear
-a warrior addressing him?"
-
-"I am not asleep," the soldier answered, as he fell back a pace. "What
-do you want?"
-
-"The great sachem of the Comanches, the cacique whom the red children
-call Haboutzelze, has come to speak to his great white father, the chief
-of the frontier palefaces."
-
-"What does he want with him?" the soldier asked, not knowing what he
-said, so much had the unexpected sight of the redskin disturbed him.
-
-"Is my brother a chief?" the Indian asked cunningly.
-
-"No," the soldier answered, greatly confused by this lesson.
-
-"Well, then, let him close his ears as regards those the Great Spirit
-has set above him, and deliver the message I give him in the sachem's
-name."
-
-While the Comanche was exchanging these few words with the sentry,
-several persons, drawn out of the palace by the unusual disturbance they
-heard, mingled with the crowd. Among them were several officers, one of
-whom advanced to the Indian horseman.
-
-"What does my brother want?" he asked him.
-
-The warrior saw at the first glance that this time he had to do with a
-chief. He bowed courteously, and answered.
-
-"A deputation of the great Comanche nation desires to be introduced to
-my great white father."
-
-"Good! But all the warriors cannot enter the palace," the officer said.
-
-"My brother is right. Their chiefs alone will go in: their young men
-will await them here."
-
-"Let my brother be patient. I will go and deliver his message in all
-haste."
-
-"Good! My brother is a chief. The Spider will await him."
-
-The officer disappeared in the interior, while the Spider planted the
-end of his long lance in the ground, and remained with his eye fixed on
-the gate of the palace, not evincing the slightest impatience.
-
-The new governor of Santa Fe was a general of the name of Don Benito
-Ventura. He was ignorant as a fish, stupid and haughty as a heathcock.
-Like the majority of his colleagues in this eccentric country, he had
-gained his general's epaulettes by repeated pronunciamentos, managing
-to gain a step by every revolution, while never having seen more fire
-than that of the thin husk _pajillo_ he constantly had in his mouth. To
-sum him up, he was very rich, a wonderful coward, and more afraid of
-blows than aught else in the world. Such he was morally: physically he
-was a plump little man, round as a barrel, with a rubicund face, lighted
-up by two small grey eyes.
-
-This worthy officer perspired water and blood when the duties of his
-station obliged him to put on the uniform, every seam of which was
-overlaid with gold lace: his chest literally disappeared under the
-infinity of crosses of every description with which each president had
-honoured him on attaining power. In a word, General Ventura was a worthy
-man, as fit to be a soldier as he was to be a cardinal; and he had only
-one object, that of being President of the Republic in his turn; but
-this object he ever pursued without Once swerving from his path.
-
-If he accepted the governorship of New Mexico, it was for the simple
-reason that, as Santa Fe was a long distance from Mexico, he had
-calculated that it would be easy for him to make a _pronunciamento_ in
-his own favour, and become, _ipso facto_, president. He was not aware, on
-coming to Santa Fe, that the province he was about to govern was
-incessantly menaced by Indian forays. Had he known it, however
-advantageous the post of governor might, be for his schemes, he would
-have refused point blank so perilous an honour.
-
-He had learned with the utmost terror the entrance of the Comanches into
-the town, and when the officer intrusted with the Spider's message
-presented himself before him he had literally lost his head. It took all
-possible trouble to make him comprehend that the Indians came as
-friends, that they merely wished to have a palaver with him, and that
-since their coming their conduct had been most honourable and exemplary.
-Fortunately for the Spanish honour, other officers entered the apartment
-in which was the governor, attracted to the palace by the news, which
-had spread with the speed of a train of powder through Santa Fe, of the
-appearance of an Indian detachment.
-
-When the general saw himself surrounded and supported by the officers of
-his staff his terror was slightly toned down, he regained his presence
-of mind and it was with a calm and almost dignified demeanor that he
-discussed the question whether it was proper to receive the Indian
-deputation, and in what manner it should be done. The other officers,
-who, in the course of their professional career, had had many a skirmish
-with the redskins, felt no inclination to anger them. They produced in
-support of their opinions such peremptory reasons, that General Ventura,
-convinced by their arguments gave the officer who brought the message
-orders to bring the three principal Indian chiefs into the palace.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE PRESENTATION.
-
-
-It needed the thorough knowledge the Comanches possessed of the terror
-they inspired the Mexicans with to have dared to enter in so small a
-body a town like Santa Fe, where they might expect to find a
-considerable garrison.
-
-The general officer sent by General Ventura had performed his duty.
-Unicorn and two other chiefs dismounted, and followed him into the
-palace; while the Indian warriors, in spite of the heat of the sunbeams
-that played on their heads, remained motionless on the spot where their
-caciques bade them wait.
-
-The general desired, by a certain display of strength, to impose on the
-redskin deputies; but unfortunately, as is always the case in Mexico,
-the garrison, which on paper represented eight hundred men, was in
-reality only composed of sixty at the most--a very small number for a
-frontier town, especially under the present circumstances. But if
-soldiers were lacking, to make up for it there was no paucity of
-officers; for about thirty were assembled at the palace, which allowed
-one officer to every two privates. This detail, which might appear
-exaggerated, is, however, strictly correct, and shows in what a state of
-anarchy this hapless country is plunged. The thirty officers, attired in
-their splendid uniforms, that glistened with gold and decorations, were
-arranged round the general, while three posts of ten men each held the
-doors of the halls of reception.
-
-When the preparations were completed the ambassadors were introduced.
-The Indian chiefs, accustomed for a long period to Spanish luxury,
-entered without testifying the slightest surprise. They bowed with
-dignity to the assembly, and, crossing their arms on their chests,
-waited till they were addressed. The general regarded them with an
-astonishment pardonable enough, for this was the first time he had found
-himself in the presence of these untamable redskins, whose terrible
-renown had so often made him shudder.
-
-"What reason can have been so powerful as to oblige my sons to come and
-see me?" he asked in a gracious and conciliating tone. "Let them make
-their request, and, if I can do so, I shall be most ready to satisfy
-it."
-
-This opening, which the governor fancied to be very politic, was, on the
-contrary, most awkward, as it offended the pride of those he addressed,
-and whom he had the greatest interest in humouring. Unicorn took a step
-forward. A sarcastic smile played on his lips, and he replied in a voice
-slightly tinged with irony,--
-
-"I have heard a parrot speak. Are the words addressed to me?"
-
-The general blushed up to the eyes at this insult, which he did not dare
-retaliate.
-
-"The chief has not understood my words," he said. "My intentions are
-good, and I only wish to be agreeable to him."
-
-"The Comanches do not come here to ask a favour," Unicorn answered,
-haughtily. "They know how to avenge themselves when insulted."
-
-"What do my sons want then?"
-
-"To treat with my father for the ransom of the white chiefs who are in
-their power. Five palefaces inhabit the cabin of the Comanches. The
-young men of the tribe demand their punishment, for the blood of the
-palefaces is agreeable to the Master of Life. Tomorrow the prisoners
-will have ceased to live if my father does not buy them off today."
-
-After these words, uttered in a firm and peremptory tone, there was a
-moment of supreme silence. The Mexican officers reflected sadly on the
-fearful fate that threatened their friends. Unicorn continued:--
-
-"What does my father say? Shall we fasten our prisoners to the stake of
-blood, or restore them to liberty?"
-
-"What ransom do you ask?" the general said.
-
-"Listen, all you chiefs of the palefaces here present, and judge of the
-clemency and generosity of the Comanches. We only, wish, for the life of
-these five men, the life of two men."
-
-"That is little, I allow," the general remarked; "and who are the two
-men whose lives you ask?"
-
-"The palefaces call them, the first, Don Miguel Zarate; the second,
-General Ibanez."
-
-The general started.
-
-"These two men cannot be delivered to you," he answered; "they are
-condemned to death, and will die tomorrow."
-
-"Good! My prisoners will be tortured this night," the chief replied
-stoically.
-
-"Confound it!" the general sharply exclaimed, "Is there no other
-arrangement possible? Let my brothers ask me a thing I can grant them,
-and--"
-
-"I want those two men," the chief quickly interrupted. "If not, my
-warriors will themselves deliver them; and in that case the Comanche
-chiefs cannot prevent the injury their warriors may commit in the town."
-
-One of the officers present at this interview was aroused by the tone
-Unicorn had affected since the beginning of the audience. He was a brave
-old soldier, and the cowardice of his comrades shamed him. He rose at
-this point.
-
-"Chief," he said in a firm voice, "your words are very haughty and
-foolish for the mouth of an ambassador. You are here, at the head of
-scarce two hundred warriors, in the heart of a town peopled by brave
-men. Despite all my desire to be agreeable to you, if you do not pay
-greater respect to your audience, prompt and severe justice shall be
-inflicted on your insolence."
-
-The Indian chief turned toward the new speaker, whose remarks had
-aroused a sympathetic murmur.
-
-"My words are those of a man who fears nothing, and holds in his hands
-the life of five men."
-
-"Well," the officer retorted sharply, "what do we care for them? If they
-were such fools as to let you capture them, they must suffer the
-consequences of their madness; we cannot pay for them. Besides, as you
-have already been told, those you claim must die."
-
-"Good! We will retire," Unicorn said haughtily. "Longer discourse is
-needless; our deeds shall speak for us."
-
-"A moment!" the general exclaimed. "All may yet be arranged. An affair
-like the present cannot be settled all in a hurry; we must reflect on
-the propositions made to us. My son is a chief, and will grant us
-reasonable time to offer him a reply."
-
-Unicorn bent a suspicious glance on the governor.
-
-"My father has spoken wisely," he presently made answer. "Tomorrow at
-the twelfth hour, I will come for the final answer of the palefaces. But
-my father will promise me not to order the punishment of the prisoners
-till he has told me the decision he has come to."
-
-"Be it so," the general answered. "But what will the Comanches do till,
-then?"
-
-"They will leave the town as they entered it, and bivouac on the plain."
-
-"Agreed on."
-
-"The Master of Life has heard my father's promise. If he break his word
-and possess a forked tongue, the blood shed will fall on his head."
-
-The Comanche uttered these words in a significant tone that made the
-general tremble inwardly; then he bowed to the assembly, and left the
-hall with his companions. On reaching the square the chiefs remounted
-their horses and placed themselves at the head of their warriors. An
-hour later the Comanches had left the town, and camped within two
-gunshots of the walls, on the banks of the river. It was after this
-interview that Unicorn had the conversation with Valentine which we
-recently described.
-
-Still, when the Mexican officers were alone with the general, their
-courage returned all at once, and they reproached him for the little
-dignity he had displayed before the Indians, and specially for the
-promise he had made them. The general listened to them calmly, with a
-smile on his lips, and contented himself with answering them, in a tone,
-of indescribable meaning,--
-
-"The promise you allude to pledges me to nothing. Between this and
-tomorrow certain things will happen to free us from the Comanches, and
-let us dispense with surrendering the prisoners they demand so
-insolently."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-PSYCHOLOGICAL.
-
-
-About half a league to the west of Santa Fe three men and a woman were
-seated behind a dense clump of trees, which sheltered while rendering
-them unseen, over a _bois-de-vache_ fire, supping with good appetite,
-and chatting together. The three men were Red Cedar's sons; the female
-was Ellen. The maiden was pale and sad: her dreamy eye wandered around
-with a distraught expression. She listened hardly to what her brothers
-said, and would certainly have been greatly embarrassed to describe the
-conversation, for her mind was elsewhere.
-
-"Hum!" Sutter said, "what the deuce can keep the old one so long? He
-told us he should be back by four o'clock at the latest; but the sun is
-just disappearing on the horizon, and he has not come yet."
-
-"Pshaw!" Nathan said with a shrug of the shoulders. "Are you afraid that
-something has happened to him? The old chap has beak and nails to defend
-himself; and since his last turn up with Don Miguel, the fellow who is
-to be shot tomorrow at Santa Fe, he has kept on his guard."
-
-"I care very little," Sutter replied brusquely, "whether father is here
-or not; but I believe we should do well not to wait longer, but return
-to the camp, where our presence is doubtless necessary."
-
-"Nonsense! Our comrades can do without us," Shaw observed. "We are all
-right here, so suppose we stop the night. Tomorrow it will be day. Well,
-if father has not returned by sunrise, we will go back to camp. Harry
-and Dick can keep good order till our return."
-
-"In truth, Shaw is right," Nathan said. "Father is at times so strange,
-that he might be angry with us for not having waited for him; for he
-never does anything lightly. If he told us to stay here, he probably had
-his reasons."
-
-"Let us stay, then," Sutter remarked carelessly. "I ask for nothing
-better. We shall only have to keep the fire up, and so one of us will
-watch while the others sleep."
-
-"Agreed on," Nathan replied. "In that way, if the old man comes during
-our sleep, he will see that we waited for him."
-
-The three brothers rose. Sutter and Nathan collected a pile of dry wood
-to maintain the fire, while Shaw intertwined a few branches to make his
-sister a sufficient shelter for the night. The two elder brothers thrust
-their feet toward the fire, wrapped themselves in their blankets, and
-went to sleep, after advising Shaw to keep a bright lookout, not only
-against wild beasts, but to announce the old squatter's approach. Shaw,
-after stirring up the fire, threw himself at the foot of a larch tree,
-and letting his head sink on his chest, plunged into deep and painful
-meditation.
-
-This poor boy, hardly twenty years of age, was a strange composite of
-good and evil qualities. Reared in the desert, he had grown up like one
-of its native trees, thrusting out here and there branches full of
-powerful sap. Nothing had ever thwarted his instincts, no matter what
-their nature might be. Possessing no cognizance of justice and
-injustice, he had never been able to appreciate the squatter's conduct,
-or see the injury he did society by the life he led. Habituated to
-regard as belonging to himself all that he wished for, allowing himself
-to be guided by his impressions and caprices, never having felt any
-other fetter than his father's despotic will, this young man had at once
-a nature expansive and reserved, generous and avaricious, gentle and
-cruel: in a word, he possessed all the qualities of his vices; but he
-was, before all, a man of sensations. Endowed with a vast intellect,
-extreme audacity, and lively comprehensions, he would have been
-indubitably a remarkable man, had he been born in a different position.
-
-His sister Ellen was the only member of his family for whom he
-experienced sympathy; and yet it was only with extreme reserve that he
-intrusted his boyish secrets to her--secrets which, during the last few
-days, had acquired an importance he did not himself suspect, but which
-his sister, with the innate intelligence of woman, had already divined.
-
-Shaw, as we have said, was thinking. The young savage's indomitable
-nature revolted against an unknown force which had suddenly sprung up in
-his heart--mastered and subdued him in spite of all his efforts. He was
-in love! He loved, ignorant even of the meaning of the word love, which
-comprises in this nether world all earthly joy and suffering. Vainly he
-sought to explain his feelings; but no light flashed across his mind, or
-illumined the darkness of his heart. He loved without desire and without
-hope, involuntarily obeying that divine law which compels even the
-roughest man to seek a mate. He was dreaming of Dona Clara. He loved
-her, as he was capable of loving, with that passionate impetuosity, that
-violence of feeling, to which his uncultivated mind adapted him. The
-sight of the maiden caused him a strange trouble, which he did not
-attempt to account for. He did not try to analyse his feelings, for that
-would have been impossible; and yet at times he was a prey to cold and
-terrible fury, when thinking that the haughty maiden, who was even
-unconscious of his existence, would probably only spurn and despise him
-if she knew it. He was yielding to these crushing thoughts, when he
-suddenly felt a hand laid on his shoulder. On turning, Ellen stood
-before him, upright and motionless, like the white apparitions of the
-German legends. He raised his head, and bent an inquiring glance on his
-sister.
-
-"You are not asleep, Ellen?"
-
-"No," she answered in a voice soft as a bird's song. "Brother, my heart
-is sad."
-
-"What is the matter, Ellen? Why not enjoy a few hours of that repose so
-necessary for you?"
-
-"My heart is sad, I tell you, brother," she went on. "In vain do I seek
-sleep--it flies far from me."
-
-"Sister, tell me the cause of your sufferings, and perhaps I can appease
-the grief that devours you."
-
-"Can you not guess it?"
-
-"I do not understand you."
-
-She looked at him so sternly that he could not let his eyes fall.
-
-"On the contrary, you understand me too well, Shaw," she said with a
-sigh. "Your heart rejoices at this moment at the misfortune of the woman
-you should defend."
-
-The young man blushed.
-
-"What can I do?" he murmured faintly.
-
-"Everything, if you have the firm will," she exclaimed energetically.
-
-"No," Shaw went on, shaking his head with discouragement; "the person of
-whom you speak is the old man's prisoner. I cannot contend against my
-father."
-
-Ellen smiled contemptuously.
-
-"You seek in vain to hide your thoughts from me," she said harshly. "I
-read your heart as an open book: your sorrow is feigned, and you really
-rejoice at the thought that in future you will constantly be by Dona
-Clara's side."
-
-"I!" he exclaimed with an angry start.
-
-"Yes, you only see in her captivity a means to approach her. Your
-selfish heart is secretly gladdened by that hope."
-
-"You are harsh to me, sister. Heaven is my witness that, were it
-possible, I would at once restore her the liberty torn from her."
-
-"You can if you like."
-
-"No, it is impossible. My father watches too closely over his prisoner."
-
-"He will not distrust you, but allow you to approach her freely."
-
-"What you ask of me is impossible."
-
-"Because you will not, Shaw. Remember that women only love men in
-proportion to the sacrifices they make for them: they despise cowards."
-
-"But how to save her?"
-
-"That is your affair, Shaw."
-
-"At least give me some advice which will help me to escape from the
-difficult position in which I find myself."
-
-"In such serious circumstances your heart must guide you, and you must
-only ask counsel of it."
-
-"But the old one?" Shaw said hesitatingly.
-
-"Our father will not know your movements. I take on myself to prevent
-him noticing them."
-
-"Good!" the young man remarked, half convinced; "but I do not know where
-the maiden is hidden."
-
-"I will tell you, if you swear to do all in your power to save her."
-
-There was a moment of silence.
-
-"I swear to obey you, Ellen. If I do not succeed in carrying the girl
-off, I will at any rate employ all my intellect to obtain that result.
-Speak, then, without fear."
-
-"Dona Clara is confined at the Rancho del Coyote: she was intrusted to
-Andres Garote."
-
-"Ah, ah!" the young man said, as if speaking to himself, "I did not
-fancy her so near us."
-
-"You will save her?"
-
-"At all events I will try to free her from the hands of the man who
-guards her."
-
-"Good!" the maiden remarked; "I now recognise you. Lose no time: my
-father's absence alarms me. Perhaps at this moment he is preparing a
-safer hiding place for his prisoner."
-
-"Your idea is excellent, sister. Who knows whether it is not too late
-now to tear from the old man the prey he covets?"
-
-"When do you intend to start?"
-
-"At once: I have not a moment to lose. If the old man returned I should
-be compelled to remain here. But who will keep watch while my brothers
-sleep?"
-
-"I will," the maiden answered resolutely.
-
-"Whence arises the interest you feel in this woman, sister, as you do
-not know her?" the young man asked in surprise.
-
-"She is a woman, and unhappy. Are not those reasons sufficient?"
-
-"Perhaps so," Shaw remarked doubtfully.
-
-"Child!" Ellen muttered, "Can you not read in your own heart, the motive
-of my conduct toward this stranger?"
-
-The young savage started at this remark.
-
-"It is true!" He exclaimed passionately. "Pardon me, sister! I am mad;
-but I love you, and you know me better than I do myself."
-
-And rising hurriedly, he kissed his sister, threw his rifle over his
-shoulder, and ran off in the direction of Santa Fe.
-
-When he had disappeared in the gloom, and the sound of his footsteps had
-died out in the distance, the girl fell on the ground, muttering in a
-low, sad voice:
-
-"Will he succeed?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.
-
-
-Red Cedar did not remain long under the effect of the startling insult
-he had received. Pride, wrath, and, before all, the desire to avenge
-himself restored his strength, and a few minutes after Don Pablo
-Zarate's departure the squatter had regained all his coolness and
-audacity.
-
-"You see, senor padre," he said, addressing the monk, "that our little
-plans are known to our enemies; we must, therefore, make haste if we do
-not wish to see persons break in here, from whom it is of the utmost
-importance to conceal ourselves. Tomorrow night at the latest, perhaps
-before, we shall start. Do not stir from here till my return. Your face
-is too well known at Santa Fe for you to venture to show it in the
-streets without imprudence."
-
-"Hum!" the monk muttered, "That demon, whom I fancied dead, is a rude
-adversary. Fortunately we shall soon have nothing more to fear from his
-father, for I hardly know how we should get out of it."
-
-"If the son has escaped us," Red Cedar said with an ugly smile, "that is
-fortunately not the case with the father. Don't be alarmed; Don Miguel
-will cause us no further embarrassment."
-
-"I wish it most earnestly, _canarios!_ for he is a determined man; but I
-confess to you that I shall not be entirely at my ease till I have seen
-him fall beneath the bullets of the soldiers."
-
-"You will not have long to wait. General Ventura has ordered me to go
-and meet the regiment of dragoons he expects, in order to hurry them on,
-and bring them into the town this very night, if possible. So soon as
-the governor has an imposing force at his disposal he will no longer
-fear a revolt on the part of the troops, and give the order for
-execution without delay."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! But," he added with a sigh of regret, "what a pity
-that most of our scamps deserted us! We should have almost arrived at
-the placer by this time, and been safe from the vengeance of our
-enemies."
-
-"Patience, senor padre; all is for the best, perhaps, trust to me.
-Andres, my horse."
-
-"You will start at once, then?"
-
-"Yes. I recommend you to watch carefully over our prisoner."
-
-The monk shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Our affairs are tolerably well embarrassed already; then why burden
-ourselves with a woman?"
-
-The squatter frowned.
-
-"That is my business," he exclaimed in a peremptory tone. "Keep all
-stupid observations to yourself. A thousand devils! I know what I am
-about. That woman will possibly prove our safeguard at a later date."
-
-And mounting his horse, Red Cedar galloped out of Santa Fe.
-
-"Hum!" Andres Garote said as he watched him depart, "what a diabolical
-eye! Though I have known him several years, I never saw him like that
-before. How will all this end?"
-
-Without further remarks he arranged matters in the rancho, repairing as
-well as he could the disorder caused by the previous struggle; then he
-took a look round him. The monk, with his elbows on the table and a
-cigarette in his mouth, was drinking the fluid left in the bottle,
-doubtless to console himself for the _navajada_ with which Don Pablo had
-favoured him.
-
-"Why, senor padre," the ranchero said in an insinuating voice, "do you
-know that it is hardly five o'clock?"
-
-"Do you think so?" the other answered for the sake of saying something.
-
-"Does not the time seem to you to go very slowly?"
-
-"Extraordinarily so."
-
-"If you liked we could easily shorten it."
-
-"In what way?"
-
-"Oh, for instance, with these."
-
-And Andres drew from his boot a pack of greasy cards, which he
-complacently spread out on the table.
-
-"Ah! That is a good idea," the monk exclaimed with sparkling eyes. "Let
-us have a game of monte."
-
-"At your orders."
-
-"Don Andres, you are a most worthy gentlemen. What shall we play for?"
-
-"Ah, hang it! That is true; we must play for something," the ranchero
-said, scratching his head.
-
-"The merest trifle, simply to render the game interesting."
-
-"Yes, but to do that man must possess the trifle."
-
-"Do not let that trouble you. If you permit me I will make you a
-proposal."
-
-"Do so, senor. You are a remarkable clever man, and can have none but
-bright ideas."
-
-The monk bowed to his flattering insinuation.
-
-"This is it: we will play, if you like for the share of the gold we
-shall receive when we reach the placer."
-
-"Done!" the ranchero shouted enthusiastically.
-
-"Well," the monk said, drawing from his pocket a pack of cards no less
-dirty than the others, "we can at any rate kill time."
-
-"What! You have cards too?" the ranchero remarked.
-
-"Yes, and quite new, as you see." Andres bowed with an air of
-conviction.
-
-The game began at once, and soon the two men were completely absorbed in
-the combinations of the _seis de copas,_ the _as de bastos_, the _dos de
-oro_, and the _cuatro d'espadas_. The monk, who had no necessity to
-feign at this moment, as he was in the company of a man thoroughly
-acquainted with him, yielded frenziedly to his ruling passion. In
-Mexico, and throughout Spanish America, the _angelus_ rings at sunset.
-In those countries, where there is no twilight, night arrives without
-transition, so that ere the bell has done tinkling the gloom is dense.
-At the last stroke of the angelus the game ceased, as if by common
-agreement between the two men, and they threw their cards on the table.
-
-Although Garote was a passed master in trickery, and had displayed all
-his science, he found in the monk so skilful an adversary that, after
-more than three hours of an obstinate struggle, they both found
-themselves as little advanced as at the outset. The monk, however, on
-coming to the rancho, had an object which Red Cedar was far from
-suspecting.
-
-Fray Ambrosio rested his arms on the table, bent his body slightly
-forward, and while carelessly playing with the cards, which he amused
-himself by sorting, he said to the ranchero, as he fixed a scrutinising
-glance upon him,--
-
-"Shall we talk a little, Don Andres?"
-
-"Willingly," the latter replied, who had partly risen, but now fell back
-on his chair.
-
-By a secret foreboding Andres Garote had guessed that the monk wished to
-make some important proposal to him. Hence, thanks to that instinctive
-intuition which rogues possess for certain things, the two men read each
-other's thoughts. Fray Ambrosio bit his lips, for the gambusino's
-intelligence startled him. Still the latter bent upon him a glance so
-full of stupid meaning, that he continued to make a confidant of him, as
-it were involuntarily.
-
-"Senor Don Andres," he said in a soft and insinuating voice, "what a
-happiness that your poor brother, on dying, revealed to me the secret of
-the rich placer, which he concealed even from yourself!"
-
-"It is true," Andres answered, turning slightly pale; "it was very
-fortunate, senor padre. For my part, I congratulate myself on it daily."
-
-"Is it not so? For without it the immense fortune would have been lost
-to you and all else."
-
-"It is terrible to think of."
-
-"Well, at this moment I have a horrible fear."
-
-"What is it, senor padre?"
-
-"That we have deferred our departure too long, and that some of those
-European vagabonds we were speaking of just now may have discovered our
-placer. Those scoundrels have a peculiar scent for finding gold."
-
-"_Caray_, senor padre!" Andres said, striking the table with a feigned
-grief (for he knew very well what the monk was saying was only a clever
-way of attaining his real point), "that would drive me mad--an affair so
-well managed hitherto."
-
-"That is true," Fray Ambrosio said in corroboration. "I could never
-console myself."
-
-"_Demonios_! I have as great an interest in it as yourself, senor
-padre," the gambusino replied with superb coolness. "You know that an
-uninterrupted succession of unfortunate speculations robbed me of my
-fortune, and I hoped thus to regain it at a stroke."
-
-At these words Fray Ambrosio had incredible difficulty in repressing a
-smile; for it was a matter of public notoriety that senor Don Andres
-Garote was a lepero, who, as regarded fortune, had never possessed a
-farthing of patrimony; that throughout his life he had never been aught
-but an adventurer; and that the unlucky speculations of which he
-complained were simply an ill luck at monte, which had recently stripped
-him of 20,000 piastres, acquired Heaven alone knew how. But senor Don
-Andres Garote was a man of unequalled bravery, gifted with a fertile and
-ready mind, whom the accidents of life had compelled to live for a
-lengthened period on the _llanos_ (prairies), whose paths he knew as
-thoroughly as he did the tricks of those who dwelt on them. Hence, and
-for many other reasons, Andres Garote was an invaluable comrade for Fray
-Ambrosio, who had also a bitter revenge to take on the monte table,
-because he pretended to place the most sincere faith in what it pleased
-his honourable mate to say touching his lost fortune.
-
-"However," he said, after an instant's reflection, "supposing that the
-placer is intact, and that no one has discovered it, we shall have a
-long journey to reach it."
-
-"Yes," the gambusino remarked, significantly; "the road is difficult and
-broadcast with perils innumerable."
-
-"We must march with our chins on our shoulders, and finger on the rifle
-trigger--"
-
-"Fight nearly constantly with wild beasts or Indians--"
-
-"In a word, do you not believe that the woman Red Cedar has carried off
-will prove a horrid bore?"
-
-"Dreadfully so," Andres made answer, with an intelligent glance.
-
-"What is to be done?"
-
-"Hang it! That is difficult to say."
-
-"Still we cannot run the risk, on account of a wretched woman, of having
-our hair raised by the Indians."
-
-"That's true enough."
-
-"Is she here?"
-
-"Yes," the gambusino said, pointing to a door; "in that room."
-
-"Hum!"
-
-"You remarked--"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"Could we not--"
-
-"What?"
-
-"It is perhaps difficult," Andres continued, with feigned hesitation.
-
-"Explain yourself."
-
-The gambusino seemed to make up his mind.
-
-"Suppose we restore her to her family?" he said.
-
-"I have thought of that already."
-
-"That is strange."
-
-"It must be all managed very cleverly."
-
-"And the relations pay a proper ransom."
-
-"That is what I meant to say.".
-
-There was a silence.
-
-Decidedly these two honourable persons were made to understand one
-another.
-
-"But who is to undertake this delicate mission?" asked the monk.
-
-"I, _con mil demonios!_" the gambusino exclaimed, his eyes sparkling
-with greed at the thought of the rich ransom he would demand.
-
-"But if Red Cedar were to find out," the monk remarked, "that we
-surrendered his prisoner?"
-
-"Who will tell him?"
-
-"I am sure I shan't."
-
-"Nor I."
-
-"It is very easy; the girl will have escaped."
-
-"Quite true."
-
-"Do not let us lose time, then. You have a horse?"
-
-"I have two."
-
-"Bravo! You will place Dona Clara on one, and mount the other yourself."
-
-"And go straight to the Hacienda de la Noria."
-
-"That is it. Don Pablo will be delighted to recover his sister, whom he
-expected never to see again, and will not haggle over the price he pays
-for her deliverance."
-
-"Famous! In that way we run no risk of not reaching the placer, as our
-party will only consist of men."
-
-"Excellently reasoned!"
-
-Andres Garote rose with a smile which would have caused the monk to
-reflect, had he seen it; but at the same moment the latter was rubbing
-his hands, saying in a low voice, and with a most satisfied air,--
-
-"Now, my scamp, I've got you."
-
-What secret thought possessed these two men, who were carrying on a
-mutual deceit, none save themselves could have said. The gambusino
-approached the door of the room where Dona Clara was confined, and put
-the key in the lock. At this moment two vigorous blows were dealt on the
-door of the rancho, which had been carefully bolted after Red Cedar's
-departure. The two accomplices started.
-
-"Must I open?" Andres asked.
-
-"Yes," the monk answered; "hesitation or refusal might create alarm. In
-our position we must foresee everything."
-
-The ranchero went to open the door, which the newcomer threatened to
-break in. A man walked in, who took a careful glance around, then doffed
-his hat and bowed. The confederates exchanged a glance of vexation on
-recognising him, for he was no other than Shaw, Red Cedar's youngest
-son.
-
-"I am afraid I disturb you, gentlemen," the young man said, with an
-ironical smile.
-
-"Not at all," Andres made answer; "on the contrary, we are delighted to
-see you."
-
-"Thanks!"
-
-And the young man fell back into a butaca.
-
-"You are very late at Santa Fe," the monk remarked.
-
-"It is true," the American said, with some embarrassment; "I am looking
-for my father, and fancied I should find him here."
-
-"He was so a few hours back, but he was obliged to leave us."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-This exclamation was rather drawn from the young man by the necessity he
-felt of replying, than through any interest he took in the information
-afforded him. He was evidently preoccupied; but Fray Ambrosio did not
-appear to notice it, as he continued,--
-
-"Yes: it appears that his Excellency the Governor ordered your father to
-go and meet a regiment of dragoons intended to reinforce the garrison,
-and hasten its march."
-
-"That is true; I forgot it."
-
-The monk and the miner did not at all understand the American's conduct,
-and lost themselves in conjectures as to the reasons that brought him to
-the rancho. They guessed instinctively that what he said about his
-father was only a pretext or means of introduction; and that a powerful
-motive, he would not or dared not avow, had brought him. For his part,
-the young man, in coming to the Rancho del Coyote, where he knew that
-Dona Clara was imprisoned, expected to find Andres alone, with whom he
-hoped to come to an understanding in some way or another. The presence
-of the monk disturbed all his plans. Still, time was slipping away he
-must make up his mind, and, before all, profit by Red Cedar's
-providential absence, which offered him an opportunity he could hardly
-dare to hope again.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-A STORMY DISCUSSION.
-
-
-Shaw was not timid, as we have said--he ought rather be accused of the
-opposite excess; he was not the man, once his resolution was formed, to
-let anything soever turn him from it. His hesitation was not long; he
-suddenly rose, and violently stamping his rifle butt on the ground,
-looked at the two men, while saying in a firm voice,--
-
-"Be frank, my presence here at this hour astonishes you, and you ask
-yourselves what cause can have brought me."
-
-"Sir," the monk said, with a certain degree of hesitation rendered
-highly natural by the young man's tone.
-
-"Pardon me," Shaw exclaimed, interrupting him, "the cause you will seek
-in vain. I will tell you: I have come to deliver Dona Clara."
-
-"Can it be possible?" the two men exclaimed with stupefaction.
-
-"It is so; whether you like it or not, I care little. I am the man to
-hold my own against both of you, and no one can prevent me restoring the
-maiden to her father, as I have resolved on doing."
-
-"What do I hear?" said Fray Ambrosio.
-
-"Hum!" the young man continued quickly, "Believe me, do not attempt any
-useless resistance, for I have resolved, if needs must, to pass over
-your bodies to success."
-
-"But we have not the slightest wish--"
-
-"Take care," he interrupted him in a voice full of menace and frowning,
-"I will only leave this house accompanied by her I wish to save."
-
-"Sir," the monk remarked, in an authoritative voice which momentarily
-quelled the young savage, "two words of explanation."
-
-"Make haste!" he answered, "For I warn you that my patience is
-exhausted."
-
-"I do not insist on your listening any length of time. You have come
-here, you say, with the intention of delivering Dona Clara?"
-
-"Yes," he answered impatiently, "and if you attempt to oppose it--"
-
-"Pardon me," the monk interrupted, "such a determination on your part
-naturally surprises us."
-
-"Why so?" the young man said, raising his head haughtily.
-
-"Because," Fray Ambrosio answered tranquilly, "You are the son of Red
-Cedar, and it is at least I strange that--"
-
-"Enough talking," Shaw exclaimed violently; "will you or not give me up
-her I have come to seek?"
-
-"I must know, in the first place, what you intend doing with her.
-
-"How does that concern you?"
-
-"More than you imagine. Since that girl has been a prisoner I
-constituted myself--if not her guardian, for the dress I wear forbids
-that--her defender; in that quality I have the right of knowing for what
-reason you, the son of the man who tore her from her family, have come
-so audaciously to demand her surrender to you, and what your object is
-in acting thus?"
-
-The young man had listened to those remarks with an impatience that
-became momentarily more visible; it could be seen that he made
-superhuman efforts to restrain himself. When the monk stopped, he looked
-at him for a moment with a strange expression, then walked up so close
-as almost to touch him, drew a pair of pistols from his girdle and
-pointed them at the monk.
-
-"Surrender Dona Clara to me," he said, in a low and menacing voice.
-
-Fray Ambrosio had attentively followed all the American's movements, and
-when the latter put the pistol muzzles to his chest, the monk, with an
-action rapid as lightning, also drew two pistols from his girdle, and
-placed them, on his adversary's chest. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation, of indescribable agony; the two men were motionless, face
-to face panting, each with his fingers on a trigger, pale, and their
-brows dank with cold perspiration. Andres Garote, his lips curled by an
-ironical smile, and his arms crossed, carelessly leaned against a table,
-watching this scene which had for him all the attractions of a play.
-
-All at once the door of the rancho, which had not been fastened again
-after the squatter's entry was violently thrown back and a man appeared.
-It was Father Seraphin. At a glance he judged the position and boldly
-threw himself between the foemen, hurling them back, but not uttering a
-word. The two men recoiled, and lowered their weapons, but continued to
-menace each other with their glances.
-
-"What!" the missionary said in a deep voice, "Have I arrived just in
-time to prevent a double murder, gentlemen? In Heaven's name, hide those
-homicidal weapons; do not stand opposite each other like wild beasts
-preparing for a leap."
-
-"Withdraw, father; you have nothing to do here. Let me treat this man as
-he deserves," the squatter answered, casting at the missionary a
-ferocious glance--"his life belongs to me."
-
-"Young man," the priest replied, "the life of a fellow being belongs
-only to God, who has the right to deprive, him of it; lower your
-weapons"--and turning to Fray Ambrosio, he said to him in a cutting
-voice, "and you who dishonour the frock you wear, throw away those
-pistols which sully your hands--a minister of the altar should not
-employ other weapons than the Gospel."
-
-The monk bowed, and caused his pistols to disappear, saying in a soft
-and cautious voice, "My father, I was compelled to defend my life which
-that maniac assailed. Heaven is my witness that I reprove these violent
-measures, too frequently employed in this unhappy country; but this man
-came into the house with threats on his lips; he insisted on our
-delivering a wretched girl whom this caballero," he said, pointing to
-the gambusino, "and myself did not think proper to surrender."
-
-Andres corroborated the monk's words by a nod of the head.
-
-"I wish to save that young girl from your hands," Shaw said, "and
-restore her to her father."
-
-"Of whom are you speaking, my friend?" the missionary asked with a
-secret beating of his heart.
-
-"Of whom should I speak, save Dona Clara de Zarate, whom these villains
-retain here by force?"
-
-"Can it be possible?" Father Seraphin exclaimed in amazement. "Dona
-Clara here?"
-
-"Ask those men," Shaw answered, roughly, as he angrily struck the butt
-of his rifle against the ground.
-
-"Is it true?" the priest inquired.
-
-"It is," the gambusino answered.
-
-Father Seraphin frowned, and his pale forehead was covered with febrile
-ruddiness.
-
-"Sir," he said, in a voice choking with indignation. "I summon you, in
-the name of that God whom you serve, and whose minister you lay claim to
-being, to restore at once to liberty the hapless girl whom you have so
-unworthily imprisoned, in defiance of all laws, human and divine. I
-engage to deliver her into the hands of those who bewail her loss."
-
-Fray Ambrosio bowed; he let his eyes fall, and said in a hypocritical
-voice--
-
-"Father, you are mistaken as regards myself. I had nothing to do with
-the carrying off of that poor child, which on the contrary, I opposed to
-the utmost of my power; and that is so true, father," he added, "that at
-the moment when this young madman arrived, the worthy gambusino and
-myself had resolved, at all risks, on restoring Dona Clara to her
-family."
-
-"I should wish to believe you, sir; if I am mistaken, as you say, you
-will forgive me, for appearances were against you; it only depends on
-yourself to produce a perfect justification by carrying out my wishes."
-
-"You shall be satisfied, father," the monk replied. At a signal from him
-Garote left the room. During the few words interchanged between the two
-men, Shaw remained motionless, hesitating, not knowing what he ought to
-do; but he suddenly made up his mind, threw his rifle over his shoulder,
-and turned to the missionary.
-
-"Father," he said respectfully, "my presence is now needless here.
-Farewell; my departure will prove to you the purity of my intentions."
-
-And turning suddenly on his heel, he hurried out of the rancho. A few
-moments after his departure the gambusino returned, Dona Clara following
-him.
-
-Dona Clara no longer wore the dress of the whites, for Red Cedar, in
-order to render her unrecognizable, had compelled her to don the Indian
-garb, which the maiden wore with an innate grace which heightened its
-strange elegance. Like all Indian squaws, she was attired in two white
-chemises of striped calico--the one fastened around the neck, fell to
-the hips; while the other, drawn in at the waist, descended to her
-ankles. Her neck was adorned with collars of fine pearls, mingled with
-those small shells called wampum, and employed by the Indians as money.
-Her arms and ankles were surrounded by wide circles of gold, and a small
-diadem of the same metal relieved the pale tint of her forehead.
-Moccasins of deer hide, embroidered with wool and beads of every colour
-imprisoned her small and high-arched feet.
-
-As she entered the room, a shadow of melancholy and sadness spread over
-her face, adding, were that possible, a further charm to her person. On
-seeing the missionary, Dona Clara uttered a cry of joy, and rushed
-toward him, fell into his arms, and murmured in a heart-rending voice:--
-
-"Father! save me! save me!"
-
-"Be calm, my daughter!" the priest said to her, gently. "You have
-nothing more to fear now that I am near you."
-
-"Come!" she exclaimed, wildly, "Let us fly from this accursed house, in
-which I have suffered so greatly."
-
-"Yes, my daughter, we will go; set your mind at rest."
-
-"You see, father," Fray Ambrosio said, hypocritically, "that I did not
-deceive you."
-
-The missionary cast at the monk a glance of undefinable meaning.
-
-"I trust that you spoke truly," he replied; "the God who gauges hearts
-will judge you according to works. I will rescue this maiden at once."
-
-"Do so, father; I am happy to know her under your protection."
-
-And picking up the cloak which Don Pablo left after blinding Red Cedar,
-he placed it delicately on the shuddering shoulders of Dona Clara, in
-order to conceal her Indian garb. Father Seraphin drew her arm through
-his own, and led her from the rancho. Ere long they disappeared in the
-darkness. Fray Ambrosio looked after them as long as he could see them,
-and then re-entered the room, carefully bolting the door after him.
-
-"Well," Andres Garote asked him, "what do you think, senor Padre, of all
-that has happened?"
-
-"Perhaps things are better as they are."
-
-"And Red Cedar?"
-
-"I undertake to render ourselves as white in his sight as the snows of
-the Caffre de Perote."
-
-"Hum! it will be difficult."
-
-"Perhaps so."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-THE MYSTERY.
-
-
-On leaving the Rancho del Coyote, Red Cedar dug his spurs into his
-horse's flanks, and galloped in a south-western direction. So soon as he
-was out of the town he turned to the left, took a narrow path that ran
-round the walls, pulled up his horse, and advanced with the utmost
-caution. Throwing suspicious glances on either side, he went on thus for
-about three-quarters of an hour, when he reached a house, in one of the
-windows of which burned three wax tapers.
-
-The lights thus arranged were evidently a signal for the squatter, for
-so soon as he came to the house he stopped and dismounted, attached his
-horse to a larch-tree, and prudently concealing himself behind a
-thicket, imitated thrice at equal intervals the hu-hu of an owl. The
-lights burning in the window were extinguished, as if by enchantment.
-
-The night was gloomy, only a few stars studded the vault of heaven; a
-leaden silence brooded over the plain, which appeared quite solitary. At
-this moment a voice could be heard from the house which Red Cedar was
-watching so carefully. The squatter listened; the speaker leaned for a
-second out of the window looked cautiously round, and disappeared
-muttering loud enough for the American to overhear--
-
-"All is quiet in the neighbourhood."
-
-"Still," the squatter said, without showing himself, "the coyotes prowl
-about the plain."
-
-"Are you coming or going?" the man at the window continued.
-
-"Both," the squatter answered, still hidden behind his bush.
-
-"You can come on, for you are expected."
-
-"I know it; hence here I am."
-
-While making this answer, the squatter left his hiding place, and placed
-himself before the door with folded arms, like a man who has nothing to
-fear.
-
-The door was cautiously opened; a man emerged, carefully wrapped up in,
-a wide cloak, which only allowed eyes to be seen, that flashed in the
-gloom like a jackal's. This person walked straight up to Red Cedar.
-
-"Well," he asked, in a low voice, "have you reflected?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And what is the result of your reflections?"
-
-"I refuse."
-
-"Still?"
-
-"More than ever."
-
-"Take care."
-
-"I do not care, Don Melchior, for I am not afraid of you."
-
-"No names!" the stranger exclaimed, impatiently.
-
-"We are alone."
-
-"No one is ever alone in the desert."
-
-"That is true," Red Cedar muttered. "Let us return to our business."
-
-"It is simple--give and give."
-
-"Hum! You get to work very fast; unfortunately it cannot be so."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"Why, because I am growing tired of constantly taking in my nets game by
-which others profit, and which I ought to keep as a safeguard."
-
-"You call that girl a guarantee?"
-
-"By Heaven! what else do you mean to make of her?"
-
-"Do not compare me with you, scoundrel!"
-
-"Where is the difference between us? I am a scoundrel, I grant; but, by
-heaven, you are another, my master, however powerful you may be."
-
-"Listen, caballero!" the stranger answered, in a cutting voice. "I will
-lose no more of my time in discoursing with you. I want that girl, and
-will have her, whatever you may do to prevent me."
-
-"Good; in that case you declare war against me?" the squatter said, with
-a certain tinge of alarm, which he tried in vain to conceal.
-
-The stranger shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"We have known one another long enough to be perfectly well acquainted;
-we can only be friends or foes. Is not that your opinion?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Well, then, hand Dona Clara over to me, and I will give you the papers
-which--"
-
-"Enough!" the squatter said, sharply. "Have you those papers about you?"
-
-The stranger burst into a laugh.
-
-"Do you take me for such a fool?" he said.
-
-"I do not understand you."
-
-"I will not insult you by believing you. No, I have not those papers
-about me. I am not such an ass as to risk assassination at your hands."
-
-"What would your death profit me?"
-
-"Hang it all! If it were only my scalp you would be sure to receive at
-least fifty dollars for it."
-
-At this mournful jest the squatter began laughing.
-
-"I did not think of that," he said,
-
-"Listen to me, Red Cedar, and print the words on your memory."
-
-"Speak."
-
-"In a month from today, hour for hour, day for day, wherever you may be,
-I shall present myself to you."
-
-"For what purpose?' the squatter asked impudently.
-
-"To repeat my demand with reference to the prisoner."
-
-"Then, as now, I shall reply No, my master."
-
-"Perhaps so. Live and learn. Now good-bye, and may the devil, your
-patron saint, preserve you in good health until our next meeting. You
-know that I have you tight; so consider yourself warned."
-
-"Good, good! Threats do not frighten me. _Demonios_, since I have been
-traversing the desert, I have found myself opposed to enemies quite as
-dangerous as you, and yet I managed to get quit of them."
-
-"That is possible, Red Cedar; but believe me, meditate carefully on my
-words."
-
-"I repeat that your threats do not frighten me."
-
-"I do not threaten, I warn you."
-
-"Hum! Well, then, listen in your turn. In the desert, every man armed
-with a good rifle has nothing to fear from whomsoever."
-
-"What next?" the stranger interrupted him, in a sarcastic voice.
-
-"Well, my rifle is excellent, I have a sure aim, and I say no more."
-
-"Nonsense, you are mad! I defy you to kill me!"
-
-"Hang it, though, what can be your motive for wishing to have this girl
-in your power?"
-
-"That is no affair of yours. I have no explanations due to you. Enough
-for you to know that I want her."
-
-"You shall not have her."
-
-"We shall see. Good-bye, Red Cedar."
-
-"Good-bye, Don Melchior, or whatever be the name you please to bear."
-
-The stranger made no reply, but turned his head with a gesture of
-contempt, and whistled. A man emerged from the house, holding a horse by
-the bridle; at one bound the stranger reached the saddle, and ordered
-the servant to withdraw.
-
-"Farewell, _Compadre_, remember our appointment."
-
-And loosing his reins, the stranger started at a gallop, not
-condescending even to turn his head. Red Cedar looked after him with an
-indescribable expression of rage.
-
-"Oh," he muttered in a low voice, "demon! Shall I never free myself from
-your clutches?"
-
-And with a motion rapid as thought he shouldered his rifle, and aimed at
-the departing man. All at once the latter turned his horse, and stood
-right opposite Red Cedar.
-
-"Mind not to miss me!" he cried, with a burst of laughter that caused a
-cold perspiration to bead on the bandit's forehead.
-
-The latter let his rifle fall, saying in a hollow voice: "He is right,
-and I am mad! If I only had the papers!"
-
-The stranger waited for a moment calm and motionless; then he started
-again and soon disappeared in the darkness. Red Cedar stood with his
-body bowed forward, and his ears on the watch, so long as the horse's
-hoofs could be heard; then he returned to his own steed, and bounded
-into the saddle.
-
-"Now to go and warn the dragoons," he said, and pushed on.
-
-The squatter had scarce departed ere several men appeared from either
-side; they were Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo on the right;
-Unicorn and Eagle-wing on the left. Valentine and his friends were
-astonished at meeting the Comanche chief, whom they believed gone back
-to his camp; but the sachem explained to them, in a few words, how, at
-the moment he was crossing the spot where they now were, he had heard
-Red Cedar's voice, and concealed himself in the shrubs in order to
-overhear the squatter's colloquy with his strange friend. Valentine had
-done the same; but, unfortunately, the party had been greatly
-disappointed, for the squatter's conversation remained to them an
-enigma, of which they sought the key in vain.
-
-"'Tis strange," Valentine remarked, as he passed his hand several times
-across his forehead. "I do not know where I have seen the man just now
-talking here with Red Cedar, but I have a vague reminiscence of having
-met him before, where and under what circumstance I try, though in vain,
-to recall."
-
-"What shall we do?" Don Pablo asked.
-
-"Hang it, what we agreed on;" and turning to the chief, he said, "Good
-luck, brother, I believe we shall save our friend."
-
-"I am sure of it," the Indian replied, laconically.
-
-"May heaven hear you, brother," Valentine continued. "Act! While, on
-your side, you watch the town for fear of treason. We then will ambush
-ourselves on the road the gambusinos must take, in order to know
-positively the direction in which they are proceeding. Till tomorrow,
-chief!"
-
-"Stop!" a panting voice exclaimed, and a man suddenly appeared in the
-midst of them.
-
-"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said in a surprise. "What chance brings you
-this way?"
-
-"I was looking for you."
-
-"What do you want with me?"
-
-"To give you some good news."
-
-"Speak! Speak quickly, father! Has Don Miguel left his prison?"
-
-"Alas! Not yet; but his daughter is free!"
-
-"Dona Clara free!" Valentine shouted joyously. "Heaven be blessed! Where
-is she?"
-
-"She is temporarily in safety, be assured of that; but let me give you a
-warning, which may perhaps prove useful to you."
-
-"Speak! Speak!"
-
-"By order of the governor, Red Cedar has gone to meet the regiment of
-dragoons, coming up to reinforce the Santa Fe garrison."
-
-"_Caramba_," Valentine said, "are you sure of your statement, father?"
-
-"I am: in my presence, the men who carried off Dona Clara spoke about
-it."
-
-"All is lost if these soldiers arrive."
-
-"Yes," the missionary said; "but, how to prevent it?"
-
-Curumilla lightly touched the leader's arm.
-
-"What do you want, chief!"
-
-"The Comanches are warriors," Curumilla answered, curtly.
-
-"Ah!" Valentine exclaimed, and tapping his forehead with delight, "that
-is true, chief; you save us."
-
-Curumilla smiled with pleasure.
-
-"While you go in pursuit of the soldiers," said Don Pablo, "as I can be
-of no service to you, I will accompany Father Seraphin to my poor
-sister, whom I have not seen so long, and am eager to embrace."
-
-"Do so," Valentine answered. "At daybreak you will bring Dona Clara to
-the camp, that I may myself deliver her to her father."
-
-"That is agreed."
-
-Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn rushed out in the plain, while Father
-Seraphin and Don Pablo returned to the town. The two gentlemen, anxious
-to join the girl, did not perceive that they were closely watched by an
-individual, who followed their every movement, while careful not to be
-seen by them. It was Nathan, Red Cedar's eldest son.
-
-How was that man there?
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXIX.
-
-THE AMBUSCADE.
-
-
-The nigh breeze had swept the clouds away; the sky, of a deep azure, was
-studded with an infinity of stars; the night was limpid, the atmosphere
-so transparent as to allow the slightest varieties of the landscape to
-be distinguished. About four leagues from Santa Fe, a numerous band of
-horsemen was following a path scarce traced in the tall grass, which
-approached the town with countless turns and windings. These horsemen,
-who marched in rather decent order, were nearly 600 in number, and
-formed the regiment of dragoons so anxiously expected by General
-Ventura.
-
-About ten paces ahead rode four or five officers gaily chatting
-together, among whom was the colonel. The regiment continued its march
-slowly, advancing cautiously, through fear of losing its way in a
-perfectly strange country. The colonel and his officers who had always
-fought in the States bordering the Atlantic, found themselves now for
-the first time in these savage countries.
-
-"Caballeros," the colonel suddenly remarked, "I confess to you that I am
-completely ignorant as to our whereabouts. Can any one of you throw a
-light on the subject? This road is fearful, it seems to lead nowhere,
-and I am afraid we have lost our way."
-
-"We are all as ignorant as yourself on that head, colonel," an officer
-answered, "not one of us could say where we are."
-
-"On my word!" the colonel went on, taking a glance of satisfaction
-around, "We are not in a hurry to reach Santa Fe. I suppose it makes
-little difference whether we get there today or tomorrow. I believe that
-the best thing for us to do is to bivouac here for the rest of the
-night; at sunrise we will start again."
-
-"You are right, colonel," the officer said, whom he seemed to address
-most particularly, "a few hours' delay is of no consequence, and we run
-the risk of going out of our course."
-
-"Give the order to halt."
-
-The officer immediately obeyed; the soldiers, wearied with a long
-night's march, greeted with shouts of joy the order to stop. They
-dismounted. The horses were unsaddled and picketed, campfires were
-lighted, in less than an hour the bivouac was arranged.
-
-The colonel, in desiring to camp for the night, had a more serious fear
-than that of losing his way; it was that of falling in with a party of
-_Indios bravos._
-
-The colonel was brave, and had proved it on many occasions; grown gray
-in harness, he was an old soldier who feared nothing in the world
-particularly; but accustomed to warfare in the interior of the Republic,
-had never seen opposed to him any but civilised foes, he professed for
-the Indians that instinctive fear which all the Mexicans entertain, and
-he would not risk a fight with an Apache or Comanche war party in the
-middle of the night, in a country whose resources he did not know, and
-run the risk of having his regiment cut to pieces by such Protean
-enemies. On the other hand, he was unaware that the governor of Santa Fe
-had such pressing need of his presence, and this authorised him in
-acting with the utmost precaution. Still, as soon as the bivouac was
-established, and the sentries posted, the colonel sent off a dozen
-resolute men under an Alferez, to trot up the country and try to procure
-a guide.
-
-We will observe, in passing, that in Spanish America, so soon as you
-leave the capitals, such as Lima, or Mexico, roads, such as we
-understand them in Europe, no longer exist; you only find paths traced,
-in nine cases out of ten, by the footprints of wild beasts, and which
-are so entangled one with the other, that, unless you have been long
-accustomed to them, it is almost impossible to find your way. The
-Spaniards, we grant, laid out wide and firm roads, but since the War of
-Independence, they had been cut up, deteriorated and so abandoned by the
-neglect of the ephemeral governments that have followed each other in
-Mexico, that with the exception of the great highways of communication
-in the interior of the country, the rest had disappeared under the
-herbage.
-
-The little squad of troopers sent out to beat up the country had started
-at a gallop, but it soon reduced its pace, and the soldiers and sergeant
-began laughing and talking, caring little for the important mission with
-which they were intrusted. The moon rose on the horizon, shedding her
-fantastic rays over the ground. As we have said, it was one of those
-lovely nights of the American desert full of strange odours. A majestic
-silence hovered over the plain, only disturbed at intervals by those
-sounds, without any known cause, which are heard on the savannahs, and
-which seem to be the respiration of the sleeping world. Suddenly the
-mockingbird sung twice, and its plaintive and soft song resounded
-melodiously through the air.
-
-"Hallo," one of the dragoons said, addressing his comrade, "that's a
-bird that sings very late."
-
-"An evil omen," the other said with a shake of his head.
-
-"_Canarios_! What omen are you talking about, comrade?"
-
-"I have always heard say," the second, speaker remarked sententiously,
-"that when you hear a bird sing on your left at night it predicts
-misfortune."
-
-"The deuce confound you and your prognostics."
-
-At this moment the song, which appeared previously some distance off,
-could be heard much more close, and seemed to come from some trees on
-the side of the path the dragoons were following. The Alferez raised his
-head and stopped, as if mechanically trying to explain the sound that
-smote his ears; but all became silent again, so he shook his head and
-continued his conversation. The detachment had been out more than an
-hour. During this long stroll, the soldiers had discovered nothing
-suspicious; as for the guide they sought, it is needless to say that
-they had not found him, for they had not met a living soul. The Alferez
-was about to give orders to return to camp, when one of the troopers
-pointed out to him some heavy, black forms, apparently prowling about
-unsuspiciously.
-
-"What on earth can that be?" the officer asked, after carefully
-examining what was pointed out to him.
-
-"_Caspita_," one of the dragoons exclaimed, "that is easy to see; they
-are browsing deer!"
-
-"Deer!" said the Alferez, in whom the hunter's instinct was suddenly
-aroused, "there are at least thirty; suppose we try to catch some."
-
-"It is difficult."
-
-"Pshaw!" another soldier shouted, "It is light enough for each of us to
-send them a bullet."
-
-"You must by no means use your carbines," the Alferez interposed
-sharply; "if our shots, re-echoed through the mountains, caught the ears
-of the Indians, who are probably ambushed in the thickets, we should be
-ruined."
-
-"What is to be done, then?"
-
-"Lasso them, _caspita_, as you wish to try and catch them."
-
-"That is true; I did not think of that."
-
-The dragoons, delighted at the opportunity of indulging in their
-favourite sport, dismounted, fastened their horses to the roadside trees
-and seized their lassos. They then advanced cautiously toward the deer,
-which continued grazing tranquilly, without appearing to suspect that
-enemies were so near them. On arriving at a short distance from the
-game, the dragoons separated in order to have room for whirling their
-lassos, and making a covering of each tree, they managed to approach
-within fifteen paces of the animals. Then they stopped, exchanged
-glances, carefully calculated the distance, and, at a signal from their
-leader, sent their lassos whizzing through the air.
-
-A strange thing happened at this moment, however. All the deer hides
-fell simultaneously to the ground, displaying Valentine, Curumilla, and
-a dozen Comanche warriors, who, profiting by the stupor of the troopers
-at their extraordinary metamorphosis, hunted the hunters by throwing
-lassos over their shoulders and hurled them to the ground. The ten
-dragoons and their leader were prisoners.
-
-"Well, my friends," Valentine said with a grin, "how do you like that
-sort of fun?"
-
-The startled dragoons made no reply, but allowed themselves to be bound;
-one alone muttered between his teeth:--
-
-"I was quite sure that villain of a mockingbird would bring us ill luck;
-it sang on our left. That never deceives, _Canarios!_"
-
-Valentine smiled at this sally. He then placed two fingers in his mouth
-and imitated the cry of the mockingbird with such perfection, that the
-soldier looked up at the trees. He had scarce ended, when a rustling was
-heard among the bushes, and a man leaped between the hunters and their
-prisoners. It was Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-A FRIENDLY DISCUSSION.
-
-
-After leaving his enemy (for the mysterious man with whom he had so
-stormy a discussion could be nothing else), Red Cedar set out to join
-the regiment, and hasten its arrival according to the orders he had
-received. In spite of himself, the squatter was suffering from
-extraordinary nervousness, and involuntarily he went over the various
-points of the conversation with the person who took such precautions in
-communicating with him. The threats he had proffered recurred to his
-mind. It appeared as if the bandit, who feared nothing in the world, had
-good reason, however, for trembling in the presence of the man who, for
-more than an hour, had crushed him with his irony. What reason could be
-so powerful as to produce so startling a change in this indomitable
-being? No one could have said; for the squatter was master of his
-secret, and would have mercilessly killed anybody he suspected of having
-read even a portion of it.
-
-The reason was, at any rate, very powerful; for after a few minutes of
-deep thought, his hand let go the reins and his head fell on his breast:
-the horse, no longer feeling the curb, stopped and began nibbling the
-young tree shoots. The squatter did not notice this halt; he was
-thinking, and hoarse exclamations now and then came from his chest, like
-the growling of a wild beast. At length he raised his head.
-
-"No," he shouted, as he directed a savage glance at the starlit sky,
-"any struggle with that demon is impossible. I must fly, so soon as
-possible, to the prairies of the far west. I will leave this implacable
-foe; I will fly from him, as the lion does, carrying off my prey in my
-claws. I have not a moment to lose. What do I care for the Spaniards and
-their paltry disputes? General Ventura will seek another emissary, for
-more important matters claim my attention. I must go to the Rancho del
-Coyote, for there alone I shall find my revenge. Fray Ambrosio and his
-prisoner can supply me with the weapons I need for the terrible contest
-I am compelled to wage against that demon who comes straight from hell,
-and whom I will send back there."
-
-After having uttered these words in a low voice, in the fashion of men
-wont to live in solitude, Red Cedar appeared to regain all his boldness
-and energy. He looked savagely around, and, burying his spurs in his
-horse's flanks, he started with the speed of an arrow in the direction
-of the rancho, which he had left but a few hours previously, and where
-his two accomplices still remained.
-
-The monk and the gambusino, delighted at the unforeseen termination of
-the scene we recently narrated, delighted above all at having got rid of
-Dona Clara without being immediately mixed up in her escape, tranquilly
-resumed their game of _monte_, and played with that mental satisfaction
-produced by the certainty of having nothing to reproach themselves with,
-disputing with the utmost obstinacy for the few reals they still
-happened to have in their pockets. In the midst of a most interesting
-game, they heard the furious gallop of a horse up the paved street.
-Instinctively they stopped and listened; a secret foreboding seemed to
-warn them that this horse was coming to the rancho, and that its rider
-wanted them.
-
-In truth, neither Fray Ambrosio nor Andres Garote had a quiet
-conscience, even supposing, which was very doubtful, that either had a
-conscience at all, for they felt they were responsible to Red Cedar for
-Dona Clara. Now that the maiden had escaped like, a bird flying from its
-cage, their position with their terrible ally appeared to them in all
-its desperate gravity. They did not conceal from themselves that the
-squatter would demand a severe account of their conduct, and despite
-their cunning and roguishness, they knew not how they should get out of
-it. The sharp gallop of the approaching horse heightened their
-perplexity. They dared not communicate their fears to each other, but
-they sat with heads bent forward, foreseeing that they would soon have
-to sustain a very firm attack.
-
-The horse stopped short before the rancho; a man dismounted, and the
-door shook beneath the tremendous blows of his fists.
-
-"Hum!" the gambusino whispered, as he blew out the solitary candle that
-illumined the room. "Who the deuce can come at this advanced hour of the
-night! I have a great mind not to open."
-
-Strange to say, Fray Ambrosio had apparently regained all his serenity.
-With a smiling face, crossed arms, and back leaned against the wall, he
-seemed to be a perfect stranger to what perplexed his mate so furiously.
-At Garote's remark an ironical smile played round his pale lips for a
-second, and he replied with the most perfect indifference--
-
-"You are at liberty to act as you please, gossip; still I think it my
-duty to warn you of one thing?"
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"That, if you do not open your door, the man, whoever he may be, now
-battering it, is very capable of breaking it in, which would be a
-decided nuisance for you."
-
-"You speak very much at your ease, senor Padre," the gambusino answered,
-ill-temperedly. "Suppose it be Red Cedar?"
-
-"The greater reason to open the door. If you hesitate, he will begin to
-suspect you; and then take care, for he is a man capable of killing you
-like a dog."
-
-"That is possible; but do you think that, in such a case, you will
-escape with clean hands?"
-
-Fray Ambrosio looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, but made no further
-answer.
-
-"Will you open, _demonios_?" a rough voice shouted.
-
-"Red Cedar!" both men whispered.
-
-"I am coming," Andres replied, in a voice which terror caused to
-tremble.
-
-He rose unwillingly, and walked slowly towards the door, which the
-squatter threatened to tear from its hinges.
-
-"A little patience, caballero," the gambusino said, in that honeyed
-voice peculiar to Mexicans when they meditate some roguery. "Coming,
-coming."
-
-And he began unbarring the door.
-
-"Make haste!" the squatter howled, "For I am in a hurry."
-
-"Hum! It is surely he!" the gambusino thought. "Who are you?" he asked.
-
-"What! Who am I?" Red Cedar exclaimed, bounding with wrath. "Did you not
-recognise me, or are you having a game with me?"
-
-"I never have a game with anyone," Andres replied, imperturbably: "but I
-warn you that, although I fancy I recognise your voice, I shall not open
-till you mention your name. The night is too far advanced for me to risk
-receiving a suspicious person into my house."
-
-"I will break the door down."
-
-"Try it," the gambusino shouted boldly, "and by our Lady of Pilar I will
-send a bullet through your head."
-
-At this threat the squatter rushed against the door in incredible fury,
-with the evident intention of breaking it in; but, contrary to his
-expectations, though it creaked and groaned on its hinges, it did not
-give way. Andres Garote had indulged in a line of reasoning which was
-far from being illogical, and revealed a profound knowledge of the human
-heart. He had said to himself, that, as he must face Red Cedar's anger,
-it would be better to let it reach its paroxysm at once so as to have
-only the decreasing period to endure. He smiled at the American's
-sterile attempts, then, and repeated his request.
-
-"Well, then," the other said, furiously, "I am Red Cedar. Do you
-recognise me now, you devil's own Gachupino?"
-
-"Of course; I see that I can open without danger to your Excellency."
-
-And the gambusino hurriedly drew back the bolts.
-
-Red Cedar rushed into the room with a yell of fury, but Andres had put
-out the light. The squatter stopped, surprised by the gloom which
-prevented him distinguishing any object.
-
-"Hallo!" he said. "What is the meaning of this darkness? I can see
-nothing."
-
-"_Caspita_!" Andres replied, impudently, "Do you think I amuse myself o'
-nights by watching the moon? I was asleep, compadre, when you came to
-arouse me with your infernal hammerings."
-
-"That is possible," the squatter remarked; "but that was no reason for
-keeping me so long at your door."
-
-"Prudence is the mother of security. We must not let every comer enter
-the rancho."
-
-"Certainly not; I approve of that. Still, you must have recognised my
-voice."
-
-"True. Still I might be mistaken; it is difficult to know anyone through
-the thickness of a door; that is why I wished you to give your name."
-
-"Very good, then," Red Cedar said, as if tired of combating arguments
-which did not convince him. "And where is Fray Ambrosio?"
-
-"Here, I suppose."
-
-"He has not left the rancho?"
-
-"No; unless he took advantage of your arrival to do so."
-
-"Why should he do that?"
-
-"I don't know; you question, and I answer; that's all."
-
-"Why does he not speak, if he is here?"
-
-"He is possibly asleep."
-
-"After the row I made, that is highly improbable."
-
-"Hang it, he may be a hard sleeper."
-
-"Hum!" the squatter snorted, suspiciously; "Light the candle."
-
-Andres struck a match, and Red Cedar looked eagerly round the room Fray
-Ambrosio had disappeared.
-
-"Where is the monk?" the American asked.
-
-"I do not know: probably gone."
-
-The squatter shook his head.
-
-"All this is not clear," he muttered; "there is treachery behind it."
-
-"That is possible," the gambusino answered, calmly.
-
-Red Cedar bent on Andres eyes that flashed with fury, and roughly seized
-him by the throat.
-
-"Answer, scoundrel?" he shouted. "What has become of Dona Clara?"
-
-The gambusino struggled, though in vain, to escape from the clutch of
-the squatter, whose fingers entered his flesh, and pressed him as in a
-vice.
-
-"Let me loose," he panted, "you are choking me!"
-
-"Where is Dona Clara?"
-
-"I do not know."
-
-The squatter squeezed more tightly.
-
-"You do not know!" he yelled.
-
-"Aie!" Andres whined, "I tell you I do not know."
-
-"Malediction!" Red Cedar went on. "I will kill you, _picaro_, if you are
-obstinate."
-
-"Let that man go, and I will tell you all you wish to know," was said in
-a firm voice by a hunter, who at this moment appeared on the threshold.
-
-The two men turned in amazement.
-
-"Nathan!" Red Cedar shouted on recognising his son. "What are you doing
-here?"
-
-"I will tell you, father," the young man said, as he entered the room.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLI.
-
-NATHAN.
-
-
-Nathan was not asleep, as Ellen supposed, when she urged on Shaw to
-devote himself to liberate Dona Clara, and he had listened attentively
-to the conversation. Nathan was a man of about thirty years of age, who,
-both physically and morally, bore a marked resemblance to his father.
-Hence the old squatter had concentrated in him all the affection which
-his uncultivated savage nature was capable of feeling. Since the fatal
-night, when the chief of the Coras had avenged himself for the burning
-of his village and the murder of its inhabitants, Nathan's character had
-grown still more gloomy; a dull and deep hatred boiled in his heart
-against the whole human race; he only dreamed of assassination: he had
-sworn in his heart to revenge on all those who fell into his hands the
-injury one man had inflicted on him; in a word, Nathan loved none and
-hated everything.
-
-When Shaw had disappeared among the bushes, and Ellen, after taking a
-final glance around to convince herself that all was in order,
-re-entered the hut that served her as a shelter, Nathan rose cautiously,
-threw his rifle over his shoulder, and rushed after his brother. Another
-reason urged him to foil Shaw and Ellen's plans; he had a double grudge
-against Don Miguel--the first for the stab the Mexican gentlemen had
-given his father; the second because Don Miguel had compelled him to
-leave the forest in which his family had so daringly installed itself.
-
-Convinced of the importance of the affair, and knowing the value the
-squatter attached to carrying off the maiden, who was a most precious
-hostage for him, Nathan did not lose a moment, but reached Santa Fe by
-the most direct route, bounding with the agility of a tiger cat over the
-obstacles that beset his path. Presently he reached an isolated house,
-not far from which several men were conversing together in a low voice.
-Nathan stopped and listened; but he was too far off, and could
-distinguish nothing. The squatter's son, reared in the desert, was
-thoroughly versed in all its stratagems; with the piercing eye of a man
-accustomed to night journeys in the prairie, he recognised well-known
-persons, and his mind was at once made up.
-
-He laid himself on the ground, and following the shadow cast by the
-moon, lest he might be perceived by the speakers, he advanced, inch by
-inch, crawling like a serpent, stopping at intervals lest the waving of
-the grass might reveal his presence, in short, employing all the
-precautions usual under such circumstances. At length he reached a clump
-of Peru trees only a few yards distant from the spot where the men he
-wished to overhear were standing. He then got up, leaned against the
-largest tree, and prepared to listen. His expectations were not
-deceived; though a few words escaped him here and there, he was near
-enough perfectly to catch the sense of the conference. This conversation
-was, in truth, most interesting to him; a sinister smile lit up his
-face, and he eagerly clenched the barrel of his rifle.
-
-Presently the party broke into two. Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn,
-took the road leading to the open country, while Don Pablo and Father
-Seraphin returned toward the town. Valentine and his two friends almost
-touched the young man as they passed, and he instinctively carried his
-hands to his pistols; they even stopped for a moment and cast suspicious
-glances at the clump that concealed their foe. While conversing in
-whispers, Unicorn drew a few branches aside and peered in; for some
-seconds Nathan felt an indescribable agony; a cold perspiration stood at
-the root of his hair and the blood coursed to his heart; in a word, he
-was afraid. He knew that if these men, his mortal enemies, discovered
-him, they would be pitiless to him and kill him like a dog. But this
-apprehension did not last longer than a lightning flash. Unicorn
-carelessly let the leafy curtain fall again, saying only one word to his
-comrades:--
-
-"Nothing."
-
-The latter resumed their march.
-
-"I do not know why," said Valentine, "but I fancy there is someone
-hidden there."
-
-"No," the chief answered, "there is nobody."
-
-"Well, be it so," the hunter muttered, with a toss of his head.
-
-So soon, as he was alone, Nathan drew two or three deep breaths, and
-started in pursuit of Don Pablo and the missionary, whom he soon caught
-up. As they did not suppose they were followed, they were conversing
-freely together.
-
-In Spanish America, where the days are so warm and the nights so fresh,
-the inhabitants, shut up at home so long as the sun calcines the ground,
-go out at nightfall to breathe a little pure air; the streets, deserted
-in consequence of the heat, are gradually peopled; benches are placed
-before the doors, on which persons recline to smoke and gossip, drink
-orangeade, strum the guitar, and sing. Frequently the entire night is
-passed in these innocent amusements, and folks do not return home till
-dawn, in order to indulge in the sleep so grateful after this long
-watch. Hence the Hispano-American towns must be especially visited by
-night, if you wish to judge truthfully the nature of this people--a
-strange composite of the most discordant contrasts, who only live for
-enjoyment, and only accept from existence the most intoxicating
-pleasures. Still, on the night to which we refer, the town of Santa Fe,
-usually so laughing and chattering, was plunged into a gloomy sadness,
-the streets were deserted, the doors closed; no light filtered through
-the hermetically closed windows; all slept or at least feigned to sleep.
-The fact was, that Santa Fe was at this moment in a state of mortal
-agitation, caused by the condemnation of Don Miguel Zarate, the richest
-land owner in the province--a man who was loved and revered by the whole
-population. The agitation took its origin in the unexpected apparition
-of the Comanche war detachment--those ferocious enemies whose cruelties
-have become proverbial on the Mexican frontier, and whose presence
-presaged nothing good.
-
-Don Pablo and his companion walked quickly, like persons anxious to
-reach a place where they knew they are expected, exchanging but a few
-words at intervals, whose meaning, however, caught up by the man who
-followed them, urged them still more not to let them out of sight. They
-thus traversed the greater part of the town, and on reaching the Calle
-de la Merced, they stopped at their destination--a house of handsome
-aspect.
-
-A weak light burned at the window of a ground floor room. By an
-instinctive movement, the two gentlemen turned round at the moment of
-entering the house but Nathan had slipped into a doorway, and they did
-not perceive him. Father Seraphin tapped gently; the door was at once
-opened, and they went in. Nathan stationed himself in the middle of the
-street, with his eye ardently fixed on the only window of the house lit
-up. Ere long, shadows crossed the curtains.
-
-"Good!" the young man muttered; "But how to warn the old one that the
-dove is in her nest?"
-
-All at once, a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, and Nathan turned,
-fiercely clutching a bowie knife. A man was before him, gloomy, silent
-and wrapped in the thick folds of his cloak. The American started.
-
-"Go your way," he said in a menacing voice.
-
-"What are you doing here?" the stranger asked.
-
-"How does that concern you? The street is free to all."
-
-"No."
-
-This word was pronounced with a sharp accent. Nathan tried in vain to
-scan the features of the man with whom he had to deal.
-
-"Give way," he said, "or blood will surely be shed between us."
-
-As sole reply, the stranger took a pistol in his right hand, a knife in
-his left.
-
-"Ah!" Nathan said, mockingly, "You mean fighting."
-
-"For the last time, withdraw."
-
-"Nonsense, you are mad, senor Caballero; the road belongs to all, I tell
-you. This place suits me, and I shall remain."
-
-"I wish to be alone here."
-
-"You mean to kill me, then?"
-
-"If I must, yes, without hesitation."
-
-The two speakers had exchanged these words in a low and hurried voice,
-in less time than we have employed to write them. They stood but a few
-paces apart with flashing eyes, ready to rush on each other. Nathan
-returned his pistol to his belt.
-
-"No noise," he said; "the knife will do; besides, we are in a country
-where that is the only weapon in use."
-
-"Be it so," the stranger replied; "then, you will not give way to me?"
-
-"You would laugh at me if I did," the American said with a grin.
-
-"Then your blood will be on your own head."
-
-"Or on yours."
-
-The two foemen each fell back a pace, and stood on guard, with their
-cloaks rolled round their left arms. The moon, veiled by clouds, shed no
-light; the darkness was perfect; midnight struck from the cathedral; the
-voice of the _serenos_ chanting the hour could be heard in the distance,
-announcing that all was quiet. There was a moment's hesitation, which
-the enemies employed in scrutinising each other. Suddenly Nathan uttered
-a hoarse yell rushed on his enemy, and threw his cloak in his face, to
-put him on his guard. The stranger parried the stroke dealt him, and
-replied by another, guarded off with equal dexterity. The two men then
-seized each other round the waist, and wrestled for some minutes,
-without uttering a word; at length the stranger rolled on the ground
-with a heavy sigh; Nathan's knife was buried in his chest. The American
-rose with a yell of triumph--his enemy was motionless.
-
-"Can I have killed him?" Nathan muttered.
-
-He returned his knife to his vaquera boot, and bent over the wounded
-man. All at once he started back, for he had recognised his brother
-Shaw.
-
-"What is to be done now?" he said; but then added carelessly, "Pshaw!
-all the worse for him. Why did he come across my path?"
-
-And, leaving there the body of the young man, who gave no sign of life--
-
-"Well, Heaven knows, I ought not, and could not have hesitated," he
-said.
-
-Shaw lay to all appearance dead, with pale and drawn cheeks, in the
-centre of the street.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLII.
-
-THE WOUNDED MAN.
-
-
-Nathan proceeded straight to the Rancho del Coyote, where his unexpected
-arrival was a blessing for Andres Garote, whom the old squatter was
-treating very roughly. On hearing his son's words, Red Cedar let go of
-the gambusino, who tottered back against the wall.
-
-"Well," he asked, "where is Dona Clara?"
-
-"Come with me, father," the young man answered; "I will lead you to
-her."
-
-"You know her hiding place, then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And so do I," Fray Ambrosio shouted, as he rushed into the room with
-discomfited features; "I felt sure I should discover her."
-
-Red Cedar looked at him in amazement, but the monk did not wince.
-
-"What has happened to her?" the squatter said presently, as he looked
-suspiciously from the monk to the gambusino.
-
-"A very simple matter," Fray Ambrosio answered, with an inimitably
-truthful accent; "about two hours back your son Shaw came here."
-
-"Shaw!" the squatter exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, the youngest of your sons; he is called so, I think?"
-
-"Yes; go on."
-
-"Very good. He presented himself to us as coming from you to remove our
-prisoner."
-
-"And what did you do?" the squatter asked, impatiently.
-
-"What could we do?"
-
-"Why, oppose the girl's departure."
-
-"_Caspita_! Do you fancy we let her go so?" the monk asked,
-imperturbably.
-
-The squatter looked at him in surprise--he no longer understood
-anything. Like all men of action, discussion was to him almost a matter
-of impossibility; especially with an adversary so crafty as the one he
-had before him. Deceived by the monk's coolness and the apparent
-frankness of his answers, he wished to make an end of it.
-
-"Come," he said, "how did all this finish?"
-
-"Thanks to an ally who came to your son's help, and to whom we were
-obliged to bow--"
-
-"An ally! What man can be so bold as to dare--"
-
-"Eh!" the monk sharply interrupted Red Cedar, "that man is a priest, to
-whom you have already bowed many a time."
-
-"You are jesting, senor Padre," the squatter exclaimed, savagely.
-
-"Not the least in the world. Had it been anyone else, I should have
-resisted; but I, too, belong to the Church; and, as Father Seraphin is
-my superior, I was forced to obey him."
-
-"What!" the squatter said, with a groan, "Is he not dead?"
-
-"It appears," the monk remarked, ironically, "as if those you kill are
-all in good state of health, Red Cedar."
-
-At this allusion to Don Pablo's death, the squatter stifled a cry of
-anger, and clenched his fists.
-
-"Good!" he said; "If I do not always kill, I know how to take my
-revenge. Where is Dona Clara, at this moment?"
-
-"In a house no great distance from here," Nathan answered.
-
-"Have you seen her?" the squatter asked.
-
-"No; but I followed Don Pablo and the missionary to that house, which
-they entered, and as they were ignorant that I was close to them, their
-conversation left me no doubt as to the whereabouts of the girl."
-
-An ill-omened smile momentarily lit up the old bandit's features.
-
-"Good!" he said; "as the dove is in her nest, we shall be able to find
-her. What o'clock is it?"
-
-"Three in the morning," Andres interjected. "Day will soon break."
-
-"We must make haste, then. Follow me, all of you." Then he added, "But
-what has become of Shaw? Does anyone of you know?"
-
-"You will probably find him at the door of Dona Clara's house," Nathan
-said, in a hollow voice.
-
-"How so? Has my son entered into a compact with my enemies?"
-
-"Yes; as he arranged with them to carry off your prisoner."
-
-"Oh! I will kill him if he prove a traitor!" the squatter shouted with
-an accent that made the blood run cold in the veins of his hearers.
-
-Nathan fell back two steps, drew his knife from his boot, and showed it
-to his father.
-
-"That is done," he said, harshly. "Shaw tried to stab me, so I killed
-him."
-
-After these mournful words, there was a moment of silence in the rancho.
-All these men, though their hearts were steeled by crime, shuddered
-involuntarily. Without, the night was gloomy; the wind whistled sadly;
-the flickering light of the candle threw a weird light over the scene,
-which contained a certain degree of terrible poetry. The squatter passed
-his hard hand over his dank brow. A sigh, like a howl, painfully forced
-its way from his oppressed chest.
-
-"He was my last born," he said, in a voice broken by an emotion he could
-not control. "He deserved death, but he ought not to have received it at
-his brother's hands."
-
-"Father!" Nathan muttered.
-
-"Silence!" Red Cedar shouted, in a hollow voice, as he stamped his foot
-passionately on the ground; "What is done cannot be undone; but woe to
-my enemies' family! Oh! I feel now that I can take such vengeance on
-them as will make all shudder who hear it spoken of!"
-
-After uttering these words, which were listened to in silence, the
-squatter walked a few steps up the rancho. He approached a table, seized
-a bottle half full of mezcal that stood on it, and emptied it at a
-draught. When he had finished drinking, he threw down the bottle, which
-broke with a crash, and said to his mates in a hollow voice--
-
-"Let us be off! We have wasted too much time here already!"
-
-And he rushed out of the rancho, the others following close at his
-heels.
-
-In the meanwhile, Don Pablo and Father Seraphin were in the house. The
-priest had taken the maiden to the house of an honest family which owed
-him great obligations, and was too happy to receive the poor sufferer.
-The missionary did not intend, however, to let her be long a burthen to
-these worthy people. At daybreak he intended to deliver her to certain
-relations of her father, who inhabited a hacienda a few leagues from
-Santa Fe.
-
-Dona Clara had been placed in a comfortable room by her hosts. Their
-first care had been to make her doff the Indian robes for others more
-suitable to her birth and position. The maiden worn out by poignant
-emotions of the scene she had witnessed, was on the point of retiring to
-bed, when Father Seraphin and Don Pablo tapped at the door of her room.
-She hastily opened it, and the sight of her brother, whom she had not
-hoped to see so speedily, overwhelmed her with joy.
-
-An hour soon slipped away in pleasant chat. Don Pablo was careful not to
-tell his sister of the misfortune that had befallen her father; for he
-did not wish to dull by that confession the joy the poor girl promised
-herself for the morrow. Then, as the night was advancing, the two men
-withdrew, so as to allow her to enjoy that rest so needed to strengthen
-her for the long journey to the hacienda, promising to come and fetch
-her in a few hours. Father Seraphin generously offered Don Pablo to pass
-the night with him by sharing the small lodging he had not far from the
-Plaza de la Merced, and the young man eagerly accepted. It was too late
-to seek a lodging at a locanda, and in this way he would be all the
-sooner with his sister next morning. After a lengthened leave-taking,
-they, therefore, left the house, and, so soon as they were gone, Dona
-Clara threw herself, ready dressed, into a hammock hanging at one end of
-the room, when she speedily fell asleep.
-
-On reaching the street, Don Pablo saw a body lying motionless in front
-of the house.
-
-"What's this?" he asked, in surprise.
-
-"A poor wretch whom the ladrones killed in order to plunder him," the
-missionary answered.
-
-"That is possible."
-
-"Perhaps he is not quite dead," the missionary went on; "it is our duty
-to succour him."
-
-"For what good?" Don Pablo said, with an air of indifference; "if a
-sereno were to pass he might accuse us of having killed the man."
-
-"Nay, sir," the missionary observed, "the ways of the Lord are
-impenetrable. If He allowed us to come across this unhappy man, it was
-because He judged in His wisdom that we might prove of use to him."
-
-"Be it so," the young man said; "let us look at him, as you wish it. But
-you know that in this country good actions of such a nature generally
-entail annoyance."
-
-"That is true, my son. Well, we will run the risk," said the missionary,
-who had already bent over the wounded man.
-
-"As you please," Don Pablo said, as he followed him.
-
-Shaw, for it was he, gave no signs of life. The missionary examined him,
-then rose hastily, seized Don Pablo's arm, and drew him to him, as he
-whispered--
-
-"Look!"
-
-"Shaw!" the Mexican exclaimed, in surprise; "What could that man be
-doing here?"
-
-"Help me, and we shall learn. The poor fellow has only fainted; and the
-loss of blood has produced this semblance to death."
-
-Don Pablo, greatly perplexed by this singular meeting, obeyed the
-missionary without further remark. The two men raised the wounded lad,
-and carried him gently to Father Seraphin's lodging, where they proposed
-to give him all the help his condition required.
-
-They had scarce turned the corner of the street, when several men
-appeared at the other extremity. They were Red Cedar and his
-confederates. On arriving in front of the house they stopped: all the
-windows were in the deepest obscurity.
-
-"Which is the girl's room?" the squatter asked in a whisper.
-
-"This one," Nathan said, as he pointed to it.
-
-Red Cedar crawled up to the house, drove his dagger into the wall,
-raised himself to the window, and placed his face against a pane.
-
-"All is well! She sleeps!" he said, when he came down. "You, Fray
-Ambrosio, to one corner of the street; you, Garote, to the other, and do
-not let me be surprised."
-
-The monk and the gambusino went to their allotted posts. When Red Cedar
-was alone with his son he bent and whispered in his ear--
-
-"What did you do with your brother after stabbing him?"
-
-"I left him on the spot where he fell."
-
-"Where was that?"
-
-"Just where we now stand."
-
-The squatter stooped down to the ground, and walked a few steps,
-carefully examining the bloody traces left on the pebbles.
-
-"He has been carried off," he said, when he rose again. "Perhaps he is
-not dead."
-
-"Perhaps so," the young man observed, with a shake of his head.
-
-His father gave him a most significant look.
-
-"To work," he said coldly.
-
-And they prepared to escalade the window.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIII.
-
-INDIAN DIPLOMACY.
-
-
-We will return, for the present, to Valentine and his comrades.
-
-The sudden apparition of the sachem of the Coras had produced a certain
-degree of emotion among the hunters and the Comanches. Valentine, the
-first to recover from his surprise, addressed Eagle-wing.
-
-"My brother is welcome," he said, as he held out his hand, which the
-Indian warmly pressed, "What news does the chief bring us?"
-
-"Good," the Coras answered laconically.
-
-"All the better," the hunter said gaily; "for some time past all we have
-received has been so bad that my brother's will create a diversion."
-
-The Indian smiled at this sally, but made no remark.
-
-"My brother can speak," Valentine continued; "he is surrounded by none
-but friends."
-
-"I know it," the chief answered, as he bowed gracefully to the company.
-"Since I left my brother two months have passed away: I have worn out
-many moccasins amid the thorns and brambles of the desert; I have been
-beyond the Great Lakes to the villages of my nation."
-
-"Good; my brother is a chief; he was doubtless well received by the
-sachems of the Coras of the Great Lakes."
-
-"Mookapec is a renowned warrior among his people," the Indian answered
-proudly; "his place by the council fire of the nation is pointed out.
-The chiefs saw him with joy: on his road he had taken the scalps of
-seven gachupinos: they are now drying before the great medicine lodge."
-
-"It was your right to do so, chief, and I cannot blame you. The
-Spaniards have done you harm enough for you to requite them."
-
-"My brother speaks well; his skin is white, but his heart is red."
-
-"Hum," observed Valentine; "I am a friend to justice; vengeance is
-permissible against treachery. Go on, chief."
-
-The hunter's comrades had drawn nearer, and now formed a circle round
-the two speakers. Curumilla was occupied silently, as was his wont, in
-completely stripping each Spanish prisoner, whom he then bound in such a
-way that the slightest movement was impossible.
-
-Valentine, although time pressed, knew too well the Redskin character to
-try and hurry Eagle-wing on. He felt certain that the chief had
-important news to communicate to him; but it would have been no use
-trying to draw it from him; hence he allowed him to act as he pleased.
-Unicorn, leaning on his rifle, listened attentively, without evincing
-the slightest impatience.
-
-"Did my brother remain long with his tribe," Valentine continued.
-
-"Two suns. Eagle-wing had left behind him friends to whom his heart drew
-him."
-
-"Thanks, chief, for the pleasant recollections of us."
-
-"The chiefs assembled in council to hear the words of Eagle-wing," the
-Coras continued. "They shuddered with fury on hearing of the massacre of
-their children; but Mookapec had formed his plan, and two hundred
-warriors are assembled beneath his _totem_."
-
-"Good!" said Valentine, "the chief will avenge himself."
-
-The Indian smiled.
-
-"Yes," he said, "my young men have their orders, they know what I mean
-to do."
-
-"Very good; in that case they are near here?"
-
-"No," the chief replied, with a shake of his head. "Eagle-wing does not
-march with them; he has hidden himself under the skin of an Apache dog."
-
-"What does my brother say?" Valentine asked with amazement.
-
-"My white brother is quick," Unicorn said, sententiously; "he will let
-Mookapec speak. He is a great sachem, and wisdom dwells in him."
-
-Valentine shook his head, however, and said--
-
-"Hum! Answering one act of treachery by another, that is not the way in
-which the warriors of my nation behave."
-
-"The nation of my brother is great, and strong as the grizzly bear,"
-Unicorn said; "it does not need to march along hidden paths. The poor
-Indians are weak as the beaver, but like him they are very cunning."
-
-"That is true," Valentine replied, "cunning must be allowed you in
-dealing with the implacable enemies who surround you. I was wrong; so go
-on, chief; tell us what deviltry you have invented, and if it is
-ingenious. Well, I will be the first to applaud it."
-
-"Wah, my brother shall judge. Red Cedar is about to enter the desert, as
-my brother doubtless knows?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Does my brother know the _Gringo_ has asked the Apaches for a guide?"
-
-"No, I did not."
-
-"Good. Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, sent a Navajo warrior
-to act as guide to Red Cedar."
-
-"Well?"
-
-"The Navajo was scalped by Eagle-wing."
-
-"Ah, ah! Then Red Cedar cannot set out?"
-
-"Yes, he can do so when he likes."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Because Eagle-wing takes the place of the guide."
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"My brother has a deal of wisdom," he said.
-
-"Hum!" Valentine remarked, with some show of ill-humour. "It is
-possible, but you play for a heavy stake, chief. That old villain is as
-crafty as ten monkeys and ten opossums united. I warn you that he will
-recognise you."
-
-"No."
-
-"I wish it; for if he does, you are a lost man."
-
-"Good, my brother can be easy. Eagle-wing is a warrior; he will see the
-white hunter again in the desert."
-
-"I wish so, chief; but I doubt. However, act as you please. When will
-you join Red Cedar?"
-
-"This night."
-
-"You are going to leave us?"
-
-"At once. Eagle-wing has nothing more to confide to his brother."
-
-And, after bowing courteously to the company, the Coras chief glided
-into the thicket, in which he disappeared almost instantaneously.
-Valentine looked after him for some time.
-
-"Yes," he said at last, with a thoughtful air, "his project is a daring
-one, such as might be expected from so great a warrior. May heaven
-protect him, and allow him to succeed! Well, we shall see; perhaps all
-is for the best so."
-
-And he turned to Curumilla.
-
-"The clothes?" he said.
-
-"Here they are," the Aucas answered, laconically, as he pointed to an
-enormous heap of clothing.
-
-"What does my brother mean to do with them?" Unicorn asked.
-
-"My brother will see," Valentine said, with a smile, "each of us is
-going to put on one of those uniforms."
-
-The Comanche drew himself up hastily.
-
-"No," he said, "Unicorn does not put off the dress of his people. What
-need have we of this disguise?"
-
-"In order to enter the camp of the Spaniards without being discovered."
-
-"Wah! For what good? Unicorn will summon his young men to cut a passage
-through the corpses of the gachupinos."
-
-But Valentine shook his head mournfully.
-
-"It is true," he remarked, "we could do so. But why shed blood
-needlessly? No; let my brother put confidence in me."
-
-"The hunter will act rightly. Unicorn knows it, and he leaves him free;
-but Unicorn is a chief, he cannot put on the clothes of the palefaces."
-
-Valentine no longer insisted, as it would have been unavailing; so he
-agreed to modify his plan. He made each of his comrades put on a dragoon
-uniform, and himself donned the clothes stripped from the Alferez. When
-all this metamorphosis was as complete as possible, he turned to
-Unicorn.
-
-"The chief will remain here," he said, "to guard the prisoners."
-
-"Good," the Comanche answered. "Is Unicorn, then, a chattering old
-woman, that warriors place him on one side?"
-
-"My brother does not understand me. I do not wish to insult him, but he
-cannot enter the camp with us."
-
-The chief shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.
-
-"The Comanche warriors can crawl as well as serpents. Unicorn will
-enter."
-
-"Let my brother come, then, since he wishes it."
-
-"Good; my brother is vexed; a cloud has passed over his face. He is
-wrong; his friend loves him."
-
-"I know it, chief, I know it. I am not vexed, but my heart is sad to see
-a warrior thus run the risk of being killed without any necessity."
-
-"Unicorn is a sachem; he must give an example to his young men on the
-warpath."
-
-Valentine gave a nod of assent.
-
-"Here are the horses of the palefaces," Curumilla said; "my brother will
-need them."
-
-"That is true," the hunter answered, with a smile; "my brother is a
-great chief--he thinks of everything."
-
-Everyone mounted, Unicorn alone remaining a-foot. Valentine placed the
-Alferez by his side.
-
-"Caballero," he said to him, "you will act as our guide to the camp. We
-do not wish to take the lives of your countrymen; our intention is
-simply to prevent them following us at present. Pay attention to my
-words: if you attempt to deceive us, I blow out your brains. You are
-warned."
-
-The Spaniard bowed, but made no reply. As for the prisoners, they had
-been so conscientiously tied by Curumilla that there was no chance of
-their escaping. The little band then set out, Unicorn disappearing among
-the trees. When they came a short distance from the bivouac, a sentry
-challenged, "Who goes there?"
-
-"Answer," Valentine whispered the Alferez.
-
-He did so. They passed, and the sentry, suddenly seized by Curumilla,
-was bound and gagged in the twinkling of an eye, all the other sentinels
-sharing the same fate. The Mexicans keep up a very bad watch in the
-field, even in the presence of an enemy; the greater reason, then, for
-them to neglect all precaution when they fancy themselves in safety.
-Everybody was asleep, and Valentine and his friends were masters of the
-camp. The regiment of dragoons had been surprised without striking a
-blow.
-
-Valentine's comrades dismounted; they knew exactly how to act, and did
-not deviate from the instructions given by their leader. They proceeded
-from picket to picket, removing the horses, which were led out of camp.
-Within twenty minutes all had been carried off. Valentine had anxiously
-followed the movements of his men. When they had finished, he raised the
-curtain of the colonel's tent, and found himself face to face with
-Unicorn, from whose waist-belt hung a reeking scalp. Valentine could not
-repress a movement of horror.
-
-"What have you done, chief?" he asked, reproachfully.
-
-"Unicorn has killed his enemy," the Comanche replied, peremptorily.
-"When the leader of the antelopes is killed, his flock disperses; the
-gachupinos will do the same."
-
-Valentine drew near the colonel. The unhappy man, fearfully mutilated,
-with his brain laid bare, and his heart pierced by the knife of the
-implacable Indian, lay stark dead, in a pool of blood, in the middle of
-the tent. The hunter vented a sigh at this sorry sight.
-
-"Poor devil!" he said, with an air of compassion.
-
-After this short funeral oration, he took away his sabre and epaulettes,
-left the tent, followed by the Indian chief, and rejoined his comrades.
-The horses were led to the Comanche camp, after which Valentine and his
-party wrapped themselves in their blankets, and slept calmly till
-daybreak. The dragoons were no longer to be feared.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIV.
-
-THE STRANGER.
-
-
-Father Seraphin and Don Pablo we left bearing the wounded man to the
-missionary's lodging. Although the house to which they were proceeding
-was but a short distance off, yet the two gentlemen, compelled to take
-every precaution, employed considerable time on the journey. Nearly
-every step they were compelled to halt, so as not to fatigue too greatly
-the wounded man, whose inert limbs swayed in every direction.
-
-"The man is dead," Don Pablo remarked, during a halt they made on the
-Plaza de la Merced.
-
-"I fear so," the missionary answered, sadly; "still, as we are not
-certain of it, our conscience bids us to bestow our care on him, until
-we acquire the painful conviction that it avails him nought."
-
-"Father, the love of one's neighbour often carries you too far; better
-were it, perhaps, if this wretch did not come back to life."
-
-"You are severe, my friend. This man is still young--almost a boy.
-Trained amid a family of bandits, never having aught but evil examples
-before him, he has hitherto only done evil, in a spirit of imitation.
-Who knows whether this fearful wound may not offer him the means to
-enter the society of honest people, which he has till now been ignorant
-of? I repeat to you, my friend, the ways of the Lord are inscrutable."
-
-"I will do what you wish, father. You have entire power over me. Still,
-I fear that all our care will be thrown away."
-
-"God, whose humble instruments we are, will prove you wrong, I hope.
-Come, a little courage, a few paces further, and we shall have arrived."
-
-"Come on then," Don Pablo said with resignation.
-
-Father Seraphin lodged at a house of modest appearance, built of adobes
-and reeds, in a small room he hired from a poor widow, for the small sum
-of nine reals a month. This room, very small, and which only received
-air from a window opening on an inner yard, was a perfect conventual
-cell, as far as furniture was concerned, for the latter consisted of a
-wooden frame, over which a bull hide was stretched, and served as the
-missionary's bed; a butaca and a prie-dieu, above which a copper
-crucifix was fastened to the whitewashed wall. But, like all cells, this
-room was marvellously clean. From a few nails hung the well-worn clothes
-of the poor priest, and a shelf supported vials and flasks which
-doubtless contained medicaments; for, like all the missionaries, Father
-Seraphin had a rudimentary knowledge of medicine, and took in charge
-both the souls and bodies of his neophytes.
-
-The father lit a candle of yellow tallow standing in an iron
-candlestick, and, aided by Don Pablo, laid the wounded man on his own
-bed; after which the young man fell back into the butaca to regain his
-breath. Father Seraphin, on whom, spite of his fragile appearance, the
-fatigue had produced no apparent effect, then went downstairs to lock
-the street door, which he had left open. As he pushed it to, he felt an
-opposition outside, and a man soon entered the yard.
-
-"Pardon, my reverend father," the stranger said; "but be kind enough not
-to leave me outside."
-
-"Do you live in this house?"
-
-"No," the stranger coolly replied, "I do not live in Santa Fe, where I
-am quite unknown."
-
-"Do you ask hospitality of me, then?" Father Seraphin continued, much
-surprised at this answer.
-
-"Not at all, reverend father."
-
-"Then what do you want?" the missionary said, still more surprised.
-
-"I wish to follow you to the room where you have laid the wounded man,
-to whose aid you came so generously a short time back."
-
-"This request, sir--" the priest said, hesitating.
-
-"Has nothing that need surprise you. I have the greatest interest in
-seeing with my own eyes in what state that man is, for certain reasons
-which in no way concern you."
-
-"Do you know who he is?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Are you a relation or friend of his?"'
-
-"Neither one nor the other. Still, I repeat to you, very weighty reasons
-compel me to see him and speak with him, if that be possible."
-
-Father Seraphin took a searching glance at the speaker.
-
-He was a man of great height, apparently in the fullest vigour of life.
-His features, so far as it was possible to distinguish them by the pale
-and tremulous moonbeams, were handsome, though an expression of
-unbending will was the marked thing about them. He wore the dress of
-rich Mexican hacenderos, and had in his right hand a magnificently
-inlaid American rifle. Still the missionary hesitated.
-
-"Well," the stranger continued, "have you made up your mind, father?"
-
-"Sir," Father Seraphin answered with firmness, "do not take in ill part
-what I am going to say to you."
-
-The stranger bowed.
-
-"I do not know who you are; you present yourself to me in the depths of
-the night, under singular circumstances. You insist, with strange
-tenacity, on seeing the poor man whom Christian charity compelled me to
-pick up. Prudence demands that I should refuse to let you see him."
-
-A certain annoyance was depicted on the stranger's features.
-
-"You are right, father," he answered; "appearances are against me.
-Unfortunately, the explanation you demand from me justly would make us
-lose too much precious time, hence I cannot give them to you at this
-moment. All I can do is to swear, in the face of Heaven, on that
-crucifix you wear round your neck, and which is the symbol of our
-redemption, that I only wish well to the man you have housed, and that I
-am this moment seeking to punish a great criminal."
-
-The stranger uttered these words with such frankness, and such an air of
-conviction, his face glistened with so much honesty, that the missionary
-felt convinced: he took up the crucifix and offered it to this
-extraordinary man.
-
-"Swear," he said.
-
-"I swear it," he replied in a firm voice.
-
-"Good," the priest went on, "now you can enter, sir; you are one of
-ourselves; I will not even insult you by asking your name."
-
-"My name would teach you nothing, father," the stranger said sadly.
-
-"Follow me, sir."
-
-The missionary locked the gate and led the stranger to his room, on
-entering which the newcomer took off his hat reverently, took up a post
-in a corner of the room, and did not stir.
-
-"Do not trouble yourself about me, father," he said in a whisper, "and
-put implicit faith in the oath I took."
-
-The missionary only replied by a nod, and as the wounded man gave no
-sign of life, but still lay much in the position he was first placed in,
-Father Seraphin walked up to him. For a long time, however, the
-attention he lavished on him proved sterile, and seemed to produce no
-effect on the squatter's son. Still, the father did not despair,
-although Don Pablo shook his head. An hour thus passed, and no
-ostensible change had taken place in the young man's condition; the
-missionary had exhausted all his stock of knowledge, and began to fear
-the worst. At this moment the stranger walked up to him.
-
-"My father," he said, touching him gently on the arm, "you have done all
-that was humanly possible, but have not succeeded."
-
-"Alas! No!" the missionary said sadly.
-
-"Will you permit me to try in my turn?"
-
-"Do you fancy you will prove, more successful than I?" the priest asked
-in surprise.
-
-"I hope so," the stranger said softly.
-
-"Still, you see I have tried everything that the medical art prescribes
-in such a case."
-
-"That is true, father; but the Indians possess certain secrets known
-only to themselves, and which are of great efficacy."
-
-"I have heard so. But do you know those secrets?"
-
-"Some of them have been revealed to me; if you will permit me, I will
-try their effects on this young man, who, as far as I can judge, is in a
-desperate condition."
-
-"I fear he is, poor fellow."
-
-"We shall, therefore, run no risk in trying the efficacy of my superior
-remedy upon him."
-
-"Certainly not."
-
-The stranger bent over the young man, and regarded him for a moment with
-fixed attention; then he drew from his pocket a flask of carved crystal,
-filled with a fluid as green as emerald. With the point of his dagger he
-slightly opened the wounded man's closed teeth, and poured into his
-mouth four or five drops of the fluid contained in the flask. A strange
-thing then occurred; the young man gave vent to a deep sigh, opened his
-eyes several times, and suddenly, as if moved by supernatural force, he
-sat up and looked around him with amazement. Don Pablo and the
-missionary were almost inclined to believe in a miracle so extraordinary
-did the fact appear to them. The stranger returned to his dark corner.
-Suddenly the young man passed his hand over his dank forehead, and
-muttered in a hollow voice:--
-
-"Ellen, my sister, it is too late. I cannot save her. See, see, they are
-carrying her off; she is lost!"
-
-And he fell back on the bed, as the three men rushed towards him.
-
-"He sleeps!" the missionary said in amazement.
-
-"He is saved?" the stranger answered.
-
-"What did he want to say, though?" Don Pablo inquired anxiously.
-
-"Did you not understand it?" the stranger asked of him.
-
-"No."
-
-"Well, then, I will tell you."
-
-"You!"
-
-"Yes, I; listen! That lad wished to deliver your sister!"
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"Is it true?"
-
-"It is; go on."
-
-"He was stabbed at the door of the house when she sought shelter."
-
-"What next?"
-
-"Those who stabbed him wished to get him out of the way, in order to
-carry her off a second time."
-
-"Oh, that is impossible!"
-
-"It is the fact."
-
-"How do you know it?"
-
-"I do not know it, but I can read it plainly."
-
-"Ah!" Don Pablo exclaimed in despair, "my father--let us fly to my
-sister's aid!"
-
-The two gentlemen rushed from the house with a presentiment of
-misfortune. When the stranger found himself alone with the wounded man,
-he walked up to him, wrapped him in his cloak, threw him over his
-shoulders as easy as if he were only a child, and went out in his turn.
-On reaching the street, he carefully closed the door, and went off at a
-great rate, soon disappearing in the darkness. At the same instant the
-melancholy voice of the sereno could be heard chanting--
-
-_"Ave Maria purisima! Los cuatro han dado! Viva Mejico! Todo es
-quieto!_"[1]
-
-What irony on the part of accident was this cry after the terrible
-events of the night!
-
-
-[1] Hail, most pure Mary! It has struck four. Long live Mexico! All is
-quiet.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLV.
-
-GENERAL VENTURA.
-
-
-It was about six in the morning. A dazzling sun poured down its
-transparent rays on the streets of the Presidio of Santa Fe, which were
-already full of noise and movement at that early hour of the morning.
-General Ventura was still plunged in a deep sleep, probably lulled by
-agreeable dreams, judging from the air of beatitude spread over his
-features. The general, reassured by the speedy arrival of the dragoons
-promised him, fancied he had nothing more to fear from mutineers who had
-hitherto inspired him with lively apprehensions. He thought, too, that
-by the aid of the reinforcements, he could easily get rid of the
-Comanche, who, on the previous day, had so audaciously bearded him in
-the very heart of his palace.
-
-He slept, then, that pleasant morning sleep, in which the body, entirely
-rested from its fatigue, leaves the mind the entire liberty of its
-faculties. Suddenly the door of the sleeping room in which the worthy
-governor reposed, was torn violently open, and an officer entered.
-General Ventura, aroused with a start, sat up in his bed, fixing on the
-importunate visitor a glance, at first stern, but which at once became
-uneasy on seeing the alarm depicted on the officer's features.
-
-"What is the matter, senor Captain Don Lopez?" he asked, trying in vain
-to give firmness to his voice, which trembled involuntarily from a
-foreboding of evil.
-
-Captain Lopez was a soldier of fortune, who had grown grey in harness,
-and contracted a species of rough frankness, that prevented him toning
-the truth down under any circumstances, which fact made him appear, in
-the General's eyes, a bird of very evil omen. The captain's arrival,
-therefore, doubly disquieted the governor. In the first place, through
-his alarmed face; and secondly, the reputation he enjoyed. To the
-general's query the captain only replied the following three storm laden
-words--
-
-"Nothing that's good."
-
-"What do you mean? Have the people rebelled??"
-
-"On my word, no! I do not fancy they even dream of such a thing."
-
-"Very well, then," the general went on, quite cheered by the good news,
-"what the deuce have you to tell me, captain?"
-
-"I have not come to tell you anything," the other said, roughly. "There
-is a soldier outside who has just come from I don't know where, and who
-insists on speaking with you. Shall I bring him, or send him about his
-business."
-
-"One moment," exclaimed the general, whose features had suddenly become
-gloomy; "who is the soldier?"
-
-"A dragoon, I fancy."
-
-"A dragoon! Let him come in at once. May heaven bless you, with all your
-circumlocution! The man, doubtless, brings me news of the arrival of the
-regiment I am expecting, and which should have been here before."
-
-The captain shrugged his shoulders with an air of doubt.
-
-"What is it now?" the general said, whom this expressive pantomime
-eminently alarmed; "What are you going to say?"
-
-"Nothing, except that the soldier looks very sad to be the bearer of
-such good news."
-
-"We shall soon know what we have to depend on. Let him come in."
-
-"That is true," said the captain, as he went off.
-
-During this conversation the general had leaped from his bed, and
-dressed himself with the promptness peculiar to soldiers. He now
-anxiously awaited the appearance of the trooper whom Don Lopez had
-announced to him. In vain he tried to persuade himself that the captain
-was mistaken, and that the soldier had been sent to tell him of the
-arrival of the regiment. In spite of himself, he felt in his heart a
-species of alarm which he could not account for, and yet nothing could
-dissipate.
-
-A few minutes were thus passed in febrile restlessness. All at once a
-great noise was heard in the Plaza Major. The general went to a window,
-pulled aside a curtain, and looked out. A tumultuous and dense crowd was
-thronging every street leading to the square and uttering sharp cries.
-This crowd, momentarily increasing, seemed urged on by something
-terrible, which the general could not perceive.
-
-"What is this?" the general exclaimed; "And what can be the meaning of
-this disturbance?"
-
-At this moment the shouts grew louder, and the detachment of Comanche
-warriors appeared debouching by the Calle de la Merced, and marching in
-good order, and at quick step, upon the palace. On seeing them the
-general could not restrain a start of surprise.
-
-"The Indians again!" he said; "How can they dare to present themselves
-here? They must be ignorant of the arrival of the dragoons. Such
-boldness is incomprehensible."
-
-He let the curtain fall, and turned away. The soldier whom the captain
-had announced to him stood before him, waiting the general's pleasure to
-question him. The general started on perceiving him. He was pale; his
-uniform was torn and stained with mud, as if he had made a long journey
-on foot through brambles. The general wished to clear up his doubts;
-but, just as he was opening his mouth to ask the man a question, the
-door flew back, and several officers, among whom was Captain Don Lopez,
-entered the room.
-
-"General," the captain said, "make haste! You are expected in the
-council hall. The Indians have come for the answer you promised to give
-them this morning."
-
-"Well! Why this startled look, gentlemen?" the general said, severely.
-"I fancy the town has not yet been set on fire. I am not at the orders
-of those savages, so tell them that I have no time to grant them an
-audience."
-
-The officers gazed at the general with a surprise they did not attempt
-to conceal, on hearing these strange and incomprehensible words.
-
-"Good, good," Captain Lopez said, roughly, "the town is not yet fired,
-'tis true; but it might be so, erelong, if you went on in this way."
-
-"What do you mean?" the general asked, as he turned pale. "Are matters
-so serious?"
-
-"They are most serious. We have not a moment to lose, if we wish to
-avoid heavy disasters."
-
-The general started.
-
-"Gentlemen," he then said, in an ill-assured voice, "it is our duty to
-watch over the safety of the population. I follow you."
-
-And taking no further heed of the soldier he had ordered to be sent in,
-he proceeded towards the council hall.
-
-The disorder that prevailed without had at length gained the interior of
-the palace. Nothing was to be heard but shrieks or exclamations of anger
-and terror. The Mexican officers assembled in the hall were tumultuously
-discussing the measures to be adopted in order to save a contest and the
-town. The entrance of the governor produced a healthy effect upon them,
-in so far that the discussion, which was degenerating into personalities
-and reproaches, dictated by individual fear, suddenly ceased, and
-calmness was restored.
-
-General Ventura regretted in his heart having counted on imaginary help,
-and not having listened to the sensible advice of some of his officers,
-who urged him the previous day to satisfy the Indians by giving them
-what they asked. In spite of the terror he felt, however, his pride
-revolted at being compelled to treat on equal terms with barbarians, and
-accept harsh conditions which they would doubtless impose on him, in the
-consciousness of having the upper hand.
-
-The governor, in entering the hall, looked around the assembly
-anxiously. All had taken their places, and, externally at least, had
-assumed that grace and stern appearance belonging to men who are
-penetrated with the grandeur of the duties they have to perform, and are
-resolved to carry them out at all hazards. But this appearance was very
-deceptive. If the faces were impassive the hearts were timorous. All
-these men, habituated to a slothful and effeminate life, did not feel
-capable of waging a contest with the rude enemies who menaced them so
-audaciously, even at the doors of the governor's palace.
-
-Under present circumstances, however, resistance was impossible. The
-Indians, by the fact of their presence on the square, were masters of
-the town. There were no troops to oppose to them; hence, the only hope
-was to make the easiest terms possible with the Comanches. Still, as all
-these men wished to save appearances at any rate, the discussion began
-anew. When everyone had given his opinion, the governor rose, and said
-in a trembling voice--
-
-"Caballeros, all of us here present: are men of courage, and have
-displayed that quality in many difficult circumstances. Certainly, if
-the only thing, was to sacrifice our lives to save the hapless townsmen,
-we would not hesitate to do so, for we are too well imbued with the
-soundness of our duties tot hesitate; but, unhappily, that sacrifice
-would not avail to save those whom we wish before all to protect. Let us
-treat, then, with the barbarians, as we cannot conquer them. Perhaps in
-this way we shall succeed in protecting our wives; and children from the
-danger that menaces them. In acting thus, under the grave circumstances
-in which we find ourselves, we shall at least have the consolation of
-having done our duty, even if we do not obtain all we desire."
-
-Hearty applause greeted this harangue, and the governor, turning to the
-porter, who stood motionless at the door, gave orders to introduce the
-principal Indian chiefs.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLVI.
-
-THE COMANCHES.
-
-
-Valentine and his friends awoke at daybreak. The Comanches were already
-prepared to start; and Unicorn, dressed in his great war costume,
-presented himself to the hunter.
-
-"Is my brother going?" Valentine asked him.
-
-"Yes," the sachem answered. "I am returning to the Presidio to receive
-the answer of the chief of the palefaces."
-
-"What is my brother's intention, should his demand be rejected?"
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"The Comanches have long lances," he said; "the palefaces will not
-refuse."
-
-"My anxiety will be extreme till you return, chief; the Spaniards are
-perfidious; take care they have not planned some treachery."
-
-"They would not dare," Unicorn said, haughtily. "If the chief, whom my
-brother loves, is not delivered to me safe and sound, the Spanish
-prisoners shall be tortured on the plaza of Santa Fe, the town burned
-and sacked. I have spoken; my brother's mind may be at rest."
-
-"Good! Unicorn is a wise chief; he will do what is necessary."
-
-In the meantime the Comanche warriors had formed their ranks, and only
-awaited the signal of the sachem to start. The Spanish prisoners taken
-during the night were placed in the centre bound and half naked.
-Suddenly a disturbance was heard in the camp, and two men rushed panting
-toward the spot where stood Valentine, the sachem and Curumilla. They
-were Don Pablo and Father Seraphin, their clothes in disorder, their
-features haggard, and their faces glistening with perspiration. On
-reaching their friends, they fell, almost in a fainting state, on the
-ground. The proper attentions were at once paid them, and the missionary
-was the first to recover. Don Pablo seemed stupefied; the tears poured
-incessantly down his cheeks, and he could not utter a word. Valentine
-felt strangely alarmed.
-
-"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "What has happened? Don Miguel--?"
-
-The missionary shook his head.
-
-"No," he said, "nothing has happened to him, as far as I know."
-
-"Heaven be praised! But what is the matter, father? What misfortune have
-you to announce to me?"
-
-"A frightful one, indeed, my son," the missionary replied, as he buried
-his face in his hands.
-
-"Speak, in Heaven's name! Your delay is killing me."
-
-"Dona Clara--"
-
-"Well!" he hunter said, sharply.
-
-"Was captured again last night by Red Cedar, and torn from the refuge
-where I placed her."
-
-"Oh!" Valentine exclaimed, with concentrated fury, as he stamped his
-foot, "Always that demon--that accursed Red Cedar. My curses on him! But
-take courage, father; let us first save Don Miguel, and then I swear to
-you that I will restore his daughter to him."
-
-Unicorn advanced.
-
-"Master of prayer," he said to Father Seraphin, in a soft and impressive
-voice, "your heart is good. The Comanches love you. Unicorn will help
-you. Pray to your God. He will protect us in our researches, since He
-is, as you say, so powerful."
-
-Then the chief turned to Don Pablo, and laid his hand firmly on his
-shoulder.
-
-"Women weep," he said; "men avenge themselves. Has not my brother his
-rifle?"
-
-On feeling the Comanche's hand laid on him--on hearing these words--the
-young man quivered as if he had received an electric shock. He drew
-himself up, and fixed on the chief his eyes burning with the fever of
-sorrow.
-
-"Yes," he said, in a broken voice, "you are right, chief, and," passing
-his hand over his eyes, with a gesture of rage, "let us leave tears to
-women, who have no other weapons to protect their weakness. I am a man,
-and will avenge myself."
-
-"Good. My brother speaks well: he is a warrior; Unicorn esteems him; he
-will become great on the war path."
-
-Don Pablo, crushed for a moment, had regained all his energy; he was no
-longer the same man; he looked around him.
-
-"Where are you going?" he asked.
-
-"To Santa Fe, to deliver your father."
-
-"I will go with you."
-
-"Come," said Unicorn.
-
-"No," Valentine interposed, authoritatively. "Your place is not there,
-Don Pablo; leave the Comanche warriors to act as they please; they do
-not need your help to carry out their plans properly. Remain with me."
-
-"Command me, my friend," the young man said with resignation; "I have
-perfect confidence in your experience."
-
-"Good. You are reasonable. Brother," he added, turning to the chief,
-"you can start. The sun is already high in the horizon; may Heaven grant
-that you may succeed!"
-
-Unicorn gave the signal for departure. The Comanches uttered their war
-yell, while brandishing their arms, and started at a quick amble, the
-only pace they know. Curumilla then rose, and wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe; Valentine watching him, inquiringly.
-
-"Does my brother leave us?" he said.
-
-"Yes," the Araucano answered, laconically.
-
-"For long?"
-
-"For a few hours?"
-
-"Where is my brother going?"
-
-"To look for the camp of Red Cedar's gambusinos," the Indian replied
-with a cunning smile.
-
-"Good," Valentine said, gleefully. "My brother is a wise chief; he
-forgets nothing."
-
-"Curumilla loves his brother; he thinks for him," the chief answered,
-simply.
-
-After uttering these words, the Unicorn bowed gracefully, and proceeded
-in the direction of the Paso del Norte, soon disappearing in the
-windings of the road. Valentine looked after him for a long while. When
-he no longer saw him, he let his head fall pensively on his chest,
-murmuring in a low voice--
-
-"Good, intelligent fellow! Heart of gold! The only friend left me! The
-only one remaining of my old and faithful comrades! Louis, my poor
-Louis, where are you now?" A deep sigh burst from his bosom, and he
-remained absorbed in a gloomy reverie.
-
-At length Valentine raised his head, passed his hand over his brow, as
-if to dispel these sad thoughts, and turned to his friends.
-
-"Pardon me," he said, "but I, at times, give way to my thoughts in that
-fashion. Alas! I, too, have suffered; but let us leave that," he added,
-gaily. "Bygones must be bygones. Let us attend to your affairs."
-
-He made them a sign to sit down by his side on the grass, rummaged his
-alforjas and produced some slight food, which he laid before them.
-
-"Eat," he said to them; "we do not know what awaits us within the next
-few hours, and we must recruit our strength. When you have satisfied
-your appetite, you will tell me all about Dona Clara being carried off
-again, for I must have the fullest details."
-
-We will leave the three now conversing, and join the Comanches and
-Unicorn again.
-
-When the Comanches reached the Plaza Mayor, opposite the Cabildo, they
-halted. At an order from Unicorn, the prisoners were completely stripped
-of their clothing and placed some distance in front of the first rank of
-Indians, each of them having at his side a fully armed Indian ready to
-massacre him mercilessly at the slightest sign from Unicorn. When the
-preparations were completed, and the Comanches had stationed sentinels
-at each corner of the streets, opening in the square, in order not to be
-taken in reverse, and surrounded by the Spaniards, if they felt any
-inclination for fighting, the Spider, the chief who had already
-performed the duty of flag of truce, pranced up to the gate of the
-palace, and demanded speech with the governor.
-
-The officer of the guard, who was no other than Don Lopez, politely
-requested the Indian warrior to wait a few moments, and then proceeded
-in all haste to General Ventura. We have seen what took place, and,
-after a delay of nearly half an hour, Captain Don Lopez returned. It was
-time, for the Comanches were beginning to grow tired of waiting, and
-were preparing to force the passage which was not voluntarily granted
-them. After some preliminary explanations, Captain Lopez informed the
-Spider that the general, surrounded by his staff, was awaiting, in the
-hall of audience, the sachem of the nation and his three principal
-warriors.
-
-The Spider communicated this answer to Unicorn, who gave a nod of
-assent, dismounted, and entered the Cabildo.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
-NEGOTIATIONS.
-
-
-When Unicorn entered the council chamber, preceded by Captain Lopez, and
-followed by the three Indian chiefs, the deepest silence prevailed among
-the Spanish officers assembled to meet him. The governor, seated in a
-chair placed in the centre of the hall, was looking nervously round him,
-while tapping on the arm of the chair with the fingers of his right
-hand. Still, his countenance was tolerably composed; nothing externally
-revealed the terror that devoured him. He answered by a nod the
-ceremonious bow of the Comanches, and drew himself up as if intending to
-address them; but if such were his desire, Unicorn did not grant him
-time to do so. The sachem draped himself in his buffalo robe with that
-majestic grace possessed by all those untamed sons of the desert, drew
-his head up proudly, and walked toward General Ventura, who watched him
-approach with an anxious eye. On coming within four paces of the
-governor, Unicorn stopped, crossed his arms on his chest, and took the
-word.
-
-"I salute my father!" he said, in a loud and fierce voice. "I have come,
-as was agreed on yesterday, to fetch the answer he owes me."
-
-The general hesitated for an instant.
-
-"I am waiting!" the Indian went on, with a frown that augured ill.
-
-The general, forced almost into his last entrenchments, saw that the
-hour for surrender had at length arrived, and that no way of escape was
-left him.
-
-"Chief," he answered, in anything but a firm voice, "your behavior
-naturally surprises me. To my knowledge the Spaniards are not at war
-with your nation; the whites have not done anything of which you have a
-right to complain. For what reason do you come, then, against the sworn
-faith, and when nothing authorises you, to invade a defenceless town,
-and interfere in matters that only concern ourselves?"
-
-The sachem understood that the Spaniard was trying to shift the question
-on to other ground; he saw the snare offered him, and was not to be
-caught.
-
-"My father does not answer my request," he said. "Still, in order to
-have finished at once with the recriminations he brings up, I will
-answer his questions peremptorily, separating them one from the other.
-In the first place, my father knows very well that the palefaces and
-redskins have been in a constant state of warfare since the arrival of
-white men in America. This war may have slightly relaxed at intervals,
-but has never really ceased. Our two races are hostile; the struggle
-will not end between them until one of the two families, whether white
-or red, has given place to the other by its general extinction.
-Secondly, my father said that nothing has been done of which we had a
-right to complain. My father is mistaken, we have a cause, the
-imprisonment of Don Miguel Zarate, who, himself an Indian, has never
-belied his origin. Hence my father must no longer ask by what right I am
-here, for that is perfectly established; it is that which every honest
-man possesses of defending an innocent person who is oppressed. Now that
-fact is cleared up, let us pass to another. When I came here yesterday,
-my father gave me to understand that my propositions would be accepted,
-and the exchange of prisoners carried out."
-
-"It is possible, chief," the general replied; "but things are so in this
-world, no one knows today what he will do tomorrow. With night
-reflection has come, and, in short, your propositions have appeared to
-me unacceptable."
-
-"Wah!" the Indian said, though not testifying his surprise otherwise.
-
-"Yes," the general continued, growing animated, "I should be ashamed to
-grant them, for I should have the appearance of only yielding to
-threats. No, it cannot be. The two gentlemen you claim are guilty, and
-shall die; and if you venture to oppose the execution of the just
-sentence of the court, we will defend ourselves, and God will protect
-the good cause."
-
-The Mexican officers warmly applauded this haughty response, which they
-were far from expecting. They felt their courage rekindled, and did not
-despair of obtaining better conditions. A smile of disdain played round
-the chiefs haughty lips.
-
-"Good," he said; "my father speaks very loudly. The coyotes are bold
-when they hunt the buffalo in packs. My father has carefully reflected,
-and is determined to accept the consequences of his answer. He wishes
-for war, then?"
-
-"No," the general quickly interposed, "heaven forbid! I should be glad
-to settle this matter amicably with you, chief, but honor forbids me
-subscribing those disgraceful proposals which you did not fear to lay
-before me."
-
-"Is it really honour that has dictated my father's answer?" the Indian
-asked, ironically. "He will permit me to doubt it. In short, whatever be
-the reason that guides him, I can but withdraw; but, before doing so, I
-will give him news of a friend whom he doubtless impatiently expects."
-
-"What means that word, doubtless?"
-
-"This," the Indian said, sharply. "The warriors whom my father expected
-to arrive to his aid this day have been dispersed by my young men, as
-the autumn breeze sweeps away the leaves. They will not come."
-
-A murmur of surprise, almost of terror, ran through the assembly. The
-sachem let the long folds of his buffalo robe fall back, tore from his
-girdle the bleeding scalp that hung there, and threw it at the general's
-feet.
-
-"That," he said, gloomily, "is the scalp of the man who commanded my
-father's warriors! Does the chief of the palefaces recognise it? This
-scalp was raised by me from the head of the man who was to arrive, and
-who, at this hour, has set out for the happy hunting grounds of his
-nation."
-
-A shudder of terror ran round the room at the sight of the scalp; the
-general felt the small dose of courage that had still animated him
-oozing out.
-
-"Chief," he exclaimed, in a trembling voice "is it possible you have
-done that?"
-
-"I have done it," the sachem answered, coldly. "Now, farewell. I am
-about to join my young men, who are impatient at my long absence."
-
-With these words the Comanche haughtily turned his back on the governor,
-and walked toward the door.
-
-"A few moments longer, chief," the general said; "perhaps we are nearer
-an understanding than you suppose."
-
-The Comanche gave the speaker a glance which made him quiver.
-
-"Here is my last word," he said. "I insist on the two prisoners being
-handed over to me."
-
-"They shall be."
-
-"Good; but no perfidity, no treachery."
-
-"We will act honourably," the general replied, not dreaming, of resenting
-the insult conveyed in the Indian's words.
-
-"We shall see. My warriors and myself will remain on the square till my
-father has performed his promise. If, within an hour, the palefaces are
-not free, the prisoners I hold will be pitilessly massacred, and the
-_altepetl_ plundered. I have spoken."
-
-A gloomy silence greeted these terrible threats. The pride of the
-Mexicans was quelled, and they at length recognised that nothing could
-save them from the vengeance of the Comanche chief. The general bowed in
-assent, not having strength to answer otherwise. The sight of the scalp
-had paralyzed in him all desire to contend longer. Unicorn left the
-hall, mounted his horse again, and calmly awaited the fulfilment of the
-promise made to him.
-
-When the Indians had left the council chamber, the Mexicans rose
-tumultuously, for each feared the execution of the chief's threats.
-General Ventura was pressed on all sides to make haste, and run no risk
-of breaking his word. When the governor saw that his officers were as
-terrified as himself, he re-assumed his coolness, and cleverly profited
-by this state of mind, in order to throw the responsibility off himself,
-and appear only to act under the impulse of others.
-
-"Caballeros," he said, "you have heard this man. You understood as well
-as I did the menaces he dared to offer us. Shall such an insult be left
-unpunished? Will you allow yourselves to be thus braved in the heart of
-the town by a handful of scoundrels, and not attempt to inflict on them
-the chastisement they deserve? To arms, caballeros, and let us die
-bravely, if it must be so, sooner than suffer this stain on the old
-Spanish honor our fathers transmitted to us!"
-
-This warm address produced the effect the general anticipated from it;
-that is to say, it redoubled, were that possible, the terror of the
-hearers, who had long been acquainted with their chiefs cowardice, and
-knew how little he could be depended on. This sudden warlike order
-seemed to them so unusual, and before all so inopportune, that they
-pressed him to accept without delay the proposals dictated by the
-sachem.
-
-This was all the governor wanted. He had the minutes of the council at
-once drawn up, when it was signed by all present, he put it in his
-pocket.
-
-"As you insist," he said, "and nothing can induce you to offer an
-honourable resistance, I will myself proceed to the prison, in order to
-avoid any misunderstanding, and have the doors opened for Don Miguel
-Zarate and General Ibanez."
-
-"Make haste, pray?" the officers answered.
-
-The general, glad in his heart at having got out of the scrape so well,
-left the Cabildo, and walked across the square to the prison, which
-stood on the opposite side. The Comanches were motionless as statues of
-Florentine bronze, leaning on their weapons, with their eyes fixed on
-the chief, ready to carry out his orders.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV.
-
-FREE.
-
-
-Don Miguel and General Ibanez were completely ignorant of what was going
-on outside, and the rumours of the town did not reach their ears. Had
-they deigned to question their jailer, the latter, who was beginning to
-fear for himself the effects of the ill-treatment he had made the two
-gentlemen undergo, would doubtless not have hesitated to give them all
-possible information, for the sake of regaining their favour; but each
-time this man presented himself before them, and opened his mouth to
-speak, they turned their backs contemptuously, giving him a sign to
-withdraw at once, and be silent.
-
-On this day, according to their wont, the two prisoners had risen at
-sunrise, and then, with incredible coolness, began conversing on
-indifferent topics. Suddenly a great noise was heard in the prison; a
-clang of arms reached the prisoners' ears, and hurried footsteps
-approached the rooms in which they were confined. They listened.
-
-"Oh, oh!" said Ibanez, "I fancy it is for today at last."
-
-"Heaven be praised!" Don Miguel answered; "I am glad they have made up
-their minds to bring matters to a conclusion."
-
-"On my honour, and so am I," the general said, gaily; "time was
-beginning to hang heavy in this prison, where a man has not the
-slightest relaxation. We are going to see again that splendid sun which
-seems afraid of showing itself in this den. _Viva Cristo_! I feel
-delighted at the mere thought, and gladly pardon my judges."
-
-Still the noise drew nearer and nearer, and confused voices were mingled
-with the echoing steps in the passage, and the rattling of sabres.
-
-"Here they are," said Don Miguel; "we shall see them in a minute."
-
-"They are welcome if they bring us death, that supreme solace of the
-afflicted."
-
-At this moment a key creaked in the lock, and the door opened. The two
-prisoners fell back in surprise on seeing the general, who rushed into
-the cell followed by two or three officers. Assuredly, if the prisoners
-expected to see anybody, it was not the worthy General Ventura. Ibanez'
-surprise was so great at this unexpected apparition, that he could not
-refrain from exclaiming, with that accent of caustic gaiety which formed
-the basis of his character--
-
-"What the deuce do you want here, Senor Governor? Have you, too,
-suddenly become a frightful conspirator, such as we are accused of
-being?"
-
-Before answering, the general fell back into a chair, wiping away the
-perspiration that trickled down his forehead, such speed had he
-displayed in coming to the prison. Three or four officers stood
-motionless on the threshold of the widely open door. The condemned men
-could not at all understand the affair.
-
-"Have you by any chance, my dear governor," General Ibanez said, gaily,
-though not believing a word of it, "come to restore us to liberty? That
-would be a most gallant action, and I should feel deeply indebted to you
-for it."
-
-General Ventura raised his head, fixed on the prisoners eyes sparkling
-with joy, and said, in a panting voice--
-
-"Yes, my friends, yes; I _would_ come myself to tell you that you are
-free; I would not yield to anyone else the pleasure of announcing the
-good news."
-
-The prisoners fell back in amazement.
-
-"What!" General Ibanez exclaimed, "You are speaking seriously?"
-
-Don Miguel attentively looked at the governor, trying to read in his
-face the reasons of his conduct.
-
-"Come, come," General Ventura cried, "this hole is frightful; do not
-remain any longer in it."
-
-"Ah!" Don Miguel remarked, bitterly, "You find it frightful; you have
-been a long time in discovering the fact; for we have lived in it nearly
-a month, and the thought never once occurred to you of disturbing our
-repose."
-
-"Do not be angry with me, Don Miguel," the governor answered eagerly,
-"it was greatly against my will you were detained so long; had it only
-depended on me you would have been free; but, thanks to Heaven, all is
-settled now, and I have succeeded in having justice done you. Come away;
-do not remain a moment longer in this pestilential den."
-
-"Pardon me, Caballero," Don Miguel said coldly, "but, with your
-permission, we will remain a few moments longer in it."
-
-"Why so?" General Ventura asked, opening his eyes to their fullest
-extent.
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-Don Miguel pointed to a chair, and sat down himself. Ibanez following
-his example. There was a moment of deep silence between these three men
-as they strove to read each other's real secret thoughts.
-
-"I am waiting your pleasure to explain yourself," the governor at last
-said, as he was anxious to get away, and time pressed.
-
-"I am about doing so," Don Miguel answered; "you have come to tell us we
-are free, sir; but you do not say on what conditions."
-
-"What do you mean by conditions?" the general asked, not understanding
-him.
-
-"Of course," Ibanez went on, supporting his friend; "and these
-conditions, too, must suit us; you must see, my dear sir, we cannot
-leave this delightful place without knowing the why or wherefore. _Viva
-Cristo_! We are not vagabonds to be got rid of in that way; we must know
-if we are justified in accepting the proposals you have just made."
-
-"The general is right, sir," the hacendero said in his turn; "the care
-of our honor does not permit us to accept a liberation which might stain
-it; hence, we shall not leave this prison until you have given us an
-explanation."
-
-The governor hardly knew whether he was on his head or his heels; he had
-never before had to deal with such obstinate prisoners. He racked his
-brains in vain to discover why it was that men condemned to death could
-so peremptorily decline their liberty. His ideas were too narrow, his
-heart was too cowardly for him to comprehend the grandeur and nobility
-in this determination on the part of two men, who preferred an honourable
-death to a branded life which they only owed to the pity of their
-judges. Still, he must induce them to quit the prison, for time was fast
-slipping away, and their obstinacy might ruin everything. Hence, General
-Ventura made up his mind like a man.
-
-"Gentlemen," he said, with feigned admiration, "I understand what
-nobleness there is in your scruples, and am happy to see that I was not
-mistaken in the greatness of your character. You can leave this prison
-in full security, and take once more the station that belongs to you in
-the world. I will lay no conditions on you; you are free, purely and
-simply. Here are the documents connected with your trial, the proofs
-produced against you; take them and destroy them, and accept my sincere,
-apologies for all that has passed."
-
-While saying this, the governor drew from his breast an enormous bundle
-of papers, which he offered Don Miguel. The latter declined them with an
-air of disgust; but General Ibanez, less scrupulous or wiser in his
-generation, eagerly clutched them, looked through them to see that the
-governor was not deceiving him, and then threw them into the _brasero_,
-standing in the middle of the room. In less than four minutes, all this
-undigested mass was consumed. General Ibanez watched them burning with a
-certain degree of pleasure, for he began to feel himself really free.
-
-"I am waiting for you, gentlemen," said the governor.
-
-"One word more, by your leave," the hacendero remarked.
-
-"Speak, sir."
-
-"On leaving this prison, where are we to go?"
-
-"Wherever you please, gentlemen. I repeat to you that you are perfectly
-free, and can act as you think proper. I do not even ask your word of
-honor to enter into no further conspiracy."
-
-"Good sir," Don Miguel said, holding out his hand to General Ventura,
-"your conduct affects me--thanks."
-
-The governor blushed.
-
-"Come, come," he said, to hide his embarrassment on receiving this so
-ill-deserved praise.
-
-The prisoners no longer hesitated to follow him.
-
-In the meanwhile, the news of Don Miguel's deliverance had spread
-through the town with the rapidity of a train of gunpowder. The
-inhabitants, reassured by the continence of the Comanches, and knowing
-that they had only come to save a man, in whose fate the entire
-population felt interested, had ventured to leave their houses, and at
-length thronged the streets and squares; the windows and roofs were
-filled with men, women, and children, whose eyes, fixed on the prison,
-awaited the moment of Don Miguel's appearance. When he did so,
-tremendous shouts greeted him.
-
-Unicorn walked up to the governor.
-
-"My father has kept his promise," he said, gravely, "I will keep mine;
-the white prisoners are free; I now depart."
-
-The governor listened to these words with a blush; the sachem returned
-to the head of his war party, which rapidly retired, followed by the
-shouts of a mob intoxicated with joy. Don Miguel, perplexed by the scene
-which had taken place in his presence, and who began to suspect a
-mystery in the governor's conduct, turned to him to ask an explanation
-of the Indian chief's words--an explanation the governor luckily
-escaped, owing to the eagerness of the people who flocked up to
-congratulate the prisoners on their release.
-
-On reaching the gate of the Cabildo, General Ventura bowed courteously
-to the two gentlemen, and hurried into his palace, happy at having
-escaped so cheaply, and not tearing with his own hands the cloak of
-generosity which he had paraded in the sight of his prisoners.
-
-"What do you think of all that?" the hacendero asked his friend.
-
-"Hum!" General Ibanez muttered, "The governor's conduct seems to me
-rather queer; but, no matter, we are free. I confess to you, my friend,
-that I should have no objection to go a little distance from this place,
-the air of which, despite General Ventura's protestations, appears to me
-remarkably unhealthy for us."
-
-At this moment, and ere Don Miguel could answer, the general felt a
-slight touch on his shoulders; he turned and saw Curumilla before him,
-with a smiling face. Don Miguel and the general suppressed a cry of joy
-at the sight of the grave and excellent Indian.
-
-"Come!" he said to them, laconically.
-
-They followed him, with some difficulty, through the crowd that
-accompanied them with shouts, and whom they were obliged to stop and
-thank. On reaching a small street near the square, and which was nearly
-deserted, Curumilla led them to a house before which he stopped.
-
-"It is here," he said, as he tapped twice.
-
-The door opened, and they entered a courtyard, in which were three ready
-saddled horses, held by a groom, which they at once mounted.
-
-"Thanks, brother," the hacendero said, warmly, as he pressed the chiefs
-hand; "but how did you learn our deliverance?"
-
-The Araucano smiled pleasantly. "Let us go," he said, making no other
-answer.
-
-"Where to?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"To join Koutonepi."
-
-The three men started at full speed. Ten minutes later they were out of
-the town, and galloping across the plain.
-
-"Oh!" General Ibanez said, gaily, "How pleasant the fresh air is! How
-good it is to inhale it after remaining for two months stifled between
-the walls of a prison!"
-
-"Shall we soon arrive? Don Miguel asked.
-
-"In an hour," the chief answered.
-
-And they went on with renewed speed.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIX.
-
-THE MEETING.
-
-
-On reaching a spot where the trail they were following formed a species
-of fork, Curumilla stopped, and the two gentlemen imitated him.
-
-"That is your road," the Araucano chief said. "At the end of that path
-you will see Koutonepi's bivouac fire. I must leave you here."
-
-After uttering these words, Curumilla turned his horse and started,
-after giving them a parting wave of the hand. The Unicorn was not much
-of a talker naturally; generally, he did more than he said. His friends,
-convinced that urgent necessity could alone have forced him thus to
-break through his habits, made no observation, but let him go. When they
-were alone, they gently relaxed the pace of their horses, and proceeded
-at a canter.
-
-General Ibanez was radiant. He inhaled the fresh air Of the desert,
-which dilated his wide chest, revelling in his liberty. He thought of
-nothing but enjoying the present, regardless of the past, which, with
-his careless character, he had already forgotten, only to dream of the
-future, which he gazed on through a prism of brilliant hues. Don Miguel,
-on the contrary, felt, during the last few moments, a sad melancholy
-invade his mind. Not able to account for the emotion he experienced, he
-had a species of secret presentiment that a misfortune was suspended
-over his head. In vain did he try to dispel these ideas, but they
-constantly returned more obstinately than ever and it was with a sort of
-dread that he advanced in the direction where he was to meet Valentine,
-although he was his best friend, so much did he fear that he would greet
-his arrival with evil tidings.
-
-The two gentlemen went on thus for nearly half an hour without
-exchanging a syllable; but, just as they turned a corner in the path,
-they saw a horseman about thirty paces in front of them, barring the
-road, and apparently waiting for them. The Mexicans examined him
-attentively. He was a tall man, well armed, and wearing the garb of the
-rich hacenderos; but, singularly enough, a black velvet mask prevented
-them distinguishing his features. By an instinctive movement Don Miguel
-and his friend moved a hand to their holsters, but they were empty.
-
-"What is to be done?" the hacendero asked the general.
-
-"Go on, of course. We have just escaped too great a peril for us to fear
-this. Even in the event of the mysterious being planted there before us,
-like an equestrian statue, trying to play us a trick, which is not
-impossible."
-
-"Let us trust to Heaven," Don Miguel muttered, and pushed on.
-
-The distance separating them from the stranger was soon cleared. On
-coming within five yards of him, they stopped.
-
-"_Santas tardes_, caballeros," said the stranger, in a friendly voice.
-
-"_Santas tardes_!" the gentlemen answered, in accord.
-
-"I salute you, Don Miguel Zarate, and you, General Ibanez," the stranger
-then said. "I am happy to see you at length safe and sound out of the
-claws of that worthy General Ventura, who, if he could, would certainly
-have played you a trick."
-
-"Caballero," Don Miguel made answer, "I thank you for the kind words you
-address to me, and which can only come from a friend's lips. I should be
-pleased if you would take off the mask that conceals your features, so
-that I may recognise you."
-
-"Gentlemen, if I removed my mask you would be disappointed, for my
-features are unfamiliar to you. Do not be angry with me for keeping it
-on; but, be assured that you are not mistaken with regard to me, and I
-am really your friend."
-
-The two Mexicans bowed courteously to each other, and the stranger went
-on.
-
-"I knew that so soon as you were free you would hasten to join that
-worthy hunter Valentine, whom the trappers and gambusinos along the
-frontier have christened the 'Trail-hunter.' I placed myself here, where
-you must infallibly pass, in order to make you a communication of the
-utmost importance, which interests you extremely."
-
-"I am listening, sir," Don Miguel responded with secret alarm; "and I
-beg you to accept, beforehand, my sincere thanks for the step you have
-taken on my behalf."
-
-"You will thank me when the proper time comes, Don Miguel. Today I only
-warn you: at a later date I hope to aid you, and my help will not prove
-useless."
-
-"Speak, sir! You excite my curiosity to the highest pitch, and I am
-anxious to learn the news of which you have condescended to be the
-bearer."
-
-The stranger shook his head sadly, and there was a moment's silence.
-This meeting of three horsemen, one of whom was masked, in this deserted
-place, where no sound troubled the imposing silence of solitude, had
-something strange about it. At length the mask spoke again.
-
-"Two months have elapsed, Don Miguel, since, through the treachery of
-Red Cedar, you were arrested and made prisoner at the Paso del Norte.
-Many events of which you are ignorant have occurred since then; but
-there is one I must inform you of at once. On the very night of your
-arrest, at the moment you laid down your arms, your daughter was carried
-off by Red Cedar."
-
-"My daughter!" the hacendero exclaimed; "And Valentine to whom I
-confided her, and who was responsible for her safety?"
-
-"Valentine attempted impossibilities to save her; but what can one man
-effect against twenty?"
-
-Don Miguel shook his head mournfully.
-
-"After researches, long, sterile, and extraordinary efforts, a man
-providentially aided by Father Seraphin, at length succeeded last night
-in taking Dona Clara from her ravishers; but Red Cedar, advised by some
-extraordinary chance, entered the house where the maiden had sought
-shelter, and carried her off again."
-
-"Oh! I will avenge myself on that man!" the hacendero shouted,
-passionately.
-
-The stranger's eyes flashed with a lurid light though the holes in his
-mask.
-
-"You will find your son and Father Seraphin with Valentine. Red Cedar
-intends to start this evening at the head of a band of gambusinos, to go
-into the deserts of the Rio Gila in search of a placer, which his
-accomplice, Fray Ambrosio, had indicated to him."
-
-"Fray Ambrosio!" the hacendero repeated, in stupor.
-
-"Yes. Your former chaplain, who served as spy to the squatter, revealed
-your plans to him, and provided him the means to enter the hacienda and
-carry off your daughter."
-
-"Good," Don Miguel said, in a hollow voice. "I will remember."
-
-"Red Cedar, I know not with what design, is taking your daughter with
-him into the desert."
-
-"I will follow him, were it for a thousand leagues," Don Miguel said,
-resolutely. "Thanks to you for having instructed me so fully. But whence
-comes the interest you take in me so gratuitously, since, as you say, I
-do not know you?"
-
-"You shall learn at a later date, Don Miguel. Now, before I leave you,
-one last word--an earnest warning."
-
-"I listen attentively, caballero."
-
-"Do not tell anyone--not even the French hunter, not even your son--of
-our meeting. Let this secret be buried in your breast. When you reach
-the far west, if you see before you, at one of your bivouacs, a piece of
-mahogany bearing the impress of a horse's shoe, rise at midnight, and
-leave the camp, not letting anyone see you. When you have gone one
-hundred paces in the tall grass, whistle thrice; a similar whistle will
-answer you, and then you will learn many things important for you to
-know, but which I cannot tell you today."
-
-"Good. Thanks. I will do what you tell me."
-
-"You promised it?"
-
-"I swear it on my word as a gentleman," Don Miguel said, as he took off
-his hat.
-
-"I accept your oath. Farewell."
-
-"Farewell."
-
-The stranger dug his spurs into his horse's sides and the animal started
-off as if impelled by a tornado.
-
-The two gentlemen looked after him for a long time, admiring the grace
-and ease of his movements; at length, when horse and rider had
-disappeared in the distance, Don Miguel went on again pensively, while
-saying to the general--
-
-"Who can that man be?"
-
-"I know no more than you do. _Viva Cristo_!" his friend answered, "but I
-assure you I will know, even if to do so I have to search all the
-thickets and caverns in the desert."
-
-"What," Don Miguel exclaimed, "do you intend to come with me?"
-
-"Did you ever doubt it, Don Miguel? If so, you insulted me. You will
-need all your friends to go in search of your daughter, and inflict on
-that demon of a gringo squatter the chastisement he deserves. No, no; I
-will not leave you under such circumstances, for that would be
-committing a bad action; besides, I shall not be sorry," he added with a
-smile, "to get out of the sight of the government for a time."
-
-"My friend, I thank you," the hacendero said, as he took his hand. "I
-have long known that you were entirely devoted to me; I am pleased to
-receive this new proof of your friendship."
-
-"And you accept it?" the general asked gaily.
-
-"Most heartily; the help of an iron arm like yours must be most useful
-to me under the painful circumstances in which I am placed."
-
-"That is settled, then; we will start together, _Mil rayas!_ and I swear
-we will deliver Dona Clara."
-
-"May Heaven grant it," the hacendero said, sadly.
-
-The conversation then dropped, and the two friends proceeded in silence.
-A quarter of an hour later they reached the Trail-hunter's bivouac.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVI.
-
-DONA CLARA.
-
-
-Valentine had been warned, nearly an hour previously, by Unicorn of the
-result of the negotiations with the governor of Santa Fe, and the
-immediate liberation of the prisoners; he was, therefore, expecting
-them. Though they were ignorant where to find him, Valentine presumed
-that the chief would leave some Indian to direct them, and, therefore,
-did not feel at all surprised at seeing them. So soon as he noticed
-their approach he walked to meet them, followed by Don Pablo and the
-missionary, while the hacendero and his comrade on their side pricked
-on to join them sooner.
-
-A few hours were spent, after the first greetings were over, in a
-conference, of which the poor child so audaciously carried off was the
-sole subject. Valentine drew up with his friends the plan of the
-campaign against Red Cedar, which was so daring that it would have made
-a European nervous; but the free adventurers who were about to carry it
-out in no way feared the mysterious dangers of the desert which they
-were going to confront. We say, free, because Father Seraphin had taken
-leave of his friends and found Unicorn, with whom he wished to go to the
-Comanche villages, in the hope of spreading the light of the Gospel
-there. Still, he did not despair about, meeting his friends in the
-prairies, whither he was himself proceeding. Toward evening, Curumilla
-arrived. The Araucano was covered with dust, and his face damp with
-perspiration; Not uttering a word, he sat down by the fire, took his
-calumet from his girdle, and began smoking. Valentine let him do so
-without asking a question, but so soon as he saw him absorbed in his
-pipe, he laid his hand on his shoulder.
-
-"Well?" he said to him.
-
-"Curumilla has seen them."
-
-"Good; are they numerous?"
-
-"Ten times the number of fingers on my two hands, and one more."
-
-"_Caramba!_" Valentine exclaimed, "Are they so many as that? We shall
-have a tough job in that case."
-
-"They are bold hunters," the chief added.
-
-"Hum! Do you know when they will start?"
-
-"This evening, when the new moon rises."
-
-"Ah, ah! I read their plan," the hunter said. "They intend crossing the
-ford of the Toro before day."
-
-Curumilla bowed his head in affirmation.
-
-"That is true," Valentine remarked; "once the ford is passed they will
-be in the desert, and have comparatively nothing to fear, or at least
-they suppose so. I must confess," he added, addressing his friends,
-"that Red Cedar is a remarkably clever scoundrel; nothing, escapes him,
-but this time he has a' tough adversary. I have my revenge to take on
-him, and, with the help of Heaven, it shall be exemplary."
-
-"What shall we do?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Sleep," Valentine answered, "we have still several hours before us, so
-let us profit by them; in the new life we are beginning, we must neglect
-nothing, the body and mind must repose, so that we may act vigorously."
-
-Curumilla had slipped away but now returned, bringing with him two
-rifles, pistols, and knives.
-
-"My brothers had no weapons," he said, as he laid his load before the
-Mexicans.
-
-The latter thanked him heartily; for, owing to the foresight of
-Curumilla, who thought of everything, they could now enter the desert
-boldly. Two minutes later the five men were fast asleep, and we will
-take advantage of their slumber to return to Red Cedar, whom we left on
-the point of climbing through Dona Clara's window, while Fray Ambrosio
-and Andres Garote were watching at either end of the street.
-
-At one bound the bandit was in the room, after breaking open the window
-with a blow of his fist. Dona Clara, suddenly aroused, leaped from the
-bed, uttering fearful cries at the sight of the terrible apparition
-before her.
-
-"Silence," Red Cedar said to her, in a threatening voice, as he placed
-the point of his knife on her chest, "one cry more, and I kill you like
-a dog."
-
-The maiden, trembling with fright, looked pitifully at the bandit; but
-Red Cedar's face wore such an expression of cruelty, that she understood
-how little she had to hope from this man. She addressed a silent prayer
-to Heaven, and resigned herself to her fate. The bandit gagged the poor
-child with the rebozo that lay on the bed, threw her over his shoulder,
-and clambered out of the window again. So soon as he put foot on the
-ground, he whistled lightly for his comrades to rejoin him, which they
-did immediately, and, still carrying his burthen, he proceeded with them
-in the direction of the Rancho del Coyote.
-
-During the walk, which was not a long one, the bandits did not meet a
-soul. Andres opened the door and lit a candle; the ruffians entered, and
-the door was carefully bolted again. Thus, after only a few hours of
-liberty, the wretched girl had fallen once more into the hands of her
-ravishers, and placed again by them in the wretched room where she had
-spent so many days in prayer and weeping. Red Cedar carried Dona Clara,
-who was in a half-fainting state, to her room, removed the rebozo, and
-then returned to the bar.
-
-"There;" he said, with satisfaction, "that is all right; the sheep has
-returned to the fold. What do you say, reverend father? This time let us
-hope she will not escape us."
-
-The monk smiled.
-
-"We shall do well in not remaining here long," he said.
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because this hiding place is known and will soon be visited."
-
-The squatter shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Listen! Fray Ambrosio," he said, with a sinister grimace, which he
-intended for a smile. "I predict that, rogue as you are, you run a great
-chance of dying in a fool's skin, if you are not flayed beforehand,
-which may easily be the case."
-
-The monk shuddered. Red Cedar's gaiety had the peculiarity of being even
-more fearful than his anger. The squatter sat down on a bench, and
-turned to the gambusino.
-
-"Drink!" he said roughly.
-
-Garote fetched a jar of mezcal, which he placed before his terrible
-accomplice. The latter, not taking the trouble to pour the liquor into a
-glass, raised the jar to his lips, and drank till breath failed him.
-
-"Hum!" he said, with a click of his tongue, "That's pleasant tipple when
-you're thirsty. Listen to my orders, my dear children, and try to carry
-them out to the letter; or, if not, your roguish hides will bear the
-blame."
-
-The three men bowed silently.
-
-"You, Nathan," he went on, "will come with me, for you are not wanted
-here, but your presence is necessary at. Cerro Prieto, where our
-comrades are encamped."
-
-"I will follow you," the young man replied, laconically.
-
-"Good! Now, you others, bear this carefully in mind:--Our enemies will
-never suppose that I have made such a mistake as to bring my prisoner
-back here; for that is so absurd, that the idea will never enter their
-heads; so you can be at ease, and no one will trouble your peace of
-mind. Tomorrow, so soon as the moon rises, you will make the girl put on
-an Indian dress, mount her, and come to me at Cerro Prieto. Immediately
-after your arrival we shall start."
-
-"Good!" Fray Ambrosio answered. "We will take care."
-
-"I expect so; for, if you do not, I wouldn't give a _cuartillo_ for your
-accursed hide, my reverend friend."
-
-After uttering these friendly words, the squatter seized the jar of
-mezcal, emptied it at a draught, and sent it flying across the room,
-where it broke to pieces.
-
-"Good bye till tomorrow," he then said, "come, Nathan."
-
-"Till tomorrow," they answered.
-
-The squatter and his son left the rancho, and walked on silently side by
-side, plunged in gloomy reflections produced by the events of the night.
-They soon left the town. The night was gloomy, but darkness did not
-exist for squatters accustomed to find their way anywhere, and never
-dreaming of going astray. They walked thus for a long time, with slung
-rifle, not exchanging a word, but listening to the slightest noise and
-sounding, the darkness with their tiger-cat eyes. All at once they heard
-the firm footfall of a man coming towards them. They cocked their
-rifles, ready for any emergency. A voice was then heard, though the
-person to whom it belonged was invisible.
-
-"My brothers must not fire; they would kill a friend."
-
-The words were Apache--a language well known to the squatters.
-
-"Tis an Indian," said Nathan.
-
-"Do you think I did not recognise him?" Red Cedar replied, brutally;
-"then," he added, in the same dialect, "there are no friends in the
-shadow of the desert. My brother must get out of my path, or I will kill
-him like a coyote."
-
-"Is it thus," the Indian continued, "that the 'maneater' receives the
-guide whom Stanapat, the Great Chief of the Apaches, sends him? In that
-case, good-bye. I will retire."
-
-"One moment," the squatter said, sharply, as he lowered his rifle, and
-made his son a sign to follow his example. "I could not guess who you
-were. Advance without fear and be welcome, brother, for I was anxiously
-expecting you."
-
-The Indian stepped forward. He wore the costume and characteristic paint
-of the Apache warriors; in a word, he was so well disguised, that
-Valentine himself could not, have recognised in him his friend,
-Eagle-wing the Chief of the Coras, though it was he.
-
-Red Cedar, delighted at the arrival of his guide, received him in the
-most affable manner. He had long been acquainted with Stanapat, the most
-ferocious warrior of all the Indian nations that traverse the immense
-regions of the Rio Gila, and whom we shall presently visit. After
-several questions, which Eagle-wing answered without hesitation or once
-tripping, Red Cedar, convinced that he was really the man the Apache
-chief had promised to send him, dismissed all doubt, and conversed with
-him in the most friendly spirit, inquiring after certain warriors he had
-formerly known.
-
-"What is my brother's name?" he asked, in conclusion.
-
-"The Heart of Stone!" Eagle-wing replied.
-
-"Good!" the squatter said, "My brother has a grand name. He must be a
-renowned warrior in his tribe."
-
-A short time after, the three men reached the camp of the gambusinos,
-established in a formidable position on the top of a rock called the
-Cerro Prieto (Black Mountain). The miners greeted Red Cedar's arrival
-with the most lively joy, for his presence announced a speedy departure;
-and all these semi-savages, the greater part of whose life had been
-spent in the prairies, were anxious to quit civilization to re-assume
-their adventurous career, which was so full of charms and strange
-incidents.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVII.
-
-EL VADO DEL TORO.
-
-
-Red Cedar reasoned correctly when he told Fray Ambrosio and Garote that
-Dona Clara was in safety at the rancho, and no one would dream of
-seeking her there. In truth, Valentine knew the squatter's cunning too
-well to suppose that he would commit the impudence of bringing his
-prisoner back to the very spot where she was discovered.
-
-The squatter's two accomplices passed the day quietly in playing, on
-credit, at monte; each cheating with a dexterity which did honor to
-their knowledge of that noble game. No one came to disturb them, or cast
-an indiscreet glance into this famous den, which, in the bright
-sunshine, had an air of respectability pleasant to look on, and amply
-sufficient to dispel all suspicions. About nine in the evening, the
-moon, though new, rose magnificently on a deep blue sky, studded with
-brilliant stars.
-
-"I fancy it is time to get ready, gossip," Fray Ambrosio said, "the moon
-is peering through the trees in your neighbour's garden."
-
-"You are right, senor Padre, we will be off; but let me, I implore you,
-first finish this deal; it is one of the most magnificent I ever
-witnessed. _Caspita!_ I will bet a nugget as big as my thumb on the
-seven of clubs."
-
-"I'll back the two of spades. Something tells me it will turn up first,
-especially if you pull up the sleeves of your jacket, which must be
-horribly in the way when dealing."
-
-"Oh dear, no, I assure you; but stay, what did I tell you? There is the
-seven of clubs."
-
-"That is really extraordinary," Fray Ambrosio replied, with feigned
-surprise, for he was not duped by the gambusino's trickery; "but I fancy
-we had better make haste."
-
-"Decidedly," said Andres, as he hid his greasy cards in his vaquera
-boots, and proceeded to the room in which Dona Clara was confined. She
-followed him out, weeping bitterly.
-
-"Come, come," the gambusino said to her, "dry your tears, senorita; we
-do not mean you any harm. Hang it all! Who knows but this may end
-perhaps better than you expect; ask that holy monk what he thinks."
-
-Fray Ambrosio bowed an assent, but the maiden made no response to the
-gambusino's consolation; she allowed herself to be disguised
-unresistingly, but still continued to weep.
-
-"In truth, it is absurd," the worthy Andres muttered, in an aside to
-himself, while attiring his prisoner and looking covetously at the
-pearls with which she was adorned, "to waste gold and pearls in this
-fashion; would it not be much better to use them in buying something
-serviceable? What she has on her is worth at least three thousand
-piastres--what a splendid game of monte a fellow could have with that
-sum--and if that demon of a Red Cedar had only been willing--well, we
-shall see presently."
-
-While making these judicious reflections, the gambusino had completed
-the maiden's Indian toilet. He perfected the disguise by throwing a
-zarape over her shoulders; then giving a parting glance round his
-domicile, he put in his pocket a pack of cards accidentally left on the
-table, drank a large glass of spirits, and left the room, followed by
-Dona Clara and the monk, who, in spite of the varying incidents of the
-last few days had regained all his good humour, doubtless owing to the
-good company in which he was, and the game of monte--that inveterate
-passion in every Mexican.
-
-Dona Clara was placed on a horse; Andres and the monk also mounted, and
-leaving the house to the problemical care of Providence, the gambusino
-gave the signal for departure. He made a wide circuit, to avoid passing
-through the Presidio, and then started at a gallop in the direction of
-the Cerro Prieto.
-
-Red Cedar had lost no time, and all was ready for departure. The
-newcomers did not even dismount, but so soon as they were sighted, the
-caravan, composed, as we have stated of some hundred and twenty resolute
-men, after forming in Indian file, started in the direction of the
-prairies, having first prudently detached two scouts to watch the
-neighbourhood.
-
-Nothing is so mournful as a night march in an unknown country, covered
-with snares of every description, when you fear least the ever-watchful
-enemy may pounce on you from every bush. Thus, the gambusinos, restless,
-and starting at the slightest rustling of the leaves, advanced silently
-and gloomily, with their eyes fixed on the clumps that grew along the
-wayside, rifle in hand, ready to fire at the slightest suspicious
-movement. They marched, however, for upwards of three hours, and nothing
-happened to justify their fears; a solemn calmness continued to prevail
-around them. Gradually these apprehensions were dissipated; they began
-talking in a suppressed voice, and laughing at their past terrors, when
-they reached, on the banks of the Del Norte, the _vado_, or Ford del
-Toro.
-
-In the interior of Southern America, and specially in New Mexico, a
-country still almost entirely unknown, the means of communication are
-_nil_, and consequently bridges may be looked for in vain. There are
-only two methods of crossing even the widest rivers--looking for a ford,
-or, if you are in a great hurry, forcing your horse into the oft-times
-rapid current, and trying to reach the other bank by swimming.
-
-The squatter had selected the first method, and in a few minutes the
-whole party was in the water. Although the ground of the ford was
-uneven, and at times the horses were up to their chests, and compelled
-to swim, the gambusinos managed to get across safely. The only persons
-left on the bank were Red Cedar, Eagle-wing, the guide, Dona Clara, and
-Andres Garote.
-
-"It is our turn now, Heart of Stone," the squatter said, addressing
-Eagle-wing; "you see that our men are in safety, and only await us to
-set out again."
-
-"The squaw first," the Indian replied, laconically.
-
-"That is true, chief," the squatter said, and, turning to the prisoner,
-"Go across," he said to her, coarsely.
-
-The maiden, not deigning to answer, boldly made her horse enter the
-river, and the three men followed. The night was dark, the sky covered
-with clouds, and the moon, constantly veiled, only shone forth at
-lengthened intervals, which rendered the passage difficult and even
-dangerous, as it did not allow objects to be distinguished, even at a
-distance. Still, after a few seconds, Red Cedar fancied he saw that Dona
-Clara's horse was not following the line traced by the ford, but was
-turning to the left, as if carried away by the current. He pushed his
-horse forward, to assure himself of the reality of the fact; but
-suddenly a vigorous hand seized his right leg, and before he could even
-think of resisting, he was hurled back into the water, and his throat
-seized by an Indian. Andres Garote hurried to his assistance.
-
-During this time, Dona Clara's horse, probably obeying a hidden impulse,
-was proceeding still further from the spot where the gambusinos had
-landed. Some of them, at the head of whom were Dick, Harry, and the
-squatter's three sons, perceiving what was going on, returned to the
-water, to proceed to their chiefs help, while the others, guided by Fray
-Ambrosio, galloped down the river bank, in order to cut off retreat,
-when Dona Clara's horse landed.
-
-Andres Garote, after several fruitless efforts, succeeded in catching
-Red Cedar's horse, which he brought to him at the moment when the latter
-had scalped his enemy. The American got into his saddle again, reached
-the bank, and tried to restore some order among his band, while actually
-watching the incidents of the silent drama being played in the river
-between Eagle-wing and the young Spanish girl.
-
-The Coras sachem had urged his steed in pursuit of Dona Clara's, and
-both were following almost the same line down the stream, the former
-striving to catch up the latter, who, for her part, was doing her utmost
-to widen the distance between them. Suddenly the Coras horse gave a
-leap, while uttering a snort of pain, and began madly beating the water
-with its forelegs, while the river was tinged with blood around it. The
-chief, perceiving that his horse was mortally wounded, leaped from the
-saddle, and leant over the side, ready to leap off. At this moment, a
-hideous face appeared flush with water, and a hand was stretched out to
-grasp him. With that imperturbable coolness that never deserts the
-Indians, even under the most critical circumstances, the Coras seized
-his tomahawk, split his enemy's skull open, and glided into the river.
-
-A formidable war yell was, at this moment, heard from the forest, and
-some fifty shots were fired from both banks at once, illumining the
-scene with their fugitive flashes. A multitude of redskins rushed on the
-gambusinos, and a terrible fight commenced. The Mexicans, taken
-unawares, defended themselves at first poorly, giving ground and seeking
-shelter behind trees; but, obeying the thundering voice of the squatter,
-who performed prodigies of valor while exciting his comrades to sell
-their lives dearly, they regained courage, formed in close column, and
-charged the Indians furiously, beating them down with the butts of their
-muskets, or slashing them with their machetes.
-
-The combat was short; the redskins, who were only a party of marauding
-Pawnees, seeing the ill-result of their surprise, grew discouraged, and
-disappeared as rapidly as they had come. Two minutes later calmness and
-silence were so perfectly re-established, that had it not been for a few
-wounded gambusinos, and several Indians stretched dead on the
-battlefield, the strange scene would have appeared as a dream.
-
-So soon as the Indians were routed, Red Cedar bent an eager glance up
-the river; on that side the struggle was also over, and Eagle-wing,
-mounted behind the young lady, was guiding her horse to the bank, which
-it soon reached.
-
-"Well?" the squatter asked.
-
-"The Pawnees are cowardly coyotes," the Coras answered, pointing to two
-human scalps that hung all bloody from his girdle; "they fly like old
-women, so soon as they see the war plume of a warrior of my nation."
-
-"Good!" the squatter said, gleefully, "My brother is a great warrior; he
-has a friend."
-
-The Coras bowed with a smile of indescribable meaning. His object was
-gained; he had acquired the confidence of the man he meant to destroy.
-Dona Clara, Ellen, and the squatter's wife were placed in the centre of
-the caravan, and the band started again.
-
-An hour later, a second party of horsemen also crossed the Vado del
-Toro. It was much less numerous than the first, as it consisted of only
-five men, but they were Valentine, Curumilla, Don Miguel, his son, and
-General Ibanez. The real struggle was about to commence: behind them
-they left the civilised world, to find themselves face to face on the
-desert with their enemies.
-
-(Those of our readers who take an interest in the Trail-hunter, we must
-ask to follow his adventures through a second volume, to be called--THE
-PIRATES OF THE PRAIRIES.)
-
-
-THE END
-
-
-
-
-
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Trail-Hunter, by Gustave Aimard
-
-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 www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: The Trail-Hunter
-       A Tale of the Far West
-
-Author: Gustave Aimard
-
-Translator: Lascelles Wraxall
-
-Release Date: February 17, 2013 [EBook #42115]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAIL-HUNTER ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Camilo Bernard and Marc D'Hooghe at
-http://www.freeliterature.org (Images at the Internet
-Archive, scanned by Google)
-
-
-
-
-
-THE TRAIL HUNTER.
-
-A TALE OF THE FAR WEST.
-
-BY
-
-GUSTAVE AIMARD,
-
-AUTHOR OF "THE PRAIRIE FLOWER," "THE INDIAN CHIEF," ETC.
-
-
-LONDON:
-
-WARD AND LOCK,
-
-158, FLEET STREET.
-
-1861.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE.
-
-
-The present volume of Aimard's Indian Tales is devoted to the earlier
-adventures of those hunters, whose acquaintance the reader has formed,
-I trust with pleasure, in the preceding series. It does not become me to
-say anything further in its favour, than that the sustained interest of
-the narrative, which has been regarded as the charm of stories referring
-to life in the desert and prairie, has not been departed from in this
-instance. The stories themselves supply an innate proof of the writer's
-correctness to Nature, and, in truth, many of the scenes are so
-startling that they must be the result of personal observation.
-
-In conclusion, I may be permitted to thank the Press generally for the
-kindly aid they have afforded me in making the English translation of
-Aimard's volumes known to the British reading public, and the hearty way
-in which they have recognized the merits of the previous series. It
-would be an easy task to collect paragraphs, expressing a belief that
-Aimard is second to none of the writers who have hitherto described
-Indian life and scenery; but I prefer to rest my hopes of success on the
-inherent qualities of his stories.
-
-                                                      LASCELLES WRAXALL.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
-   PART I. RED CEDAR                       PART II. EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE
-
-
-   I.--The Virgin Forest                   I.--El Rancho de Coyote
-   II.--The Contest                        II.--The Cuchillada
-   III.--Don Miguel Zarate                 III.--The Hunters
-   IV.--The Peccaries                      IV.--Sunbeam
-   V.--The Wound                           V.--The Adoption
-   VI.--The Squatter's Shanty              VI.--The Missionary
-   VII.--The Rangers                       VII.--The Interview
-   VIII.--The Valley of the Buffalo        VIII.--The Prison
-   IX.--The Assassination                  IX.--The Embassy
-   X.--The Sachem of the Coras             X.--The Presentation
-   XI.--Conversation                       XI.--Psychological
-   XII.--El Mesón                          XII.--Diamond Cut Diamond
-   XIII--Red Cedar                         XIII.--A Stormy Discussion
-   XIV.--The Two Hunters                   XIV.--The Mystery
-   XV.--Fray Ambrosio                      XV.--The Ambuscade
-   XVI.--Two Varieties of Villains         XVI.--A Friendly Discussion
-   XVII.--El Cañon Del Buitre              XVII.--Nathan
-   XVIII.--Father Seraphin                 XVIII.--The Wounded Man
-   XIX.--Unicorn                           XIX.--Indian Diplomacy
-   XX.--The Hunt of Wild Horses            XX--The Stranger
-   XXI.--The Surprise                      XXI.--General Ventura
-   XXII.--The Meeting                      XXII.--The Comanches
-   XXIII.--The Abduction                   XXIII.--Negotiations
-   XXIV.--The Revolt                       XXIV.--Free
-                                           XXV.--The Meeting
-                                           XXVI.--Doña Clara
-                                           XXVII.--El Vado del Toro
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-TRAIL HUNTER BY GUSTAVE AIMARD.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-THE VIRGIN FOREST.
-
-
-In Mexico the population is only divided into two classes, the upper and
-the lower. There is no intermediate rank to connect the two extremes,
-and this is the cause of the two hundred and thirty-nine revolutions
-which have overthrown this country since the declaration of its
-independence. Why this is so is simple enough. The intellectual power is
-in the hands of a small number, and all the revolutions are effected by
-this turbulent and ambitious minority; whence it results that the
-country is governed by the most complete military despotism, instead of
-being a free republic.
-
-Still the inhabitants of the States of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Texas have
-retained, even to the present day, that stern, savage, and energetic
-physiognomy which may be sought in vain among the other States of the
-Confederation.
-
-Beneath a sky colder than that of Mexico, the winter, which frequently
-covers the rivers of the region with a thick layer of ice, hardens the
-muscles of the inhabitants, cleanses their blood, purifies their hearts,
-and renders them picked men, who are distinguished for their courage,
-their intelligence, and their profound love of liberty.
-
-The Apaches, who originally inhabited the greater portion of New Mexico,
-have gradually fallen back before the axe of the pioneers; and after
-retiring into the immense deserts that cover the triangle formed by the
-Rio Gila, the Del Norte, and the Colorado, they ravage almost with
-impunity the Mexican frontiers, plundering, firing, and devastating all
-they meet with on their passage.
-
-The inhabitants of the countries we alluded to above, held in respect by
-these ever-shifting savages, are in a state of continual warfare with
-them, always ready to fight, fortifying their haciendas, and only
-travelling with weapons in their hands.
-
-El Paso del Norte may be regarded as the outpost of the civilised
-portion of Mexico. Beyond that, to the north and north-west, extend the
-vast unfilled plains of Chihuahua, the _bolsón_ of Mapimi, and the arid
-deserts of the Rio Gila. These immense deserts, known by the name of
-Apacheria, are still as little investigated as they were at the close of
-the eighteenth century. El Paso del Norte owes its name to its situation
-near a ford of the Rio Del Norte. It is the oldest of all the New
-Mexican settlements, and its establishment dates back to the close of
-the sixteenth century. The present settlement is scattered for a
-distance of about ten miles along the banks of the Del Norte, and
-contains four thousand inhabitants at the most. The _plaza_, or village
-of the Paso, is situated at the head of the valley: at the other
-extremity is the Presidio of San Elezario. All the interval is occupied
-by a continuous line of white, flat-roofed houses, buried in gardens,
-and surrounded by vineyards. About a mile above the ford the stream is
-dammed up, and led by a canal into the valley, which it waters.
-Apacheria begins only a few miles from this settlement.
-
-It is easily seen that the foot of civilised man has only trodden
-timidly and at rare intervals this thoroughly primitive country, in
-which nature, free to develop herself under the omnipotent eye of the
-creator, assumes an aspect of incredible beauty and fancifulness.
-
-On a lovely morning in the month of May, which the Indians call "the
-moon of the flowers," a man of high stature, with harsh and marked
-features, mounted on a tall, half-tamed steed, started at a canter from
-the plaza, and after a few minutes of hesitation, employed in realising
-his position, resolutely buried his spurs in the horse's flanks, crossed
-the ford, and after leaving behind him the numerous cottonwood trees
-which at this spot cover the river banks, proceeded toward the dense
-forest that flashed on the horizon.
-
-This horseman was dressed in the costume generally adopted on the
-frontiers, and which was so picturesque that we will give a short
-description of it. The stranger wore a pelisse of green cloth,
-embroidered with silver, allowing a glimpse of an elegantly-worked
-shirt, the collar of which was fastened by a loosely-knotted black silk
-handkerchief, the ends passed through a diamond ring. He wore green
-cloth breeches, trimmed with silver, and two rows of buttons of the same
-metal, and fastened round the hips by a red silken scarf with gold
-fringe. The breeches, open on the side half way up the thigh, displayed
-his fine linen drawers beneath: his legs were defended by a strip of
-brown embossed and stamped leather, called _botas vaqueras_, attached
-below the knee by a silver garter. On his heels enormous spurs clanked.
-A _manga_, glistening with gold, and drawn up on the shoulder, protected
-the upper part of his body, while his head was sheltered from the
-burning sunbeams by a broad-leafed hat of brown stamped felt, the crown
-of which was contracted by a large silver _toquilla_ passed twice or
-thrice round it.
-
-His steed was caparisoned with graceful luxuriousness, which heightened
-all its beautiful points: a rich saddle of embossed leather, adorned
-with massive silver, on the back of which the _zarapé_ was fastened;
-wide Moorish silver stirrups, and handsome water bottles at the
-saddle-bow; while an elegant _anquera_, made of openwork leather, and
-decorated with small steel chains, entirely covered the horse's croup,
-and sparkled with its slightest movement.
-
-The stranger appeared, judging from the luxury he displayed, to belong
-to the high class of society. A _machete_ hung down his right side,
-two pistols were passed through his girdle, the handle of a long knife
-protruded from his right boot, and he held a superbly damascened rifle
-across the saddle in front of him.
-
-Bending over the neck of his galloping steed, he advanced rapidly
-without looking round him, although the landscape that lay extended
-before him was one of the most attractive and majestic in those regions.
-
-The river formed the most capricious windings in the centre of a terrain
-diversified in a thousand strange ways. Here and there on the sandy
-banks enormous trees might be seen lying, which, dried up by the sun,
-evidenced, in their washed-out appearance, that they had been dead for
-centuries. Near the shallow and marshy spots, caymans and alligators
-wandered about awkwardly. At other places, where the river ran almost
-straight, its banks were uniform, and covered with tall trees, round
-which creepers had twined, and then struck root in the ground again,
-thus forming the most inextricable confusion. Here and there small
-clearings or marshy spots might be detected in the midst of the dense
-wood, often piled up with trees that had died of old age. Further on,
-other trees, which seemed still young, judging from their colour and the
-solidity of their bark, fell into dust with the slightest breath of
-wind.
-
-At times, the earth, entirely undermined beneath, drawn down by its own
-weight, dragged with it the wood which it bore, and produced a crashing,
-confused sound, which was returned on all sides by the echo, and
-possessed a certain degree of grandeur in this desert, whose depths no
-man has ever yet ventured to scrutinise.
-
-Still the stranger galloped on, with his eye ardently fixed before him,
-and not appearing to see anything. Several hours passed thus: the
-horseman buried himself deeper in the forest. He had left the banks of
-the river, and only progressed with extreme difficulty, through the
-entanglement of branches, grass, and shrubs, which at every step
-arrested his movements, and forced him to make innumerable turnings. He
-merely reined in his horse now and then, took a glance at the sky, and
-then started again, muttering to himself but one word:
-
-"_Adelante_! (Forward!)"
-
-At length he stopped in a vast clearing, took a suspicious glance around
-him, and probably reassured by the leaden silence which weighed on the
-desert, he dismounted, hobbled his horse, and took off its bridle that
-it might browse on the young tree shoots. This duty accomplished, he
-carelessly lay down on the ground, rolled a maize cigarette in his
-fingers, produced a gold _mechero_ from his waist belt, and struck a
-light.
-
-The clearing was of considerable extent. On one side the eye could
-survey with ease, through the trees, the widely extending prairie, on
-which deer were browsing with security. On the other side, the forest,
-wilder than ever, seemed, on the contrary, an impassable wall of
-verdure. All was abrupt and primitive at this spot, which the foot of
-man had so rarely trodden. Certain trees, either entirely or partially
-dried up, offered the vigorous remains of a rich and fertile soil;
-others, equally ancient, were sustained by the twisted creepers, which
-in the course of time almost equalled their original support in size:
-the diversity of the leaves produced the strangest possible mixture.
-Others, containing in their hollow trunk a manure which, formed of the
-remains of their leaves and half-dead branches, had warmed the seeds
-they had let fall, and offered, in the young shoots they contained, some
-compensation for the loss of their father tree.
-
-In the prairies, nature, ever provident, seems to have been desirous to
-shelter from the insults of time certain old trees, patriarchs of the
-forest which are crushed beneath the weight of ages, by forming them a
-cloak of greyish moss, which hangs in festoons from the highest branches
-to the ground, assuming the wildest and most fantastic shapes.
-
-The stranger, lying on his back, with his head resting on his two
-crossed hands, was smoking with that beatitude, full of ease and sloth,
-which is peculiar to the Hispano-Americans. He only interrupted this
-gentle occupation to roll a fresh cigarette and cast a glance around,
-while muttering:
-
-"Hum! He keeps me waiting a long time."
-
-He emitted a puff of bluish smoke, and resumed his first position.
-Several hours passed thus. Suddenly, a rather loud rustling was heard in
-the thicket, some distance behind the stranger.
-
-"Ah, ah!" he said, "I fancy my man is coming at last."
-
-In the meanwhile, the sound became louder, and rapidly approached.
-
-"Come on, hang it!" the horseman shouted, as he rose. "By our Lady of
-Pilar! You have surely been keeping me waiting long enough."
-
-Nothing appeared: the clearing was still deserted, although the sound
-had attained a certain degree of intensity. The stranger, surprised at
-the obstinate silence of the man he was addressing, and specially by his
-continuing not to show himself, at length rose to see for himself the
-reason. At this moment, his horse pricked up its ears, snorted
-violently, and made a sudden effort to free itself from the lasso that
-held it; but our new acquaintance rushed toward it and patted it. The
-horse trembled all over, and made prodigious bounds in order to escape.
-The stranger, more and more surprised, looked round for an explanation
-of these extraordinary movements, and was soon satisfied.
-
-Scarce twenty yards from him a magnificent jaguar, with a
-splendidly-spotted hide, was crouched on the main branch of an enormous
-cypress, and fixed on him two ferocious eyes, as it passed its
-blood-red, rugged tongue over its lips with a feline pleasure.
-
-"Ah, ah!" the stranger said to himself in a low voice, but displaying no
-further excitement, "I did not expect you; but no matter, you are
-welcome, comrade. _Caray_! We shall have a fight for it."
-
-Without taking his eye off the jaguar, he convinced himself that his
-machete quitted its scabbard readily, picked up his rifle, and, after
-these precautions were taken, he advanced resolutely toward the
-ferocious brute, which saw him coming without changing its position. On
-arriving within ten yards of the jaguar, the stranger threw away the
-cigarette he had till now held between his lips, shouldered his rifle,
-and put his finger on the trigger. The jaguar drew itself together and
-prepared to leap forward. At the same moment a hoarse yell was heard
-from the opposite side of the clearing.
-
-"Wait a minute," the stranger said to himself with a smile; "it seems
-there are two of them, and I fancied I had to do with a bachelor jaguar.
-This is beginning to grow interesting."
-
-And he threw a glance on one side. He had not deceived himself: a second
-jaguar, rather larger than the first, had fixed its flashing eyes upon
-him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE CONTEST.
-
-
-The dwellers on the Mexican frontiers are accustomed to fight
-continually with wild animals, both men and brutes, that continually
-attack them. Hence the stranger was but slightly affected by the
-unexpected visit of the two jaguars. Although his position between his
-two ferocious enemies was somewhat precarious, and he did not at all
-conceal from himself the danger he ran alone against two, he did not the
-less resolve to confront them bravely. Not taking his eye off the jaguar
-he had first seen, he went back a few steps obliquely, so as to have his
-foes nearly opposite him, instead of standing between them. This
-manoeuvre, which demanded some little time, succeeded beyond his hopes.
-The jaguars watched him, licking their lips, and passing their paws
-behind their ears with those graceful movements peculiar to the feline
-race. The two wild beasts, certain of their prey, seemed to be playing
-with it and not over eager to pounce on it.
-
-While keeping his eye on the watch, the Mexican did not yield to any
-treacherous feeling of security: he knew that the struggle he was about
-to undertake was a supreme one, and he took his precautions. Jaguars
-never attack a man unless forced by necessity; and the latter tried,
-before all, to seize the horse. The noble animal, securely fastened by
-its master, exhausted itself in efforts to break the bonds that held it,
-and escape. It trembled with terror on scenting its ferocious enemies.
-
-The stranger, when his precautions were completely taken, shouldered his
-rifle for the second time. At this moment the jaguars raised their
-heads, while laying back their ears and snuffing anxiously. An almost
-imperceptible sound was audible in the bushes.
-
-"Who goes there?" the Mexican asked in a loud voice.
-
-"A friend, Don Miguel Zarate," was the reply.
-
-"Ah! It is Don Valentine," the Mexican continued. "You have arrived just
-in time to see some fine sport."
-
-"Ah, ah!" the man who had already spoken went on. "Can I help you?"
-
-"It is useless; but make haste if you want to see."
-
-The branches were sharply drawn aside, and two men appeared in the
-clearing. At the sight of the jaguars they stopped, not through alarm,
-for they quietly placed the butts of their rifles on the ground, but in
-order to give the hunter every facility to emerge victoriously from his
-rash combat.
-
-The jaguars seemed to comprehend that the moment for action had arrived.
-As if by one accord, they drew themselves up and bounded on their enemy.
-The first, struck in its leap by a bullet which passed through its right
-eye, rolled on the ground, where it remained motionless. The second was
-received on the point of the hunter's machete, who after discharging his
-rifle, had fallen on his knee, with his left arm folded in his blanket
-in front, and the machete in the other hand. The man and the tiger
-writhed together in a deadly embrace, and after a few seconds only one
-of the adversaries rose: it was the man. The tiger was dead: the
-hunter's machete, guided by a firm hand, had passed right through its
-heart.
-
-During this rapid fight the newcomers had not made a sign, but remained
-stoical spectators of all that was taking place. The Mexican rose,
-thrust his machete in the grass to clean the blade, and turning coldly
-to the strangers, said:
-
-"What do you say to that?"
-
-"Splendidly played," the first answered; "it is one of the best double
-strokes I ever saw in my life."
-
-The two men threw their rifles on their shoulders, and walked up to the
-Mexican, who reloaded his piece with as much coolness and tranquillity
-as if he had not just escaped from a terrible danger by a miracle of
-skill.
-
-The sun was sinking on the horizon, the shadow of the trees assumed a
-prodigious length, and the luminary appeared like a ball of fire amid
-the limpid azure of the heavens. The night would soon arrive, and the
-desert was awaking. On all sides could be heard, in the gloomy and
-mysterious depths of the virgin forest, the hoarse howling of the
-coyotes and the other wild beasts, mingled with the song of the birds
-perched on all the branches. The desert, silent and gloomy during the
-oppressive heat of the day, emerged from its unhealthy torpor on the
-approach of dark, and was preparing to resume its nocturnal sports.
-
-The three men in the clearing collected dried branches, made a pile of
-them and set fire to it. They doubtlessly intended to camp for a portion
-of the night at this spot. So soon as the flames rose joyously, skyward
-in long spirals, the two strangers produced from their game bags maize
-tortillas, jerked meat, and a gourd of pulque. These various comestibles
-were complacently spread out on the grass, and the three men began a
-hunter's meal. When the gourd had gone the round several times, and the
-tortillas had disappeared, the newcomers lit their Indian pipes, and the
-Mexican rolled a papelito.
-
-Although this meal had been short, it lasted, however, long enough for
-night to have completely set in ere it was ended. Perfect darkness
-brooded over the clearing, the ruddy reflections of the fire played on
-the energetic faces of the three men, and gave them a fantastic
-appearance.
-
-"And now," the Mexican said, after lighting his cigarette, "I will, with
-your permission, explain to you why I was so anxious to see you."
-
-"One moment," one of the hunters answered. "You know that in the deserts
-the leaves have often eyes, and the trees ears. If I am not mistaken in
-your hints, you invited us here that our interview might be secret."
-
-"In truth, I have the greatest interest in nothing of what is said here
-being overheard, or even suspected."
-
-"Very good. Curumilla, to work."
-
-The second hunter rose, seized his rifle and disappeared noiselessly in
-the gloom. His absence was rather long; but as long as it lasted, the
-two men left at the fire did not exchange a syllable. In about half an
-hour the hunter returned, however, and seated himself by his comrades'
-side.
-
-"Well?" the one who had sent him off asked him.
-
-"My brother can speak," he replied laconically; "the desert is quiet."
-
-On this assurance the three men banished all anxiety. Still prudence did
-not abandon them: they took up their pipes, and turned their backs to
-the fire, so that they might watch the neighbourhood while conversing.
-
-"We are ready to listen to you," the first hunter said.
-
-"Listen to me with the greatest attention," the Mexican began; "what you
-are about to hear is of the utmost importance."
-
-The two men bowed silently, and the Mexican prepared to speak again.
-
-Before going further we must introduce to the reader the two men we have
-just brought on the stage, and go back a few paces in order to make it
-perfectly understood why Don Miguel Zarate, in lieu of receiving them at
-his own house, had given them the meeting in the heart of the virgin
-forest.
-
-The two hunters seemed at the first glance to be Indians; but on
-examining them more attentively, you could recognise that one of them
-belonged to those white trappers whose boldness has become proverbial in
-Mexico. Their appearance and equipment offered a singular medley of
-savage and civilised life. Their hair was of a remarkable length; for in
-those countries, where a man is frequently only fought for the glory of
-lifting his scalp, it is considered the thing to wear it long and easy
-to seize.
-
-The hunters had their hair neatly plaited, and intertwined with beaver
-skins and bright coloured ribbons. The rest of their garb harmonised with
-this specimen of their taste. A hunting shirt of bright red calico fell
-down to their knees; gaiters decorated with woolen ribbons and bells
-surrounded their legs; and their feet were shod with moccasins
-embroidered with beads which the squaws know so well how to make. A
-striped blanket, fastened round the hips by a belt of tanned deer hide,
-completed their clothing, but was not so closely drawn that at their
-every movement the butt of the pistols and the hilt of the machetes
-might be seen glistening. As for their rifles, useless at this moment,
-and carelessly thrown on the ground by their side, if they had been
-stripped of the plume-worked elk skin that covered them, it would have
-been possible to see, with what care their owners had decorated them
-with copper nails painted of various colours; for all about these two men
-bore the imprint of Indian habits.
-
-The first of the two hunters was a man of thirty-eight at the most, tall
-and well-built; his muscular limbs denoted great bodily strength, allied
-to unequalled lightness. Although he affected all the manners of the
-redskins, it was an easy matter to perceive that he not only belonged to
-the unmixed white race, but also to the Norman or Gaulish type. He was
-fair; his large, blue and pensive eyes, adorned with long lashes, had an
-expression of undefinable sadness: his nose was slightly aquiline; his
-mouth large, and filled with teeth of dazzling whiteness; a thick
-chestnut beard covered the lower part of his face, which revealed
-gentleness, kindness, and courage without boasting, though the whole
-were combined with a will of iron.
-
-His companion evidently belonged to the Indian race, all the
-characteristic signs of which he displayed; but, strange to say, he was
-not coppery like the American aborigines of Texas and North America; and
-his skin was brown and slightly of an olive hue. He had a lofty brow, a
-bent nose, small but piercing eyes, a large mouth and square chin; in
-short, he presented the complete type of the American race, which
-inhabits a limited territory in the South of Chili. This hunter had
-round his brow a purple-coloured fillet, in which was thrust over the
-right ear a plume of the Andes Eagle, a sign which serves to distinguish
-the chiefs of the Aucas.
-
-These two men, whom the reader has doubtless already recognised, as they
-played an important part in our previously published works[1], were
-Valentine Guillois, an ex-noncommissioned officer in the Spahis, and
-Curumilla, his friend--Ulmen of the Great Hare tribe.
-
-We will introduce a parenthesis to explain their present position, and
-which is indispensable for a right understanding of what follows. The
-moment is capitally selected, by the way, for opening this parenthesis;
-for the three hunters are gaily talking round their fire, the night is
-gloomy, the forest quiet, and it does not appear likely that anything
-will arise to disturb them.
-
-
-
-[1] "The Chief of the Aucas," "The Tiger Slayer," "The Gold Finders,"
-"The Indian Chief."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-DON MIGUEL ZARATE.
-
-
-Were Mexico better governed, it would be, without contradiction, one of
-the richest countries on the face of the globe. Indeed the largest
-private fortunes must still be sought in that country. Since the United
-States Americans have revealed to the world, by seizing one-half of
-Mexico, whither their ambition tends, the inhabitants of that fine
-country have slightly emerged from the torpor they enjoyed, and have
-made great efforts to colonise their provinces, and summon to their
-soil, which is so rich and fertile, intelligent and industrious
-labourers, who might change the face of affairs, and cause abundance and
-wealth to abound at spots, where, prior to their arrival, there was
-naught save ruin, desolation, carelessness, and misery.
-
-Unfortunately, the noble efforts made up to the present day have,
-through an inexplicable fatality, remained without result, either owing
-to the natural apathy of the inhabitants, or the fault of the Mexican
-Government itself. Still the large landowners, comprehending all the
-advantages of the proposed measure, and how much it is to their interest
-to combat the deadly influence of the American invasions, have
-generously devoted themselves to the realization of this great question
-of social economy, which, unluckily is growing more and more
-unrealisable.
-
-In fact, in Northern America two hostile races--the Anglo-Saxon and the
-Spanish--stand face to face. The Anglo-Saxons are devoured by an ardour
-for conquest, and a rage for invasion, which nothing can arrest, or even
-retard. It is impossible to see without amazement the expansive
-tendencies of this active and singular people, a heterogeneous composite
-of all the races which misery or evil instincts expelled from Europe
-originally, and which feels restricted in the immense territory which
-its numerical weakness yet prevents it entirely occupying.
-
-Imprisoned within its vast frontiers, making a right of strength, it is
-continually displacing its neighbours' landmarks, and encroaching on
-territory of which it can make no use. Daily, bands of emigrants abandon
-their dwellings, and with their rifles on their shoulders, their axes in
-their hand, they proceed south, as if impelled by a will stronger than
-themselves; and neither mountains, deserts, nor virgin forests are
-sufficient obstacles to make them halt even for an instant. The Yankees
-imagine themselves generally the instruments of Providence, and
-appointed by the decrees of the Omnipotent to people and civilise the
-New World. They count with feverish impatience the hours which must
-elapse ere the day (close at hand in their ideas) arrive in which their
-race and government system will occupy the entire space contained
-between Cape North and the Isthmus of Panama, to the exclusion of the
-Spanish republics on one side, and the English colonies on the other.
-
-These projects, of which the Americans make no mystery, but, on the
-contrary, openly boast, are perfectly well known to the Mexicans, who
-cordially detest their neighbours, and employ all the means in their
-power to create difficulties for them, and impede their successive
-encroachments.
-
-Among the New Mexican landowners who resolved to make sacrifices in
-order to stop, or at least check, the imminent invasion from North
-America, the richest, and possibly, first of all, through his
-intelligence and the influence he justly enjoyed in the country, was Don
-Miguel Acamarichtzin Zarate.
-
-Whatever may be asserted, the Indian population of Mexico is nearly
-double in number to the white men, and possesses an enormous influence.
-Don Miguel descended in a straight line from Acamarichtzin, first king
-of Mexico, whose name had been preserved in the family as a precious
-relic. Possessed of an incalculable fortune, Don Miguel lived on his
-enormous estates like a king in his empire, beloved and respected by the
-Indians, whom he effectively protected whenever the occasion presented
-itself, and who felt for him a veneration carried almost to idolatry;
-for they saw in him the descendant from one of their most celebrated
-kings, and the born defender of their race.
-
-In New Mexico the Indian population has very largely increased during
-the past fifty years. Some authors, indeed, assert that it is now more
-numerous than prior to the conquest, which is very probable, through the
-apathy of the Spaniards, and the carelessness they have ever displayed
-in their struggles against it. But the Indians have remained stationary
-amid the incessant progress of civilization, and still retain intact the
-principal traits of their old manners. Scattered here and there in
-miserable ranchos or villages, they live in separate tribes, governed by
-their caciques, and they have mingled but very few Spanish words with
-their idioms, which they speak as in the time of the Aztecs. The sole
-apparent change in them is their conversion to Catholicism--a conversion
-more than problematical, as they preserve with the utmost care all the
-recollections of their ancient religion, follow its rites in secret, and
-keep up all its superstitious practices.
-
-The Indians--above all, in New Mexico--although called _Indios fideles_,
-are always ready on the first opportunity to ally themselves with their
-desert congeners; and in the incursions of the Apaches and Comanches it
-is rare for the faithful Indians not to serve them as scouts, guides,
-and spies.
-
-The family of Don Miguel Zarate had retired to New Mexico, which country
-it did not leave again--a few years after the conquests of the
-adventurer Cortez. Don Miguel had closely followed the policy of his
-family by maintaining the bonds of friendship and good neighbourhood
-which, from time immemorial, attached it to the Indians, believers or
-not. This policy had borne its fruit. Annually, in September, when the
-terrible red warriors, preceded by murder and arson, rushed like a
-torrent on the wretched inhabitants, whom they massacred in the farms
-they plundered, without pity of age or sex, Don Miguel Zarate's estates
-were respected; and not merely was no damage inflicted on them, but even
-if at times a field were unwittingly trampled by the horses' hoofs, or a
-few trees destroyed by plunderers, the evil was immediately repaired ere
-the owner had opportunity for complaint.
-
-This conduct of the Indians had not failed to arouse against Don Miguel
-extreme jealousy on the part of the inhabitants, who saw themselves
-periodically ruined by the _Indios Bravos._ Earnest complaints had been
-laid against him before the Mexican Government; but whatever might be
-the power of his enemies, and the means they employed to ruin him, the
-rich hacendero had never been seriously disturbed: in the first place,
-because New Mexico is too remote from the capital for the inhabitants to
-have anything to fear from the governing classes; and secondly, Don
-Miguel was too rich not to render it easy for him to impose silence on
-those who were most disposed to injure him.
-
-Don Miguel, whose portrait we drew in a previous chapter, was left a
-widower after eight years' marriage, with two children, a boy and a
-girl, the son being twenty-four, the daughter seventeen, at the period
-when our story opens. Doña Clara--such was the daughter's name--was one
-of the most delicious maidens that can be imagined. She had one of those
-Murillo's virgin heads, whose black eyes, fringed with long silky
-lashes, pure mouth, and dreamy brow seem to promise divine joys. Her
-complexion, slightly bronzed by the warm sunbeams, wore that gilded
-reflection which so well becomes the women of these intertropical
-countries. She was short of stature, but exquisitely modelled. Gentle
-and simple, ignorant as a Creole, this delicious child was adored by her
-father, who saw in her the wife he had so loved living once more. The
-Indians looked after her when she at times passed pensively, plucking a
-flower before their wretched huts, and scarce bending the slants on
-which she placed her delicate foot. In their hearts they compared this
-frail maiden, with her soft and vaporous outline, to the "virgin of the
-first loves," that sublime creation of the Indian religion which holds
-so great a place in the Aztec mythology.
-
-Don Pablo Zarate, the hacendero's son, was a powerfully built man, with
-harshly marked features, and a haughty glance, although at times it was
-imprinted with gentleness and kindness. Endowed with more than ordinary
-strength, skilled in all bodily exercises, Don Pablo was renowned
-through the whole country for his talent in taming the most spirited
-horses, and the correctness of his aim when on the chase. A determined
-hunter and daring wood ranger, this young man, when he had a good horse
-between his legs, and his rifle in his hand, knew none, man or animal,
-capable of barring his passage. The Indians, in their simple faith,
-yielded to the son the same respect and veneration they entertained for
-the father, and fancied they saw in him the personification of
-_Huitzilopochtli_, that terrible war god of the Aztecs, to whom 62,000
-human victims were sacrificed in one day, upon the inauguration of his
-_teocali_.
-
-The Zarates, then, at the period when our story opens, were real kings
-of New Mexico. The felicity they enjoyed was suddenly troubled by one of
-those vulgar incidents which, though unimportant in themselves, do not
-fail to cause a general perturbation, and a discomfort possessing no
-apparent cause, from the fact that it is impossible to foresee or
-prevent them. The circumstance was as follows:--
-
-Don Miguel possessed, in the vicinity of the Paso, vast estates
-extending for a great distance, and consisting principally of haciendas,
-prairies, and forests. One day Don Miguel was returning from a visit to
-his haciendas. It was late, and he pressed on his horse in order to
-reach ere night the ford, when, at about three or four leagues at the
-most from the spot to which he was proceeding, and just as he was
-entering a dense forest of cottonwood trees, through which he must pass
-ere reaching the ford, his attention was attracted by cries mingled with
-growls emerging from the wood he was about to enter. The hacendero
-stopped in order to account for the unusual sounds he heard, and bent
-his head forward to detect what was happening. But it was impossible for
-him to distinguish anything through the chaos of creepers and shrubs
-which intercepted vision. In the meanwhile, the noise grew louder, and
-the shouts were redoubled, and mingled with oaths and passionate
-exclamations.
-
-The Mexican's horse laid back its ears, neighed, and refused to advance.
-Still Don Miguel must make up his mind. Thinking that a man was probably
-attacked by wild beasts, he only consulted his heart; and, in spite of
-the visible repugnance of his steed, he compelled it to go forward and
-enter the wood. He had scarce gone a few yards ere he stopped in
-amazement at the strange spectacle that presented itself to him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-THE PECCARIES.
-
-
-In the middle of the clearing lay a ripped up horse, which six or eight
-peccaries were rending, while a dozen others were attacking with their
-tusks the stem of an enormous tree, in the topmost branches of which a
-man had sought shelter.
-
-Let us explain to our readers, who probably know little about them, what
-sort of animals the peccaries are. The peccaries hold the intermediate
-grade between the domestic pig and the wild boar. Although this animal
-does not exceed two feet in height, and is not more than three feet long
-from the end of the snout to the beginning of the tail, it is
-indubitably one of the most dangerous animals in North America. The
-animal's jaw is provided with tusks rather like those of the boar, but
-straight and sharp, their length varying between four and six inches. In
-the shape of the body it resembles a pig, but the bristles scattered
-over its warty hide are in colored strips; the part nearest the skin is
-white, and the point of a chocolate tinge. So soon as the animal is
-enraged, these bristles stand out like the quills of a porcupine.
-
-The movements of the peccaries are as quick and sharp as those of a
-squirrel. They ordinarily live in herds of fifteen, thirty, and even
-fifty. The strength of the head, neck, and shoulders is so great when
-they charge, that nothing can resist the impetuosity of their attacks. A
-remarkable peculiarity of this genus is the clumsy wart they have on
-their backs, whence a musty fluid evaporates when the animal is in a
-fury.
-
-The peccary lives in preference on acorns, roots, wheat, sugar cane, and
-reptiles of every description. It is a proved fact that the most
-venomous serpents are devoured by them without their feeling in the
-slightest degree incommoded.
-
-The mode in which the peccary forms its lair is very singular. This lair
-is generally in the midst of tufted and impenetrable canes, found in
-marshy spots round the monarchs of the forest, which still stand like
-crushed giants, with their grappling lines of creepers and virgin vines.
-The trunks of these trees, which at times measure forty feet in
-circumference, are nearly all hollow, and thus afford a convenient
-shelter for the peccaries, which retire to them every night in herds of
-twenty to twenty-five, entering the cavity one after the other
-backwards; so that the last has the end of its snout placed just at the
-entrance of the hole, thus watching, as it were, over the rest of its
-companions.
-
-The peccaries are unboundedly ferocious: they know not danger, or at
-least despise it completely. They always attack in herds, and fight with
-unequalled rage until the last succumbs, no matter the nature of their
-foe.
-
-Hence men and animals all fly a meeting with these terrible beasts: the
-jaguar, so strong and redoubtable, will become their prey if it be so
-imprudent as to attack them. This is the way they set about conquering
-this wild beast:--
-
-When a jaguar has wounded a peccary, the latter collect, chase it, and
-pursue until they can contrive to surround the common enemy. When every
-issue is closed, the jaguar, believing it can thus escape, seeks refuge
-up a tree. But the peccaries do not resign the vengeance; they establish
-themselves at the foot of the tree, being incessantly recruited by fresh
-allies, and patiently waiting till the jaguar, driven to extremities by
-hunger and thirst, decides on descending from its improvised fortress.
-This is almost always sure to happen at the end of two or three days at
-the most. The jaguar bounds into the midst of its enemies, which boldly
-await it, and attack it bravely; a terrible fight commences; and the
-tiger, after covering the ground with victims, at length succumbs
-beneath the efforts of its assailants, and is ripped up by their tusks.
-
-After what we have said, it is easy to understand how precarious was the
-position of the man perched on the top of the tree, and surrounded by
-peccaries. His enemies seemed determined not to leave their ground; they
-craftily crept round the tree, attacked its base with their tusks, and
-then recognising the inutility of their onsets, they quietly lay down by
-the carcass of the horse, which they had already sacrificed to their
-fury. Don Miguel felt moved to pity for the poor fellow, whose position
-grew momentarily more critical; but in vain did he rack his brains how
-to help the unhappy man whose destruction was assured.
-
-To attack the peccaries would have been extreme imprudence, and have
-produced no other result than that of turning on himself the fury of the
-animals, while not saving the man he wished to help. Still time pressed.
-What was to be done? How, without sacrificing himself, save the man who
-ran so great a risk?
-
-The Mexican hesitated for a long period. It seemed to Don Miguel
-impossible to leave, without help, this man whose death was certain.
-This idea, which presented itself to his mind several times, he had
-energetically repulsed, so monstrous did it appear to him. At length he
-resolved at all risks to attempt impossibilities in favour of this
-stranger, of whose death he would have eventually accused himself had he
-left him to perish in the desert.
-
-The stranger's position was the more critical because, in his haste to
-defend himself from the attacks of his enemies, he had left his rifle
-fall at the foot of the tree, and was consequently unable to reduce the
-number of the peccaries. In spite of their fineness of scent, the latter
-had not noticed Don Miguel's approach, who, by a providential accident,
-had entered the wood on the side opposite the wind. The Mexican
-dismounted with a sigh, patted his horse, and then took off its
-accoutrements. The noble animal, habituated to its master's caresses,
-shook his head joyously, and fixed its large intelligent eyes on him.
-Don Miguel could not repress another sigh: a tear fell down on his
-bronzed cheeks. On the point of accomplishing the sacrifice, he
-hesitated.
-
-It was a faithful companion, almost a friend, he was about to separate
-from; but the life of a man was at stake. The Mexican drove back the
-feelings that agitated him, and his resolution was formed. He passed a
-lasso round his horse's neck, and, in spite of its obstinate resistance,
-compelled it to advance to the entrance of the clearing in which the
-peccaries were assembled. A frail curtain of creepers and leaves alone
-hid it from their sight. On arriving here Don Miguel stopped: he had one
-more moment's hesitation, but only one; for then seizing a piece of
-tinder, which he lighted, he thrust it into the poor animal's ear while
-caressing it.
-
-The effect was sudden and terrible. The horse uttered a snort of pain;
-and rendered mad by the burning, bounded forward into the clearing,
-striving in vain to get rid of the tinder which caused it intolerable
-suffering. Don Miguel had smartly leaped aside, and now followed with an
-anxious glance the result of the terrible tentative he had just made to
-save the stranger. On seeing the horse appear suddenly in their midst,
-the peccaries rose, formed a compact group and rushed with their heads
-down in pursuit of the horse, thinking no longer of the man. The animal,
-spurred on still more by the sight of its ferocious enemies, shot ahead
-with the speed of an arrow, breaking down with its chest all the
-obstacles in its way, and followed closely by the peccaries.
-
-The man saved; but at what a price! Don Miguel repressed a last sigh of
-regret, and leaped into the clearing. The stranger had already descended
-from the tree; but the emotion he had undergone was so extreme, that he
-remained seated on the ground, almost in a state of unconsciousness.
-
-"Quick, quick!" Don Miguel said to him sharply. "We have not a moment to
-lose: the peccaries may alter their minds and return."
-
-"That is true," the stranger muttered in a hollow voice, as he cast a
-terrified glance around. "Let us be off--off at once."
-
-He made an effort over himself, seized his rifle, and rose. Through a
-presentiment for which he could not account to himself, Don Miguel
-experienced at the sight of this man, whom he had hitherto scarce looked
-at, a feeling of invincible doubt and disgust. Owing to the life he was
-obliged to lead on these frontiers, frequented by people of every
-description, the hacendero had been often brought into relation with
-trappers and hunters whose faces were no recommendation to them; but
-never ere now had chance brought him in contact with an individual of
-such sinister appearance as this one.
-
-Still he did not allow his feelings to be seen through, and invited this
-man to follow him. The latter did not let the invitation be repeated;
-for he was anxious to escape from the spot where he had been so near
-death. Thanks to the Mexican's acquaintance with the country, the wood
-was speedily traversed, and the two men, after a walk of scarce an
-hour's duration, reached the banks of the Del Norte, just opposite the
-village. Their speed had been so great, their anxiety so serious, that
-they had not exchanged a syllable, so terrified were they of seeing the
-peccaries appear at any moment. Fortunately this was not the case, and
-they reached the ford without being again disturbed.
-
-Don Miguel was burdened with his horse's trappings, which he now threw
-on the ground, and looked around him in the hope of finding someone who
-would help him in crossing the river. His expectations were not
-deceived; for just as they reached the ford an _arriero_ was preparing
-to cross to the other side of the river with his _recca_ of mules, and,
-with the generosity innate in all Mexicans, he offered to carry them
-both to the Paso. The two men eagerly accepted, each mounted a mule, and
-half an hour later they found themselves in safety at the village. After
-giving the arriero a few reals to requite him for his services, Don
-Miguel took up his horse's trappings again, and prepared to start. The
-stranger stopped.
-
-"We are about to part here, caballero," he said in a rough voice, with a
-very marked English accent; "but before leaving, let me express to you
-my deep gratitude for the noble and generous manner in which you saved
-my life at the peril of your own."
-
-"Sir," the Mexican simply answered, "I only did my duty in saving you.
-In the desert all men are brothers, and owe each other protection. Hence
-do not thank me, I beg, for a very simple action: any other in my place
-would have acted as I have done."
-
-"Perhaps so," the stranger continued; "but be kind enough, pray, to tell
-me your name, so that I may know to whom I owe my life."
-
-"That is needless," Don Miguel said with a smile. "Still, as I fancy you
-are a stranger in these parts, let me give you a piece of advice."
-
-"What is it, sir?"
-
-"Never in future to attack the peccaries. They are terrible enemies,
-only to be conquered by a strong body of men; and an individual in
-attacking them commits an unpardonable folly, to which he must fall a
-victim."
-
-"Be assured, sir, that I shall profit by the lesson I have received this
-day, and shall never put myself in such a wasps' nest again. I was too
-near paying dearly for my imprudence. But I beg you, sir, do not let us
-separate ere I know the name of my preserver."
-
-"As you insist, sir, you shall learn it. I am Don Miguel de Zarate."
-
-The stranger took a peculiar glance at the speaker, while repressing a
-movement of surprise.
-
-"Ah!" he said in a singular tone, "Thanks, Don Miguel Zarate. Without
-knowing you personally, I was already acquainted with your name."
-
-"That is possible," the hacendero answered; "for I am well known in
-this country, where my family has been established for many a long
-year."
-
-"I, sir, am the man whom the Indians call Witchasta Joute, the Maneater,
-and the hunters, my companions, Red Cedar."
-
-And after lifting his hand to his cap in salute, this man threw his
-rifle on his shoulder, turned on his heel, and went off at full speed.
-Don Miguel looked after him for a while, and then walked pensively
-toward the house he inhabited at el Paso. The hacendero did not suspect
-that he had sacrificed his favourite horse to save the life of his most
-implacable enemy.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE WOUND.
-
-
-At sunrise, Don Miguel, mounted on an excellent horse, left the Paso,
-and proceeded toward the hacienda where he resided with his family. It
-was situated a few miles from the Presidio of San Elezario, in a
-delicious position, and was known as the _Hacienda de la Noria_ (the
-Farm of the Well). The estate inhabited by Don Miguel stood in the
-centre of the vast delta formed by the Del Norte and the Rio San Pedro,
-or Devil's River. It was one of those strong and massive buildings which
-the Spaniards alone knew how to erect when they were absolute masters of
-Mexico.
-
-The hacienda formed a vast parallelogram, supported at regular distances
-by enormous cross walls of carved stone. Like all the frontier
-habitations, which are rather fortresses than houses, it was only
-pierced on the side of the plain with a few narrow windows resembling
-loopholes, and protected by solid iron bars. This abode was begirt by a
-thick wall of circumvallation, defended on the top by that fretwork
-called _almenas_, which indicated the nobility of the owner. Within this
-wall, but separated from the chief apartments, were the stables,
-outhouses, barns and cabins for the peons.
-
-At the extremity of the courtyard, in an angle of the hacienda, was the
-tall square belfry of the chapel, rising above its terraced roof. This
-chapel was served by a monk called Fray Ambrosio. A magnificent plain
-closed in this splendid farm. At the end of a valley more than fifty
-miles in length were cactus trees of a conical shape, loaded with fruit
-and flowers, and whose stems were as much as six feet in diameter.
-
-Don Miguel employed a considerable number of peons in the cultivation of
-the sugar cane, which he carried on upon a very large scale. As
-everybody knows, the cane is planted by laying it horizontally in
-furrows half a foot deep. From each knot springs a shoot which reaches a
-height of about three yards, and which is cut at the end of a year to
-extract the juice.
-
-Nothing can be more picturesque than the sight of a field of sugar
-canes. It was one of those superb American mornings during which nature
-seems to be holding a festival. The _centzontle_ (American nightingale)
-frequently poured forth its harmonious notes; the red throstled
-cardinals, the blue birds, the parakeets, chattered gaily beneath the
-foliage; far away on the plain galloped flocks of light antelopes and
-timid ashatas, while on the extreme verge of the horizon rushed startled
-_manadas_ of wild horses, which raised clouds of impalpable dust beneath
-the vibration of their rapid hoofs. A few alligators, carelessly
-stretched out on the river mud, were drying their scales in the sun, and
-in mid air the grand eagles of the Sierra Madre hovered majestically
-above the valley.
-
-Don Miguel advanced rapidly at the favourite pace of the Mexican
-_jinetes,_ and which consists in making the horse raise its front legs,
-while the hind ones almost graze the ground--a peculiar sort of amble
-which is very gentle and rapid. The hacendero only employed four hours
-in traversing the distance separating him from the hacienda, where he
-arrived about nine in the morning. He was received on the threshold of
-the house by his daughter, who, warned of his arrival, had hastened to
-meet him.
-
-Don Miguel had been absent from home a fortnight; hence, he received his
-daughter's caresses with the greatest pleasure. When he had embraced her
-several times, while continuing to hold her tightly clasped in his arms,
-he regarded her attentively during several seconds.
-
-"What is the matter, _mi querida_ Clara?" he asked with sympathy. "You
-seem very sad. Can you feel vexed at the sight of me?" he added, with a
-smile.
-
-"Oh, you cannot believe that, father!" she answered quickly; "for you
-know how happy your presence must render me."
-
-"Thanks, my child! But whence, in that case, comes the sorrow I see
-spread over your features?"
-
-The maiden let her eyes sink, but made no reply.
-
-Don Miguel threw a searching glance around.
-
-"Where is Don Pablo?" he said. "Why has he not come to greet me? Can he
-be away from the hacienda?"
-
-"No, father, he is here."
-
-"Well, then, what is the reason he is not by your side?"
-
-"Because--" the girl said, with hesitation.
-
-"Well?"
-
-"He is ill."
-
-"My son ill!" Don Miguel exclaimed.
-
-"I am wrong," Doña Clara corrected herself.
-
-"Explain yourself, in Heaven's name!"
-
-"My father, the fact is that Pablo is wounded."
-
-"Wounded!" the hacendero sharply said; and thrusting his daughter
-aside, he rushed toward the house, bounded up the few steps leading to
-the porch, crossed several rooms without stopping, and reached his son's
-chamber. The young man was lying, weak and faint, on his bed; but on
-perceiving his parent he smiled, and held his hand to him. Don Miguel
-was fondly attached to his son, his sole heir, and walked up to him.
-
-"What is this wound of which I have heard?" he asked him in great
-agitation.
-
-"Less than nothing, father," the young man replied, exchanging a meaning
-glance with his sister, who entered at the moment. "Clara is a foolish
-girl, who, in her tenderness, wrongly alarmed you."
-
-"But, after all, you are wounded?" the father continued.
-
-"But I repeat that it is a mere nothing."
-
-"Come, explain yourself. How and when did you receive this wound?"
-
-The young man blushed, and maintained silence.
-
-"I insist on knowing," Don Miguel continued pressingly.
-
-"Good heavens, father!" Don Pablo replied with an air of ill-humour, "I
-do not understand why you are alarmed for so futile a cause. I am not a
-child, whom a scratch should make frightened; and many times have I been
-wounded previously, and you have not disturbed yourself so much."
-
-"That is possible; but the mode in which you answer me, the care you
-seem trying to take to keep me ignorant of the cause of this wound--in a
-word, everything tells me that this time you are trying to hide
-something grave from me."
-
-"You are mistaken, father, and shall convince yourself."
-
-"I wish nothing more: speak. Clara, my child, go and give orders to have
-breakfast prepared, for I am dying of hunger."
-
-The girl went out.
-
-"Now it is our turn," Don Miguel continued. "In the first place, where
-are you wounded?"
-
-"Oh! I have merely a slight scratch on my shoulder: if I went to bed it
-was more through indolence than any other motive."
-
-"Hum! and what scratched your shoulder?"
-
-"A bullet."
-
-"What! A bullet! Then you must have fought a duel, unhappy boy!" Don
-Miguel exclaimed with a shudder.
-
-The young man smiled, pressed his father's hand, and bending toward him,
-said,--
-
-"This is what has happened."
-
-"I am listening to you," Don Miguel replied, making an effort to calm
-himself.
-
-"Two days after your departure, father," Don Pablo continued, "I was
-superintending, as you wished me to do, the cutting of the cane crop,
-when a hunter whom you will probably remember having seen prowling about
-the estate, a man of the name of Andrés Garote, accosted me at the
-moment I was about to return home after giving my orders to the
-majordomo. After saluting me obsequiously as his wont, the scamp smiled
-cunningly, and lowering his voice so as not to be overheard by those
-around us, said, 'Don Pablo, I fancy you would give half an ounce to the
-man who brought you important news?' 'That depends,' I answered; for,
-having known the man a long time, I was aware much confidence could not
-be placed in him. 'Bah! Your grace is so rich,' he continued
-insidiously, 'that a miserable sum like that is less than nothing in his
-pocket, while in mine it would do me a deal of good.'
-
-"Apart from his defects, this scamp had at times done us a few small
-services; and then, as he said, a half-ounce is but a trifle, so I gave
-it to him. He stowed it away in his pockets, and then bent down to my
-ear. 'Thanks, Don Pablo,' he said to me. 'I shall not cheat you of your
-money. Your horse is rested, and can stand a long journey. Proceed to
-Buffalo Valley, and there you will learn something to interest you.' It
-was in vain that I urged him to explain himself more clearly; I could
-draw no more from him. He merely added before parting from me, 'Don
-Pablo, you have good weapons; so take them with you, for no man knoweth
-what may happen.' Somehow the scamp's veiled confidence aroused my
-curiosity: hence I resolved to go to Buffalo Valley, and gain the clue
-of this riddle."
-
-"Andrés Garote is a villain, who laid a snare for you, into which you
-fell," Don Miguel interrupted.
-
-"No, father, you are mistaken. Andrés was honest towards me, and I have
-only thanks to give him. Still he should have explained himself,
-perhaps, more distinctly."
-
-The hacendero shook his head with a doubting air.
-
-"Go on," he said.
-
-"I entered my house, procured the weapons, and then, mounted on Negro,
-my black charger, I proceeded toward Buffalo Valley. As you are aware,
-father, the place we call so, and which belongs to us, is an immense
-forest of cedars and maples, nearly forty miles in circumference, and
-traversed almost through its entire length by a wide confluent of the
-Rio San Pedro."
-
-"Of course I know it, and I intend next year to fell some of the wood
-there."
-
-"You need not take the trouble," the young man said with a smile, "for
-someone has done it for you."
-
-"What do you mean?" the hacendero asked wrathfully. "Who dared?"
-
-"Oh! One of those wretched heretic squatters, as they call themselves.
-The villain found the spot to suit him, and has quietly settled there
-with his three whelps--three big fellows with hang-dog faces, who
-laughed at me when I told them the forest was mine, and answered, while
-aiming at me, that they were North Americans, who cared as little for me
-as they did for a coyote; that the ground belonged to the first comer;
-and that I shall afford them lively pleasure by being off at full speed.
-What more shall I tell you, father? I take after you. I have hot blood,
-and I cordially hate that race of Yankee pirates, who, for some years
-back, have settled on our lovely country like a swarm of mosquitoes. I
-saw our forest plundered, our finest trees cut down. I could not remain
-unmoved in the presence of these scoundrels' insolence, and the quarrel
-became so sharp that they fired at me."
-
-"_Virgen Santísima_!" Don Miguel exclaimed in fury, "They shall pay
-dearly for the affront they have offered you I swear it! I will take
-exemplary vengeance."
-
-"Why be so angry, father?" the young man replied, visibly annoyed at the
-effect his story had produced. "The harm these people do us is really
-very trifling. I was in the wrong to let my passion carry me away."
-
-"On the contrary, you were right. I will not have these Northern thieves
-come and commit their plunder here. I will put a stop to it."
-
-"I assure you that, if you will leave me to act, I feel certain of
-arranging this affair to your entire satisfaction."
-
-"I forbid you taking the slightest steps, for this matter concerns me
-now. Whatever may occur, I do not wish you to interfere. Will you
-promise me this?"
-
-"As you insist, I do so, father."
-
-"Very good. Get cured as speedily as possible, and keep your mind at
-rest. The Yankees shall pay me dearly for the blood they have shed."
-
-With these words Don Miguel retired, and his son fell back on his bed
-stifling a sigh, and uttering a hoarse exclamation of passion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE SQUATTER'S SHANTY.
-
-
-Don Pablo had not told his father the facts in all their truth or
-detail. He had fallen into a perfect ambuscade. He was suddenly attacked
-by the three brothers, who would have mercilessly killed him, resolved
-to lay the blame of his death on the wild beasts, had not, at the moment
-when one of them lifted his knife on the young man, who was thrown down
-and rendered motionless by the others, a providential succour reached him
-in the person of a charming maid scarce sixteen years of age.
-
-The courageous girl rushed from a copse with the rapidity of a fawn, and
-threw herself resolutely into the midst of the assassins.
-
-"What are you about, brother?" she exclaimed in a melodious voice, whose
-harmonious notes echoed amorously in Don Pablo's ears. "Why do you wish
-to kill this stranger?"
-
-The three squatters, surprised by this apparition, which they were far
-from expecting, fell back a few paces. Don Pablo profited by this truce
-to jump up and regain possession of his arms, which had fallen by his
-side.
-
-"Was it not enough," the girl continued, "to rob this man, that you must
-now try to take his life? Fie, brothers! Do you not know that blood
-leaves on the hands of him who spills it stains which nothing can
-efface? Let this man retire in peace."
-
-The young men hesitated. Although unconsciously yielding to their
-sister's influence, they were ashamed of thus executing her wishes.
-Still they did not dare express their thoughts, and merely bent on their
-enemy, who awaited them with a firm foot and pistols in hand, glances
-laden with hatred and anger.
-
-"Ellen is right," the youngest of her brothers suddenly said. "No, I
-will not allow any harm to be done the stranger."
-
-The others looked at him savagely.
-
-"You would defend him, if necessary, I suppose, Shaw?" Nathan said to
-him ironically.
-
-"Why should I not, were it required?" the young man said boldly.
-
-"Eh!" Sutter remarked with a grin, "He is thinking of the Wood
-Eglantine."
-
-This word had been scarce uttered ere Shaw, with purpled face,
-contracted features, and eyes injected with blood, rushed with uplifted
-knife on his brother, who awaited him firmly. The girl dashed between
-them.
-
-"Peace, peace!" she shrieked in a piercing voice, "Do brothers dare
-threaten one another?"
-
-The two young fellows remained motionless, but watching and ready to
-strike in a moment. Don Pablo fixed an ardent glance on the girl, who
-was really admirable at this moment. With her features animated by
-anger, her head erect, and her arms stretched out between the two men,
-she bore a startling likeness to those Druidesses who in olden times
-summoned the warriors to combat beneath the forests of Germany.
-
-In her whole person she offered the complete type of the gentle Northern
-woman. Her hair light and golden like ripe corn; her eyes of extreme
-purity, which reflected the azure of the sky; her earnest mouth, with
-rosy lips and pearly teeth; her flexible and small waist; the whiteness
-of her complexion, whose delicate and transparent skin still bore the
-flush of adolescence--all was combined in this charming maiden to render
-her the most seductive creature imaginable.
-
-Don Pablo, a stranger to this kind of beauty, felt himself involuntarily
-attracted toward the girl, and entirely subjugated by her. Forgetting
-the reason that had brought him to this spot, the danger he had
-incurred, and that which still menaced him, he was fascinated and
-trembling before this delicious apparition, fearing at each instant to
-see it vanish like a vision, and not daring to turn his glance from her
-while he felt he had no strength left to admire her.
-
-This young creature, so frail and delicate, formed a strange contrast
-with the tall statures and marked features of her brothers, whose coarse
-and savage manners only served to heighten the elegance and charm
-exhaled by her whole person. Still this scene could not be prolonged,
-and must be ended at once. The maiden walked toward Don Pablo.
-
-"Sir," she said to him with a soft smile, "You have nothing more to fear
-from my brothers; you can mount your horse again, and set out, and no
-one will oppose your departure."
-
-The young man understood that he had no pretext to prolong his stay at
-this spot; he therefore let his head sink, placed his pistols in his
-holsters, leaped on his horse, and set out with regret, and as slowly as
-possible.
-
-He had scarce gone a league when he heard the hasty clatter of a horse
-behind him. He turned back. The approaching horseman was Shaw, who soon
-caught up with Don Pablo. The pair then proceeded some distance side by
-side without exchanging a syllable, and both seemed plunged in profound
-thought. On reaching the skirt of the forest, Shaw checked his horse,
-and softly laid his right hand on the Mexican's bridle. Don Pablo also
-stopped on this hint, and waited, while fixing an inquiring glance on
-his strange comrade.
-
-"Stranger," the young man said, "my sister sends me. She implores you,
-if it be possible, to keep secret what occurred between us today. She
-deeply regrets the attack to which you fell a victim, and the wound you
-have received; and she will try to persuade Red Cedar, our father, to
-retire from your estates."
-
-"Thank your sister for me," Don Pablo answered. "Tell her that her
-slightest wish will ever be a command to me, and that I shall be happy
-to execute it."
-
-"I will repeat your words to her."
-
-"Thanks. Render me a parting service."
-
-"Speak."
-
-"What is your sister's name?"
-
-"Ellen. She is the guardian angel of our hearth. My name is Shaw."
-
-"I am obliged to you for telling me your name, though I cannot guess the
-reason that induces you to do so."
-
-"I will tell you. I love my sister Ellen before all: she urged me to
-offer you my friendship. I obey her. Remember, stranger, that Shaw is
-yours to the death."
-
-"I shall not forget it, though I hope never to be under the necessity of
-reminding you of your words."
-
-"All the worse," the American said, with a shake of his head; "but if at
-any time the opportunity offers, I will prove to you that I am a man of
-my word, so surely as I am a Kentuckian."
-
-And hurriedly turning his horse's head, the young man rapidly
-disappeared in the windings of the forest.
-
-Buffalo Valley, illumined by the parting rays of the setting sun, seemed
-a lake of verdure to which the golden mist of night imparted magical
-tones. A light breeze rustled through the lofty crests of the cedars,
-catalpas, tulip and Peru trees, and agitated the grass on the banks of
-the Rio San Pedro. Don Pablo let the reins float idly on his horse's
-neck, and advanced dreamily through the forest, where the birds were
-leaping from spray to spray, each saluting in its language the arrival
-of night.
-
-An hour later, the young man reached the hacienda; but the wound he had
-received in his shoulder was more serious than was at first supposed. He
-was obliged, to his great regret, to keep his bed, which prevented him
-seeking to meet again the maiden whose image was deeply engraved on his
-heart.
-
-So soon as the Mexican had gone off, the squatters continued felling
-trees and sawing planks, and did not abandon this work till the night
-had grown quite black. Ellen had returned to the interior of the jacal,
-where she attended to the housekeeping duties with her mother. This
-jacal was a wretched hut, hastily made with branches of intertwined
-trees, which trembled with every breeze, and let the sun and rain
-penetrate to the interior.
-
-This cabin was divided into three compartments: the one to the right
-served as the bedroom of the two females, while the men slept in the one
-to the left. The central compartment, furnished with worm-eaten benches
-and a clumsily-planed table, was at once keeping room and kitchen.
-
-It was late: the squatters, assembled round the fire, over which a huge
-pot was boiling, were silently awaiting the return of Red Cedar, who had
-been absent since the morning. At length, a horse's hoofs sounded
-sharply on the detritus collected for years on the floor of the forest,
-the noise grew gradually nearer, the horse stopped in front of the
-jacal, and a man made his appearance. It was Red Cedar. The men slowly
-turned their heads toward him, but did not otherwise disturb themselves,
-or address a syllable to him.
-
-Ellen alone rose and embraced her father affectionately. The giant
-seized the girl in his nervous arms, raised her from the ground, and
-kissed her several times, saying in his rough voice, which his
-tenderness sensibly softened,--
-
-"Good evening, my dear."
-
-Then he put her down on the ground again, and not troubling himself
-further about her, fell heavily on a bench near the fire, and thrust his
-feet toward the fire.
-
-"Come, wife," he said, after the expiration of a moment, "the supper, in
-the fiend's name! I have a coyote's hunger."
-
-The wife did not let this be repeated. A few moments later an immense
-dish of _frijoles_, with pimiento, smoked on the table, with large pots
-of pulque. The meal was short and silent, the four men eating with
-extreme rapacity. So soon as the beans had disappeared Red Cedar and his
-sons lit their pipes, and began smoking, while drinking large draughts
-of whiskey, though still not speaking. At length Red Cedar took his pipe
-from his lips, and hit the table sharply, while saying in a rough
-voice,--
-
-"Come, women, decamp! You have nothing more to do here. You are in our
-way, so go to the deuce!"
-
-Ellen and her mother immediately went out, and entered their separate
-apartment. For a few minutes they could be heard moving about, and then
-all became silent again.
-
-Red Cedar made a sign, and Sutter rose and gently put his ear to the
-parting board. He listened for a few moments while holding his breath,
-and then returned to his seat, saying laconically,--
-
-"They are asleep."
-
-"Quick, my whelps!" the old squatter said in a low voice. "We have not a
-minute to lose: the others are expecting us."
-
-A strange scene then occurred in this mean room, which was merely
-illumined by the expiring light of the hearth. The four men arose,
-opened a large chest, and produced from it various objects of strange
-shapes--leggings, mittens, buffalo robes, collars of grizzly bear claws;
-in a word, the complete costumes of Apache Indians.
-
-The squatters disguised themselves as redskins; and when they had put on
-their garments, which rendered it impossible to recognise them, they
-completed the metamorphosis by painting their faces of different colours.
-
-Assuredly the traveller whom accident had brought at this moment to the
-jacal would have fancied it inhabited by Apaches or Comanches.
-
-The garments which the squatters had taken off were locked up in the
-chest, of which Red Cedar took the key; and the four men, armed with
-their American rifles, left the cabin, mounted their horses, which were
-awaiting them ready saddled, and started at full gallop through the
-winding forest paths.
-
-At the moment they disappeared in the gloom Ellen stood in the doorway
-of the cabin, took a despairing glance in the direction where they had
-gone, and fell to the ground murmuring sadly,--
-
-"Good Heaven! What diabolical work are they going to perform this
-night?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE RANGERS.
-
-
-On the banks of the Rio San Pedro, and on the side of a hill, stood a
-_rancheria_ composed of some ten cabins, inhabited by a population of
-sixty persons at the most, including men, women and children. These
-people were Coras Indians, hunters and agriculturists, belonging to the
-Tortoise tribe. These poor Indians lived there on terms of peace with
-their neighbours, under the protection of the Mexican laws. Quiet and
-inoffensive beings, during the nearly twenty years they had been
-established at this place they had never once offered a subject of
-complaint to their neighbours, who, on the contrary, were glad to see
-them prosper, owing to their gentle and hospitable manners. Though
-Mexican subjects, they governed themselves after their fashion, obeying
-their caciques, and regulating in the assembly of their elders all the
-difficulties that arose in their village.
-
-On the night when we saw the squatters leave the cabin in disguise, some
-twenty individuals, armed to the teeth and clothed in strange costumes,
-with their faces blackened so as to render them unrecognizable, were
-bivouacked at about two leagues from the rancheria, in a plain on the
-river's bank. Seated or lying round huge fires, they were singing,
-laughing, quarrelling or gambling with multitudinous yells and oaths.
-Two men seated apart at the foot of an enormous cactus, were conversing
-in a low tone, while smoking their husk cigarettes. These two men, of
-whom we have already spoken to the reader, were Fray Ambrosio, chaplain
-to the Hacienda de la Noria, and Andrés Garote, the hunter.
-
-Andrés was a tall, thin fellow, with a sickly and cunning face, who
-draped himself defiantly in his sordid rags, but whose weapons were in a
-perfectly good condition.
-
-Who were the men causing this disturbance? They were "rangers," but this
-requires explanation.
-
-Immediately after each of the different revolutions which have
-periodically overturned Mexico since that country so pompously declared
-its independence, the first care of the new president who reaches power
-is to dismiss the volunteers who had accidentally swollen the ranks of his
-army, and supplied him the means of overthrowing his predecessor. These
-volunteers, we must do them the justice of allowing, are the very scum
-of society, and the most degraded class human nature produces. These
-sanguinary men, without religion or law, who have no relations or
-friends, are an utter leprosy to the country.
-
-Roughly driven back into society, the new life they are forced to adopt
-in no way suits their habits of murder and pillage. No longer able to
-wage war on their countrymen, they form free corps, and engage
-themselves for a certain salary, to hunt the Indios Bravos--that is to
-say, the Apaches and Comanches--who desolate the Mexican frontiers. In
-addition to this, the paternal government of North America in Texas, and
-of Mexico in the States of the Confederation, allots them a certain sum
-for each Indian scalp they bring in.
-
-We do not fancy we are saying anything new in asserting that they are
-the scourge of the colonists and inhabitants, they plunder shamelessly
-in every way when they are not doing worse.
-
-The men assembled at this moment on the banks of the Rio San Pedro were
-preparing for a war party--the name they give to the massacres they
-organise against the redskins.
-
-Toward midnight Red Cedar and his three sons reached the rangers' camp.
-They must have been impatiently expected, for the bandits received them
-with marks of the greatest joy and the warmest enthusiasm. The dice, the
-cards, and botas of mezcal and whiskey were immediately deserted. The
-rangers mounted their horses, and grouped round the squatters, near whom
-stood Fray Ambrosio and his friend Andrés Garote.
-
-Red Cedar took a glance round the mob, and could not repress a smile of
-pride at the sight of the rich collection of bandits of every
-description whom he had around him, and who recognised him as chief. He
-extended his arm to command peace. When all were silent the giant took
-the word.
-
-"Señores caballeros," he said, in a powerful and marked voice, which
-made all these scamps quiver with delight at being treated like honest
-people, "the audacity of the redskins is growing intolerable. If we let
-them alone they would soon inundate the country, when they would end by
-expelling us. This state of things must have an end. The government
-complains about the few scalps we supply; it says we do not carry out
-the clauses of the agreement we have formed with it; it talks about
-disbanding us, as our services are useless, and therefore burdensome to
-the republic. It is our bounden duty to give a striking denial to these
-malevolent assertions, and prove to those who have placed confidence in
-us that we are ever ready to devote ourselves to the cause of humanity
-and civilisation. I have assembled you here for a war party, which I
-have been meditating for some time, and shall carry out this night. We
-are about to attack the rancheria of the Coras, who for some years past
-have had the impudence to establish themselves near this spot. They are
-pagans and thieves, who have one hundred times merited the severe
-chastisement we are about to inflict on them. But I implore you, señores
-caballeros, display no mistaken pity. Crush this race of vipers--let not
-one escape! The scalp of a child is worth as much as that of a man; so
-do not let yourselves be moved by cries or tears, but scalp, scalp to
-the end."
-
-This harangue was greeted as it deserved to be; that is, by yells of
-joy.
-
-"Señores," Red Cedar continued, "the worthy monk who accompanies me will
-call down the blessing of Heaven on our enterprise; so kneel down to
-receive the absolution he is about to give you."
-
-The bandits instantaneously dismounted, took off their hats, and knelt
-on the sand. Fray Ambrosio then repeated a long prayer, to which they
-listened with exemplary patience, repeating _amen_ after each occasion,
-and he ended by giving them absolution. The rangers rose, delighted at
-being thus freed from the burden of their sins, and got into their
-saddles again.
-
-Red Cedar then whispered a few words in Fray Ambrosio's ears, who bowed
-his head in assent, and immediately set out in the direction of the
-Hacienda de la Noria, followed by Andrés Garote. The squatter then
-turned to the rangers, who were awaiting his orders.
-
-"You know where we are going, gentlemen," he said. "Let us start, and,
-before all, be silent, if we wish to catch our game in its lair; for you
-know that the Indians are as cunning as opossums."
-
-The band started at a gallop, Red Cedar and his sons being at their
-head. It was one of those calm nights which predispose the soul to
-reverie, such as America alone has the privilege of possessing. The dark
-blue sky was spangled with an infinite number of stars, in the centre of
-which shone the majestic Southern Cross, sparkling like a king's mantle;
-the atmosphere was extraordinarily transparent, and allowed objects to
-be noticed at a great distance; the moon profusely spread around her
-silvery rays, which gave the scenery a fantastic appearance; a
-mysterious breeze sported through the tops of the great trees; and at
-times vague rumours traversed the space, and were lost in the distance.
-
-The gloomy horsemen still went on, silent and frowning, like the
-phantoms of the ancient legends, which glide through the shadows to
-accomplish a deed without a name. At the end of scarce an hour the
-rancheria was reached. All were resting in the village--not a light
-flashed in the hut. The Indians, wearied with the hard toil of the day,
-were reposing, full of confidence in the sworn faith, and apprehending
-no treason.
-
-Red Cedar halted twenty yards from the rancheria, and drew up his
-horsemen so as to surround the village on all sides. When each had taken
-his post, and the torches were lighted, Red Cedar uttered the terrible
-war cry of the Apaches, and the rangers galloped at full speed on the
-village, uttering ferocious howls, and brandishing the torches, which
-they threw on the cabins.
-
-A scene of carnage then took place which the human pen is powerless to
-describe. The unhappy Indians, surprised in their sleep, rushed
-terrified and half naked out of their poor abodes, and were pitilessly
-massacred and scalped by the rangers, who waved with a demoniac laugh
-their smoking, blood-dripping scalps. Men, women, and children, all were
-killed with refinements of barbarity. The village, fired by the rangers'
-torches, soon became an immense funebral pile, in which victims and
-murderers were huddled pell-mell.
-
-Still a few Indians had succeeded in collecting. Formed in a compact
-troop of twenty men, they opposed a desperate resistance to their
-assassins, exasperated by the odour of blood and the intoxication of
-carnage. At the head of this band was a half-nude, tall Indian of
-intelligent features, who, armed with a ploughshare, which he wielded
-with extreme force and skill, felled all the assailants who came within
-reach of his terrible weapon. This man was the cacique of the Coras. At
-his feet lay his mother, wife, and two children--dead. The unhappy man
-struggled with the energy of despair. He knew his life would be
-sacrificed, but he wished to sell it as dearly as possible.
-
-In vain had the rangers fired on the cacique--he seemed invulnerable:
-not one of the bullets aimed at him had struck him. He still fought, and
-the weight of his weapon did not seem to fatigue his arm. The rangers
-excited each other to finish him; but not one dared to approach him.
-
-But this combat of giants could not endure longer. Of the twenty
-companions he had round him on commencing the struggle, the cacique now
-only saw two or three upright: the rest were dead. There must be an end.
-The circle that inclosed the hapless Indian drew closer and closer.
-Henceforth it was only a question of time with him. The rangers,
-recognising the impossibility of conquering this lion-hearted man, had
-changed their tactics: they no longer attacked him, but contented
-themselves with forming an impassable circle round him, waiting
-prudently for the moment when the strength of the prey, which could not
-escape them, was exhausted, in order to rush upon him.
-
-The Coras understood the intention of his enemies. A contemptuous smile
-contracted his haughty lips, and he rushed resolutely toward these men
-who recoiled before him. Suddenly, with a movement quicker than thought,
-he threw with extraordinary strength the ploughshare among the rangers,
-and bounding like a tiger, leaped on a horse, and clutched its rider
-with superhuman vigour.
-
-Ere the rangers had recovered from the surprise this unforeseen attack
-occasioned in them, by a desperate effort, and still holding the
-horseman, the chieftain drew from his girdle a short sharp knife, which
-he buried up to the hilt in the flanks of the horse. The animal uttered
-a shriek of pain, rushed headlong into the crowd, and bore both away
-with maddening speed.
-
-The rangers, rendered furious at being played with by a single man, and
-seeing their most terrible enemy escape them, started in pursuit; but
-with his liberty the Coras had regained all his energy: he felt himself
-saved. In spite of the desperate efforts the rangers made to catch him
-up, he disappeared in the darkness.
-
-The cacique continued to fly till he felt his horse tottering under him.
-He had not loosed his hold of the horseman, who was half strangled by
-the rude embrace, and both rolled on the ground. This man wore the
-costume of the Apache Indians. The Coras regarded him for an instant
-attentively, and then a smile of contempt played round his lips.
-
-"You are not a redskin," he said, in a hollow voice; "you are only a
-paleface dog. Why put on the skin of the lion when you are a cowardly
-coyote?"
-
-The ranger, still stunned by the fall he had suffered, and the hug he
-had endured, made no reply.
-
-"I could kill you," the Indian continued; "but my vengeance would not be
-complete. You and yours must pay me for all the innocent blood you have
-shed like cowards this night. I will mark you, so that I may know you
-again."
-
-Then, with fearful coolness, the Coras threw the ranger on his back, put
-his knee on his chest, and burying his finger in the socket of his eye,
-gave it a sharp rotatory movement, and plucked out his eyeball. On this
-frightful mutilation, the wretch uttered a cry of pain impossible to
-describe. The Indian got up.
-
-"Go!" he said to him. "Now I am certain of finding you again whenever I
-want you."
-
-At this moment the sound of hoofs could be heard a short distance off:
-the rangers had evidently heard their comrade's cry, and were hurrying
-to his aid. The Coras, rushed into the bushes and disappeared. A few
-moments later the rangers came up.
-
-"Nathan, my son!" Red Cedar shouted as he leaped from his horse and
-threw himself on the body of the wounded man. "Nathan, my firstborn, is
-dead!"
-
-"No," one of the rangers answered; "but he is very bad."
-
-It was really the squatter's eldest son whom the cacique had mutilated.
-Red Cedar seized him in his arms, placed him before him on the saddle,
-and the band started again at a gallop. The rangers had accomplished
-their task: they had sixty human scalps hanging from their girdles. The
-rancheria of the Coras was no longer aught save a pile of ashes.
-
-Of all the inhabitants of this hapless village only the cacique
-survived; but he would suffice to avenge his brothers.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE VALLEY OF THE BUFFALO.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate, on leaving his son, remounted his horse and rode
-straight to Paso, to the house of Don Luciano Pérez, the _juez de
-letras_ (police magistrate).
-
-The hacendero was one of the richest landed proprietors in the country;
-and as he was thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of the depositaries
-of justice in those parts, he had consequently been careful to line his
-purse well. Here were two reasons, then, to interest the judge in his
-favour, and this really happened.
-
-The worthy Don Luciano shuddered on hearing the details of what had
-occurred between Don Pablo and the squatters. He swore that he would,
-without delay, take an exemplary vengeance for this starting felony on
-the part of the heretic dogs, and that it was high time to bring them
-reason. Confirming himself more and more in his resolution, he buckled
-on his sword, gave orders to twenty well-armed alguaciles to mount, and
-placing himself at the head of this numerous escort, he proceeded toward
-Buffalo Valley.
-
-Don Miguel had witnessed with secret annoyance all these formidable
-preparations. He placed but slight confidence in the courage of the
-policemen, and he would have preferred the judge leaving him master to
-act as he pleased. He had even adroitly attempted to obtain from Don
-Luciano a regular warrant, which he would have executed however he might
-think proper; but the judge, burning with an unusual warlike ardor, and
-spurred on by the large sum he had received, would listen to nothing,
-but insisted on himself taking the head of the expedition.
-
-Don Luciano Pérez was a plump little man of about sixty years of age,
-round as a tub, with a jolly face, adorned with a rubicund nose and two
-cunning little eyes. This man cordially detested the North Americans;
-and, in the courageous deed he was committing at this moment, hatred was
-as much the instigation as avarice.
-
-The little band set out at a canter, and proceeded rapidly toward the
-forest. The judge hurled fire and flames at the audacious usurpers, as
-he called them; he spoke of nothing less than killing them without
-mercy, if they attempted even the slightest resistance to the orders he
-was about to give them. Don Miguel, who was much calmer, and foreboded
-no good from this great wrath, sought in vain to pacify him by telling
-him that he would in all probability have to do with men difficult to
-intimidate, against whom coolness would be the best weapon.
-
-They gradually approached. The hacendero, in order to shorten the
-journey, had led the band by a cross road, which saved at least
-one-third the distance; and the first trees of the forest already
-appeared about two miles off. The mischief produced by the squatters was
-much more considerable than Don Pablo had represented to his father;
-and, at the first glance, it seemed impossible that, in so short a time,
-four men, even though working vigorously, could have accomplished it.
-The finest trees lay on the ground; enormous piles of planks were
-arranged at regular distances, and on the San Pedro an already completed
-raft only awaited a few more stems of trees to be thrust into the water.
-
-Don Miguel could not refrain from sighing at the sight of the
-devastation committed in one of his best forests; but the nearer they
-approached the spot where they expected to meet the squatters, the more
-lukewarm grew the warlike zeal of the judge and his acolytes, and the
-hacendero soon found himself compelled to urge them on, instead of
-restraining them as he had hitherto done. Suddenly the sound of an axe
-re-echoed a few paces ahead of the band. The judge impelled by the
-feeling of his duty, and shame of appearing frightened, advanced boldly
-in the direction of the sound, followed by his escort.
-
-"Stop!" a rough voice shouted at the moment the policemen turned the
-corner of a lane.
-
-With that instinct of self-preservation which never abandons them, the
-alguaciles stopped as if their horses' feet had been suddenly welded to
-the ground. Ten paces from them stood a man in the centre of the ride,
-leaning on an American rifle. The judge turned to Don Miguel with such
-an expression of hesitation and honest terror that the hacendero could
-not refrain from laughing.
-
-"Come, courage, Don Luciano," he said to him. "This man is alone; he
-cannot venture to bar our passage."
-
-"_Con mil diablos!_" the judge exclaimed, ashamed of this impression
-which he could not master, and frowning portentously, "forward, you
-fellows, and fire on that scoundrel if he make but a sign to resist
-you."
-
-The alguaciles set out again with prudential hesitation.
-
-"Stop! I tell you again," the squatter repeated. "Did you not hear the
-order I gave you!"
-
-The judge, reassured by the presence of the hacendero, then advanced,
-and said with a tone which he strove to render terrible, but which was
-only ridiculous through the terror he revealed,--
-
-"I, Don Luciano Pérez, _juez de letras_ of the town of Paso, have come,
-by virtue of the powers delegated to me by the Government, to summon you
-and your adherents to quit within twenty-four hours this forest you have
-illegally entered, and which--"
-
-"Ta, ta!" the stranger shouted, rudely interrupting the judge, and
-stamping his foot savagely. "I care as much for all your words and laws
-as I do for an old moccasin. The ground belongs to the first comers. We
-are comfortable here, and mean to remain."
-
-"Your language is very bold, young man," Don Miguel then said. "You do
-not consider that you are alone, and that, failing other rights, we have
-strength on our side."
-
-The squatter burst into a laugh.
-
-"You believe that," he said. "Learn, stranger, that I care as little for
-the ten humbugs I now have before me as I do for a woodcock, and that
-they will do well to leave me at peace, unless they want to learn the
-weight of my arm at their expense. However, here is my father; settle it
-with him."
-
-And he began carelessly whistling "Yankee Doodle." At the same instant
-three men, at the head of whom was Red Cedar, appeared on the path. At
-the sight of these unexpected reinforcements for their arrogant enemy
-the alguaciles made a movement in retreat. The affair was becoming
-singularly complicated, and threatened to assume proportions very grave
-for them.
-
-"Halloh! What's up?" the old man asked roughly. "Anything wrong,
-Sutter?"
-
-"These people," the young man answered, shrugging his shoulders
-contemptuously, "are talking about driving us from the forest by virtue
-of some order."
-
-"Halloh!" Red Cedar said, his eyes flashing as he cast a savage glance
-at the Mexicans. "The only law I recognise in the desert," he continued
-with a gesture of terrible energy as he struck his rifle barrel, "is
-this. Withdraw, strangers, if you do not wish blood to be shed between
-us. I am a peaceful man, wishing to do no one hurt; but I warn you that
-I will not allow myself to be kicked out without striking a blow."
-
-"You will not be turned out," the judge remarked timidly; "on the
-contrary, you have seized on what belongs to other people."
-
-"I won't listen to your arguments, which I do not understand," the
-squatter roughly exclaimed. "God gave the ground to man that he might
-labour on it. Every proprietor that does not fulfil this condition
-tacitly renounces his rights, and the earth then becomes the property of
-the man who tills it with the sweat of his brow; so go to the devil! Be
-off at full speed, if you do not wish harm to happen to you!"
-
-"We will not suffer ourselves to be intimidated by your threats," the
-judge said, impelled by his anger, and forgetting for a moment his
-alarm; "we will do our duty, whatever may happen."
-
-"Try it," Red Cedar said with a grin.
-
-And he made a sign to his sons. The latter arranged themselves in a
-single line, and occupied the entire width of the path.
-
-"In the name of the law," the judge said with energy, as he pointed out
-the old man, "alguaciles, seize that person."
-
-But, as so frequently happens under similar circumstances, this order
-was more easy to give than to execute. Red Cedar and his sons did not
-appear at all disposed to let themselves be collared. We must, however,
-do the alguaciles the justice of stating that they did not hesitate for
-a moment. They plainly refused to carry out the order they had received.
-
-"For the last time, will you be off?" the squatter shouted. "Let them
-have it."
-
-His three sons raised their rifles. At this movement, which removed all
-doubts that might still remain on their minds, and which proved to them
-that the squatters would not hesitate to proceed to extremities, the
-alguaciles were seized with an invincible terror. They turned bridle and
-galloped off at full speed, followed by the yells of the Americans.
-
-One man alone remained motionless before the squatters--Don Miguel
-Zarate. Red Cedar had not recognised him, either owing to the distance
-that separated them, or because the hacendero had purposely pulled over
-his eyes his broad-brimmed hat. Don Miguel dismounted, placed the
-pistols from his holsters through his belt, fastened his horse to a
-tree, and coolly throwing his rifle across his shoulders, boldly
-advanced toward the squatters. The latter, surprised by the courage of
-this man, who alone attempted what his comrades had given up all hopes
-of achieving, let him come up to them without offering the slightest
-opposition. When Don Miguel was a couple of paces from the old squatter;
-he stopped, put the butt of his rifle on the ground, and removing his
-hat, said,--
-
-"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar?"
-
-"Don Miguel Zarate!" the bandit shouted in surprise.
-
-"As the judge deserts me," the hacendero continued, "and fled like a
-coward before your threats, I am obliged to take justice for myself,
-and, by heavens! I will do so! Red Cedar, I, as owner of this forest, in
-which you have settled without permission, order you to depart at once."
-
-The young men exchanged a few muttered threats.
-
-"Silence!" Red Cedar commanded. "Let the caballero speak."
-
-"I have finished, and await your answer."
-
-The squatter appeared to reflect deeply for a few minutes.
-
-"The answer you demand is difficult to give," he at length said: "my
-position toward you is not a free one."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because I owe you my life."
-
-"I dispense you from all gratitude."
-
-"That is possible. You are at liberty to do so; but I cannot forget the
-service you rendered me."
-
-"It is of little consequence."
-
-"Much more than you fancy, caballero. I may be, through my character,
-habits, and the mode of life I lead, beyond the law of civilised beings;
-but I am not the less a man, and if of the worst sort, perhaps, I no
-more forget a kindness than I do an insult."
-
-"Prove it, then, by going away as quickly as you can, and then we shall
-be quits."
-
-The squatter shook his head.
-
-"Listen to me, Don Miguel," he said. "You have in this country the
-reputation of being the providence of the unfortunate. I know from
-myself the extent of your kindness and courage. It is said that you
-possess an immense fortune, of which you do not yourself know the
-extent."
-
-"Well, what then?" the hacendero impatiently interrupted him.
-
-"The damage I can commit here, even if I cut down all the trees in the
-forest, would be but a trifle to you; then whence comes the fury you
-display to drive me out?"
-
-"Your question is just, and I will answer it. I demand your departure
-from my estates, because, only a few days back, my son was grievously
-wounded by your lads, who led him into a cowardly snare; and if he
-escaped death, it was only through a miracle. That is the reason why we
-cannot live side by side, for blood severs us."
-
-Red Cedar frowned.
-
-"Is this true?" he said, addressing his sons.
-
-The young men only hung their heads in reply.
-
-"I am waiting," Don Miguel went on.
-
-"Come, the question cannot be settled thus, so we will proceed to my
-jacal."
-
-"For what purpose? I ask you for a yes or no."
-
-"I cannot answer you yet. We must have a conversation together, after
-which you shall decide to my future conduct. Follow me, then, without
-fear."
-
-"I fear nothing, as I believe I have proved to you. Go on, as you demand
-it: I will follow you."
-
-Red Cedar made his sons a sign to remains here they were, and proceeded
-with long strides toward his jacal, which was but a short distance off.
-Don Miguel walked carelessly after him. They entered the cabin. It was
-deserted. The two females were doubtless also occupied in the forest.
-Red Cedar closed the door after him, sat down on a bench, made his guest
-a sign to do the same, and began speaking in a low and measured voice,
-as if afraid what he had to say might be heard outside.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE ASSASSINATION.
-
-
-"Listen to me, Don Miguel," Red Cedar said, "and pray do not mistake my
-meaning. I have not the slightest intention of intimidating you, nor do
-I think of attempting to gain your confidence by revelations which you
-may fairly assume I have accidentally acquired."
-
-The hacendero regarded with amazement the speaker, whose tone and
-manner had so suddenly changed.
-
-"I do not understand you," he said to him. "Explain yourself more
-clearly, for the words you have just uttered are an enigma, the key to
-which I seek in vain."
-
-"You shall be satisfied, caballero; and if you do not catch the meaning
-of my words this time it must be because you will not. Like all
-intelligent men, you are wearied of the incessant struggles in which the
-vital strength of your country is exhausted unprofitably. You have seen
-that a land so rich, so fertile, so gloriously endowed as Mexico, could
-not--I should say ought not--to remain longer the plaything of paltry
-ambitions, and the arena on which all these transitory tyrannies sport
-in turn. For nearly thirty years you have dreamed of emancipation, not
-of your entire country, for that would be too rude a task, and
-unrealisable; but you said to yourself, 'Let us render New Mexico
-independent; form it into a new State, governed by wise laws rigorously
-executed. By liberal institutions let us give an impetus to all the
-riches with which it is choked, give intellect all the liberty it
-requires, and perhaps within a few years the entire Mexican
-Confederation, amazed by the magnificent results I shall obtain, will
-follow my example. Then I shall die happy at what I have effected--my
-object will be carried out. I shall have saved my country from the abyss
-over which it hangs, through the double pressure of the invasion of the
-American Union and the exhaustion of the Spanish race.' Are not those
-ideas yours, caballero? Do you consider that I have explained myself
-clearly this time?"
-
-"Perhaps so, though I do not yet see distinctly the point you wish to
-reach. The thoughts you attribute to me are such as naturally occur to
-all men who sincerely love their country, and I will not pretend that I
-have not entertained them."
-
-"You would be wrong in doing so, for they are great and noble, and
-breathe the purest patriotism."
-
-"A truce to compliments, and let us come to the point, for time
-presses."
-
-"Patience: I have not yet ended. These ideas must occur to you sooner
-than to another, as you are the descendant of the first Aztec kings, and
-born defender of the Indians in this hapless country. You see that I am
-well acquainted with you, Don Miguel Zarate."
-
-"Too well, perhaps," the Mexican gentleman muttered.
-
-The squatter smiled and went on:--
-
-"It is not chance that led me to this country. I knew what I was doing,
-and why I came. Don Miguel, the hour is a solemn one. All your
-preparations are made: will you hesitate to give New Mexico the signal
-which must render it independent of the metropolis which has so long
-been fattening at its expense? Answer me."
-
-Don Miguel started. He fixed on the squatter a burning glance, in which
-admiration at the man's language could be read. Red Cedar shrugged his
-shoulders.
-
-"What! You still doubt?" he said.
-
-He rose, went to a box from which he took some papers, and threw them on
-the table before the hacendero, saying,--
-
-"Read."
-
-Don Miguel hurriedly seized the papers, and ran his eye over them.
-
-"Well?" he asked, looking fixedly at the strange speaker.
-
-"You see," the squatter answered, "that I am your accomplice. General
-Ibañez, your agent in Mexico, is in correspondence with me, as is Mr.
-Wood, your agent at New York."
-
-"It is true," the Mexican said coldly, "you have the secret of the
-conspiracy. The only point left is to what extent that goes."
-
-"I possess it entirely. I have orders to enlist the volunteers who will
-form the nucleus of the insurrectionary army."
-
-"Good!"
-
-"Now, you see, by these letters of General Ibañez and Mr. Wood, that I
-am commissioned by them to come to an understanding with you, and
-receive your final orders."
-
-"I see it."
-
-"What do you purpose doing?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"What, nothing!" the squatter exclaimed, bounding with surprise. "You
-are jesting, I suppose."
-
-"Listen to me in your turn, and pay attention to my words, for they
-express my irrevocable resolution. I know not nor care to know, by what
-means, more or less honourable, you have succeeded in gaining the
-confidence of my partners, and becoming master of our secrets. Still it
-is my firm conviction that a cause which employs such men as yourself is
-compromised, if not lost; hence I renounce every combination in which
-you are called to play a part. Your antecedents, and the life you lead,
-have placed you without the pale of the law."
-
-"I am a bandit--out with it! What matter so long as you succeed? Does
-not the end justify the means?"
-
-"That may be your morality, but it will never be mine. I repudiate all
-community of ideas with men of your stamp. I will not have you either as
-accomplice or partner."
-
-The squatter darted a look at him laden with hatred and disappointment.
-
-"In serving us," Don Miguel continued, "you can only have an interested
-object, which I will not take the trouble of guessing at. An
-Anglo-American will never frankly aid a Mexican to conquer his liberty;
-he would lose too much by doing it."
-
-"Then?"
-
-"I renounce forever the projects I had formed. I had, I grant, dreamed
-of restoring to my country the independence of which it was unjustly
-stripped: but it shall remain a dream."
-
-"That is your last word?"
-
-"The last."
-
-"You refuse?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Good; then I now know what is left me to do."
-
-"Well, what is it? Let me hear," the hacendero said, as he crossed his
-arms on his breast, and looked him boldly in the face.
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-"I am waiting for you to do so."
-
-"I hold your secret."
-
-"Entirely?"
-
-"Hence you are in my power."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Who will prevent me going to the Governor of the State and denouncing
-you?"
-
-"He will not believe you."
-
-"You think so?"
-
-"I am sure of it."
-
-"Perhaps, I will say in my turn."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Oh! you shall easily see."
-
-"I am curious to learn it."
-
-"However rich you may be, Don Miguel Zarate, and perhaps because of
-those very riches, and in spite of the kindness you sow broadcast, the
-number of your enemies is very considerable."
-
-"I know it."
-
-"Very good. Those enemies will joyfully seize the first opportunity that
-presents itself to destroy you."
-
-"It is probable."
-
-"You see, then. When I go to the governor and tell him you are
-conspiring, and, in support of my denunciation, hand him not only these
-letters, but, several others written and signed by you, lying in that
-chest, do you believe that the governor will treat me as an impostor,
-and refuse to arrest you?"
-
-"Then you have letters in my hand-writing?"
-
-"I have three, which will be enough to have you shot."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-"Yes. Hang it all! you understand: that, in an affair so important as
-this, it is wise to take one's precautions, for no one knows what may
-happen; and men of my stamp," he added, with an ironical smile, "have
-more reasons than others for being prudent."
-
-"Come, that is well played," the hacendero said, carelessly.
-
-"Is it not?"
-
-"Yes, and I compliment you on it: you are a better player than I gave
-you credit for."
-
-"Oh! You do not know me yet."
-
-"The little I do know suffices me."
-
-"Then?"
-
-"We will remain as we are, if you will permit me."
-
-"You still refuse?"
-
-"More than ever."
-
-The squatter frowned.
-
-"Take care, Don Miguel," he muttered, hoarsely. "I will do what I told
-you."
-
-"Yes, if I allow you time."
-
-"Eh?"
-
-"_Caspita!_ If you are a clever scamp, I am not altogether a fool. Do
-you believe, in your turn, that I will let myself be intimidated by your
-threats, and that I should not find means to keep you from acting, not
-for my own sake, as I care little personally for what you can do, but
-for my friends, who are men of honour, and whose lives I do not wish to
-be compromised by your treachery?"
-
-"I am curious to know the means you will employ to obtain this result."
-
-"You shall see," Don Miguel replied with perfect coolness.
-
-"Well?"
-
-"I shall kill you."
-
-"Oh, oh!" the squatter said, as he looked complacently at his muscular
-limbs, "That is not easy."
-
-"More so than you suppose, my master."
-
-"Hum! and when do you reckon on killing me?"
-
-"At once!"
-
-The two men were seated in front of the hearth, each at the end of a
-bench: the table was between them, but a little back, so that while
-talking they only leaned an elbow on it. While uttering the last word,
-Don Miguel bounded like a tiger on the squatter, who did not at all
-expect the attack, seized him by the throat, and hurled him to the
-ground. The two enemies rolled on the uneven flooring of the jacal.
-
-The Mexican's attack had been so sudden and well directed that the
-half-strangled squatter, in spite of his Herculean strength, could not
-free himself from his enemy's iron clutch, which pressed his throat like
-a vice. Red Cedar could neither utter a cry nor offer the slightest
-resistance: the Mexican's knee crushed his chest, while his fingers
-pressed into his throat.
-
-So soon as he had reduced the wretch to utter impotence, Don Miguel drew
-from his vaquera boot a long sharp knife, and buried the entire blade in
-his body. The bandit writhed convulsively for a few seconds; a livid
-pallor suffused his face; his eyes closed, and he then remained
-motionless. Don Miguel left the weapon in the wound, and slowly rose.
-
-"Ah, ah!" he muttered as he gazed at him with a sardonic air, "I fancy
-that rogue will not denounce me now."
-
-Without loss of time he seized the letters lying on the table, took from
-the box the few documents he found in it, hid them all in his bosom,
-opened the door of the cabin, which he carefully closed after him, and
-went off with long strides.
-
-The squatter's sons had not quitted their post; but, so soon as they
-perceived the Mexican, they went up to him.
-
-"Well," Shaw asked him, "have you come to an understanding with the old
-man?"
-
-"Perfectly so," the Mexican answered.
-
-"Then the affair is settled?"
-
-"Yes, to our mutual satisfaction."
-
-"All the better," the young men exclaimed joyously.
-
-The hacendero unfastened his horse and mounted.
-
-"Good-bye, gentlemen!" he said to them.
-
-"Good-bye!" they replied, returning his bow.
-
-The Mexican put his horse to a trot, but at the first turn in the road
-he dug his spurs into its flanks, and started at full speed.
-
-"Now," Sutter observed, "I believe that we can proceed to the cabin
-without inconvenience."
-
-And they gently walked toward the jacal, pleasantly conversing together.
-
-Don Miguel, however, had not succeeded so fully as he imagined. Red
-Cedar was not dead, for the old bandit kept a firm hold on life.
-Attacked unawares, the squatter had not attempted a resistance, which he
-saw at the first glance was useless, and would only have exasperated his
-adversary. With marvellous sagacity, on feeling the knife blade enter
-his body, he stiffened himself against the pain, and resolved on
-"playing 'possum;" that is to say, feigning death. The success of his
-stratagem was complete. Don Miguel, persuaded that he had killed him,
-did not dream of repeating his thrust.
-
-So long as his enemy remained in the jacal the squatter was careful not
-to make the slightest movement that might have betrayed him; but, so
-soon as he was alone, he opened his eyes, rose with an effort, drew the
-dagger from the wound, which emitted a jet of black blood, and looking
-at the door, through which his assassin had departed, with a glance so
-full of hatred that it is impossible to describe, he muttered,--
-
-"Now we are quits, Don Miguel Zarate, since you have tried to take back
-the life of him you saved. Pray God never to bring us face to face
-again!"
-
-He uttered a deep sigh, and rolled heavily on the ground in a fainting
-fit. At this moment his sons entered the cabin.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE SACHEM OF THE CORAS.
-
-
-A few days after the events we have described in the previous chapter
-there was one of those lovely mornings which are not accorded to our
-cold climates to know. The sun poured down in profusion its warm beams,
-which caused the pebbles and sand to glisten in the walks of the garden
-of the Hacienda de la Noria. In a clump of flowering orange and lemon
-trees, whose sweet exhalations perfumed the air, and beneath a copse of
-cactus, nopals, and aloes, a maiden was asleep, carelessly reclining in
-a hammock made of the thread of the _Phormium tenax,_ which hung between
-two orange trees.
-
-With her head thrown back, her long black hair unfastened, and falling
-in disorder on her neck and bosom; with her coral lips parted, and
-displaying the dazzling pearl of her teeth, Doña Clara (for it was she
-who slept thus with an infantile slumber) was really charming. Her
-features breathed happiness, for not a cloud had yet arisen to perturb
-the azure horizon of her calm and tranquil life.
-
-It was nearly midday: there was not a breath in the air. The sunbeams,
-pouring down vertically, rendered the heat so stifling and
-unsupportable, that everyone in the hacienda had yielded to sleep, and
-was enjoying what is generally called in hot countries the _siesta._
-Still, at a short distance from the spot where Doña Clara reposed, calm
-and smiling, a sound of footsteps, at first almost imperceptible, but
-gradually heightening, was heard, and a man made his appearance. It was
-Shaw, the youngest of the squatter's sons. How was he at this spot?
-
-The young man was panting, and the perspiration poured down his cheeks.
-On reaching the entrance of the clump he bent an anxious glance on the
-hammock.
-
-"She is there," he murmured with a passionate accent. "She sleeps."
-
-Then he fell on his knees upon the sand, and began admiring the maiden,
-dumb and trembling. He remained thus a long time, with his glance fixed
-on the slumberer with a strange expression. At length he uttered a sigh
-and tearing himself with an effort from this delicious contemplation, he
-rose sadly, muttering in a whisper,--
-
-"I must go--if she were to wake--oh, she will never know how much I love
-her!"
-
-He plucked an orange flower, and softly laid it on the maiden; then he
-walked a few steps from her, but almost immediately returning, he
-seized, with a nervous hand, Doña Clara's _rebozo,_ which hung down from
-the hammock, and pressed it to his lips several times, saying, in a
-voice broken by the emotion he felt,--
-
-"It has touched her hair."
-
-And rushing from the thicket, he crossed the garden and disappeared. He
-had heard footsteps approaching. In fact, a few seconds after his
-departure, Don Miguel, in his turn, entered the copse.
-
-"Come, come," he said gaily, as he shook the hammock, "sleeper, will you
-not have finished your siesta soon?"
-
-Doña Clara opened her eyes, with a smile.
-
-"I am no longer asleep, father," she said.
-
-"Very good. That is the answer I like."
-
-And he stepped forward to kiss her; but, with sudden movement, the
-maiden drew herself back as if she had seen some frightful vision, and
-her face was covered with a livid pallor.
-
-"What is the matter with you?" the hacendero exclaimed with terror.
-
-The girl showed him the orange flower.
-
-"Well," her father continued, "what is there so terrific in that flower?
-It must have fallen from the tree during your sleep."
-
-Doña Clara shook her head sadly.
-
-"No," she said: "for some days past I have always noticed, on waking a
-similar flower thrown on me."
-
-"You are absurd; chance alone is to blame for it all. Come, think no
-more about it; you are pale as death, child. Why frighten yourself thus
-about a trifle? Besides the remedy may be easily found. If so afraid of
-flowers now, why not take your siesta in your bedroom, instead of
-burying yourself in this thicket?"
-
-"That is true, father," the girl said, all joyous, and no longer
-thinking of the fear she had undergone. "I will follow your advice."
-
-"Come, that is settled, so say no more about it. Now give me a kiss."
-
-The maiden threw herself into her father's arms, whom she stifled with
-kisses. Both sat down on a grassy mound, and commenced one of those
-delicious chit-chats whose charm only those who are parents can properly
-appreciate. Presently a peon came up.
-
-"What has brought you?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Excellency," the peon answered, "a redskin warrior has just arrived at
-the hacienda, who desires speech with you."
-
-"Do you know him?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Yes, Excellency; it is Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras of the Rio
-San Pedro."
-
-"Mookapec! (Flying Eagle)" the hacendero repeated with surprise. "What
-can have brought him to me? Lead him here."
-
-The peon retired and in a few minutes returned, preceding Eagle-wing.
-
-The chief had donned the great war-dress of the sachems of his nation.
-His hair, plaited with the skin of a rattlesnake, was drawn up on the
-top of his head; in the centre an eagle plume was affixed. A blouse of
-striped calico, adorned with a profusion of bells, descended to his
-thighs, which were defended from the stings of mosquitoes by drawers of
-the same stuff. He wore moccasins made of peccary skin, adorned with
-glass beads and porcupine quills. To his heels were fastened several
-wolves' tails, the distinguishing mark of renowned warriors. Round his
-loins was a belt of elk hide, through which passed his knife, his pipe
-and his medicine bag. His neck was adorned by a collar of grizzly bear
-claws and buffalo teeth. Finally, a magnificent robe of a white female
-buffalo hide, painted red inside, was fastened to his shoulders, and
-fell down behind him like a cloak. In his right hand he held a fan
-formed of a single eagle's wing, and in his left hand an American rifle.
-There was something imposing and singularly martial in the appearance
-and demeanor of this savage child of the forest.
-
-On entering the thicket, he bowed gracefully to Doña Clara, and then
-stood motionless and dumb before Don Miguel. The Mexican regarded him
-attentively, and saw an expression of gloomy melancholy spread over the
-Indian chief's features.
-
-"My brother is welcome," the hacendero said to him. "To what do I owe
-the pleasure of seeing him?"
-
-The chief cast a side glance at the maiden. Don Miguel understood what
-he desired, and made Doña Clara a sign to withdraw. They remained alone.
-
-"My brother can speak," the hacendero then said; "the ears of a friend
-are open."
-
-"Yes, my father is good," the chief replied in his guttural voice. "He
-loves the Indians: unhappily all the palefaces do not resemble him."
-
-"What does my brother mean? Has he cause to complain of anyone?"
-
-The Indian smiled sadly.
-
-"Where is there justice for the redskins?" he said. "The Indians are
-animals: the Great Spirit has not given them a soul, as He has done for
-the palefaces, and it is not a crime to kill them."
-
-"Come, chief, pray do not speak longer in riddles, but explain why you
-have quitted your tribe. It is far from Rio San Pedro to this place."
-
-"Mookapec is alone: his tribe no longer exists."
-
-"How?"
-
-"The palefaces came in the night, like jaguars without courage. They
-burned the village, and massacred all the inhabitants, even to the women
-and little children."
-
-"Oh, that is frightful!" the hacendero murmured, in horror.
-
-"Ah!" the chief continued with an accent full of terrible irony, "The
-scalps of the redskins are sold dearly."
-
-"And do you know the men who committed this atrocious crime?"
-
-"Mookapec knows them, and will avenge himself."
-
-"Tell me their chief, if you know his name."
-
-"I know it. The palefaces call him Red Cedar, the Indians the Maneater."
-
-"Oh! As for him, chief, you are avenged, for he is dead."
-
-"My father is mistaken."
-
-"How so? Why, I killed him myself."
-
-The Indian shook his head.
-
-"Red Cedar has a hard life," he said: "the blade of the knife my father
-used was too short. Red Cedar is wounded, but in a few days he will be
-about again, ready to kill and scalp the Indians."
-
-This news startled the hacendero: the enemy he fancied he had got rid
-of still lived, and he would have to begin a fresh struggle.
-
-"My father must take care," the chief continued. "Red Cedar has sworn to
-be avenged."
-
-"Oh! I will not leave him the time. This man is a demon, of whom the
-earth must be purged at all hazards, before his strength has returned,
-and he begins his assassinations again."
-
-"I will aid my father in his vengeance."
-
-"Thanks, chief. I do not refuse your offer: perhaps I shall soon need
-the help of all my friends. And now, what do you purpose doing?"
-
-"Since the palefaces reject him, Eagle-wing will retire to the desert.
-He has friends among the Comanches. They are redskins, and will welcome
-him gladly."
-
-"I will not strive to combat your determination, chief, for it is just;
-and if, at a later date, you take terrible reprisals on the white men,
-they will have no cause of complaint, for they have brought it on
-themselves. When does my brother start?"
-
-"At sunset."
-
-"Rest here today: tomorrow will be soon enough to set out."
-
-"Mookapec must depart this day."
-
-"Act as you think proper. Have you a horse?"
-
-"No; but at the first manada I come to I will lasso one."
-
-"I do not wish you to set out thus, but will give you a horse."
-
-"Thanks; my father is good. The Indian chief will remember--"
-
-"Come, you shall choose for yourself."
-
-"I have still a few words to say to my father."
-
-"Speak, chief; I am listening to you."
-
-"Koutonepi, the pale hunter, begged me to give my father an important
-warning."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"A great danger threatens my father. Koutonepi wishes to see him as soon
-as possible, in order himself to tell him its nature."
-
-"Good! My brother will tell the hunter that I shall be tomorrow at the
-'clearing of the shattered oak,' and await him there till night."
-
-"I will faithfully repeat my father's words to the hunter."
-
-The two men then quitted the garden, and hurriedly proceeded toward the
-hacienda. Don Miguel let the chief choose his own horse, and while the
-sachem was harnessing his steed in the Indian fashion, he withdrew to
-his bedroom, and sent for his son to join him. The young man had
-perfectly recovered from his wound. His father told him that he was
-obliged to absent himself for some days: he intrusted to him the
-management of the hacienda, while recommending him on no consideration
-to leave the farm, and to watch attentively over his sister. The young
-man promised him all he wished, happy at enjoying perfect liberty for a
-few days.
-
-After embracing his son and daughter for the last time Don Miguel
-proceeded to the _patio_, where in the meanwhile, the chief had been
-amusing himself by making the magnificent horse he had chosen curvet.
-Don Miguel admired for several moments the Indian's skill and grace, for
-he managed a horse as well as the first Mexican _jinete;_ then mounted,
-and the two men proceeded together toward the Paso del Norte, which they
-must cross in order to enter the desert, and reach the clearing of the
-shattered oak.
-
-The journey passed in silence, for the two men were deeply reflecting.
-At the moment they entered Paso the sun was setting on the horizon in a
-bed of red mist, which foreboded a storm for the night. At the entrance
-of the village they separated; and on the morrow, as we have seen in our
-first chapter, Don Miguel set out at daybreak, and galloped to the
-clearing.
-
-We will now end this lengthy parenthesis, which was, however,
-indispensable for the due comprehension of the facts that are about to
-follow, and take up our story again at the point where we left it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-CONVERSATION.
-
-
-Valentine Guillois, whom we have already introduced to the reader in
-previous works[1], had inhabited, or, to speak more correctly, traversed
-the vast solitudes of Mexico and Texas during the past five or six
-years. We saw him just now accompanied by the Araucano chief. These two
-men were the boldest hunters on the frontier. At times, when they had
-collected an ample harvest of furs, they went to sell them in the
-villages, renewed their stock of powder and ball, purchased a few
-indispensable articles, and then returned to the desert.
-
-Now and then they engaged themselves for a week, or even a fortnight,
-with the proprietors of the haciendas, to free them from the wild beasts
-that desolated their herds; but so soon as the ferocious animals were
-destroyed, and the reward obtained, no matter the brilliancy of the
-offers made them by the landowners, the two men threw their rifles on
-their shoulders and went off.
-
-No one knew who they were, or whence they came. Valentine and his friend
-maintained the most complete silence as to the events of their life
-which had preceded their appearance in these parts. Only one thing had
-betrayed the nationality of Valentine, whom his comrade called
-Koutonepi, a word belonging to the language of the Aucas, and signifying
-"The Valiant." On his chest the hunter wore the cross of the Legion of
-Honor. The deeds of every description performed by these hunters were
-incalculable, and their stories were the delight of the frontier
-dwellers during the winter night. The number of tigers they had killed
-was no longer counted.
-
-Chance had one day made them acquainted with Don Miguel Zarate under
-strange circumstances, and since then an uninterrupted friendship had
-been maintained between them. Don Miguel, during a tempestuous night,
-namely, had only owed his life to the accuracy of Valentine's aim, who
-sent a bullet through the head of the Mexican's horse at the moment
-when, mad with terror, and no longer obeying the bridle, it was on the
-point of leaping into an abyss with its master. Don Miguel had sworn
-eternal gratitude to his saviour.
-
-Valentine and Curumilla had made themselves the tutors of the
-hacendero's children, who, for their part, felt a deep friendship for
-the hunters. Don Pablo had frequently made long hunting parties in the
-desert with them; and it was to them he owed the certainty of his aim,
-his skill in handling weapons, and his knack in taming horses.
-
-No secrets existed between Don Miguel and the hunters: they read in his
-mind as in an ever open book. They were the disinterested confidants of
-his plans; for these rude wood rangers esteemed him, and only required
-for themselves one thing--the liberty of the desert. Still, despite the
-sympathy and friendship which so closely connected these different
-persons, and the confidence which formed the basis of that friendship,
-Don Miguel and his children had never been able to obtain from the
-hunters information as to the events that had passed prior to their
-arrival in this country.
-
-Frequently Don Miguel, impelled, not by curiosity, but merely by the
-interest he felt in them, had tried, by words cleverly thrown into the
-conversation, to give them an opening for confidence; but Valentine had
-always repelled those hints, though cleverly enough for Don Miguel not
-to feel offended by this want of confidence. With Curumilla they had
-been even more simple. Wrapped in his Indian stoicism, intrenched in his
-habitual sullenness, he was wont to answer all questions by a shake of
-the head, but nothing further.
-
-At length, weary of the attempt, the hacendero and his family had given
-up trying to read those secrets which their friends seemed obstinately
-determined to keep from them. Still the friendship subsisting between
-them had not grown cold in consequence, and it was always with equal
-pleasure that Don Miguel met the hunters again after a lengthened ramble
-in the prairies, which kept them away from his house for whole months at
-a time.
-
-The hunter and the Mexican were seated by the fire, while Curumilla,
-armed with his scalping knife, was busy flaying the two jaguars so
-skillfully killed by Don Miguel, and which were magnificent brutes.
-
-"Eh, _compadre!_" Don Miguel said with a laugh; "I was beginning to lose
-patience, and fancy you had forgotten the meeting you had yourself given
-me."
-
-"I never forgot anything, as you know," Valentine answered seriously;
-"and if I did not arrive sooner, it was because the road is long from my
-jacal to this clearing."
-
-"Heaven forbid that I should reproach you, my friend! Still I confess to
-you that the prospect of passing the night alone in this forest only
-slightly pleased me, and I should have been off had you not arrived
-before sunset."
-
-"You would have done wrong, Don Miguel: what I have to tell you is of
-the utmost importance to you. Who knows what the result might have been
-had I not been able to warn you?"
-
-"You alarm me, my friend."
-
-"I will explain. In the first place let me tell you that you committed,
-a few days back, a grave imprudence, whose consequences threaten to be
-most serious for you."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"I said one, but ought to have said two."
-
-"I am waiting till you think proper to express yourself more clearly,"
-Don Miguel said with a slight tinge of impatience, "before I answer."
-
-"You have quarrelled with a North American bandit."
-
-"Red Cedar."
-
-"Yes; and when you had him in your power you let him escape, instead of
-killing him out and out."
-
-"That is true, and I was wrong. What would you? The villain has as tough
-a life as an alligator. But be at ease. If ever he fall into my hands
-again, I swear that I will not miss him."
-
-"In the meanwhile you did do so--that is the evil."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"You will understand me. This man is one of those villains, the scum of
-the United States, too many of whom have lived on the frontier during
-the last few years. I do not know how he contrived to deceive your New
-York agent; but he gained his confidence so cleverly that the latter
-told him all the secrets he knew about your enterprise."
-
-"He told me so himself."
-
-"Very good. It was then, I suppose, that you stabbed him?"
-
-"Yes, and at the same time I plucked out his claws; that is to say, I
-seized the letters he held, and which might compromise me."
-
-"A mistake. This man is too thorough-paced a scoundrel not to foresee
-all the chances of his treason. He had a last letter, the most important
-of all; and that you did not take from him."
-
-"I took three."
-
-"Yes, but there were four. As the last, however, in itself was worth as
-much as the other three, he always wore it about him in a leathern bag
-hung round his neck by a steel chain; you did not dream of looking for
-that."
-
-"But what importance can this letter, I do not even remember writing,
-possess, that you should attach such weight to it?"
-
-"It is merely the agreement drawn up between yourself, General Ibañez,
-and Mr. Wood, and bearing your three signatures."
-
-"_Con mil demonios!_" the hacendero exclaimed in terror. "In that case
-I am lost; for if this man really possesses such a document, he will not
-fail to employ it in order to be revenged on me."
-
-"Nothing is lost so long as a man's heart beats in his breast, Don
-Miguel. The position is critical, I allow, but I have saved myself in
-situations far more desperate than the one you are now in."
-
-"What is to be done?"
-
-"Red Cedar has been about again for two days. His first care, so soon as
-he could sit a horse, was to go to Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico,
-and denounce you to the Governor. That has nothing to surprise you from
-such a man."
-
-"Then I can only fly as speedily as I can?"
-
-"Wait. Every man has in his heart at least one of the seven deadly sins
-as a bait for the demon."
-
-"What are you driving at?"
-
-"You will see. Fortunately for us, Red Cedar has them all seven, I
-believe, in the finest stage of development. Avarice, before all, has
-reached its acme with him."
-
-"Well?"
-
-"This happened. Our man denounced you to the governor as a conspirator,
-etc., but was careful not to give up the proofs he possessed in support
-of the denunciation at the outset. When General Isturitz, the governor,
-asked him for these proofs, he answered that he was ready to supply them
-in exchange for the sum of one hundred thousand piastres in gold."
-
-"Ah!" the hacendero said, with a breath of relief, "and what did
-Isturitz say?"
-
-"The general is one of your most inveterate enemies, I grant, and he
-would give a good deal for the pleasure of having you shot."
-
-"That is true."
-
-"Yes, but still the sum appeared to him, as it really is, exorbitant,
-the more so as he would have to pay it all himself, as the government
-does not recognise transactions of that nature."
-
-"Well, what did Red Cedar do then?"
-
-"He did not allow himself beaten; on the contrary, he told the general
-he would give him a week to reflect, and quietly left the Cabildo."
-
-"Hum! And on what day was this visit paid?"
-
-"Yesterday morning; so that you have six days still left for action."
-
-"Six days--that is very little."
-
-"Eh?" the Frenchman said, with a shrug of his shoulders impossible to
-describe. "In my country--"
-
-"Yes, but you are Frenchmen."
-
-"That is true: hence I allow you twice the time we should require. Come,
-let us put joking aside. You are a man of more than common energy; you
-really wish the welfare of your country, so do not let yourself be
-crushed by the first reverse. Who knows but that it may all be for the
-best?"
-
-"Ah, my friend, I am alone! General Ibañez, who alone could help me in
-this critical affair, is fifty leagues off. What can I do? Nothing."
-
-"All. I foresaw your objection. Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras, has
-gone from me to warn the general. You know with what speed Indians
-travel; so he will bring us the general in a few hours, I feel
-convinced."
-
-Don Miguel regarded the hunter with mingled admiration and respect.
-
-"You have done that, my friend?" he said to him as he warmly pressed his
-hand.
-
-"By Jove!" Valentine said, gaily, "I have done something else too. When
-the time arrives I will tell you what it is. But let us not lose an
-hour. What do you intend to do for the present?"
-
-"Act."
-
-"Good: that is the way I like to hear you talk."
-
-"Yes, but I must first come to an understanding with the general."
-
-"That is true; but it is the least thing," Valentine answered, as he
-looked skyward, and attentively consulted the position of the stars. "It
-is now eight o'clock. Eagle-wing and the man he brings must be at
-midnight at the entrance of the _Cañon del Buitre_. We have four hours
-before us, and that is more than we require, as we have only ten leagues
-to go."
-
-"Let us go, let us go!" Don Miguel exclaimed eagerly.
-
-"Wait a moment; there is no such hurry. Don't be alarmed; we shall
-arrive in time."
-
-He then turned to Curumilla, and said to him in Araucano a few words
-which the hacendero did not understand. The Indian rose without
-replying, and disappeared in the density of the forest.
-
-"You know," Valentine continued, "that I prefer, through habit,
-travelling on foot; still, as under present circumstances minutes are
-precious, and we must not lose them, I have provided two horses."
-
-"You think of everything, my friend."
-
-"Yes, when I have to act for those I love," Valentine answered with a
-retrospective sigh.
-
-There was a moment's silence between the two men, and at the end of
-scarce a quarter of an hour there was a noise in the shrubs, the
-branches parted, and Curumilla re-entered the clearing, holding two
-horses by the bridle. These noble animals, which were nearly untamed
-_mustangs_, bore a striking resemblance to the steeds of the Apaches, on
-whose territory our friends now were. They were literally covered with
-eagle plumes, beads, and ribbons, while long red and white spots
-completed their disguise, and rendered it almost impossible to recognise
-them.
-
-"Mount!" Don Miguel exclaimed so soon as he saw them. "Time is slipping
-away."
-
-"One word yet," Valentine remarked.
-
-"Speak."
-
-"You still have as chaplain a certain monk by the name of 'Fray
-Ambrosio.'"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Take care of that man--he betrays you."
-
-"You believe it?"
-
-"I am sure of it."
-
-"Good! I will remember."
-
-"All right. Now we will be off," Valentine said, as he buried his spurs
-in his horse's flanks.
-
-And the three horsemen rushed into the darkness with headlong speed.
-
-
-[1] "Tiger-Slayer," etc. Same publishers.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-EL MESON.
-
-
-The day on which our story commences the village of the Paso del Norte
-presented an extraordinary appearance. The bells were ringing out full
-peals, for the three hundredth anniversary of its foundation was
-celebrated. The population of Paso, greatly diminished since the
-proclamation of Mexican independence, was hurrying to the churches,
-which flashed with silver and gold. The houses were decorated with rich
-tapestry, and the streets strewn with flowers.
-
-Toward nightfall the inhabitants, whom the intolerable heat of the
-tropical sun had kept prisoners in the interior of the houses, flocked
-out to inhale the sharp perfumes of the desert breeze, and bring back a
-little fresh air into their parched lungs. The town, which had for
-several hours appeared deserted, suddenly woke up: shouts and laughter
-were heard afresh. The walks were invaded by the mob, and in a few
-minutes the _mesóns_ were thronged with idlers, who began drinking
-pulque and mezcal, while smoking their cigarettes, and strumming the
-jarabe and vihuela.
-
-In a house of poor appearance, built like all its neighbours, of earth
-bricks, and situated at the angle formed by the Plaza Mayor and the
-Calle de la Merced, some twenty-five fellows, whom it was easy to
-recognise as adventurers by the feather in their hats, their upturned
-moustaches, and specially by the long bronzed-hilted sword they wore on
-the thigh, were drinking torrents of aguardiente and pulque at the
-gambling tables, while yelling like deaf men, swearing like pagans, and
-threatening at every moment to unsheathe their weapons.
-
-In a corner of the room occupied by these troublesome guests two men,
-seated opposite each other at a table, seemed plunged in deep thought,
-and looked round them absently, not thinking about drinking the contents
-of their glasses, which had not been emptied for more than half an hour.
-These two men presented the most striking contrast. They were still
-young. The first, aged twenty-five at the most, had one of those frank,
-honest, and energetic faces which call for sympathy, and attract
-respect. His pallid brow, his face of a delicate hue, surrounded by his
-long black curls, his straight and flexible nose, his mouth filled with
-a double row of teeth of dazzling whiteness, and surmounted by a slight
-brown moustache, gave him a stamp of distinction, which was the more
-striking owing to the strict, and perhaps common, style of his attire.
-
-He wore the costume of the wood rangers; that is to say, the Canadian
-_mitasse_, fastened round the hips, and descending to the ankle; _botas
-vaqueras_ of deer skin, fastened at the knee; and a striped zarapé of
-brilliant colours. A panama straw hat was thrown on the table, within
-reach of his hand, by the side of an American rifle and two
-double-barrelled pistols. A machete hung on his left side, and the hilt
-of a long knife peeped out of his left boot.
-
-His companion was short and thick-set; but his well-knit limbs and his
-outstanding muscles indicated no ordinary strength. His face, the
-features of which were commonplace enough, had a cunning look, which
-suddenly disappeared to make room for a certain nobility whenever under
-the influence Of any sudden emotion; his eyebrows contracted; and his
-glance, ordinarily veiled, flashed forth. He wore nearly the same garb
-as his comrade; but his hat stained with rain, and the colours of his
-zarapé faded by the sun, evidenced lengthened wear. Like the first one
-we described, he was well armed.
-
-It was easy to see at the first glance that these two men did not belong
-to the Hispano-American race, indeed, their conversation would have
-removed any doubts on that head, for they spoke in the French dialect
-employed in Canada.
-
-"Hum!" the first said, taking up his glass, which he carelessly raised
-to his lips. "After due consideration, Harry, I believe we shall do
-better by mounting our horses again, and starting, instead of remaining
-in this horrible den, amid these _gachupinos_, who croak like frogs
-before a storm."
-
-"Deuce take your impatience!" the other replied ill-temperedly. "Can't
-you remain a moment at rest?"
-
-"You call it a moment, Harry. Why, we have been here an hour."
-
-"By Jove! Dick, you're a wonderful fellow," the other continued with a
-laugh. "Do you think that business can be settled all in a moment?"
-
-"After all, what is our game? For may the old one twist my neck, or a
-grizzly give me a hug, if I know the least in the world! For five years
-we have hunted and slept side by side. We have come from Canada together
-to this place. I have grown into a habit--I cannot say why--of referring
-to you everything that concerns our mutual interests. Still I should not
-be sorry to know, if only for the rarity of the fact, why on earth we
-left the prairies, where we were so well off, to come here, where we are
-so badly off."
-
-"Have you ever repented, up to today, the confidence you placed in me?"
-
-"I do not say so, Harry. Heaven forbid! Still I think--"
-
-"You think wrong," the young man sharply interrupted. "Let me alone, and
-before three months you shall have three times your hat full of massive
-gold, or call me a fool."
-
-At this dazzling promise the eyes of Dick, the smaller of the hunters,
-glistened like two stars. He regarded his comrade with a species of
-admiration.
-
-"Oh, oh!" he said in a low voice, "It is a placer, is it?"
-
-"Hang it!" the other said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "were it not,
-should I be here? But silence, our man has arrived."
-
-In fact, a man entered at this moment. On his appearance a sudden
-silence fell on the mesón; the adventurers gambling and cursing at all
-the tables, rose as if moved by a spring, respectfully took off their
-plumed hats, and ranged themselves with downcast eyes to let him pass.
-The man remained for an instant on the threshold of the venta, took a
-profound glance at the company, and then walked toward the two hunters.
-
-This man wore the gown of a monk; he had the ascetic face, with the
-harsh features and sharply-marked lines, that forms, as it were, the
-type of the Spanish monks of which Titian has so admirably caught the
-expression on his canvas. He passed through the adventurers, holding out
-right and left his wide sleeves, which they reverentially kissed. On
-approaching the two hunters he turned round.
-
-"Continue your sports, my sons," he said to the company; "my presence
-need not disturb your frolics, for I only wish to speak for a few
-moments with those two gentlemen."
-
-The adventurers did not let the invitation be repeated, but took their
-places again tumultuously, and soon cries and oaths recommenced with
-equal intensity. The monk smiled, took a butaca, and seated himself
-between the two hunters, while bending a searching glance on them. The
-latter had followed with a mocking eye all the interludes of this little
-scene, and without making a movement, they let the monk seat himself by
-their side. So soon as he had done so, Harry poured him out a large
-glass of pulque, and placed within his reach the squares of maize leaf
-and tobacco.
-
-"Drink and smoke, señor padre," he said to him.
-
-The monk, without any observation, rolled a cigarette, emptied the glass
-of pulque at a draught, and then leaning his elbows on the table and
-bending forward, said,--
-
-"You are punctual."
-
-"We have been waiting an hour," Dick observed in a rough voice.
-
-"What is an hour in the presence of eternity?" the monk said with a
-smile.
-
-"Let us not lose any more time," Harry continued. "What have you to
-propose to us?"
-
-The monk looked around him suspiciously, and lowered his voice.
-
-"I can, if you like, make you rich in a few days."
-
-"What is the business?" Dick asked.
-
-"Of course," the monk continued, "this fortune I offer you is a matter
-of indifference to me. If I have an ardent desire to obtain it, it is,
-in the first place, because it belongs to nobody, and will permit me to
-relieve the wretchedness of the thousands of beings confided to my
-charge."
-
-"Of course, señor padre," Harry answered seriously. "Let us not weigh
-longer on these details. According to what you told me a few days back,
-you have discovered a rich placer."
-
-"Not I," the monk sharply objected.
-
-"No consequence, provided that it exists," Dick answered.
-
-"Pardon me, but it is of great consequence to me. I do not wish to take
-on myself the responsibility of such a discovery. If, as I believe,
-people will go in search of it, it may entail the death of several
-persons, and the church abhors bloodshed."
-
-"Very good: you only desire to profit by it."
-
-"Not for myself."
-
-"For your parishioners. Very good; but let us try to come to an
-understanding, if possible, for our time is too precious for us to waste
-it in empty talk."
-
-"_Válgame Dios_!" the monk said, crossing himself, "How you have
-retained the impetuosity of your French origin! Have a little patience,
-and I will explain myself."
-
-"That is all we desire."
-
-"But you will promise me--"
-
-"Nothing," Dick interrupted. "We are honest hunters, and not accustomed
-to pledge ourselves so lightly before knowing positively what is asked
-of us."
-
-Harry supported his friend's words by a nod. The monk drank a glass of
-pulque, and took two or three heavy puffs at his cigarette.
-
-"Your will be done," he then said. "You are terrible men. This is the
-affair."
-
-"Go on."
-
-"A poor scamp of a gambusino, lost, I know not how, in the great desert,
-discovered at a considerable distance off, between the Rio Gila and the
-Colorado, the richest placer the wildest imagination can conceive.
-According to his statement the gold is scattered over the surface, for
-an extent of two or three miles, in nuggets, each of which would make a
-man's fortune. This gambusino, dazzled by such treasures, but unable to
-appropriate them alone, displayed the greatest energy, and braved the
-utmost perils, in order to regain civilised regions. It was only through
-boldness and temerity that he succeeded in escaping the countless
-enemies who spied, and tracked him on all sides; but Heaven at length
-allowed him to reach Paso safe and sound."
-
-"Very good," Dick observed. "All this may very possibly, be true; but
-why did you not bring this gambusino, instead of talking to us about the
-placer, of which you know as little as we do? He would have supplied us
-with information which is indispensable for us, in the event of our
-consenting to help you in looking for this treasure."
-
-"Alas!" the monk replied, hypocritically casting his eyes down, "the
-unhappy man was not destined to profit by this discovery, made at the
-price of so many perils. Scarce two days after his arrival at Paso, he
-quarrelled with another gambusino, and received a stab which sent him a
-few hours later to the tomb."
-
-"In that case," Harry observed, "how did you learn all these details,
-señor padre?"
-
-"In a very simple way, my son. It was I who reconciled the poor wretch
-in his last moments with Heaven; and," he added, with an air of
-compunction splendidly assumed, "when he understood that his end was at
-hand, and that nothing could save him, he confided to me, in gratitude
-for the consolation I bestowed on him, what I have just told you,
-revealed to me the situation of the placer, and for greater certainty
-gave me a clumsy chart he had drawn out on the spot. You see that we can
-proceed almost with certainty."
-
-"Yes," Harry said, thoughtfully; "but why, instead of first applying to
-the Mexicans, your countrymen, did you propose to us to help you in your
-enterprise?"
-
-"Because the Mexicans are men who cannot be trusted, and before reaching
-the placer we should have to fight the Apaches and Comanches, on whose
-territory it is situated."
-
-After these words, there was a lengthened silence between the three
-speakers: each was reflecting deeply on what he had just heard. The monk
-tried to read with cunning eye the impression produced on the hunters by
-his confidence; but his hopes were deceived. Their faces remained
-unmoved. At length Dick spoke in a rough voice, after exchanging a
-meaning look with his comrade.
-
-"All that is very fine," he said; "but it is absurd to suppose that two
-men, however brave they may be, can attempt such an enterprise in
-unknown regions peopled by ferocious tribes. It would require at least
-fifty resolute and devoted men, otherwise nothing could be possible."
-
-"You are right, and hence I did not calculate on you alone. You will
-have determined men under your orders, chosen carefully by myself, and I
-shall also accompany you."
-
-"Unluckily, if you have counted on us, you are mistaken, señor padre,"
-Harry said, peremptorily. "We are honest hunters; but the trade of a
-gambusino does not at all suit us. Even if we had a chance of gaining an
-incalculable fortune, we would not consent to take part in an expedition
-of gold seekers."
-
-"Not even if Red Cedar were at the head of the expedition, and consented
-to take the direction?" the monk said in a honeyed voice, and with a
-side glance.
-
-The hunter started, a feverish blush suffused his face, and it was in a
-voice choked by emotion that he exclaimed,--
-
-"Have you spoken with him about it?"
-
-"Here he is; you can ask him," the monk answered.
-
-In fact, a man was entering the mesón at this moment. Harry looked down
-in confusion, while Dick tapped the table with his dagger and whistled.
-A smile of undefinable meaning wandered over the monk's pallid lips.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-RED CEDAR.
-
-
-Red Cedar was more than six feet in height; his enormous head was
-fastened to his square shoulders by a short and muscular neck, like a
-bull's; his bony members were covered with muscles hard as ropes. In
-short, his whole person was a specimen of brute strength at its
-culminating point.
-
-A fox-skin cap, pressed down on his head, allowed escape to a few tufts
-of coarse greyish hair, and fell on his little grey eyes, which were
-close to a nose that was hooked like the beak of a bird of prey; his
-wide mouth was filled with white, large teeth; his cheekbones were
-prominent and purpled; and the lower part of his face disappeared in a
-thick black beard, mingled with grey hairs. He wore a hunting shirt of
-striped calico, fastened round the waist by a strap of brown leather,
-through which were passed two pistols, an axe, and a long knife; a pair
-of leggings of tawny leather, sewed at equal distances with hair, fell
-down to his knees; while his legs were protected by Indian moccasins,
-ornamented with a profusion of beads and bells. A game bag of fawn skin,
-which seemed full, fell over his right hip; and he held in his hand an
-American rifle, studded with copper nails.
-
-No one knew who Red Cedar was, or whence he came. About two years prior
-to the period of our story opening he had suddenly made his appearance
-in the country, accompanied by a wife of a certain age--a species of
-Megaera, of masculine form and repellant aspect; a girl of seventeen;
-and three vigorous lads, who resembled him too closely not to be his
-own, and whose age varied from nineteen to twenty-four.
-
-Red Cedar himself appeared to be fifty-five at the most. The name by
-which he was known had been given to him by the Indians, of whom he had
-declared himself the implacable enemy, and boasted that he had killed
-two hundred. The old woman was called Betsy; the girl, Ellen; the eldest
-son, Nathan; the second, Sutter; and the last, Shaw.
-
-This family had built a shanty in the forest, a few miles from Paso, and
-lived alone in the desert, without having entered into any relations
-with the inhabitants of the village; or the trappers and wood rangers,
-its neighbours. The mysterious conduct of these strangers had given rise
-to numerous comments; but all had remained without reply or solution,
-and after two years they remained as perfect strangers as on the day of
-their arrival.
-
-Still, mournful and sad stories were in circulation on their account:
-they inspired an instinctive hatred and involuntary terror in the
-Mexicans. Some said in a whisper that old Red Cedar and his three sons
-were nothing less than "scalp hunters;" that is to say, in the public
-esteem, people placed beneath the pirates of the prairies, that unclean
-breed of birds of prey which everybody fears and despises.
-
-The entry of Red Cedar was significant; the otherwise unscrupulous men
-who filled the venta hurriedly retired on his approach, and made room
-for him with a zeal mingled with disgust. The old partisan crossed the
-room with head erect; a smile of haughty disdain played round his thin
-lips at the sight of the effect his presence produced, and he went up to
-the monk and his two companions. On reaching them he roughly placed the
-butt of his rifle on the ground, leaned his two crossed hands upon the
-barrel, and after bending a cunning glance on the persons before him,
-said to the monk in a hoarse voice,--
-
-"The deuce take you, señor padre! Here I am: what do you want with me?"
-
-Far from being vexed at this brutal address, the latter smiled on the
-colossus, and held out his hand to him, as he graciously made answer,--
-
-"You are welcome, Red Cedar; we were expecting you impatiently. Sit down
-by my side on this butaca, and we will talk while drinking a glass of
-pulque."
-
-"The deuce twist your neck, and may your accursed pulque choke you! Do
-you take me for a wretched abortion of your sort?" the other answered as
-he fell into the seat offered him. "Order me some brandy, and that of
-the strongest. I am not a babe, I suppose."
-
-Without making the slightest observation, the monk rose, went to speak
-with the host, and presently returned with a bottle, from which he
-poured a bumper for the old hunter. The latter emptied the glass at a
-draught, put it back on the table with a sonorous "hum!" and turned to
-the monk with a grimacing smile.
-
-"Come, the devil is not always so black as he looks, señor padre," he
-said, as he passed his hand over his mouth to wipe his moustache. "I see
-that we can come to an understanding."
-
-"It will only depend on you, Red Cedar. Here are two worthy Canadian
-hunters who will do nothing without your support."
-
-The Hercules took a side glance at the young men.
-
-"Eh!" he said, "what do you want with these children? Did I not promise
-you to reach the placer with my sons only?"
-
-"He, he! You are powerfully built, both you and your lads, I allow; but
-I doubt whether four men, were they twice as strong as you are, could
-carry out this affair successfully. You will have numerous enemies to
-combat on your road."
-
-"All the better! The more there are, the more we shall kill," he
-answered with a sinister laugh.
-
-"Señor padre," Dick interrupted, "as far as I am concerned, I care
-little about it."
-
-But he was suddenly checked by a meaning glance from his mate.
-
-"What do you care little about, my pretty lad?" the giant asked in a
-mocking voice.
-
-"Nothing," the young man answered drily. "Suppose I had not spoken."
-
-"Good," Red Cedar remarked; "it shall be as you wish. Here's your
-health."
-
-And he poured the rest of the bottle into his glass.
-
-"Come," said Harry, "Let us have but few words. Explain yourself once
-for all, without beating about the bush, señor padre."
-
-"Yes," Red Cedar observed, "men ought not to waste their time thus in
-chattering."
-
-"Very good. This, then, is what I propose. Red Cedar will collect within
-three days from this time thirty resolute men, of whom he will take the
-command, and we will start immediately in search of the placer. Does it
-suit you in that way?"
-
-"Hum!" Red Cedar said. "In order to go in search of the placer we must
-know a little in what direction it is, or deuce take me if I undertake
-the business!"
-
-"Do not trouble yourself about that, Red Cedar; I will accompany you.
-Have I not got a plan of the country?"
-
-The colossus shot at the monk a glance which sparkled under his dark
-eyelash, but he hastened to moderate its brilliancy by letting his eyes
-fall.
-
-"That is true," he said with feigned indifference; "I forgot that you
-were coming with us. Then you will leave your parishioners during your
-absence?"
-
-"Heaven will watch over them."
-
-"Eh! It will have its work cut out. However, that does not concern me at
-all. But why did you oblige me to come to this mesón?"
-
-"In order to introduce you to these two hunters, who will accompany us."
-
-"I beg your pardon," Dick observed, "but I do not exactly see of what
-use I can be to you in all this: my aid, and that of my mate, do not
-appear to me to be indispensable."
-
-"On the contrary," the monk answered quickly, "I reckon entirely on
-you."
-
-The giant had risen.
-
-"What!" he said, as he roughly laid his enormous hand on Dick's
-shoulder, "You do not understand that this honourable personage, who did
-not hesitate to kill a man in order to rob him of the secret of the
-placer, has a terrible fear of finding himself alone with me on the
-prairie? He fears that I shall kill him in my turn to rob him of the
-secret of which he became master by a crime. Ha, ha, ha!"
-
-And he turned his back unceremoniously.
-
-"How can you suppose such things, Red Cedar?" the monk exclaimed.
-
-"Do you fancy that I did not read you?" the latter answered. "But it is
-all the same to you. Do as you please: I leave you at liberty to act as
-you like."
-
-"What! You are off already?"
-
-"Hang it! What have I to do any longer here? All is settled between us.
-In three days thirty of the best frontiersmen will be assembled by my
-care at Grizzly Bear Creek, where we shall expect you."
-
-After shrugging his shoulders once again he went off without any salute,
-or even turning his head.
-
-"It must be confessed," Dick observed, "that the man has a most
-villainous face. What a hideous fellow!"
-
-"Oh!" the monk answered with a sigh, "The exterior is nothing. You
-should know the inner man."
-
-"Why, in that case, do you have any dealings with him?"
-
-The monk blushed slightly.
-
-"Because it must be so," he muttered.
-
-"All right for you," Dick continued; "but as nothing obliges my friend
-and myself to have any more intimate relations with that man, you must
-not mind, señor Padre, if--"
-
-"Silence, Dick!" Harry shouted, angrily. "You do not know what you are
-talking about. We will accompany you, señor padre. You can reckon on us
-to defend you if necessary, for I suppose that Red Cedar is right."
-
-"In what way?"
-
-"You do not wish to trust your life defencelessly in his hands, and you
-reckoned on us to protect you. Is it not so?"
-
-"Why should I feign any longer? Yes, that man terrifies me, and I do not
-wish to trust myself to his mercy."
-
-"Do not be alarmed; we shall be there, and on our word as hunters, not a
-hair of your head shall fall."
-
-A lively satisfaction appeared on the monk's pale face at this generous
-promise.
-
-"Thanks," he said warmly.
-
-Harry's conduct appeared so extraordinary to Dick, who knew the lofty
-sentiments and innate honor of his comrade, that, without striving to
-fathom the motives which made him act thus, he contented himself by
-backing up his words by an affirmative nod of the head.
-
-"Be assured, caballeros, that when we have reached the placer, I will
-give you a large share, and you will have no cause to regret
-accompanying me."
-
-"The money question has but slight interest with us," Harry answered.
-"My friend and I are free hunters, caring very little for riches, which
-would be to us rather a source of embarrassment than of pleasure and
-enjoyment. Curiosity alone, and the desire of exploring strange
-countries, are sufficient to make us undertake this journey."
-
-"Whatever the reason that makes you accept my proposals, I am not the
-less obliged to you."
-
-"Now you will permit us to take leave of you, and we shall hold
-ourselves at your orders."
-
-"Go, gentlemen; I will not keep you longer. I know where to find you
-when I want you."
-
-The young men took up their hats, slung their rifles on their shoulders,
-and left the mesón. The monk looked after them.
-
-"Oh!" he muttered, "I believe I can trust to those men: they have still
-in their veins a few drops of that honest French blood which despises
-treachery. No matter," he added, as if on reflection; "I will take my
-precautions."
-
-After this aside, he rose and looked around him. The room was full of
-adventurers, who drank or played at _monte_, and whose energetic faces
-stood out in the semi-obscurity of the room, which was scarce lighted by
-a smoky lamp. After a moment's reflection the monk boldly struck the
-table with his clenched fist, and shouted in a loud voice:
-
-"Señores caballeros, I invite you to listen to me. I have, I fancy, an
-advantageous proposal to make to you."
-
-The company turned their heads; those who were gambling for a moment
-abandoned their cards and dice; the drinkers alone kept in their hands
-the glasses they held; but all approached the monk, round whom they
-grouped themselves curiously.
-
-"Caballeros," he continued, "if I am not mistaken, all present are
-gentlemen whom fortune has more or less ill-treated."
-
-The adventurers, by an automatic movement of extraordinary regularity,
-bowed their heads in affirmation.
-
-"If you wish it," he continued with an imperceptible smile, "I will
-undertake to repair the wrong by it done you."
-
-The adventurers pricked up their ears.
-
-"Speak, speak, señor padre!" they shouted with delight.
-
-"What is the affair?" a man with a hang-dog face said, who stood in the
-front ranks.
-
-"A war party which I intend to lead shortly into Apacheria," the monk
-said, "and for which purpose I need you."
-
-At this proposition the first ardor of the adventurers visibly cooled
-down. The Apaches and Comanches inspire an invincible terror in the
-inhabitants of the Mexican frontiers. The monk guessed the effect he had
-produced; but he continued, as if not observing anything:--
-
-"I take you all into my service for a month, at the rate of four
-piastres a day."
-
-At this magnificent offer the eyes of the adventurers sparkled with
-greed, fear gave way to avarice, and they all exclaimed,--
-
-"We accept, reverend father!
-
-"But," the man continued who had already spoken, "we shall be happy,
-señor padre, if, before starting, you would give us your holy
-benediction, and absolve us from the few sins we may have committed."
-
-"Yes," the company yelled, "we shall be happy if you consent to that,
-reverend father."
-
-The monk appeared to reflect: the adventurers, anxiously waited.
-
-"Well, be it so," he answered after a moment. "As the work in which I am
-about to employ you is so meritorious, I will give you my blessing, and
-grant you absolution of your sins."
-
-For a few minutes there was a shout and exclamations of joy in the room.
-The monk demanded silence, and when it was restored he said,--
-
-"Now, caballeros, give me each your name, that I may find you when I
-need you."
-
-He sat down and began enrolling the adventurers, who, with the men Red
-Cedar supplied, would form the band with which he hoped to reach the
-placer. We will leave the worthy monk for a few moments, and follow the
-two Canadian hunters.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-THE TWO HUNTERS.
-
-
-Harry and Dick, whom we saw seated at a table in the mesón with Red
-Cedar and Fray Ambrosio, were however, very far from resembling those
-two men morally. They were free and bold hunters, who had spent the
-greater part of their life in the desert, and who, in the vast solitude
-of the prairie, had accustomed themselves to a life free and exempt from
-those vices which accompany a town residence.
-
-For them gold was only the means to procure the necessary objects for
-their trade as hunters and trappers; and they never imagined that the
-possession of a large quantity of that yellow metal they despised would
-place them in a position to enjoy other pleasures than those they found
-in their long hunts of wild beasts--hunts so full of strange incidents
-and striking joys.
-
-Thus Dick had been to the highest degree surprised when he saw his
-friend eagerly accept the monk's offer, and agree to go in search of the
-placer; but what even more surprised him was Harry's insisting that Red
-Cedar must take the lead of the expedition. Though no one could
-positively accuse the squatter, owing to the precautions he took, of
-leading a life of rapine and murder, still the mysterious conduct he
-affected, and the solitude in which he lived with his family, had cast
-on him a shadow of reprobation.
-
-Every one regarded him as a scalp hunter, and yet no one would have
-ventured to affirm the odious deeds of which he was accused. The result
-of the general reprobation that fell on the squatter, and which we know
-to be fully merited, was that he and his family were placed under a ban
-by the frontier hunters and trappers, and every one fled not only their
-society, but any contact with them. Dick was thoroughly acquainted with
-his friend's upright character and nobility of heart. Hence his conduct
-under the present circumstances seemed to him perfectly
-incomprehensible, and he resolved to have an explanation with him.
-
-They had scarce quitted the mesón ere Dick bent down to his companion,
-and said, while looking at him curiously,--
-
-"We have been hunting together for five years, Harry, and up to the
-present I have ever let myself be guided by you, leaving you free to act
-as you pleased for our mutual welfare. Still this evening your conduct
-has appeared to me so extraordinary that I am obliged, in the name of
-our friendship, which has never suffered a break up to this day, to ask
-you for an explanation of what has occurred in my presence."
-
-"For what good, my boy? Do you not know me well enough to be certain
-that I would not consent to do any dishonourable deed?"
-
-"Up to this evening I would have sworn it, Harry: yes, on my honor I
-would have sworn it--"
-
-"And now?" the young man asked, stopping and looking his friend in the
-face.
-
-"Now," Dick answered, with a certain degree of hesitation, "hang it all!
-I will be frank with you, Harry, as an honest hunter should ever be. Now
-I do not know if I should do so: no, indeed I should not."
-
-"What you say there causes me great pain, Dick. You oblige me, in order
-to dissipate your unjust suspicions, to confide to you a secret which is
-not my own, and which I would not have revealed for anything in the
-world."
-
-"Pardon me, Harry, but in my place I am convinced you would act as I am
-doing. We are very far from our country, which we shall never see again,
-perhaps. We are responsible for each other, and our actions must be free
-from all double interpretation."
-
-"I will do what you ask, Dick, whatever it may cost me. I recognise the
-justice of your observations. I understand how much my conduct this
-night must have hurt you and appeared ambiguous. I do not wish our
-friendship to receive the least wound, or the slightest cloud to arise
-between us. You shall be satisfied."
-
-"I thank you, Harry. What you tell me relieves my bosom of a heavy load.
-I confess that I should have been in despair to think badly of you; but
-the words of that intriguing monk, and the manners of that worthy
-acolyte, Red Cedar, put me in a passion. Had you not warned me so
-quickly to silence, I believe--Heaven pardon me!--that I should have
-ended by telling them a piece of my mind."
-
-"You displayed considerable prudence in keeping silence, and be assured
-you will completely approve me."
-
-"I do not doubt it, Harry; and now I feel certain I deceived myself. I
-feel all jolly again."
-
-While speaking thus the two hunters, who were walking with that rapid
-step peculiar to men habituated to traverse great distances on foot, had
-crossed the village, and found themselves already far in the plain. The
-night was magnificent--the sky of a deep blue. An infinite number of
-glistening stars seemed floating in ether. The moon spread its silvery
-rays profusely over the landscape. The sharp odour of the flowers
-perfumed the atmosphere. The two hunters still walked on.
-
-"Where are we going now, Harry?" Dick asked. "I fancy we should do
-better by taking a few hours' rest, instead of fatiguing ourselves
-without any definite object."
-
-"I never do anything without a reason, friend, as you know," Harry
-answered; "so let me guide you, and we shall soon arrive."
-
-"Do as you think proper, my boy; I shall say nothing."
-
-"In the first place you must know that the French hunter, Koutonepi, has
-begged me, for reasons he did not tell me, to watch Fray Ambrosio. That
-is one of the motives which made me be present at this night's
-interview, although I care as little for a placer as for a musk-rat's
-skin."
-
-"Koutonepi is the first hunter on the frontier; he has often done us a
-service in the desert. You acted rightly, Harry, in doing what he
-asked."
-
-"As for the second reason that dictated my conduct, Dick, you shall soon
-know it."
-
-Half talking, half dreaming, the young men reached Buffalo Valley, and
-soon entered the forest which served as a lair for the squatter and his
-family.
-
-"Where the deuce are we going?" Dick could not refrain from saying.
-
-"Silence!" said the other: "We are approaching."
-
-The darkness was profound in the forest: the density of the leafy dome
-under which they walked completely intercepted the light of the
-moonbeams. Still the Canadians, long accustomed to a night march,
-advanced as easily through the chaos of creepers and trees tangled in
-each other as if they had been in open day. On reaching a certain spot
-where the trees, growing less closely together, formed a species of
-clearing, and allowed an uncertain and tremorous light to pass, Harry
-stopped, and made his comrade a sign to do the same.
-
-"This is the place," he said. "Still, I as the person I have come to see
-expects me to be alone, and your unexpected presence might cause alarm,
-hide yourself behind that larch tree: above all, be careful not to stir
-till I call I you."
-
-"Oh, oh!" the hunter said, with a laugh, "have you perchance led me to a
-love meeting, Harry?"
-
-"You shall judge," Harry replied laconically. "Hide yourself."
-
-Dick, greatly troubled, did not need the invitation to be repeated: he
-concealed himself behind the tree his friend had indicated, and which
-would have sheltered a dozen men behind its enormous stem. So soon as
-Harry was alone, he raised his fingers to his lips, and at three
-different intervals imitated the cry of an owl with such perfection that
-Dick himself was deceived, and mechanically looked up to seek the bird
-in the tall branches of the tree by which he stood. Almost immediately,
-a slight noise was audible in the shrubs, and a graceful and white form
-appeared in the glade. It was Ellen, who rapidly walked toward the young
-man.
-
-"Oh, it is you, Harry!" she said with joy. "Heaven be blessed, I was
-afraid you would not come, as it is late."
-
-"It is true, Ellen: pardon me. I made all possible speed, however; and
-it is not my fault that I did not arrive sooner."
-
-"How good you are, Harry, to take so much trouble for my sake! How can I
-ever recognise the continual services you do me?"
-
-"Oh! Do not speak about them. It is a happiness for me to do anything
-agreeable to you."
-
-"Alas!" the maiden murmured, "Heaven is my witness that I feel a deep
-friendship for you, Harry."
-
-The young man sighed gently.
-
-"I have done what you asked of me," he said suddenly.
-
-"Then it is true my father is thinking about leaving this country to go
-further still?"
-
-"Yes, Ellen, and into frightful countries, among the ferocious Indians."
-
-The girl gave a start of terror.
-
-"Do you know the reason of his going?" she continued.
-
-"Yes; he is about to look for a gold placer."
-
-"Alas! Who will protect me, who will defend me in future, if we go
-away?"
-
-"I, Ellen!" the hunter exclaimed impetuously. "Have I not sworn to
-follow you everywhere?"
-
-"It is true," she said sadly; "but why should you risk your life on the
-distant journey we are about to undertake? No, Harry, remain here; I
-cannot consent to your departure. From what I have heard say, the band
-my father commands will be numerous--it will have scarce anything to
-fear from the Indians; while, on the other hand, you, compelled to hide
-yourself, will be exposed alone to terrible danger. No, Harry, I will
-not permit it."
-
-"Undeceive yourself, Ellen. I shall not be forced to conceal myself; I
-shall not be alone, for I am a member of your father's band."
-
-"Is it possible, Harry?" she exclaimed, with an expression of joy that
-made the young man quiver.
-
-"I enrolled myself this very evening."
-
-"Oh!" she said, "Then in that case we can often meet?"
-
-"Whenever you please, Ellen, as I shall be there."
-
-"Oh! Now I am anxious to be away from here, and wish we had already
-started."
-
-"It will not be long first, set your mind at rest. I am convinced that
-we shall start within the week."
-
-"Thanks for the good news you bring me, Harry."
-
-"Are your father and mother still unkind to you, Ellen?"
-
-"It is nearly always the same thing; and yet their conduct toward me is
-strange. It often seems to me incomprehensible, as it is so marked with
-peculiarities. There are moments in which they seem to love me dearly.
-My father especially caresses and embraces me, and then all at once, I
-know not why, repulses me rudely, and looks at me in a way that causes
-me to shudder."
-
-"That is indeed strange, Ellen."
-
-"Is it not? There is one thing above all I cannot explain."
-
-"Tell it me, Ellen; perhaps I can do so."
-
-"You know that all my family are Protestants?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Well, I am a Catholic."
-
-"That is certainly curious."
-
-"I wear around my neck a small golden crucifix. Every time accident
-makes this trinket glisten before my father and mother they grow
-furious, threaten to beat me, and order me to hide it at once. Do you
-understand the meaning of this, Harry?"
-
-"No, I do not, Ellen; but, believe me, leave everything to time; perhaps
-it will enable us to find the clue to the mystery which we seek in vain
-at this moment."
-
-"Well, your presence has rendered me happy for a long time, Harry, so
-now I will retire."
-
-"Already?"
-
-"I must, my friend. Believe me that I am as sad as yourself at this
-separation; but my father has not yet returned, and may arrive at any
-moment. If he noticed that I was not asleep, who knows what might
-happen?"
-
-While saying the last words the girl held out her delicate hand to the
-hunter, who raised it to his lips passionately. Ellen withdrew it
-suddenly, and bounding like a startled fawn, darted into the forest,
-where she soon disappeared, giving the young man a parting word, which
-caused him to quiver with joy:--
-
-"We shall meet soon."
-
-Harry stood for a long time with his eyes fixed on the spot where the
-seductive vision had disappeared. At length he uttered a sigh, threw his
-rifle over his shoulder, and turned as if to depart. Dick was before
-him. Harry gave a start of surprise, for he had forgotten his friend's
-presence; but the latter smiled good-humouredly.
-
-"I now comprehend your conduct, Harry," he said to him; "you were right
-to act as you did. Pardon my unjust suspicions, and count on me
-everywhere and always."
-
-Harry silently pressed the hand his friend offered him, and they walked
-back rapidly in the direction of the village. As they emerged from the
-forest they passed, a man who did not see them. It was Red Cedar. So
-soon as he had gone a short distance Harry stopped his companion, and
-pointing to the squatter, whose long black shadow glided through the
-trees, said, as he laid his hand on his shoulder,--
-
-"That man hides in his heart a horrible secret, which I am ignorant of,
-but have sworn to discover."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-FRAY AMBROSIO.
-
-
-The monk remained for a long time in the room of the mesón, taking down
-the names of the adventurers he wished to enrol in his band. It was late
-when he left it to return to the Hacienda de la Noria; but he was
-satisfied with his night's work, and internally rejoiced at the rich
-collection of bandits of the purest water he had recruited.
-
-The monks form a privileged caste in Mexico: they can go at all hours of
-the night wherever they please without fearing the numerous "gentlemen
-of the road," scattered about the highways. Their gown inspires a
-respect which guarantees them from any insult, and preserves them better
-than anything from unpleasant rencontres. Besides, Fray Ambrosio, as the
-reader has doubtless already perceived, was not the man to neglect
-indispensable precautions in a country where, out of ten persons you
-meet on your road, you may boldly assert that nine are rogues, the tenth
-alone offering any doubts. The worthy chaplain carried under his gown a
-pair of double-barrelled pistols, and in his right sleeve he concealed a
-long _navaja_, sharp as a razor, and pointed as a needle.
-
-Not troubling himself about the solitude that reigned around him, the
-monk mounted his mule and proceeded quietly to the hacienda. It was
-about eleven o'clock.
-
-A few words about Fray Ambrosio, while he is peacefully ambling along
-the narrow path which will lead him in two hours to his destination,
-will show all the perversity of the man who is destined to play an
-unfortunately too important part in the course of our narrative.
-
-One day a gambusino, or gold seeker, who had disappeared for two years,
-no one knowing what had become of him, and who was supposed to be dead
-long ago, assassinated in the desert by the Indians, suddenly reappeared
-at the Paso del Norte. This man, Joaquin by name, was brother to Andrés
-Garote, an adventurer of the worst stamp, who had at least a dozen
-_cuchilladas_ (knife stabs) on his conscience, whom everybody feared,
-but who, through the terror he inspired, enjoyed at the Paso, in spite
-of his well-avouched crimes, a reputation and species of impunity which
-he abused whenever the opportunity offered.
-
-The two brothers began frequenting together the mesones and ventas of
-the village, drinking from morn till night, and paying either in gold
-dust enclosed in stout quills, or in lumps of native gold. The rumour
-soon spread at Paso that Joaquin had discovered a rich placer, and that
-his expenses were paid with the specimens he had brought back. The
-gambusino replied neither yes nor no to the several insinuations which
-his friends, or rather his boon companions, attempted on him. He
-twinkled his eyes, smiled mysteriously, and if it were observed that, at
-the rate he was living at, he would soon be ruined, he shrugged his
-shoulders, saying:--
-
-"When I have none left I know where to find others."
-
-And he continued to enjoy his fill of all the pleasures which a wretched
-hole like Paso can furnish.
-
-Fray Ambrosio had heard speak, like everyone else, of the gambusino's
-asserted discovery; and his plan was at once formed to become master of
-this man's secret, and rob him of his discovery, were that possible.
-
-The same evening Joaquin and his brother Andrés were drinking, according
-to their wont, in a mesón, surrounded by a crowd of scamps like
-themselves. Fray Ambrosio, seated at a table with his hands hidden in
-the sleeves of his gown, and hanging head, appeared plunged in serious
-reflections, although he followed with a cunning eye the various
-movements of the drinkers, and not one of their gestures escaped him.
-
-Suddenly a man entered, with his hand on his hip, and throwing in the
-face of the first person he passed the cigarette he was smoking. He
-planted himself in front of Joaquin, to whom he said nothing, but began
-looking at him impudently, shrugging his shoulders, and laughing
-ironically at all the gambusino said. Joaquin was not patient, he saw at
-the first glance that this person wished to pick a quarrel with him; and
-as he was brave, and feared nobody, man or devil, he walked boldly up to
-him, and looking at him fixedly in his turn, he said to him, as he
-thrust his face in his:
-
-"Do you seek a quarrel, Tomaso?"
-
-"Why not?" the latter said impudently, as he set his glass on the table.
-
-"I am your man. We will fight how you please."
-
-"Bah!" Tomaso said carelessly, "let us do things properly, and fight
-with the whole blade."
-
-"Be it so."
-
-The combats which take place between the adventurers are truly like
-those of wild beasts. These coarse men, with their cruel instincts, like
-fighting beyond all else, for the smell of blood intoxicates them. The
-announcement of this duel caused a thrill of pleasure to run through the
-ranks of the leperos and bandits who pressed round the two men. The fun
-was perfect: one of the adversaries would doubtless fall--perhaps
-both--and blood flow in streams. Cries and yells of delight were raised
-by the spectators.
-
-The duel with knives is the only one that exists in Mexico, and is
-solely left to the leperos and people of the lowest classes. This duel
-has its rules, which cannot be broken under any pretext. The knives
-usually employed, have blades from fourteen to sixteen inches in length,
-and the duelists fight according to the gravity of the insult, with one,
-two, three, six inches, or the entire blade. The inches are carefully
-measured and the hand clutches the knife at the marked spot.
-
-This time it was a duel with the whole blade, the most terrible of all.
-With extraordinary politeness and coolness the landlord had a large ring
-formed in the middle of the room, where the two adversaries stationed
-themselves, about six paces from each other at the most.
-
-A deep silence hung over the room, a moment previously so full of life
-and disturbance; every one anxiously awaited the _dénouement_ of the
-terrible drama that was preparing. Fray Ambrosio alone had not quitted
-his seat or made a sign.
-
-The two men rolled their zarapés round their left arm, planted
-themselves firmly on their outstretched legs, bent their bodies slightly
-forward and gently placing the point of the knife blade on the arm
-rounded in front of the chest, they waited, fixed on each other flashing
-glances. A few seconds elapsed, during which the adversaries remained
-perfectly motionless: all hearts were contracted, all bosoms heaving.
-
-Worthy of Callot's pencil was the scene offered by these men, with their
-weather-stained faces and harsh features, and their clothes in rags,
-forming a circle round two combatants ready to kill each other in this
-mean room, slightly illumined by a smoky lamp, which flashed upon the
-blue blades of the knives, and in the shadow, almost disappearing in his
-black gown, the monk, with his implacable glance and mocking smile, who,
-like a tiger thirsting for blood, awaited the hour to pounce on his
-prey.
-
-Suddenly, by a spontaneous movement rapid as lightning, the adversaries
-rushed on each other, uttering a yell of fury. The blades flashed, there
-was a clashing of steel, and both fell back again. Joaquin and Tomaso
-had both dealt the same stroke, called, in the slang of the country, the
-"blow of the brave man." Each had his face slashed from top to bottom
-with a gaping wound.
-
-The spectators frenziedly applauded this magnificent opening scene: the
-jaguars had scented blood, and were mad.
-
-"What a glorious fight!" they exclaimed with admiration.
-
-In the meanwhile the two combatants, rendered hideous by the blood that
-streamed from their wounds and stained their faces, were again watching
-for the moment to leap on one another. Suddenly they broke ground; but
-this time it was no skirmish, but the real fight, atrocious and
-merciless. The two men seized each other round the waist, and entwined
-like serpents, they twisted about, trying to stab each other, and
-exciting themselves to the struggle by cries of rage and triumph. The
-enthusiasm of the spectators was at its height: they laughed, clapped
-hands, and uttered inarticulate howls as they urged the fighters not to
-loose their hold.
-
-At length the enemies rolled on the ground still enclasped. For some
-seconds the combat continued on the ground, and it was impossible to
-distinguish who was the conqueror. All at once one of them, who no
-longer had a human form, and whose body was as red as an Indian's,
-bounded to his feet brandishing his knife. It was Joaquin.
-
-His brother rushed toward him to congratulate him on his victory, but
-all at once the gambusino tottered and fainted. Tomaso did not rise
-again: he remained motionless, stretched out on the uneven floor of the
-mesón. He was stark dead.
-
-This scene had been so rapid, its conclusion so unforeseen, that, in
-spite of themselves, the spectators had remained dumb, and as if struck
-with stupor. Suddenly the priest, whom all had forgotten, rose and
-walked into the centre of the room, looking round with a glance that
-caused all to let their eyes fall.
-
-"Retire, all of you," he said in a gloomy voice, "now that you have
-allowed this deed worthy of savages to be accomplished. The priest must
-offer his ministry, and get back from Satan, if there be still time, the
-soul of this Christian who is about to die. Begone!"
-
-The adventurers hung their heads, and in a few moments the priest was
-left alone with the two men, one of whom was dead, the other at the last
-gasp. No one could say what occurred in that room; but when the priest
-left it, a quarter of an hour later, his eyes flashed wildly. Joaquin
-had given his parting sigh. On opening the door to go out Fray Ambrosio
-jostled against a man, who drew back sharply to make room for him. It
-was Andrés Garote. What was he doing with his eye at the keyhole while
-the monk was shriving his brother?
-
-The adventurer told no one what he had seen during this last quarter of
-an hour, nor did the monk notice in the shade the man he had almost
-thrown down.
-
-Such was the way in which Fray Ambrosio became master of the gambusino's
-secret, and how he alone knew at present the spot where the placer was.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-TWO VARIETIES OF VILLAINS.
-
-
-Now that the reader is well informed touching Fray Ambrosio, we will
-follow him on his road home from the mesón. The night was calm, silent
-and serene. Not a sound troubled the silence, save the trot of the mule
-over the pebbles on the road, or at times, in the distance, the snapping
-bark of the coyotes chasing in a pack, according to their wont, some
-straggling hind.
-
-Fray Ambrosio ambled gently on, while reflecting on the events of the
-evening, and calculating mentally the probable profits of the expedition
-he meditated. He had left far behind him the last houses of the village,
-and was advancing cautiously along a narrow path that wound through an
-immense sugar cane field. Already the shadow of the tall hacienda walls
-stood out blackly in the horizon. He expected to reach it within twenty
-minutes, when suddenly his mule, which had hitherto gone so quietly,
-pricked up its ears, raised its head, and stopped short.
-
-Roughly aroused from his meditations by this unexpected halt, the monk
-looked about for some obstacle that might impede his progress. About ten
-paces from him a man was standing right in the middle of the path. Fray
-Ambrosio was a man not easily to be frightened: besides, he was well
-armed. He drew out one of the pistols hidden under his gown, cocked it,
-and prepared to cross-question the person who so resolutely barred his
-way. But the latter, at the sharp sound of the setting hammer, thought
-it prudent to make himself known, and not await the consequences of an
-address nearly always stormy under similar circumstances.
-
-"Halloh!" he shouted in a loud voice, "Return your pistol to your belt,
-Fray Ambrosio; I only want to talk with you."
-
-"_Diavolo_!" the monk said, "the hour and moment are singularly chosen
-for a friendly conversation, my good fellow."
-
-"Time belongs to nobody," the stranger answered sententiously. "I am
-obliged to choose that which I have at my disposal."
-
-"That is true," the monk said as he quietly uncocked his pistol, though
-not returning it to his belt. "Who the deuce are you, and why are you so
-anxious to speak with me? Do you want to confess?
-
-"Have you not recognised me yet, Fray Ambrosio? Must I tell you my name
-that you may know with whom you have to deal?"
-
-"Needless, my good sir, needless; but how the deuce is it, Red Cedar,
-that I meet you here! What can you have so pressing to communicate to
-me?"
-
-"You shall know if you will stop for a few moments and dismount."
-
-"The deuce take you with your whims! Cannot you tell me that as well
-tomorrow! Night is getting on, my home is still some distance off and I
-am literally worn out."
-
-"Bah! you will sleep capitally by the side of a ditch, where you could
-not be more comfortable. Besides, what I have to say to you does not
-admit of delay."
-
-"You wish to make a proposal to me, then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"What about, if you please?"
-
-"About the affair we discussed this evening at the Paso."
-
-"Why, I fancied we had settled all that, and you accepted my offer."
-
-"Not yet, not yet, my master. That will depend on the conversation we
-are about to have, so you had better dismount and sit down quietly by my
-side; for if you don't do it, it will come to nothing."
-
-"The deuce take people that change their minds every minute, and on whom
-one cannot reckon more than on an old surplice!" the monk growled with
-an air of annoyance, while, for all that, getting off his mule, which he
-fastened to a shrub.
-
-The squatter did not seem to remark the chaplain's ill temper, and let
-him sit down by his side without uttering a syllable.
-
-"Here I am," the monk went on, so soon as he was seated. "I really do
-not know, Red Cedar, why I yield so easily to all your whims."
-
-"Because you suspect that your interest depends on it: were it not for
-that, you would not do so."
-
-"Why talk thus in the open country, instead of going to your house,
-where we should be much more comfortable?"
-
-Red Cedar shook his head in denial.
-
-"No," he said; "the open is better for what we have to talk about. Here
-we need not fear listeners at out doors."
-
-"That is true. Well, go on; I am listening."
-
-"Hum! You insist upon my commanding the expedition you project?"
-
-"Of course. I have known you a long time. I am aware that you are a sure
-man, perfectly versed in Indian signs; for, if I am not mistaken, the
-greater part of your life has been spent among them."
-
-"Do not speak about what I have done? The question now concerns you, and
-not me."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Good, good! Let me speak. You need me, so it is to my interest to make
-you pay as dearly as I can for me."
-
-"Eh?" the monk muttered, as he made a grimace. "I am not rich, gossip,
-as you are aware."
-
-"Yes, yes; I know that, so soon as you have a few piastres or ounces,
-the monte table strips you of them immediately."
-
-"Hang it! I have always been unlucky at play."
-
-"For that reason I do not intend asking you for money."
-
-"Very good. If you have no designs on my purse we can easily come to an
-understanding. You may speak boldly."
-
-"I hope that we shall easily understand one another, the mere so as the
-service I expect from you is almost a mere nothing."
-
-"Come to the point, Red Cedar: with your deuced way of twining your
-phrases together in the Indian way, you never make an end of it."
-
-"You know that I have a deadly hatred against Don Miguel Zarate?"
-
-"I have heard some say about it. Did he not lodge his knife somewhere in
-your chest?"
-
-"Yes, and the blow was so rude that I all but died of it; but, thanks to
-the devil, I am on my legs again, after remaining three weeks on my back
-like a cast sheep. I want my revenge."
-
-"I can't help saying you are right: in your place, may Satan twist my
-neck if I would not do the same!"
-
-"For that I count on your help."
-
-"Hum! that is a delicate affair. I have no cause of complaint against
-Don Miguel--on the contrary: besides, I do not see how I can serve you."
-
-"Oh! very easily."
-
-"You believe so?"
-
-"You shall see."
-
-"Go on, then; I am listening."
-
-"Don Miguel has a daughter?"
-
-"Doña Clara."
-
-"I mean to carry her off."
-
-"Deuce take the mad ideas that pass through your brain-pan, gossip! How
-would you have me help you in carrying off the daughter of Don Miguel,
-to whom I owe so many obligations? No, I cannot do that, indeed."
-
-"You must, though."
-
-"I will not, I tell you."
-
-"Measure your words well, Fray Ambrosio, for this conversation is
-serious. Before refusing so peremptorily to give me the help I ask,
-reflect well."
-
-"I have reflected well, Red Cedar, and never will I consent to help you
-in carrying off the daughter of my benefactor. Say what you like,
-nothing will ever change my resolution on that head, for it is
-inflexible."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Oh! Whatever may happen, I swear that nothing will make me alter."
-
-"Swear not, Fray Ambrosio, for you will be a perjurer."
-
-"Ta, ta, ta! You are mad, my good fellow. Don't let us waste our time.
-If you have nothing else to say to me, I will leave you, though I take
-such pleasure in your society."
-
-"You have become scrupulous all of a sudden, my master."
-
-"There is a beginning to everything, compadre; so let us say no more,
-but good-bye."
-
-And the monk rose.
-
-"You are really going?"
-
-"_Caray_! Do you fancy I mean to sleep here?"
-
-"Very good. You understand that you need not count on me for your
-expedition?"
-
-"I am sorry for it; but I will try to find someone to take your place."
-
-"Thank you."
-
-The two men were standing, and the monk had put his foot in the stirrup.
-Red Cedar also appeared ready to make a start. At the moment of
-separation a sudden idea seemed to occur to the squatter.
-
-"By the way," he said carelessly, "be kind enough to give me some
-information I require."
-
-"What is it now?" the monk asked.
-
-"Oh! a mere trifle," the squatter remarked indifferently. "It concerns a
-certain Don Pedro de Tudela, whom I think you formerly knew."
-
-"Eh!?" the monk exclaimed, as he turned, with his leg still in the air.
-
-"Come, come, Fray Ambrosio," Red Cedar continued in a jeering voice,
-"let us have a little more talk together. I will tell you, if you like,
-a very remarkable story about this Don Pedro, with whom you were
-acquainted."
-
-The monk was livid; a nervous tremor agitated all his limbs; he let
-loose his mule's bridle, and followed the squatter mechanically, who
-seated himself tranquilly on the ground, making him a sign to follow his
-example. The monk fell, suppressing a sigh, and wiping away the drops of
-cold perspiration that beaded on his forehead.
-
-"Eh, eh!" the squatter continued at the end of a moment, "we must allow
-that Don Pedro was a charming gentleman--a little wild, perhaps; but
-what would you have? He was young. I remember meeting him at Albany a
-long time ago--some sixteen or seventeen years ago--how old one
-gets!--at the house of one--wait awhile, the name has slipped my
-memory--could you not help me to it, Fray Ambrosio?"
-
-"I do not know what you mean," the monk said in a hollow voice.
-
-The man was in a state that would have produced pity; the veins in his
-forehead were swollen ready to burst; he was choking; his right hand
-clutched the hilt of his dagger; and he bent on the squatter a glance
-full of deadly hatred. The latter seemed to see nothing of all this.
-
-"I have it!" he continued. "The man's name was Walter Brunnel, a very
-worthy gentleman."
-
-"Demon!" the monk howled in a gasping voice, "I know not who made you
-master of that horrible secret, but you shall die."
-
-And he rushed upon him, dagger in hand.
-
-Red Cedar had known Fray Ambrosio a long time, and was on his guard. By
-a rapid movement he checked his arm, twisted it, and seized the dagger,
-which he threw a long distance off.
-
-"Enough," he said in a harsh voice. "We understand one another, my
-master. Do not play that game with me, for you will be sick of it, I
-warn you."
-
-The monk fell back on his seat, without the strength to make a sign or
-utter a syllable. The squatter regarded him for a moment with mingled
-pity and contempt and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"For sixteen years I have held that secret," he said, "and it has never
-passed my lips. I will continue to keep silence on one condition."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"I want you to help me in carrying off the hacendero's daughter."
-
-"I will do it."
-
-"Mind, I expect honest assistance; so do not attempt any treachery."
-
-"I will help you, I tell you."
-
-"Good! I count on your word. Besides you may be easy, master; I will
-watch you."
-
-"Enough of threats. What is to be done?"
-
-"When do we start for Apacheria?"
-
-"You are coming, then?"
-
-"Of course."
-
-A sinister smile played round the monk's pale lips.
-
-"We shall start in a week," he said.
-
-"Good! On the day of the start you will hand over the girl to me, one
-hour before our departure."
-
-"What shall I do to compel her to follow me?"
-
-"That is not my business."
-
-"Still--"
-
-"I insist."
-
-"Be it so," the monk said with an effort. "I will do it; but remember,
-demon, if I ever hold you in my hands, as I am this day in yours, I
-shall be pitiless and make you pay for all I suffer at this moment."
-
-"You will be right to do so--it is your due; still I doubt whether you
-will ever be able to reach me."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Live and learn. In the meanwhile I am your master, and I reckon on your
-obedience."
-
-"I will obey."
-
-"That is settled. Now, one thing more; how many men have you enlisted
-this evening?"
-
-"About twenty."
-
-"That's not many; but, with the sixty I shall supply, we shall have a
-very decent band to hold the Indians in check."
-
-"May Heaven grant it!"
-
-"Don't be alarmed, my master," the squatter said, re-assuming the
-friendly tone which he employed at the outset of the conversation; "I
-pledge myself, to lead you straight to your placer. I have not lived ten
-years with the Indians not to be up to all their tricks."
-
-"Of course," the monk answered as he rose, "You know, Red Cedar, what
-was agreed upon; the placer will be shared between us. It is, therefore,
-to your interest to enable us to reach it without obstacle."
-
-"We shall reach it. Now that we have nothing more to say to each other
-and have agreed on all points--for we have done so, I think?" he said
-significantly.
-
-"Yes, all."
-
-"We can part, and go each home. No matter, my master! I told you that I
-should succeed in making you alter your mind. Look you, Fray Ambrosio,"
-he added in impudent tone, which made the monk turn pale with rage;
-"people need only to understand one another to do anything."
-
-He rose, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and turning away sharply,
-went off with lengthened strides. The monk remained for a moment as if
-stunned by what had happened. Suddenly he thrust his hand under his
-gown, seized a pistol, and aimed at the squatter. But ere he had time to
-pull the trigger his enemy disappeared round a turning, uttering a
-formidable burst of laughter, which the mocking echo bore to his ear,
-and revealed to him all the immensity of his impotence.
-
-"Oh!" he muttered as he got in the saddle, "How did this fiend discover
-the secret which I believed no one knew?"
-
-And he went off gloomy and thoughtful. Half an hour later he reached the
-Hacienda de la Noria, when the gate was opened for him by a trusty peon,
-for everybody was asleep. It was past midnight.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-EL CAÑON DEL BUITRE.
-
-
-We will now return to the hacendero, who, accompanied by his two
-friends, is galloping at full speed in the direction of Valentine's
-jacal. The road the three men followed led them further and further from
-the Paso del Norte. Around them nature grew more abrupt, the scenery
-sterner. They had left the forest, and were galloping over a wide and
-arid plain. On each side of the way the trees, becoming rarer, defiled
-like a legion of phantoms. They crossed several tributary streams of the
-Del Norte, in which their horses were immersed up to the chest.
-
-At length they entered a ravine deeply imbedded between two wooded
-hills, the soil of which, composed of large flat stones and rounded
-pebbles, proved that this spot was one of those _desaguaderos_ which
-serve to carry off the waters in the rainy season. They had reached the
-Cañon del Buitre, so named on account of the numerous vultures
-constantly perched on the tops of the surrounding hills.
-
-The defile was deserted, and Valentine had his cabin not far from this
-spot. So soon as the three men had dismounted, Curumilla took the horses
-and led them to the jacal.
-
-"Follow me," Valentine said to Don Miguel.
-
-The latter obeyed, and the two men began then climbing the escarped
-flanks of the right hand hill. The climb was rude, for no road was
-traced; but the two hunters, long accustomed to force a passage through
-the most impracticable places, seemed hardly to perceive the difficulty
-of the ascent, which would have been impossible for men less used to a
-desert life.
-
-"This spot is really delicious," Valentine said with the complacent
-simplicity of a landowner who boasts of his estate. "If it were day, Don
-Miguel, you would enjoy from this spot a magnificent view. A few hundred
-yards from the place where we are, down there on that hill to the right,
-are the ruins of an ancient Aztec camp in a very fine state of
-preservation. Just imagine that this hill, carved by human hands, though
-you cannot see it in the darkness, is of the shape of a pyramidal cone:
-its base is triangular, the sides are covered with masonry, and it is
-divided into several terraces. The platform is about ninety yards long
-by seventy-five in width, and is surrounded on three sides by a
-platform, and flanked by a bastion on the north. You see that it is a
-perfect fortress, constructed according to all the rules of military
-art. On the platform are the remains of a species of small teocali,
-about twenty feet high, composed of large stones covered with
-hieroglyphics sculptured in relief, representing weapons, monsters,
-rabbits, crocodiles, and all sorts of things; for instance, men seated
-in the oriental fashion, and wearing spectacles. Is not that really
-curious? This little monument, which has no staircase, doubtless served
-as the last refuge to the besieged when they were too closely
-beleaguered by the enemy."
-
-"It is astonishing," Don Miguel answered, "that I never heard of these
-ruins."
-
-"Who knows them? Nobody. However, they bear a considerable likeness to
-those found at Jochicalco."
-
-"Where are you leading me, my friend? Are you aware that the road is not
-one of the pleasantest, and I am beginning to feel tired?"
-
-"A little patience: in ten minutes we shall arrive. I am leading you to
-a natural grotto which I discovered a short time back. It is admirable.
-It is probable that the Spaniards were unacquainted with it, although
-the Indians, to my knowledge, have visited it from time immemorial. The
-Apaches imagine it serves as a palace to the genius of the mountain. At
-any rate, I was so struck by its beauty that I abandoned my jacal, and
-converted it into my residence. Its extent is immense. I am certain,
-though I never tried to convince myself, that it goes for more than ten
-leagues under ground. I will not allude to the stalactites that hang
-from the roof, and form the quaintest and most curious designs; but the
-thing that struck me is this: this grotto is divided into an infinite
-number of chambers, some of them containing pools in which swim immense
-numbers of blind fish."
-
-"Blind fish! You are jesting, my friend," Don Miguel exclaimed, and
-stopped.
-
-"I am wrong: blind is not the word I should have employed, for these
-fish have no eyes."
-
-"What! No eyes?"
-
-"None at all; but that does not prevent them being very dainty food."
-
-"That is strange."
-
-"Is it not? But stay--we have arrived."
-
-In fact, they found themselves in front of a gloomy, gaping orifice,
-about ten feet high by eight wide.
-
-"Let me do the honours of my mansion," Valentine said.
-
-"Do so, my friend."
-
-The two men entered the grotto: the hunter struck a match, and lit a
-torch of candlewood. The fairy picture which suddenly rose before Don
-Miguel drew from him a cry of admiration. There was an indescribable
-confusion: here a gothic chapel, with its graceful soaring pillars;
-further on, obelisks, cones, trunks of trees covered with moss and
-acanthus leaves, hollow stalactites of a cylindrical form, drawn
-together and ranged side by side like the pipes of an organ, and
-yielding to the slightest touch varied metallic sounds which completed
-the illusion. Then, in the immeasurable depths of these cavernous halls,
-at times formidable sounds arose, which, returned by the echoes, rolled
-along the sides of the grotto like peals of thunder.
-
-"Oh, it is grand, it is grand!" Don Miguel exclaimed, struck with fear
-and respect at the sight.
-
-"Does not man," Valentine answered, "feel very small and miserable
-before these sublime creations of nature, which God has scattered here
-as if in sport? Oh, my friend! It is only in the desert that we
-understand the grandeur and infinite omnipotence of the Supreme Being;
-for at every step man finds himself face to face with Him who placed him
-on this earth, and traces the mark of His mighty finger engraved in an
-indelible manner on everything that presents itself to his sight."
-
-"Yes," Don Miguel said, who had suddenly become thoughtful, "it is only
-in the desert that a man learns to know, love, and fear God, for He is
-everywhere."
-
-"Come," said Valentine.
-
-He led his friend to a hall of not more than twenty square feet, the
-vault of which, however, was more than a hundred yards above them. In
-this hall a fire was lighted. The two men sat down on the ground and
-waited, while thinking deeply. After a few moments the sound of
-footsteps was audible, and the Mexican quickly raised his head.
-Valentine did not stir, for he had recognised his friend's tread. In
-fact, within a moment the Indian chief appeared.
-
-"Well?" Valentine asked him.
-
-"Nothing yet," Curumilla laconically answered.
-
-"They are late, I fancy," Don Miguel observed.
-
-"No," the chief continued, "it is hardly half past eleven: we are before
-our time."
-
-"But will they find us here?"
-
-"They know we shall await them in this hall."
-
-After these few words each fell back into his thoughts. The silence was
-only troubled by the mysterious sounds of the grotto, which re-echoed
-nearly at equal intervals with an horrific din. A long period elapsed.
-All at once, ere any sensible noise had warned Don Miguel, Valentine
-raised his head with a hurried movement.
-
-"Here they are," he said.
-
-"You are mistaken, my friend," Don Miguel observed; "I heard nothing."
-
-The hunter smiled.
-
-"If you had spent," he said, "like we have, ten years in the desert,
-interrogating the mysterious voices of the night, your ear would be
-habituated to the vague rumours and sighs of nature which have no meaning
-to you at this moment, but which have all a significance for me, and, so
-to speak, a voice every note of which I understand, and you would not
-say I was mistaken. Ask the chief: you will hear his answer."
-
-"Two men are climbing the hill at this moment," Curumilla answered
-sententiously. "They are an Indian and a white man."
-
-"How can you recognise the distinction?"
-
-"Very easily," Valentine responded with a smile. "The Indian wears
-moccasins, which touch the ground without producing any other sound than
-a species of friction: the step is sure and unhesitating, as taken by a
-man accustomed to walk in the desert, and only put down his foot firmly:
-the white man wears high-heeled boots, which at each step produce a
-distinct and loud sound; the spurs fastened to his boots give out a
-continuous metallic clink; the step is awkward and timid; at each moment
-a stone or crumble of earth rolls away under the foot, which is only put
-down hesitatingly. It is easy to see that the man thus walking is
-accustomed to a horse, and does not know the use of his feet. Stay! They
-are now entering the grotto: you will soon hear the signal."
-
-At this moment the bark of the coyote was raised thrice at equal
-intervals. Valentine answered by a similar cry.
-
-"Well, was I mistaken?" he said.
-
-"I know not what to think, my friend. What astonishes me most is that
-you heard them so long before they arrived."
-
-"The ground of this cave is an excellent conductor of sound," the hunter
-answered simply: "that is all the mystery."
-
-"The devil!" Don Miguel could not refrain from saying; "You neglect
-nothing, I fancy."
-
-"If a man wants to live in the desert he must neglect nothing: the
-smallest things have their importance, and an observation carefully made
-may often save a man's life."
-
-While these few words were being exchanged between the two friends the
-noise of footsteps was heard drawing nearer and nearer. Two men
-appeared: one was Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras; the second,
-General Ibañez.
-
-The general was a man of about thirty-five, tall and well-built, with a
-delicate and intelligent face. His manners were graceful and noble. He
-bowed cordially to the hacendero and Valentine, squeezed Curumilla's
-hand, and fell down in a sitting posture by the fire.
-
-"Ouf!" he said, "I am done, gentlemen. I have just ridden an awful
-distance. My poor horse is foundered, and to recover myself I made an
-ascent, during which I thought twenty times I must break down; and that
-would have infallibly happened, had not friend Eagle-wing charitably
-come to my aid. I must confess that these Indians climb like real cats:
-we _gente de razón_[1] are worth nothing for that trade."
-
-"At length you have arrived, my friend," Don Miguel answered. "Heaven be
-praised! I was anxious to see you."
-
-"For my part I confess that my impatience was equally lively, especially
-since I learned the treachery of that scoundrelly Red Cedar. That humbug
-of a Wood sent him to me with so warm a recommendation that, in spite of
-all my prudence, I let myself be taken in, and nearly told him all our
-secrets. Unfortunately, the little I did let him know is sufficient to
-have us shot a hundred times like vulgar conspirators of no
-consequence."
-
-"Do not feel alarmed, my friend. After what. Valentine told me today, we
-have, perchance, a way of foiling the tricks of the infamous spy who has
-denounced us."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! But nothing will remove my impression that Wood
-has something to do with what has happened to us. I always doubted that
-American, who is cold as an iceberg, sour as a glass of lemonade, and
-methodical as a Quaker. What good is to be expected from these men, who
-covet the possession of our territory, and who, unable to take it from
-us at one lump, tear it away in parcels?"
-
-"Who knows, my friend? Perhaps you are right. Unfortunately, what is
-done cannot be helped, and our retrospective recriminations will do us
-no good."
-
-"That is true; but, as you know, man is the same everywhere. When he has
-committed a folly he is happy to find a scapegoat on which he can lay
-the iniquities with which he reproaches himself. That is slightly my
-case at this moment."
-
-"Do not take more blame on yourself, my friend, than you deserve; I
-guarantee your integrity and the loyalty of your sentiments. Whatever
-may happen, be persuaded that I will always do you justice, and, if
-needed, defend you against all."
-
-"Thanks, Don Miguel. What you say causes me pleasure and reconciles me
-with myself. I needed the assurance you give me in order to regain some
-slight courage, and not let myself be completely crushed by the
-unforeseen blow which threatens to overthrow our hopes at the very
-moment when we expected to find them realised."
-
-"Come, come, gentlemen," Valentine said, "the time is slipping away, and
-we have none to waste. Let us seek to find the means by which to repair
-the check we have suffered. If you permit me I will submit to your
-approval a plan which, I believe, combines all the desirable chances of
-success, and will turn in our favour the very treachery to which we have
-fallen victims."
-
-"Speak, speak, my friend!" the two men exclaimed, as they prepared to
-listen.
-
-Valentine took the word.
-
-
-[1] Literally, "men of reason"--a graceful expression the whites employ
-to distinguish themselves from the Indians, whom they affect to consider
-brute beasts, and to whom they do not even grant a soul.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-FATHER SERAPHIN.
-
-
-"Gentlemen," said Valentine, "this is what I propose. The treachery of
-Red Cedar, in surrendering to the Government the secret of your
-conspiracy, places you in a critical position, from which you cannot
-escape save by violent measures. You are between life and death. You
-have no alternative save victory or defeat. The powder is fired, the
-ground is mined under your feet, and an explosion is imminent. Well,
-then, pick up the glove treachery throws to you--accept frankly the
-position offered you. Do not wait till you are attacked, but commence
-the contest. Remember the vulgar adage, which is perfectly true in
-politics, and specially in revolution--that 'the first blow is half the
-battle.' Your enemies will be terrified by your boldness--dashed by this
-uprising which they are far from expecting, especially now, when they
-imagine they hold in their hands all the threads of the conspiracy--an
-error which makes them put faith in the revelations of a common spy, and
-will ruin them if you act with skill--above all, with promptitude. All
-depends on the first blow. It must be terrible, and terrify them: if
-not, you are lost."
-
-"All that is true; but we lack time," General Ibañez observed.
-
-"Time is never lacking when a man knows how to employ it properly,"
-Valentine answered peremptorily. "I repeat, you must be beforehand with
-your adversaries."
-
-At this moment the sound of footsteps was heard under the vault of the
-cave. The most extreme silence at once reigned in the chamber where the
-five conspirators were assembled. Mechanically each sought his weapons.
-The steps rapidly approached, and a man appeared in the entrance of the
-hall. On seeing him all present uttered a cry of joy and rose
-respectfully, repeating, "Father Seraphin!"
-
-The man advanced smiling, bowed gracefully, and answered in a gentle and
-melodious voice, which went straight to the soul,--
-
-"Take your places again, gentlemen, I beg of you. I should be truly
-vexed if I caused you any disturbance. Permit me only to sit down for a
-few moments by your side."
-
-They hastened to make room for him. Let us say in a few words who this
-person was, whose unexpected arrival caused so much pleasure to the
-people assembled in the grotto.
-
-Father Seraphin was a man of twenty-four at the most, although the
-fatigues he supported, the harsh labours he had imposed on himself, and
-which he fulfilled with more than apostolic abnegation, had left
-numerous traces on his face, with its delicate features, its gentle and
-firm expression, imprinted with a sublime melancholy, rendered even more
-touching by the beam of ineffable goodness which escaped from his large,
-blue and thoughtful eyes. His whole person, however, exhaled a perfume
-of youth and health which disguised his age, as to which a superficial
-observer might have been easily deceived.
-
-Father Seraphin was a Frenchman, and belonged to the order of the
-Lazarists. For five years he had been traversing as an indefatigable
-missionary, with no other weapon than his staff, the unexplored
-solitudes of Texas and New Mexico, preaching the gospel to the Indians,
-while caring nothing for the terrible privations and nameless sufferings
-he incessantly endured, and the death constantly suspended over his
-head.
-
-Father Seraphin was one of those numerous soldiers, ignored martyrs of
-the army of faith, who, making a shield of the Gospel, spread at the
-peril of their lives the word of God in those barbarous countries, and
-die heroically, falling bravely on their battlefield, worn out by the
-painful exigencies of their sublime mission, aged at thirty, but having
-gained over a few souls to the truth, and shed light among the ignorant
-masses.
-
-The abnegation and devotion of these modest men, yet so great in heart,
-are too much despised in France, where however, the greater number of
-these martyrs are recruited. Their sacrifices pass unnoticed; for, owing
-to the false knowledge possessed of beyond-sea countries, people are far
-from suspecting the continual struggles they have to sustain against a
-deadly climate. And who would credit it? The most obstinate adversaries
-they meet with in the accomplishment of their mission are not among the
-Indians, who always nearly welcome them with respect, if not joy, but
-among the men whom their labours benefit, and who ought to aid and
-protect them with all their might. There is no vexation or humiliation
-which they do not endure from the agents of Mexico and the American
-Union, to try and disgust and compel them to abandon the arena in which
-they combat so nobly.
-
-Father Seraphin had gained the friendship and respect of all those with
-whom accident had brought him into contact. Charmed with meeting a
-fellow countryman in the midst of those vast solitudes so distant from
-that France he never hoped to see again, he had attached himself closely
-to Valentine, to whom he vowed a deep and sincere affection. For the
-same motives, the hunter, who admired the greatness of character of this
-priest so full of true religion, felt himself drawn to him by an
-irresistible liking. They had frequently taken long journeys together,
-the hunter guiding his friend to the Indian tribes across the desolate
-regions of Apacheria.
-
-So soon as Father Seraphin had taken his place near the fire, Eagle-wing
-and Curumilla hastened to offer him all those slight services which they
-fancied might be agreeable to him, and offered him a few lumps of roast
-venison with maize tortillas. The missionary gladly gratified the two
-chiefs, and accepted their offerings.
-
-"It is a long time since we saw you, father," the hacendero said. "You
-neglect us. My daughter asked me about you only two days ago, for she is
-anxious to see you."
-
-"Doña Clara is an angel who does not require me," the missionary replied
-gently. "I have spent nearly two months with the Comanche tribe of the
-Tortoise. Those poor Indians claim all my care. They are thirsting for
-the Divine Word."
-
-"Are you satisfied with your journey?"
-
-"Sufficiently so, for these men are not such as they are represented to
-us. Their instincts are noble, and, as their primitive nature is not
-adulterated by contact with the vicious civilization that surrounds
-them, they easily understood what is explained to them."
-
-"Do you reckon on staying long among us?"
-
-"Yes; this last journey has fatigued me extremely. My health is in a
-deplorable state, and I absolutely need a few days' rest in order to
-regain the requisite strength to continue my ministry."
-
-"Well, father, come with me to the hacienda; you will remain with us,
-and make us all truly happy."
-
-"I am going to make that request to you, Don Miguel. I am delighted that
-you have thus met my wishes. If I accept your obliging offer, it is
-because I know I shall not incommode you."
-
-"On the contrary, we shall be delighted to have you among us."
-
-"Ah! I know the goodness of your heart."
-
-"Do not make me better than I am, father: there is a spice of egotism in
-what I am doing."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Hang it! By labouring at the education of the Indians you render an
-immense service to the race I have the honor of belonging to; for I,
-too, am an Indian."
-
-"That is true," the priest answered with a laugh. "Come, I absolve you
-from the sin of egotism, in favour of the intention which makes you
-commit it."
-
-"Father," Valentine then said, "is the game plentiful in the desert just
-at present?"
-
-"Yes, there is a great deal: the buffaloes have come down from the
-mountains in herds--the elks, the deer, and the antelopes swarm."
-
-Valentine rubbed his hands.
-
-"It will be a good season," he said.
-
-"Yes, for you. As for myself, I have no cause of complaint, for the
-Indians have been most attentive to me."
-
-"All the better. I ever tremble when I know you are among those red
-devils. I do not say that of the Comanches, who are warriors I esteem,
-and have always displayed the sincerest affection for you; but I have a
-terrible fear lest those villains of Apaches may play you a wicked trick
-some fine day."
-
-"Why entertain such ideas, my friend?"
-
-"They are correct. You cannot imagine what treacherous and cruel cowards
-those Apache thieves are. I know them, and carry their marks; but do not
-frighten yourself. If ever they ventured on any extremities against you,
-I know the road to their villages: there is not a nook in the desert
-which I have not thoroughly explored. It is not for nothing I have
-received the name of the 'Trail-hunter.' I swear to you I will not leave
-them a scalp."
-
-"Valentine, you know I do not like to hear you speak so. The Indians are
-poor ignorant men, who know not what they do, and must be pardoned for
-the evil they commit."
-
-"All right--all right!" the hunter growled. "You have your ideas on that
-score, and I mine."
-
-"Yes," the missionary replied with a smile, "but I believe mine be
-better."
-
-"It is possible. You know I do not discuss that subject with you; for I
-do not know how you do it, but you always succeed in proving to me that
-I am wrong."
-
-Everybody laughed at this sally.
-
-"And what are the Indians doing at this moment?" Valentine continued.
-"Are they still fighting?"
-
-"No; I succeeded in bringing Unicorn, the principal chief of the
-Comanches, and Stanapat (the Handful of Blood), the Apache sachem, to an
-interview, at which peace was sworn."
-
-"Hum!" Valentine said incredulously, "that peace will not last long, for
-Unicorn has too many reasons to owe the Apaches a grudge."
-
-"Nothing leads to the supposition, at present, that your forebodings
-will be speedily realised."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because, when I left Unicorn, he was preparing for a grand buffalo
-hunt, in which five hundred picked warriors were to take part."
-
-"Ah, ah! and where do you think the hunt will take place, father?"
-
-"I know for a certainty, because, when I left Unicorn, he begged me to
-invite you to it, as he knew I should see you shortly."
-
-"I willingly accept, for a buffalo hunt always had great attractions for
-me."
-
-"You will not have far to go to find Unicorn, for he is scarce ten
-leagues from this place."
-
-"The hunt will take place, then, in the neighbourhood?"
-
-"The meeting-place is Yellowstone Plain."
-
-"I shall not fail to be there, father. Ah! I am delighted, more than you
-can suppose, at the happy news you have brought me."
-
-"All the better, my friend. Now, gentlemen, I will ask you to excuse me;
-for I feel so broken with fatigue that, with your permission, I will go
-and take a few hours' rest."
-
-"I was a fool not to think of it before," Valentine exclaimed with
-vexation as he struck his forehead. "Pardon me, father."
-
-"I thought for my brother," said Curumilla. "If my father will follow me
-all is ready."
-
-The missionary thanked him with a smile and rose, bowed to all present,
-and supported by Eagle-wing, he followed Curumilla into another chamber
-of the grotto. Father Seraphin found a bed of dry leaves covered with
-bear skins, and a fire so arranged as to burn all night. The two Indians
-retired after bowing respectfully to the father, and assuring themselves
-that he needed nothing more.
-
-After kneeling on the ground of the grotto Father Seraphin laid himself
-on his bed of leaves, crossed his arms on his chest, and fell into that
-childlike sleep which only the just enjoy. After his departure Valentine
-bent over to his two friends.
-
-"All is saved," he said in a low voice.
-
-"How? Explain yourself," they eagerly answered.
-
-"Listen to me. You will spend the night here; at daybreak you will start
-for the Hacienda de la Noria, accompanied by Father Seraphin."
-
-"Good! What next?"
-
-"General Ibañez will proceed, as from you, to the governor, and invite
-him to a grand hunt of wild horses, to take place in three days."
-
-"I do not understand what you are driving at."
-
-"That is not necessary at this moment. Let me guide you; but, above all,
-arrange it so that all the authorities of the town accept your
-invitation and are present at the hunt."
-
-"That I take on myself."
-
-"Very good. You, general, will collect all the men you can, so that they
-can support you on a given signal, but hide themselves so that no one
-can suspect their presence."
-
-"Very good," Don Miguel answered; "all shall be done as you recommend.
-But where will you be all this while?"'
-
-"You know very well," he answered with a smile of undefinable meaning.
-"I shall be hunting the buffalo with my friend Unicorn, the great chief
-of the Comanches."
-
-Hastily breaking off the interview, the hunter wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe, stretched himself before the fire, closed his eyes, and
-slept, or feigned to sleep. After a few minutes' hesitation his friend
-imitated his example, and the grotto became calm and silent as on the
-day of the creation.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-UNICORN.
-
-
-Before retiring to rest Father Seraphin, on the previous evening, had
-whispered a couple of words in the Indians' ears. The sun had scarce
-begun to rise a little above the extreme blue line of the horizon ere
-the missionary opened his eyes, and after a short prayer hurried to the
-hall in which his companions had remained. The four men were still
-asleep, wrapped in their furs and buffalo skins.
-
-"Wake up, brothers," Father Seraphin said, "for day is appearing."
-
-The four men started up in an instant.
-
-"My brothers," the young missionary said in a gentle and penetrating
-voice, "I thought that we ought, before separating, to thank God in
-common: for the blessings He does not cease to vouchsafe to us--to
-celebrate our happy meeting of last night. I have, therefore, resolved
-to hold a mass, at which I shall be happy to see you with that purity of
-heart which such a duty demands."
-
-At this proposition the four men exclaimed gladly their assent.
-
-"I will help you to prepare the altar, father," Valentine said; "the
-idea is excellent."
-
-"The altar is all ready, my friends. Have the kindness to follow me."
-
-Father Seraphin then led them out of the grotto.
-
-In the centre of a small esplanade in front of the cave an altar had
-been built by Eagle-wing and Curumilla on a grassy mound. It was very
-simple. A copper crucifix planted in the centre of the mound, covered by
-a cloth of dazzling whiteness; on either side of it two block-tin
-candlesticks, in which burned candles of yellow tallow, a Bible on the
-right, the pyx in the centre--that was all.
-
-The hunter and the two Mexicans knelt piously, and Father Seraphin
-commenced offering the holy sacrifice, served devotedly by the two
-Indian chiefs.
-
-It was a magnificent morning; thousands of birds, hidden beneath the
-foliage, saluted the birth of day with their harmonious songs; a fickle
-breeze poured through the branches, and refreshed the air; in the
-distance, far as eye could extend, undulated the prairie, with its
-oceans of tall grass incessantly agitated by the hurried foot falls of
-the wild beasts returning to their dens; and on the naked side of this
-hill, at the entrance of this grotto--one of the marvels of the New
-World--a priest, simple as an apostle, was celebrating mass on a grass
-altar under the eye of Heaven, served by two poor savages, and having as
-sole congregation three half-civilised men.
-
-This spectacle, so simple primitive, had something about it imposing and
-sublime, which inspired respect and summoned up dreams of ancient days,
-when the persecuted church took refuse in the desert, to find itself
-face to face with God. Hence the emotion experienced by the witnesses of
-this religious act was sincere. A beam of happiness descended into their
-souls, and it was with real effusion that they thanked the priest for
-the pleasant surprise he had reserved for them. Father Seraphin was
-delighted at the result he had attained. Seeing the truly profound faith
-of his friends, he felt his courage heightened to continue the rude and
-noble task he had imposed on himself.
-
-The mass lasted about three quarters of an hour. When it was finished
-the missionary placed the poor holy vessels in the bag he constantly
-carried with him, and they returned to the grotto for breakfast. An hour
-later, Don Miguel, General Ibañez, and the missionary took leave of
-Valentine, and mounted on their horses, which Curumilla had led to the
-entrance of the ravine. They started at a gallop in the direction of the
-Paso del Norte, whence they were about twenty leagues distant. Valentine
-and the two Indian chiefs remained behind.
-
-"I am about to leave my brother," Eagle-wing said.
-
-"Why not remain with us, chief?"
-
-"My pale brother no longer requires Eagle-wing. The chief hears the
-cries of the men and women of his tribe who were cowardly assassinated,
-and demand vengeance."
-
-"Where goes my brother?" the hunter asked, who was too thoroughly
-acquainted with the character of the Indians to try and change the
-warrior's determination, though he was vexed at his departure.
-
-"The Coras dwell in villages on the banks of the Colorado. Eagle-wing is
-returning to his friends. He will ask for warriors to avenge his
-brothers who are dead."
-
-Valentine bowed.
-
-"May the Great Spirit protect my father!" he said. "The road is long to
-the villages of his tribe. The chief is leaving friends who love him."
-
-"Eagle-wing knows it: he will remember," the chief said with a deep
-intonation.
-
-And, after pressing the hands the two hunters held out to him, he
-bounded on his horse, and soon disappeared in the windings of the
-cañon.
-
-Valentine watched his departure with a sad and melancholy look.
-
-"Shall I ever see him again!" he murmured. "He is an Indian: he is
-following his vengeance. It is his nature: he obeys it, and God will
-judge him. Every man must obey his destiny."
-
-After this aside the hunter threw his rifle on his shoulder and started
-in his turn, followed by Curumilla. Valentine and his comrade were on
-foot: they preferred that mode of travelling, which seemed to them sure,
-and quite as quick as on horseback. The two men, after the Indian
-custom, walked one behind the other, not uttering a syllable; but toward
-midday the heat became so insupportable that they were obliged to stop
-to take a few moments' repose. At length the sunbeams lost their
-strength, the evening breeze rose, and the hunters could resume their
-journey. They soon reached the banks of the Rio Puerco (Dirty River),
-which they began ascending, keeping as close as they could to the banks,
-while following the tracks made since time immemorial by wild animals
-coming down to drink.
-
-The man unacquainted with the splendid American scenery will have a
-difficulty in imagining the imposing and savage majesty of the prairie
-the hunters were traversing. The river, studded with islets covered with
-cottonwood trees, flowed silent and rapid between banks of slight
-elevation, and overgrown with grass so tall that it obeyed the impulse
-of the wind from a long distance. Over the vast plain were scattered
-innumerable hills, whose summits, nearly all of the same height, present
-a flat surface; and for a greater distance northward the ground was
-broadcast with large lumps of pebbles resembling gravestones.
-
-At a few hundred yards from the river rose a conical mound, bearing on
-its summit a granite obelisk one hundred and twenty feet in height. The
-Indians, who, like all primitive nations, are caught by anything
-strange, frequently assembled at this spot; and here the hecatombs are
-offered to the Kitchi Manitou.
-
-A great number of buffalo skulls, piled up at the foot of the column,
-and arranged in circles, ellipses, and other geometrical figures, attest
-their piety for this god of the hunt, whose protecting spirit, they say,
-looks down from the top of the monolith. Here and there grew patches of
-the Indian potato, wild onion, prairie tomato, and those millions of
-strange flowers and trees composing the American flora. The rest of the
-country was covered with tall grass, continually undulating beneath the
-light footfall of the graceful antelopes or big horns, which bounded
-from one rock to the other, startled by the approach of the travellers.
-
-Far, far away on the horizon, mingling with the azure of the sky,
-appeared the denuded peaks of the lofty mountains that serve as
-unassailable fortresses to the Indians: their summits, covered with
-eternal snow, formed the frame of this immense and imposing picture,
-which was stamped with a gloomy and mysterious grandeur.
-
-At the hour when the _maukawis_ uttered its last song to salute the
-setting of the sun, which, half plunged in the purple of evening, still
-jaspered the sky with long red bands, the travellers perceived the tents
-of the Comanches picturesquely grouped on the sides of a verdurous hill.
-The Indians had, in a few hours, improvised a real village with their
-buffalo skin tents, aligned to form streets and squares.
-
-On arriving at about five hundred yards from the village the hunters
-suddenly perceived an Indian horseman. Evincing not the slightest
-surprise, they stopped and unfolded their buffalo robes, which floated
-in the breeze, as a signal of peace. The horseman uttered a loud cry. At
-this signal--for it was evidently one--a troop of Comanche warriors
-debouched at a gallop from the village, and poured like a torrent down
-the sides of the hill, coming up close to the motionless travellers,
-brandishing their weapons, and uttering their war yell.
-
-The hunters waited, carelessly leaning on their guns. Assuredly, to a
-man not acquainted with the singular manners of the prairie, this mode
-of reception would have seemed overt hostilities. But it was not so;
-for, on coming within range of the hunters, the Comanches began making
-their horses leap and curvet with that grace and skill characteristic of
-the Indians, and deploying to the right and left, they formed a vast
-circle, inclosing the two unmoved hunters.
-
-Then a horseman quitted the group, dismounted, and rapidly approached
-the newcomers: the latter hastened to meet him. All three had their arm
-extended with the palm forward in sign of peace. The Indian who thus
-advanced to meet the hunters was Unicorn, the great chief of the
-Comanches.
-
-As a distinctive sign of his race, his skin was of a red tinge, brighter
-than the palest new copper. He was a man of thirty at the most, with
-masculine and expressive features; his face possessed a remarkable
-intelligence, and was stamped with that natural majesty found among the
-savage children of the prairie; he was tall and well built; and his
-muscular limbs evidenced a vigour and suppleness against which few men
-would have contended with advantage.
-
-He was completely painted and armed for war; his black hair was drawn up
-on his head in the form of a casque, and fell down his back like a mane;
-a profusion of wampum collars, claws of grizzly bear, and buffalo teeth
-adorned his breast, on which was painted with rare dexterity a blue
-tortoise, the distinctive sign of the tribe to which he belonged, and of
-the size of a hand.
-
-The rest of his costume was composed of the _mitasses_, fastened round
-the hips by a leathern belt, and descending to the ankles; a deerskin
-shirt, with long hanging sleeves, the seams of which, like those of the
-mitasse, were fringed with leather strips and feathers; a wide cloak, of
-the hide of a female buffalo, was fastened across his shoulders with a
-buckle of pure gold, and fell down to the ground; on his feet he had
-elegant moccasins of different colours, embroidered with beads and
-porcupine quills, from the heels of which trailed several wolf tails; a
-light round shield, covered with buffalo hide, and decorated with human
-scalps, hung on his left side by his panther skin quiver full of arrows.
-His weapons were those of the Comanche Indians; that is to say, the
-scalping knife, the tomahawk, a bow, and an American rifle; but a long
-whip, the handle of which painted red, was adorned with scalps,
-indicated his rank as chief.
-
-When the three men were close together they saluted by raising their
-hands to their foreheads; then Valentine and Unicorn crossed their arms
-by passing the right hand over the left shoulder, and bowing their heads
-at the same time, kissed each other's mouth after the prairie fashion.
-Unicorn then saluted Curumilla in the same way; and this preliminary
-ceremony terminated, the Comanche chief took the word.
-
-"My brothers are welcome at the village of my tribe," he said. "I was
-expecting them impatiently. I had begged the Chief of Prayer of the
-palefaces to invite them in my name."
-
-"He performed his promise last night. I thank my brother for having
-thought of me."
-
-"The two stranger great hunters are friends of Unicorn. His heart was
-sad not to see them near him for the buffalo hunt his young people are
-preparing."
-
-"Here we are! We set out this morning at sunrise."
-
-"My brothers will follow me, and rest at the council fire."
-
-The hunters bowed assent. Each received a horse, and at a signal from
-Unicorn, who had placed himself between them, the troop started at a
-gallop, and returned to the village, which it entered to the deafening
-sound of drums, chikikouis, shouts of joy from the women and children
-who saluted their return, and the furious barking of the dogs. When the
-chiefs were seated round the council fire the pipe was lit, and
-ceremoniously presented to the two strangers, who smoked in silence for
-some minutes. When the pipe had gone the round several times Unicorn
-addressed Valentine.
-
-"Koutonepi is a great hunter," he said to him; "he has often followed
-the buffalo on the plains of the Dirty River. The chief will tell him
-the preparations he has made, that the hunter may give his opinion."
-
-"It is needless, chiefs," Valentine replied. "The buffalo is the friend
-of the redskins: the Comanches know all its stratagems. I should like to
-ask a question of my brother."
-
-"The hunter can speak; my ears are open."
-
-"How long will the chief remain on the hunting grounds with his young
-men?"
-
-"About a week. The buffaloes are suspicious: my young men are
-surrounding them, but they drive them in our direction before four or
-five days."
-
-Valentine gave a start of joy.
-
-"Good," he said. "Is my brother sure of it?"
-
-"Very sure."
-
-"How many warriors have remained with the chief?"
-
-"About four hundred: the rest are scattered over the plain to announce
-the approach of the buffaloes."
-
-"Good! If my brother likes I will procure him a fine hunt within three
-days."
-
-"Ah!" the chief exclaimed, "then my brother has started some game?"
-
-"Oh!" Valentine answered with a laugh, "Let my brother trust to me, and
-I promise him rich spoils."
-
-"Good! Of what game does my brother speak?"
-
-"Of _gachupinos_[1]. In two days they will meet in large numbers not far
-from here."
-
-"Wah!" said the Comanche, whose eyes sparkled at this news, "My young
-men will hunt them. My brother must explain."
-
-Valentine shook his head.
-
-"My words are for the ears of a chief," he said.
-
-Without replying, Unicorn made a signal: the Indians rose silently, and
-left the tent. Curumilla and Unicorn alone remained near the fire.
-Valentine then explained to the Comanche, in its fullest details, the
-plan he had conceived, in the execution of which the aid of the Indians
-was indispensable for him. Unicorn listened attentively without
-interrupting. When Valentine had ended,--
-
-"What does my brother think?" the latter asked, fixing a scrutinising
-glance on the impassive countenance of the chief.
-
-"Wah!" the other replied, "the paleface is very crafty. Unicorn will do
-what he desires."
-
-This assurance filled Valentine's heart with joy.
-
-
-[1] Wearers of shoes--a name given by the Indians to the Spaniards at
-the conquest.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-THE HUNT OF WILD HORSES.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate and his two friends did not reach the hacienda till
-late. They were received in the porch by Don Pablo and Doña Clara, who
-manifested great joy at the sight of the French missionary, for whom
-they felt a sincere esteem and great friendship. Spite of all his care,
-Fray Ambrosio had always seen his advances repelled by the young people,
-in whom he instinctively inspired that fear mingled with disgust that is
-experienced at the sight of a reptile.
-
-Doña Clara, who was very pious, carried this repulsion to such a pitch
-that she only confessed her faults and approached the holy table when
-Father Seraphin came to spend a few days at the hacienda.
-
-Fray Ambrosio was too adroit to appear to notice the effect his presence
-produced on the hacendero's children: he feigned to attribute to
-timidity and indifference on religious matters what was in reality a
-strongly expressed loathing for himself personally. But in his heart a
-dull hatred fermented against the two young folk, and especially against
-the missionary, whom he had several times already attempted to destroy
-by well-laid snares.
-
-Father Seraphin had always escaped them by a providential chance; but in
-spite of the chaplain's obsequious advances, and the offers of service
-he did not fail to overwhelm him with each time they met, the missionary
-had thoroughly read the Mexican monk. He had guessed what fearful
-corruption was hidden beneath his apparent simplicity and feigned piety:
-and while keeping to himself the certainty he had acquired, he remained
-on his guard, and carefully watched this man, whom he suspected of
-incessantly planning some dark treachery against him. Don Miguel left
-his children with the missionary, who immediately took possession of him
-and dragged him away, lavishing on him every possible attention. The
-hacendero retired to his study with General Ibañez, when the two men
-drew up a list of the persons they intended to invite; that is to say,
-the persons Valentine proposed to get out of the way, though they were
-innocent of his scheme. The general then mounted his horse, and rode off
-to deliver the invitations personally. For his part Don Miguel sent off
-a dozen peons and vaqueros in search of the wild horses, and to drive
-them gradually toward the spot chosen for the hunt.
-
-Gen. Ibañez succeeded perfectly: the invitations were gladly accepted,
-and the next evening the guests began arriving at the hacienda, Don
-Miguel receiving them with marks of the most profound respect and lavish
-hospitality.
-
-The governor, General Isturitz, Don Luciano Pérez, and seven or eight
-persons of inferior rank were soon assembled at the hacienda. At sunrise
-a numerous party, composed of forty persons, left the hacienda, and
-proceeded, accompanied by a crowd of well-mounted peons, towards the
-meet. This was a vast plain on the banks of the Rio del Norte, where the
-wild horses were accustomed to graze at this season. The caravan
-produced the most singular and picturesque effect with the brilliant
-costumes of the persons who composed it, and their horses glittering
-with gold and silver. Starting at about four a.m. from the hacienda,
-they reached four hours later a clump of trees, beneath whose shade
-tents had been raised and tables laid by Don Miguel's orders, so that
-they might breakfast before the hunt.
-
-The riders, who had been journeying for four hours, already exposed to
-the rays of the sun and the dust, uttered a shout of joy at the sight of
-the tents. Each dismounted: the ladies were invited to do the same,
-among them being the wives of the governor and General Isturitz, and
-Doña Clara, and they gaily sat down round the tables.
-
-Toward the end of the breakfast Don Pablo arrived, who had started the
-evening previously to join the vaqueros. He announced that the horses
-had been started, that a large manada was now crossing the Plain of the
-Coyotes, watched by the vaqueros, and that they must make haste if they
-wished to have good sport. This news augmented the ardor of the hunters.
-The ladies were left in camp under the guard of a dozen well-armed
-peons, and the whole party rushed at a gallop in the direction indicated
-by Don Pablo.
-
-The Plain of the Coyotes extended for an enormous distance along the
-banks of the river. Here and there rose wooded hills, which varied the
-landscape that was rendered monotonous by the tall grass, in which the
-riders disappeared up to their waists. When the hunting party reached
-the skirt of the plain Don Miguel ordered a halt, that they might hold a
-council, and hear the report of the leader of the vaqueros.
-
-The races of wild horses that nowadays people the deserts of North
-America, and especially of Mexico, is descended from Cortez' cavalry.
-Hence it is a pure breed, for at the period of the Spanish conquest only
-Arab horses were employed. These horses have multiplied in really an
-extraordinary manner. It is not rare to meet with manadas of twenty and
-even thirty thousand head. They are small, but gifted with an energy and
-vigour of which it is impossible to form a fair idea without having seen
-them. They accomplish without fatigue journeys of prodigious length.
-Their coat is the same as that of other horses, save that during winter
-it grows very long, and frizzy like the wool of sheep. In spring this
-species of fur falls off. The American horses may be easily trained.
-Generally, so soon as they find themselves caught they easily submit to
-the saddle.
-
-The Mexicans treat their steeds very harshly, make them journey the
-whole day without food or drink, and only give them their ration of
-maize and water on reaching the bivouac, where they let them wander
-about the whole night under guard of the _nena_, a mare whose bell the
-horses follow, and will never leave. It is not from any cruel motive,
-however, that the Mexicans treat their horses thus, for the riders are
-very fond of their animals, which at a given moment may save their
-lives. But it seems that this mode of treatment, which would be
-impracticable in Europe, is perfectly successful in Mexico, where the
-horses are much better off than if treated in a more gentle way.
-
-The leader of the vaqueros made his report. A manada of about ten
-thousand head was two leagues off on the plain, quietly grazing in the
-company of a few elks and buffaloes. The hunters scaled a hill, from the
-top of which they easily saw on the horizon a countless mob of animals,
-grouped in a most picturesque way, and apparently not at all suspecting
-the danger that threatened them.
-
-To hunt the wild horses men must be like the Mexicans, perfect centaurs.
-I have seen the _jinetes_ of that country accomplish feats of
-horsemanship before which our Europeans would turn pale.
-
-After the vaquero's report Don Miguel and his friends held a council,
-and this is the resolution they came to. They formed what is called in
-Mexico the grand circle of the wild horses; that is to say, the most
-skilful riders were echeloned in every direction at a certain distance
-from each other, so as to form an immense circle. The wild horses are
-extremely suspicious: their instinct is so great, their scent is so
-subtle, that the slightest breath of wind is sufficient to carry to them
-the smell of their enemies, and make them set off at headlong speed.
-Hence it is necessary to act with the greatest prudence, and use many
-precautions, if a surprise is desired.
-
-When all the preparations were made the hunters dismounted, and dragging
-their horses after them, glided through the tall grass so as to contract
-the circle. This manoeuvre had gone on for some time, and they had
-sensibly drawn nearer, when the manada began to display some signs of
-restlessness. The horses, which had hitherto grazed calmly, raised their
-heads, pricked their ears, and neighed as they inhaled the air. Suddenly
-they collected, formed a compact band, and started at a trot in the
-direction of some cottonwood trees which stood on the banks of the
-river. The hunt was about to commence.
-
-At a signal from Don Miguel six well-mounted vaqueros rushed at full
-speed ahead of the manada, making their lassoes whistle round their
-heads. The horses, startled by the apparition of the riders, turned back
-hastily, uttering snorts of terror, and fled in another direction. But
-each time they tried to force the circle, horsemen rode into the midst
-of them, and compelled them to turn back.
-
-It is necessary to have been present at such a chase, to have seen this
-hunt on the prairies, to form an idea of the magnificent sight offered
-by all these noble brutes, their eyes afire, their mouths foaming, their
-heads haughtily thrown up, and their manes fluttering in the wind, as
-they bounded and galloped in the fatal circle the hunters had formed
-round them. There is in such a sight something intoxicating, which
-carries away the most phlegmatic, and renders them mad with enthusiasm
-and pleasure.
-
-When this manoeuvre had lasted long enough, and the horses began to grow
-blinded with terror, at a signal given by Don Miguel the circle was
-broken at a certain spot. The horses rushed, with a sound like thunder,
-toward this issue which opened before them, overturning with their
-chests everything that barred their progress. But it was this the
-hunters expected. The horses, in their mad race, galloped on without
-dreaming that the road they followed grew gradually narrower in front of
-them, and terminated in inevitable captivity.
-
-Let us explain the termination of the hunt. The manada had been cleverly
-guided by the hunters toward the entrance of a cañon, or ravine, which
-ran between two rather lofty hills. At the end of this ravine the
-vaqueros had formed, with stakes fifteen feet long, planted in the
-ground, and firmly fastened together with cords of twisted bark, an
-immense corral or inclosure, into which the horses rushed without seeing
-it. In less than no time the corral was full; then the hunters went to
-meet the manada, which they cut off at the risk of their lives, while
-the others closed the entrance of the corral. More than fifteen hundred
-magnificent wild horses were thus captured at one stroke.
-
-The noble animals rushed with snorts of fury at the walls of the
-inclosure, trying to tear up the stakes with their teeth, and dashing
-madly against them. At length they recognised the futility of their
-efforts, lay down, and remained motionless. In the meanwhile a
-tremendous struggle was going on in the ravine between the hunters and
-the rest of the manada. The horses confined in this narrow space made
-extraordinary efforts to open a passage and fly anew. They neighed,
-stamped, and flew at everything that came within their reach. At length
-they succeeded in regaining their first direction, and rushed into the
-plain with the velocity of an avalanche. Several vaqueros had been
-dismounted and trampled on by the horses, and two of them had received
-such injuries that they were carried off the ground in a state of
-insensibility.
-
-With all the impetuosity of youth Don Pablo had rushed into the very
-heart of the manada. Suddenly his horse received a kick which broke its
-off foreleg, and it fell to the ground, dragging its rider with it. The
-hunters uttered a cry of terror and agony. In the midst of this band of
-maddened horses the young man was lost, for he must be trampled to death
-under their hoofs. But he rose with the rapidity of lightning, and quick
-as thought seizing the mane of the nearest horse, he leaped on its back,
-and held on by his knees. The horses were so pressed against one another
-that any other position was impossible. Then a strange thing
-occurred--an extraordinary struggle between the horse and its rider. The
-noble beast, furious at feeling its back dishonoured by the weight it
-bore, bounded, reared, rushed forward; but all was useless, for Don
-Pablo adhered firmly.
-
-So long as it was in the ravine, the horse, impeded by its comrades,
-could not do all it might have wished to get rid of the burden it bore;
-but so soon as it found itself on the plain it threw up its head, made
-several leaps on one side, and then started forward at a speed which
-took away the young man's breath.
-
-Don Pablo held on firmly by digging his knees into the panting sides of
-his steed; he unfastened his cravat, and prepared to play the last scene
-in this drama, which threatened to terminate in a tragic way for him.
-The horse had changed its tactics; it was racing in a straight line to
-the river, resolved to drown itself with its rider sooner than submit.
-The hunters followed with an interest mingled with terror the moving
-interludes of this mad race, when suddenly the horse changed its plans
-again, reared, and tried to fall back with its rider. The hunters
-uttered a shout of agony. Don Pablo clung convulsively to his animal's
-neck, and, at the moment it was falling back, he threw his cravat over
-its eyes with extraordinary skill.
-
-The horse, suddenly blinded, fell back again on its feet, and stood
-trembling with terror. Then the young man dismounted, put his face to
-the horse's head, and breathed into its nostrils, while gently
-scratching its forehead. This operation lasted ten minutes at the most,
-the horse panting and snorting, but not daring to leave the spot. The
-Mexican again leaped on the horse's back, and removed the bandage; it
-remained stunned--Don Pablo had tamed it[1]. Everybody rushed toward the
-young man, who smiled proudly, in order to compliment him on his
-splendid victory. Don Pablo dismounted, gave his horse to a vaquero, who
-immediately passed a bridle round its neck, and then walked toward his
-father, who embraced him tenderly. For more than an hour Don Miguel had
-despaired of his son's life.
-
-
-[1] This mode of taming horses is well known to the Indians, and we
-submit the fact to our readers without comment.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI.
-
-THE SURPRISE.
-
-
-So soon as the emotion caused by Don Pablo's prowess was calmed they
-began thinking about returning. The sun was rapidly descending in the
-horizon: the whole day had been spent with the exciting incidents of the
-chase. The Hacienda de la Noria was nearly ten leagues distant: it was,
-therefore, urgent to start as speedily as possible, unless the party
-wished to run the risk of bivouacking in the open air.
-
-The men would easily have put up with this slight annoyance, which, in a
-climate like that of New Mexico, and at this season of the year, has
-nothing painful about it; but they had ladies with them. Left one or two
-leagues in the rear, they must feel alarmed by the absence of the
-hunters--an absence which, as so frequently happens when out hunting,
-had been protracted far beyond all expectation.
-
-Don Miguel gave the vaqueros orders to brand the captured horses with
-his cipher; and the whole party then returned, laughing and singing, in
-the direction of the tents where the ladies had been left. The vaqueros
-who had served as beaters during the day remained behind to guard the
-horses.
-
-In these countries, where there is scarce any twilight, night succeeds
-the day almost without transition. As soon as the sun had set the
-hunters found themselves in complete darkness; for, as the sun descended
-on the horizon, the shade invaded the sky in equal proportions, and, at
-the moment when the day planet disappeared, the night was complete. The
-desert, hitherto silent, seemed to wake up all at once: the birds,
-stupefied by the heat, commenced a formidable concert, in which joined
-at intervals, from the inaccessible depths of the forest, the snapping
-of the _carcajous_ and the barking of the coyotes mingled with the
-hoarse howling of the wild beasts that had left their dens to come down
-and drink in the river.
-
-Then gradually the cries, the songs, and the howling ceased, and nothing
-was audible save the hurried footfalls of the hunters' horses on the
-pebbles of the road. A solemn silence seemed to brood over this abrupt
-and primitive scenery. At intervals the green tufts of the trees and the
-tall grass bowed slowly with a prolonged rustling of leaves and
-branches, as if a mysterious breath passed over them, and compelled them
-to bend their heads. There was something at once striking and terrible
-in the imposing appearance offered by the prairie at this hour of the
-night, beneath this sky studded with brilliant stars, which sparkled
-like emeralds, in the presence of this sublime immensity, which only
-suffered one voice to be heard--that of Deity.
-
-The young and enthusiastic man to whom it is given to be present at such
-a spectacle feels a thrill run over all his body: he experiences an
-undefinable feeling of happiness and extraordinary pleasure on looking
-round him at the desert, whose unexplored depths conceal from him so
-many secrets, and display to him Divine Majesty in all its grandeur and
-omnipotence. Many a time during our adventurous journeys on the American
-continent, when marching at hazard during these lovely nights so full of
-charms, which nothing can make those comprehend who have not experienced
-them, we have yielded to the soft emotions that overcame us. Isolating
-and absorbing ourselves within ourselves, we, have fallen into a state
-of beatitude, from which nothing had the power of drawing us.
-
-The hunters so gay and talkative at the start, had yielded to this
-omnipotent influence of the desert, and advanced rapidly and silently,
-only exchanging a few syllables at lengthened intervals. The profoundest
-calm still continued to reign over the desert; and while, owing to the
-astonishing transparency of the atmosphere, the eye could embrace a
-horizon, nothing suspicious was visible.
-
-The fireflies buzzed carelessly round the top of the grass, and the
-flickering fires burning before the tents to which the hunters were
-bound could be already seen about half a league ahead. At a signal from
-Don Miguel the party, which had, up to the present, only trotted, set
-out at a long canter; for each felt anxious to leave a scene which, in
-the darkness, had assumed a sinister aspect.
-
-They thus arrived within a hundred yards of the fires, whose ruddy glow
-was reflected on the distant trees, when suddenly a fearful yell crossed
-the air, and from behind every bush out started an Indian horseman
-brandishing his weapons, and making his horse curvet round the white
-men, while uttering his war cry. The Mexicans, taken unawares, were
-surrounded ere they sufficiently recovered from their stupor to think
-about employing their weapons. At a glance Don Miguel judged the
-position: it was a critical one. The hunters were at the most but
-twenty: the number of Comanche warriors surrounding them was at least
-three hundred.
-
-The Comanches and Apaches are the most implacable foes of the white
-race. In their periodical invasions of the frontiers they hardly ever
-make any prisoners: they mercilessly kill all who fall into their hands.
-Still the Mexicans rallied. Certain of the fate that awaited them, they
-were resolved to sell their lives dearly. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation before the commencement of the deadly combat, when suddenly
-an Indian galloped out of the ranks of the warriors, and rode within
-three paces of the little band of Mexicans. On arriving there he
-stopped, and waved his buffalo robe in sign of peace. The governor of
-the provinces prepared to speak.
-
-"Let me carry on the negotiations," Don Miguel said. "I know the Indians
-better than you do, and perhaps I shall succeed in getting out of this
-awkward position."
-
-"Do so," the governor answered.
-
-General Ibañez was the only one who had remained calm and impassive
-since the surprise: he did not make a move to seize his weapons; on the
-contrary, he crossed his arms carelessly on his chest, and took a
-mocking glance at his comrades as he hummed a seguidilla between his
-teeth. Don Pablo had placed himself by his father's side, ready to
-defend him at the peril of his life. The Indian chief took the word.
-
-"Let the palefaces listen," he said; "an Indian sachem is about to
-speak."
-
-"We have no time to spare in listening to the insidious words which you
-are preparing to say to us," Don Miguel replied in a haughty voice.
-"Withdraw, and do not obstinately bar our passage, or there will be
-blood spilt."
-
-"The palefaces will have brought it on themselves," the Comanche
-answered in a gentle voice. "The Indians mean no harm to the pale
-warriors."
-
-"Why, then, this sudden attack? The chief is mad. We do not let
-ourselves be so easily deceived as he seems to suppose: we know very
-well that he wants our scalps."
-
-"No; Unicorn wishes to make a bargain with the palefaces."
-
-"Come, chief, explain yourself; perhaps your intentions are as you
-describe them. I do not wish to reproach myself with having refused to
-listen to you."
-
-The Indian smiled.
-
-"Good!" he said. "The great white chief is becoming reasonable. Let him
-listen, then, to the words Unicorn will pronounce."
-
-"Go on, chief; my comrades and myself are listening."
-
-"The palefaces are thieving dogs," the chief said in a rough voice;
-"they carry on a continual war with the redskins, and buy their scalps
-as if they were peltry; but the Comanches are magnanimous warriors, who
-disdain to avenge themselves. The squaws of the white men are in their
-power: they will restore them."
-
-At these words a shudder of terror ran along the ranks of the hunters;
-their courage failed them; they had only one desire left--that of saving
-those who had so wretchedly fallen into the hands of these bloodthirsty
-men.
-
-"On what conditions will the Comanches restore their prisoners?" Don
-Miguel asked, whose heart was contracted at the thought of his daughter,
-who was also a prisoner. He secretly cursed Valentine, whose fatal
-advice was the sole cause of the frightful evil that assailed him at
-this moment.
-
-"The palefaces," the chief continued, "will dismount and arrange
-themselves in a line. Unicorn will choose from among his enemies those
-whom he thinks proper to carry off as prisoners; the rest will be free,
-and all the women restored."
-
-"Those conditions are harsh, chief. Can you not modify them?"
-
-"A chief has only one word. Do the palefaces consent?"
-
-"Let us consult together for a few moments at any rate."
-
-"Good! Let the white men consult. Unicorn grants them ten minutes," the
-chief made answer.
-
-And turning his horse, he went back to his men. Don Miguel then
-addressed his friends.
-
-"Well; what do you think of what has occurred?"
-
-The Mexicans were terrified: still they were compelled to allow that the
-conduct of the Indians was extraordinary, and that they had never before
-evinced such lenity. Now that reflection had followed on the first
-feeling of excitement, they understood that a struggle against enemies
-so numerous was insensate, and could only result in rendering their
-position worse than it was before, and that the chiefs conditions, harsh
-as they were, offered at least some chance of safety for a portion of
-them, and the ladies would be saved.
-
-This last and all powerful consideration decided them. Don Miguel had no
-occasion to convince them of the necessity of submission. Whatever
-struggle it cost them, they dismounted and arranged themselves in a
-line, as the chief had demanded, Don Miguel and his son placing
-themselves at the head.
-
-Unicorn, with that cool courage characteristic of the Indians, then
-advanced alone toward the Mexicans, who still held their weapons, and
-who, impelled by their despair, and at the risk of being all massacred,
-would have sacrificed him to their vengeance. The chief had also
-dismounted. With his hands crossed on his back, and frowning brow, he
-now commenced his inspection.
-
-Many a heart contracted at his approach, for a question of life and
-death was being decided for these hapless men: only the perspective of
-the atrocious tortures which menaced the ladies could have made them
-consent to this humiliating and degrading condition. The Unicorn,
-however, was generous: he only selected eight of the Mexicans, and the
-rest received permission to mount their horses, and leave the fatal
-circle that begirt them. Still, by a strange accident, or a
-premeditation of which the reason escaped them, these, eight
-prisoners--among whom were the governor, General Isturitz, and the
-criminal judge, Don Luciano Pérez--were the most important personages in
-the party, and the members of the Provincial Government.
-
-It was not without surprise that Don Miguel observed this; the
-Comanches, however, faithfully fulfilled their compact, and the ladies
-were at once set at liberty. They had been treated with the greatest
-respect by the Indians, who had surprised their camp, and seized them
-almost in the same way as they had done the hunters--that is to say, the
-camp was invaded simultaneously on all sides. It was a matter worthy of
-remark in an Indian ambuscade that not a drop of blood had been spilt.
-
-After the moments given up to the happiness of seeing his daughter again
-safe and sound, Don Miguel resolved to make a last attempt with Unicorn
-in favour of the unhappy men who remained in his hands. The chief
-listened with deference, and let him speak without interruption; then he
-replied with a smile whose expression the hacendero tried in vain to
-explain,--
-
-"My father has Indian blood in his veins; the redskins love him: never
-will they do him the slightest injury. Unicorn would like to restore him
-immediately the prisoners, for whom he cares very little; but that is
-impossible. My father himself would speedily regret Unicorn's obedience
-to his Wish; but, in order to prove to my father how much the chief
-desires to do a thing that will be agreeable to him, the prisoners will
-not be ill-treated, and will be let off with a few days' annoyance.
-Unicorn consents to accept a ransom for them, instead of making them
-slaves. My father can himself tell them this good news."
-
-"Thanks, chief," Don Miguel answered. "The nobility of your character
-touches my heart: I shall not forget it. Be persuaded that, under all
-circumstances, I shall be happy to prove to you how grateful I am."
-
-The chief bowed gracefully and withdrew, in order to give the hacendero
-liberty to communicate with his companions. The latter were seated sadly
-on the ground, gloomy and downcast. Don Miguel repeated to them the
-conversation he had held with Unicorn, and the promise he had made with
-respect to them. This restored them all their courage; and, with the
-most affectionate words and marks of the liveliest joy, they thanked the
-hacendero for the attempt he had made in their favour.
-
-In fact, thanks to the promise of liberating them for a ransom at the
-end of a week, and treating them well during the period of their
-captivity, there was nothing so very terrifying about the prospect; and
-it was one of those thousand annoyances to which men are exposed by
-accident, but whose proportions had been so reduced in their eyes, that,
-with the carelessness which forms the staple of the national character,
-they were the first to laugh at their mishap.
-
-Don Miguel, however, was anxious to retire; so he took leave of his
-companions, and rejoined the chief. The latter repeated his assurances
-that the prisoners should be free within a week, if they consented each
-to pay a ransom of one thousand piastres, which was a trifle. He assured
-the hacendero that he was at liberty to withdraw whenever he pleased,
-and he should not oppose his departure.
-
-Don Miguel did not allow the invitation to be repeated. His friends and
-himself immediately mounted their horses, together with the ladies, who
-were placed in the centre of the detachment; and after taking leave of
-Unicorn, the Mexicans dug their spurs into their horses, and started at
-a gallop, glad to have got off so cheaply. The campfires were soon left
-far behind them, and General Ibañez then approached his friend, and
-bending down to his ear, whispered,--
-
-"Don Miguel, can the Comanches be our allies? I fancy that they have
-this night given a bold push to the success of our enterprise."
-
-This thought, like a ray of light, had already crossed the hacendero's
-brain several times.
-
-"I do not know," he said with a clever smile; "but at any rate, my dear
-general, they are very adroit foes."
-
-The little band continued to advance rapidly toward the hacienda, which
-was now no great distance, and which they hoped to reach before sunrise.
-The events we have described had occurred in less than an hour.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII.
-
-THE MEETING.
-
-
-"By Jove!" General Ibañez said, "it must be confessed that these red
-devils have done us an immense service without suspecting it. It might
-be said, deuce take me, that they acted under a knowledge of facts. This
-Unicorn, as the chief is called, is a precious man in certain
-circumstances. I am anxious to cultivate his acquaintance, for no one
-knows what may happen. It is often good to have so intelligent a friend
-as him at hand."
-
-"You are always jesting, general. When will you be serious for once?"
-Don Miguel said with a smile.
-
-"What would you have, my friend? We are at this moment staking our heads
-in a desperate game, so let us at any rate keep our gaiety. If we are
-conquered, it will be time enough then to be sad, and make bitter
-reflections about the instability of human affairs."
-
-"Yes, your philosophy is not without a certain dose of fatalism, which
-renders it more valuable to me. I am happy to see you in this good
-temper, especially at a moment when we are preparing to play our last
-card."
-
-"All is not desperate yet, and I have a secret foreboding, on the
-contrary, that all is for the best. Our friend the Trail-hunter, I feel
-convinced, has something to do, if not all, with what has happened to
-us."
-
-"Do you believe it?" Don Miguel asked quickly.
-
-"I am certain of it. You know as well as I do these Indios Bravos, and
-the implacable hatred they have vowed against us. The war they wage with
-us is atrocious; and for them to be suddenly changed from wolves into
-lambs requires some powerful motive to make them act thus. People do not
-lay aside in a moment a hatred which has endured for ages. The
-Comanches, by the choice they made, know the importance of the prisoners
-they have seized. How is it that they consent so easily to give them up
-for a trifling ransom? There is some inexplicable mystery in all this."
-
-"Which is very easy to explain though," a laughing voice interrupted
-from behind the shrubs.
-
-The two Mexicans started, and checked their horses. A man leaped from a
-thicket, and suddenly appeared in the centre of the track the little
-band of hunters was following. The latter, believing in a fresh attack
-and treachery on the part of the Comanches, seized their weapons.
-
-"Stop!" Don Miguel said sharply, "the man is alone. Let me speak with
-him."
-
-Each waited with his hand on his weapon.
-
-"Hold!" Don Miguel continued, addressing the stranger, who stood
-motionless, carelessly resting on his gun. "Who are you, my master?"
-
-"Do you not recognise me, Don Miguel? and must I really tell you my
-name?" the stranger answered with a laugh.
-
-"The Trail-hunter!" Don Miguel exclaimed.
-
-"Himself," Valentine continued. "Hang it all! You take a long time to
-recognise your friends."
-
-"You will forgive us when you know all that has happened to us, and how
-much we must keep on our guard."
-
-"Confound it!" Valentine said laughingly, as he regulated his pace by
-the trot of the horses, "do you fancy you are going to tell me any news?
-Did you not really suspect from what quarter the blow came?"
-
-"What!" Don Miguel exclaimed in surprise, "did you--"
-
-"Who else but I? Do you think the Spaniards are such friends of the
-Indians that the latter would treat them so kindly when meeting them
-face to face in the desert?"
-
-"I was sure of it," General Ibañez affirmed. "I guessed it at the first
-moment."
-
-"Good heavens! Nothing was more simple. Your position, through Red
-Cedar's treachery, was most critical. I wished to give you the time to
-turn round by removing, for a few days, the obstacles that prevented the
-success of your plans. I have succeeded, I fancy."
-
-"You could not have managed better," exclaimed the general.
-
-"Oh!" Don Miguel said with a reproachful accent, "why did you hide it
-from me?"
-
-"For a very simple reason, my friend. I wished that in these
-circumstances your will and conscience should be free."
-
-"But--"
-
-"Let me finish. Had I told you of my plan, it is certain that you would
-have opposed it. You are a man of honor, Don Miguel: your heart is most
-loyal."
-
-"My friend--"
-
-"Answer me. Had I explained to you the plan I formed, what would you
-have done?"
-
-"Well--"
-
-"Answer frankly."
-
-"I should have refused."
-
-"I was sure of it. Why would you have done so? Because you would never
-have consented to violate the laws of hospitality, and betray enemies
-you sheltered beneath your roof, though you knew all the while that
-these men, on leaving you, would have considered it their duty to seize
-you, and that they watched your every movement while sitting by your
-side, and eating at your table. Is it not so?"
-
-"It is true; my honor as a gentleman would have revolted. I could not
-have suffered such horrible treachery to be carried out under my very
-eyes."
-
-"There! You see that I acted wisely in saying nothing to you. In that
-way your honor is protected, your conscience easy, and I have in the
-most simple fashion freed you for some days from your enemies."
-
-"That is true; still--"
-
-"What? Have the prisoners to complain of the way in which they have been
-treated?"
-
-"Not at all; on the contrary, the Comanches, and Unicorn in particular,
-treated them most kindly."
-
-"All is for the best, then. You must congratulate yourself on the
-unexpected success you have achieved, and must now profit by it without
-delay."
-
-
-"I intend to do so."
-
-"You must act at once."
-
-"I ask nothing better. All is ready. Our men are warned, and they will
-rise at the first signal."
-
-"It must be given immediately."
-
-"I only ask the time to leave my daughter at the hacienda; then
-accompanied by my friends, I will march on Paso, while General Ibañez,
-at the head of a second band, seizes Santa Fe."
-
-"The plan is well conceived. Can you count on the persons who follow
-you?"
-
-"Yes; they are all my relatives or friends."
-
-"All for the best. Let us not go further. We are here at the place where
-the roads part; let your horses breathe awhile, and I will tell you a
-plan I have formed, and which, I think, will please you."
-
-The small party halted. The horsemen dismounted, and lay down on the
-grass. As all knew of the conspiracy formed by Don Miguel, and were his
-accomplices in different degrees, this halt did not surprise them, for
-they suspected that the moment for action was not far off, and that
-their chief doubtless wished to take his final measures before throwing
-off the mask, and proclaiming the independence of New Mexico. On
-inviting them to hunt the wild horses, Don Miguel had not concealed from
-them Red Cedar's treachery, and the necessity in which he found himself
-of dealing a great blow, if he did not wish all to be hopelessly lost.
-
-Valentine led the hacendero and the general a short distance apart.
-When they were out of ear-shot the hunter carefully examined the
-neighbourhood; then within a few minutes rejoined his friends, whom his
-way of acting considerably perplexed.
-
-"Caballeros," he said to them, "what do you intend doing? In our
-position minutes are ages. Are you ready to make your pronunciamento?"
-
-"Yes," they answered.
-
-"This is what I propose. You, Don Miguel, will proceed direct on Paso.
-At about half a league from that town you will find Curumilla, with
-twenty of the best rifles on the frontier. These men, in whom you can
-trust, are Canadian and Indian hunters devoted to me. They will form the
-nucleus of a band sufficient for you to seize on Paso without striking a
-blow, as it is only defended by a garrison of forty soldiers. Does that
-plan suit you?"
-
-"Yes; I will set about it at once. But my daughter?"
-
-"I will take charge of her. You will also leave me your son, and I will
-convey them both to the hacienda. As for the other ladies, on reaching
-the town, they will merely go to their homes, which I fancy, presents no
-difficulty."
-
-"None."
-
-"Good! Then that is settled?"
-
-"Perfectly."
-
-"As for you, general, your men have been échelonned by my care in
-parties of ten and twenty along the Santa Fe road, up to two leagues of
-the city, so that you will only have to pick them up. In this way you
-will find yourself, within three hours, at the head of five hundred
-resolute and well-armed men."
-
-"Why, Valentine, my friend," the general said laughingly, "do you know
-there is the stuff in you to make a partisan chief, and that I am almost
-jealous of you."
-
-"Oh! that would be wrong, general: I assure you I am most disinterested
-in the affair."
-
-"Well, my friend, I know it: you are a free desert hunter, caring very
-little for our paltry schemes."
-
-"That is true; but I have vowed to Don Miguel and his family a
-friendship which will terminate with my life. I tremble for him and his
-children when I think of the numberless dangers that surround him, and I
-try to aid him as far as my experience and activity permit me. That is
-the secret of my conduct."
-
-"This profession of faith was at least useless, my friend. I have known
-you too intimately and too long to doubt your intentions. Hence, you
-see, I place such confidence in you, that I accept your ideas without
-discussion, so convinced am I of the purity of your intentions."
-
-"Thanks, Don Miguel; you have judged me correctly. Come, gentlemen, to
-horse, and start. We must separate here--you, Don Miguel, to proceed by
-the right-hand track to Paso; you, general, by the left hand one to
-Santa Fe; while I, with Don Pablo and his sister proceed straight on
-till we reach the Hacienda de la Noria."
-
-"To horse, then!" the hacendero shouted resolutely; "And may God defend
-the right!"
-
-"Yes," the general added; "for from this moment the revolution is
-commenced."
-
-The three men returned to their friends. Don Miguel said a few words to
-his children, and in an instant the whole party were in the saddle.
-
-"The die is cast!" Valentine exclaimed. "May Heaven keep you,
-gentlemen!"
-
-"Forward!" Don Miguel commanded.
-
-"Forward!" General Ibañez shouted, as he rushed in the opposite
-direction.
-
-Valentine looked after his departing friends. Their black outlines were
-soon blended with the darkness, and then the footfalls of their horses
-died out in the night. Valentine gave a sigh and raised his head.
-
-"God will protect them," he murmured; then turning to the two young
-people, "Come on, children," he said.
-
-They started, and for some minutes kept silence. Valentine was too busy
-in thought to address his companions; and yet Doña Clara and Don Pablo,
-whose curiosity was excited to the highest pitch, were burning to
-question him. At length the girl, by whose side the hunter marched with
-that quick step which easily keeps up with a horse, bent down to him.
-
-"My friend," she said to him in her soft voice, "what is taking place?
-Why has my father left us, instead of coming to his house?"
-
-"Yes," Don Pablo added, "he seemed agitated when he parted from us. His
-voice was stern, his words sharp. What is happening, my friend? Why did
-not my father consent to my accompanying him?"
-
-Valentine hesitated to answer.
-
-"I implore you, my friend," Doña Clara continued, "do not leave us in
-this mortal anxiety. The announcement of a misfortune would certainly
-cause us less pain than the perplexity in which we are."
-
-"Why force me to speak, my children?" the hunter answered in a saddened
-voice. "The secret you ask of me is not mine. If your father did not
-impart his plans to you, it was doubtless because weighty reasons oppose
-it. Do not force me to render you more sorrowful by telling you things
-you ought not to know."
-
-"But I am not a child," Don Pablo exclaimed. "It seems tome that my
-father ought not to have thus held his confidence from me."
-
-"Do not accuse your father, my friend," Valentine answered gravely:
-"probably he could not have acted otherwise."
-
-"Valentine, Valentine! I will not accept those poor reasons," the young
-man urged. "In the name of our friendship I insist on your explaining
-yourself."
-
-"Silence!" the hunter suddenly interrupted him. "I hear suspicious
-sounds around us."
-
-The three travellers stopped and listened, but all was quiet. The
-hacienda was about five hundred yards at the most from the spot where
-they halted. Don Pablo and Doña Clara heard nothing, but Valentine made
-them a sign to remain quiet; then he dismounted and placed his ear to
-the ground.
-
-"Follow me," he said. "Something is happening here which I cannot make
-out; but it alarms me."
-
-The young people obeyed without hesitation; but they had only gone a few
-paces when Valentine stopped again.
-
-"Are your weapons loaded?" he sharply asked Don Pablo.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! Perhaps you will have to make use of them."
-
-All at once the gallop of a horse urged to its utmost speed was audible.
-
-"Attention!" Valentine muttered.
-
-Still the horseman, whoever he might be, rapidly advanced in the
-direction of the travellers, and soon came up to them. Suddenly
-Valentine bounded like a panther, seized the horse by the bridle and
-stopped it dead.
-
-"Who are you, and where are you going?" he shouted, as he put a pistol
-barrel against the stranger's chest.
-
-"Heaven be praised!" the latter said, not replying to the question.
-"Perhaps I shall be able to save you. Fly, fly, in all haste!"
-
-"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said with stupor, as he lowered his pistol.
-"What has happened?"
-
-"Fly, fly!" the missionary repeated, who seemed a prey to the most
-profound terror.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
-THE ABDUCTION.
-
-
-Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio had not remained inactive since their last
-interview up to the day when Don Miguel set out to hunt the wild horses.
-These two fellows, so suited to understand each other, had manoeuvred
-with extreme skill. Fray Ambrosio, all whose avaricious instincts had
-been aroused since he had so artfully stolen from poor Joaquin the
-secret of his placer, had assembled a formidable collection of the
-bandits who always swarm on the Indian frontiers. In a few days he found
-himself at the head of one hundred and twenty adventurers, all men who
-had cheated the gallows, and of whom he felt the more sure as the secret
-of the expedition was concealed from them, and they fancied they formed
-a war party engaged to go scalp hunting.
-
-These men, who all knew Red Cedar by reputation, burnt to set out, so
-convinced were they of carrying out a successful expedition under such a
-leader. Only two men formed an exception to this band of scoundrels, the
-smallest culprit of whom had at least three or four murders on his
-conscience. They were Harry, and Dick, who, for reasons the reader has
-doubtless guessed, found themselves, to their great regret, mixed up
-with these bandits. Still we must say, in justice to Fray Ambrosio's
-soldiers, that they were all bold hunters, accustomed for many a year to
-desert life, who knew all its perils, and feared none of its dangers.
-
-Fray Ambrosio; apprehending the effects of mezcal and pulque on his men,
-had made them bivouac at the entrance of the desert, at a sufficiently
-great distance from the Paso del Norte to prevent them easily going
-there. The adventurers spent their time joyously in playing, not for
-money, as they had none, but for the scalps they intended presently to
-lift from the Indians, each of which represented a very decent sum.
-Still Fray Ambrosio, so soon as his expedition was completely organised,
-had only one desire--to start as speedily as possible; but for two days
-Red Cedar was not to be found. At length Fray Ambrosio succeeded in
-catching him just as he was entering his jacal.
-
-"What has become of you?" he asked him.
-
-"What does that concern you?" the squatter answered brutally. "Have I to
-answer for my conduct to you?"
-
-"I do not say so: still, connected as we are at this moment, it would be
-as well for me to know where to find you when I want you."
-
-"I have been attending to my business, as you have to yours."
-
-"Well, are you satisfied?"
-
-"Very much so," he answered with a sinister smile. "You will soon learn
-the result of my journey."
-
-"All the better. If you are satisfied, I am so too."
-
-"Ah, ah!"
-
-"Yes, all is ready for departure."
-
-"Let us be off--tomorrow if you like."
-
-"On this very night."
-
-"Very good. You are like me, and don't care to travel by day on account
-of the heat of the sun."
-
-The two accomplices smiled at this delicate jest.
-
-"But before starting," the squatter continued, becoming serious again,
-"we have something left to do here."
-
-"What is it?" Fray Ambrosio asked with candor.
-
-"It is wonderful what a short memory you have. Take care: that failing
-may play an awkward trick some day."
-
-"Thanks! I will try to correct it."
-
-"Yes, and the sooner the better: in the meanwhile I will refresh your
-memory."
-
-"I shall feel obliged to you."
-
-"And Doña Clara, do you fancy we are going to leave her behind?"
-
-"Hum! Then you still think of that?"
-
-"By Jove! More than ever."
-
-"The fact is it will not be easy to carry her off at this moment."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"In the first place, she is not at the hacienda."
-
-"That is certainly a reason."
-
-"Is it not?"
-
-"Yes; but she must be somewhere, I suppose?" the squatter said with a
-coarse laugh.
-
-"She has gone with her father to a hunt of wild horses."
-
-"The hunt is over and they are on their return."
-
-"You are well informed."
-
-"It is my trade. Come, do you still mean serving me?"
-
-"I must."
-
-"That is how I like you. There cannot be many people at the hacienda?"
-
-"A dozen at the most."
-
-"Better still. Listen to me: it is now four in the afternoon. I have a
-ride to take. Return to the hacienda, and I will come there this evening
-at nine, with twenty resolute men. You will open the little gate of the
-corral, and leave me to act. I'll answer for all."
-
-"If you wish it it must be so," Fray Ambrosio said with a sigh.
-
-"Are you going to begin again?" the squatter asked in a meaning voice as
-he rose.
-
-"No, no, it is unnecessary," the monk exclaimed. "I shall expect you."
-
-"Good: till this evening."
-
-"Very well."
-
-On which the two accomplices separated. All happened as had been
-arranged between them. At nine o'clock Red Cedar reached the little
-gate, which was opened for him by Fray Ambrosio, and the squatter
-entered the hacienda at the head of his three sons and a party of
-bandits. The peons, surprised in their sleep, were bound before they
-even knew what was taking place.
-
-"Now," Red Cedar said, "we are masters of the place, the girl can come
-as soon as she likes."
-
-"Eh?" the monk went on. "All is not finished yet. Don Miguel is a
-resolute man, and is well accompanied: he will not let his daughter be
-carried off under his eyes without defending her."
-
-"Don Miguel will not come," the squatter said with a sardonic grin.
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"That is not your business."
-
-"We shall see."
-
-But the bandits had forgotten Father Seraphin. The missionary, aroused
-by the unusual noise he heard in the hacienda, had hastily risen. He had
-heard the few words exchanged between the accomplices, and they were
-sufficient to make him guess the fearful treachery they meditated. Only
-listening to his heart, the missionary glided out into the corral,
-saddled a horse, and opening a door, of which he had a key, so that he
-could enter or leave the hacienda as his duties required, he started at
-full speed in the direction which he supposed the hunters must follow in
-returning to the hacienda. Unfortunately, Father Seraphin had been
-unable to effect his flight unheard by the squatter's practised ear.
-
-"Malediction!" Red Cedar shouted, as he rushed, rifle in hand, toward a
-window, which he dashed out with his fist, "We are betrayed."
-
-The bandits rushed in disorder into the corral where their horses were
-tied up, and leaped into their saddles. At this moment a shadow flitted
-across the plain in front of the squatter, who rapidly shouldered his
-rifle and fired. Then he went out: a stifled cry reached his ear, but
-the person the bandit had fired at still went on.
-
-"No matter," the squatter muttered; "that fine bird has lead in its
-wing. Sharp, sharp, my men, on the trail!"
-
-And all the bandits rushed off in pursuit of the fugitive.
-
-Father Seraphin had fallen in a fainting condition at Valentine's feet.
-
-"Good heavens!" the hunter exclaimed in despair, "what can have
-happened?"
-
-And he gently carried the missionary into a ditch that ran by the side
-of the road. Father Seraphin had his shoulder fractured, and the blood
-poured in a stream from the wound. The hunter looked around him; but at
-this moment a confused sound could be heard like the rolling of distant
-thunder.
-
-"We must fall like brave men, Don Pablo, that is all," he said sharply.
-
-"Be at your ease," the young man answered coldly.
-
-Doña Clara was pale and trembling.
-
-"Come," Valentine said.
-
-And, with a movement rapid as thought, he bounded on to the missionary's
-horse. The three fugitives started at full speed. The flight lasted a
-quarter of an hour, and then Valentine stopped. He dismounted, gave the
-young people a signal to wait, lay down on the ground, and began
-crawling on his hands and knees, gliding like a serpent through the long
-grass that concealed him, and stopping at intervals to look around him,
-and listen attentively to the sounds of the desert. Suddenly he rushed
-towards his companions, seized the horses by the bridle, and dragged
-them behind a mound, where they remained concealed, breathless and
-unable to speak.
-
-A formidable noise of horses was audible. Some twenty black shadows
-passed like a tornado within ten paces of their hiding place, not seeing
-them in consequence of the darkness.
-
-Valentine drew a deep breath.
-
-"All hope is not lost," he muttered.
-
-He waited anxiously for five minutes: their pursuers were going further
-away. Presently the sound of their horses' hoofs ceased to disturb the
-silence of the night.
-
-"To horse!" Valentine said.
-
-They leaped into their saddles and started again, not in the direction
-of the hacienda, but in that of the Paso.
-
-"Loosen your bridles," the hunter said: "more still--we are not moving."
-
-Suddenly a loud neigh was borne on the breeze to the ears of the
-fugitives.
-
-"We are lost!" Valentine muttered. "They have found our trail."
-
-Red Cedar was too old a hand on the prairie to be long thrown out: he
-soon perceived that he was mistaken, and was now turning back, quite
-certain this time of holding the trail. Then began one of those fabulous
-races which only the dwellers on the prairie can witness--races which
-intoxicate and cause a giddiness, and which no obstacle is powerful
-enough to stop or check, for the object is success or death. The
-bandits' half wild horses, apparently identifying themselves with the
-ferocious passions of their riders, glided through the night with the
-rapidity of the phantom steed in the German ballad, bounded over
-precipices, and rushed with prodigious speed.
-
-At times a horseman rolled with his steed from the top of a rock, and
-fell into an abyss, uttering a yell of distress; but his comrades passed
-over his body, borne along like a whirlwind, and responding to this cry
-of agony, the final appeal of a brother, by a formidable howl of rage.
-This pursuit had already lasted two hours, and the fugitives had not
-lost an inch of ground: their horses, white with foam, uttered hoarse
-cries of fatigue and exhaustion as a dense smoke came out of their
-nostrils. Doña Clara, with her hair untied and floating in the breeze,
-with sparkling eye and closely pressed lips, constantly urged her horse
-on with voice and hand.
-
-"All is over!" the hunter suddenly said. "Save yourselves! I will let
-myself be killed here, so that you may go on for ten minutes longer, and
-be saved. I will hold out for that time, so go on."
-
-"No," Don Pablo answered nobly; "we will be all saved or perish
-together."
-
-"Yes," the maiden remarked.
-
-Valentine shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"You are mad," he said.
-
-All at once he started, for their pursuers were rapidly approaching.
-
-"Listen," he said. "Do you two let yourselves be captured; they will not
-follow me, as they owe me no grudge. I swear to you that if I remain at
-liberty I will deliver you, even if they hide you in the bowels of the
-earth."
-
-Without replying Don Pablo dismounted, and Valentine leaped on to his
-horse.
-
-"Hope for the best!" he shouted hoarsely, and disappeared.
-
-Don Pablo, so soon as he was alone with his sister, made her dismount,
-seated her at the foot of a tree, and stood before her with a pistol in
-either hand. He had not to wait long, for almost immediately he was
-surrounded by the bandits.
-
-"Surrender!" Red Cedar shouted in a panting voice.
-
-Don Pablo smiled disdainfully.
-
-"Here is my answer," he said.
-
-And with two pistol shots he laid two bandits low; then he threw away
-his useless weapons, and crossing his arms on his breast said,--
-
-"Do what you please now; I am avenged."
-
-Red Cedar bounded with fury.
-
-"Kill that dog!" he shouted.
-
-Shaw rushed toward the young man, threw his nervous arms around him, and
-whispered in his ear,--
-
-"Do not resist, but fall as if dead."
-
-Don Pablo mechanically followed his advice.
-
-"It is all over," said Shaw. "Poor devil! He did not cling to life."
-
-He returned his knife to his belt, threw the supposed corpse on his
-shoulders, and dragged it into a ditch. At the sight of her brother's
-body, whom she supposed to be dead, Doña Clara uttered a shriek of
-despair and fainted. Red Cedar laid the maiden across his saddle-bow,
-and the whole band, starting at a gallop was soon lost in the darkness.
-Don Pablo then rose slowly, and took a sorrowful glance around.
-
-"My poor sister!" he murmured.
-
-Then he perceived her horse near him.
-
-"Valentine alone can save her," he said.
-
-He mounted the horse, and proceeded toward the Paso, asking himself this
-question, which he found it impossible to answer:--
-
-"But why did not that man kill me?"
-
-A few paces from the village he perceived two men halting on the road,
-and conversing with the greatest animation. They hurriedly advanced
-toward him, and the young man uttered a cry of surprise on recognising
-them. They were Valentine and Curumilla.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV.
-
-THE REVOLT.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate had marched rapidly on the Paso, and an hour after
-leaving Valentine he saw flashing in the distance the lights that shone
-in the village windows. The greatest calmness prevailed in the vicinity;
-only at times could be heard the barking of the dogs baying at the moon,
-or the savage miawling of the wild cats hidden in the shrubs. At about
-one hundred yards from the village a man suddenly rose before the small
-party.
-
-"Who goes there?" he shouted.
-
-"_Méjico e independencia!_" the hacendero answered.
-
-"_¿Qué gente?_" the stranger continued.
-
-"Don Miguel Zarate."
-
-At these words twenty men hidden in the brushwood rose suddenly, and
-throwing their rifles on their shoulders, advanced to meet the horsemen.
-They were the hunters commanded by Curumilla, who, by Valentine's
-orders, were awaiting the hacendero's arrival to join him.
-
-"Well," Don Miguel asked the chief, "is there anything new?"
-
-Curumilla shook his head.
-
-"Then we can advance?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"What is the matter, chief? Have you seen anything alarming?"
-
-"No; and yet I have a feeling of treachery."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"I cannot tell you. Apparently everything is as usual: still there is
-something which is not so. Look you, it is scarce ten o'clock: generally
-at that hour all the mesones are full, the ventas are crammed with
-gamblers and drinkers, the streets flocked with promenaders. This night
-there is nothing of the sort: all is closed--the town seems abandoned.
-This tranquillity is factitious. I am alarmed, for _I hear the silence_.
-Take care."
-
-Don Miguel was involuntarily struck by the chief's remarks. He had known
-Curumilla for a long time. He had often seen him display in the most
-dangerous circumstances a coolness and contempt for death beyond all
-praise: hence some importance must be attached to the apprehensions and
-anxiety of such a man. The hacendero ordered his party to halt,
-assembled his friends, and held a council. All were of opinion that,
-before venturing to advance further, they should send as scout a clever
-man to traverse the town, and see for himself if the fears of the Indian
-chief were well founded.
-
-One of the hunters offered himself. The conspirators concealed
-themselves on either side the road, and awaited, lying in the shrubs,
-the return of their messenger. He was a half-breed, Simon Muñez by
-name, to whom the Indians had given the soubriquet of "Dog-face," owing
-to his extraordinary likeness to that animal. This name had stuck to the
-hunter, who, _nolens volens_, had been compelled to accept it. He was
-short and clumsy, but endowed with marvellous strength; and we may say
-at once that he was an emissary of Red Cedar, and had only joined the
-hunters in order to betray them.
-
-When he left the conspirators he proceeded toward the village whistling.
-He had scarce taken a dozen steps into the first street ere a door
-opened, and a man appeared. This man stepped forward and addressed the
-hunter.
-
-"You whistle very late, my friend."
-
-"A whistle to wake those who are asleep," the half breed made answer.
-
-"Come in," the man continued.
-
-Dog-face went in, and the door closed upon him. He remained in the house
-half an hour, then went out, and hurried back along the road he had
-traversed.
-
-Red Cedar, who wished before all to avenge himself on Don Miguel Zarate,
-had discovered, through Fray Ambrosio, the conspirators' new plan.
-Without loss of time he had taken his measures in consequence, and had
-managed so well that, although the general, the governor, and the
-criminal judge were prisoners, Don Miguel must succumb in the contest he
-was preparing to provoke. Fray Ambrosio, to his other qualities, joined
-that of being a listener at doors. In spite of the distrust which his
-patron was beginning to display toward him on Valentine's
-recommendation, he had surprised a conversation between Don Miguel and
-General Ibañez. This conversation, immediately reported to Red Cedar,
-who, according to his usual custom, had appeared to attach no importance
-to it, had been sufficient, however, to make the squatter prepare his
-batteries and countermine the conspiracy.
-
-Dog-face rejoined his companions after an hour's absence.
-
-"Well?" Don Miguel asked him.
-
-"All is quiet," the half-breed answered; "the inhabitants have retired
-to their houses, and everybody is asleep."
-
-"You noticed nothing of a suspicious nature?"
-
-"I went through the town from one end to the other, and saw nothing."
-
-"We can advance, then?"
-
-"In all security: it will only be a promenade."
-
-On this assurance the conspirators regained their courage, Curumilla was
-treated as a visionary, and the order was given to advance. Still
-Dog-face's report, far from dissipating the Indian chief's doubts, had
-produced the contrary effect, and considerably augmented them. Saying
-nothing, he placed himself by the hunter's side, with the secret
-intention of watching him closely.
-
-The plan of the conspirators was very simple. They would march directly
-on the Cabildo (Town hall), seize it, and proclaim a Provisional
-Government. Under present circumstances nothing appeared to be easier.
-Don Miguel and his band entered the Paso, and nothing occurred to arouse
-their suspicions. It resembled that town in the "Arabian Nights," in
-which all the inhabitants, struck by the wand of the wicked enchanter,
-sleep an eternal sleep. The conspirators advanced into the town with
-their rifle barrels thrust forward, with eye and ear on the watch, and
-ready to fire at the slightest alarm; but nothing stirred. As Curumilla
-had observed, the town was too quiet. This tranquillity hid something
-extraordinary, and must conceal the tempest. In spite of himself Don
-Miguel felt a secret apprehension which he could not master.
-
-To our European eyes Don Miguel will perhaps appear a poor conspirator,
-without foresight or any great connection in his ideas. From our point
-of view that is possible; but in a country like Mexico, which counts its
-revolutions by hundreds, and where _pronunciamentos_ take place, in most
-cases, without sense or reason because a colonel wishes to become a
-general, or a lieutenant a captain, things are not regarded so closely;
-and the hacendero, on the contrary, had evidenced tact, prudence, and
-talent in carrying out a conspiracy which, during the several years it
-had been preparing, had only come across one traitor. And now it was too
-late to turn back: the alarm had been given, and the Government was on
-its guard. They must go onwards, even if they succumbed in the struggle.
-
-All these considerations had been fully weighed by Don Miguel; and he
-had not given the signal till he was driven into his last intrenchments,
-and convinced that there was no way of escape left him. Was it not a
-thousand fold better to die bravely with arms in their hands, in support
-of a just cause, than wait to be arrested without having made an attempt
-to succeed? Don Miguel had sacrificed his life, and no more could be
-expected of him.
-
-In the meanwhile the conspirators advanced. They had nearly reached the
-heart of the town; they were at this moment in a little, dirty, and
-narrow street, called the Calle de San Isidro, which opens out on the
-Plaza Mayor, when suddenly a dazzling light illumined the darkness;
-torches flashed from all the windows; and Don Miguel saw that the two
-ends of the street in which he was were guarded by strong detachments of
-cavalry.
-
-"Treachery!" the conspirators shouted in terror.
-
-Curumilla bounded on Dog-face, and buried his knife between his
-shoulders. The half-breed fell in a lump, quite dead, and not uttering a
-cry. Don Miguel judged the position at the first glance: he saw that he
-and his party were lost.
-
-"Let us die!" he said.
-
-"We will!" the conspirators resolutely responded.
-
-Curumilla with the butt of his rifle beat in the door of the nearest
-house, and rushed in, the conspirators following him. They were soon
-intrenched on the roof. In Mexico all the houses have flat roofs, formed
-like terraces. Thanks to the Indian chief's idea, the rebels found
-themselves in possession of an improvised fortress, where they could
-defend themselves for a long time, and sell their lives dearly.
-
-The troops advanced from each end of the street, while the roofs of all
-the houses were occupied by soldiers. The battle was about to begin
-between earth and heaven, and promised to be terrible. At this moment
-General Guerrero, who commanded the troops, bade them halt, and advanced
-alone to the house on the top of which the conspirators were intrenched.
-Don Miguel beat up the guns of his comrades, who aimed at the officer.
-
-"Wait," he said to them; and, addressing the general, "What do you
-want?" he shouted.
-
-"To offer you propositions."
-
-"Speak."
-
-The general came a few paces nearer, so that those he addressed could
-not miss one of his words.
-
-"I offer you life and liberty if you consent to surrender your leader,"
-he said.
-
-"Never!" the conspirators shouted in one voice.
-
-"It is my place to answer," Don Miguel said; and then turning to the
-general, "What assurance do you give me that these conditions will be
-honourably carried out?"
-
-"My word of honor as a soldier," the general answered.
-
-"Very good," Don Miguel went on; "I accept. All the men who accompany me
-will leave the town one after the other."
-
-"No, we will not!" the conspirators shouted as they brandished their
-weapons; "we would sooner die."
-
-"Silence!" the hacendero said in a loud voice. "I alone have the right
-to speak here, for I am your chief. The life of brave men like you must
-not be needlessly sacrificed. Go, I say; I order you--I implore it of
-you," he added with tears in his voice. "Perhaps you will soon take your
-revenge."
-
-The conspirators hung their heads mournfully.
-
-"Well?" the general asked.
-
-"My friends, accept. I will remain alone here. If you break your word I
-will kill myself."
-
-"I repeat that you hold my word," the general answered.
-
-The conspirators came one after the other to embrace Don Miguel, and
-then went down into the street without being in any way interfered with.
-Things happen thus in this country, where conspiracies and revolutions
-are on the order of the day, as it were. The defeated are spared as far
-as possible, from the simple reason that the victors may find themselves
-tomorrow fighting side by side with them for the same cause. Curumilla
-was the last to depart.
-
-"All is not ended yet," he said to Don Miguel. "Koutonepi will save you,
-father."
-
-The hacendero shook his head sadly.
-
-"Chief," he said in a deeply moved voice, "I leave my daughter to
-Valentine, Father Seraphin, and yourself. Watch over her: the poor child
-will soon have no father."
-
-Curumilla embraced Don Miguel silently and retired; he had soon
-disappeared in the crowd, the general having honourably kept his word.
-
-Don Miguel threw down his weapons and descended.
-
-"I am your prisoner," he said.
-
-General Guerrero bowed, and made him a sign to mount the horse a soldier
-had brought up.
-
-"Where are we going?" the hacendero said.
-
-"To Santa Fe," the general answered, "where you will be tried with
-General Ibañez, who will doubtless soon be a prisoner like yourself."
-
-"Oh!" Don Miguel muttered thoughtfully, "who betrayed us this time?"
-
-"It was still Red Cedar," the general answered.
-
-The hacendero let his head sink on his chest, and remained silent. A
-quarter of an hour later the prisoner left the Paso del Norte, escorted
-by a regiment of dragoons. When the last trooper had disappeared in the
-windings of the road three men left the shrubs that concealed them, and
-stood like three phantoms in the midst of the desolate plain.
-
-"O heavens!" Don Pablo cried in a heart-rending voice, "my father, my
-sister--who will restore them to me?"
-
-"I!" Valentine said in a grave voice, as he laid his hand on his
-shoulder. "Am I not the TRAIL-HUNTER?"
-
-
-
-
-PART II.--EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-EL RANCHO DEL COYOTE.
-
-
-About a month after the events we have described in the first part of
-this veracious history, two horsemen, well mounted, and carefully
-enwrapped in their cloaks, entered at a smart trot the town of Santa Fe
-between three and four o'clock in the afternoon.
-
-Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, is a pretty town, built in the
-midst of a laughing and fertile plain. One of its sides occupies the
-angle formed by a small stream: it is surrounded by the _adobe_ walls of
-the houses by which it is bordered. The entrance of each street is
-closed by stakes in the form of palisades; and like the majority of
-towns in Spanish America, the houses, built only one story high in
-consequence of the earthquakes, are covered with terraces of well-beaten
-earth, called _azoteas,_ which are a sufficient protection in this
-glorious climate, where the sky is constantly pure.
-
-In the time of the Castilian rule Santa Fe enjoyed a certain importance,
-owing to its strategic position, which allowed an easy defence against
-the incursions of the Indians; but since the emancipation of Mexico this
-city, like all the other centres of population in his unhappy country,
-has seen its splendour vanish forever, and despite the fertility of its
-soil and the magnificence of its climate, it has entered into such a
-state of decadence that the day is at hand when it will be only an
-uninhabited ruin. In a word, this city, which fifty years back contained
-more than ten thousand inhabitants, has now scarcely three thousand,
-eaten up by fevers and the utmost wretchedness.
-
-Still during the last few weeks Santa Fe had appeared to emerge, as if
-by magic from the lethargy into which it is ordinarily plunged; a
-certain degree of animation prevailed in its usually deserted streets;
-in short, a new life circulated in the veins of this population, to
-whom, however, all must appear a matter of indifference. The fact was
-that an event of immense importance had recently taken place in this
-town. The two leaders of the conspiracy lately attempted had been
-transferred to safe keeping at Santa Fe.
-
-The Mexicans, ordinarily so slow when justice has to be dealt, are the
-most expeditious people in the world when a conspiracy has to be
-punished. Don Miguel and General Ibañez had not pined long in prison. A
-court martial, hurriedly convened, had assembled under the presidency of
-the governor, and the two conspirators were unanimously condemned to be
-shot.
-
-The hacendero, through his name and his position, and especially on
-account of his fortune, had numerous partisans in the province: hence
-the announcement of the verdict had caused a profound stupor, which
-almost immediately changed into anger, among the rich land owners and
-the Indians of New Mexico. A dull agitation prevailed throughout the
-country; and the governor, who felt too weak to hold head against the
-storm that threatened him, and regretted that he had carried matters so
-far, was temporising, and trying to evade the peril of his position
-until a regiment of dragoons he had asked of the Government arrived, and
-gave strength to the law. The condemned men, whom the governor had not
-yet dared to place in _capilla_, were still provisionally detained in
-the prison.
-
-The two men of whom we have spoken, rode without stopping through the
-streets of the town, deserted at this hour, when everybody is at home
-enjoying his siesta, and proceeded toward an unpretending rancho, built
-on the banks of the stream, at the opposite end of the town from that by
-which they entered.
-
-"Well," one of the horsemen said, addressing his comrade, "was I not
-right? You see everyone is asleep: there is nobody to watch us. We have
-arrived at a capital moment."
-
-"Bah!" the other answered in a rough voice, "Do you believe that? In
-towns there is always somebody watching to see what does not concern
-him, and report it after his fashion."
-
-"That is possible," the first said, shrugging his shoulders
-disdainfully. "I care about it as little as I do for a stringhalt
-horse."
-
-"And I, too," the other said sharply. "Do you imagine that I care more
-than you do for the gossips? But stay; I fancy we have reached the
-rancho of Andrés Garote. This must be the filthy tenement, unless I am
-mistaken."
-
-"It is the house. I only hope the scamp has not forgotten, the meeting I
-gave him. Wait a minute, señor padre; I will give the agreed-on signal."
-
-"It is not worth while, Red Cedar. You know that I am always at your
-excellency's orders when you may please to give them," a mocking voice
-said from inside the rancho, the door of which immediately opened to
-give admission to the newcomers, and allowed a glimpse of the tall
-figure and intelligent face of Andrés Garote himself.
-
-"_Ave Maria purísima!_" the travellers said, as they dismounted and
-entered the rancho.
-
-"_Sin pecado concebida!_" Andrés replied, as he took the bridles of the
-horses and led them to the corral, where he unsaddled them and gave each
-a truss of alfalfa.
-
-The travellers, fatigued by a long journey, sat down on butacas arranged
-against the wall, and awaited the host's return, while wiping their dank
-foreheads and twisting a maize cigarette between their fingers. The room
-in which they were had nothing extremely attractive about it. It was a
-large chamber with two windows, protected by iron bars, the greasy panes
-allowing but a doubtful light to pass. The naked and smoky walls were
-covered with clumsily-painted pictures, representing various holy
-objects. The furniture only consisted of three or four halting tables,
-the same number of benches, and a few butacas, the torn and harsh
-leather of which evinced lengthened use. As for the floor, it was merely
-of beaten earth, but rendered uneven by the mud incessantly brought in
-upon the feet of visitors. A door carefully closed led to an inner room,
-in which the ranchero slept. Another door was opposite to it, and
-through this Andrés speedily entered after giving the horses their
-provender.
-
-"I did not expect you yet," he said as he entered; "but you are welcome.
-Is there anything new?"
-
-"My faith, I know nothing but the affair that brings us. It is rather
-serious, I fancy, and prevents us attending to anything else," Red Cedar
-remarked.
-
-"_Caspita_! what vivacity, compadre!" Andrés exclaimed. "But, before
-talking, I hope you will take some refreshment at any rate. There is
-nothing like a cup of mezcal or pulque to clear the brain."
-
-"Not to forget," Fray Ambrosio said, "that it is infernally hot, and my
-tongue is glued to my palate, as I have swallowed so much dust."
-
-"_Cuerpo de Dios_!" Andrés said as he went to look for a bottle among
-several others arranged on a sort of bar, and placed it before the
-travellers. "Pay attention to that, señor padre; for it is serious, and
-you run a risk of death, _caray!_"
-
-"Give me the remedy, then, chatterer," the monk replied as he held out
-his glass.
-
-The mezcal, liberally poured out, was swallowed at a draught by the
-three men, who put back their glasses on the table with a "hum" of
-satisfaction, and that clinking of the tongue peculiar to topers when
-they are swallowing anything that tickles the throat.
-
-"And now suppose we talk seriously," Red Cedar said.
-
-"At your orders, señores caballeros," Andrés replied. "Still, if you
-prefer a hand at monte, you know that I have cards at your service."
-
-"Presently, señor Andrés, presently. Everything will have its turn. Let
-us first settle our little business," Fray Ambrosio judiciously
-observed.
-
-Andrés Garote bowed his head in resignation, while thrusting back into
-his pocket the pack of cards he had already half drawn out. The three
-men made themselves as comfortable as they could, and Red Cedar, after
-casting a suspicious glance around him, at length took the word.
-
-"You know, caballeros," he said, "how, when we thought we had nothing to
-do but proceed straight to Apacheria, the sudden desertion of nearly all
-our gambusinos checked us. The position was most critical for us, and
-the abduction of Doña Clara compelled us to take the utmost
-precautions."
-
-"That is true," Andrés Garote observed with an air of conviction.
-
-"Although certain influential persons protect us under the rose," Red
-Cedar continued, "we are compelled to keep in the shade as far as we
-can. I therefore sought to remedy the gravest points in the business. In
-the first place, the girl was hidden in an inaccessible retreat, and
-then I began looking for comrades to take the place of those who
-abandoned us so suddenly."
-
-"Well?" the two men interrupted him sharply.
-
-"At this moment," Red Cedar calmly continued, "when the placers of
-California call away all the men belonging to the profession, it was
-certainly no easy task to collect one hundred men of the sort we want,
-the more so as we shall have to fight the Indios Bravos in our
-expedition. I did not care to enlist novices, who at the sight of the
-first Apache or Comanche savages, would bolt in terror, and leave us in
-the lurch on the prairies. What I wanted were resolute men, whom no
-fatigue would disgust, and who, once attached to our enterprise, would
-follow it out to the end. I have, therefore, during the past month, been
-running about to all the frontier presidios; and the devil has come to
-my help tolerably well, for the evil is now repaired, and the band
-complete."
-
-"I hope, Red Cedar," Fray Ambrosio asked, "that you have not spoken
-about the placer to your men?"
-
-"Do you take me for a fool! No, padre," the squatter answered sharply,
-"no, no. A hundred thousand reasons urge us to be prudent, and keep the
-expedition secret. In the first place, I do not wish to make the fortune
-of the Government while making our own. An indiscretion would ruin us
-now, when the whole world only dreams of mines and placers, and Europe
-sends us a mob of lean and starving vagabonds, greedy to grow fat at our
-expense."
-
-"Famously reasoned," said Andrés.
-
-"No, no, trust to me. I have assembled the finest collection of picaros
-ever brought together for an expedition, all food for the gallows,
-ruined by monte, who do not care for hard blows, and on whom I can fully
-count, while being very careful not to drop a word that can enlighten
-them as to the spot whither we propose leading them; for, in that case,
-I know as well as you do that they would abandon us without the
-slightest scruples, or, as is even more probable, assassinate us to gain
-possession of the immense treasures we covet."
-
-"Nothing can be more just," Fray Ambrosio answered. "I am quite of your
-opinion, Red Cedar. Now what have you resolved on?"
-
-"We have not an instant to lose," the squatter continued. "This very
-evening, or tomorrow at the latest, we must set out. Who knows whether
-we have not already delayed our start too long? Perhaps one of those
-European vagabonds may have discovered our placer, for those scoundrels
-have a peculiar scent for gold."
-
-Fray Ambrosio cast a suspicious glance at his partner.
-
-"Hum!" he muttered, "that would be very unlucky, for hitherto the
-business has been well managed."
-
-"For that reason," Red Cedar hastened to add, "I only suggest a doubt
---nothing more."
-
-"Come, Red Cedar," the monk said, "you have yourself narrated all the
-embarrassments of our position, and the countless difficulties we shall
-have to surmount before reaching our object. Why, then, complicate the
-gravity of our situation still more, and create fresh enemies
-needlessly?"
-
-"I do not understand you, señor padre. Be good enough to explain
-yourself more clearly."
-
-"I allude to the young girl you carried off."
-
-"Ah, ah!" Red Cedar said with a grin, "Is that where the shoe pinches
-you, comrade? I am vexed at it; but I will not answer your question. If
-I carried off that woman, it was because I had pressing reasons to do
-so. These reasons still exist; that is all I can tell you. All the
-better if these explanations are sufficient for you; if not, you must
-put up with them, for you will get no others."
-
-"Still it appears to me that, regarding the terms on which we stand to
-each other--"
-
-"What can there be in common between the abduction of Doña Clara and the
-discovery of a placer in the heart of Apacheria? Come, you are mad, Fray
-Ambrosio; the mezcal is getting to your head."
-
-"Still--" the monk insisted.
-
-"Enough of that!" Red Cedar shouted as he roughly smote the table with
-his clenched fist. "I will not hear another word on the subject."
-
-At this moment two smart blows were heard on the carefully-bolted door.
-
-The three men started, and Red Cedar broke off.
-
-"Shall I open?" Andrés asked.
-
-"Yes," Fray Ambrosio answered: "hesitation or refusal might give an
-alarm. We must foresee everything."
-
-Red Cedar consented with a toss of his head, and the ranchero went with
-an ill grace toward the door, which was being struck as if about to be
-beaten in.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE CUCHILLADA.
-
-
-So soon as the door was opened two men appeared on the threshold. The
-first was Curumilla; the other, wrapped up in a large cloak, and with
-his broad-brimmed hat drawn over his eyes, entered the room, making the
-Indian chief a sign to follow him. The latter was evidently a Mexican.
-
-"_Santas tardes!_" he said as he raised his hand to his hat, but not
-removing it.
-
-"_Dios las de a usted buenas!_" the ranchero answered. "What shall I
-serve to your excellencies?"
-
-"A bottle of mezcal," the stranger said.
-
-The newcomers seated themselves at the end of the room, at a spot which
-the light reached in such a weakened state that it was almost dark. When
-they were served each poured out a glass of liquor, which he drank; and
-leaning his head on his hands, the Mexican appeared plunged in deep
-thought, not occupying himself the least in the world about the persons
-near him. Curumilla crossed his arms on his chest, half closed his eyes,
-and remained motionless.
-
-Still the arrival of these two men, especially the presence of the
-stranger, had suddenly frozen the eloquence of our three friends. Gloomy
-and silent, they instinctively felt that the newcomers were enemies, and
-anxiously waited for what was about to occur. At length Red Cedar,
-doubtless more impatient than his comrades, and wishful to know at once
-what he had to expect, rose, filled his glass, and turned toward the
-strangers.
-
-"Señores caballeros," he said, imitating that exquisite politeness which
-the Mexicans possess in the highest degree. "I have the honor of
-drinking to your health."
-
-At this invitation Curumilla remained insensible as a granite statue:
-his companion slowly raised his head, fixed his eye for a moment on the
-speaker, and answered in a loud and firm voice,--
-
-"It is needless, señor, for I shall not drink to yours. What I say to
-you," he added, laying a stress on the words, "your friends can also
-take for themselves if they think proper."
-
-Fray Ambrosio rose violently.
-
-"What do you say?" he exclaimed in a threatening voice. "Do you mean to
-insult me?"
-
-"There are people whom a man cannot mean to insult," the stranger
-continued in a cutting voice. "Remember this, señor padre--I do not wish
-to have any dealings with you."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because I do not please--that is all. Now, gentlemen, do not trouble
-yourselves about me, I beg, but continue your conversation: it was most
-interesting when I arrived. You were speaking, I believe, about an
-expedition you are preparing: there was a question too, I fancy, when I
-entered, about a girl your worthy friend, or partner--I do not know
-which he is--carried off with your assistance. Do not let me disturb
-you. I should, on the contrary, be delighted to learn what you intend
-doing with that unhappy creature."
-
-No words could render the feeling of stupor and terror which seized on
-the three partners at this, crushing revelation of their plans. When
-they fancied they had completely concealed them by their cunning and
-skill, to see them thus suddenly unveiled in all their extent by a man
-whom they did not know, but who knew them, and in consequence could only
-be an enemy--this terrified them to such a degree that for a moment they
-fancied they had to do with the spirit of evil. The two Mexicans crossed
-themselves simultaneously, while the American uttered a hoarse
-exclamation of rage.
-
-But Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio were men too hardened in iniquity for
-any event, however grave in its nature, to crush them for long. The
-first moment past, they recovered themselves, and amazement gave way to
-fury. The monk drew from his vaquera boot a knife, and posted himself
-before the door to prevent egress; while Red Cedar, with frowning brow
-and a machete in his hand, advanced resolutely toward the table, behind
-which their bold adversary, standing with folded arms, seemed to defy
-them by his ironical smile.
-
-"Whoever you may be," Red Cedar said, stopping two paces from his
-opponent, "chance has made you master of a secret that kills, and you
-shall die."
-
-"Do you really believe that I owe a knowledge of your secrets to
-chance?" the other said with a mocking accent.
-
-"Defend yourself," Red Cedar howled furiously, "If you do not wish me to
-assassinate you; for, _con mil diablos!_ I shall not hesitate, I warn
-you."
-
-"I know it," the stranger replied quietly. "I shall not be the first
-person to whom that has happened: the Sierra Madre and El Bolsón de
-Mapimi have often heard the agonising cries of your victims, when
-Indians were wanting to fill up your number of scalps."
-
-At this allusion to his frightful trade the squatter felt a livid pallor
-cover his face, a tremor agitated all his limbs, and he yelled in a
-choking voice,--
-
-"You lie! I am a hunter."
-
-"Of scalps," the stranger immediately retorted, "unless you have given
-up that lucrative and honourable profession since your last expedition to
-the village of the Coras."
-
-"Oh!" the squatter shouted with an indescribable burst of fury, "He is a
-coward who hides his face while uttering such words."
-
-The stranger shrugged his shoulders contemptuously, and let the folds of
-his mantle fall sharply.
-
-"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar, since your conscience has not yet
-whispered my name to you?"
-
-"Oh!" the three men exclaimed in horror, and instinctively recoiling
-"Don Pablo de Zarate!"
-
-"Yes," the young man continued, "Don Pablo, who has come, Red Cedar, to
-ask of you an account of his sister, whom you carried off."
-
-Red Cedar was in a state of extraordinary agitation: with eyes dilated
-by terror, and contracted features, he felt the cold perspiration
-beading on his temples at this unexpected apparition.
-
-"Ah!" he said in a hollow voice, "Do the dead, then, leave the tomb?"
-
-"Yes," the young man shouted loudly, "they leave their tomb to tear your
-victims from you. Red Cedar, restore me my sister!"
-
-The squatter leaped like a hyena on the young man, brandishing his
-machete.
-
-"Dog!" he yelled, "I will kill you a second time."
-
-But his wrist was suddenly seized by a hand of iron, and the bandit
-tottered back to the wall of the rancho, against which he was forced to
-lean, lest he should roll on the ground. Curumilla, who had hitherto
-remained an impassive witness of the scene that took place before him,
-had thought the moment for interference, had arrived, and had sharply
-hurled him back. The squatter, with eyes injected with blood, and lips
-clenched by rage, looked around him with glaring worthy of a wild beast.
-Fray Ambrosio and the ranchero, held in check by the Indian chief, did
-not dare to interfere. Don Pablo walked with slow and measured step
-toward the bandit. When he was ten paces from him he stopped, and looked
-fixedly at him.
-
-"Red Cedar," he repeated in a calm voice, "give me back my sister."
-
-"Never!" the squatter answered in a voice choked by rage.
-
-In the meanwhile the monk and the ranchero had treacherously approached
-the young man, watching for the propitious moment to fall on him. The
-five men assembled in this room offered a strange and sinister scene by
-the uncertain light that filtered through the windows, as each stood
-with his hand on his weapon, ready to kill or be killed, and only
-awaiting the opportunity to rush on his enemy. There was a moment of
-supreme silence. Assuredly these men were brave. In many circumstances
-they had seen death under every aspect; and yet their hearts beat as if
-to burst their breasts, for they knew that the combat about to commence
-between them was without truce or mercy. At length Don Pablo spoke
-again.
-
-"Take care, Red Cedar," he said. "I have come to meet you alone and
-honourably. I have asked you for my sister several times, and you have
-not answered; so take care."
-
-"I will sell your sister to the Apaches," the squatter howled. "As for
-you, accursed one, you shall not leave this room alive. May I be
-eternally condemned if your heart does not serve as a sheath to my
-knife!"
-
-"The scoundrel is mad!" the young man said contemptuously.
-
-He fell back a pace, and then stopped.
-
-"Listen," he continued. "I will now retire, but we shall meet again; and
-woe to you then, for I shall be as pitiless to you as you have been to
-me. Farewell!"
-
-"Oh! you shall not go in that way, my master," replied the squatter, who
-had regained all his boldness and impudence. "Did I not tell you I would
-kill you?"
-
-The young man fixed upon him a glance of undefinable expression, and
-crossed his arms boldly on his chest.
-
-"Try it," he said in a voice rendered harsh by the fury boiling in his
-heart.
-
-Red Cedar uttered a yell of rage, and bounded on Don Pablo. The latter
-calmly awaited the attack; but, so soon as the squatter was within reach
-he suddenly took off his mantle, and threw it over his enemy's head,
-who, blinded by the folds of the thick garment, rolled about on the
-ground, unable to free himself from the accursed cloth that held him
-like a net. With one bound the young man was over the table, and
-troubling himself no further about Red Cedar, proceeded toward the door.
-
-At this moment Fray Ambrosio rushed upon him, trying to bury his knife
-in his chest. Feeling not the slightest alarm, Don Pablo seized his
-assailant's wrist, and with a strength he was far from anticipating,
-twisted his arm so violently that his fingers opened, and he let the
-knife fall with a yell of pain. Don Pablo picked it up, and seized the
-monk by the throat.
-
-"Listen, villain!" he said to him. "I am master of your life. You
-betrayed my father, who took pity on you, and received you into his
-house. You dishonour the gown you wear by your connection with
-criminals, whose ill deeds you share in. I could kill you, and perhaps
-ought to do so; but it would be robbing the executioner to whom you
-belong, and cheating the garrote which awaits you. This gown, of which
-you are unworthy, saves your life; but I will mark you so that you shall
-never forget me."
-
-And placing the point of the knife on the monk's livid face, he made two
-gashes in the shape of a cross along the whole length and breadth of his
-face.
-
-"We shall meet again!" he added in a thundering voice, as he threw the
-knife away in disgust.
-
-Andrés Garote had not dared to make a move: terror nailed him motionless
-to the ground beneath the implacable eye of the Indian warrior. Don
-Pablo and Curumilla then rushed from the room and disappeared, and ere
-long the hoofs of two horses departing at full speed from the town could
-be heard clattering over the pavement.
-
-By the aid of the ranchero, Red Cedar presently succeeded in freeing
-himself from the fold of the cloak that embarrassed him. When the three
-accomplices found themselves alone again an expression of impotent rage
-and deadly hatred distorted their faces.
-
-"Oh!" the squatter muttered, grinding his teeth, and raising his fist to
-heaven, "I will be revenged."
-
-"And I too," said Fray Ambrosio in a hollow voice, as he wiped away the
-blood that stained his face.
-
-"Hum! I do not care," Andrés Garote said to himself aside. "That family
-of the Zarates is a fine one; but, _caray_! it must be confessed that
-Don Pablo is a rough fellow."
-
-The worthy ranchero was the only one chance had favoured in this meeting
-by letting him escape safe and sound.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-THE HUNTERS.
-
-
-At about two leagues from Santa Fe, in a clearing situated on the banks
-of the stream which borders that town, and on the evening of the same
-day, a man was seated before a large fire, which he carefully kept up,
-while actively engaged in making preparations for supper. A frugal meal,
-at any rate, this supper! It was composed of a buffalo hump, a few
-potatoes, and maize tortillas baked on the ashes, the whole washed down
-with pulque.
-
-The night was gloomy. Heavy black clouds coursed athwart the sky, at
-times intercepting the sickly rays of the moon, which only shed an
-uncertain light over the landscape, which was itself buried in one of
-those dense mists that, in equatorial countries, exhale from the ground
-after a hot day. The wind blew violently through the trees, whose
-branches came in contact, with plaintive moans: and in the depths of the
-woods the miawling of the wild cats was mingled with the snarl of the
-coyotes and the howls of the pumas and jaguars. All at once the sound of
-galloping horses could be heard in the forest, and two riders burst into
-the clearing. On seeing them the hunter uttered an exclamation of joy,
-and hurried to meet them. They were Don Pablo and Curumilla.
-
-"Heaven be praised!" the hunter said. "Here you are at last. I was
-beginning to grow alarmed at your long absence."
-
-"You see that nothing has happened to me," the young man answered,
-affectionately pressing the hunter's hands.
-
-Don Pablo had dismounted, and hobbled his own horse and Curumilla's near
-Valentine, while the Indian chief busied himself in preparing the
-supper.
-
-"Come, come," the hunter said gaily, "to table. You must be hungry, and
-I am dying of inanition. You can tell me all that has occurred while we
-are eating."
-
-The three men went to the table; that is, they seated themselves on the
-grass in front of the fire, and vigorously assailed their meagre repast.
-Desert life has this peculiarity--that in whatever position you may find
-yourself, as the struggles you go through are generally physical rather
-than moral, nature never resigns her claims: you feel the need of
-keeping up your strength, so as to be ready for all eventualities. There
-is no alarm great enough to prevent you from eating and drinking.
-
-"Now," Valentine asked presently, "what have you done? I fancy you
-remained much longer than was necessary in that accursed town."
-
-"We did, my friend. Certain reasons forced me to remain longer than I
-had at first intended."
-
-"Proceed in regular order, if you have no objection. I fancy that is the
-only way of understanding each other."
-
-"Act as you please, my friend."
-
-"Very good: the chief and I will light our Indian pipes while you make
-your cigarette. We will sit with our backs to the fire, so as to watch
-the neighbourhood, and in that way can converse without apprehension.
-What do you say, Pablo?"
-
-"You are always right, my friend. Your inexhaustible gaiety, your honest
-carelessness, restore me all my courage, and make me quite a different
-man."
-
-"Hum!" Valentine said, "I am glad to hear you speak so. The position is
-serious, it is true; but it is far from being desperate. The chief and I
-have many times been in situations were our lives only depended on a
-thread: and yet we always emerged from them honourably--did we not,
-chief?"
-
-"Yes," the Indian answered laconically, drawing in a mouthful of smoke,
-which he sent forth again from his mouth and nostrils.
-
-"But that is not the question of the moment. I have sworn to save your
-father and sister, Pablo, and will do so, or my carcass shall be food
-for the wild beasts of the prairie; so leave me to act. Have you seen
-Father Seraphin?"
-
-"Yes, I have. Our poor friend is still very weak and pale, and his wound
-is scarce cicatrised. Still, paying no heed to his sufferings, and
-deriving strength from his unbounded devotion to humanity, he has done
-all we agreed on. For the last week he has only left my father to hasten
-to his judges. He has seen the general, the governor, the
-bishop--everybody, in short--and has neglected nothing. Unfortunately
-all his exertions have hitherto been fruitless."
-
-"Patience!" the hunter said with a smile of singular meaning.
-
-"Father Seraphin believes for certain that my father will be placed in
-the capilla within two days. The governor wishes to have done with
-it--that is the expression he employed; and Father Seraphin told me that
-we have not a moment to lose."
-
-"Two days are a long time, my friend; before they have elapsed many
-things may have occurred."
-
-"That is true; but my father's life is at stake, and I feel timid."
-
-"Good, Don Pablo; I like to hear you speak so. But reassure yourself;
-all is going on well, I repeat."
-
-"Still, my friend, I believe it would be wise to take certain
-precautions. Remember it is a question of life or death, and we must
-make haste. How many times, under similar circumstances, have the best
-arranged plans failed! Do you think that your measures are well taken?
-Do you not fear lest an unhappy accident may derange all your plans at
-the decisive moment?"
-
-"We are playing at this moment the devil's own game, my friend,"
-Valentine answered coldly. "We have chance on our side; that is to say,
-the greatest power that exists, and which governs the world."
-
-The young man lowered his head, as if but slightly convinced. The hunter
-regarded him for a moment with a mixture of interest and tender pity,
-and then continued in a soothing voice,--
-
-"Listen, Don Pablo de Zarate," he said. "I have said that I will save
-your father, and mean to do so. Still I wish him to leave the prison in
-which he now is, like a man of his character ought to leave it, in open
-day, greeted by the applause of the crowd, and not by escaping furtively
-during the night, like a vile criminal. Hang it all! Do you think it
-would have been difficult for me to enter the town, and effect your
-father's escape by filing the bars or bribing the jailer? I would not do
-it. Don Miguel would not have accepted that cowardly and shameful
-flight. Your father shall leave his prison, but begged to do so by the
-governor himself, and all the authorities of Santa Fe. So regain your
-courage, and no longer doubt a man whose friendship and experience
-should, on the contrary, restore your confidence."
-
-The young man had listened to these words with even increasing interest.
-When Valentine ceased speaking he seized his hand.
-
-"Pardon me, my friend," he answered him. "I know how devoted you are to
-my family; but I suffer, and grief renders me unjust. Forgive me."
-
-"Child, let us forget it all. Was the town quiet today?"
-
-"I cannot tell you, for I was so absorbed in thought that I saw nothing
-going on around me. Still I fancy there was a certain agitation, which
-was not natural, on the Plaza Mayor, near the governor's palace."
-
-Valentine indulged once again in that strange smile that had already
-played round the corners of his delicate lips.
-
-"Good!" he said. "And did you, as I advised, try to gain any information
-about Red Cedar?"
-
-"Yes," he answered with a start of joy, "I did; and I have positive
-news."
-
-"Ah, ah! How so?"
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-And Don Pablo described the scene that had taken place in the rancho.
-The hunter listened to it with the utmost attention, and when it was
-finished he tossed his head several times with an air of
-dissatisfaction.
-
-"All young people are so," he muttered; "they always allow their passion
-to carry them beyond the bounds of reason. You were wrong, extremely
-wrong, Don Pablo," he then added. "Red Cedar believed you dead, and that
-might have been of great use to us presently. You do not know the
-immense power that demon has at his disposal: all the bandits on the
-frontier are devoted to him. Your outbreak will be most injurious to
-your sister's safety."
-
-"Still, my friend--"
-
-"You acted like a madman in arousing the slumbering fury of the tiger.
-Red Cedar will persist in destroying you. I have known the wretch for a
-long time. But that is not the worst you have done."
-
-"What is it, then?"
-
-"Why, madman as you are, instead of keeping dark, watching your enemies
-without saying a word--in short, seeing through their game--by an
-unpardonable act of bravado you have unmasked all your batteries."
-
-"I do not understand you, my friend."
-
-"Fray Ambrosio is a villain of a different stamp from Red Cedar, it is
-true; but I consider him even a greater scoundrel than the scalp hunter.
-At any rate, the latter is purely a rogue, and you know what to expect
-from him: all about him bears the stamp of his hideous soul. Had you
-stabbed that wild beast, who perspires blood by every pore, and dreams
-of naught but murder, I might possibly have pardoned you; but you have
-completely failed, not only in prudence, but in good sense, by acting as
-you have done with Fray Ambrosio. That man is a hypocrite. He owes all
-to your family, and is furious at seeing this treachery discovered. Take
-care, Don Pablo. You have made at one blow two implacable enemies, the
-more terrible now because they have nothing to guard against."
-
-"It is true," the young man said; "I acted like a fool. But what would
-you? At the sight of those two men, when I heard from their very lips
-the crimes they had committed, and those they still meditate against us,
-I was no longer master of myself. I entered the rancho, and you know the
-rest."
-
-"Yes, yes, the cuchillada was a fine one. Certainly the bandit deserved
-it; but I fear lest the cross you so smartly drew on his face will cost
-you dearly some day."
-
-"Well, let us leave it in the hand of Heaven. You know the proverb, 'It
-is better to forget what cannot be remedied.' Provided my father escape
-the fate that menaces him, I shall be happy. I shall take my precautions
-to defend myself."
-
-"Did you learn nothing further?"
-
-"Yes; Red Cedar's gambusinos are encamped a short distance from us. I
-know that their chief intends starting tomorrow at the latest."
-
-"Oh, oh! Already? We must make haste and prepare our ambuscade, if we
-wish to discover the road they mean to follow."
-
-"When shall we start?"
-
-"At once."
-
-The three men made their preparations; the horses were saddled, the
-small skins the horseman always carries at his saddle-bow in these dry
-countries were filled with water, and five minutes later the hunters
-mounted. At the moment they were leaving the clearing a rustling of
-leaves was heard, the branches parted, and an Indian appeared. It was
-Unicorn, the great sachem of the Comanches. On seeing him the three men
-dismounted and waited. Valentine advanced alone to meet the Indian.
-
-"My brother is welcome," he said. "What does he want of me?"
-
-"To see the face of a friend," the chief answered in a gentle voice.
-
-The two men then bowed after the fashion of the prairie. After this
-ceremony Valentine went on:
-
-"My father must approach the fire, and smoke from the calumet of his
-white friends."
-
-"I will do so," Unicorn answered.
-
-And drawing near the fire, he crouched down in Indian fashion, took his
-pipe from his belt, and smoked in silence. The hunters, seeing the turn
-this unexpected interview was taking, had fastened up their horses, and
-seated themselves again round the fire. A few minutes passed thus, no
-one speaking, each waiting till the Indian chief should explain the
-motive of his coming. At length Unicorn shook the ashes from his
-calumet, returned it to his belt, and addressed Valentine.
-
-"Is my brother setting out to hunt buffaloes again?" he said. "There are
-many this year on the prairies of the Rio Gila."
-
-"Yes," the Frenchman replied, "we are going hunting. Does my brother
-intend to accompany us?"
-
-"No; my heart is sad.
-
-"What means the chief? Has any misfortune happened to him?"
-
-"Does not my brother understand me, or am I really mistaken? It is that
-my brother only really loves the buffaloes, whose meat he eats, and
-whose hides he sells at the _toldería_?"
-
-"Let my brother explain himself more clearly; then I will try to answer
-him."
-
-There was a moment of silence. The Indian seemed to be reflecting
-deeply: his nostrils were dilated, and at times his black eye flashed
-fire. The hunters calmly awaited the issue of this conversation, whose
-object they had not yet caught. At length Unicorn raised his head,
-restored all the serenity to his glance, and said in a soft and
-melodious voice,--
-
-"Why pretend not to understand me, Koutonepi? A warrior must not have a
-forked tongue. What a man cannot do alone, two can attempt and carry
-out. Let my brother speak: the ears of a friend are open."
-
-"My brother is right. I will not deceive his expectations. The hunt I
-wish to make is serious. I am anxious to save a woman of my colour; but
-what can the will of one man effect?"
-
-"Koutonepi is not alone: I see at his side the best two rifles of the
-frontier. What does the white hunter tell me? Is he no longer the great
-warrior I knew? Does he doubt the friendship of his brother Haboutzelze,
-the great sachem of the Comanches?"
-
-"I never doubted the friendship of my brother. I am an adopted son of
-his nation. At this very moment is he not seeking to do me a service?"
-
-"That service is only half what I wish to do. Let my brother speak the
-word, and two hundred Comanche warriors shall join him to deliver the
-virgin of the palefaces, and take the scalps of her ravishers."
-
-Valentine started with joy at this noble offer.
-
-"Thanks, chief," he said eagerly. "I accept; and I know that your word
-is sacred."
-
-"Michabou protects us," the Indian said. "My brother can count on me. A
-chief does not forget a service. I owe obligations to the pale hunter,
-and will deliver to him the gachupino robbers."
-
-"Here is my hand, chief: my heart has long been yours."
-
-"My brother speaks well. I have done what he requested of me."
-
-And, bowing courteously, the Comanche chief withdrew without adding a
-word.
-
-"Don Pablo," Valentine exclaimed joyously, "I can now guarantee your
-father's safety: this night--perhaps tomorrow--he will be free."
-
-The young man fell into the hunter's arms, and hid his head on his
-honest chest, not having the strength to utter a word. A few minutes
-later, the hunters left the clearing to go in search of the gambusinos,
-and prepare their ambuscade.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-SUNBEAM.
-
-
-We will now go a little way back, in order to clear up certain portions
-of the conversation between Valentine and Unicorn, whose meaning the
-reader can not have caught.
-
-Only a few months after their arrival in Apacheria the Frenchman and
-Curumilla were hunting the buffalo on the banks of the Rio Gila. It was
-a splendid day in the month of July. The two hunters, fatigued by a long
-march under the beams of the parching sun, that fell vertically on their
-heads, had sheltered themselves under a clump of cedar wood trees, and,
-carelessly stretched out on the ground, were smoking while waiting till
-the great heat had passed, and the evening breeze rose to enable them to
-continue their hunt. A quarter of elk was roasting for their dinner.
-
-"Eh, _penni_," Valentine said, addressing his comrade, and rising on his
-elbow, "the dinner seems to be ready; so suppose we feed? The sun is
-rapidly sinking behind the virgin forest, and we shall soon have to
-start again."
-
-"Eat," Curumilla answered, sharply.
-
-The meat was laid on a leaf between the two hunters, who began eating
-with good appetite, and indulging in cakes of _hautle_. These cakes,
-which are very good, are certainly curious. They are made of the pounded
-eggs of a species of water bug, collected by a sort of harvest in the
-Mexican lakes. They are found on the leaves of the _toule_ (bulrush),
-and the farina is prepared in various ways. It is an Aztec preparation
-_par excellence_, for so long back as 1625 they were sold on the
-marketplace of the Mexican capital. They form the chief food of the
-Indians, who consider them as great a dainty as the Chinese do their
-swallow nests, with which this article of food has a certain resemblance
-in taste. Valentine had taken a third bite at his hautle cake when he
-stopped, with his arm raised and his head bent forward, as if an unusual
-sound had suddenly smitten his ear. Curumilla imitated his friend, and
-both listened with that deep attention that only results from a
-lengthened desert life; for on the prairie every sound is
-suspicious--every meeting is feared, especially with man.
-
-Some time elapsed ere the noise which startled the hunters was repeated.
-For a moment they fancied themselves deceived, and Valentine took
-another bite, when he was again checked. This time he had distinctly
-heard a sound resembling a stifled sigh, but so weak and hollow that it
-needed the Trail-hunter's practised ear to catch it. Curumilla himself
-had perceived nothing. He looked at his friend in amazement, not knowing
-to what he should attribute his state of agitation. Valentine rose
-hurriedly, seized his rifle, and rushed in the direction of the river,
-his friend following him in all haste.
-
-It was from the river, in fact, that the sigh heard by Valentine had
-come, and fortunately it was but a few paces distant. So soon as the
-hunters had leaped over the intervening bushes they found themselves on
-the bank, and a fearful sight presented itself to their startled eyes. A
-long plank was descending the river, turning on its axis, and borne by
-the current, which ran rather strongly at this point. On this plank was
-fastened a woman, who held a child in her clasped arms. Each time the
-plank revolved the unhappy woman plunged with her child into the stream,
-and at ten yards at the most from it an enormous cayman was swimming
-vigorously to snap at its two victims.
-
-Valentine raised his rifle. Curumilla at the same moment glided into the
-water, holding his knife blade between his teeth, and swam toward the
-plank. Valentine remained for a few seconds motionless, as if changed
-into a block of marble. All at once he pulled the trigger, and the
-discharge was re-echoed by the distant mountains. The cayman leaped out
-of the water, and plunged down again; but it reappeared a moment later,
-belly upwards. It was dead. Valentine's bullet had passed through its
-eye.
-
-In the meanwhile Curumilla, had reached the plank with a few strokes,
-without loss of time he turned it in the opposite direction from what it
-was following; and while holding it so that it could not revolve, he
-pushed it onto the sand. In two strokes he cut the bonds that held the
-hapless woman, seized her in his arms, and ran off with her to the
-bivouac fire.
-
-The poor woman gave no signs of life, and the two hunters eagerly sought
-to restore her. She was an Indian, apparently not more than eighteen,
-and very beautiful. Valentine found great difficulty in loosening her
-arms and removing the baby; for the frail creature about a year old, by
-an incomprehensible miracle, had been preserved--thanks, doubtless to
-its mother's devotion. It smiled pleasantly at the hunter when he laid
-it on a bed of dry leaves.
-
-Curumilla opened the woman's mouth slightly with his knife blade, placed
-in it the mouth of his gourd, and made her swallow a few drops of
-mezcal. A long time elapsed ere she gave the slightest move that
-indicated an approaching return to life. The hunters, however, would not
-be foiled by the ill-success of their attentions, but redoubled their
-efforts. At length a deep sigh burst painfully from the sufferer's
-oppressed chest, and she opened her eyes, murmuring in a voice weak as a
-breath!
-
-"_Xocoyotl_ (My child)!"
-
-The cry of the soul--this first and supreme appeal of a mother on the
-verge of the tomb--affected the two men with their hearts of bronze.
-Valentine cautiously lifted the child, which had gone to sleep
-peacefully on the leaves, and presented it to the mother, saying in a
-soft voice:
-
-"_Nantli joltinemi_ (Mother, he lives)!"
-
-At these words, which restored her hope, the woman leaped up as if moved
-by a spring, seized the child, and covered it with kisses, as she burst
-into tears. The hunters respected this outpouring of maternal love: they
-withdrew, leaving food and water by the woman's side. At sunset the two
-men returned. The woman was squatting by the fire, nursing her child,
-and lulling it to sleep by singing an Indian song. The night passed
-tranquilly, the two hunters watching in turn over the slumbers of the
-woman they had saved, and who reposed in peace.
-
-At sunrise she awoke; and, with the skill and handiness peculiar to the
-women of her race, she rekindled the fire and prepared breakfast. The
-two men looked at her with a smile, then threw their rifles over their
-shoulders, and set out in search of game. When they returned to the
-bivouac the meal was ready. After eating, Valentine lit his Indian pipe,
-seated himself at the foot of a tree, and addressed the young woman.
-
-"What is my sister's name?" he asked.
-
-"Tonameyotl (the Sunbeam)," she replied, with a joyous smile that
-revealed the double row of pearls that adorned her mouth.
-
-"My sister has a pretty name," Valentine answered. "She doubtless
-belongs to the great nation of the Apaches."
-
-"The Apaches are dogs," she said in a hollow voice, and with a flash of
-hatred in her glance. "The Comanche women will weave them petticoats.
-The Apaches are cowardly as the coyotes: they only fight a hundred
-against one. The Comanche warriors are like the tempest."
-
-"Is my sister the wife of a cacique?"
-
-"Where is the warrior who does not know Unicorn?" she said proudly.
-
-Valentine bowed. He had already heard the name of this terrible chief
-pronounced several times. Mexicans and Indians, trappers, hunters, and
-warriors, all felt for him a respect mingled with terror.
-
-"Sunbeam is Unicorn's wife," the Indian girl continued.
-
-"Good!" Valentine answered. "My sister will tell me where to find the
-village of her tribe, and I will lead her back to the chief."
-
-The young woman smiled.
-
-"I have in my heart a small bird that sings at every instant of the
-day," she said in her gentle and melodious voice. "The swallow cannot
-live without its mate, and the chief is on the trail of Sunbeam."
-
-"We will wait the chief here, then," Valentine said.
-
-The hunter felt great pleasure in conversing with this simple child.
-
-"How was my sister thus fastened to the trunk of tree, and thrown into
-the current of the Gila, to perish there with her child? It is an
-atrocious vengeance."
-
-"Yes, it is the vengeance of an Apache dog," she answered. "Aztatl (the
-Heron), daughter of Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, loved
-Unicorn--her heart bounded at the mere name of the great Comanche
-warrior; but the chief of my nation has only one heart, and it belongs
-to Sunbeam. Two days ago the warriors of my tribe set out for a great
-buffalo hunt, and the squaws alone remained in the village. While I
-slept in my hut four Apache thieves, taking advantage of my slumber,
-seized me and my child, and delivered us into the hands of Stanapat's
-daughter. 'You love your husband,' she said with a grin: 'you doubtless
-suffer at being separated from him. Be happy: I will send you to him by
-the shortest road. He is hunting on the prairies down the river, and in
-two hours you will be in his arms, unless,' she added with a laugh, 'the
-caymans stop you on the road.'--'The Comanche women despise death,' I
-answered her. 'For a hair you pluck from me, Unicorn will take the
-scalps of your whole tribe; so act as you think proper;' and I turned my
-head away, resolved to answer her no more. She herself fastened me to
-the log, with my face turned to the sky, in order, as she said, that I
-might see my road; and then she hurled me into the river, yelling:
-'Unicorn is a cowardly rabbit, whom the Apache women despise. This is
-how I revenge myself.' I have told my brother, the pale hunter,
-everything as it happened."
-
-"My sister is a brave woman," Valentine replied: "she is worthy to be
-the wife of a renowned chief."
-
-The young mother smiled as she embraced her child, which she presented,
-with a movement full of grace, to the hunter, who kissed it on the
-forehead. At this moment the song of the maukawis was heard at a short
-distance off. The two hunters raised their heads in surprise, and looked
-around them.
-
-"The quail sings very late, I fancy," Valentine muttered suspiciously.
-
-The Indian girl smiled as she looked down, but gave no answer. Suddenly
-a slight cracking of dry branches disturbed the silence. Valentine and
-Curumilla made a move, as if to spring up and seize their rifles that
-lay by their side.
-
-"My brothers must not stir," the squaw said quickly: "it is a friend."
-
-The hunters remained motionless, and the girl then imitated with rare
-perfection the cry of the blue jay. The bushes parted, and an Indian
-warrior, perfectly painted and armed for war, bounded like a jackal over
-the grass and herbs that obstructed his passage, and stopped in face of
-the hunters. This warrior was Unicorn. He saluted the two men with that
-grace innate in the Indian race; then he crossed his arms on his breast
-and waited, without taking a glance at his squaw, or even appearing to
-have seen her. On her side the Indian woman did not stir.
-
-During several moments a painful silence fell on the four persons whom
-chance had assembled in so strange a way. At length Valentine, seeing
-the warrior insisted on being silent, decided he would be the first to
-speak.
-
-"Unicorn is welcome to our camp," he said. "Let him take a seat by the
-fire of his brothers, and share with them the provisions they possess."
-
-"I will take a seat by the fire of my paleface brother," he replied;
-"but he must first answer me a question I wish to ask of him."
-
-"My brother can speak: my ears are open."
-
-"Good!" the chief answered. "How is it the hunters have with them
-Unicorn's wife?"
-
-"Sunbeam can answer that question best," Valentine said gravely.
-
-The chief turned to his squaw.
-
-"I am waiting," he remarked.
-
-The Indian woman repeated, word for word, to her husband the story she
-had told a few minutes before. Unicorn listened without evincing either
-surprise or wrath: his face remained impassive, but his brows were
-imperceptibly contracted. When the woman had finished speaking, the
-Comanche chief bowed his head on his chest, and remained for a moment
-plunged in serious thought. Presently he raised his head.
-
-"Who saved Sunbeam from the river when she was about to perish?" he
-asked her.
-
-The young woman's face lit up with a charming smile.
-
-"These hunters," she replied.
-
-"Good!" the chief said, laconically, as he bent on the two men glances
-full of the most unspeakable gratitude.
-
-"Could we leave her to perish?" Valentine said.
-
-"My brothers did well. Unicorn is one of the first sachems of his
-nation. His tongue is not forked: he gives his heart once, and takes it
-back no more. Unicorn's heart belongs to the hunters."
-
-These simple words were uttered with the majesty and grandeur the
-Indians know so well how to assume when they think proper. The two men
-vowed their gratitude, and the chief continued:--
-
-"Unicorn is returning to his village with his wife: his young men are
-awaiting him twenty paces from here. He would be happy if the hunters
-would consent to accompany him there."
-
-"Chief," Valentine answered, "we came into the prairie to hunt the
-buffalo."
-
-"Well, what matter? My brothers will hunt with me and my young men; but
-if they wish to prove to me that they accept my friendship, they will
-follow me to my village."
-
-"The chief is mounted, while we are on foot."
-
-"I have horses."
-
-Any further resistance would have been a breach of politeness, and the
-hunters accepted the invitation. Valentine, whom accident had brought on
-to the prairies of the Rio Gila and Del Norte, was in his heart not
-sorry to make friends there, and have allies on whose support he could
-reckon in case of need. The squaw had by this time risen: she timidly
-approached her husband, and held up the child, saying in a soft and
-frightened voice,--
-
-"Kiss this warrior."
-
-The chief took the frail creature in his muscular arms, and kissed it
-repeatedly with a display of extraordinary tenderness, and then returned
-it to the mother. The latter wrapped the babe in a small blanket, then
-placed it on a plank shaped like a cradle, and covered with dry moss,
-fastened a hoop over the place where its head rested, to guard it from
-the burning beams of the sun, and hung the whole on her back by means of
-a woolen strap passing over her forehead.
-
-"I am ready," she said.
-
-"Let us go," the chief replied.
-
-The hunters followed him, and they were soon on the prairie.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIX.
-
-THE ADOPTION.
-
-
-Some sixty Comanche warriors were lying in the grass awaiting their
-sachem, while the tethered horses were nibbling the tall prairie grasses
-and the tree shoots. It could be seen at the first glance that these men
-were picked warriors, selected for a dangerous expedition. From the
-heels of all dangled five or six wolf tails--marks of honor which only
-renowned warriors have the right to wear.
-
-On seeing their chief, they hurriedly rose and leaped into their
-saddles. All were aware that their sachem's wife had been carried off,
-and that the object of their expedition was to deliver her. Still, on
-noticing her, they evidenced no surprise, but saluted her as if she had
-left them only a few moments previously. The war party had with it
-several horses, which the chief ordered to be given to his squaw and his
-new friends; then, at a signal from him, the whole party started at full
-speed, for the Indians know no other pace than the gallop.
-
-After about two hours' ride they reached the vicinity of the village,
-which could be smelt some time before reaching, owing to the habit the
-Comanches have of placing their dead on scaffoldings outside the
-villages, where they moulder away: these scaffoldings, composed of four
-stakes planted in the ground, terminated in a fork, while from poles
-stuck up near them hung skins and other offerings made by the Indians to
-the genius of good.
-
-At the entrance of the village a number of horsemen were assembled,
-awaiting the return of the sachem. So soon as they perceived him they
-burst into a formidable yell, and rushed forward like a whirlwind,
-shouting, firing guns, and brandishing their weapons. Unicorn's band
-followed this example, and there was soon a most extraordinary
-confusion.
-
-The sachem made his entry into the village in the midst of shouts,
-barking of dogs, and shots; in short, he was accompanied to the square
-by an indescribable row. On reaching it the warriors stopped. Unicorn
-begged the hunters to dismount, and guided them to his cabin, which he
-made them enter before him.
-
-"Now," he said to them, "brothers, you are at home: rest in peace, eat
-and drink. This evening I will come and talk with you, and make you a
-proposal which I sincerely hope you will not reject."
-
-The two hunters, wearied by the long ride they had made, fell back with
-extreme satisfaction on the beds of dried leaves which awaited them.
-
-"Well," Valentine asked Curumilla, "penni, what do you say about what is
-happening to us?"
-
-"It may be good."
-
-"Can it not?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-On which Curumilla fell asleep, and Valentine soon followed his example.
-As he had promised, toward evening Unicorn entered the cabin.
-
-"Have my brothers rested?" he asked.
-
-"Yes," Valentine answered.
-
-"Are they disposed to listen to me?"
-
-"Speak, chief; we are listening."
-
-The Comanche sachem then squatted near the fire, and remained for
-several minutes, with his head bent forward and his eyes fixed on the
-ground, in the position of a man who is reflecting. At length he raised
-his head, stretched forth his arm as if to give greater authority to the
-words he was about to utter, and began thus:--
-
-"Brother, you and your friend are two brave warriors. The prairies
-rejoice at your arrival among us; the deer and the buffaloes fly at your
-approach; for your arm is strong, and your eye unerring. Unicorn is only
-a poor Indian; but he is a great warrior among the Comanches, and a much
-feared chief of his tribe. You have saved his wife, Sunbeam, whom the
-Apache dogs threw into the Gila, and whom the hideous alligators were
-preparing to devour. Since his wife, the joy of his hearth, and his son,
-the hope of his old days, have been restored to him, Unicorn has sought
-in his heart the means to prove to you his gratitude. He asked the Chief
-of Life what he could do to attach you to him. Unicorn is terrible in
-combat; he has the heart of the grizzly bear for his enemies--he has the
-heart of the gazelle for those he loves."
-
-"Chief," Valentine answered, "the words you utter at this moment amply
-repay us for what we have done. We are happy to have saved the wife and
-son of a celebrated warrior: our reward is in our hearts, and we wish
-for no other."
-
-The chief shook his head.
-
-"No," he said; "the two hunters are no longer strangers for the
-Comanches; they are the brothers of our tribe. During their sleep
-Unicorn assembled round the council fire the chiefs of his nation, and
-told them what has passed. The chiefs have ranged themselves on
-Unicorn's side, and have ordered him to make known to the hunters the
-resolution they have formed."
-
-"Speak, then, chief," Valentine said, "and believe that the wishes of
-the council will be commands to us."
-
-A smile of joy played round the chief's lips.
-
-"Good!" he said. "This is what was agreed on among the great chiefs. My
-brothers the hunters will be adopted by the tribe, and be henceforth
-sons of the great Comanche nation. What say my brothers?"
-
-A lively feeling of pleasure made Valentine quiver at this unexpected
-proposition. To be adopted by the Comanche tribe, was obtaining the
-right of hunting over the whole extent of the immense prairies which
-that powerful nation holds through its indomitable courage and the
-number of its warriors. The hunter exchanged a glance with his silent
-comrade and rose.
-
-"I accept for myself and friend," he said as he held out his hand to the
-chief, "the honor the Comanches do us in admitting us into the number of
-the sons of their warlike nation. We shall prove ourselves worthy of
-this marked favour."
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"Tomorrow," he said as he rose, "my brothers will be adopted by the
-nation."
-
-After bowing gracefully to the hunters he took leave of them and
-withdrew. The next daybreak the chiefs entered the cabin. Valentine and
-Curumilla were ready, and had long been acquainted with the trials they
-would have to undergo. The neophytes were conducted into the great
-medicine hut, where a copious meal was prepared. It consisted of dog
-meat boiled in bear fat, tortillas, maize, and hautle cakes. The chiefs
-squatted in a circle, while the squaws waited on them.
-
-When the meal was ended all rose. Unicorn placed himself between the
-hunters, laid his hands on their heads, and struck up the great war
-song. This song was repeated in chorus by the company to the sound of
-the war whistles, the drums and the _chikikouis._ The following is the
-translation of the song:--
-
-   "Master of Life, regard us with a favourable eye.
-   We are receiving two brothers in arms who appear to have sense.
-   They display vigour in their arms.
-   They fear not to expose their bodies to the blows of their enemies."
-
-It is impossible for anyone who has not been present at the ceremony to
-form even a distant idea of the frightful noise produced by their hoarse
-voices mingled with the shrill and discordant instruments: it was enough
-to produce a deafness. When the song was ended each took his seat by the
-council fire.
-
-The hunters were seated on beaver skins, and the great war calumet was
-presented to them, from which each took several puffs, and it went the
-round. Unicorn then rose, and fastened round the neck of each a wampum
-collar, and another made of the claws of the grizzly bear. The Indians,
-during this time, had built near the medicine lodge a cabin for the
-sweating, and when it was finished the hunters took off their clothes
-and entered it. The chiefs then brought two large stones which had been
-previously made red hot, and after closing the hut carefully, left the
-neophytes in it.
-
-The latter threw water on the stones, and the steam which arose almost
-immediately produced a profuse perspiration. When this was at its height
-the hunters ran out of the hut, passed through the double row of
-warriors, and leaped into the river, according to the usual fashion.
-They were immediately drawn from the water, wrapped in blankets, and led
-to Unicorn's hut, in order to undergo the final trial, which is also the
-most painful. The hunters were laid on their backs, then Unicorn traced
-on their chests with a sharp stick dipped in water in which gunpowder
-had been dissolved, the figure of the animal serving as _totem_
-(protector) to the tribe. Then with two spikes fastened to a small piece
-of wood, and dipped in vermillion, he proceeded to prick the design.
-
-Whenever Unicorn came to a place that was too hard he made an incision
-in the flesh with a gun-flint. The places that were not marked with
-vermillion were rubbed in with powder, so that the result was a red and
-blue tattooing. During the course of this operation the war songs and
-chikikouis were constantly heard, in order to drown the cries which the
-atrocious pain might draw from the patients; but the latter endured it
-all without even a contraction of the eyebrows evidencing the pain they
-must have felt.
-
-When the tattooing was over the wounds were cauterised with rotten wood
-to prevent suppuration; they were washed with cold water, in which had
-been infused a herb resembling box, a great deal of which the Indians
-mix with their tobacco to reduce the strength. The trial we have
-described is so painful to endure, that nearly always it is only
-accomplished at intervals, and often lasts a week. This time the hunters
-endured it bravely during the six hours it lasted, not uttering a cry,
-or giving a sign of weakness. Hence the Indians, from this moment,
-regarded them with a species of respect; for with them courage is the
-first of qualities.
-
-"My brothers are children of the tribe," the chief said, offering each a
-horse. "The prairie belongs to them. These coursers will bear them to
-the most remote limits of the desert, chasing the wild beasts, or
-pursuing the Apache dogs."
-
-"Good!" Valentine answered.
-
-At one bound the two hunters were in their saddles, and made their
-horses perform the most elegant and graceful curvets. This last and
-heroic deed, after all they had suffered during the course of the day,
-raised to their full height the joy and enthusiasm of the Comanches, who
-applauded with frenzied shouts and yells all they saw their new brothers
-execute. After remaining nearly an hour on horseback they dismounted,
-and followed the chiefs into the medicine lodge; and when each had taken
-his seat round the council fire, and the calumet had again been smoked,
-Unicorn rose.
-
-"The Master of Life loves His Comanche sons, since He gives them for
-brothers such warriors as Koutonepi and Curumilla. Who can equal their
-courage! Who would dare to contend with them! On their approach the
-grizzly bear hides at the extremity of its den; the jaguar bounds far
-away on seeing them; the eagle itself, which looks the sun in the face,
-flies from their unerring bullet. Brothers, we congratulate ourselves on
-counting you among our warriors. Henceforth we shall be invincible.
-Brothers, give up the names you have up to this day borne, and assume
-those we now give you. You, Koutonepi, are henceforth Quauhtli, and bear
-the name of that eagle, whose courage and strength you possess. You,
-Curumilla, will be called Vexolotl, and the cock will be proud to see
-that you have taken possession of its name."
-
-The two hunters warmly thanked their new brothers, and were led back by
-the chiefs to their cabin, who wished them a pleasant night after so
-rude a day. Such was the way in which Valentine and Curumilla, to whom
-we shall continue to give their old names, formed the acquaintance of
-Unicorn, and the result of it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE MISSIONARY.
-
-
-With time the relations existing between the hunters and the Indians
-were drawn closer, and became more friendly. In the desert physical
-strength is the quality most highly esteemed. Man, compelled to struggle
-incessantly against the dangers of every description that rise each
-moment before him, is bound to look only to himself for the means to
-surmount them. Hence the Indians profess a profound contempt, for sickly
-people, and weak and timid nerves.
-
-Valentine easily induced Unicorn to seize, during the hunt of the wild
-horses, the Mexican magistrates, in order to make hostages of them if
-the conspiracy were unsuccessful. What the hunter foresaw happened. Red
-Cedar had opposed stratagem to stratagem; and, as we have seen, Don
-Miguel was arrested in the midst of his triumph, at the very moment when
-he fancied himself master of the Paso del Norte.
-
-After Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo had seen, from their hiding
-place in the bushes, the mournful escort pass that was taking Don Miguel
-as a prisoner to Santa Fe, they held a council. Moments were precious;
-for in Mexico conspirators have the sad privilege over every other
-prisoner of being tried quickly, and not left to pine. The prisoner must
-be saved. Valentine, with that promptitude of decision which formed the
-salient point of his character, soon arranged in his head one of those
-bold schemes which only he could discover.
-
-"Courage!" he said to Don Pablo. "As long as the heart beats in the
-breast there is hope, thank Heaven! The first hand is lost, I allow; but
-now for the second game."
-
-Don Pablo had entire faith in Valentine: he had often been in the
-position to try his friend. If these words did not completely reassure
-him, they at least almost restored his hope, and gave him back that
-courage so necessary to him at this supreme moment, and which had
-abandoned him.
-
-"Speak, my friend," he said. "What is to be done?"
-
-"Let us attend to the most important thing first, and save Father
-Seraphin, who devoted himself for us."
-
-The three men started. The night was a gloomy one. The moon only
-appeared at intervals: incessantly veiled by thick clouds which passed
-over its disc, it seemed to shed its sickly rays regretfully on the
-earth. The wind whistled through the branches of the trees, which
-uttered mysterious murmurs as they came into collision. The coyotes
-howled in the plain, and at times their sinister form shot athwart the
-skyline. After a march of about an hour the three men approached the
-spot where the missionary had fallen from the effect of Red Cedar's
-bullet; but he had disappeared. An alarm mingled with a frightful agony
-contracted the hunter's hearts. Valentine took a despairing glance
-around; but the darkness was too dense for him possibly to distinguish
-anything.
-
-"What is to be done?" Don Pablo asked sadly.
-
-"Seek," Valentine replied sharply: "he cannot be far."
-
-Curumilla had already taken up the trail, and had disappeared in the
-gloom. The Araucano had never been a great speaker naturally: with age
-he had grown almost dumb, and never uttered a word save when absolutely
-necessary. But if the Indian did not talk, he acted; and in critical
-situations his determination was often worth long harangues. Don Pablo,
-obedient to Valentine's orders, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and
-prepared to execute them.
-
-"Where are you going?" the hunter asked him, as he seized his arm.
-
-"To look for Father Seraphin."
-
-"Wait."
-
-The two men stood motionless, listening to the mysterious sounds of the
-desert, that nameless melody which plunges the soul into a soft reverie.
-Nearly an hour passed thus, nothing revealing to the hunters that
-Curumilla's search had proved successful. Valentine, growing impatient
-at this long delay, was also preparing to go on, at once the weak,
-snapping cry of the walkon rose in the air.
-
-"What's that?" Don Pablo asked in surprise.
-
-"Silence!" Valentine muttered.
-
-A second time the walkon sang, but this time stronger, and much nearer.
-Valentine raised his fingers to his lips, and imitated the sharp, shrill
-yell of the ocelot twice, with such perfection that Don Pablo started
-involuntarily, and looked round for the wild beast, whose eyes he
-fancied he could see flashing behind a thicket. Almost immediately the
-note of the walkon was heard a third time. Valentine rested the butt of
-his rifle on the ground.
-
-"Good!" he said. "Do not be alarmed, Don Pablo. Curumilla has found
-Father Seraphin."
-
-The young man looked at him in amazement. The hunter smiled.
-
-"They will both arrive directly," he said.
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"Child!" Valentine interrupted him, "In the desert the human voice is
-more injurious than useful. The song of birds, the cry of wild beasts,
-serve us as a language."
-
-"Yes," the young man answered simply, "that is true. I have often heard
-it stated; but I was not aware you could understand one another so
-easily."
-
-"That is nothing," the hunter answered good-humouredly: "you will see
-much more if you only pass a month in our company."
-
-In a few moments the sound of footsteps became audible, at first faint,
-then gradually coming nearer, and two shadows were dimly drawn on the
-night.
-
-"Halloa!" Valentine shouted as he Raised and cocked his rifle, "friend
-or foe?"
-
-"_Pennis_ (brothers)," a voice answered.
-
-"It is Curumilla," said Valentine. "Let us go to meet him."
-
-Don Pablo followed him, and they soon reached the Indian, who walked
-slowly, obliged as he was to support, almost carry, the missionary.
-
-When Father Seraphin fell off his horse he almost immediately lost his
-senses. He remained for a long time lying in the ditch, but by degrees
-the night cold had brought him round again. At the first moment the poor
-priest, whose ideas were still confused, had cast anxious glances around
-him, while asking himself how he came there. He tried to rise; but then
-a poignant pain he felt in his shoulder reminded him of what had
-occurred. Still he did not despair. Alone, by night in the desert,
-exposed to a thousand unknown dangers, of which the least was being
-devoured by wild beasts, without weapons to defend himself, too weak,
-indeed, to attempt it, even if he had them, he resolved not to remain in
-this terrible position, but make the greatest efforts to rise, and drag
-himself as well as he could to the Paso, which was three leagues distant
-at the most, where he was sure of finding that care his condition
-demanded.
-
-Father Seraphin, like the majority of the missionaries who generously
-devote themselves to the welfare of humanity, was a man who, under a
-Weak and almost feminine appearance, concealed an indomitable energy,
-and a resolution that would withstand all trials. So soon as he had
-formed his plan he began carrying it out. With extreme difficulty and
-atrocious pain he succeeded in fastening his handkerchief round his
-shoulder, so as to check the hemorrhage. It took more than an hour
-before he could stand on his legs: often he felt himself fainting, a
-cold perspiration beaded at the root of his hair, he had a buzzing in
-his ears, and everything seemed to be turning round him; but he wrestled
-with the pain, clasped his hands with an effort, raised his tear laden
-eyes to heaven, and murmured from the bottom of his heart,--
-
-"O God! Deign to support thy servant, for he has set on thee all his
-hopes and confidence."
-
-Prayer, when made with faith, produces in a man an effect whose
-consequences are immediate; it consoles him, gives him courage, and
-almost restores him the strength that has deserted him. This was what
-happened to Father Seraphin. After uttering these few words he set out
-boldly, supporting his tottering footsteps with a stick, which a
-providential chance had placed in his way. He walked thus for nearly
-half a league stopping at every instant to draw breath; but human
-endurance has limits beyond which it cannot go. In spite of the efforts
-he made, the missionary at length felt his legs give way under, him; he
-understood that he could not go further; and he sank at the foot of a
-tree, certain that he had attempted impossibilities, and henceforth
-resigning to Providence the care of saving him.
-
-It was at this moment Curumilla arrived near him. The Indian aided him
-to rise, and then warned his comrades of the success of his search.
-Father Seraphin, though the chief offered to carry him, refused, and
-wished to walk to join his friends; but his strength deserted him a
-second time, he lost his senses, and fell into the arms of the Indian,
-who watched him attentively; for he noticed his increasing weakness, and
-foresaw his fall. Valentine and Curumilla hastily constructed a litter
-of tree branches, on which they laid the poor wounded man, and raising
-him on their shoulders, went off rapidly. The night passed away, and the
-sun was already high on the horizon, and yet the hunters--were marching.
-At length, at about eleven o'clock, they reached the cavern which served
-Valentine as a shelter, and to which he had resolved to carry his
-patient, that he might himself nurse him.
-
-Father Seraphin was in a raging fever; his face was red, his eyes
-flashing. As nearly always happens with gunshot wounds, a suppurating
-fever had declared itself. The missionary was laid on a bed of furs, and
-Valentine immediately prepared to probe the wound. By a singular chance
-the ball had lodged in the shoulder without fracturing the blade bone.
-Valentine drew it; and then helped by Curumilla, who had quietly pounded
-oregano leaves, he formed a cataplasm, which he laid on the wound, after
-first carefully washing it. Scarcely had this been done ere the
-missionary fell into a deep sleep, which lasted till nightfall.
-
-Valentine's treatment had effected wonders. The fever had disappeared,
-the priest's features were calmed, the flush that purpled his cheeks had
-given place to a pallor caused by the loss of blood; in short, he was as
-well as could be expected. On opening his eyes he perceived the three
-hunters watching him anxiously. He smiled, and said in a weak voice,--
-
-"Thanks, my brothers, thanks for the help you have afforded me. Heaven
-will reward you. I feel much better."
-
-"The Lord be praised!" Valentine answered. "You will escape, my father,
-more cheaply than I had dared to hope."
-
-"Can it be possible?"
-
-"Yes, your wound, though serious, is not dangerous, and in a few days
-you can, if you think necessary, resume your avocations."
-
-"I thank you for this new good, my dear Valentine. I no longer count the
-times I have owed my life to you. Heaven, in its infinite goodness, has
-placed you near me to support me in my tribulations, and succour me in
-days of danger."
-
-The hunter blushed.
-
-"Do not speak so, my father," he said; "I have only performed a sacred
-duty. Do you feel strong enough to talk for a few minutes with me?"
-
-"Yes. Speak, my friend."
-
-"I wished to ask your advice."
-
-"My talents are very slight: still you know how I love you, Valentine.
-Tell me what vexes you, and perhaps I may be able to be useful to you."
-
-"I believe it, my father."
-
-"Speak, then, in Heaven's name, my friend; for, if you have recourse to
-me, the affair must be very serious."
-
-"It cannot be more so."
-
-"Go on: I am listening."
-
-And the missionary settled himself on his bed to hear as comfortably as
-he could the confession the hunter wished to make to him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE INTERVIEW.
-
-
-At daybreak the next morning Curumilla started for Unicorn's village. At
-sunset he returned to the cavern, accompanied by the Comanche chief. The
-sachem entertained the most profound respect for Father Seraphin, whose
-noble character he could appreciate, and felt pained at the state in
-which he found him.
-
-"Father," he said to him as he kissed his hand. "Who are the villains
-who thus wounded you, to whom the Master of Life has imparted the secret
-to make us happy? Whoever they may be, these men shall die."
-
-"My son," the priest answered gently, "I will not pronounce before you
-the name of the unhappy man who, in a moment of madness, raised his hand
-against me. My God is a God of peace; He is merciful, and recommends His
-creatures to forget injuries, and requite good for evil."
-
-The Indian looked at him in amazement. He did not understand the soft
-and touching sublimity of these precepts of love. Educated in the
-sanguinary principles of his race--persuaded, like all redskins, that a
-warrior's first duty is revenge--he only admitted that atrocious law of
-the prairies which commands, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth"--a terrible
-law, which we do not venture, however, utterly to condemn in these
-countries, where ambushes are permanent, and implacable death stands at
-every corner of the road.
-
-"My son," Father Seraphin continued, "you are a great warrior. Many a
-time you have braved the atrocious tortures of the stake of blood, a
-thousand fold more terrible than death itself. Often have you, with a
-pleasure I excuse (for it is in your nature), thrown down your enemy,
-and planted your knee on his chest. Have you never pardoned anybody in
-fight?"
-
-"Never!" the Indian answered, his eye sparkling with satisfied pride.
-"Unicorn has sent many Apache dogs to the happy hunting grounds: their
-scalps are drying at the door of his cabin."
-
-"Well," the missionary said gently, "try clemency once, only once, and
-you will know one of the greatest pleasures God has granted to man on
-earth--that of pardoning."
-
-The chief shook his head.
-
-"No," he said; "a dead enemy is no longer to be feared. Better to kill
-than leave him means to avenge himself at a later date."
-
-"My son, you love me, I believe?"
-
-"Yes. My father is good; he has behaved well to the Comanches, and they
-are grateful. Let my father command, and his son will obey."
-
-"I have no right to give you an order, my son. I can only ask a favour of
-you."
-
-"Good! My father can explain himself. Unicorn will do what he desires."
-
-"Well, then," said the missionary with a lively feeling of joy, "promise
-me to pardon the first unhappy man, whoever he may be, who falls into;
-your hands, and you will render me happy."
-
-The chief frowned, and an expression of dissatisfaction appeared on his
-features. Father Seraphin anxiously followed on the Comanche's
-intelligent countenance the different shadows reflected on it as in a
-mirror. At length the Indian regained his stoicism, and his face grew
-serene again.
-
-"Does my father demand it?" he asked in a gentle voice.
-
-"I desire it."
-
-"Be it so: my father shall be satisfied. I promise him to pardon the
-first enemy whom the Manitou causes to fall beneath the point of my
-lance."
-
-"Thanks, chief," the missionary exclaimed joyfully, "thanks! Heaven will
-reward you for this good idea."
-
-The Indian bowed silently and turned to Valentine, who had been
-listening to the conversation.
-
-"My brother called me, and I came. What does he want of Unicorn?"
-
-"My brother will take his seat at the council fire, and smoke the
-calumet with his friend. Chiefs do not speak without reflecting on the
-words they are about to utter."
-
-"My brother speaks well, and I will take my seat at his fire."
-
-Curumilla had lighted a large fire in the first grotto of the cavern.
-The four men left Father Seraphin to take a few moments' rest, and
-seated themselves round the fire, when the calumet passed from hand to
-hand. The Indians never undertake anything important, or commence a
-discussion, without first smoking the calumet in council, whatever may
-be the circumstances in which they are placed. When the calumet had gone
-the round Valentine rose.
-
-"Every day," he said, bowing to the chief, "I appreciate more and more
-the honor the Comanches did me in adopting me as a son. My brother's
-nation is powerful; its hunting grounds cover the whole surface of the
-earth. The Apaches fly before the Comanche warriors like cowardly
-coyotes before courageous men. My brother has already several times done
-me a service with that greatness of soul which distinguishes him, and
-can only belong to a warrior so celebrated as he is. Today I have again
-a service to ask of my brother, and will he do it me? I presume so; for
-I know his heart, and that the Great Spirit of the Master of Life dwells
-in him."
-
-"Let my brother explain," Unicorn answered. "He is speaking to a chief;
-he must remove the skin from his heart and let his blood flow red and
-bright before a friend. The great white hunter is a portion of myself. I
-should have to be prevented by an arrant impossibility if I refused any
-request emanating from him."
-
-"Thanks, brother," Valentine said with emotion. "Your words have passed
-from your lips into my breast, which they have rejoiced. I am not
-mistaken. I see that I can ever count on your well-tried friendship and
-honest aid. Acumapicthzin de Zarate, the descendant of the Mexican
-kings, the friend of the redskins, whom he has ever protected, is a
-prisoner to the gachupinos. They have carried him to Santa Fe in order
-to put him to death, and deprive the Indians of the last friend left
-them."
-
-"And what does my brother want?"
-
-"I wish to save my friend."
-
-"Good!" the chief answered. "My brother claims my help to succeed in
-that project, I suppose?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! The descendant of the Tlatoanis shall be saved. My brother can
-feel reassured."
-
-"I can count, then, on my brother's aid?" Valentine asked quickly.
-
-The chief smiled.
-
-"Unicorn holds in his hands Spaniards who will answer for the life of
-the prisoner."
-
-"That is true!" Valentine exclaimed as he struck his forehead. "Your
-idea is a good one, chief."
-
-"My brother will leave me to act. I answer for success on my head."
-
-"_Caramba!_ Act as you please, chief. Still, were it only form's sake, I
-should not be sorry to know what you intend doing."
-
-"My brother has a white skin, but his heart is Indian. Let him trust to
-the prudence of a chief; Unicorn knows how to treat with the
-gachupinos."
-
-"Doubtless."
-
-"Unicorn will go to Santa Fe to speak with the chief of the white men."
-
-Valentine looked at him in amazement. The chief smiled.
-
-"Have I not hostages?" he said.
-
-"That is true," Valentine remarked.
-
-The chief went on:--
-
-"The Spaniards are like chattering old women, prodigal of seductive
-words, but Unicorn knows them. How many times already has he trodden the
-warpath on their territory at the head of his warriors! They will not
-dare to deceive him. Ere the sun has twice accomplished its revolution
-round the tortoise whose immense shell supports the world, the chief of
-the Comanches will carry the bloody arrows to the whites, and propose to
-them peace or war. Is my brother satisfied?"
-
-"I am. My heart is full of gratitude toward my red brother."
-
-"Good! What is that to Unicorn? Less than nothing. Has my brother
-anything else to ask of me?"
-
-"One thing more."
-
-"Let my brother explain himself as quickly as possible, that no cloud
-may remain between him and his red brother."
-
-"I will do so. Men without fear of the Great Spirit, urged by some mad
-desire, have carried off Doña Clara, the daughter of the white chief
-whom my brother pledged to save."
-
-"Who are these? Does my brother know them?"
-
-"Yes, I know them only too well. They are bandits, at the head of whom
-is a monster with a human face, called Red Cedar."
-
-At this name the Indian started slightly, his eye flashed fire, and a
-deep wrinkle hollowed his forehead.
-
-"Red Cedar is a ferocious jaguar," he said with concentrated passion.
-"He has made himself the scourge of the Indians, whose scalps he
-desires. This man has no pity either for women or children, but he
-possesses no courage: he only attacks his enemies in the dark, twenty
-against one, and when he is sure of meeting with no resistance."
-
-"My brother knows this man, I see."
-
-"And this man has carried off the white gazelle?'
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! My brother wishes to know what Red Cedar has done with his
-prisoner?"
-
-"I do wish it."
-
-The Indian rose.
-
-"Time is slipping away," he said. "Unicorn will return to his friends.
-My brother the hunter need not feel alarmed: a chief is watching."
-
-After uttering these few words the chief went down into the cavern,
-mounted his horse, and disappeared in direction of the desert. Valentine
-had every reason to be satisfied with his interview with the Comanche
-chief; but Father Seraphin was less pleased than the hunter. The worthy
-priest, both through his nature and his vocation, was not disposed to
-employ violent measures, which were repugnant to him: he would have
-liked, were it possible, to settle everything by gentleness, and without
-running the risk of bloodshed.
-
-Three weeks elapsed, however, ere Unicorn appeared to be effectually
-carrying out the plan he had explained to Valentine, who only learnt
-indirectly that a strong party of Comanche warriors had invaded the
-Mexican frontiers. Father Seraphin, though not yet completely cured, had
-insisted on proceeding to Santa Fe to take some steps to save Don
-Miguel, whose trial had gone on rapidly, who was on the point of being
-executed. For his part Don Pablo, half mad with uneasiness, also
-insisted, in spite of Valentine's entreaties and remarks, on entering
-Santa Fe furtively, and trying to see his father.
-
-The night on which we found Valentine in the clearing Unicorn visited
-him for the first time in a month: he came to inform him of the success
-of the measures he had taken. Valentine, used to Indian habits,
-understood half a word: hence he had not hesitated to announce to Don
-Pablo as a positive fact that his father would soon be free.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE PRISON.
-
-
-Don Miguel had been transferred to the prison of Santa Fe. Europeans,
-accustomed to philanthropic manners, and regarding human life as of some
-value, cannot imagine what atrocities the word "prison" contains in
-Mexico. In countries beyond sea the penitentiary system is not even in
-its infancy; for it is completely ignored, and has not even been
-suggested yet. With the exception of the United States, prisons are in
-America what they were at the period of the Spanish dominion; that is to
-say, filthy dens, where the wretched prisoners suffer a thousand
-tortures.
-
-Among ourselves, so long as a man is not proved guilty, he is assumed to
-be innocent; but over there, so soon as a man is arrested, he is
-considered guilty, and consequently every consideration and all pity
-vanish, to make room for brutal and barbarous treatment. Thrown on a
-little straw in fetid holes, often inhabited by serpents and other
-unclean animals, the prisoners have more than once been found dead at
-the expiration of twenty-four hours, and half devoured. We have
-witnessed scores of times atrocious tortures inflicted by coarse and
-cruel soldiers on poor fellows whose crimes, in our country, would have
-merited a slight chastisement at the most. Still, in the great centres
-of populations, the prisons are better managed than in the towns and
-villages; and in this land, where money is the most powerful lever, a
-rich man easily succeeds in obtaining all he wishes, and rendering his
-position at any rate tolerable.
-
-Don Miguel and General Ibañez had managed to be confined together by the
-expenditure of many entreaties and a heavy sum of gold. They inhabited
-two wretched rooms, the entire furniture of which consisted in a halting
-table, a few leather covered butacas, and two benches which served them
-as beds. These two men, so powerful by nature, had endured without
-complaint all the humiliation and insults inflicted on them during their
-trial, resolved to die as they had lived, with head erect and firm
-heart, without giving the judges who had condemned them the satisfaction
-of seeing them turn weak at the last moment.
-
-It was toward evening of the same day on which we saw Valentine in the
-clearing. Darkness fell rapidly, and the only window, a species of
-narrow slit that served to light the prison, allowed but a weak and
-dubious light to penetrate. Don Miguel was walking with long strides up
-and down his prison, while the general, carelessly reclining on one of
-the benches, quietly smoking his cigarette, watching with childish
-pleasure the light clouds of bluish smoke which rose in a spiral to the
-ceiling, and which he constantly blew asunder.
-
-"Well," Don Miguel said all at once, "it seems it is not for today
-either."
-
-"Yes," the general said, "unless (though I do not believe it) they wish
-to do us the honor of a torchlight execution."
-
-"Can you at all account for this delay?"
-
-"On my honor, no. I have ransacked my brains in vain to guess the reason
-that prevents them shooting us, and I have given it up as a bad job."
-
-"Same with me. At first I fancied they were trying to frighten us by the
-continued apprehension of death constantly suspended over our heads like
-another sword of Damocles; but this idea seemed to me too absurd."
-
-"I am entirely of your opinion: still something extraordinary must be
-occurring."
-
-"What makes you suppose that?"
-
-"Why, for the last two days our worthy jailer, Tio Quesada, has become,
-not polite to us--for that is impossible--but less brutal. I noticed
-that he has drawn in his claws, and attempted a grin. It is true that
-his face is so little accustomed to assume that expression, that the
-only result he obtains is to make a wretched grimace."
-
-"And you conclude from that?"
-
-"Nothing positive," the general said. "Still I ask myself whence comes
-this incomprehensible change. It would be as absurd to attribute it to
-the pity he feels for our position as to suppose the governor will come
-to ask our pardon for having tried and condemned us."
-
-"Eh?" Don Miguel said with a toss of his head. "All is not over--we are
-not dead yet."
-
-"That is true; but keep your mind at rest--we shall be so soon."
-
-"Our life is in God's hands. He will dispose of it at His pleasure."
-
-"Amen!" the general said with a laugh, as he rolled a fresh cigarette.
-
-"Do you not consider it extraordinary that, during the whole month we
-have been here, our friends have not given a sign of life?"
-
-The general shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
-
-"Hum!" he said, "a prisoner is very sick, and our friends doubtless
-feared to make us worse by the sight of their grief: that is why they
-have deprived themselves of the pleasure of visiting us."
-
-"Do not jest, general. You accuse them wrongfully, I feel convinced."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! For my part, I heartily forgive them their
-indifference, and the oblivion in which; they have left us."
-
-"I cannot believe that Don Valentine, that true-hearted and noble-minded
-man, for whom I ever felt so deep a friendship, has not tried to see
-me."
-
-"Bah! How, Don Miguel, can you, so near death as you are, still believe
-in honourable feelings in any man?"
-
-At this moment there was a great clash of iron outside, and the door of
-the room was opened sufficiently to afford passage to the jailer, who
-preceded another person. The almost complete obscurity that prevailed in
-the prison prevented the condemned men from recognising the visitor, who
-wore a long black gown.
-
-"Eh, eh!" the general muttered in his comrade's ear, "I believe that
-General Ventura, our amiable governor, has at length made up his mind."
-
-"Why so?" Don Miguel asked in a low voice.
-
-"_Canarios!_ he has sent us a priest, which means that we shall be
-executed tomorrow."
-
-"On my word, all the better," Don Miguel could not refrain from saying.
-
-In the meanwhile the jailer, a short, thick-set man, with a ferret face
-and cunning eye, had turned to the priest, whom he invited to enter,
-saying in a hoarse voice,--
-
-"Here it is, señor padre: these are the condemned persons."
-
-"Will you leave us alone, my friend?" the stranger said.
-
-"Will you have my lantern? It is getting dark, and when people are
-talking they like to see one another."
-
-"Thanks; you can do so. You will open when I call you by tapping at the
-door."
-
-"All right--I will do so;" and he turned to the condemned, to whom he
-said savagely, "Well, señores, here is a priest. Take advantage of his
-services now you have got him. In your position there is no knowing what
-may happen from one moment to the other."
-
-The prisoners shrugged their shoulder's contemptuously, but made no
-reply. The jailer went out. When the sound of his footsteps had died
-away in the distance, the priest, who had till this moment stood with
-his body bent forward and his ear on the watch, drew himself up, and
-walked straight to Don Miguel. This manoeuvre on the part of the
-stranger surprised the two gentlemen, who anxiously awaited what was
-about to happen. The lantern left by the jailer only spread a faint and
-flickering light, scarcely sufficient to distinguish objects.
-
-"My father," the hacendero said in a firm voice, "I thank the person
-who sent you to prepare me for death, for I anxiously wished to fulfil
-my duties as a Christian before being executed. If you will proceed with
-me into the adjoining room I will confess my sins to you: they are those
-which an honest man ordinarily commits; for my heart is pure, and I have
-nothing to reproach myself with."
-
-The priest took off his hat, seized the lantern, and placed it near his
-pale face, whose noble and gentle features were suddenly displayed in
-the light.
-
-"Father Seraphin!" the prisoners exclaimed with a surprise mingled with
-joy.
-
-"Silence!" the priest ordered quickly. "Do not pronounce my name so
-loudly, brothers: everyone is ignorant of my being here except the
-jailer, who is my confidant."
-
-"He!" Don Miguel said with a stupor; "the man who has been insulting and
-humiliating us during a month!"
-
-"That man is henceforth ours. Lose no time, come. I have secure means to
-get you out of prison, and to leave the town ere your evasion can be
-even suspected: the horses are prepared--an escort is awaiting you.
-Come, gentlemen, for the moments are precious."
-
-The two prisoners interchanged a glance of sublime eloquence; then
-General Ibañez quietly seated himself on a butaca, while Don Miguel
-replied,--
-
-"Thanks, my father. You have undertaken the noble task of soothing all
-sorrow, and you do not wish to fail in your duty. Thanks for the offer
-you make us, which we cannot, however, accept. Men like us must not give
-our enemies right by flying like criminals. We fought for a sacred
-principle, and succumbed. We owe it to our countrymen and to ourselves
-to endure death bravely. When we conspired we were perfectly well aware
-of what awaited us if we were conquered. Once again, thanks; but we will
-only quit this prison as free men, or to walk to punishment."
-
-"I have not the courage, gentlemen, to blame your heroic resolution: in
-a similar case I should act as you are doing. You have a very slight
-hope still left, so wait. Perchance, within a few hours, unforeseen
-events will occur to change the face of matters."
-
-"We hope for nothing more, my father."
-
-"That word is a blasphemy in your mouth, Don Miguel. God can do all He
-wills. Hope, I tell you."
-
-"I am wrong, father: forgive me."
-
-"Now I am ready to hear your confession."
-
-The prisoners bowed. Father Seraphin shrived them in turn, and gave them
-absolution.
-
-"Hola!" the jailer shouted through the door. "Make haste; it is getting
-late. It will soon be impossible to leave the city."
-
-"Open the door," the missionary said in a firm voice.
-
-The jailer appeared.
-
-"Well?" he asked.
-
-"Light me and lead me out of the prison. These caballeros refuse to
-profit by the chance of safety I came to offer them."
-
-The jailer shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"They are mad," he said.
-
-And he went out, followed by the priest, who turned on the threshold and
-pointed to heaven. The prisoners remained alone.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE EMBASSY.
-
-
-On the selfsame day that Father Seraphin went to the prison to propose
-an escape to the condemned, a very strange circumstance had aroused the
-entire population of Santa Fe. At about midday, at the moment when the
-inhabitants were enjoying their siesta, and the streets, calcined by the
-beams of a tropical sun, were completely deserted, a formidable whoop,
-the terrible war yell of the Comanche Indians, burst forth at the
-entrance of the town.
-
-There was a general alarm, and everybody barricaded himself in his
-house, believing in a sudden assault of the savages. Presently an
-immense clamour, and cries of distress and despair uttered by a
-terrified population, could be heard throughout the town. Several times
-already the Comanches, in their periodical incursions, had come near
-Santa Fe, but never so closely as this time; and the remembrance of the
-cruelties they had practised on the hapless Spaniards who fell into
-their hands was still present to every mind.
-
-In the meanwhile a few inhabitants, bolder than the rest, or having
-nothing to lose, proceeded with the greatest precautions toward the spot
-whence the shouts were heard; and a singular spectacle presented itself.
-A detachment of dismounted Comanche warriors, about two hundred strong,
-was marching in close column, flanked on either wing by two troops, each
-of fifty horses. About twenty paces in front caracoled Unicorn.
-
-All these men had a martial aspect which was really remarkable: all were
-strangely painted, well adorned, and in their full war costume. The
-horsemen were loaded with all sorts of arms and ornaments: they had a
-bow and quiver on their backs, their guns slung and decorated with their
-medicine bags, and their lances in their hands. They were crowned with
-magnificent black and white eagle feathers, with a falling tuft. The
-upper part of the body, otherwise naked, was covered by a coyote skin
-rolled up and worn across the shoulder; their bucklers were ornamented
-with feathers, cloth of different colours, and human scalps. They were
-seated on handsome saddlecloth of panthers' skins, lined with red, which
-almost covered the horses' backs. According to the prairie fashion, they
-had no stirrups.
-
-Unicorn brandished in his right hand the long medicine lance, the
-distinctive mark of the powerful "dance of the prairie dogs." It was a
-staff in the shape of a crook, covered with an otter skin, and decorated
-through its entire length with owl feathers. This talisman, which he had
-inherited, possessed the power of bringing under his orders all the
-warriors of his nation scattered over the prairies: hence on all grand
-occasions he never failed to carry it. He wore a shirt made of the skin
-of the bighorn, embroidered on the sleeves with blue flowers, and
-adorned on the right arm with long stripes of rolled ermine and red
-feathers, and on the left arm with long tresses of black hair cut from
-the scalps he had raised. Over his shoulders he had thrown a cloak of
-gazelle skin, having at each end an enormous tuft of ermine. On his
-forehead the chief had fastened two buffalo horns, which with the blue,
-red, and green paint plastered on his face, gave him a terrible aspect.
-His magnificent horse, a mustang full of fire, which he managed with
-inimitable grace and skill, was painted red in different fashions: on
-its legs were stripes like a zebra, and on either side the backbone were
-designed arrowhead, lances, beavers, tortoises, &c. The same was the
-case with the face and the haunches.
-
-There was something at once imposing and striking in the appearance
-presented by this band of ferocious warriors as they advanced though the
-deserted streets of the city, brandishing their tremendous weapons, and
-uttering at intervals their sinister war cry, which they accompanied by
-the shrill sound of long whistles made of human thigh bones, which they
-wore suspended by strips of wild beast hide.
-
-By this time the Comanches had penetrated to the heart of the city,
-driving before them, though without violence, the few inhabitants who
-had ventured to get in their way. They marched in good order, not
-turning to the right or left to plunder, and doing no reprehensive
-action.
-
-The Spaniards, more and more surprised at the haughty and bold attitude
-of the Indians, and their exemplary conduct, asked themselves with
-terror what these men wanted, and what reason had led them to invade
-their frontiers in so sudden and secret a way, that the scouts the
-Mexican Government pays to watch them had no knowledge of their march.
-As usually happens in such cases, terror gradually gave way to
-curiosity. In the first place the leperos and adventurers dared to
-approach the Indians; then the inhabitants, if not completely
-tranquilised, still reassured by their peaceful attitude, mingled with
-the groups; so that when the Comanche war party arrived on the Plaza
-Mayor; it was followed by a crowd of Spaniards, who regarded them with
-the restless and stupid curiosity only to be found among the masses.
-
-The Comanches did not appear to notice the excitement they created. As
-soon as they were on the Plaza Mayor they halted, and remained
-motionless, as if their feet had suddenly grown to the ground. Unicorn
-made a sign with his talisman; a warrior quitted the ranks, and rode up
-to the sentry standing in front of the governor's palace, who regarded
-the singular scene with a dazed air.
-
-"Wah!" the Indian said sarcastically, as he lightly touched the soldier
-with the end of his lance. "Is my brother asleep, that he does not hear
-a warrior addressing him?"
-
-"I am not asleep," the soldier answered, as he fell back a pace. "What
-do you want?"
-
-"The great sachem of the Comanches, the cacique whom the red children
-call Haboutzelze, has come to speak to his great white father, the chief
-of the frontier palefaces."
-
-"What does he want with him?" the soldier asked, not knowing what he
-said, so much had the unexpected sight of the redskin disturbed him.
-
-"Is my brother a chief?" the Indian asked cunningly.
-
-"No," the soldier answered, greatly confused by this lesson.
-
-"Well, then, let him close his ears as regards those the Great Spirit
-has set above him, and deliver the message I give him in the sachem's
-name."
-
-While the Comanche was exchanging these few words with the sentry,
-several persons, drawn out of the palace by the unusual disturbance they
-heard, mingled with the crowd. Among them were several officers, one of
-whom advanced to the Indian horseman.
-
-"What does my brother want?" he asked him.
-
-The warrior saw at the first glance that this time he had to do with a
-chief. He bowed courteously, and answered.
-
-"A deputation of the great Comanche nation desires to be introduced to
-my great white father."
-
-"Good! But all the warriors cannot enter the palace," the officer said.
-
-"My brother is right. Their chiefs alone will go in: their young men
-will await them here."
-
-"Let my brother be patient. I will go and deliver his message in all
-haste."
-
-"Good! My brother is a chief. The Spider will await him."
-
-The officer disappeared in the interior, while the Spider planted the
-end of his long lance in the ground, and remained with his eye fixed on
-the gate of the palace, not evincing the slightest impatience.
-
-The new governor of Santa Fe was a general of the name of Don Benito
-Ventura. He was ignorant as a fish, stupid and haughty as a heathcock.
-Like the majority of his colleagues in this eccentric country, he had
-gained his general's epaulettes by repeated pronunciamentos, managing
-to gain a step by every revolution, while never having seen more fire
-than that of the thin husk _pajillo_ he constantly had in his mouth. To
-sum him up, he was very rich, a wonderful coward, and more afraid of
-blows than aught else in the world. Such he was morally: physically he
-was a plump little man, round as a barrel, with a rubicund face, lighted
-up by two small grey eyes.
-
-This worthy officer perspired water and blood when the duties of his
-station obliged him to put on the uniform, every seam of which was
-overlaid with gold lace: his chest literally disappeared under the
-infinity of crosses of every description with which each president had
-honoured him on attaining power. In a word, General Ventura was a worthy
-man, as fit to be a soldier as he was to be a cardinal; and he had only
-one object, that of being President of the Republic in his turn; but
-this object he ever pursued without Once swerving from his path.
-
-If he accepted the governorship of New Mexico, it was for the simple
-reason that, as Santa Fe was a long distance from Mexico, he had
-calculated that it would be easy for him to make a _pronunciamento_ in
-his own favour, and become, _ipso facto_, president. He was not aware, on
-coming to Santa Fe, that the province he was about to govern was
-incessantly menaced by Indian forays. Had he known it, however
-advantageous the post of governor might, be for his schemes, he would
-have refused point blank so perilous an honour.
-
-He had learned with the utmost terror the entrance of the Comanches into
-the town, and when the officer intrusted with the Spider's message
-presented himself before him he had literally lost his head. It took all
-possible trouble to make him comprehend that the Indians came as
-friends, that they merely wished to have a palaver with him, and that
-since their coming their conduct had been most honourable and exemplary.
-Fortunately for the Spanish honour, other officers entered the apartment
-in which was the governor, attracted to the palace by the news, which
-had spread with the speed of a train of powder through Santa Fe, of the
-appearance of an Indian detachment.
-
-When the general saw himself surrounded and supported by the officers of
-his staff his terror was slightly toned down, he regained his presence
-of mind and it was with a calm and almost dignified demeanor that he
-discussed the question whether it was proper to receive the Indian
-deputation, and in what manner it should be done. The other officers,
-who, in the course of their professional career, had had many a skirmish
-with the redskins, felt no inclination to anger them. They produced in
-support of their opinions such peremptory reasons, that General Ventura,
-convinced by their arguments gave the officer who brought the message
-orders to bring the three principal Indian chiefs into the palace.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE PRESENTATION.
-
-
-It needed the thorough knowledge the Comanches possessed of the terror
-they inspired the Mexicans with to have dared to enter in so small a
-body a town like Santa Fe, where they might expect to find a
-considerable garrison.
-
-The general officer sent by General Ventura had performed his duty.
-Unicorn and two other chiefs dismounted, and followed him into the
-palace; while the Indian warriors, in spite of the heat of the sunbeams
-that played on their heads, remained motionless on the spot where their
-caciques bade them wait.
-
-The general desired, by a certain display of strength, to impose on the
-redskin deputies; but unfortunately, as is always the case in Mexico,
-the garrison, which on paper represented eight hundred men, was in
-reality only composed of sixty at the most--a very small number for a
-frontier town, especially under the present circumstances. But if
-soldiers were lacking, to make up for it there was no paucity of
-officers; for about thirty were assembled at the palace, which allowed
-one officer to every two privates. This detail, which might appear
-exaggerated, is, however, strictly correct, and shows in what a state of
-anarchy this hapless country is plunged. The thirty officers, attired in
-their splendid uniforms, that glistened with gold and decorations, were
-arranged round the general, while three posts of ten men each held the
-doors of the halls of reception.
-
-When the preparations were completed the ambassadors were introduced.
-The Indian chiefs, accustomed for a long period to Spanish luxury,
-entered without testifying the slightest surprise. They bowed with
-dignity to the assembly, and, crossing their arms on their chests,
-waited till they were addressed. The general regarded them with an
-astonishment pardonable enough, for this was the first time he had found
-himself in the presence of these untamable redskins, whose terrible
-renown had so often made him shudder.
-
-"What reason can have been so powerful as to oblige my sons to come and
-see me?" he asked in a gracious and conciliating tone. "Let them make
-their request, and, if I can do so, I shall be most ready to satisfy
-it."
-
-This opening, which the governor fancied to be very politic, was, on the
-contrary, most awkward, as it offended the pride of those he addressed,
-and whom he had the greatest interest in humouring. Unicorn took a step
-forward. A sarcastic smile played on his lips, and he replied in a voice
-slightly tinged with irony,--
-
-"I have heard a parrot speak. Are the words addressed to me?"
-
-The general blushed up to the eyes at this insult, which he did not dare
-retaliate.
-
-"The chief has not understood my words," he said. "My intentions are
-good, and I only wish to be agreeable to him."
-
-"The Comanches do not come here to ask a favour," Unicorn answered,
-haughtily. "They know how to avenge themselves when insulted."
-
-"What do my sons want then?"
-
-"To treat with my father for the ransom of the white chiefs who are in
-their power. Five palefaces inhabit the cabin of the Comanches. The
-young men of the tribe demand their punishment, for the blood of the
-palefaces is agreeable to the Master of Life. Tomorrow the prisoners
-will have ceased to live if my father does not buy them off today."
-
-After these words, uttered in a firm and peremptory tone, there was a
-moment of supreme silence. The Mexican officers reflected sadly on the
-fearful fate that threatened their friends. Unicorn continued:--
-
-"What does my father say? Shall we fasten our prisoners to the stake of
-blood, or restore them to liberty?"
-
-"What ransom do you ask?" the general said.
-
-"Listen, all you chiefs of the palefaces here present, and judge of the
-clemency and generosity of the Comanches. We only, wish, for the life of
-these five men, the life of two men."
-
-"That is little, I allow," the general remarked; "and who are the two
-men whose lives you ask?"
-
-"The palefaces call them, the first, Don Miguel Zarate; the second,
-General Ibañez."
-
-The general started.
-
-"These two men cannot be delivered to you," he answered; "they are
-condemned to death, and will die tomorrow."
-
-"Good! My prisoners will be tortured this night," the chief replied
-stoically.
-
-"Confound it!" the general sharply exclaimed, "Is there no other
-arrangement possible? Let my brothers ask me a thing I can grant them,
-and--"
-
-"I want those two men," the chief quickly interrupted. "If not, my
-warriors will themselves deliver them; and in that case the Comanche
-chiefs cannot prevent the injury their warriors may commit in the town."
-
-One of the officers present at this interview was aroused by the tone
-Unicorn had affected since the beginning of the audience. He was a brave
-old soldier, and the cowardice of his comrades shamed him. He rose at
-this point.
-
-"Chief," he said in a firm voice, "your words are very haughty and
-foolish for the mouth of an ambassador. You are here, at the head of
-scarce two hundred warriors, in the heart of a town peopled by brave
-men. Despite all my desire to be agreeable to you, if you do not pay
-greater respect to your audience, prompt and severe justice shall be
-inflicted on your insolence."
-
-The Indian chief turned toward the new speaker, whose remarks had
-aroused a sympathetic murmur.
-
-"My words are those of a man who fears nothing, and holds in his hands
-the life of five men."
-
-"Well," the officer retorted sharply, "what do we care for them? If they
-were such fools as to let you capture them, they must suffer the
-consequences of their madness; we cannot pay for them. Besides, as you
-have already been told, those you claim must die."
-
-"Good! We will retire," Unicorn said haughtily. "Longer discourse is
-needless; our deeds shall speak for us."
-
-"A moment!" the general exclaimed. "All may yet be arranged. An affair
-like the present cannot be settled all in a hurry; we must reflect on
-the propositions made to us. My son is a chief, and will grant us
-reasonable time to offer him a reply."
-
-Unicorn bent a suspicious glance on the governor.
-
-"My father has spoken wisely," he presently made answer. "Tomorrow at
-the twelfth hour, I will come for the final answer of the palefaces. But
-my father will promise me not to order the punishment of the prisoners
-till he has told me the decision he has come to."
-
-"Be it so," the general answered. "But what will the Comanches do till,
-then?"
-
-"They will leave the town as they entered it, and bivouac on the plain."
-
-"Agreed on."
-
-"The Master of Life has heard my father's promise. If he break his word
-and possess a forked tongue, the blood shed will fall on his head."
-
-The Comanche uttered these words in a significant tone that made the
-general tremble inwardly; then he bowed to the assembly, and left the
-hall with his companions. On reaching the square the chiefs remounted
-their horses and placed themselves at the head of their warriors. An
-hour later the Comanches had left the town, and camped within two
-gunshots of the walls, on the banks of the river. It was after this
-interview that Unicorn had the conversation with Valentine which we
-recently described.
-
-Still, when the Mexican officers were alone with the general, their
-courage returned all at once, and they reproached him for the little
-dignity he had displayed before the Indians, and specially for the
-promise he had made them. The general listened to them calmly, with a
-smile on his lips, and contented himself with answering them, in a tone,
-of indescribable meaning,--
-
-"The promise you allude to pledges me to nothing. Between this and
-tomorrow certain things will happen to free us from the Comanches, and
-let us dispense with surrendering the prisoners they demand so
-insolently."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-PSYCHOLOGICAL.
-
-
-About half a league to the west of Santa Fe three men and a woman were
-seated behind a dense clump of trees, which sheltered while rendering
-them unseen, over a _bois-de-vache_ fire, supping with good appetite,
-and chatting together. The three men were Red Cedar's sons; the female
-was Ellen. The maiden was pale and sad: her dreamy eye wandered around
-with a distraught expression. She listened hardly to what her brothers
-said, and would certainly have been greatly embarrassed to describe the
-conversation, for her mind was elsewhere.
-
-"Hum!" Sutter said, "what the deuce can keep the old one so long? He
-told us he should be back by four o'clock at the latest; but the sun is
-just disappearing on the horizon, and he has not come yet."
-
-"Pshaw!" Nathan said with a shrug of the shoulders. "Are you afraid that
-something has happened to him? The old chap has beak and nails to defend
-himself; and since his last turn up with Don Miguel, the fellow who is
-to be shot tomorrow at Santa Fe, he has kept on his guard."
-
-"I care very little," Sutter replied brusquely, "whether father is here
-or not; but I believe we should do well not to wait longer, but return
-to the camp, where our presence is doubtless necessary."
-
-"Nonsense! Our comrades can do without us," Shaw observed. "We are all
-right here, so suppose we stop the night. Tomorrow it will be day. Well,
-if father has not returned by sunrise, we will go back to camp. Harry
-and Dick can keep good order till our return."
-
-"In truth, Shaw is right," Nathan said. "Father is at times so strange,
-that he might be angry with us for not having waited for him; for he
-never does anything lightly. If he told us to stay here, he probably had
-his reasons."
-
-"Let us stay, then," Sutter remarked carelessly. "I ask for nothing
-better. We shall only have to keep the fire up, and so one of us will
-watch while the others sleep."
-
-"Agreed on," Nathan replied. "In that way, if the old man comes during
-our sleep, he will see that we waited for him."
-
-The three brothers rose. Sutter and Nathan collected a pile of dry wood
-to maintain the fire, while Shaw intertwined a few branches to make his
-sister a sufficient shelter for the night. The two elder brothers thrust
-their feet toward the fire, wrapped themselves in their blankets, and
-went to sleep, after advising Shaw to keep a bright lookout, not only
-against wild beasts, but to announce the old squatter's approach. Shaw,
-after stirring up the fire, threw himself at the foot of a larch tree,
-and letting his head sink on his chest, plunged into deep and painful
-meditation.
-
-This poor boy, hardly twenty years of age, was a strange composite of
-good and evil qualities. Reared in the desert, he had grown up like one
-of its native trees, thrusting out here and there branches full of
-powerful sap. Nothing had ever thwarted his instincts, no matter what
-their nature might be. Possessing no cognizance of justice and
-injustice, he had never been able to appreciate the squatter's conduct,
-or see the injury he did society by the life he led. Habituated to
-regard as belonging to himself all that he wished for, allowing himself
-to be guided by his impressions and caprices, never having felt any
-other fetter than his father's despotic will, this young man had at once
-a nature expansive and reserved, generous and avaricious, gentle and
-cruel: in a word, he possessed all the qualities of his vices; but he
-was, before all, a man of sensations. Endowed with a vast intellect,
-extreme audacity, and lively comprehensions, he would have been
-indubitably a remarkable man, had he been born in a different position.
-
-His sister Ellen was the only member of his family for whom he
-experienced sympathy; and yet it was only with extreme reserve that he
-intrusted his boyish secrets to her--secrets which, during the last few
-days, had acquired an importance he did not himself suspect, but which
-his sister, with the innate intelligence of woman, had already divined.
-
-Shaw, as we have said, was thinking. The young savage's indomitable
-nature revolted against an unknown force which had suddenly sprung up in
-his heart--mastered and subdued him in spite of all his efforts. He was
-in love! He loved, ignorant even of the meaning of the word love, which
-comprises in this nether world all earthly joy and suffering. Vainly he
-sought to explain his feelings; but no light flashed across his mind, or
-illumined the darkness of his heart. He loved without desire and without
-hope, involuntarily obeying that divine law which compels even the
-roughest man to seek a mate. He was dreaming of Doña Clara. He loved
-her, as he was capable of loving, with that passionate impetuosity, that
-violence of feeling, to which his uncultivated mind adapted him. The
-sight of the maiden caused him a strange trouble, which he did not
-attempt to account for. He did not try to analyse his feelings, for that
-would have been impossible; and yet at times he was a prey to cold and
-terrible fury, when thinking that the haughty maiden, who was even
-unconscious of his existence, would probably only spurn and despise him
-if she knew it. He was yielding to these crushing thoughts, when he
-suddenly felt a hand laid on his shoulder. On turning, Ellen stood
-before him, upright and motionless, like the white apparitions of the
-German legends. He raised his head, and bent an inquiring glance on his
-sister.
-
-"You are not asleep, Ellen?"
-
-"No," she answered in a voice soft as a bird's song. "Brother, my heart
-is sad."
-
-"What is the matter, Ellen? Why not enjoy a few hours of that repose so
-necessary for you?"
-
-"My heart is sad, I tell you, brother," she went on. "In vain do I seek
-sleep--it flies far from me."
-
-"Sister, tell me the cause of your sufferings, and perhaps I can appease
-the grief that devours you."
-
-"Can you not guess it?"
-
-"I do not understand you."
-
-She looked at him so sternly that he could not let his eyes fall.
-
-"On the contrary, you understand me too well, Shaw," she said with a
-sigh. "Your heart rejoices at this moment at the misfortune of the woman
-you should defend."
-
-The young man blushed.
-
-"What can I do?" he murmured faintly.
-
-"Everything, if you have the firm will," she exclaimed energetically.
-
-"No," Shaw went on, shaking his head with discouragement; "the person of
-whom you speak is the old man's prisoner. I cannot contend against my
-father."
-
-Ellen smiled contemptuously.
-
-"You seek in vain to hide your thoughts from me," she said harshly. "I
-read your heart as an open book: your sorrow is feigned, and you really
-rejoice at the thought that in future you will constantly be by Doña
-Clara's side."
-
-"I!" he exclaimed with an angry start.
-
-"Yes, you only see in her captivity a means to approach her. Your
-selfish heart is secretly gladdened by that hope."
-
-"You are harsh to me, sister. Heaven is my witness that, were it
-possible, I would at once restore her the liberty torn from her."
-
-"You can if you like."
-
-"No, it is impossible. My father watches too closely over his prisoner."
-
-"He will not distrust you, but allow you to approach her freely."
-
-"What you ask of me is impossible."
-
-"Because you will not, Shaw. Remember that women only love men in
-proportion to the sacrifices they make for them: they despise cowards."
-
-"But how to save her?"
-
-"That is your affair, Shaw."
-
-"At least give me some advice which will help me to escape from the
-difficult position in which I find myself."
-
-"In such serious circumstances your heart must guide you, and you must
-only ask counsel of it."
-
-"But the old one?" Shaw said hesitatingly.
-
-"Our father will not know your movements. I take on myself to prevent
-him noticing them."
-
-"Good!" the young man remarked, half convinced; "but I do not know where
-the maiden is hidden."
-
-"I will tell you, if you swear to do all in your power to save her."
-
-There was a moment of silence.
-
-"I swear to obey you, Ellen. If I do not succeed in carrying the girl
-off, I will at any rate employ all my intellect to obtain that result.
-Speak, then, without fear."
-
-"Doña Clara is confined at the Rancho del Coyote: she was intrusted to
-Andrés Garote."
-
-"Ah, ah!" the young man said, as if speaking to himself, "I did not
-fancy her so near us."
-
-"You will save her?"
-
-"At all events I will try to free her from the hands of the man who
-guards her."
-
-"Good!" the maiden remarked; "I now recognise you. Lose no time: my
-father's absence alarms me. Perhaps at this moment he is preparing a
-safer hiding place for his prisoner."
-
-"Your idea is excellent, sister. Who knows whether it is not too late
-now to tear from the old man the prey he covets?"
-
-"When do you intend to start?"
-
-"At once: I have not a moment to lose. If the old man returned I should
-be compelled to remain here. But who will keep watch while my brothers
-sleep?"
-
-"I will," the maiden answered resolutely.
-
-"Whence arises the interest you feel in this woman, sister, as you do
-not know her?" the young man asked in surprise.
-
-"She is a woman, and unhappy. Are not those reasons sufficient?"
-
-"Perhaps so," Shaw remarked doubtfully.
-
-"Child!" Ellen muttered, "Can you not read in your own heart, the motive
-of my conduct toward this stranger?"
-
-The young savage started at this remark.
-
-"It is true!" He exclaimed passionately. "Pardon me, sister! I am mad;
-but I love you, and you know me better than I do myself."
-
-And rising hurriedly, he kissed his sister, threw his rifle over his
-shoulder, and ran off in the direction of Santa Fe.
-
-When he had disappeared in the gloom, and the sound of his footsteps had
-died out in the distance, the girl fell on the ground, muttering in a
-low, sad voice:
-
-"Will he succeed?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.
-
-
-Red Cedar did not remain long under the effect of the startling insult
-he had received. Pride, wrath, and, before all, the desire to avenge
-himself restored his strength, and a few minutes after Don Pablo
-Zarate's departure the squatter had regained all his coolness and
-audacity.
-
-"You see, señor padre," he said, addressing the monk, "that our little
-plans are known to our enemies; we must, therefore, make haste if we do
-not wish to see persons break in here, from whom it is of the utmost
-importance to conceal ourselves. Tomorrow night at the latest, perhaps
-before, we shall start. Do not stir from here till my return. Your face
-is too well known at Santa Fe for you to venture to show it in the
-streets without imprudence."
-
-"Hum!" the monk muttered, "That demon, whom I fancied dead, is a rude
-adversary. Fortunately we shall soon have nothing more to fear from his
-father, for I hardly know how we should get out of it."
-
-"If the son has escaped us," Red Cedar said with an ugly smile, "that is
-fortunately not the case with the father. Don't be alarmed; Don Miguel
-will cause us no further embarrassment."
-
-"I wish it most earnestly, _canarios!_ for he is a determined man; but I
-confess to you that I shall not be entirely at my ease till I have seen
-him fall beneath the bullets of the soldiers."
-
-"You will not have long to wait. General Ventura has ordered me to go
-and meet the regiment of dragoons he expects, in order to hurry them on,
-and bring them into the town this very night, if possible. So soon as
-the governor has an imposing force at his disposal he will no longer
-fear a revolt on the part of the troops, and give the order for
-execution without delay."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! But," he added with a sigh of regret, "what a pity
-that most of our scamps deserted us! We should have almost arrived at
-the placer by this time, and been safe from the vengeance of our
-enemies."
-
-"Patience, señor padre; all is for the best, perhaps, trust to me.
-Andrés, my horse."
-
-"You will start at once, then?"
-
-"Yes. I recommend you to watch carefully over our prisoner."
-
-The monk shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Our affairs are tolerably well embarrassed already; then why burden
-ourselves with a woman?"
-
-The squatter frowned.
-
-"That is my business," he exclaimed in a peremptory tone. "Keep all
-stupid observations to yourself. A thousand devils! I know what I am
-about. That woman will possibly prove our safeguard at a later date."
-
-And mounting his horse, Red Cedar galloped out of Santa Fe.
-
-"Hum!" Andrés Garote said as he watched him depart, "what a diabolical
-eye! Though I have known him several years, I never saw him like that
-before. How will all this end?"
-
-Without further remarks he arranged matters in the rancho, repairing as
-well as he could the disorder caused by the previous struggle; then he
-took a look round him. The monk, with his elbows on the table and a
-cigarette in his mouth, was drinking the fluid left in the bottle,
-doubtless to console himself for the _navajada_ with which Don Pablo had
-favoured him.
-
-"Why, señor padre," the ranchero said in an insinuating voice, "do you
-know that it is hardly five o'clock?"
-
-"Do you think so?" the other answered for the sake of saying something.
-
-"Does not the time seem to you to go very slowly?"
-
-"Extraordinarily so."
-
-"If you liked we could easily shorten it."
-
-"In what way?"
-
-"Oh, for instance, with these."
-
-And Andrés drew from his boot a pack of greasy cards, which he
-complacently spread out on the table.
-
-"Ah! That is a good idea," the monk exclaimed with sparkling eyes. "Let
-us have a game of monte."
-
-"At your orders."
-
-"Don Andrés, you are a most worthy gentlemen. What shall we play for?"
-
-"Ah, hang it! That is true; we must play for something," the ranchero
-said, scratching his head.
-
-"The merest trifle, simply to render the game interesting."
-
-"Yes, but to do that man must possess the trifle."
-
-"Do not let that trouble you. If you permit me I will make you a
-proposal."
-
-"Do so, señor. You are a remarkable clever man, and can have none but
-bright ideas."
-
-The monk bowed to his flattering insinuation.
-
-"This is it: we will play, if you like for the share of the gold we
-shall receive when we reach the placer."
-
-"Done!" the ranchero shouted enthusiastically.
-
-"Well," the monk said, drawing from his pocket a pack of cards no less
-dirty than the others, "we can at any rate kill time."
-
-"What! You have cards too?" the ranchero remarked.
-
-"Yes, and quite new, as you see." Andrés bowed with an air of
-conviction.
-
-The game began at once, and soon the two men were completely absorbed in
-the combinations of the _seis de copas,_ the _as de bastos_, the _dos de
-oro_, and the _cuatro d'espadas_. The monk, who had no necessity to
-feign at this moment, as he was in the company of a man thoroughly
-acquainted with him, yielded frenziedly to his ruling passion. In
-Mexico, and throughout Spanish America, the _angelus_ rings at sunset.
-In those countries, where there is no twilight, night arrives without
-transition, so that ere the bell has done tinkling the gloom is dense.
-At the last stroke of the angelus the game ceased, as if by common
-agreement between the two men, and they threw their cards on the table.
-
-Although Garote was a passed master in trickery, and had displayed all
-his science, he found in the monk so skilful an adversary that, after
-more than three hours of an obstinate struggle, they both found
-themselves as little advanced as at the outset. The monk, however, on
-coming to the rancho, had an object which Red Cedar was far from
-suspecting.
-
-Fray Ambrosio rested his arms on the table, bent his body slightly
-forward, and while carelessly playing with the cards, which he amused
-himself by sorting, he said to the ranchero, as he fixed a scrutinising
-glance upon him,--
-
-"Shall we talk a little, Don Andrés?"
-
-"Willingly," the latter replied, who had partly risen, but now fell back
-on his chair.
-
-By a secret foreboding Andrés Garote had guessed that the monk wished to
-make some important proposal to him. Hence, thanks to that instinctive
-intuition which rogues possess for certain things, the two men read each
-other's thoughts. Fray Ambrosio bit his lips, for the gambusino's
-intelligence startled him. Still the latter bent upon him a glance so
-full of stupid meaning, that he continued to make a confidant of him, as
-it were involuntarily.
-
-"Señor Don Andrés," he said in a soft and insinuating voice, "what a
-happiness that your poor brother, on dying, revealed to me the secret of
-the rich placer, which he concealed even from yourself!"
-
-"It is true," Andrés answered, turning slightly pale; "it was very
-fortunate, señor padre. For my part, I congratulate myself on it daily."
-
-"Is it not so? For without it the immense fortune would have been lost
-to you and all else."
-
-"It is terrible to think of."
-
-"Well, at this moment I have a horrible fear."
-
-"What is it, señor padre?"
-
-"That we have deferred our departure too long, and that some of those
-European vagabonds we were speaking of just now may have discovered our
-placer. Those scoundrels have a peculiar scent for finding gold."
-
-"_Caray_, señor padre!" Andrés said, striking the table with a feigned
-grief (for he knew very well what the monk was saying was only a clever
-way of attaining his real point), "that would drive me mad--an affair so
-well managed hitherto."
-
-"That is true," Fray Ambrosio said in corroboration. "I could never
-console myself."
-
-"_Demonios_! I have as great an interest in it as yourself, señor
-padre," the gambusino replied with superb coolness. "You know that an
-uninterrupted succession of unfortunate speculations robbed me of my
-fortune, and I hoped thus to regain it at a stroke."
-
-At these words Fray Ambrosio had incredible difficulty in repressing a
-smile; for it was a matter of public notoriety that señor Don Andrés
-Garote was a lepero, who, as regarded fortune, had never possessed a
-farthing of patrimony; that throughout his life he had never been aught
-but an adventurer; and that the unlucky speculations of which he
-complained were simply an ill luck at monte, which had recently stripped
-him of 20,000 piastres, acquired Heaven alone knew how. But señor Don
-Andrés Garote was a man of unequalled bravery, gifted with a fertile and
-ready mind, whom the accidents of life had compelled to live for a
-lengthened period on the _llanos_ (prairies), whose paths he knew as
-thoroughly as he did the tricks of those who dwelt on them. Hence, and
-for many other reasons, Andrés Garote was an invaluable comrade for Fray
-Ambrosio, who had also a bitter revenge to take on the monte table,
-because he pretended to place the most sincere faith in what it pleased
-his honourable mate to say touching his lost fortune.
-
-"However," he said, after an instant's reflection, "supposing that the
-placer is intact, and that no one has discovered it, we shall have a
-long journey to reach it."
-
-"Yes," the gambusino remarked, significantly; "the road is difficult and
-broadcast with perils innumerable."
-
-"We must march with our chins on our shoulders, and finger on the rifle
-trigger--"
-
-"Fight nearly constantly with wild beasts or Indians--"
-
-"In a word, do you not believe that the woman Red Cedar has carried off
-will prove a horrid bore?"
-
-"Dreadfully so," Andrés made answer, with an intelligent glance.
-
-"What is to be done?"
-
-"Hang it! That is difficult to say."
-
-"Still we cannot run the risk, on account of a wretched woman, of having
-our hair raised by the Indians."
-
-"That's true enough."
-
-"Is she here?"
-
-"Yes," the gambusino said, pointing to a door; "in that room."
-
-"Hum!"
-
-"You remarked--"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"Could we not--"
-
-"What?"
-
-"It is perhaps difficult," Andrés continued, with feigned hesitation.
-
-"Explain yourself."
-
-The gambusino seemed to make up his mind.
-
-"Suppose we restore her to her family?" he said.
-
-"I have thought of that already."
-
-"That is strange."
-
-"It must be all managed very cleverly."
-
-"And the relations pay a proper ransom."
-
-"That is what I meant to say.".
-
-There was a silence.
-
-Decidedly these two honourable persons were made to understand one
-another.
-
-"But who is to undertake this delicate mission?" asked the monk.
-
-"I, _con mil demonios!_" the gambusino exclaimed, his eyes sparkling
-with greed at the thought of the rich ransom he would demand.
-
-"But if Red Cedar were to find out," the monk remarked, "that we
-surrendered his prisoner?"
-
-"Who will tell him?"
-
-"I am sure I shan't."
-
-"Nor I."
-
-"It is very easy; the girl will have escaped."
-
-"Quite true."
-
-"Do not let us lose time, then. You have a horse?"
-
-"I have two."
-
-"Bravo! You will place Doña Clara on one, and mount the other yourself."
-
-"And go straight to the Hacienda de la Noria."
-
-"That is it. Don Pablo will be delighted to recover his sister, whom he
-expected never to see again, and will not haggle over the price he pays
-for her deliverance."
-
-"Famous! In that way we run no risk of not reaching the placer, as our
-party will only consist of men."
-
-"Excellently reasoned!"
-
-Andrés Garote rose with a smile which would have caused the monk to
-reflect, had he seen it; but at the same moment the latter was rubbing
-his hands, saying in a low voice, and with a most satisfied air,--
-
-"Now, my scamp, I've got you."
-
-What secret thought possessed these two men, who were carrying on a
-mutual deceit, none save themselves could have said. The gambusino
-approached the door of the room where Doña Clara was confined, and put
-the key in the lock. At this moment two vigorous blows were dealt on the
-door of the rancho, which had been carefully bolted after Red Cedar's
-departure. The two accomplices started.
-
-"Must I open?" Andrés asked.
-
-"Yes," the monk answered; "hesitation or refusal might create alarm. In
-our position we must foresee everything."
-
-The ranchero went to open the door, which the newcomer threatened to
-break in. A man walked in, who took a careful glance around, then doffed
-his hat and bowed. The confederates exchanged a glance of vexation on
-recognising him, for he was no other than Shaw, Red Cedar's youngest
-son.
-
-"I am afraid I disturb you, gentlemen," the young man said, with an
-ironical smile.
-
-"Not at all," Andrés made answer; "on the contrary, we are delighted to
-see you."
-
-"Thanks!"
-
-And the young man fell back into a butaca.
-
-"You are very late at Santa Fe," the monk remarked.
-
-"It is true," the American said, with some embarrassment; "I am looking
-for my father, and fancied I should find him here."
-
-"He was so a few hours back, but he was obliged to leave us."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-This exclamation was rather drawn from the young man by the necessity he
-felt of replying, than through any interest he took in the information
-afforded him. He was evidently preoccupied; but Fray Ambrosio did not
-appear to notice it, as he continued,--
-
-"Yes: it appears that his Excellency the Governor ordered your father to
-go and meet a regiment of dragoons intended to reinforce the garrison,
-and hasten its march."
-
-"That is true; I forgot it."
-
-The monk and the miner did not at all understand the American's conduct,
-and lost themselves in conjectures as to the reasons that brought him to
-the rancho. They guessed instinctively that what he said about his
-father was only a pretext or means of introduction; and that a powerful
-motive, he would not or dared not avow, had brought him. For his part,
-the young man, in coming to the Rancho del Coyote, where he knew that
-Doña Clara was imprisoned, expected to find Andrés alone, with whom he
-hoped to come to an understanding in some way or another. The presence
-of the monk disturbed all his plans. Still, time was slipping away he
-must make up his mind, and, before all, profit by Red Cedar's
-providential absence, which offered him an opportunity he could hardly
-dare to hope again.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-A STORMY DISCUSSION.
-
-
-Shaw was not timid, as we have said--he ought rather be accused of the
-opposite excess; he was not the man, once his resolution was formed, to
-let anything soever turn him from it. His hesitation was not long; he
-suddenly rose, and violently stamping his rifle butt on the ground,
-looked at the two men, while saying in a firm voice,--
-
-"Be frank, my presence here at this hour astonishes you, and you ask
-yourselves what cause can have brought me."
-
-"Sir," the monk said, with a certain degree of hesitation rendered
-highly natural by the young man's tone.
-
-"Pardon me," Shaw exclaimed, interrupting him, "the cause you will seek
-in vain. I will tell you: I have come to deliver Doña Clara."
-
-"Can it be possible?" the two men exclaimed with stupefaction.
-
-"It is so; whether you like it or not, I care little. I am the man to
-hold my own against both of you, and no one can prevent me restoring the
-maiden to her father, as I have resolved on doing."
-
-"What do I hear?" said Fray Ambrosio.
-
-"Hum!" the young man continued quickly, "Believe me, do not attempt any
-useless resistance, for I have resolved, if needs must, to pass over
-your bodies to success."
-
-"But we have not the slightest wish--"
-
-"Take care," he interrupted him in a voice full of menace and frowning,
-"I will only leave this house accompanied by her I wish to save."
-
-"Sir," the monk remarked, in an authoritative voice which momentarily
-quelled the young savage, "two words of explanation."
-
-"Make haste!" he answered, "For I warn you that my patience is
-exhausted."
-
-"I do not insist on your listening any length of time. You have come
-here, you say, with the intention of delivering Doña Clara?"
-
-"Yes," he answered impatiently, "and if you attempt to oppose it--"
-
-"Pardon me," the monk interrupted, "such a determination on your part
-naturally surprises us."
-
-"Why so?" the young man said, raising his head haughtily.
-
-"Because," Fray Ambrosio answered tranquilly, "You are the son of Red
-Cedar, and it is at least I strange that--"
-
-"Enough talking," Shaw exclaimed violently; "will you or not give me up
-her I have come to seek?"
-
-"I must know, in the first place, what you intend doing with her.
-
-"How does that concern you?"
-
-"More than you imagine. Since that girl has been a prisoner I
-constituted myself--if not her guardian, for the dress I wear forbids
-that--her defender; in that quality I have the right of knowing for what
-reason you, the son of the man who tore her from her family, have come
-so audaciously to demand her surrender to you, and what your object is
-in acting thus?"
-
-The young man had listened to those remarks with an impatience that
-became momentarily more visible; it could be seen that he made
-superhuman efforts to restrain himself. When the monk stopped, he looked
-at him for a moment with a strange expression, then walked up so close
-as almost to touch him, drew a pair of pistols from his girdle and
-pointed them at the monk.
-
-"Surrender Doña Clara to me," he said, in a low and menacing voice.
-
-Fray Ambrosio had attentively followed all the American's movements, and
-when the latter put the pistol muzzles to his chest, the monk, with an
-action rapid as lightning, also drew two pistols from his girdle, and
-placed them, on his adversary's chest. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation, of indescribable agony; the two men were motionless, face
-to face panting, each with his fingers on a trigger, pale, and their
-brows dank with cold perspiration. Andrés Garote, his lips curled by an
-ironical smile, and his arms crossed, carelessly leaned against a table,
-watching this scene which had for him all the attractions of a play.
-
-All at once the door of the rancho, which had not been fastened again
-after the squatter's entry was violently thrown back and a man appeared.
-It was Father Seraphin. At a glance he judged the position and boldly
-threw himself between the foemen, hurling them back, but not uttering a
-word. The two men recoiled, and lowered their weapons, but continued to
-menace each other with their glances.
-
-"What!" the missionary said in a deep voice, "Have I arrived just in
-time to prevent a double murder, gentlemen? In Heaven's name, hide those
-homicidal weapons; do not stand opposite each other like wild beasts
-preparing for a leap."
-
-"Withdraw, father; you have nothing to do here. Let me treat this man as
-he deserves," the squatter answered, casting at the missionary a
-ferocious glance--"his life belongs to me."
-
-"Young man," the priest replied, "the life of a fellow being belongs
-only to God, who has the right to deprive, him of it; lower your
-weapons"--and turning to Fray Ambrosio, he said to him in a cutting
-voice, "and you who dishonour the frock you wear, throw away those
-pistols which sully your hands--a minister of the altar should not
-employ other weapons than the Gospel."
-
-The monk bowed, and caused his pistols to disappear, saying in a soft
-and cautious voice, "My father, I was compelled to defend my life which
-that maniac assailed. Heaven is my witness that I reprove these violent
-measures, too frequently employed in this unhappy country; but this man
-came into the house with threats on his lips; he insisted on our
-delivering a wretched girl whom this caballero," he said, pointing to
-the gambusino, "and myself did not think proper to surrender."
-
-Andrés corroborated the monk's words by a nod of the head.
-
-"I wish to save that young girl from your hands," Shaw said, "and
-restore her to her father."
-
-"Of whom are you speaking, my friend?" the missionary asked with a
-secret beating of his heart.
-
-"Of whom should I speak, save Doña Clara de Zarate, whom these villains
-retain here by force?"
-
-"Can it be possible?" Father Seraphin exclaimed in amazement. "Doña
-Clara here?"
-
-"Ask those men," Shaw answered, roughly, as he angrily struck the butt
-of his rifle against the ground.
-
-"Is it true?" the priest inquired.
-
-"It is," the gambusino answered.
-
-Father Seraphin frowned, and his pale forehead was covered with febrile
-ruddiness.
-
-"Sir," he said, in a voice choking with indignation. "I summon you, in
-the name of that God whom you serve, and whose minister you lay claim to
-being, to restore at once to liberty the hapless girl whom you have so
-unworthily imprisoned, in defiance of all laws, human and divine. I
-engage to deliver her into the hands of those who bewail her loss."
-
-Fray Ambrosio bowed; he let his eyes fall, and said in a hypocritical
-voice--
-
-"Father, you are mistaken as regards myself. I had nothing to do with
-the carrying off of that poor child, which on the contrary, I opposed to
-the utmost of my power; and that is so true, father," he added, "that at
-the moment when this young madman arrived, the worthy gambusino and
-myself had resolved, at all risks, on restoring Doña Clara to her
-family."
-
-"I should wish to believe you, sir; if I am mistaken, as you say, you
-will forgive me, for appearances were against you; it only depends on
-yourself to produce a perfect justification by carrying out my wishes."
-
-"You shall be satisfied, father," the monk replied. At a signal from him
-Garote left the room. During the few words interchanged between the two
-men, Shaw remained motionless, hesitating, not knowing what he ought to
-do; but he suddenly made up his mind, threw his rifle over his shoulder,
-and turned to the missionary.
-
-"Father," he said respectfully, "my presence is now needless here.
-Farewell; my departure will prove to you the purity of my intentions."
-
-And turning suddenly on his heel, he hurried out of the rancho. A few
-moments after his departure the gambusino returned, Doña Clara following
-him.
-
-Doña Clara no longer wore the dress of the whites, for Red Cedar, in
-order to render her unrecognizable, had compelled her to don the Indian
-garb, which the maiden wore with an innate grace which heightened its
-strange elegance. Like all Indian squaws, she was attired in two white
-chemises of striped calico--the one fastened around the neck, fell to
-the hips; while the other, drawn in at the waist, descended to her
-ankles. Her neck was adorned with collars of fine pearls, mingled with
-those small shells called wampum, and employed by the Indians as money.
-Her arms and ankles were surrounded by wide circles of gold, and a small
-diadem of the same metal relieved the pale tint of her forehead.
-Moccasins of deer hide, embroidered with wool and beads of every colour
-imprisoned her small and high-arched feet.
-
-As she entered the room, a shadow of melancholy and sadness spread over
-her face, adding, were that possible, a further charm to her person. On
-seeing the missionary, Doña Clara uttered a cry of joy, and rushed
-toward him, fell into his arms, and murmured in a heart-rending voice:--
-
-"Father! save me! save me!"
-
-"Be calm, my daughter!" the priest said to her, gently. "You have
-nothing more to fear now that I am near you."
-
-"Come!" she exclaimed, wildly, "Let us fly from this accursed house, in
-which I have suffered so greatly."
-
-"Yes, my daughter, we will go; set your mind at rest."
-
-"You see, father," Fray Ambrosio said, hypocritically, "that I did not
-deceive you."
-
-The missionary cast at the monk a glance of undefinable meaning.
-
-"I trust that you spoke truly," he replied; "the God who gauges hearts
-will judge you according to works. I will rescue this maiden at once."
-
-"Do so, father; I am happy to know her under your protection."
-
-And picking up the cloak which Don Pablo left after blinding Red Cedar,
-he placed it delicately on the shuddering shoulders of Doña Clara, in
-order to conceal her Indian garb. Father Seraphin drew her arm through
-his own, and led her from the rancho. Ere long they disappeared in the
-darkness. Fray Ambrosio looked after them as long as he could see them,
-and then re-entered the room, carefully bolting the door after him.
-
-"Well," Andrés Garote asked him, "what do you think, señor Padre, of all
-that has happened?"
-
-"Perhaps things are better as they are."
-
-"And Red Cedar?"
-
-"I undertake to render ourselves as white in his sight as the snows of
-the Caffre de Perote."
-
-"Hum! it will be difficult."
-
-"Perhaps so."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-THE MYSTERY.
-
-
-On leaving the Rancho del Coyote, Red Cedar dug his spurs into his
-horse's flanks, and galloped in a south-western direction. So soon as he
-was out of the town he turned to the left, took a narrow path that ran
-round the walls, pulled up his horse, and advanced with the utmost
-caution. Throwing suspicious glances on either side, he went on thus for
-about three-quarters of an hour, when he reached a house, in one of the
-windows of which burned three wax tapers.
-
-The lights thus arranged were evidently a signal for the squatter, for
-so soon as he came to the house he stopped and dismounted, attached his
-horse to a larch-tree, and prudently concealing himself behind a
-thicket, imitated thrice at equal intervals the hu-hu of an owl. The
-lights burning in the window were extinguished, as if by enchantment.
-
-The night was gloomy, only a few stars studded the vault of heaven; a
-leaden silence brooded over the plain, which appeared quite solitary. At
-this moment a voice could be heard from the house which Red Cedar was
-watching so carefully. The squatter listened; the speaker leaned for a
-second out of the window looked cautiously round, and disappeared
-muttering loud enough for the American to overhear--
-
-"All is quiet in the neighbourhood."
-
-"Still," the squatter said, without showing himself, "the coyotes prowl
-about the plain."
-
-"Are you coming or going?" the man at the window continued.
-
-"Both," the squatter answered, still hidden behind his bush.
-
-"You can come on, for you are expected."
-
-"I know it; hence here I am."
-
-While making this answer, the squatter left his hiding place, and placed
-himself before the door with folded arms, like a man who has nothing to
-fear.
-
-The door was cautiously opened; a man emerged, carefully wrapped up in,
-a wide cloak, which only allowed eyes to be seen, that flashed in the
-gloom like a jackal's. This person walked straight up to Red Cedar.
-
-"Well," he asked, in a low voice, "have you reflected?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And what is the result of your reflections?"
-
-"I refuse."
-
-"Still?"
-
-"More than ever."
-
-"Take care."
-
-"I do not care, Don Melchior, for I am not afraid of you."
-
-"No names!" the stranger exclaimed, impatiently.
-
-"We are alone."
-
-"No one is ever alone in the desert."
-
-"That is true," Red Cedar muttered. "Let us return to our business."
-
-"It is simple--give and give."
-
-"Hum! You get to work very fast; unfortunately it cannot be so."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"Why, because I am growing tired of constantly taking in my nets game by
-which others profit, and which I ought to keep as a safeguard."
-
-"You call that girl a guarantee?"
-
-"By Heaven! what else do you mean to make of her?"
-
-"Do not compare me with you, scoundrel!"
-
-"Where is the difference between us? I am a scoundrel, I grant; but, by
-heaven, you are another, my master, however powerful you may be."
-
-"Listen, caballero!" the stranger answered, in a cutting voice. "I will
-lose no more of my time in discoursing with you. I want that girl, and
-will have her, whatever you may do to prevent me."
-
-"Good; in that case you declare war against me?" the squatter said, with
-a certain tinge of alarm, which he tried in vain to conceal.
-
-The stranger shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"We have known one another long enough to be perfectly well acquainted;
-we can only be friends or foes. Is not that your opinion?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Well, then, hand Doña Clara over to me, and I will give you the papers
-which--"
-
-"Enough!" the squatter said, sharply. "Have you those papers about you?"
-
-The stranger burst into a laugh.
-
-"Do you take me for such a fool?" he said.
-
-"I do not understand you."
-
-"I will not insult you by believing you. No, I have not those papers
-about me. I am not such an ass as to risk assassination at your hands."
-
-"What would your death profit me?"
-
-"Hang it all! If it were only my scalp you would be sure to receive at
-least fifty dollars for it."
-
-At this mournful jest the squatter began laughing.
-
-"I did not think of that," he said,
-
-"Listen to me, Red Cedar, and print the words on your memory."
-
-"Speak."
-
-"In a month from today, hour for hour, day for day, wherever you may be,
-I shall present myself to you."
-
-"For what purpose?' the squatter asked impudently.
-
-"To repeat my demand with reference to the prisoner."
-
-"Then, as now, I shall reply No, my master."
-
-"Perhaps so. Live and learn. Now good-bye, and may the devil, your
-patron saint, preserve you in good health until our next meeting. You
-know that I have you tight; so consider yourself warned."
-
-"Good, good! Threats do not frighten me. _Demonios_, since I have been
-traversing the desert, I have found myself opposed to enemies quite as
-dangerous as you, and yet I managed to get quit of them."
-
-"That is possible, Red Cedar; but believe me, meditate carefully on my
-words."
-
-"I repeat that your threats do not frighten me."
-
-"I do not threaten, I warn you."
-
-"Hum! Well, then, listen in your turn. In the desert, every man armed
-with a good rifle has nothing to fear from whomsoever."
-
-"What next?" the stranger interrupted him, in a sarcastic voice.
-
-"Well, my rifle is excellent, I have a sure aim, and I say no more."
-
-"Nonsense, you are mad! I defy you to kill me!"
-
-"Hang it, though, what can be your motive for wishing to have this girl
-in your power?"
-
-"That is no affair of yours. I have no explanations due to you. Enough
-for you to know that I want her."
-
-"You shall not have her."
-
-"We shall see. Good-bye, Red Cedar."
-
-"Good-bye, Don Melchior, or whatever be the name you please to bear."
-
-The stranger made no reply, but turned his head with a gesture of
-contempt, and whistled. A man emerged from the house, holding a horse by
-the bridle; at one bound the stranger reached the saddle, and ordered
-the servant to withdraw.
-
-"Farewell, _Compadre_, remember our appointment."
-
-And loosing his reins, the stranger started at a gallop, not
-condescending even to turn his head. Red Cedar looked after him with an
-indescribable expression of rage.
-
-"Oh," he muttered in a low voice, "demon! Shall I never free myself from
-your clutches?"
-
-And with a motion rapid as thought he shouldered his rifle, and aimed at
-the departing man. All at once the latter turned his horse, and stood
-right opposite Red Cedar.
-
-"Mind not to miss me!" he cried, with a burst of laughter that caused a
-cold perspiration to bead on the bandit's forehead.
-
-The latter let his rifle fall, saying in a hollow voice: "He is right,
-and I am mad! If I only had the papers!"
-
-The stranger waited for a moment calm and motionless; then he started
-again and soon disappeared in the darkness. Red Cedar stood with his
-body bowed forward, and his ears on the watch, so long as the horse's
-hoofs could be heard; then he returned to his own steed, and bounded
-into the saddle.
-
-"Now to go and warn the dragoons," he said, and pushed on.
-
-The squatter had scarce departed ere several men appeared from either
-side; they were Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo on the right;
-Unicorn and Eagle-wing on the left. Valentine and his friends were
-astonished at meeting the Comanche chief, whom they believed gone back
-to his camp; but the sachem explained to them, in a few words, how, at
-the moment he was crossing the spot where they now were, he had heard
-Red Cedar's voice, and concealed himself in the shrubs in order to
-overhear the squatter's colloquy with his strange friend. Valentine had
-done the same; but, unfortunately, the party had been greatly
-disappointed, for the squatter's conversation remained to them an
-enigma, of which they sought the key in vain.
-
-"'Tis strange," Valentine remarked, as he passed his hand several times
-across his forehead. "I do not know where I have seen the man just now
-talking here with Red Cedar, but I have a vague reminiscence of having
-met him before, where and under what circumstance I try, though in vain,
-to recall."
-
-"What shall we do?" Don Pablo asked.
-
-"Hang it, what we agreed on;" and turning to the chief, he said, "Good
-luck, brother, I believe we shall save our friend."
-
-"I am sure of it," the Indian replied, laconically.
-
-"May heaven hear you, brother," Valentine continued. "Act! While, on
-your side, you watch the town for fear of treason. We then will ambush
-ourselves on the road the gambusinos must take, in order to know
-positively the direction in which they are proceeding. Till tomorrow,
-chief!"
-
-"Stop!" a panting voice exclaimed, and a man suddenly appeared in the
-midst of them.
-
-"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said in a surprise. "What chance brings you
-this way?"
-
-"I was looking for you."
-
-"What do you want with me?"
-
-"To give you some good news."
-
-"Speak! Speak quickly, father! Has Don Miguel left his prison?"
-
-"Alas! Not yet; but his daughter is free!"
-
-"Doña Clara free!" Valentine shouted joyously. "Heaven be blessed! Where
-is she?"
-
-"She is temporarily in safety, be assured of that; but let me give you a
-warning, which may perhaps prove useful to you."
-
-"Speak! Speak!"
-
-"By order of the governor, Red Cedar has gone to meet the regiment of
-dragoons, coming up to reinforce the Santa Fe garrison."
-
-"_Caramba_," Valentine said, "are you sure of your statement, father?"
-
-"I am: in my presence, the men who carried off Doña Clara spoke about
-it."
-
-"All is lost if these soldiers arrive."
-
-"Yes," the missionary said; "but, how to prevent it?"
-
-Curumilla lightly touched the leader's arm.
-
-"What do you want, chief!"
-
-"The Comanches are warriors," Curumilla answered, curtly.
-
-"Ah!" Valentine exclaimed, and tapping his forehead with delight, "that
-is true, chief; you save us."
-
-Curumilla smiled with pleasure.
-
-"While you go in pursuit of the soldiers," said Don Pablo, "as I can be
-of no service to you, I will accompany Father Seraphin to my poor
-sister, whom I have not seen so long, and am eager to embrace."
-
-"Do so," Valentine answered. "At daybreak you will bring Doña Clara to
-the camp, that I may myself deliver her to her father."
-
-"That is agreed."
-
-Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn rushed out in the plain, while Father
-Seraphin and Don Pablo returned to the town. The two gentlemen, anxious
-to join the girl, did not perceive that they were closely watched by an
-individual, who followed their every movement, while careful not to be
-seen by them. It was Nathan, Red Cedar's eldest son.
-
-How was that man there?
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXIX.
-
-THE AMBUSCADE.
-
-
-The nigh breeze had swept the clouds away; the sky, of a deep azure, was
-studded with an infinity of stars; the night was limpid, the atmosphere
-so transparent as to allow the slightest varieties of the landscape to
-be distinguished. About four leagues from Santa Fe, a numerous band of
-horsemen was following a path scarce traced in the tall grass, which
-approached the town with countless turns and windings. These horsemen,
-who marched in rather decent order, were nearly 600 in number, and
-formed the regiment of dragoons so anxiously expected by General
-Ventura.
-
-About ten paces ahead rode four or five officers gaily chatting
-together, among whom was the colonel. The regiment continued its march
-slowly, advancing cautiously, through fear of losing its way in a
-perfectly strange country. The colonel and his officers who had always
-fought in the States bordering the Atlantic, found themselves now for
-the first time in these savage countries.
-
-"Caballeros," the colonel suddenly remarked, "I confess to you that I am
-completely ignorant as to our whereabouts. Can any one of you throw a
-light on the subject? This road is fearful, it seems to lead nowhere,
-and I am afraid we have lost our way."
-
-"We are all as ignorant as yourself on that head, colonel," an officer
-answered, "not one of us could say where we are."
-
-"On my word!" the colonel went on, taking a glance of satisfaction
-around, "We are not in a hurry to reach Santa Fe. I suppose it makes
-little difference whether we get there today or tomorrow. I believe that
-the best thing for us to do is to bivouac here for the rest of the
-night; at sunrise we will start again."
-
-"You are right, colonel," the officer said, whom he seemed to address
-most particularly, "a few hours' delay is of no consequence, and we run
-the risk of going out of our course."
-
-"Give the order to halt."
-
-The officer immediately obeyed; the soldiers, wearied with a long
-night's march, greeted with shouts of joy the order to stop. They
-dismounted. The horses were unsaddled and picketed, campfires were
-lighted, in less than an hour the bivouac was arranged.
-
-The colonel, in desiring to camp for the night, had a more serious fear
-than that of losing his way; it was that of falling in with a party of
-_Indios bravos._
-
-The colonel was brave, and had proved it on many occasions; grown gray
-in harness, he was an old soldier who feared nothing in the world
-particularly; but accustomed to warfare in the interior of the Republic,
-had never seen opposed to him any but civilised foes, he professed for
-the Indians that instinctive fear which all the Mexicans entertain, and
-he would not risk a fight with an Apache or Comanche war party in the
-middle of the night, in a country whose resources he did not know, and
-run the risk of having his regiment cut to pieces by such Protean
-enemies. On the other hand, he was unaware that the governor of Santa Fe
-had such pressing need of his presence, and this authorised him in
-acting with the utmost precaution. Still, as soon as the bivouac was
-established, and the sentries posted, the colonel sent off a dozen
-resolute men under an Alferez, to trot up the country and try to procure
-a guide.
-
-We will observe, in passing, that in Spanish America, so soon as you
-leave the capitals, such as Lima, or Mexico, roads, such as we
-understand them in Europe, no longer exist; you only find paths traced,
-in nine cases out of ten, by the footprints of wild beasts, and which
-are so entangled one with the other, that, unless you have been long
-accustomed to them, it is almost impossible to find your way. The
-Spaniards, we grant, laid out wide and firm roads, but since the War of
-Independence, they had been cut up, deteriorated and so abandoned by the
-neglect of the ephemeral governments that have followed each other in
-Mexico, that with the exception of the great highways of communication
-in the interior of the country, the rest had disappeared under the
-herbage.
-
-The little squad of troopers sent out to beat up the country had started
-at a gallop, but it soon reduced its pace, and the soldiers and sergeant
-began laughing and talking, caring little for the important mission with
-which they were intrusted. The moon rose on the horizon, shedding her
-fantastic rays over the ground. As we have said, it was one of those
-lovely nights of the American desert full of strange odours. A majestic
-silence hovered over the plain, only disturbed at intervals by those
-sounds, without any known cause, which are heard on the savannahs, and
-which seem to be the respiration of the sleeping world. Suddenly the
-mockingbird sung twice, and its plaintive and soft song resounded
-melodiously through the air.
-
-"Hallo," one of the dragoons said, addressing his comrade, "that's a
-bird that sings very late."
-
-"An evil omen," the other said with a shake of his head.
-
-"_Canarios_! What omen are you talking about, comrade?"
-
-"I have always heard say," the second, speaker remarked sententiously,
-"that when you hear a bird sing on your left at night it predicts
-misfortune."
-
-"The deuce confound you and your prognostics."
-
-At this moment the song, which appeared previously some distance off,
-could be heard much more close, and seemed to come from some trees on
-the side of the path the dragoons were following. The Alferez raised his
-head and stopped, as if mechanically trying to explain the sound that
-smote his ears; but all became silent again, so he shook his head and
-continued his conversation. The detachment had been out more than an
-hour. During this long stroll, the soldiers had discovered nothing
-suspicious; as for the guide they sought, it is needless to say that
-they had not found him, for they had not met a living soul. The Alferez
-was about to give orders to return to camp, when one of the troopers
-pointed out to him some heavy, black forms, apparently prowling about
-unsuspiciously.
-
-"What on earth can that be?" the officer asked, after carefully
-examining what was pointed out to him.
-
-"_Caspita_," one of the dragoons exclaimed, "that is easy to see; they
-are browsing deer!"
-
-"Deer!" said the Alferez, in whom the hunter's instinct was suddenly
-aroused, "there are at least thirty; suppose we try to catch some."
-
-"It is difficult."
-
-"Pshaw!" another soldier shouted, "It is light enough for each of us to
-send them a bullet."
-
-"You must by no means use your carbines," the Alferez interposed
-sharply; "if our shots, re-echoed through the mountains, caught the ears
-of the Indians, who are probably ambushed in the thickets, we should be
-ruined."
-
-"What is to be done, then?"
-
-"Lasso them, _caspita_, as you wish to try and catch them."
-
-"That is true; I did not think of that."
-
-The dragoons, delighted at the opportunity of indulging in their
-favourite sport, dismounted, fastened their horses to the roadside trees
-and seized their lassos. They then advanced cautiously toward the deer,
-which continued grazing tranquilly, without appearing to suspect that
-enemies were so near them. On arriving at a short distance from the
-game, the dragoons separated in order to have room for whirling their
-lassos, and making a covering of each tree, they managed to approach
-within fifteen paces of the animals. Then they stopped, exchanged
-glances, carefully calculated the distance, and, at a signal from their
-leader, sent their lassos whizzing through the air.
-
-A strange thing happened at this moment, however. All the deer hides
-fell simultaneously to the ground, displaying Valentine, Curumilla, and
-a dozen Comanche warriors, who, profiting by the stupor of the troopers
-at their extraordinary metamorphosis, hunted the hunters by throwing
-lassos over their shoulders and hurled them to the ground. The ten
-dragoons and their leader were prisoners.
-
-"Well, my friends," Valentine said with a grin, "how do you like that
-sort of fun?"
-
-The startled dragoons made no reply, but allowed themselves to be bound;
-one alone muttered between his teeth:--
-
-"I was quite sure that villain of a mockingbird would bring us ill luck;
-it sang on our left. That never deceives, _Canarios!_"
-
-Valentine smiled at this sally. He then placed two fingers in his mouth
-and imitated the cry of the mockingbird with such perfection, that the
-soldier looked up at the trees. He had scarce ended, when a rustling was
-heard among the bushes, and a man leaped between the hunters and their
-prisoners. It was Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-A FRIENDLY DISCUSSION.
-
-
-After leaving his enemy (for the mysterious man with whom he had so
-stormy a discussion could be nothing else), Red Cedar set out to join
-the regiment, and hasten its arrival according to the orders he had
-received. In spite of himself, the squatter was suffering from
-extraordinary nervousness, and involuntarily he went over the various
-points of the conversation with the person who took such precautions in
-communicating with him. The threats he had proffered recurred to his
-mind. It appeared as if the bandit, who feared nothing in the world, had
-good reason, however, for trembling in the presence of the man who, for
-more than an hour, had crushed him with his irony. What reason could be
-so powerful as to produce so startling a change in this indomitable
-being? No one could have said; for the squatter was master of his
-secret, and would have mercilessly killed anybody he suspected of having
-read even a portion of it.
-
-The reason was, at any rate, very powerful; for after a few minutes of
-deep thought, his hand let go the reins and his head fell on his breast:
-the horse, no longer feeling the curb, stopped and began nibbling the
-young tree shoots. The squatter did not notice this halt; he was
-thinking, and hoarse exclamations now and then came from his chest, like
-the growling of a wild beast. At length he raised his head.
-
-"No," he shouted, as he directed a savage glance at the starlit sky,
-"any struggle with that demon is impossible. I must fly, so soon as
-possible, to the prairies of the far west. I will leave this implacable
-foe; I will fly from him, as the lion does, carrying off my prey in my
-claws. I have not a moment to lose. What do I care for the Spaniards and
-their paltry disputes? General Ventura will seek another emissary, for
-more important matters claim my attention. I must go to the Rancho del
-Coyote, for there alone I shall find my revenge. Fray Ambrosio and his
-prisoner can supply me with the weapons I need for the terrible contest
-I am compelled to wage against that demon who comes straight from hell,
-and whom I will send back there."
-
-After having uttered these words in a low voice, in the fashion of men
-wont to live in solitude, Red Cedar appeared to regain all his boldness
-and energy. He looked savagely around, and, burying his spurs in his
-horse's flanks, he started with the speed of an arrow in the direction
-of the rancho, which he had left but a few hours previously, and where
-his two accomplices still remained.
-
-The monk and the gambusino, delighted at the unforeseen termination of
-the scene we recently narrated, delighted above all at having got rid of
-Doña Clara without being immediately mixed up in her escape, tranquilly
-resumed their game of _monte_, and played with that mental satisfaction
-produced by the certainty of having nothing to reproach themselves with,
-disputing with the utmost obstinacy for the few reals they still
-happened to have in their pockets. In the midst of a most interesting
-game, they heard the furious gallop of a horse up the paved street.
-Instinctively they stopped and listened; a secret foreboding seemed to
-warn them that this horse was coming to the rancho, and that its rider
-wanted them.
-
-In truth, neither Fray Ambrosio nor Andrés Garote had a quiet
-conscience, even supposing, which was very doubtful, that either had a
-conscience at all, for they felt they were responsible to Red Cedar for
-Doña Clara. Now that the maiden had escaped like, a bird flying from its
-cage, their position with their terrible ally appeared to them in all
-its desperate gravity. They did not conceal from themselves that the
-squatter would demand a severe account of their conduct, and despite
-their cunning and roguishness, they knew not how they should get out of
-it. The sharp gallop of the approaching horse heightened their
-perplexity. They dared not communicate their fears to each other, but
-they sat with heads bent forward, foreseeing that they would soon have
-to sustain a very firm attack.
-
-The horse stopped short before the rancho; a man dismounted, and the
-door shook beneath the tremendous blows of his fists.
-
-"Hum!" the gambusino whispered, as he blew out the solitary candle that
-illumined the room. "Who the deuce can come at this advanced hour of the
-night! I have a great mind not to open."
-
-Strange to say, Fray Ambrosio had apparently regained all his serenity.
-With a smiling face, crossed arms, and back leaned against the wall, he
-seemed to be a perfect stranger to what perplexed his mate so furiously.
-At Garote's remark an ironical smile played round his pale lips for a
-second, and he replied with the most perfect indifference--
-
-"You are at liberty to act as you please, gossip; still I think it my
-duty to warn you of one thing?"
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"That, if you do not open your door, the man, whoever he may be, now
-battering it, is very capable of breaking it in, which would be a
-decided nuisance for you."
-
-"You speak very much at your ease, señor Padre," the gambusino answered,
-ill-temperedly. "Suppose it be Red Cedar?"
-
-"The greater reason to open the door. If you hesitate, he will begin to
-suspect you; and then take care, for he is a man capable of killing you
-like a dog."
-
-"That is possible; but do you think that, in such a case, you will
-escape with clean hands?"
-
-Fray Ambrosio looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, but made no further
-answer.
-
-"Will you open, _demonios_?" a rough voice shouted.
-
-"Red Cedar!" both men whispered.
-
-"I am coming," Andrés replied, in a voice which terror caused to
-tremble.
-
-He rose unwillingly, and walked slowly towards the door, which the
-squatter threatened to tear from its hinges.
-
-"A little patience, caballero," the gambusino said, in that honeyed
-voice peculiar to Mexicans when they meditate some roguery. "Coming,
-coming."
-
-And he began unbarring the door.
-
-"Make haste!" the squatter howled, "For I am in a hurry."
-
-"Hum! It is surely he!" the gambusino thought. "Who are you?" he asked.
-
-"What! Who am I?" Red Cedar exclaimed, bounding with wrath. "Did you not
-recognise me, or are you having a game with me?"
-
-"I never have a game with anyone," Andrés replied, imperturbably: "but I
-warn you that, although I fancy I recognise your voice, I shall not open
-till you mention your name. The night is too far advanced for me to risk
-receiving a suspicious person into my house."
-
-"I will break the door down."
-
-"Try it," the gambusino shouted boldly, "and by our Lady of Pilar I will
-send a bullet through your head."
-
-At this threat the squatter rushed against the door in incredible fury,
-with the evident intention of breaking it in; but, contrary to his
-expectations, though it creaked and groaned on its hinges, it did not
-give way. Andrés Garote had indulged in a line of reasoning which was
-far from being illogical, and revealed a profound knowledge of the human
-heart. He had said to himself, that, as he must face Red Cedar's anger,
-it would be better to let it reach its paroxysm at once so as to have
-only the decreasing period to endure. He smiled at the American's
-sterile attempts, then, and repeated his request.
-
-"Well, then," the other said, furiously, "I am Red Cedar. Do you
-recognise me now, you devil's own Gachupino?"
-
-"Of course; I see that I can open without danger to your Excellency."
-
-And the gambusino hurriedly drew back the bolts.
-
-Red Cedar rushed into the room with a yell of fury, but Andrés had put
-out the light. The squatter stopped, surprised by the gloom which
-prevented him distinguishing any object.
-
-"Hallo!" he said. "What is the meaning of this darkness? I can see
-nothing."
-
-"_Caspita_!" Andrés replied, impudently, "Do you think I amuse myself o'
-nights by watching the moon? I was asleep, compadre, when you came to
-arouse me with your infernal hammerings."
-
-"That is possible," the squatter remarked; "but that was no reason for
-keeping me so long at your door."
-
-"Prudence is the mother of security. We must not let every comer enter
-the rancho."
-
-"Certainly not; I approve of that. Still, you must have recognised my
-voice."
-
-"True. Still I might be mistaken; it is difficult to know anyone through
-the thickness of a door; that is why I wished you to give your name."
-
-"Very good, then," Red Cedar said, as if tired of combating arguments
-which did not convince him. "And where is Fray Ambrosio?"
-
-"Here, I suppose."
-
-"He has not left the rancho?"
-
-"No; unless he took advantage of your arrival to do so."
-
-"Why should he do that?"
-
-"I don't know; you question, and I answer; that's all."
-
-"Why does he not speak, if he is here?"
-
-"He is possibly asleep."
-
-"After the row I made, that is highly improbable."
-
-"Hang it, he may be a hard sleeper."
-
-"Hum!" the squatter snorted, suspiciously; "Light the candle."
-
-Andrés struck a match, and Red Cedar looked eagerly round the room Fray
-Ambrosio had disappeared.
-
-"Where is the monk?" the American asked.
-
-"I do not know: probably gone."
-
-The squatter shook his head.
-
-"All this is not clear," he muttered; "there is treachery behind it."
-
-"That is possible," the gambusino answered, calmly.
-
-Red Cedar bent on Andrés eyes that flashed with fury, and roughly seized
-him by the throat.
-
-"Answer, scoundrel?" he shouted. "What has become of Doña Clara?"
-
-The gambusino struggled, though in vain, to escape from the clutch of
-the squatter, whose fingers entered his flesh, and pressed him as in a
-vice.
-
-"Let me loose," he panted, "you are choking me!"
-
-"Where is Doña Clara?"
-
-"I do not know."
-
-The squatter squeezed more tightly.
-
-"You do not know!" he yelled.
-
-"Aie!" Andrés whined, "I tell you I do not know."
-
-"Malediction!" Red Cedar went on. "I will kill you, _picaro_, if you are
-obstinate."
-
-"Let that man go, and I will tell you all you wish to know," was said in
-a firm voice by a hunter, who at this moment appeared on the threshold.
-
-The two men turned in amazement.
-
-"Nathan!" Red Cedar shouted on recognising his son. "What are you doing
-here?"
-
-"I will tell you, father," the young man said, as he entered the room.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLI.
-
-NATHAN.
-
-
-Nathan was not asleep, as Ellen supposed, when she urged on Shaw to
-devote himself to liberate Doña Clara, and he had listened attentively
-to the conversation. Nathan was a man of about thirty years of age, who,
-both physically and morally, bore a marked resemblance to his father.
-Hence the old squatter had concentrated in him all the affection which
-his uncultivated savage nature was capable of feeling. Since the fatal
-night, when the chief of the Coras had avenged himself for the burning
-of his village and the murder of its inhabitants, Nathan's character had
-grown still more gloomy; a dull and deep hatred boiled in his heart
-against the whole human race; he only dreamed of assassination: he had
-sworn in his heart to revenge on all those who fell into his hands the
-injury one man had inflicted on him; in a word, Nathan loved none and
-hated everything.
-
-When Shaw had disappeared among the bushes, and Ellen, after taking a
-final glance around to convince herself that all was in order,
-re-entered the hut that served her as a shelter, Nathan rose cautiously,
-threw his rifle over his shoulder, and rushed after his brother. Another
-reason urged him to foil Shaw and Ellen's plans; he had a double grudge
-against Don Miguel--the first for the stab the Mexican gentlemen had
-given his father; the second because Don Miguel had compelled him to
-leave the forest in which his family had so daringly installed itself.
-
-Convinced of the importance of the affair, and knowing the value the
-squatter attached to carrying off the maiden, who was a most precious
-hostage for him, Nathan did not lose a moment, but reached Santa Fe by
-the most direct route, bounding with the agility of a tiger cat over the
-obstacles that beset his path. Presently he reached an isolated house,
-not far from which several men were conversing together in a low voice.
-Nathan stopped and listened; but he was too far off, and could
-distinguish nothing. The squatter's son, reared in the desert, was
-thoroughly versed in all its stratagems; with the piercing eye of a man
-accustomed to night journeys in the prairie, he recognised well-known
-persons, and his mind was at once made up.
-
-He laid himself on the ground, and following the shadow cast by the
-moon, lest he might be perceived by the speakers, he advanced, inch by
-inch, crawling like a serpent, stopping at intervals lest the waving of
-the grass might reveal his presence, in short, employing all the
-precautions usual under such circumstances. At length he reached a clump
-of Peru trees only a few yards distant from the spot where the men he
-wished to overhear were standing. He then got up, leaned against the
-largest tree, and prepared to listen. His expectations were not
-deceived; though a few words escaped him here and there, he was near
-enough perfectly to catch the sense of the conference. This conversation
-was, in truth, most interesting to him; a sinister smile lit up his
-face, and he eagerly clenched the barrel of his rifle.
-
-Presently the party broke into two. Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn,
-took the road leading to the open country, while Don Pablo and Father
-Seraphin returned toward the town. Valentine and his two friends almost
-touched the young man as they passed, and he instinctively carried his
-hands to his pistols; they even stopped for a moment and cast suspicious
-glances at the clump that concealed their foe. While conversing in
-whispers, Unicorn drew a few branches aside and peered in; for some
-seconds Nathan felt an indescribable agony; a cold perspiration stood at
-the root of his hair and the blood coursed to his heart; in a word, he
-was afraid. He knew that if these men, his mortal enemies, discovered
-him, they would be pitiless to him and kill him like a dog. But this
-apprehension did not last longer than a lightning flash. Unicorn
-carelessly let the leafy curtain fall again, saying only one word to his
-comrades:--
-
-"Nothing."
-
-The latter resumed their march.
-
-"I do not know why," said Valentine, "but I fancy there is someone
-hidden there."
-
-"No," the chief answered, "there is nobody."
-
-"Well, be it so," the hunter muttered, with a toss of his head.
-
-So soon, as he was alone, Nathan drew two or three deep breaths, and
-started in pursuit of Don Pablo and the missionary, whom he soon caught
-up. As they did not suppose they were followed, they were conversing
-freely together.
-
-In Spanish America, where the days are so warm and the nights so fresh,
-the inhabitants, shut up at home so long as the sun calcines the ground,
-go out at nightfall to breathe a little pure air; the streets, deserted
-in consequence of the heat, are gradually peopled; benches are placed
-before the doors, on which persons recline to smoke and gossip, drink
-orangeade, strum the guitar, and sing. Frequently the entire night is
-passed in these innocent amusements, and folks do not return home till
-dawn, in order to indulge in the sleep so grateful after this long
-watch. Hence the Hispano-American towns must be especially visited by
-night, if you wish to judge truthfully the nature of this people--a
-strange composite of the most discordant contrasts, who only live for
-enjoyment, and only accept from existence the most intoxicating
-pleasures. Still, on the night to which we refer, the town of Santa Fe,
-usually so laughing and chattering, was plunged into a gloomy sadness,
-the streets were deserted, the doors closed; no light filtered through
-the hermetically closed windows; all slept or at least feigned to sleep.
-The fact was, that Santa Fe was at this moment in a state of mortal
-agitation, caused by the condemnation of Don Miguel Zarate, the richest
-land owner in the province--a man who was loved and revered by the whole
-population. The agitation took its origin in the unexpected apparition
-of the Comanche war detachment--those ferocious enemies whose cruelties
-have become proverbial on the Mexican frontier, and whose presence
-presaged nothing good.
-
-Don Pablo and his companion walked quickly, like persons anxious to
-reach a place where they knew they are expected, exchanging but a few
-words at intervals, whose meaning, however, caught up by the man who
-followed them, urged them still more not to let them out of sight. They
-thus traversed the greater part of the town, and on reaching the Calle
-de la Merced, they stopped at their destination--a house of handsome
-aspect.
-
-A weak light burned at the window of a ground floor room. By an
-instinctive movement, the two gentlemen turned round at the moment of
-entering the house but Nathan had slipped into a doorway, and they did
-not perceive him. Father Seraphin tapped gently; the door was at once
-opened, and they went in. Nathan stationed himself in the middle of the
-street, with his eye ardently fixed on the only window of the house lit
-up. Ere long, shadows crossed the curtains.
-
-"Good!" the young man muttered; "But how to warn the old one that the
-dove is in her nest?"
-
-All at once, a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, and Nathan turned,
-fiercely clutching a bowie knife. A man was before him, gloomy, silent
-and wrapped in the thick folds of his cloak. The American started.
-
-"Go your way," he said in a menacing voice.
-
-"What are you doing here?" the stranger asked.
-
-"How does that concern you? The street is free to all."
-
-"No."
-
-This word was pronounced with a sharp accent. Nathan tried in vain to
-scan the features of the man with whom he had to deal.
-
-"Give way," he said, "or blood will surely be shed between us."
-
-As sole reply, the stranger took a pistol in his right hand, a knife in
-his left.
-
-"Ah!" Nathan said, mockingly, "You mean fighting."
-
-"For the last time, withdraw."
-
-"Nonsense, you are mad, señor Caballero; the road belongs to all, I tell
-you. This place suits me, and I shall remain."
-
-"I wish to be alone here."
-
-"You mean to kill me, then?"
-
-"If I must, yes, without hesitation."
-
-The two speakers had exchanged these words in a low and hurried voice,
-in less time than we have employed to write them. They stood but a few
-paces apart with flashing eyes, ready to rush on each other. Nathan
-returned his pistol to his belt.
-
-"No noise," he said; "the knife will do; besides, we are in a country
-where that is the only weapon in use."
-
-"Be it so," the stranger replied; "then, you will not give way to me?"
-
-"You would laugh at me if I did," the American said with a grin.
-
-"Then your blood will be on your own head."
-
-"Or on yours."
-
-The two foemen each fell back a pace, and stood on guard, with their
-cloaks rolled round their left arms. The moon, veiled by clouds, shed no
-light; the darkness was perfect; midnight struck from the cathedral; the
-voice of the _serenos_ chanting the hour could be heard in the distance,
-announcing that all was quiet. There was a moment's hesitation, which
-the enemies employed in scrutinising each other. Suddenly Nathan uttered
-a hoarse yell rushed on his enemy, and threw his cloak in his face, to
-put him on his guard. The stranger parried the stroke dealt him, and
-replied by another, guarded off with equal dexterity. The two men then
-seized each other round the waist, and wrestled for some minutes,
-without uttering a word; at length the stranger rolled on the ground
-with a heavy sigh; Nathan's knife was buried in his chest. The American
-rose with a yell of triumph--his enemy was motionless.
-
-"Can I have killed him?" Nathan muttered.
-
-He returned his knife to his vaquera boot, and bent over the wounded
-man. All at once he started back, for he had recognised his brother
-Shaw.
-
-"What is to be done now?" he said; but then added carelessly, "Pshaw!
-all the worse for him. Why did he come across my path?"
-
-And, leaving there the body of the young man, who gave no sign of life--
-
-"Well, Heaven knows, I ought not, and could not have hesitated," he
-said.
-
-Shaw lay to all appearance dead, with pale and drawn cheeks, in the
-centre of the street.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLII.
-
-THE WOUNDED MAN.
-
-
-Nathan proceeded straight to the Rancho del Coyote, where his unexpected
-arrival was a blessing for Andrés Garote, whom the old squatter was
-treating very roughly. On hearing his son's words, Red Cedar let go of
-the gambusino, who tottered back against the wall.
-
-"Well," he asked, "where is Doña Clara?"
-
-"Come with me, father," the young man answered; "I will lead you to
-her."
-
-"You know her hiding place, then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And so do I," Fray Ambrosio shouted, as he rushed into the room with
-discomfited features; "I felt sure I should discover her."
-
-Red Cedar looked at him in amazement, but the monk did not wince.
-
-"What has happened to her?" the squatter said presently, as he looked
-suspiciously from the monk to the gambusino.
-
-"A very simple matter," Fray Ambrosio answered, with an inimitably
-truthful accent; "about two hours back your son Shaw came here."
-
-"Shaw!" the squatter exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, the youngest of your sons; he is called so, I think?"
-
-"Yes; go on."
-
-"Very good. He presented himself to us as coming from you to remove our
-prisoner."
-
-"And what did you do?" the squatter asked, impatiently.
-
-"What could we do?"
-
-"Why, oppose the girl's departure."
-
-"_Caspita_! Do you fancy we let her go so?" the monk asked,
-imperturbably.
-
-The squatter looked at him in surprise--he no longer understood
-anything. Like all men of action, discussion was to him almost a matter
-of impossibility; especially with an adversary so crafty as the one he
-had before him. Deceived by the monk's coolness and the apparent
-frankness of his answers, he wished to make an end of it.
-
-"Come," he said, "how did all this finish?"
-
-"Thanks to an ally who came to your son's help, and to whom we were
-obliged to bow--"
-
-"An ally! What man can be so bold as to dare--"
-
-"Eh!" the monk sharply interrupted Red Cedar, "that man is a priest, to
-whom you have already bowed many a time."
-
-"You are jesting, señor Padre," the squatter exclaimed, savagely.
-
-"Not the least in the world. Had it been anyone else, I should have
-resisted; but I, too, belong to the Church; and, as Father Seraphin is
-my superior, I was forced to obey him."
-
-"What!" the squatter said, with a groan, "Is he not dead?"
-
-"It appears," the monk remarked, ironically, "as if those you kill are
-all in good state of health, Red Cedar."
-
-At this allusion to Don Pablo's death, the squatter stifled a cry of
-anger, and clenched his fists.
-
-"Good!" he said; "If I do not always kill, I know how to take my
-revenge. Where is Doña Clara, at this moment?"
-
-"In a house no great distance from here," Nathan answered.
-
-"Have you seen her?" the squatter asked.
-
-"No; but I followed Don Pablo and the missionary to that house, which
-they entered, and as they were ignorant that I was close to them, their
-conversation left me no doubt as to the whereabouts of the girl."
-
-An ill-omened smile momentarily lit up the old bandit's features.
-
-"Good!" he said; "as the dove is in her nest, we shall be able to find
-her. What o'clock is it?"
-
-"Three in the morning," Andrés interjected. "Day will soon break."
-
-"We must make haste, then. Follow me, all of you." Then he added, "But
-what has become of Shaw? Does anyone of you know?"
-
-"You will probably find him at the door of Doña Clara's house," Nathan
-said, in a hollow voice.
-
-"How so? Has my son entered into a compact with my enemies?"
-
-"Yes; as he arranged with them to carry off your prisoner."
-
-"Oh! I will kill him if he prove a traitor!" the squatter shouted with
-an accent that made the blood run cold in the veins of his hearers.
-
-Nathan fell back two steps, drew his knife from his boot, and showed it
-to his father.
-
-"That is done," he said, harshly. "Shaw tried to stab me, so I killed
-him."
-
-After these mournful words, there was a moment of silence in the rancho.
-All these men, though their hearts were steeled by crime, shuddered
-involuntarily. Without, the night was gloomy; the wind whistled sadly;
-the flickering light of the candle threw a weird light over the scene,
-which contained a certain degree of terrible poetry. The squatter passed
-his hard hand over his dank brow. A sigh, like a howl, painfully forced
-its way from his oppressed chest.
-
-"He was my last born," he said, in a voice broken by an emotion he could
-not control. "He deserved death, but he ought not to have received it at
-his brother's hands."
-
-"Father!" Nathan muttered.
-
-"Silence!" Red Cedar shouted, in a hollow voice, as he stamped his foot
-passionately on the ground; "What is done cannot be undone; but woe to
-my enemies' family! Oh! I feel now that I can take such vengeance on
-them as will make all shudder who hear it spoken of!"
-
-After uttering these words, which were listened to in silence, the
-squatter walked a few steps up the rancho. He approached a table, seized
-a bottle half full of mezcal that stood on it, and emptied it at a
-draught. When he had finished drinking, he threw down the bottle, which
-broke with a crash, and said to his mates in a hollow voice--
-
-"Let us be off! We have wasted too much time here already!"
-
-And he rushed out of the rancho, the others following close at his
-heels.
-
-In the meanwhile, Don Pablo and Father Seraphin were in the house. The
-priest had taken the maiden to the house of an honest family which owed
-him great obligations, and was too happy to receive the poor sufferer.
-The missionary did not intend, however, to let her be long a burthen to
-these worthy people. At daybreak he intended to deliver her to certain
-relations of her father, who inhabited a hacienda a few leagues from
-Santa Fe.
-
-Doña Clara had been placed in a comfortable room by her hosts. Their
-first care had been to make her doff the Indian robes for others more
-suitable to her birth and position. The maiden worn out by poignant
-emotions of the scene she had witnessed, was on the point of retiring to
-bed, when Father Seraphin and Don Pablo tapped at the door of her room.
-She hastily opened it, and the sight of her brother, whom she had not
-hoped to see so speedily, overwhelmed her with joy.
-
-An hour soon slipped away in pleasant chat. Don Pablo was careful not to
-tell his sister of the misfortune that had befallen her father; for he
-did not wish to dull by that confession the joy the poor girl promised
-herself for the morrow. Then, as the night was advancing, the two men
-withdrew, so as to allow her to enjoy that rest so needed to strengthen
-her for the long journey to the hacienda, promising to come and fetch
-her in a few hours. Father Seraphin generously offered Don Pablo to pass
-the night with him by sharing the small lodging he had not far from the
-Plaza de la Merced, and the young man eagerly accepted. It was too late
-to seek a lodging at a locanda, and in this way he would be all the
-sooner with his sister next morning. After a lengthened leave-taking,
-they, therefore, left the house, and, so soon as they were gone, Doña
-Clara threw herself, ready dressed, into a hammock hanging at one end of
-the room, when she speedily fell asleep.
-
-On reaching the street, Don Pablo saw a body lying motionless in front
-of the house.
-
-"What's this?" he asked, in surprise.
-
-"A poor wretch whom the ladrones killed in order to plunder him," the
-missionary answered.
-
-"That is possible."
-
-"Perhaps he is not quite dead," the missionary went on; "it is our duty
-to succour him."
-
-"For what good?" Don Pablo said, with an air of indifference; "if a
-sereno were to pass he might accuse us of having killed the man."
-
-"Nay, sir," the missionary observed, "the ways of the Lord are
-impenetrable. If He allowed us to come across this unhappy man, it was
-because He judged in His wisdom that we might prove of use to him."
-
-"Be it so," the young man said; "let us look at him, as you wish it. But
-you know that in this country good actions of such a nature generally
-entail annoyance."
-
-"That is true, my son. Well, we will run the risk," said the missionary,
-who had already bent over the wounded man.
-
-"As you please," Don Pablo said, as he followed him.
-
-Shaw, for it was he, gave no signs of life. The missionary examined him,
-then rose hastily, seized Don Pablo's arm, and drew him to him, as he
-whispered--
-
-"Look!"
-
-"Shaw!" the Mexican exclaimed, in surprise; "What could that man be
-doing here?"
-
-"Help me, and we shall learn. The poor fellow has only fainted; and the
-loss of blood has produced this semblance to death."
-
-Don Pablo, greatly perplexed by this singular meeting, obeyed the
-missionary without further remark. The two men raised the wounded lad,
-and carried him gently to Father Seraphin's lodging, where they proposed
-to give him all the help his condition required.
-
-They had scarce turned the corner of the street, when several men
-appeared at the other extremity. They were Red Cedar and his
-confederates. On arriving in front of the house they stopped: all the
-windows were in the deepest obscurity.
-
-"Which is the girl's room?" the squatter asked in a whisper.
-
-"This one," Nathan said, as he pointed to it.
-
-Red Cedar crawled up to the house, drove his dagger into the wall,
-raised himself to the window, and placed his face against a pane.
-
-"All is well! She sleeps!" he said, when he came down. "You, Fray
-Ambrosio, to one corner of the street; you, Garote, to the other, and do
-not let me be surprised."
-
-The monk and the gambusino went to their allotted posts. When Red Cedar
-was alone with his son he bent and whispered in his ear--
-
-"What did you do with your brother after stabbing him?"
-
-"I left him on the spot where he fell."
-
-"Where was that?"
-
-"Just where we now stand."
-
-The squatter stooped down to the ground, and walked a few steps,
-carefully examining the bloody traces left on the pebbles.
-
-"He has been carried off," he said, when he rose again. "Perhaps he is
-not dead."
-
-"Perhaps so," the young man observed, with a shake of his head.
-
-His father gave him a most significant look.
-
-"To work," he said coldly.
-
-And they prepared to escalade the window.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIII.
-
-INDIAN DIPLOMACY.
-
-
-We will return, for the present, to Valentine and his comrades.
-
-The sudden apparition of the sachem of the Coras had produced a certain
-degree of emotion among the hunters and the Comanches. Valentine, the
-first to recover from his surprise, addressed Eagle-wing.
-
-"My brother is welcome," he said, as he held out his hand, which the
-Indian warmly pressed, "What news does the chief bring us?"
-
-"Good," the Coras answered laconically.
-
-"All the better," the hunter said gaily; "for some time past all we have
-received has been so bad that my brother's will create a diversion."
-
-The Indian smiled at this sally, but made no remark.
-
-"My brother can speak," Valentine continued; "he is surrounded by none
-but friends."
-
-"I know it," the chief answered, as he bowed gracefully to the company.
-"Since I left my brother two months have passed away: I have worn out
-many moccasins amid the thorns and brambles of the desert; I have been
-beyond the Great Lakes to the villages of my nation."
-
-"Good; my brother is a chief; he was doubtless well received by the
-sachems of the Coras of the Great Lakes."
-
-"Mookapec is a renowned warrior among his people," the Indian answered
-proudly; "his place by the council fire of the nation is pointed out.
-The chiefs saw him with joy: on his road he had taken the scalps of
-seven gachupinos: they are now drying before the great medicine lodge."
-
-"It was your right to do so, chief, and I cannot blame you. The
-Spaniards have done you harm enough for you to requite them."
-
-"My brother speaks well; his skin is white, but his heart is red."
-
-"Hum," observed Valentine; "I am a friend to justice; vengeance is
-permissible against treachery. Go on, chief."
-
-The hunter's comrades had drawn nearer, and now formed a circle round
-the two speakers. Curumilla was occupied silently, as was his wont, in
-completely stripping each Spanish prisoner, whom he then bound in such a
-way that the slightest movement was impossible.
-
-Valentine, although time pressed, knew too well the Redskin character to
-try and hurry Eagle-wing on. He felt certain that the chief had
-important news to communicate to him; but it would have been no use
-trying to draw it from him; hence he allowed him to act as he pleased.
-Unicorn, leaning on his rifle, listened attentively, without evincing
-the slightest impatience.
-
-"Did my brother remain long with his tribe," Valentine continued.
-
-"Two suns. Eagle-wing had left behind him friends to whom his heart drew
-him."
-
-"Thanks, chief, for the pleasant recollections of us."
-
-"The chiefs assembled in council to hear the words of Eagle-wing," the
-Coras continued. "They shuddered with fury on hearing of the massacre of
-their children; but Mookapec had formed his plan, and two hundred
-warriors are assembled beneath his _totem_."
-
-"Good!" said Valentine, "the chief will avenge himself."
-
-The Indian smiled.
-
-"Yes," he said, "my young men have their orders, they know what I mean
-to do."
-
-"Very good; in that case they are near here?"
-
-"No," the chief replied, with a shake of his head. "Eagle-wing does not
-march with them; he has hidden himself under the skin of an Apache dog."
-
-"What does my brother say?" Valentine asked with amazement.
-
-"My white brother is quick," Unicorn said, sententiously; "he will let
-Mookapec speak. He is a great sachem, and wisdom dwells in him."
-
-Valentine shook his head, however, and said--
-
-"Hum! Answering one act of treachery by another, that is not the way in
-which the warriors of my nation behave."
-
-"The nation of my brother is great, and strong as the grizzly bear,"
-Unicorn said; "it does not need to march along hidden paths. The poor
-Indians are weak as the beaver, but like him they are very cunning."
-
-"That is true," Valentine replied, "cunning must be allowed you in
-dealing with the implacable enemies who surround you. I was wrong; so go
-on, chief; tell us what deviltry you have invented, and if it is
-ingenious. Well, I will be the first to applaud it."
-
-"Wah, my brother shall judge. Red Cedar is about to enter the desert, as
-my brother doubtless knows?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Does my brother know the _Gringo_ has asked the Apaches for a guide?"
-
-"No, I did not."
-
-"Good. Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, sent a Navajo warrior
-to act as guide to Red Cedar."
-
-"Well?"
-
-"The Navajo was scalped by Eagle-wing."
-
-"Ah, ah! Then Red Cedar cannot set out?"
-
-"Yes, he can do so when he likes."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Because Eagle-wing takes the place of the guide."
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"My brother has a deal of wisdom," he said.
-
-"Hum!" Valentine remarked, with some show of ill-humour. "It is
-possible, but you play for a heavy stake, chief. That old villain is as
-crafty as ten monkeys and ten opossums united. I warn you that he will
-recognise you."
-
-"No."
-
-"I wish it; for if he does, you are a lost man."
-
-"Good, my brother can be easy. Eagle-wing is a warrior; he will see the
-white hunter again in the desert."
-
-"I wish so, chief; but I doubt. However, act as you please. When will
-you join Red Cedar?"
-
-"This night."
-
-"You are going to leave us?"
-
-"At once. Eagle-wing has nothing more to confide to his brother."
-
-And, after bowing courteously to the company, the Coras chief glided
-into the thicket, in which he disappeared almost instantaneously.
-Valentine looked after him for some time.
-
-"Yes," he said at last, with a thoughtful air, "his project is a daring
-one, such as might be expected from so great a warrior. May heaven
-protect him, and allow him to succeed! Well, we shall see; perhaps all
-is for the best so."
-
-And he turned to Curumilla.
-
-"The clothes?" he said.
-
-"Here they are," the Aucas answered, laconically, as he pointed to an
-enormous heap of clothing.
-
-"What does my brother mean to do with them?" Unicorn asked.
-
-"My brother will see," Valentine said, with a smile, "each of us is
-going to put on one of those uniforms."
-
-The Comanche drew himself up hastily.
-
-"No," he said, "Unicorn does not put off the dress of his people. What
-need have we of this disguise?"
-
-"In order to enter the camp of the Spaniards without being discovered."
-
-"Wah! For what good? Unicorn will summon his young men to cut a passage
-through the corpses of the gachupinos."
-
-But Valentine shook his head mournfully.
-
-"It is true," he remarked, "we could do so. But why shed blood
-needlessly? No; let my brother put confidence in me."
-
-"The hunter will act rightly. Unicorn knows it, and he leaves him free;
-but Unicorn is a chief, he cannot put on the clothes of the palefaces."
-
-Valentine no longer insisted, as it would have been unavailing; so he
-agreed to modify his plan. He made each of his comrades put on a dragoon
-uniform, and himself donned the clothes stripped from the Alferez. When
-all this metamorphosis was as complete as possible, he turned to
-Unicorn.
-
-"The chief will remain here," he said, "to guard the prisoners."
-
-"Good," the Comanche answered. "Is Unicorn, then, a chattering old
-woman, that warriors place him on one side?"
-
-"My brother does not understand me. I do not wish to insult him, but he
-cannot enter the camp with us."
-
-The chief shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.
-
-"The Comanche warriors can crawl as well as serpents. Unicorn will
-enter."
-
-"Let my brother come, then, since he wishes it."
-
-"Good; my brother is vexed; a cloud has passed over his face. He is
-wrong; his friend loves him."
-
-"I know it, chief, I know it. I am not vexed, but my heart is sad to see
-a warrior thus run the risk of being killed without any necessity."
-
-"Unicorn is a sachem; he must give an example to his young men on the
-warpath."
-
-Valentine gave a nod of assent.
-
-"Here are the horses of the palefaces," Curumilla said; "my brother will
-need them."
-
-"That is true," the hunter answered, with a smile; "my brother is a
-great chief--he thinks of everything."
-
-Everyone mounted, Unicorn alone remaining a-foot. Valentine placed the
-Alferez by his side.
-
-"Caballero," he said to him, "you will act as our guide to the camp. We
-do not wish to take the lives of your countrymen; our intention is
-simply to prevent them following us at present. Pay attention to my
-words: if you attempt to deceive us, I blow out your brains. You are
-warned."
-
-The Spaniard bowed, but made no reply. As for the prisoners, they had
-been so conscientiously tied by Curumilla that there was no chance of
-their escaping. The little band then set out, Unicorn disappearing among
-the trees. When they came a short distance from the bivouac, a sentry
-challenged, "Who goes there?"
-
-"Answer," Valentine whispered the Alferez.
-
-He did so. They passed, and the sentry, suddenly seized by Curumilla,
-was bound and gagged in the twinkling of an eye, all the other sentinels
-sharing the same fate. The Mexicans keep up a very bad watch in the
-field, even in the presence of an enemy; the greater reason, then, for
-them to neglect all precaution when they fancy themselves in safety.
-Everybody was asleep, and Valentine and his friends were masters of the
-camp. The regiment of dragoons had been surprised without striking a
-blow.
-
-Valentine's comrades dismounted; they knew exactly how to act, and did
-not deviate from the instructions given by their leader. They proceeded
-from picket to picket, removing the horses, which were led out of camp.
-Within twenty minutes all had been carried off. Valentine had anxiously
-followed the movements of his men. When they had finished, he raised the
-curtain of the colonel's tent, and found himself face to face with
-Unicorn, from whose waist-belt hung a reeking scalp. Valentine could not
-repress a movement of horror.
-
-"What have you done, chief?" he asked, reproachfully.
-
-"Unicorn has killed his enemy," the Comanche replied, peremptorily.
-"When the leader of the antelopes is killed, his flock disperses; the
-gachupinos will do the same."
-
-Valentine drew near the colonel. The unhappy man, fearfully mutilated,
-with his brain laid bare, and his heart pierced by the knife of the
-implacable Indian, lay stark dead, in a pool of blood, in the middle of
-the tent. The hunter vented a sigh at this sorry sight.
-
-"Poor devil!" he said, with an air of compassion.
-
-After this short funeral oration, he took away his sabre and epaulettes,
-left the tent, followed by the Indian chief, and rejoined his comrades.
-The horses were led to the Comanche camp, after which Valentine and his
-party wrapped themselves in their blankets, and slept calmly till
-daybreak. The dragoons were no longer to be feared.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIV.
-
-THE STRANGER.
-
-
-Father Seraphin and Don Pablo we left bearing the wounded man to the
-missionary's lodging. Although the house to which they were proceeding
-was but a short distance off, yet the two gentlemen, compelled to take
-every precaution, employed considerable time on the journey. Nearly
-every step they were compelled to halt, so as not to fatigue too greatly
-the wounded man, whose inert limbs swayed in every direction.
-
-"The man is dead," Don Pablo remarked, during a halt they made on the
-Plaza de la Merced.
-
-"I fear so," the missionary answered, sadly; "still, as we are not
-certain of it, our conscience bids us to bestow our care on him, until
-we acquire the painful conviction that it avails him nought."
-
-"Father, the love of one's neighbour often carries you too far; better
-were it, perhaps, if this wretch did not come back to life."
-
-"You are severe, my friend. This man is still young--almost a boy.
-Trained amid a family of bandits, never having aught but evil examples
-before him, he has hitherto only done evil, in a spirit of imitation.
-Who knows whether this fearful wound may not offer him the means to
-enter the society of honest people, which he has till now been ignorant
-of? I repeat to you, my friend, the ways of the Lord are inscrutable."
-
-"I will do what you wish, father. You have entire power over me. Still,
-I fear that all our care will be thrown away."
-
-"God, whose humble instruments we are, will prove you wrong, I hope.
-Come, a little courage, a few paces further, and we shall have arrived."
-
-"Come on then," Don Pablo said with resignation.
-
-Father Seraphin lodged at a house of modest appearance, built of adobes
-and reeds, in a small room he hired from a poor widow, for the small sum
-of nine reals a month. This room, very small, and which only received
-air from a window opening on an inner yard, was a perfect conventual
-cell, as far as furniture was concerned, for the latter consisted of a
-wooden frame, over which a bull hide was stretched, and served as the
-missionary's bed; a butaca and a prie-dieu, above which a copper
-crucifix was fastened to the whitewashed wall. But, like all cells, this
-room was marvellously clean. From a few nails hung the well-worn clothes
-of the poor priest, and a shelf supported vials and flasks which
-doubtless contained medicaments; for, like all the missionaries, Father
-Seraphin had a rudimentary knowledge of medicine, and took in charge
-both the souls and bodies of his neophytes.
-
-The father lit a candle of yellow tallow standing in an iron
-candlestick, and, aided by Don Pablo, laid the wounded man on his own
-bed; after which the young man fell back into the butaca to regain his
-breath. Father Seraphin, on whom, spite of his fragile appearance, the
-fatigue had produced no apparent effect, then went downstairs to lock
-the street door, which he had left open. As he pushed it to, he felt an
-opposition outside, and a man soon entered the yard.
-
-"Pardon, my reverend father," the stranger said; "but be kind enough not
-to leave me outside."
-
-"Do you live in this house?"
-
-"No," the stranger coolly replied, "I do not live in Santa Fe, where I
-am quite unknown."
-
-"Do you ask hospitality of me, then?" Father Seraphin continued, much
-surprised at this answer.
-
-"Not at all, reverend father."
-
-"Then what do you want?" the missionary said, still more surprised.
-
-"I wish to follow you to the room where you have laid the wounded man,
-to whose aid you came so generously a short time back."
-
-"This request, sir--" the priest said, hesitating.
-
-"Has nothing that need surprise you. I have the greatest interest in
-seeing with my own eyes in what state that man is, for certain reasons
-which in no way concern you."
-
-"Do you know who he is?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Are you a relation or friend of his?"'
-
-"Neither one nor the other. Still, I repeat to you, very weighty reasons
-compel me to see him and speak with him, if that be possible."
-
-Father Seraphin took a searching glance at the speaker.
-
-He was a man of great height, apparently in the fullest vigour of life.
-His features, so far as it was possible to distinguish them by the pale
-and tremulous moonbeams, were handsome, though an expression of
-unbending will was the marked thing about them. He wore the dress of
-rich Mexican hacenderos, and had in his right hand a magnificently
-inlaid American rifle. Still the missionary hesitated.
-
-"Well," the stranger continued, "have you made up your mind, father?"
-
-"Sir," Father Seraphin answered with firmness, "do not take in ill part
-what I am going to say to you."
-
-The stranger bowed.
-
-"I do not know who you are; you present yourself to me in the depths of
-the night, under singular circumstances. You insist, with strange
-tenacity, on seeing the poor man whom Christian charity compelled me to
-pick up. Prudence demands that I should refuse to let you see him."
-
-A certain annoyance was depicted on the stranger's features.
-
-"You are right, father," he answered; "appearances are against me.
-Unfortunately, the explanation you demand from me justly would make us
-lose too much precious time, hence I cannot give them to you at this
-moment. All I can do is to swear, in the face of Heaven, on that
-crucifix you wear round your neck, and which is the symbol of our
-redemption, that I only wish well to the man you have housed, and that I
-am this moment seeking to punish a great criminal."
-
-The stranger uttered these words with such frankness, and such an air of
-conviction, his face glistened with so much honesty, that the missionary
-felt convinced: he took up the crucifix and offered it to this
-extraordinary man.
-
-"Swear," he said.
-
-"I swear it," he replied in a firm voice.
-
-"Good," the priest went on, "now you can enter, sir; you are one of
-ourselves; I will not even insult you by asking your name."
-
-"My name would teach you nothing, father," the stranger said sadly.
-
-"Follow me, sir."
-
-The missionary locked the gate and led the stranger to his room, on
-entering which the newcomer took off his hat reverently, took up a post
-in a corner of the room, and did not stir.
-
-"Do not trouble yourself about me, father," he said in a whisper, "and
-put implicit faith in the oath I took."
-
-The missionary only replied by a nod, and as the wounded man gave no
-sign of life, but still lay much in the position he was first placed in,
-Father Seraphin walked up to him. For a long time, however, the
-attention he lavished on him proved sterile, and seemed to produce no
-effect on the squatter's son. Still, the father did not despair,
-although Don Pablo shook his head. An hour thus passed, and no
-ostensible change had taken place in the young man's condition; the
-missionary had exhausted all his stock of knowledge, and began to fear
-the worst. At this moment the stranger walked up to him.
-
-"My father," he said, touching him gently on the arm, "you have done all
-that was humanly possible, but have not succeeded."
-
-"Alas! No!" the missionary said sadly.
-
-"Will you permit me to try in my turn?"
-
-"Do you fancy you will prove, more successful than I?" the priest asked
-in surprise.
-
-"I hope so," the stranger said softly.
-
-"Still, you see I have tried everything that the medical art prescribes
-in such a case."
-
-"That is true, father; but the Indians possess certain secrets known
-only to themselves, and which are of great efficacy."
-
-"I have heard so. But do you know those secrets?"
-
-"Some of them have been revealed to me; if you will permit me, I will
-try their effects on this young man, who, as far as I can judge, is in a
-desperate condition."
-
-"I fear he is, poor fellow."
-
-"We shall, therefore, run no risk in trying the efficacy of my superior
-remedy upon him."
-
-"Certainly not."
-
-The stranger bent over the young man, and regarded him for a moment with
-fixed attention; then he drew from his pocket a flask of carved crystal,
-filled with a fluid as green as emerald. With the point of his dagger he
-slightly opened the wounded man's closed teeth, and poured into his
-mouth four or five drops of the fluid contained in the flask. A strange
-thing then occurred; the young man gave vent to a deep sigh, opened his
-eyes several times, and suddenly, as if moved by supernatural force, he
-sat up and looked around him with amazement. Don Pablo and the
-missionary were almost inclined to believe in a miracle so extraordinary
-did the fact appear to them. The stranger returned to his dark corner.
-Suddenly the young man passed his hand over his dank forehead, and
-muttered in a hollow voice:--
-
-"Ellen, my sister, it is too late. I cannot save her. See, see, they are
-carrying her off; she is lost!"
-
-And he fell back on the bed, as the three men rushed towards him.
-
-"He sleeps!" the missionary said in amazement.
-
-"He is saved?" the stranger answered.
-
-"What did he want to say, though?" Don Pablo inquired anxiously.
-
-"Did you not understand it?" the stranger asked of him.
-
-"No."
-
-"Well, then, I will tell you."
-
-"You!"
-
-"Yes, I; listen! That lad wished to deliver your sister!"
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"Is it true?"
-
-"It is; go on."
-
-"He was stabbed at the door of the house when she sought shelter."
-
-"What next?"
-
-"Those who stabbed him wished to get him out of the way, in order to
-carry her off a second time."
-
-"Oh, that is impossible!"
-
-"It is the fact."
-
-"How do you know it?"
-
-"I do not know it, but I can read it plainly."
-
-"Ah!" Don Pablo exclaimed in despair, "my father--let us fly to my
-sister's aid!"
-
-The two gentlemen rushed from the house with a presentiment of
-misfortune. When the stranger found himself alone with the wounded man,
-he walked up to him, wrapped him in his cloak, threw him over his
-shoulders as easy as if he were only a child, and went out in his turn.
-On reaching the street, he carefully closed the door, and went off at a
-great rate, soon disappearing in the darkness. At the same instant the
-melancholy voice of the sereno could be heard chanting--
-
-_"Ave Maria purísima! Los cuatro han dado! Viva Méjico! Todo es
-quieto!_"[1]
-
-What irony on the part of accident was this cry after the terrible
-events of the night!
-
-
-[1] Hail, most pure Mary! It has struck four. Long live Mexico! All is
-quiet.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLV.
-
-GENERAL VENTURA.
-
-
-It was about six in the morning. A dazzling sun poured down its
-transparent rays on the streets of the Presidio of Santa Fe, which were
-already full of noise and movement at that early hour of the morning.
-General Ventura was still plunged in a deep sleep, probably lulled by
-agreeable dreams, judging from the air of beatitude spread over his
-features. The general, reassured by the speedy arrival of the dragoons
-promised him, fancied he had nothing more to fear from mutineers who had
-hitherto inspired him with lively apprehensions. He thought, too, that
-by the aid of the reinforcements, he could easily get rid of the
-Comanche, who, on the previous day, had so audaciously bearded him in
-the very heart of his palace.
-
-He slept, then, that pleasant morning sleep, in which the body, entirely
-rested from its fatigue, leaves the mind the entire liberty of its
-faculties. Suddenly the door of the sleeping room in which the worthy
-governor reposed, was torn violently open, and an officer entered.
-General Ventura, aroused with a start, sat up in his bed, fixing on the
-importunate visitor a glance, at first stern, but which at once became
-uneasy on seeing the alarm depicted on the officer's features.
-
-"What is the matter, señor Captain Don Lopez?" he asked, trying in vain
-to give firmness to his voice, which trembled involuntarily from a
-foreboding of evil.
-
-Captain Lopez was a soldier of fortune, who had grown grey in harness,
-and contracted a species of rough frankness, that prevented him toning
-the truth down under any circumstances, which fact made him appear, in
-the General's eyes, a bird of very evil omen. The captain's arrival,
-therefore, doubly disquieted the governor. In the first place, through
-his alarmed face; and secondly, the reputation he enjoyed. To the
-general's query the captain only replied the following three storm laden
-words--
-
-"Nothing that's good."
-
-"What do you mean? Have the people rebelled??"
-
-"On my word, no! I do not fancy they even dream of such a thing."
-
-"Very well, then," the general went on, quite cheered by the good news,
-"what the deuce have you to tell me, captain?"
-
-"I have not come to tell you anything," the other said, roughly. "There
-is a soldier outside who has just come from I don't know where, and who
-insists on speaking with you. Shall I bring him, or send him about his
-business."
-
-"One moment," exclaimed the general, whose features had suddenly become
-gloomy; "who is the soldier?"
-
-"A dragoon, I fancy."
-
-"A dragoon! Let him come in at once. May heaven bless you, with all your
-circumlocution! The man, doubtless, brings me news of the arrival of the
-regiment I am expecting, and which should have been here before."
-
-The captain shrugged his shoulders with an air of doubt.
-
-"What is it now?" the general said, whom this expressive pantomime
-eminently alarmed; "What are you going to say?"
-
-"Nothing, except that the soldier looks very sad to be the bearer of
-such good news."
-
-"We shall soon know what we have to depend on. Let him come in."
-
-"That is true," said the captain, as he went off.
-
-During this conversation the general had leaped from his bed, and
-dressed himself with the promptness peculiar to soldiers. He now
-anxiously awaited the appearance of the trooper whom Don Lopez had
-announced to him. In vain he tried to persuade himself that the captain
-was mistaken, and that the soldier had been sent to tell him of the
-arrival of the regiment. In spite of himself, he felt in his heart a
-species of alarm which he could not account for, and yet nothing could
-dissipate.
-
-A few minutes were thus passed in febrile restlessness. All at once a
-great noise was heard in the Plaza Major. The general went to a window,
-pulled aside a curtain, and looked out. A tumultuous and dense crowd was
-thronging every street leading to the square and uttering sharp cries.
-This crowd, momentarily increasing, seemed urged on by something
-terrible, which the general could not perceive.
-
-"What is this?" the general exclaimed; "And what can be the meaning of
-this disturbance?"
-
-At this moment the shouts grew louder, and the detachment of Comanche
-warriors appeared debouching by the Calle de la Merced, and marching in
-good order, and at quick step, upon the palace. On seeing them the
-general could not restrain a start of surprise.
-
-"The Indians again!" he said; "How can they dare to present themselves
-here? They must be ignorant of the arrival of the dragoons. Such
-boldness is incomprehensible."
-
-He let the curtain fall, and turned away. The soldier whom the captain
-had announced to him stood before him, waiting the general's pleasure to
-question him. The general started on perceiving him. He was pale; his
-uniform was torn and stained with mud, as if he had made a long journey
-on foot through brambles. The general wished to clear up his doubts;
-but, just as he was opening his mouth to ask the man a question, the
-door flew back, and several officers, among whom was Captain Don Lopez,
-entered the room.
-
-"General," the captain said, "make haste! You are expected in the
-council hall. The Indians have come for the answer you promised to give
-them this morning."
-
-"Well! Why this startled look, gentlemen?" the general said, severely.
-"I fancy the town has not yet been set on fire. I am not at the orders
-of those savages, so tell them that I have no time to grant them an
-audience."
-
-The officers gazed at the general with a surprise they did not attempt
-to conceal, on hearing these strange and incomprehensible words.
-
-"Good, good," Captain Lopez said, roughly, "the town is not yet fired,
-'tis true; but it might be so, erelong, if you went on in this way."
-
-"What do you mean?" the general asked, as he turned pale. "Are matters
-so serious?"
-
-"They are most serious. We have not a moment to lose, if we wish to
-avoid heavy disasters."
-
-The general started.
-
-"Gentlemen," he then said, in an ill-assured voice, "it is our duty to
-watch over the safety of the population. I follow you."
-
-And taking no further heed of the soldier he had ordered to be sent in,
-he proceeded towards the council hall.
-
-The disorder that prevailed without had at length gained the interior of
-the palace. Nothing was to be heard but shrieks or exclamations of anger
-and terror. The Mexican officers assembled in the hall were tumultuously
-discussing the measures to be adopted in order to save a contest and the
-town. The entrance of the governor produced a healthy effect upon them,
-in so far that the discussion, which was degenerating into personalities
-and reproaches, dictated by individual fear, suddenly ceased, and
-calmness was restored.
-
-General Ventura regretted in his heart having counted on imaginary help,
-and not having listened to the sensible advice of some of his officers,
-who urged him the previous day to satisfy the Indians by giving them
-what they asked. In spite of the terror he felt, however, his pride
-revolted at being compelled to treat on equal terms with barbarians, and
-accept harsh conditions which they would doubtless impose on him, in the
-consciousness of having the upper hand.
-
-The governor, in entering the hall, looked around the assembly
-anxiously. All had taken their places, and, externally at least, had
-assumed that grace and stern appearance belonging to men who are
-penetrated with the grandeur of the duties they have to perform, and are
-resolved to carry them out at all hazards. But this appearance was very
-deceptive. If the faces were impassive the hearts were timorous. All
-these men, habituated to a slothful and effeminate life, did not feel
-capable of waging a contest with the rude enemies who menaced them so
-audaciously, even at the doors of the governor's palace.
-
-Under present circumstances, however, resistance was impossible. The
-Indians, by the fact of their presence on the square, were masters of
-the town. There were no troops to oppose to them; hence, the only hope
-was to make the easiest terms possible with the Comanches. Still, as all
-these men wished to save appearances at any rate, the discussion began
-anew. When everyone had given his opinion, the governor rose, and said
-in a trembling voice--
-
-"Caballeros, all of us here present: are men of courage, and have
-displayed that quality in many difficult circumstances. Certainly, if
-the only thing, was to sacrifice our lives to save the hapless townsmen,
-we would not hesitate to do so, for we are too well imbued with the
-soundness of our duties tot hesitate; but, unhappily, that sacrifice
-would not avail to save those whom we wish before all to protect. Let us
-treat, then, with the barbarians, as we cannot conquer them. Perhaps in
-this way we shall succeed in protecting our wives; and children from the
-danger that menaces them. In acting thus, under the grave circumstances
-in which we find ourselves, we shall at least have the consolation of
-having done our duty, even if we do not obtain all we desire."
-
-Hearty applause greeted this harangue, and the governor, turning to the
-porter, who stood motionless at the door, gave orders to introduce the
-principal Indian chiefs.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLVI.
-
-THE COMANCHES.
-
-
-Valentine and his friends awoke at daybreak. The Comanches were already
-prepared to start; and Unicorn, dressed in his great war costume,
-presented himself to the hunter.
-
-"Is my brother going?" Valentine asked him.
-
-"Yes," the sachem answered. "I am returning to the Presidio to receive
-the answer of the chief of the palefaces."
-
-"What is my brother's intention, should his demand be rejected?"
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"The Comanches have long lances," he said; "the palefaces will not
-refuse."
-
-"My anxiety will be extreme till you return, chief; the Spaniards are
-perfidious; take care they have not planned some treachery."
-
-"They would not dare," Unicorn said, haughtily. "If the chief, whom my
-brother loves, is not delivered to me safe and sound, the Spanish
-prisoners shall be tortured on the plaza of Santa Fe, the town burned
-and sacked. I have spoken; my brother's mind may be at rest."
-
-"Good! Unicorn is a wise chief; he will do what is necessary."
-
-In the meantime the Comanche warriors had formed their ranks, and only
-awaited the signal of the sachem to start. The Spanish prisoners taken
-during the night were placed in the centre bound and half naked.
-Suddenly a disturbance was heard in the camp, and two men rushed panting
-toward the spot where stood Valentine, the sachem and Curumilla. They
-were Don Pablo and Father Seraphin, their clothes in disorder, their
-features haggard, and their faces glistening with perspiration. On
-reaching their friends, they fell, almost in a fainting state, on the
-ground. The proper attentions were at once paid them, and the missionary
-was the first to recover. Don Pablo seemed stupefied; the tears poured
-incessantly down his cheeks, and he could not utter a word. Valentine
-felt strangely alarmed.
-
-"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "What has happened? Don Miguel--?"
-
-The missionary shook his head.
-
-"No," he said, "nothing has happened to him, as far as I know."
-
-"Heaven be praised! But what is the matter, father? What misfortune have
-you to announce to me?"
-
-"A frightful one, indeed, my son," the missionary replied, as he buried
-his face in his hands.
-
-"Speak, in Heaven's name! Your delay is killing me."
-
-"Doña Clara--"
-
-"Well!" he hunter said, sharply.
-
-"Was captured again last night by Red Cedar, and torn from the refuge
-where I placed her."
-
-"Oh!" Valentine exclaimed, with concentrated fury, as he stamped his
-foot, "Always that demon--that accursed Red Cedar. My curses on him! But
-take courage, father; let us first save Don Miguel, and then I swear to
-you that I will restore his daughter to him."
-
-Unicorn advanced.
-
-"Master of prayer," he said to Father Seraphin, in a soft and impressive
-voice, "your heart is good. The Comanches love you. Unicorn will help
-you. Pray to your God. He will protect us in our researches, since He
-is, as you say, so powerful."
-
-Then the chief turned to Don Pablo, and laid his hand firmly on his
-shoulder.
-
-"Women weep," he said; "men avenge themselves. Has not my brother his
-rifle?"
-
-On feeling the Comanche's hand laid on him--on hearing these words--the
-young man quivered as if he had received an electric shock. He drew
-himself up, and fixed on the chief his eyes burning with the fever of
-sorrow.
-
-"Yes," he said, in a broken voice, "you are right, chief, and," passing
-his hand over his eyes, with a gesture of rage, "let us leave tears to
-women, who have no other weapons to protect their weakness. I am a man,
-and will avenge myself."
-
-"Good. My brother speaks well: he is a warrior; Unicorn esteems him; he
-will become great on the war path."
-
-Don Pablo, crushed for a moment, had regained all his energy; he was no
-longer the same man; he looked around him.
-
-"Where are you going?" he asked.
-
-"To Santa Fe, to deliver your father."
-
-"I will go with you."
-
-"Come," said Unicorn.
-
-"No," Valentine interposed, authoritatively. "Your place is not there,
-Don Pablo; leave the Comanche warriors to act as they please; they do
-not need your help to carry out their plans properly. Remain with me."
-
-"Command me, my friend," the young man said with resignation; "I have
-perfect confidence in your experience."
-
-"Good. You are reasonable. Brother," he added, turning to the chief,
-"you can start. The sun is already high in the horizon; may Heaven grant
-that you may succeed!"
-
-Unicorn gave the signal for departure. The Comanches uttered their war
-yell, while brandishing their arms, and started at a quick amble, the
-only pace they know. Curumilla then rose, and wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe; Valentine watching him, inquiringly.
-
-"Does my brother leave us?" he said.
-
-"Yes," the Araucano answered, laconically.
-
-"For long?"
-
-"For a few hours?"
-
-"Where is my brother going?"
-
-"To look for the camp of Red Cedar's gambusinos," the Indian replied
-with a cunning smile.
-
-"Good," Valentine said, gleefully. "My brother is a wise chief; he
-forgets nothing."
-
-"Curumilla loves his brother; he thinks for him," the chief answered,
-simply.
-
-After uttering these words, the Unicorn bowed gracefully, and proceeded
-in the direction of the Paso del Norte, soon disappearing in the
-windings of the road. Valentine looked after him for a long while. When
-he no longer saw him, he let his head fall pensively on his chest,
-murmuring in a low voice--
-
-"Good, intelligent fellow! Heart of gold! The only friend left me! The
-only one remaining of my old and faithful comrades! Louis, my poor
-Louis, where are you now?" A deep sigh burst from his bosom, and he
-remained absorbed in a gloomy reverie.
-
-At length Valentine raised his head, passed his hand over his brow, as
-if to dispel these sad thoughts, and turned to his friends.
-
-"Pardon me," he said, "but I, at times, give way to my thoughts in that
-fashion. Alas! I, too, have suffered; but let us leave that," he added,
-gaily. "Bygones must be bygones. Let us attend to your affairs."
-
-He made them a sign to sit down by his side on the grass, rummaged his
-alforjas and produced some slight food, which he laid before them.
-
-"Eat," he said to them; "we do not know what awaits us within the next
-few hours, and we must recruit our strength. When you have satisfied
-your appetite, you will tell me all about Doña Clara being carried off
-again, for I must have the fullest details."
-
-We will leave the three now conversing, and join the Comanches and
-Unicorn again.
-
-When the Comanches reached the Plaza Mayor, opposite the Cabildo, they
-halted. At an order from Unicorn, the prisoners were completely stripped
-of their clothing and placed some distance in front of the first rank of
-Indians, each of them having at his side a fully armed Indian ready to
-massacre him mercilessly at the slightest sign from Unicorn. When the
-preparations were completed, and the Comanches had stationed sentinels
-at each corner of the streets, opening in the square, in order not to be
-taken in reverse, and surrounded by the Spaniards, if they felt any
-inclination for fighting, the Spider, the chief who had already
-performed the duty of flag of truce, pranced up to the gate of the
-palace, and demanded speech with the governor.
-
-The officer of the guard, who was no other than Don Lopez, politely
-requested the Indian warrior to wait a few moments, and then proceeded
-in all haste to General Ventura. We have seen what took place, and,
-after a delay of nearly half an hour, Captain Don Lopez returned. It was
-time, for the Comanches were beginning to grow tired of waiting, and
-were preparing to force the passage which was not voluntarily granted
-them. After some preliminary explanations, Captain Lopez informed the
-Spider that the general, surrounded by his staff, was awaiting, in the
-hall of audience, the sachem of the nation and his three principal
-warriors.
-
-The Spider communicated this answer to Unicorn, who gave a nod of
-assent, dismounted, and entered the Cabildo.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
-NEGOTIATIONS.
-
-
-When Unicorn entered the council chamber, preceded by Captain Lopez, and
-followed by the three Indian chiefs, the deepest silence prevailed among
-the Spanish officers assembled to meet him. The governor, seated in a
-chair placed in the centre of the hall, was looking nervously round him,
-while tapping on the arm of the chair with the fingers of his right
-hand. Still, his countenance was tolerably composed; nothing externally
-revealed the terror that devoured him. He answered by a nod the
-ceremonious bow of the Comanches, and drew himself up as if intending to
-address them; but if such were his desire, Unicorn did not grant him
-time to do so. The sachem draped himself in his buffalo robe with that
-majestic grace possessed by all those untamed sons of the desert, drew
-his head up proudly, and walked toward General Ventura, who watched him
-approach with an anxious eye. On coming within four paces of the
-governor, Unicorn stopped, crossed his arms on his chest, and took the
-word.
-
-"I salute my father!" he said, in a loud and fierce voice. "I have come,
-as was agreed on yesterday, to fetch the answer he owes me."
-
-The general hesitated for an instant.
-
-"I am waiting!" the Indian went on, with a frown that augured ill.
-
-The general, forced almost into his last entrenchments, saw that the
-hour for surrender had at length arrived, and that no way of escape was
-left him.
-
-"Chief," he answered, in anything but a firm voice, "your behavior
-naturally surprises me. To my knowledge the Spaniards are not at war
-with your nation; the whites have not done anything of which you have a
-right to complain. For what reason do you come, then, against the sworn
-faith, and when nothing authorises you, to invade a defenceless town,
-and interfere in matters that only concern ourselves?"
-
-The sachem understood that the Spaniard was trying to shift the question
-on to other ground; he saw the snare offered him, and was not to be
-caught.
-
-"My father does not answer my request," he said. "Still, in order to
-have finished at once with the recriminations he brings up, I will
-answer his questions peremptorily, separating them one from the other.
-In the first place, my father knows very well that the palefaces and
-redskins have been in a constant state of warfare since the arrival of
-white men in America. This war may have slightly relaxed at intervals,
-but has never really ceased. Our two races are hostile; the struggle
-will not end between them until one of the two families, whether white
-or red, has given place to the other by its general extinction.
-Secondly, my father said that nothing has been done of which we had a
-right to complain. My father is mistaken, we have a cause, the
-imprisonment of Don Miguel Zarate, who, himself an Indian, has never
-belied his origin. Hence my father must no longer ask by what right I am
-here, for that is perfectly established; it is that which every honest
-man possesses of defending an innocent person who is oppressed. Now that
-fact is cleared up, let us pass to another. When I came here yesterday,
-my father gave me to understand that my propositions would be accepted,
-and the exchange of prisoners carried out."
-
-"It is possible, chief," the general replied; "but things are so in this
-world, no one knows today what he will do tomorrow. With night
-reflection has come, and, in short, your propositions have appeared to
-me unacceptable."
-
-"Wah!" the Indian said, though not testifying his surprise otherwise.
-
-"Yes," the general continued, growing animated, "I should be ashamed to
-grant them, for I should have the appearance of only yielding to
-threats. No, it cannot be. The two gentlemen you claim are guilty, and
-shall die; and if you venture to oppose the execution of the just
-sentence of the court, we will defend ourselves, and God will protect
-the good cause."
-
-The Mexican officers warmly applauded this haughty response, which they
-were far from expecting. They felt their courage rekindled, and did not
-despair of obtaining better conditions. A smile of disdain played round
-the chiefs haughty lips.
-
-"Good," he said; "my father speaks very loudly. The coyotes are bold
-when they hunt the buffalo in packs. My father has carefully reflected,
-and is determined to accept the consequences of his answer. He wishes
-for war, then?"
-
-"No," the general quickly interposed, "heaven forbid! I should be glad
-to settle this matter amicably with you, chief, but honor forbids me
-subscribing those disgraceful proposals which you did not fear to lay
-before me."
-
-"Is it really honour that has dictated my father's answer?" the Indian
-asked, ironically. "He will permit me to doubt it. In short, whatever be
-the reason that guides him, I can but withdraw; but, before doing so, I
-will give him news of a friend whom he doubtless impatiently expects."
-
-"What means that word, doubtless?"
-
-"This," the Indian said, sharply. "The warriors whom my father expected
-to arrive to his aid this day have been dispersed by my young men, as
-the autumn breeze sweeps away the leaves. They will not come."
-
-A murmur of surprise, almost of terror, ran through the assembly. The
-sachem let the long folds of his buffalo robe fall back, tore from his
-girdle the bleeding scalp that hung there, and threw it at the general's
-feet.
-
-"That," he said, gloomily, "is the scalp of the man who commanded my
-father's warriors! Does the chief of the palefaces recognise it? This
-scalp was raised by me from the head of the man who was to arrive, and
-who, at this hour, has set out for the happy hunting grounds of his
-nation."
-
-A shudder of terror ran round the room at the sight of the scalp; the
-general felt the small dose of courage that had still animated him
-oozing out.
-
-"Chief," he exclaimed, in a trembling voice "is it possible you have
-done that?"
-
-"I have done it," the sachem answered, coldly. "Now, farewell. I am
-about to join my young men, who are impatient at my long absence."
-
-With these words the Comanche haughtily turned his back on the governor,
-and walked toward the door.
-
-"A few moments longer, chief," the general said; "perhaps we are nearer
-an understanding than you suppose."
-
-The Comanche gave the speaker a glance which made him quiver.
-
-"Here is my last word," he said. "I insist on the two prisoners being
-handed over to me."
-
-"They shall be."
-
-"Good; but no perfidity, no treachery."
-
-"We will act honourably," the general replied, not dreaming, of resenting
-the insult conveyed in the Indian's words.
-
-"We shall see. My warriors and myself will remain on the square till my
-father has performed his promise. If, within an hour, the palefaces are
-not free, the prisoners I hold will be pitilessly massacred, and the
-_altepetl_ plundered. I have spoken."
-
-A gloomy silence greeted these terrible threats. The pride of the
-Mexicans was quelled, and they at length recognised that nothing could
-save them from the vengeance of the Comanche chief. The general bowed in
-assent, not having strength to answer otherwise. The sight of the scalp
-had paralyzed in him all desire to contend longer. Unicorn left the
-hall, mounted his horse again, and calmly awaited the fulfilment of the
-promise made to him.
-
-When the Indians had left the council chamber, the Mexicans rose
-tumultuously, for each feared the execution of the chief's threats.
-General Ventura was pressed on all sides to make haste, and run no risk
-of breaking his word. When the governor saw that his officers were as
-terrified as himself, he re-assumed his coolness, and cleverly profited
-by this state of mind, in order to throw the responsibility off himself,
-and appear only to act under the impulse of others.
-
-"Caballeros," he said, "you have heard this man. You understood as well
-as I did the menaces he dared to offer us. Shall such an insult be left
-unpunished? Will you allow yourselves to be thus braved in the heart of
-the town by a handful of scoundrels, and not attempt to inflict on them
-the chastisement they deserve? To arms, caballeros, and let us die
-bravely, if it must be so, sooner than suffer this stain on the old
-Spanish honor our fathers transmitted to us!"
-
-This warm address produced the effect the general anticipated from it;
-that is to say, it redoubled, were that possible, the terror of the
-hearers, who had long been acquainted with their chiefs cowardice, and
-knew how little he could be depended on. This sudden warlike order
-seemed to them so unusual, and before all so inopportune, that they
-pressed him to accept without delay the proposals dictated by the
-sachem.
-
-This was all the governor wanted. He had the minutes of the council at
-once drawn up, when it was signed by all present, he put it in his
-pocket.
-
-"As you insist," he said, "and nothing can induce you to offer an
-honourable resistance, I will myself proceed to the prison, in order to
-avoid any misunderstanding, and have the doors opened for Don Miguel
-Zarate and General Ibañez."
-
-"Make haste, pray?" the officers answered.
-
-The general, glad in his heart at having got out of the scrape so well,
-left the Cabildo, and walked across the square to the prison, which
-stood on the opposite side. The Comanches were motionless as statues of
-Florentine bronze, leaning on their weapons, with their eyes fixed on
-the chief, ready to carry out his orders.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV.
-
-FREE.
-
-
-Don Miguel and General Ibañez were completely ignorant of what was going
-on outside, and the rumours of the town did not reach their ears. Had
-they deigned to question their jailer, the latter, who was beginning to
-fear for himself the effects of the ill-treatment he had made the two
-gentlemen undergo, would doubtless not have hesitated to give them all
-possible information, for the sake of regaining their favour; but each
-time this man presented himself before them, and opened his mouth to
-speak, they turned their backs contemptuously, giving him a sign to
-withdraw at once, and be silent.
-
-On this day, according to their wont, the two prisoners had risen at
-sunrise, and then, with incredible coolness, began conversing on
-indifferent topics. Suddenly a great noise was heard in the prison; a
-clang of arms reached the prisoners' ears, and hurried footsteps
-approached the rooms in which they were confined. They listened.
-
-"Oh, oh!" said Ibañez, "I fancy it is for today at last."
-
-"Heaven be praised!" Don Miguel answered; "I am glad they have made up
-their minds to bring matters to a conclusion."
-
-"On my honour, and so am I," the general said, gaily; "time was
-beginning to hang heavy in this prison, where a man has not the
-slightest relaxation. We are going to see again that splendid sun which
-seems afraid of showing itself in this den. _Viva Cristo_! I feel
-delighted at the mere thought, and gladly pardon my judges."
-
-Still the noise drew nearer and nearer, and confused voices were mingled
-with the echoing steps in the passage, and the rattling of sabres.
-
-"Here they are," said Don Miguel; "we shall see them in a minute."
-
-"They are welcome if they bring us death, that supreme solace of the
-afflicted."
-
-At this moment a key creaked in the lock, and the door opened. The two
-prisoners fell back in surprise on seeing the general, who rushed into
-the cell followed by two or three officers. Assuredly, if the prisoners
-expected to see anybody, it was not the worthy General Ventura. Ibañez'
-surprise was so great at this unexpected apparition, that he could not
-refrain from exclaiming, with that accent of caustic gaiety which formed
-the basis of his character--
-
-"What the deuce do you want here, Señor Governor? Have you, too,
-suddenly become a frightful conspirator, such as we are accused of
-being?"
-
-Before answering, the general fell back into a chair, wiping away the
-perspiration that trickled down his forehead, such speed had he
-displayed in coming to the prison. Three or four officers stood
-motionless on the threshold of the widely open door. The condemned men
-could not at all understand the affair.
-
-"Have you by any chance, my dear governor," General Ibañez said, gaily,
-though not believing a word of it, "come to restore us to liberty? That
-would be a most gallant action, and I should feel deeply indebted to you
-for it."
-
-General Ventura raised his head, fixed on the prisoners eyes sparkling
-with joy, and said, in a panting voice--
-
-"Yes, my friends, yes; I _would_ come myself to tell you that you are
-free; I would not yield to anyone else the pleasure of announcing the
-good news."
-
-The prisoners fell back in amazement.
-
-"What!" General Ibañez exclaimed, "You are speaking seriously?"
-
-Don Miguel attentively looked at the governor, trying to read in his
-face the reasons of his conduct.
-
-"Come, come," General Ventura cried, "this hole is frightful; do not
-remain any longer in it."
-
-"Ah!" Don Miguel remarked, bitterly, "You find it frightful; you have
-been a long time in discovering the fact; for we have lived in it nearly
-a month, and the thought never once occurred to you of disturbing our
-repose."
-
-"Do not be angry with me, Don Miguel," the governor answered eagerly,
-"it was greatly against my will you were detained so long; had it only
-depended on me you would have been free; but, thanks to Heaven, all is
-settled now, and I have succeeded in having justice done you. Come away;
-do not remain a moment longer in this pestilential den."
-
-"Pardon me, Caballero," Don Miguel said coldly, "but, with your
-permission, we will remain a few moments longer in it."
-
-"Why so?" General Ventura asked, opening his eyes to their fullest
-extent.
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-Don Miguel pointed to a chair, and sat down himself. Ibañez following
-his example. There was a moment of deep silence between these three men
-as they strove to read each other's real secret thoughts.
-
-"I am waiting your pleasure to explain yourself," the governor at last
-said, as he was anxious to get away, and time pressed.
-
-"I am about doing so," Don Miguel answered; "you have come to tell us we
-are free, sir; but you do not say on what conditions."
-
-"What do you mean by conditions?" the general asked, not understanding
-him.
-
-"Of course," Ibañez went on, supporting his friend; "and these
-conditions, too, must suit us; you must see, my dear sir, we cannot
-leave this delightful place without knowing the why or wherefore. _Viva
-Cristo_! We are not vagabonds to be got rid of in that way; we must know
-if we are justified in accepting the proposals you have just made."
-
-"The general is right, sir," the hacendero said in his turn; "the care
-of our honor does not permit us to accept a liberation which might stain
-it; hence, we shall not leave this prison until you have given us an
-explanation."
-
-The governor hardly knew whether he was on his head or his heels; he had
-never before had to deal with such obstinate prisoners. He racked his
-brains in vain to discover why it was that men condemned to death could
-so peremptorily decline their liberty. His ideas were too narrow, his
-heart was too cowardly for him to comprehend the grandeur and nobility
-in this determination on the part of two men, who preferred an honourable
-death to a branded life which they only owed to the pity of their
-judges. Still, he must induce them to quit the prison, for time was fast
-slipping away, and their obstinacy might ruin everything. Hence, General
-Ventura made up his mind like a man.
-
-"Gentlemen," he said, with feigned admiration, "I understand what
-nobleness there is in your scruples, and am happy to see that I was not
-mistaken in the greatness of your character. You can leave this prison
-in full security, and take once more the station that belongs to you in
-the world. I will lay no conditions on you; you are free, purely and
-simply. Here are the documents connected with your trial, the proofs
-produced against you; take them and destroy them, and accept my sincere,
-apologies for all that has passed."
-
-While saying this, the governor drew from his breast an enormous bundle
-of papers, which he offered Don Miguel. The latter declined them with an
-air of disgust; but General Ibañez, less scrupulous or wiser in his
-generation, eagerly clutched them, looked through them to see that the
-governor was not deceiving him, and then threw them into the _brasero_,
-standing in the middle of the room. In less than four minutes, all this
-undigested mass was consumed. General Ibañez watched them burning with a
-certain degree of pleasure, for he began to feel himself really free.
-
-"I am waiting for you, gentlemen," said the governor.
-
-"One word more, by your leave," the hacendero remarked.
-
-"Speak, sir."
-
-"On leaving this prison, where are we to go?"
-
-"Wherever you please, gentlemen. I repeat to you that you are perfectly
-free, and can act as you think proper. I do not even ask your word of
-honor to enter into no further conspiracy."
-
-"Good sir," Don Miguel said, holding out his hand to General Ventura,
-"your conduct affects me--thanks."
-
-The governor blushed.
-
-"Come, come," he said, to hide his embarrassment on receiving this so
-ill-deserved praise.
-
-The prisoners no longer hesitated to follow him.
-
-In the meanwhile, the news of Don Miguel's deliverance had spread
-through the town with the rapidity of a train of gunpowder. The
-inhabitants, reassured by the continence of the Comanches, and knowing
-that they had only come to save a man, in whose fate the entire
-population felt interested, had ventured to leave their houses, and at
-length thronged the streets and squares; the windows and roofs were
-filled with men, women, and children, whose eyes, fixed on the prison,
-awaited the moment of Don Miguel's appearance. When he did so,
-tremendous shouts greeted him.
-
-Unicorn walked up to the governor.
-
-"My father has kept his promise," he said, gravely, "I will keep mine;
-the white prisoners are free; I now depart."
-
-The governor listened to these words with a blush; the sachem returned
-to the head of his war party, which rapidly retired, followed by the
-shouts of a mob intoxicated with joy. Don Miguel, perplexed by the scene
-which had taken place in his presence, and who began to suspect a
-mystery in the governor's conduct, turned to him to ask an explanation
-of the Indian chief's words--an explanation the governor luckily
-escaped, owing to the eagerness of the people who flocked up to
-congratulate the prisoners on their release.
-
-On reaching the gate of the Cabildo, General Ventura bowed courteously
-to the two gentlemen, and hurried into his palace, happy at having
-escaped so cheaply, and not tearing with his own hands the cloak of
-generosity which he had paraded in the sight of his prisoners.
-
-"What do you think of all that?" the hacendero asked his friend.
-
-"Hum!" General Ibañez muttered, "The governor's conduct seems to me
-rather queer; but, no matter, we are free. I confess to you, my friend,
-that I should have no objection to go a little distance from this place,
-the air of which, despite General Ventura's protestations, appears to me
-remarkably unhealthy for us."
-
-At this moment, and ere Don Miguel could answer, the general felt a
-slight touch on his shoulders; he turned and saw Curumilla before him,
-with a smiling face. Don Miguel and the general suppressed a cry of joy
-at the sight of the grave and excellent Indian.
-
-"Come!" he said to them, laconically.
-
-They followed him, with some difficulty, through the crowd that
-accompanied them with shouts, and whom they were obliged to stop and
-thank. On reaching a small street near the square, and which was nearly
-deserted, Curumilla led them to a house before which he stopped.
-
-"It is here," he said, as he tapped twice.
-
-The door opened, and they entered a courtyard, in which were three ready
-saddled horses, held by a groom, which they at once mounted.
-
-"Thanks, brother," the hacendero said, warmly, as he pressed the chiefs
-hand; "but how did you learn our deliverance?"
-
-The Araucano smiled pleasantly. "Let us go," he said, making no other
-answer.
-
-"Where to?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"To join Koutonepi."
-
-The three men started at full speed. Ten minutes later they were out of
-the town, and galloping across the plain.
-
-"Oh!" General Ibañez said, gaily, "How pleasant the fresh air is! How
-good it is to inhale it after remaining for two months stifled between
-the walls of a prison!"
-
-"Shall we soon arrive? Don Miguel asked.
-
-"In an hour," the chief answered.
-
-And they went on with renewed speed.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIX.
-
-THE MEETING.
-
-
-On reaching a spot where the trail they were following formed a species
-of fork, Curumilla stopped, and the two gentlemen imitated him.
-
-"That is your road," the Araucano chief said. "At the end of that path
-you will see Koutonepi's bivouac fire. I must leave you here."
-
-After uttering these words, Curumilla turned his horse and started,
-after giving them a parting wave of the hand. The Unicorn was not much
-of a talker naturally; generally, he did more than he said. His friends,
-convinced that urgent necessity could alone have forced him thus to
-break through his habits, made no observation, but let him go. When they
-were alone, they gently relaxed the pace of their horses, and proceeded
-at a canter.
-
-General Ibañez was radiant. He inhaled the fresh air Of the desert,
-which dilated his wide chest, revelling in his liberty. He thought of
-nothing but enjoying the present, regardless of the past, which, with
-his careless character, he had already forgotten, only to dream of the
-future, which he gazed on through a prism of brilliant hues. Don Miguel,
-on the contrary, felt, during the last few moments, a sad melancholy
-invade his mind. Not able to account for the emotion he experienced, he
-had a species of secret presentiment that a misfortune was suspended
-over his head. In vain did he try to dispel these ideas, but they
-constantly returned more obstinately than ever and it was with a sort of
-dread that he advanced in the direction where he was to meet Valentine,
-although he was his best friend, so much did he fear that he would greet
-his arrival with evil tidings.
-
-The two gentlemen went on thus for nearly half an hour without
-exchanging a syllable; but, just as they turned a corner in the path,
-they saw a horseman about thirty paces in front of them, barring the
-road, and apparently waiting for them. The Mexicans examined him
-attentively. He was a tall man, well armed, and wearing the garb of the
-rich hacenderos; but, singularly enough, a black velvet mask prevented
-them distinguishing his features. By an instinctive movement Don Miguel
-and his friend moved a hand to their holsters, but they were empty.
-
-"What is to be done?" the hacendero asked the general.
-
-"Go on, of course. We have just escaped too great a peril for us to fear
-this. Even in the event of the mysterious being planted there before us,
-like an equestrian statue, trying to play us a trick, which is not
-impossible."
-
-"Let us trust to Heaven," Don Miguel muttered, and pushed on.
-
-The distance separating them from the stranger was soon cleared. On
-coming within five yards of him, they stopped.
-
-"_Santas tardes_, caballeros," said the stranger, in a friendly voice.
-
-"_Santas tardes_!" the gentlemen answered, in accord.
-
-"I salute you, Don Miguel Zarate, and you, General Ibañez," the stranger
-then said. "I am happy to see you at length safe and sound out of the
-claws of that worthy General Ventura, who, if he could, would certainly
-have played you a trick."
-
-"Caballero," Don Miguel made answer, "I thank you for the kind words you
-address to me, and which can only come from a friend's lips. I should be
-pleased if you would take off the mask that conceals your features, so
-that I may recognise you."
-
-"Gentlemen, if I removed my mask you would be disappointed, for my
-features are unfamiliar to you. Do not be angry with me for keeping it
-on; but, be assured that you are not mistaken with regard to me, and I
-am really your friend."
-
-The two Mexicans bowed courteously to each other, and the stranger went
-on.
-
-"I knew that so soon as you were free you would hasten to join that
-worthy hunter Valentine, whom the trappers and gambusinos along the
-frontier have christened the 'Trail-hunter.' I placed myself here, where
-you must infallibly pass, in order to make you a communication of the
-utmost importance, which interests you extremely."
-
-"I am listening, sir," Don Miguel responded with secret alarm; "and I
-beg you to accept, beforehand, my sincere thanks for the step you have
-taken on my behalf."
-
-"You will thank me when the proper time comes, Don Miguel. Today I only
-warn you: at a later date I hope to aid you, and my help will not prove
-useless."
-
-"Speak, sir! You excite my curiosity to the highest pitch, and I am
-anxious to learn the news of which you have condescended to be the
-bearer."
-
-The stranger shook his head sadly, and there was a moment's silence.
-This meeting of three horsemen, one of whom was masked, in this deserted
-place, where no sound troubled the imposing silence of solitude, had
-something strange about it. At length the mask spoke again.
-
-"Two months have elapsed, Don Miguel, since, through the treachery of
-Red Cedar, you were arrested and made prisoner at the Paso del Norte.
-Many events of which you are ignorant have occurred since then; but
-there is one I must inform you of at once. On the very night of your
-arrest, at the moment you laid down your arms, your daughter was carried
-off by Red Cedar."
-
-"My daughter!" the hacendero exclaimed; "And Valentine to whom I
-confided her, and who was responsible for her safety?"
-
-"Valentine attempted impossibilities to save her; but what can one man
-effect against twenty?"
-
-Don Miguel shook his head mournfully.
-
-"After researches, long, sterile, and extraordinary efforts, a man
-providentially aided by Father Seraphin, at length succeeded last night
-in taking Doña Clara from her ravishers; but Red Cedar, advised by some
-extraordinary chance, entered the house where the maiden had sought
-shelter, and carried her off again."
-
-"Oh! I will avenge myself on that man!" the hacendero shouted,
-passionately.
-
-The stranger's eyes flashed with a lurid light though the holes in his
-mask.
-
-"You will find your son and Father Seraphin with Valentine. Red Cedar
-intends to start this evening at the head of a band of gambusinos, to go
-into the deserts of the Rio Gila in search of a placer, which his
-accomplice, Fray Ambrosio, had indicated to him."
-
-"Fray Ambrosio!" the hacendero repeated, in stupor.
-
-"Yes. Your former chaplain, who served as spy to the squatter, revealed
-your plans to him, and provided him the means to enter the hacienda and
-carry off your daughter."
-
-"Good," Don Miguel said, in a hollow voice. "I will remember."
-
-"Red Cedar, I know not with what design, is taking your daughter with
-him into the desert."
-
-"I will follow him, were it for a thousand leagues," Don Miguel said,
-resolutely. "Thanks to you for having instructed me so fully. But whence
-comes the interest you take in me so gratuitously, since, as you say, I
-do not know you?"
-
-"You shall learn at a later date, Don Miguel. Now, before I leave you,
-one last word--an earnest warning."
-
-"I listen attentively, caballero."
-
-"Do not tell anyone--not even the French hunter, not even your son--of
-our meeting. Let this secret be buried in your breast. When you reach
-the far west, if you see before you, at one of your bivouacs, a piece of
-mahogany bearing the impress of a horse's shoe, rise at midnight, and
-leave the camp, not letting anyone see you. When you have gone one
-hundred paces in the tall grass, whistle thrice; a similar whistle will
-answer you, and then you will learn many things important for you to
-know, but which I cannot tell you today."
-
-"Good. Thanks. I will do what you tell me."
-
-"You promised it?"
-
-"I swear it on my word as a gentleman," Don Miguel said, as he took off
-his hat.
-
-"I accept your oath. Farewell."
-
-"Farewell."
-
-The stranger dug his spurs into his horse's sides and the animal started
-off as if impelled by a tornado.
-
-The two gentlemen looked after him for a long time, admiring the grace
-and ease of his movements; at length, when horse and rider had
-disappeared in the distance, Don Miguel went on again pensively, while
-saying to the general--
-
-"Who can that man be?"
-
-"I know no more than you do. _Viva Cristo_!" his friend answered, "but I
-assure you I will know, even if to do so I have to search all the
-thickets and caverns in the desert."
-
-"What," Don Miguel exclaimed, "do you intend to come with me?"
-
-"Did you ever doubt it, Don Miguel? If so, you insulted me. You will
-need all your friends to go in search of your daughter, and inflict on
-that demon of a gringo squatter the chastisement he deserves. No, no; I
-will not leave you under such circumstances, for that would be
-committing a bad action; besides, I shall not be sorry," he added with a
-smile, "to get out of the sight of the government for a time."
-
-"My friend, I thank you," the hacendero said, as he took his hand. "I
-have long known that you were entirely devoted to me; I am pleased to
-receive this new proof of your friendship."
-
-"And you accept it?" the general asked gaily.
-
-"Most heartily; the help of an iron arm like yours must be most useful
-to me under the painful circumstances in which I am placed."
-
-"That is settled, then; we will start together, _Mil rayas!_ and I swear
-we will deliver Doña Clara."
-
-"May Heaven grant it," the hacendero said, sadly.
-
-The conversation then dropped, and the two friends proceeded in silence.
-A quarter of an hour later they reached the Trail-hunter's bivouac.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVI.
-
-DOÑA CLARA.
-
-
-Valentine had been warned, nearly an hour previously, by Unicorn of the
-result of the negotiations with the governor of Santa Fe, and the
-immediate liberation of the prisoners; he was, therefore, expecting
-them. Though they were ignorant where to find him, Valentine presumed
-that the chief would leave some Indian to direct them, and, therefore,
-did not feel at all surprised at seeing them. So soon as he noticed
-their approach he walked to meet them, followed by Don Pablo and the
-missionary, while the hacendero and his comrade on their side pricked
-on to join them sooner.
-
-A few hours were spent, after the first greetings were over, in a
-conference, of which the poor child so audaciously carried off was the
-sole subject. Valentine drew up with his friends the plan of the
-campaign against Red Cedar, which was so daring that it would have made
-a European nervous; but the free adventurers who were about to carry it
-out in no way feared the mysterious dangers of the desert which they
-were going to confront. We say, free, because Father Seraphin had taken
-leave of his friends and found Unicorn, with whom he wished to go to the
-Comanche villages, in the hope of spreading the light of the Gospel
-there. Still, he did not despair about, meeting his friends in the
-prairies, whither he was himself proceeding. Toward evening, Curumilla
-arrived. The Araucano was covered with dust, and his face damp with
-perspiration; Not uttering a word, he sat down by the fire, took his
-calumet from his girdle, and began smoking. Valentine let him do so
-without asking a question, but so soon as he saw him absorbed in his
-pipe, he laid his hand on his shoulder.
-
-"Well?" he said to him.
-
-"Curumilla has seen them."
-
-"Good; are they numerous?"
-
-"Ten times the number of fingers on my two hands, and one more."
-
-"_Caramba!_" Valentine exclaimed, "Are they so many as that? We shall
-have a tough job in that case."
-
-"They are bold hunters," the chief added.
-
-"Hum! Do you know when they will start?"
-
-"This evening, when the new moon rises."
-
-"Ah, ah! I read their plan," the hunter said. "They intend crossing the
-ford of the Toro before day."
-
-Curumilla bowed his head in affirmation.
-
-"That is true," Valentine remarked; "once the ford is passed they will
-be in the desert, and have comparatively nothing to fear, or at least
-they suppose so. I must confess," he added, addressing his friends,
-"that Red Cedar is a remarkably clever scoundrel; nothing, escapes him,
-but this time he has a' tough adversary. I have my revenge to take on
-him, and, with the help of Heaven, it shall be exemplary."
-
-"What shall we do?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Sleep," Valentine answered, "we have still several hours before us, so
-let us profit by them; in the new life we are beginning, we must neglect
-nothing, the body and mind must repose, so that we may act vigorously."
-
-Curumilla had slipped away but now returned, bringing with him two
-rifles, pistols, and knives.
-
-"My brothers had no weapons," he said, as he laid his load before the
-Mexicans.
-
-The latter thanked him heartily; for, owing to the foresight of
-Curumilla, who thought of everything, they could now enter the desert
-boldly. Two minutes later the five men were fast asleep, and we will
-take advantage of their slumber to return to Red Cedar, whom we left on
-the point of climbing through Doña Clara's window, while Fray Ambrosio
-and Andrés Garote were watching at either end of the street.
-
-At one bound the bandit was in the room, after breaking open the window
-with a blow of his fist. Doña Clara, suddenly aroused, leaped from the
-bed, uttering fearful cries at the sight of the terrible apparition
-before her.
-
-"Silence," Red Cedar said to her, in a threatening voice, as he placed
-the point of his knife on her chest, "one cry more, and I kill you like
-a dog."
-
-The maiden, trembling with fright, looked pitifully at the bandit; but
-Red Cedar's face wore such an expression of cruelty, that she understood
-how little she had to hope from this man. She addressed a silent prayer
-to Heaven, and resigned herself to her fate. The bandit gagged the poor
-child with the rebozo that lay on the bed, threw her over his shoulder,
-and clambered out of the window again. So soon as he put foot on the
-ground, he whistled lightly for his comrades to rejoin him, which they
-did immediately, and, still carrying his burthen, he proceeded with them
-in the direction of the Rancho del Coyote.
-
-During the walk, which was not a long one, the bandits did not meet a
-soul. Andrés opened the door and lit a candle; the ruffians entered, and
-the door was carefully bolted again. Thus, after only a few hours of
-liberty, the wretched girl had fallen once more into the hands of her
-ravishers, and placed again by them in the wretched room where she had
-spent so many days in prayer and weeping. Red Cedar carried Doña Clara,
-who was in a half-fainting state, to her room, removed the rebozo, and
-then returned to the bar.
-
-"There;" he said, with satisfaction, "that is all right; the sheep has
-returned to the fold. What do you say, reverend father? This time let us
-hope she will not escape us."
-
-The monk smiled.
-
-"We shall do well in not remaining here long," he said.
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because this hiding place is known and will soon be visited."
-
-The squatter shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Listen! Fray Ambrosio," he said, with a sinister grimace, which he
-intended for a smile. "I predict that, rogue as you are, you run a great
-chance of dying in a fool's skin, if you are not flayed beforehand,
-which may easily be the case."
-
-The monk shuddered. Red Cedar's gaiety had the peculiarity of being even
-more fearful than his anger. The squatter sat down on a bench, and
-turned to the gambusino.
-
-"Drink!" he said roughly.
-
-Garote fetched a jar of mezcal, which he placed before his terrible
-accomplice. The latter, not taking the trouble to pour the liquor into a
-glass, raised the jar to his lips, and drank till breath failed him.
-
-"Hum!" he said, with a click of his tongue, "That's pleasant tipple when
-you're thirsty. Listen to my orders, my dear children, and try to carry
-them out to the letter; or, if not, your roguish hides will bear the
-blame."
-
-The three men bowed silently.
-
-"You, Nathan," he went on, "will come with me, for you are not wanted
-here, but your presence is necessary at. Cerro Prieto, where our
-comrades are encamped."
-
-"I will follow you," the young man replied, laconically.
-
-"Good! Now, you others, bear this carefully in mind:--Our enemies will
-never suppose that I have made such a mistake as to bring my prisoner
-back here; for that is so absurd, that the idea will never enter their
-heads; so you can be at ease, and no one will trouble your peace of
-mind. Tomorrow, so soon as the moon rises, you will make the girl put on
-an Indian dress, mount her, and come to me at Cerro Prieto. Immediately
-after your arrival we shall start."
-
-"Good!" Fray Ambrosio answered. "We will take care."
-
-"I expect so; for, if you do not, I wouldn't give a _cuartillo_ for your
-accursed hide, my reverend friend."
-
-After uttering these friendly words, the squatter seized the jar of
-mezcal, emptied it at a draught, and sent it flying across the room,
-where it broke to pieces.
-
-"Good bye till tomorrow," he then said, "come, Nathan."
-
-"Till tomorrow," they answered.
-
-The squatter and his son left the rancho, and walked on silently side by
-side, plunged in gloomy reflections produced by the events of the night.
-They soon left the town. The night was gloomy, but darkness did not
-exist for squatters accustomed to find their way anywhere, and never
-dreaming of going astray. They walked thus for a long time, with slung
-rifle, not exchanging a word, but listening to the slightest noise and
-sounding, the darkness with their tiger-cat eyes. All at once they heard
-the firm footfall of a man coming towards them. They cocked their
-rifles, ready for any emergency. A voice was then heard, though the
-person to whom it belonged was invisible.
-
-"My brothers must not fire; they would kill a friend."
-
-The words were Apache--a language well known to the squatters.
-
-"Tis an Indian," said Nathan.
-
-"Do you think I did not recognise him?" Red Cedar replied, brutally;
-"then," he added, in the same dialect, "there are no friends in the
-shadow of the desert. My brother must get out of my path, or I will kill
-him like a coyote."
-
-"Is it thus," the Indian continued, "that the 'maneater' receives the
-guide whom Stanapat, the Great Chief of the Apaches, sends him? In that
-case, good-bye. I will retire."
-
-"One moment," the squatter said, sharply, as he lowered his rifle, and
-made his son a sign to follow his example. "I could not guess who you
-were. Advance without fear and be welcome, brother, for I was anxiously
-expecting you."
-
-The Indian stepped forward. He wore the costume and characteristic paint
-of the Apache warriors; in a word, he was so well disguised, that
-Valentine himself could not, have recognised in him his friend,
-Eagle-wing the Chief of the Coras, though it was he.
-
-Red Cedar, delighted at the arrival of his guide, received him in the
-most affable manner. He had long been acquainted with Stanapat, the most
-ferocious warrior of all the Indian nations that traverse the immense
-regions of the Rio Gila, and whom we shall presently visit. After
-several questions, which Eagle-wing answered without hesitation or once
-tripping, Red Cedar, convinced that he was really the man the Apache
-chief had promised to send him, dismissed all doubt, and conversed with
-him in the most friendly spirit, inquiring after certain warriors he had
-formerly known.
-
-"What is my brother's name?" he asked, in conclusion.
-
-"The Heart of Stone!" Eagle-wing replied.
-
-"Good!" the squatter said, "My brother has a grand name. He must be a
-renowned warrior in his tribe."
-
-A short time after, the three men reached the camp of the gambusinos,
-established in a formidable position on the top of a rock called the
-Cerro Prieto (Black Mountain). The miners greeted Red Cedar's arrival
-with the most lively joy, for his presence announced a speedy departure;
-and all these semi-savages, the greater part of whose life had been
-spent in the prairies, were anxious to quit civilization to re-assume
-their adventurous career, which was so full of charms and strange
-incidents.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVII.
-
-EL VADO DEL TORO.
-
-
-Red Cedar reasoned correctly when he told Fray Ambrosio and Garote that
-Doña Clara was in safety at the rancho, and no one would dream of
-seeking her there. In truth, Valentine knew the squatter's cunning too
-well to suppose that he would commit the impudence of bringing his
-prisoner back to the very spot where she was discovered.
-
-The squatter's two accomplices passed the day quietly in playing, on
-credit, at monte; each cheating with a dexterity which did honor to
-their knowledge of that noble game. No one came to disturb them, or cast
-an indiscreet glance into this famous den, which, in the bright
-sunshine, had an air of respectability pleasant to look on, and amply
-sufficient to dispel all suspicions. About nine in the evening, the
-moon, though new, rose magnificently on a deep blue sky, studded with
-brilliant stars.
-
-"I fancy it is time to get ready, gossip," Fray Ambrosio said, "the moon
-is peering through the trees in your neighbour's garden."
-
-"You are right, señor Padre, we will be off; but let me, I implore you,
-first finish this deal; it is one of the most magnificent I ever
-witnessed. _Caspita!_ I will bet a nugget as big as my thumb on the
-seven of clubs."
-
-"I'll back the two of spades. Something tells me it will turn up first,
-especially if you pull up the sleeves of your jacket, which must be
-horribly in the way when dealing."
-
-"Oh dear, no, I assure you; but stay, what did I tell you? There is the
-seven of clubs."
-
-"That is really extraordinary," Fray Ambrosio replied, with feigned
-surprise, for he was not duped by the gambusino's trickery; "but I fancy
-we had better make haste."
-
-"Decidedly," said Andrés, as he hid his greasy cards in his vaquera
-boots, and proceeded to the room in which Doña Clara was confined. She
-followed him out, weeping bitterly.
-
-"Come, come," the gambusino said to her, "dry your tears, señorita; we
-do not mean you any harm. Hang it all! Who knows but this may end
-perhaps better than you expect; ask that holy monk what he thinks."
-
-Fray Ambrosio bowed an assent, but the maiden made no response to the
-gambusino's consolation; she allowed herself to be disguised
-unresistingly, but still continued to weep.
-
-"In truth, it is absurd," the worthy Andrés muttered, in an aside to
-himself, while attiring his prisoner and looking covetously at the
-pearls with which she was adorned, "to waste gold and pearls in this
-fashion; would it not be much better to use them in buying something
-serviceable? What she has on her is worth at least three thousand
-piastres--what a splendid game of monte a fellow could have with that
-sum--and if that demon of a Red Cedar had only been willing--well, we
-shall see presently."
-
-While making these judicious reflections, the gambusino had completed
-the maiden's Indian toilet. He perfected the disguise by throwing a
-zarapé over her shoulders; then giving a parting glance round his
-domicile, he put in his pocket a pack of cards accidentally left on the
-table, drank a large glass of spirits, and left the room, followed by
-Doña Clara and the monk, who, in spite of the varying incidents of the
-last few days had regained all his good humour, doubtless owing to the
-good company in which he was, and the game of monte--that inveterate
-passion in every Mexican.
-
-Doña Clara was placed on a horse; Andrés and the monk also mounted, and
-leaving the house to the problemical care of Providence, the gambusino
-gave the signal for departure. He made a wide circuit, to avoid passing
-through the Presidio, and then started at a gallop in the direction of
-the Cerro Prieto.
-
-Red Cedar had lost no time, and all was ready for departure. The
-newcomers did not even dismount, but so soon as they were sighted, the
-caravan, composed, as we have stated of some hundred and twenty resolute
-men, after forming in Indian file, started in the direction of the
-prairies, having first prudently detached two scouts to watch the
-neighbourhood.
-
-Nothing is so mournful as a night march in an unknown country, covered
-with snares of every description, when you fear least the ever-watchful
-enemy may pounce on you from every bush. Thus, the gambusinos, restless,
-and starting at the slightest rustling of the leaves, advanced silently
-and gloomily, with their eyes fixed on the clumps that grew along the
-wayside, rifle in hand, ready to fire at the slightest suspicious
-movement. They marched, however, for upwards of three hours, and nothing
-happened to justify their fears; a solemn calmness continued to prevail
-around them. Gradually these apprehensions were dissipated; they began
-talking in a suppressed voice, and laughing at their past terrors, when
-they reached, on the banks of the Del Norte, the _vado_, or Ford del
-Toro.
-
-In the interior of Southern America, and specially in New Mexico, a
-country still almost entirely unknown, the means of communication are
-_nil_, and consequently bridges may be looked for in vain. There are
-only two methods of crossing even the widest rivers--looking for a ford,
-or, if you are in a great hurry, forcing your horse into the oft-times
-rapid current, and trying to reach the other bank by swimming.
-
-The squatter had selected the first method, and in a few minutes the
-whole party was in the water. Although the ground of the ford was
-uneven, and at times the horses were up to their chests, and compelled
-to swim, the gambusinos managed to get across safely. The only persons
-left on the bank were Red Cedar, Eagle-wing, the guide, Doña Clara, and
-Andrés Garote.
-
-"It is our turn now, Heart of Stone," the squatter said, addressing
-Eagle-wing; "you see that our men are in safety, and only await us to
-set out again."
-
-"The squaw first," the Indian replied, laconically.
-
-"That is true, chief," the squatter said, and, turning to the prisoner,
-"Go across," he said to her, coarsely.
-
-The maiden, not deigning to answer, boldly made her horse enter the
-river, and the three men followed. The night was dark, the sky covered
-with clouds, and the moon, constantly veiled, only shone forth at
-lengthened intervals, which rendered the passage difficult and even
-dangerous, as it did not allow objects to be distinguished, even at a
-distance. Still, after a few seconds, Red Cedar fancied he saw that Doña
-Clara's horse was not following the line traced by the ford, but was
-turning to the left, as if carried away by the current. He pushed his
-horse forward, to assure himself of the reality of the fact; but
-suddenly a vigorous hand seized his right leg, and before he could even
-think of resisting, he was hurled back into the water, and his throat
-seized by an Indian. Andrés Garote hurried to his assistance.
-
-During this time, Doña Clara's horse, probably obeying a hidden impulse,
-was proceeding still further from the spot where the gambusinos had
-landed. Some of them, at the head of whom were Dick, Harry, and the
-squatter's three sons, perceiving what was going on, returned to the
-water, to proceed to their chiefs help, while the others, guided by Fray
-Ambrosio, galloped down the river bank, in order to cut off retreat,
-when Doña Clara's horse landed.
-
-Andrés Garote, after several fruitless efforts, succeeded in catching
-Red Cedar's horse, which he brought to him at the moment when the latter
-had scalped his enemy. The American got into his saddle again, reached
-the bank, and tried to restore some order among his band, while actually
-watching the incidents of the silent drama being played in the river
-between Eagle-wing and the young Spanish girl.
-
-The Coras sachem had urged his steed in pursuit of Doña Clara's, and
-both were following almost the same line down the stream, the former
-striving to catch up the latter, who, for her part, was doing her utmost
-to widen the distance between them. Suddenly the Coras horse gave a
-leap, while uttering a snort of pain, and began madly beating the water
-with its forelegs, while the river was tinged with blood around it. The
-chief, perceiving that his horse was mortally wounded, leaped from the
-saddle, and leant over the side, ready to leap off. At this moment, a
-hideous face appeared flush with water, and a hand was stretched out to
-grasp him. With that imperturbable coolness that never deserts the
-Indians, even under the most critical circumstances, the Coras seized
-his tomahawk, split his enemy's skull open, and glided into the river.
-
-A formidable war yell was, at this moment, heard from the forest, and
-some fifty shots were fired from both banks at once, illumining the
-scene with their fugitive flashes. A multitude of redskins rushed on the
-gambusinos, and a terrible fight commenced. The Mexicans, taken
-unawares, defended themselves at first poorly, giving ground and seeking
-shelter behind trees; but, obeying the thundering voice of the squatter,
-who performed prodigies of valor while exciting his comrades to sell
-their lives dearly, they regained courage, formed in close column, and
-charged the Indians furiously, beating them down with the butts of their
-muskets, or slashing them with their machetes.
-
-The combat was short; the redskins, who were only a party of marauding
-Pawnees, seeing the ill-result of their surprise, grew discouraged, and
-disappeared as rapidly as they had come. Two minutes later calmness and
-silence were so perfectly re-established, that had it not been for a few
-wounded gambusinos, and several Indians stretched dead on the
-battlefield, the strange scene would have appeared as a dream.
-
-So soon as the Indians were routed, Red Cedar bent an eager glance up
-the river; on that side the struggle was also over, and Eagle-wing,
-mounted behind the young lady, was guiding her horse to the bank, which
-it soon reached.
-
-"Well?" the squatter asked.
-
-"The Pawnees are cowardly coyotes," the Coras answered, pointing to two
-human scalps that hung all bloody from his girdle; "they fly like old
-women, so soon as they see the war plume of a warrior of my nation."
-
-"Good!" the squatter said, gleefully, "My brother is a great warrior; he
-has a friend."
-
-The Coras bowed with a smile of indescribable meaning. His object was
-gained; he had acquired the confidence of the man he meant to destroy.
-Doña Clara, Ellen, and the squatter's wife were placed in the centre of
-the caravan, and the band started again.
-
-An hour later, a second party of horsemen also crossed the Vado del
-Toro. It was much less numerous than the first, as it consisted of only
-five men, but they were Valentine, Curumilla, Don Miguel, his son, and
-General Ibañez. The real struggle was about to commence: behind them
-they left the civilised world, to find themselves face to face on the
-desert with their enemies.
-
-(Those of our readers who take an interest in the Trail-hunter, we must
-ask to follow his adventures through a second volume, to be called--THE
-PIRATES OF THE PRAIRIES.)
-
-
-THE END
-
-
-
-
-
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Trail-Hunter, by Gustave Aimard
-
-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 www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: The Trail-Hunter
-       A Tale of the Far West
-
-Author: Gustave Aimard
-
-Translator: Lascelles Wraxall
-
-Release Date: February 17, 2013 [EBook #42115]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAIL-HUNTER ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Camilo Bernard and Marc D'Hooghe at
-http://www.freeliterature.org (Images at the Internet
-Archive, scanned by Google)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h1>THE TRAIL HUNTER.</h1>
-
-<h3>A TALE OF THE FAR WEST.</h3>
-
-<h3>BY</h3>
-
-<h2>GUSTAVE AIMARD,</h2>
-
-<h4>AUTHOR OF "THE PRAIRIE FLOWER," "THE INDIAN CHIEF," ETC.</h4>
-
-
-<h5>LONDON:</h5>
-
-<h5>WARD AND LOCK,</h5>
-
-<h5>158, FLEET STREET.</h5>
-
-<h5>1861.</h5>
-
-
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<p><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents</a></p>
-
-<h4><a id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h4>
-
-
-<p>The present volume of Aimard's Indian Tales is devoted to the earlier
-adventures of those hunters, whose acquaintance the reader has formed, I
-trust with pleasure, in the preceding series. It does not become me to
-say anything further in its favour, than that the sustained interest of
-the narrative, which has been regarded as the charm of stories referring
-to life in the desert and prairie, has not been departed from in this
-instance. The stories themselves supply an innate proof of the writer's
-correctness to Nature, and, in truth, many of the scenes are so
-startling that they must be the result of personal observation.</p>
-
-<p>In conclusion, I may be permitted to thank the Press generally for the
-kindly aid they have afforded me in making the English translation of
-Aimard's volumes known to the British reading public, and the hearty way
-in which they have recognized the merits of the previous series. It
-would be an easy task to collect paragraphs, expressing a belief that
-Aimard is second to none of the writers who have hitherto described
-Indian life and scenery; but I prefer to rest my hopes of success on the
-inherent qualities of his stories.</p>
-
-<p style="margin-left: 75%;">LASCELLES WRAXALL.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h4><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h4>
-
-<h3>THE VIRGIN FOREST.</h3>
-
-
-<p>In Mexico the population is only divided into two classes, the upper and
-the lower. There is no intermediate rank to connect the two extremes,
-and this is the cause of the two hundred and thirty-nine revolutions
-which have overthrown this country since the declaration of its
-independence. Why this is so is simple enough. The intellectual power is
-in the hands of a small number, and all the revolutions are effected by
-this turbulent and ambitious minority; whence it results that the
-country is governed by the most complete military despotism, instead of
-being a free republic.</p>
-
-<p>Still the inhabitants of the States of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Texas have
-retained, even to the present day, that stern, savage, and energetic
-physiognomy which may be sought in vain among the other States of the
-Confederation.</p>
-
-<p>Beneath a sky colder than that of Mexico, the winter, which frequently
-covers the rivers of the region with a thick layer of ice, hardens the
-muscles of the inhabitants, cleanses their blood, purifies their hearts,
-and renders them picked men, who are distinguished for their courage,
-their intelligence, and their profound love of liberty.</p>
-
-<p>The Apaches, who originally inhabited the greater portion of New Mexico,
-have gradually fallen back before the axe of the pioneers; and after
-retiring into the immense deserts that cover the triangle formed by the
-Rio Gila, the Del Norte, and the Colorado, they ravage almost with
-impunity the Mexican frontiers, plundering, firing, and devastating all
-they meet with on their passage.</p>
-
-<p>The inhabitants of the countries we alluded to above, held in respect by
-these ever-shifting savages, are in a state of continual warfare with
-them, always ready to fight, fortifying their haciendas, and only
-travelling with weapons in their hands.</p>
-
-<p>El Paso del Norte may be regarded as the outpost of the civilised
-portion of Mexico. Beyond that, to the north and north-west, extend the
-vast unfilled plains of Chihuahua, the <i>bolsón</i> of Mapimi, and the arid
-deserts of the Rio Gila. These immense deserts, known by the name of
-Apacheria, are still as little investigated as they were at the close of
-the eighteenth century. El Paso del Norte owes its name to its situation
-near a ford of the Rio Del Norte. It is the oldest of all the New
-Mexican settlements, and its establishment dates back to the close of
-the sixteenth century. The present settlement is scattered for a
-distance of about ten miles along the banks of the Del Norte, and
-contains four thousand inhabitants at the most. The <i>plaza</i>, or village
-of the Paso, is situated at the head of the valley: at the other
-extremity is the Presidio of San Elezario. All the interval is occupied
-by a continuous line of white, flat-roofed houses, buried in gardens,
-and surrounded by vineyards. About a mile above the ford the stream is
-dammed up, and led by a canal into the valley, which it waters.
-Apacheria begins only a few miles from this settlement.</p>
-
-<p>It is easily seen that the foot of civilised man has only trodden
-timidly and at rare intervals this thoroughly primitive country, in
-which nature, free to develop herself under the omnipotent eye of the
-creator, assumes an aspect of incredible beauty and fancifulness.</p>
-
-<p>On a lovely morning in the month of May, which the Indians call "the
-moon of the flowers," a man of high stature, with harsh and marked
-features, mounted on a tall, half-tamed steed, started at a canter from
-the plaza, and after a few minutes of hesitation, employed in realising
-his position, resolutely buried his spurs in the horse's flanks, crossed
-the ford, and after leaving behind him the numerous cottonwood trees
-which at this spot cover the river banks, proceeded toward the dense
-forest that flashed on the horizon.</p>
-
-<p>This horseman was dressed in the costume generally adopted on the
-frontiers, and which was so picturesque that we will give a short
-description of it. The stranger wore a pelisse of green cloth,
-embroidered with silver, allowing a glimpse of an elegantly-worked
-shirt, the collar of which was fastened by a loosely-knotted black silk
-handkerchief, the ends passed through a diamond ring. He wore green
-cloth breeches, trimmed with silver, and two rows of buttons of the same
-metal, and fastened round the hips by a red silken scarf with gold
-fringe. The breeches, open on the side half way up the thigh, displayed
-his fine linen drawers beneath: his legs were defended by a strip of
-brown embossed and stamped leather, called <i>botas vaqueras</i>, attached
-below the knee by a silver garter. On his heels enormous spurs clanked.
-A <i>manga</i>, glistening with gold, and drawn up on the shoulder, protected
-the upper part of his body, while his head was sheltered from the
-burning sunbeams by a broad-leafed hat of brown stamped felt, the crown
-of which was contracted by a large silver <i>toquilla</i> passed twice or
-thrice round it.</p>
-
-<p>His steed was caparisoned with graceful luxuriousness, which heightened
-all its beautiful points: a rich saddle of embossed leather, adorned
-with massive silver, on the back of which the <i>zarapé</i> was fastened;
-wide Moorish silver stirrups, and handsome water bottles at the
-saddle-bow; while an elegant <i>anquera</i>, made of openwork leather, and
-decorated with small steel chains, entirely covered the horse's croup,
-and sparkled with its slightest movement.</p>
-
-<p>The stranger appeared, judging from the luxury he displayed, to belong
-to the high class of society. A <i>machete</i> hung down his right side, two
-pistols were passed through his girdle, the handle of a long knife
-protruded from his right boot, and he held a superbly damascened rifle
-across the saddle in front of him.</p>
-
-<p>Bending over the neck of his galloping steed, he advanced rapidly
-without looking round him, although the landscape that lay extended
-before him was one of the most attractive and majestic in those regions.</p>
-
-<p>The river formed the most capricious windings in the centre of a terrain
-diversified in a thousand strange ways. Here and there on the sandy
-banks enormous trees might be seen lying, which, dried up by the sun,
-evidenced, in their washed-out appearance, that they had been dead for
-centuries. Near the shallow and marshy spots, caymans and alligators
-wandered about awkwardly. At other places, where the river ran almost
-straight, its banks were uniform, and covered with tall trees, round
-which creepers had twined, and then struck root in the ground again,
-thus forming the most inextricable confusion. Here and there small
-clearings or marshy spots might be detected in the midst of the dense
-wood, often piled up with trees that had died of old age. Further on,
-other trees, which seemed still young, judging from their colour and the
-solidity of their bark, fell into dust with the slightest breath of
-wind.</p>
-
-<p>At times, the earth, entirely undermined beneath, drawn down by its own
-weight, dragged with it the wood which it bore, and produced a crashing,
-confused sound, which was returned on all sides by the echo, and
-possessed a certain degree of grandeur in this desert, whose depths no
-man has ever yet ventured to scrutinise.</p>
-
-<p>Still the stranger galloped on, with his eye ardently fixed before him,
-and not appearing to see anything. Several hours passed thus: the
-horseman buried himself deeper in the forest. He had left the banks of
-the river, and only progressed with extreme difficulty, through the
-entanglement of branches, grass, and shrubs, which at every step
-arrested his movements, and forced him to make innumerable turnings. He
-merely reined in his horse now and then, took a glance at the sky, and
-then started again, muttering to himself but one word:</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Adelante</i>! (Forward!)"</p>
-
-<p>At length he stopped in a vast clearing, took a suspicious glance around
-him, and probably reassured by the leaden silence which weighed on the
-desert, he dismounted, hobbled his horse, and took off its bridle that
-it might browse on the young tree shoots. This duty accomplished, he
-carelessly lay down on the ground, rolled a maize cigarette in his
-fingers, produced a gold <i>mechero</i> from his waist belt, and struck a
-light.</p>
-
-<p>The clearing was of considerable extent. On one side the eye could
-survey with ease, through the trees, the widely extending prairie, on
-which deer were browsing with security. On the other side, the forest,
-wilder than ever, seemed, on the contrary, an impassable wall of
-verdure. All was abrupt and primitive at this spot, which the foot of
-man had so rarely trodden. Certain trees, either entirely or partially
-dried up, offered the vigorous remains of a rich and fertile soil;
-others, equally ancient, were sustained by the twisted creepers, which
-in the course of time almost equalled their original support in size:
-the diversity of the leaves produced the strangest possible mixture.
-Others, containing in their hollow trunk a manure which, formed of the
-remains of their leaves and half-dead branches, had warmed the seeds
-they had let fall, and offered, in the young shoots they contained, some
-compensation for the loss of their father tree.</p>
-
-<p>In the prairies, nature, ever provident, seems to have been desirous to
-shelter from the insults of time certain old trees, patriarchs of the
-forest which are crushed beneath the weight of ages, by forming them a
-cloak of greyish moss, which hangs in festoons from the highest branches
-to the ground, assuming the wildest and most fantastic shapes.</p>
-
-<p>The stranger, lying on his back, with his head resting on his two
-crossed hands, was smoking with that beatitude, full of ease and sloth,
-which is peculiar to the Hispano-Americans. He only interrupted this
-gentle occupation to roll a fresh cigarette and cast a glance around,
-while muttering:</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! He keeps me waiting a long time."</p>
-
-<p>He emitted a puff of bluish smoke, and resumed his first position.
-Several hours passed thus. Suddenly, a rather loud rustling was heard in
-the thicket, some distance behind the stranger.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah!" he said, "I fancy my man is coming at last."</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile, the sound became louder, and rapidly approached.</p>
-
-<p>"Come on, hang it!" the horseman shouted, as he rose. "By our Lady of
-Pilar! You have surely been keeping me waiting long enough."</p>
-
-<p>Nothing appeared: the clearing was still deserted, although the sound
-had attained a certain degree of intensity. The stranger, surprised at
-the obstinate silence of the man he was addressing, and specially by his
-continuing not to show himself, at length rose to see for himself the
-reason. At this moment, his horse pricked up its ears, snorted
-violently, and made a sudden effort to free itself from the lasso that
-held it; but our new acquaintance rushed toward it and patted it. The
-horse trembled all over, and made prodigious bounds in order to escape.
-The stranger, more and more surprised, looked round for an explanation
-of these extraordinary movements, and was soon satisfied.</p>
-
-<p>Scarce twenty yards from him a magnificent jaguar, with a
-splendidly-spotted hide, was crouched on the main branch of an enormous
-cypress, and fixed on him two ferocious eyes, as it passed its
-blood-red, rugged tongue over its lips with a feline pleasure.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah!" the stranger said to himself in a low voice, but displaying no
-further excitement, "I did not expect you; but no matter, you are
-welcome, comrade. <i>Caray</i>! We shall have a fight for it."</p>
-
-<p>Without taking his eye off the jaguar, he convinced himself that his
-machete quitted its scabbard readily, picked up his rifle, and, after
-these precautions were taken, he advanced resolutely toward the
-ferocious brute, which saw him coming without changing its position. On
-arriving within ten yards of the jaguar, the stranger threw away the
-cigarette he had till now held between his lips, shouldered his rifle,
-and put his finger on the trigger. The jaguar drew itself together and
-prepared to leap forward. At the same moment a hoarse yell was heard
-from the opposite side of the clearing.</p>
-
-<p>"Wait a minute," the stranger said to himself with a smile; "it seems
-there are two of them, and I fancied I had to do with a bachelor jaguar.
-This is beginning to grow interesting."</p>
-
-<p>And he threw a glance on one side. He had not deceived himself: a second
-jaguar, rather larger than the first, had fixed its flashing eyes upon
-him.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE CONTEST.</h3>
-
-
-<p>The dwellers on the Mexican frontiers are accustomed to fight
-continually with wild animals, both men and brutes, that continually
-attack them. Hence the stranger was but slightly affected by the
-unexpected visit of the two jaguars. Although his position between his
-two ferocious enemies was somewhat precarious, and he did not at all
-conceal from himself the danger he ran alone against two, he did not the
-less resolve to confront them bravely. Not taking his eye off the jaguar
-he had first seen, he went back a few steps obliquely, so as to have his
-foes nearly opposite him, instead of standing between them. This
-manoeuvre, which demanded some little time, succeeded beyond his hopes.
-The jaguars watched him, licking their lips, and passing their paws
-behind their ears with those graceful movements peculiar to the feline
-race. The two wild beasts, certain of their prey, seemed to be playing
-with it and not over eager to pounce on it.</p>
-
-<p>While keeping his eye on the watch, the Mexican did not yield to any
-treacherous feeling of security: he knew that the struggle he was about
-to undertake was a supreme one, and he took his precautions. Jaguars
-never attack a man unless forced by necessity; and the latter tried,
-before all, to seize the horse. The noble animal, securely fastened by
-its master, exhausted itself in efforts to break the bonds that held it,
-and escape. It trembled with terror on scenting its ferocious enemies.</p>
-
-<p>The stranger, when his precautions were completely taken, shouldered his
-rifle for the second time. At this moment the jaguars raised their
-heads, while laying back their ears and snuffing anxiously. An almost
-imperceptible sound was audible in the bushes.</p>
-
-<p>"Who goes there?" the Mexican asked in a loud voice.</p>
-
-<p>"A friend, Don Miguel Zarate," was the reply.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! It is Don Valentine," the Mexican continued. "You have arrived just
-in time to see some fine sport."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah!" the man who had already spoken went on. "Can I help you?"</p>
-
-<p>"It is useless; but make haste if you want to see."</p>
-
-<p>The branches were sharply drawn aside, and two men appeared in the
-clearing. At the sight of the jaguars they stopped, not through alarm,
-for they quietly placed the butts of their rifles on the ground, but in
-order to give the hunter every facility to emerge victoriously from his
-rash combat.</p>
-
-<p>The jaguars seemed to comprehend that the moment for action had arrived.
-As if by one accord, they drew themselves up and bounded on their enemy.
-The first, struck in its leap by a bullet which passed through its right
-eye, rolled on the ground, where it remained motionless. The second was
-received on the point of the hunter's machete, who after discharging his
-rifle, had fallen on his knee, with his left arm folded in his blanket
-in front, and the machete in the other hand. The man and the tiger
-writhed together in a deadly embrace, and after a few seconds only one
-of the adversaries rose: it was the man. The tiger was dead: the
-hunter's machete, guided by a firm hand, had passed right through its
-heart.</p>
-
-<p>During this rapid fight the newcomers had not made a sign, but remained
-stoical spectators of all that was taking place. The Mexican rose,
-thrust his machete in the grass to clean the blade, and turning coldly
-to the strangers, said:</p>
-
-<p>"What do you say to that?"</p>
-
-<p>"Splendidly played," the first answered; "it is one of the best double
-strokes I ever saw in my life."</p>
-
-<p>The two men threw their rifles on their shoulders, and walked up to the
-Mexican, who reloaded his piece with as much coolness and tranquillity
-as if he had not just escaped from a terrible danger by a miracle of
-skill.</p>
-
-<p>The sun was sinking on the horizon, the shadow of the trees assumed a
-prodigious length, and the luminary appeared like a ball of fire amid
-the limpid azure of the heavens. The night would soon arrive, and the
-desert was awaking. On all sides could be heard, in the gloomy and
-mysterious depths of the virgin forest, the hoarse howling of the
-coyotes and the other wild beasts, mingled with the song of the birds
-perched on all the branches. The desert, silent and gloomy during the
-oppressive heat of the day, emerged from its unhealthy torpor on the
-approach of dark, and was preparing to resume its nocturnal sports.</p>
-
-<p>The three men in the clearing collected dried branches, made a pile of
-them and set fire to it. They doubtlessly intended to camp for a portion
-of the night at this spot. So soon as the flames rose joyously, skyward
-in long spirals, the two strangers produced from their game bags maize
-tortillas, jerked meat, and a gourd of pulque. These various comestibles
-were complacently spread out on the grass, and the three men began a
-hunter's meal. When the gourd had gone the round several times, and the
-tortillas had disappeared, the newcomers lit their Indian pipes, and the
-Mexican rolled a papelito.</p>
-
-<p>Although this meal had been short, it lasted, however, long enough for
-night to have completely set in ere it was ended. Perfect darkness
-brooded over the clearing, the ruddy reflections of the fire played on
-the energetic faces of the three men, and gave them a fantastic
-appearance.</p>
-
-<p>"And now," the Mexican said, after lighting his cigarette, "I will, with
-your permission, explain to you why I was so anxious to see you."</p>
-
-<p>"One moment," one of the hunters answered. "You know that in the deserts
-the leaves have often eyes, and the trees ears. If I am not mistaken in
-your hints, you invited us here that our interview might be secret."</p>
-
-<p>"In truth, I have the greatest interest in nothing of what is said here
-being overheard, or even suspected."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. Curumilla, to work."</p>
-
-<p>The second hunter rose, seized his rifle and disappeared noiselessly in
-the gloom. His absence was rather long; but as long as it lasted, the
-two men left at the fire did not exchange a syllable. In about half an
-hour the hunter returned, however, and seated himself by his comrades'
-side.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" the one who had sent him off asked him.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother can speak," he replied laconically; "the desert is quiet."</p>
-
-<p>On this assurance the three men banished all anxiety. Still prudence did
-not abandon them: they took up their pipes, and turned their backs to
-the fire, so that they might watch the neighbourhood while conversing.</p>
-
-<p>"We are ready to listen to you," the first hunter said.</p>
-
-<p>"Listen to me with the greatest attention," the Mexican began; "what you
-are about to hear is of the utmost importance."</p>
-
-<p>The two men bowed silently, and the Mexican prepared to speak again.</p>
-
-<p>Before going further we must introduce to the reader the two men we have
-just brought on the stage, and go back a few paces in order to make it
-perfectly understood why Don Miguel Zarate, in lieu of receiving them at
-his own house, had given them the meeting in the heart of the virgin
-forest.</p>
-
-<p>The two hunters seemed at the first glance to be Indians; but on
-examining them more attentively, you could recognise that one of them
-belonged to those white trappers whose boldness has become proverbial in
-Mexico. Their appearance and equipment offered a singular medley of
-savage and civilised life. Their hair was of a remarkable length; for in
-those countries, where a man is frequently only fought for the glory of
-lifting his scalp, it is considered the thing to wear it long and easy
-to seize.</p>
-
-<p>The hunters had their hair neatly plaited, and intertwined with beaver
-skins and bright coloured ribbons. The rest of their garb harmonised with
-this specimen of their taste. A hunting shirt of bright red calico fell
-down to their knees; gaiters decorated with woolen ribbons and bells
-surrounded their legs; and their feet were shod with moccasins
-embroidered with beads which the squaws know so well how to make. A
-striped blanket, fastened round the hips by a belt of tanned deer hide,
-completed their clothing, but was not so closely drawn that at their
-every movement the butt of the pistols and the hilt of the machetes
-might be seen glistening. As for their rifles, useless at this moment,
-and carelessly thrown on the ground by their side, if they had been
-stripped of the plume-worked elk skin that covered them, it would have
-been possible to see, with what care their owners had decorated them
-with copper nails painted of various colours; for all about these two men
-bore the imprint of Indian habits.</p>
-
-<p>The first of the two hunters was a man of thirty-eight at the most, tall
-and well-built; his muscular limbs denoted great bodily strength, allied
-to unequalled lightness. Although he affected all the manners of the
-redskins, it was an easy matter to perceive that he not only belonged to
-the unmixed white race, but also to the Norman or Gaulish type. He was
-fair; his large, blue and pensive eyes, adorned with long lashes, had an
-expression of undefinable sadness: his nose was slightly aquiline; his
-mouth large, and filled with teeth of dazzling whiteness; a thick
-chestnut beard covered the lower part of his face, which revealed
-gentleness, kindness, and courage without boasting, though the whole
-were combined with a will of iron.</p>
-
-<p>His companion evidently belonged to the Indian race, all the
-characteristic signs of which he displayed; but, strange to say, he was
-not coppery like the American aborigines of Texas and North America; and
-his skin was brown and slightly of an olive hue. He had a lofty brow, a
-bent nose, small but piercing eyes, a large mouth and square chin; in
-short, he presented the complete type of the American race, which
-inhabits a limited territory in the South of Chili. This hunter had
-round his brow a purple-coloured fillet, in which was thrust over the
-right ear a plume of the Andes Eagle, a sign which serves to distinguish
-the chiefs of the Aucas.</p>
-
-<p>These two men, whom the reader has doubtless already recognised, as they
-played an important part in our previously published works<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>, were
-Valentine Guillois, an ex-noncommissioned officer in the Spahis, and
-Curumilla, his friend&mdash;Ulmen of the Great Hare tribe.</p>
-
-<p>We will introduce a parenthesis to explain their present position, and
-which is indispensable for a right understanding of what follows. The
-moment is capitally selected, by the way, for opening this parenthesis;
-for the three hunters are gaily talking round their fire, the night is
-gloomy, the forest quiet, and it does not appear likely that anything
-will arise to disturb them.</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "The Chief of the Aucas," "The Tiger Slayer," "The Gold
-Finders," "The Indian Chief."</p></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>DON MIGUEL ZARATE.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Were Mexico better governed, it would be, without contradiction, one of
-the richest countries on the face of the globe. Indeed the largest
-private fortunes must still be sought in that country. Since the United
-States Americans have revealed to the world, by seizing one-half of
-Mexico, whither their ambition tends, the inhabitants of that fine
-country have slightly emerged from the torpor they enjoyed, and have
-made great efforts to colonise their provinces, and summon to their
-soil, which is so rich and fertile, intelligent and industrious
-labourers, who might change the face of affairs, and cause abundance and
-wealth to abound at spots, where, prior to their arrival, there was
-naught save ruin, desolation, carelessness, and misery.</p>
-
-<p>Unfortunately, the noble efforts made up to the present day have,
-through an inexplicable fatality, remained without result, either owing
-to the natural apathy of the inhabitants, or the fault of the Mexican
-Government itself. Still the large landowners, comprehending all the
-advantages of the proposed measure, and how much it is to their interest
-to combat the deadly influence of the American invasions, have
-generously devoted themselves to the realization of this great question
-of social economy, which, unluckily is growing more and more
-unrealisable.</p>
-
-<p>In fact, in Northern America two hostile races&mdash;the Anglo-Saxon and the
-Spanish&mdash;stand face to face. The Anglo-Saxons are devoured by an ardour
-for conquest, and a rage for invasion, which nothing can arrest, or even
-retard. It is impossible to see without amazement the expansive
-tendencies of this active and singular people, a heterogeneous composite
-of all the races which misery or evil instincts expelled from Europe
-originally, and which feels restricted in the immense territory which
-its numerical weakness yet prevents it entirely occupying.</p>
-
-<p>Imprisoned within its vast frontiers, making a right of strength, it is
-continually displacing its neighbours' landmarks, and encroaching on
-territory of which it can make no use. Daily, bands of emigrants abandon
-their dwellings, and with their rifles on their shoulders, their axes in
-their hand, they proceed south, as if impelled by a will stronger than
-themselves; and neither mountains, deserts, nor virgin forests are
-sufficient obstacles to make them halt even for an instant. The Yankees
-imagine themselves generally the instruments of Providence, and
-appointed by the decrees of the Omnipotent to people and civilise the
-New World. They count with feverish impatience the hours which must
-elapse ere the day (close at hand in their ideas) arrive in which their
-race and government system will occupy the entire space contained
-between Cape North and the Isthmus of Panama, to the exclusion of the
-Spanish republics on one side, and the English colonies on the other.</p>
-
-<p>These projects, of which the Americans make no mystery, but, on the
-contrary, openly boast, are perfectly well known to the Mexicans, who
-cordially detest their neighbours, and employ all the means in their
-power to create difficulties for them, and impede their successive
-encroachments.</p>
-
-<p>Among the New Mexican landowners who resolved to make sacrifices in
-order to stop, or at least check, the imminent invasion from North
-America, the richest, and possibly, first of all, through his
-intelligence and the influence he justly enjoyed in the country, was Don
-Miguel Acamarichtzin Zarate.</p>
-
-<p>Whatever may be asserted, the Indian population of Mexico is nearly
-double in number to the white men, and possesses an enormous influence.
-Don Miguel descended in a straight line from Acamarichtzin, first king
-of Mexico, whose name had been preserved in the family as a precious
-relic. Possessed of an incalculable fortune, Don Miguel lived on his
-enormous estates like a king in his empire, beloved and respected by the
-Indians, whom he effectively protected whenever the occasion presented
-itself, and who felt for him a veneration carried almost to idolatry;
-for they saw in him the descendant from one of their most celebrated
-kings, and the born defender of their race.</p>
-
-<p>In New Mexico the Indian population has very largely increased during
-the past fifty years. Some authors, indeed, assert that it is now more
-numerous than prior to the conquest, which is very probable, through the
-apathy of the Spaniards, and the carelessness they have ever displayed
-in their struggles against it. But the Indians have remained stationary
-amid the incessant progress of civilization, and still retain intact the
-principal traits of their old manners. Scattered here and there in
-miserable ranchos or villages, they live in separate tribes, governed by
-their caciques, and they have mingled but very few Spanish words with
-their idioms, which they speak as in the time of the Aztecs. The sole
-apparent change in them is their conversion to Catholicism&mdash;a conversion
-more than problematical, as they preserve with the utmost care all the
-recollections of their ancient religion, follow its rites in secret, and
-keep up all its superstitious practices.</p>
-
-<p>The Indians&mdash;above all, in New Mexico&mdash;although called <i>Indios fideles</i>,
-are always ready on the first opportunity to ally themselves with their
-desert congeners; and in the incursions of the Apaches and Comanches it
-is rare for the faithful Indians not to serve them as scouts, guides,
-and spies.</p>
-
-<p>The family of Don Miguel Zarate had retired to New Mexico, which country
-it did not leave again&mdash;a few years after the conquests of the
-adventurer Cortez. Don Miguel had closely followed the policy of his
-family by maintaining the bonds of friendship and good neighbourhood
-which, from time immemorial, attached it to the Indians, believers or
-not. This policy had borne its fruit. Annually, in September, when the
-terrible red warriors, preceded by murder and arson, rushed like a
-torrent on the wretched inhabitants, whom they massacred in the farms
-they plundered, without pity of age or sex, Don Miguel Zarate's estates
-were respected; and not merely was no damage inflicted on them, but even
-if at times a field were unwittingly trampled by the horses' hoofs, or a
-few trees destroyed by plunderers, the evil was immediately repaired ere
-the owner had opportunity for complaint.</p>
-
-<p>This conduct of the Indians had not failed to arouse against Don Miguel
-extreme jealousy on the part of the inhabitants, who saw themselves
-periodically ruined by the <i>Indios Bravos.</i> Earnest complaints had been
-laid against him before the Mexican Government; but whatever might be
-the power of his enemies, and the means they employed to ruin him, the
-rich hacendero had never been seriously disturbed: in the first place,
-because New Mexico is too remote from the capital for the inhabitants to
-have anything to fear from the governing classes; and secondly, Don
-Miguel was too rich not to render it easy for him to impose silence on
-those who were most disposed to injure him.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel, whose portrait we drew in a previous chapter, was left a
-widower after eight years' marriage, with two children, a boy and a
-girl, the son being twenty-four, the daughter seventeen, at the period
-when our story opens. Doña Clara&mdash;such was the daughter's name&mdash;was one
-of the most delicious maidens that can be imagined. She had one of those
-Murillo's virgin heads, whose black eyes, fringed with long silky
-lashes, pure mouth, and dreamy brow seem to promise divine joys. Her
-complexion, slightly bronzed by the warm sunbeams, wore that gilded
-reflection which so well becomes the women of these intertropical
-countries. She was short of stature, but exquisitely modelled. Gentle
-and simple, ignorant as a Creole, this delicious child was adored by her
-father, who saw in her the wife he had so loved living once more. The
-Indians looked after her when she at times passed pensively, plucking a
-flower before their wretched huts, and scarce bending the slants on
-which she placed her delicate foot. In their hearts they compared this
-frail maiden, with her soft and vaporous outline, to the "virgin of the
-first loves," that sublime creation of the Indian religion which holds
-so great a place in the Aztec mythology.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo Zarate, the hacendero's son, was a powerfully built man, with
-harshly marked features, and a haughty glance, although at times it was
-imprinted with gentleness and kindness. Endowed with more than ordinary
-strength, skilled in all bodily exercises, Don Pablo was renowned
-through the whole country for his talent in taming the most spirited
-horses, and the correctness of his aim when on the chase. A determined
-hunter and daring wood ranger, this young man, when he had a good horse
-between his legs, and his rifle in his hand, knew none, man or animal,
-capable of barring his passage. The Indians, in their simple faith,
-yielded to the son the same respect and veneration they entertained for
-the father, and fancied they saw in him the personification of
-<i>Huitzilopochtli</i>, that terrible war god of the Aztecs, to whom 62,000
-human victims were sacrificed in one day, upon the inauguration of his
-<i>teocali</i>.</p>
-
-<p>The Zarates, then, at the period when our story opens, were real kings
-of New Mexico. The felicity they enjoyed was suddenly troubled by one of
-those vulgar incidents which, though unimportant in themselves, do not
-fail to cause a general perturbation, and a discomfort possessing no
-apparent cause, from the fact that it is impossible to foresee or
-prevent them. The circumstance was as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel possessed, in the vicinity of the Paso, vast estates
-extending for a great distance, and consisting principally of haciendas,
-prairies, and forests. One day Don Miguel was returning from a visit to
-his haciendas. It was late, and he pressed on his horse in order to
-reach ere night the ford, when, at about three or four leagues at the
-most from the spot to which he was proceeding, and just as he was
-entering a dense forest of cottonwood trees, through which he must pass
-ere reaching the ford, his attention was attracted by cries mingled with
-growls emerging from the wood he was about to enter. The hacendero
-stopped in order to account for the unusual sounds he heard, and bent
-his head forward to detect what was happening. But it was impossible for
-him to distinguish anything through the chaos of creepers and shrubs
-which intercepted vision. In the meanwhile, the noise grew louder, and
-the shouts were redoubled, and mingled with oaths and passionate
-exclamations.</p>
-
-<p>The Mexican's horse laid back its ears, neighed, and refused to advance.
-Still Don Miguel must make up his mind. Thinking that a man was probably
-attacked by wild beasts, he only consulted his heart; and, in spite of
-the visible repugnance of his steed, he compelled it to go forward and
-enter the wood. He had scarce gone a few yards ere he stopped in
-amazement at the strange spectacle that presented itself to him.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE PECCARIES.</h3>
-
-
-<p>In the middle of the clearing lay a ripped up horse, which six or eight
-peccaries were rending, while a dozen others were attacking with their
-tusks the stem of an enormous tree, in the topmost branches of which a
-man had sought shelter.</p>
-
-<p>Let us explain to our readers, who probably know little about them, what
-sort of animals the peccaries are. The peccaries hold the intermediate
-grade between the domestic pig and the wild boar. Although this animal
-does not exceed two feet in height, and is not more than three feet long
-from the end of the snout to the beginning of the tail, it is
-indubitably one of the most dangerous animals in North America. The
-animal's jaw is provided with tusks rather like those of the boar, but
-straight and sharp, their length varying between four and six inches. In
-the shape of the body it resembles a pig, but the bristles scattered
-over its warty hide are in colored strips; the part nearest the skin is
-white, and the point of a chocolate tinge. So soon as the animal is
-enraged, these bristles stand out like the quills of a porcupine.</p>
-
-<p>The movements of the peccaries are as quick and sharp as those of a
-squirrel. They ordinarily live in herds of fifteen, thirty, and even
-fifty. The strength of the head, neck, and shoulders is so great when
-they charge, that nothing can resist the impetuosity of their attacks. A
-remarkable peculiarity of this genus is the clumsy wart they have on
-their backs, whence a musty fluid evaporates when the animal is in a
-fury.</p>
-
-<p>The peccary lives in preference on acorns, roots, wheat, sugar cane, and
-reptiles of every description. It is a proved fact that the most
-venomous serpents are devoured by them without their feeling in the
-slightest degree incommoded.</p>
-
-<p>The mode in which the peccary forms its lair is very singular. This lair
-is generally in the midst of tufted and impenetrable canes, found in
-marshy spots round the monarchs of the forest, which still stand like
-crushed giants, with their grappling lines of creepers and virgin vines.
-The trunks of these trees, which at times measure forty feet in
-circumference, are nearly all hollow, and thus afford a convenient
-shelter for the peccaries, which retire to them every night in herds of
-twenty to twenty-five, entering the cavity one after the other
-backwards; so that the last has the end of its snout placed just at the
-entrance of the hole, thus watching, as it were, over the rest of its
-companions.</p>
-
-<p>The peccaries are unboundedly ferocious: they know not danger, or at
-least despise it completely. They always attack in herds, and fight with
-unequalled rage until the last succumbs, no matter the nature of their
-foe.</p>
-
-<p>Hence men and animals all fly a meeting with these terrible beasts: the
-jaguar, so strong and redoubtable, will become their prey if it be so
-imprudent as to attack them. This is the way they set about conquering
-this wild beast:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>When a jaguar has wounded a peccary, the latter collect, chase it, and
-pursue until they can contrive to surround the common enemy. When every
-issue is closed, the jaguar, believing it can thus escape, seeks refuge
-up a tree. But the peccaries do not resign the vengeance; they establish
-themselves at the foot of the tree, being incessantly recruited by fresh
-allies, and patiently waiting till the jaguar, driven to extremities by
-hunger and thirst, decides on descending from its improvised fortress.
-This is almost always sure to happen at the end of two or three days at
-the most. The jaguar bounds into the midst of its enemies, which boldly
-await it, and attack it bravely; a terrible fight commences; and the
-tiger, after covering the ground with victims, at length succumbs
-beneath the efforts of its assailants, and is ripped up by their tusks.</p>
-
-<p>After what we have said, it is easy to understand how precarious was the
-position of the man perched on the top of the tree, and surrounded by
-peccaries. His enemies seemed determined not to leave their ground; they
-craftily crept round the tree, attacked its base with their tusks, and
-then recognising the inutility of their onsets, they quietly lay down by
-the carcass of the horse, which they had already sacrificed to their
-fury. Don Miguel felt moved to pity for the poor fellow, whose position
-grew momentarily more critical; but in vain did he rack his brains how
-to help the unhappy man whose destruction was assured.</p>
-
-<p>To attack the peccaries would have been extreme imprudence, and have
-produced no other result than that of turning on himself the fury of the
-animals, while not saving the man he wished to help. Still time pressed.
-What was to be done? How, without sacrificing himself, save the man who
-ran so great a risk?</p>
-
-<p>The Mexican hesitated for a long period. It seemed to Don Miguel
-impossible to leave, without help, this man whose death was certain.
-This idea, which presented itself to his mind several times, he had
-energetically repulsed, so monstrous did it appear to him. At length he
-resolved at all risks to attempt impossibilities in favour of this
-stranger, of whose death he would have eventually accused himself had he
-left him to perish in the desert.</p>
-
-<p>The stranger's position was the more critical because, in his haste to
-defend himself from the attacks of his enemies, he had left his rifle
-fall at the foot of the tree, and was consequently unable to reduce the
-number of the peccaries. In spite of their fineness of scent, the latter
-had not noticed Don Miguel's approach, who, by a providential accident,
-had entered the wood on the side opposite the wind. The Mexican
-dismounted with a sigh, patted his horse, and then took off its
-accoutrements. The noble animal, habituated to its master's caresses,
-shook his head joyously, and fixed its large intelligent eyes on him.
-Don Miguel could not repress another sigh: a tear fell down on his
-bronzed cheeks. On the point of accomplishing the sacrifice, he
-hesitated.</p>
-
-<p>It was a faithful companion, almost a friend, he was about to separate
-from; but the life of a man was at stake. The Mexican drove back the
-feelings that agitated him, and his resolution was formed. He passed a
-lasso round his horse's neck, and, in spite of its obstinate resistance,
-compelled it to advance to the entrance of the clearing in which the
-peccaries were assembled. A frail curtain of creepers and leaves alone
-hid it from their sight. On arriving here Don Miguel stopped: he had one
-more moment's hesitation, but only one; for then seizing a piece of
-tinder, which he lighted, he thrust it into the poor animal's ear while
-caressing it.</p>
-
-<p>The effect was sudden and terrible. The horse uttered a snort of pain;
-and rendered mad by the burning, bounded forward into the clearing,
-striving in vain to get rid of the tinder which caused it intolerable
-suffering. Don Miguel had smartly leaped aside, and now followed with an
-anxious glance the result of the terrible tentative he had just made to
-save the stranger. On seeing the horse appear suddenly in their midst,
-the peccaries rose, formed a compact group and rushed with their heads
-down in pursuit of the horse, thinking no longer of the man. The animal,
-spurred on still more by the sight of its ferocious enemies, shot ahead
-with the speed of an arrow, breaking down with its chest all the
-obstacles in its way, and followed closely by the peccaries.</p>
-
-<p>The man saved; but at what a price! Don Miguel repressed a last sigh of
-regret, and leaped into the clearing. The stranger had already descended
-from the tree; but the emotion he had undergone was so extreme, that he
-remained seated on the ground, almost in a state of unconsciousness.</p>
-
-<p>"Quick, quick!" Don Miguel said to him sharply. "We have not a moment to
-lose: the peccaries may alter their minds and return."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," the stranger muttered in a hollow voice, as he cast a
-terrified glance around. "Let us be off&mdash;off at once."</p>
-
-<p>He made an effort over himself, seized his rifle, and rose. Through a
-presentiment for which he could not account to himself, Don Miguel
-experienced at the sight of this man, whom he had hitherto scarce looked
-at, a feeling of invincible doubt and disgust. Owing to the life he was
-obliged to lead on these frontiers, frequented by people of every
-description, the hacendero had been often brought into relation with
-trappers and hunters whose faces were no recommendation to them; but
-never ere now had chance brought him in contact with an individual of
-such sinister appearance as this one.</p>
-
-<p>Still he did not allow his feelings to be seen through, and invited this
-man to follow him. The latter did not let the invitation be repeated;
-for he was anxious to escape from the spot where he had been so near
-death. Thanks to the Mexican's acquaintance with the country, the wood
-was speedily traversed, and the two men, after a walk of scarce an
-hour's duration, reached the banks of the Del Norte, just opposite the
-village. Their speed had been so great, their anxiety so serious, that
-they had not exchanged a syllable, so terrified were they of seeing the
-peccaries appear at any moment. Fortunately this was not the case, and
-they reached the ford without being again disturbed.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel was burdened with his horse's trappings, which he now threw
-on the ground, and looked around him in the hope of finding someone who
-would help him in crossing the river. His expectations were not
-deceived; for just as they reached the ford an <i>arriero</i> was preparing
-to cross to the other side of the river with his <i>recca</i> of mules, and,
-with the generosity innate in all Mexicans, he offered to carry them
-both to the Paso. The two men eagerly accepted, each mounted a mule, and
-half an hour later they found themselves in safety at the village. After
-giving the arriero a few reals to requite him for his services, Don
-Miguel took up his horse's trappings again, and prepared to start. The
-stranger stopped.</p>
-
-<p>"We are about to part here, caballero," he said in a rough voice, with a
-very marked English accent; "but before leaving, let me express to you
-my deep gratitude for the noble and generous manner in which you saved
-my life at the peril of your own."</p>
-
-<p>"Sir," the Mexican simply answered, "I only did my duty in saving you.
-In the desert all men are brothers, and owe each other protection. Hence
-do not thank me, I beg, for a very simple action: any other in my place
-would have acted as I have done."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps so," the stranger continued; "but be kind enough, pray, to tell
-me your name, so that I may know to whom I owe my life."</p>
-
-<p>"That is needless," Don Miguel said with a smile. "Still, as I fancy you
-are a stranger in these parts, let me give you a piece of advice."</p>
-
-<p>"What is it, sir?"</p>
-
-<p>"Never in future to attack the peccaries. They are terrible enemies,
-only to be conquered by a strong body of men; and an individual in
-attacking them commits an unpardonable folly, to which he must fall a
-victim."</p>
-
-<p>"Be assured, sir, that I shall profit by the lesson I have received this
-day, and shall never put myself in such a wasps' nest again. I was too
-near paying dearly for my imprudence. But I beg you, sir, do not let us
-separate ere I know the name of my preserver."</p>
-
-<p>"As you insist, sir, you shall learn it. I am Don Miguel de Zarate."</p>
-
-<p>The stranger took a peculiar glance at the speaker, while repressing a
-movement of surprise.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" he said in a singular tone, "Thanks, Don Miguel Zarate. Without
-knowing you personally, I was already acquainted with your name."</p>
-
-<p>"That is possible," the hacendero answered; "for I am well known in
-this country, where my family has been established for many a long
-year."</p>
-
-<p>"I, sir, am the man whom the Indians call Witchasta Joute, the Maneater,
-and the hunters, my companions, Red Cedar."</p>
-
-<p>And after lifting his hand to his cap in salute, this man threw his
-rifle on his shoulder, turned on his heel, and went off at full speed.
-Don Miguel looked after him for a while, and then walked pensively
-toward the house he inhabited at el Paso. The hacendero did not suspect
-that he had sacrificed his favourite horse to save the life of his most
-implacable enemy.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE WOUND.</h3>
-
-
-<p>At sunrise, Don Miguel, mounted on an excellent horse, left the Paso,
-and proceeded toward the hacienda where he resided with his family. It
-was situated a few miles from the Presidio of San Elezario, in a
-delicious position, and was known as the <i>Hacienda de la Noria</i> (the
-Farm of the Well). The estate inhabited by Don Miguel stood in the
-centre of the vast delta formed by the Del Norte and the Rio San Pedro,
-or Devil's River. It was one of those strong and massive buildings which
-the Spaniards alone knew how to erect when they were absolute masters of
-Mexico.</p>
-
-<p>The hacienda formed a vast parallelogram, supported at regular distances
-by enormous cross walls of carved stone. Like all the frontier
-habitations, which are rather fortresses than houses, it was only
-pierced on the side of the plain with a few narrow windows resembling
-loopholes, and protected by solid iron bars. This abode was begirt by a
-thick wall of circumvallation, defended on the top by that fretwork
-called <i>almenas</i>, which indicated the nobility of the owner. Within this
-wall, but separated from the chief apartments, were the stables,
-outhouses, barns and cabins for the peons.</p>
-
-<p>At the extremity of the courtyard, in an angle of the hacienda, was the
-tall square belfry of the chapel, rising above its terraced roof. This
-chapel was served by a monk called Fray Ambrosio. A magnificent plain
-closed in this splendid farm. At the end of a valley more than fifty
-miles in length were cactus trees of a conical shape, loaded with fruit
-and flowers, and whose stems were as much as six feet in diameter.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel employed a considerable number of peons in the cultivation of
-the sugar cane, which he carried on upon a very large scale. As
-everybody knows, the cane is planted by laying it horizontally in
-furrows half a foot deep. From each knot springs a shoot which reaches a
-height of about three yards, and which is cut at the end of a year to
-extract the juice.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing can be more picturesque than the sight of a field of sugar
-canes. It was one of those superb American mornings during which nature
-seems to be holding a festival. The <i>centzontle</i> (American nightingale)
-frequently poured forth its harmonious notes; the red throstled
-cardinals, the blue birds, the parakeets, chattered gaily beneath the
-foliage; far away on the plain galloped flocks of light antelopes and
-timid ashatas, while on the extreme verge of the horizon rushed startled
-<i>manadas</i> of wild horses, which raised clouds of impalpable dust beneath
-the vibration of their rapid hoofs. A few alligators, carelessly
-stretched out on the river mud, were drying their scales in the sun, and
-in mid air the grand eagles of the Sierra Madre hovered majestically
-above the valley.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel advanced rapidly at the favourite pace of the Mexican
-<i>jinetes,</i> and which consists in making the horse raise its front legs,
-while the hind ones almost graze the ground&mdash;a peculiar sort of amble
-which is very gentle and rapid. The hacendero only employed four hours
-in traversing the distance separating him from the hacienda, where he
-arrived about nine in the morning. He was received on the threshold of
-the house by his daughter, who, warned of his arrival, had hastened to
-meet him.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel had been absent from home a fortnight; hence, he received his
-daughter's caresses with the greatest pleasure. When he had embraced her
-several times, while continuing to hold her tightly clasped in his arms,
-he regarded her attentively during several seconds.</p>
-
-<p>"What is the matter, <i>mi querida</i> Clara?" he asked with sympathy. "You
-seem very sad. Can you feel vexed at the sight of me?" he added, with a
-smile.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, you cannot believe that, father!" she answered quickly; "for you
-know how happy your presence must render me."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, my child! But whence, in that case, comes the sorrow I see
-spread over your features?"</p>
-
-<p>The maiden let her eyes sink, but made no reply.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel threw a searching glance around.</p>
-
-<p>"Where is Don Pablo?" he said. "Why has he not come to greet me? Can he
-be away from the hacienda?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, father, he is here."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, then, what is the reason he is not by your side?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because&mdash;" the girl said, with hesitation.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?"</p>
-
-<p>"He is ill."</p>
-
-<p>"My son ill!" Don Miguel exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p>"I am wrong," Doña Clara corrected herself.</p>
-
-<p>"Explain yourself, in Heaven's name!"</p>
-
-<p>"My father, the fact is that Pablo is wounded."</p>
-
-<p>"Wounded!" the hacendero sharply said; and thrusting his daughter
-aside, he rushed toward the house, bounded up the few steps leading to
-the porch, crossed several rooms without stopping, and reached his son's
-chamber. The young man was lying, weak and faint, on his bed; but on
-perceiving his parent he smiled, and held his hand to him. Don Miguel
-was fondly attached to his son, his sole heir, and walked up to him.</p>
-
-<p>"What is this wound of which I have heard?" he asked him in great
-agitation.</p>
-
-<p>"Less than nothing, father," the young man replied, exchanging a meaning
-glance with his sister, who entered at the moment. "Clara is a foolish
-girl, who, in her tenderness, wrongly alarmed you."</p>
-
-<p>"But, after all, you are wounded?" the father continued.</p>
-
-<p>"But I repeat that it is a mere nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"Come, explain yourself. How and when did you receive this wound?"</p>
-
-<p>The young man blushed, and maintained silence.</p>
-
-<p>"I insist on knowing," Don Miguel continued pressingly.</p>
-
-<p>"Good heavens, father!" Don Pablo replied with an air of ill-humour, "I
-do not understand why you are alarmed for so futile a cause. I am not a
-child, whom a scratch should make frightened; and many times have I been
-wounded previously, and you have not disturbed yourself so much."</p>
-
-<p>"That is possible; but the mode in which you answer me, the care you
-seem trying to take to keep me ignorant of the cause of this wound&mdash;in a
-word, everything tells me that this time you are trying to hide
-something grave from me."</p>
-
-<p>"You are mistaken, father, and shall convince yourself."</p>
-
-<p>"I wish nothing more: speak. Clara, my child, go and give orders to have
-breakfast prepared, for I am dying of hunger."</p>
-
-<p>The girl went out.</p>
-
-<p>"Now it is our turn," Don Miguel continued. "In the first place, where
-are you wounded?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! I have merely a slight scratch on my shoulder: if I went to bed it
-was more through indolence than any other motive."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! and what scratched your shoulder?"</p>
-
-<p>"A bullet."</p>
-
-<p>"What! A bullet! Then you must have fought a duel, unhappy boy!" Don
-Miguel exclaimed with a shudder.</p>
-
-<p>The young man smiled, pressed his father's hand, and bending toward him,
-said,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"This is what has happened."</p>
-
-<p>"I am listening to you," Don Miguel replied, making an effort to calm
-himself.</p>
-
-<p>"Two days after your departure, father," Don Pablo continued, "I was
-superintending, as you wished me to do, the cutting of the cane crop,
-when a hunter whom you will probably remember having seen prowling about
-the estate, a man of the name of Andrés Garote, accosted me at the
-moment I was about to return home after giving my orders to the
-majordomo. After saluting me obsequiously as his wont, the scamp smiled
-cunningly, and lowering his voice so as not to be overheard by those
-around us, said, 'Don Pablo, I fancy you would give half an ounce to the
-man who brought you important news?' 'That depends,' I answered; for,
-having known the man a long time, I was aware much confidence could not
-be placed in him. 'Bah! Your grace is so rich,' he continued
-insidiously, 'that a miserable sum like that is less than nothing in his
-pocket, while in mine it would do me a deal of good.'</p>
-
-<p>"Apart from his defects, this scamp had at times done us a few small
-services; and then, as he said, a half-ounce is but a trifle, so I gave
-it to him. He stowed it away in his pockets, and then bent down to my
-ear. 'Thanks, Don Pablo,' he said to me. 'I shall not cheat you of your
-money. Your horse is rested, and can stand a long journey. Proceed to
-Buffalo Valley, and there you will learn something to interest you.' It
-was in vain that I urged him to explain himself more clearly; I could
-draw no more from him. He merely added before parting from me, 'Don
-Pablo, you have good weapons; so take them with you, for no man knoweth
-what may happen.' Somehow the scamp's veiled confidence aroused my
-curiosity: hence I resolved to go to Buffalo Valley, and gain the clue
-of this riddle."</p>
-
-<p>"Andrés Garote is a villain, who laid a snare for you, into which you
-fell," Don Miguel interrupted.</p>
-
-<p>"No, father, you are mistaken. Andrés was honest towards me, and I have
-only thanks to give him. Still he should have explained himself,
-perhaps, more distinctly."</p>
-
-<p>The hacendero shook his head with a doubting air.</p>
-
-<p>"Go on," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"I entered my house, procured the weapons, and then, mounted on Negro,
-my black charger, I proceeded toward Buffalo Valley. As you are aware,
-father, the place we call so, and which belongs to us, is an immense
-forest of cedars and maples, nearly forty miles in circumference, and
-traversed almost through its entire length by a wide confluent of the
-Rio San Pedro."</p>
-
-<p>"Of course I know it, and I intend next year to fell some of the wood
-there."</p>
-
-<p>"You need not take the trouble," the young man said with a smile, "for
-someone has done it for you."</p>
-
-<p>"What do you mean?" the hacendero asked wrathfully. "Who dared?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! One of those wretched heretic squatters, as they call themselves.
-The villain found the spot to suit him, and has quietly settled there
-with his three whelps&mdash;three big fellows with hang-dog faces, who
-laughed at me when I told them the forest was mine, and answered, while
-aiming at me, that they were North Americans, who cared as little for me
-as they did for a coyote; that the ground belonged to the first comer;
-and that I shall afford them lively pleasure by being off at full speed.
-What more shall I tell you, father? I take after you. I have hot blood,
-and I cordially hate that race of Yankee pirates, who, for some years
-back, have settled on our lovely country like a swarm of mosquitoes. I
-saw our forest plundered, our finest trees cut down. I could not remain
-unmoved in the presence of these scoundrels' insolence, and the quarrel
-became so sharp that they fired at me."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Virgen Santísima</i>!" Don Miguel exclaimed in fury, "They shall pay
-dearly for the affront they have offered you I swear it! I will take
-exemplary vengeance."</p>
-
-<p>"Why be so angry, father?" the young man replied, visibly annoyed at the
-effect his story had produced. "The harm these people do us is really
-very trifling. I was in the wrong to let my passion carry me away."</p>
-
-<p>"On the contrary, you were right. I will not have these Northern thieves
-come and commit their plunder here. I will put a stop to it."</p>
-
-<p>"I assure you that, if you will leave me to act, I feel certain of
-arranging this affair to your entire satisfaction."</p>
-
-<p>"I forbid you taking the slightest steps, for this matter concerns me
-now. Whatever may occur, I do not wish you to interfere. Will you
-promise me this?"</p>
-
-<p>"As you insist, I do so, father."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. Get cured as speedily as possible, and keep your mind at
-rest. The Yankees shall pay me dearly for the blood they have shed."</p>
-
-<p>With these words Don Miguel retired, and his son fell back on his bed
-stifling a sigh, and uttering a hoarse exclamation of passion.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE SQUATTER'S SHANTY.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Don Pablo had not told his father the facts in all their truth or
-detail. He had fallen into a perfect ambuscade. He was suddenly attacked
-by the three brothers, who would have mercilessly killed him, resolved
-to lay the blame of his death on the wild beasts, had not, at the moment
-when one of them lifted his knife on the young man, who was thrown down
-and rendered motionless by the others, a providential succour reached him
-in the person of a charming maid scarce sixteen years of age.</p>
-
-<p>The courageous girl rushed from a copse with the rapidity of a fawn, and
-threw herself resolutely into the midst of the assassins.</p>
-
-<p>"What are you about, brother?" she exclaimed in a melodious voice, whose
-harmonious notes echoed amorously in Don Pablo's ears. "Why do you wish
-to kill this stranger?"</p>
-
-<p>The three squatters, surprised by this apparition, which they were far
-from expecting, fell back a few paces. Don Pablo profited by this truce
-to jump up and regain possession of his arms, which had fallen by his
-side.</p>
-
-<p>"Was it not enough," the girl continued, "to rob this man, that you must
-now try to take his life? Fie, brothers! Do you not know that blood
-leaves on the hands of him who spills it stains which nothing can
-efface? Let this man retire in peace."</p>
-
-<p>The young men hesitated. Although unconsciously yielding to their
-sister's influence, they were ashamed of thus executing her wishes.
-Still they did not dare express their thoughts, and merely bent on their
-enemy, who awaited them with a firm foot and pistols in hand, glances
-laden with hatred and anger.</p>
-
-<p>"Ellen is right," the youngest of her brothers suddenly said. "No, I
-will not allow any harm to be done the stranger."</p>
-
-<p>The others looked at him savagely.</p>
-
-<p>"You would defend him, if necessary, I suppose, Shaw?" Nathan said to
-him ironically.</p>
-
-<p>"Why should I not, were it required?" the young man said boldly.</p>
-
-<p>"Eh!" Sutter remarked with a grin, "He is thinking of the Wood
-Eglantine."</p>
-
-<p>This word had been scarce uttered ere Shaw, with purpled face,
-contracted features, and eyes injected with blood, rushed with uplifted
-knife on his brother, who awaited him firmly. The girl dashed between
-them.</p>
-
-<p>"Peace, peace!" she shrieked in a piercing voice, "Do brothers dare
-threaten one another?"</p>
-
-<p>The two young fellows remained motionless, but watching and ready to
-strike in a moment. Don Pablo fixed an ardent glance on the girl, who
-was really admirable at this moment. With her features animated by
-anger, her head erect, and her arms stretched out between the two men,
-she bore a startling likeness to those Druidesses who in olden times
-summoned the warriors to combat beneath the forests of Germany.</p>
-
-<p>In her whole person she offered the complete type of the gentle Northern
-woman. Her hair light and golden like ripe corn; her eyes of extreme
-purity, which reflected the azure of the sky; her earnest mouth, with
-rosy lips and pearly teeth; her flexible and small waist; the whiteness
-of her complexion, whose delicate and transparent skin still bore the
-flush of adolescence&mdash;all was combined in this charming maiden to render
-her the most seductive creature imaginable.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo, a stranger to this kind of beauty, felt himself involuntarily
-attracted toward the girl, and entirely subjugated by her. Forgetting
-the reason that had brought him to this spot, the danger he had
-incurred, and that which still menaced him, he was fascinated and
-trembling before this delicious apparition, fearing at each instant to
-see it vanish like a vision, and not daring to turn his glance from her
-while he felt he had no strength left to admire her.</p>
-
-<p>This young creature, so frail and delicate, formed a strange contrast
-with the tall statures and marked features of her brothers, whose coarse
-and savage manners only served to heighten the elegance and charm
-exhaled by her whole person. Still this scene could not be prolonged,
-and must be ended at once. The maiden walked toward Don Pablo.</p>
-
-<p>"Sir," she said to him with a soft smile, "You have nothing more to fear
-from my brothers; you can mount your horse again, and set out, and no
-one will oppose your departure."</p>
-
-<p>The young man understood that he had no pretext to prolong his stay at
-this spot; he therefore let his head sink, placed his pistols in his
-holsters, leaped on his horse, and set out with regret, and as slowly as
-possible.</p>
-
-<p>He had scarce gone a league when he heard the hasty clatter of a horse
-behind him. He turned back. The approaching horseman was Shaw, who soon
-caught up with Don Pablo. The pair then proceeded some distance side by
-side without exchanging a syllable, and both seemed plunged in profound
-thought. On reaching the skirt of the forest, Shaw checked his horse,
-and softly laid his right hand on the Mexican's bridle. Don Pablo also
-stopped on this hint, and waited, while fixing an inquiring glance on
-his strange comrade.</p>
-
-<p>"Stranger," the young man said, "my sister sends me. She implores you,
-if it be possible, to keep secret what occurred between us today. She
-deeply regrets the attack to which you fell a victim, and the wound you
-have received; and she will try to persuade Red Cedar, our father, to
-retire from your estates."</p>
-
-<p>"Thank your sister for me," Don Pablo answered. "Tell her that her
-slightest wish will ever be a command to me, and that I shall be happy
-to execute it."</p>
-
-<p>"I will repeat your words to her."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks. Render me a parting service."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak."</p>
-
-<p>"What is your sister's name?"</p>
-
-<p>"Ellen. She is the guardian angel of our hearth. My name is Shaw."</p>
-
-<p>"I am obliged to you for telling me your name, though I cannot guess the
-reason that induces you to do so."</p>
-
-<p>"I will tell you. I love my sister Ellen before all: she urged me to
-offer you my friendship. I obey her. Remember, stranger, that Shaw is
-yours to the death."</p>
-
-<p>"I shall not forget it, though I hope never to be under the necessity of
-reminding you of your words."</p>
-
-<p>"All the worse," the American said, with a shake of his head; "but if at
-any time the opportunity offers, I will prove to you that I am a man of
-my word, so surely as I am a Kentuckian."</p>
-
-<p>And hurriedly turning his horse's head, the young man rapidly
-disappeared in the windings of the forest.</p>
-
-<p>Buffalo Valley, illumined by the parting rays of the setting sun, seemed
-a lake of verdure to which the golden mist of night imparted magical
-tones. A light breeze rustled through the lofty crests of the cedars,
-catalpas, tulip and Peru trees, and agitated the grass on the banks of
-the Rio San Pedro. Don Pablo let the reins float idly on his horse's
-neck, and advanced dreamily through the forest, where the birds were
-leaping from spray to spray, each saluting in its language the arrival
-of night.</p>
-
-<p>An hour later, the young man reached the hacienda; but the wound he had
-received in his shoulder was more serious than was at first supposed. He
-was obliged, to his great regret, to keep his bed, which prevented him
-seeking to meet again the maiden whose image was deeply engraved on his
-heart.</p>
-
-<p>So soon as the Mexican had gone off, the squatters continued felling
-trees and sawing planks, and did not abandon this work till the night
-had grown quite black. Ellen had returned to the interior of the jacal,
-where she attended to the housekeeping duties with her mother. This
-jacal was a wretched hut, hastily made with branches of intertwined
-trees, which trembled with every breeze, and let the sun and rain
-penetrate to the interior.</p>
-
-<p>This cabin was divided into three compartments: the one to the right
-served as the bedroom of the two females, while the men slept in the one
-to the left. The central compartment, furnished with worm-eaten benches
-and a clumsily-planed table, was at once keeping room and kitchen.</p>
-
-<p>It was late: the squatters, assembled round the fire, over which a huge
-pot was boiling, were silently awaiting the return of Red Cedar, who had
-been absent since the morning. At length, a horse's hoofs sounded
-sharply on the detritus collected for years on the floor of the forest,
-the noise grew gradually nearer, the horse stopped in front of the
-jacal, and a man made his appearance. It was Red Cedar. The men slowly
-turned their heads toward him, but did not otherwise disturb themselves,
-or address a syllable to him.</p>
-
-<p>Ellen alone rose and embraced her father affectionately. The giant
-seized the girl in his nervous arms, raised her from the ground, and
-kissed her several times, saying in his rough voice, which his
-tenderness sensibly softened,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Good evening, my dear."</p>
-
-<p>Then he put her down on the ground again, and not troubling himself
-further about her, fell heavily on a bench near the fire, and thrust his
-feet toward the fire.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, wife," he said, after the expiration of a moment, "the supper, in
-the fiend's name! I have a coyote's hunger."</p>
-
-<p>The wife did not let this be repeated. A few moments later an immense
-dish of <i>frijoles</i>, with pimiento, smoked on the table, with large pots
-of pulque. The meal was short and silent, the four men eating with
-extreme rapacity. So soon as the beans had disappeared Red Cedar and his
-sons lit their pipes, and began smoking, while drinking large draughts
-of whiskey, though still not speaking. At length Red Cedar took his pipe
-from his lips, and hit the table sharply, while saying in a rough
-voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Come, women, decamp! You have nothing more to do here. You are in our
-way, so go to the deuce!"</p>
-
-<p>Ellen and her mother immediately went out, and entered their separate
-apartment. For a few minutes they could be heard moving about, and then
-all became silent again.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar made a sign, and Sutter rose and gently put his ear to the
-parting board. He listened for a few moments while holding his breath,
-and then returned to his seat, saying laconically,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"They are asleep."</p>
-
-<p>"Quick, my whelps!" the old squatter said in a low voice. "We have not a
-minute to lose: the others are expecting us."</p>
-
-<p>A strange scene then occurred in this mean room, which was merely
-illumined by the expiring light of the hearth. The four men arose,
-opened a large chest, and produced from it various objects of strange
-shapes&mdash;leggings, mittens, buffalo robes, collars of grizzly bear claws;
-in a word, the complete costumes of Apache Indians.</p>
-
-<p>The squatters disguised themselves as redskins; and when they had put on
-their garments, which rendered it impossible to recognise them, they
-completed the metamorphosis by painting their faces of different colours.</p>
-
-<p>Assuredly the traveller whom accident had brought at this moment to the
-jacal would have fancied it inhabited by Apaches or Comanches.</p>
-
-<p>The garments which the squatters had taken off were locked up in the
-chest, of which Red Cedar took the key; and the four men, armed with
-their American rifles, left the cabin, mounted their horses, which were
-awaiting them ready saddled, and started at full gallop through the
-winding forest paths.</p>
-
-<p>At the moment they disappeared in the gloom Ellen stood in the doorway
-of the cabin, took a despairing glance in the direction where they had
-gone, and fell to the ground murmuring sadly,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Good Heaven! What diabolical work are they going to perform this
-night?"</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE RANGERS.</h3>
-
-
-<p>On the banks of the Rio San Pedro, and on the side of a hill, stood a
-<i>rancheria</i> composed of some ten cabins, inhabited by a population of
-sixty persons at the most, including men, women and children. These
-people were Coras Indians, hunters and agriculturists, belonging to the
-Tortoise tribe. These poor Indians lived there on terms of peace with
-their neighbours, under the protection of the Mexican laws. Quiet and
-inoffensive beings, during the nearly twenty years they had been
-established at this place they had never once offered a subject of
-complaint to their neighbours, who, on the contrary, were glad to see
-them prosper, owing to their gentle and hospitable manners. Though
-Mexican subjects, they governed themselves after their fashion, obeying
-their caciques, and regulating in the assembly of their elders all the
-difficulties that arose in their village.</p>
-
-<p>On the night when we saw the squatters leave the cabin in disguise, some
-twenty individuals, armed to the teeth and clothed in strange costumes,
-with their faces blackened so as to render them unrecognizable, were
-bivouacked at about two leagues from the rancheria, in a plain on the
-river's bank. Seated or lying round huge fires, they were singing,
-laughing, quarrelling or gambling with multitudinous yells and oaths.
-Two men seated apart at the foot of an enormous cactus, were conversing
-in a low tone, while smoking their husk cigarettes. These two men, of
-whom we have already spoken to the reader, were Fray Ambrosio, chaplain
-to the Hacienda de la Noria, and Andrés Garote, the hunter.</p>
-
-<p>Andrés was a tall, thin fellow, with a sickly and cunning face, who
-draped himself defiantly in his sordid rags, but whose weapons were in a
-perfectly good condition.</p>
-
-<p>Who were the men causing this disturbance? They were "rangers," but this
-requires explanation.</p>
-
-<p>Immediately after each of the different revolutions which have
-periodically overturned Mexico since that country so pompously declared
-its independence, the first care of the new president who reaches power
-is to dismiss the volunteers who had accidentally swollen the ranks of his
-army, and supplied him the means of overthrowing his predecessor. These
-volunteers, we must do them the justice of allowing, are the very scum
-of society, and the most degraded class human nature produces. These
-sanguinary men, without religion or law, who have no relations or
-friends, are an utter leprosy to the country.</p>
-
-<p>Roughly driven back into society, the new life they are forced to adopt
-in no way suits their habits of murder and pillage. No longer able to
-wage war on their countrymen, they form free corps, and engage
-themselves for a certain salary, to hunt the Indios Bravos&mdash;that is to
-say, the Apaches and Comanches&mdash;who desolate the Mexican frontiers. In
-addition to this, the paternal government of North America in Texas, and
-of Mexico in the States of the Confederation, allots them a certain sum
-for each Indian scalp they bring in.</p>
-
-<p>We do not fancy we are saying anything new in asserting that they are
-the scourge of the colonists and inhabitants, they plunder shamelessly
-in every way when they are not doing worse.</p>
-
-<p>The men assembled at this moment on the banks of the Rio San Pedro were
-preparing for a war party&mdash;the name they give to the massacres they
-organise against the redskins.</p>
-
-<p>Toward midnight Red Cedar and his three sons reached the rangers' camp.
-They must have been impatiently expected, for the bandits received them
-with marks of the greatest joy and the warmest enthusiasm. The dice, the
-cards, and botas of mezcal and whiskey were immediately deserted. The
-rangers mounted their horses, and grouped round the squatters, near whom
-stood Fray Ambrosio and his friend Andrés Garote.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar took a glance round the mob, and could not repress a smile of
-pride at the sight of the rich collection of bandits of every
-description whom he had around him, and who recognised him as chief. He
-extended his arm to command peace. When all were silent the giant took
-the word.</p>
-
-<p>"Señores caballeros," he said, in a powerful and marked voice, which
-made all these scamps quiver with delight at being treated like honest
-people, "the audacity of the redskins is growing intolerable. If we let
-them alone they would soon inundate the country, when they would end by
-expelling us. This state of things must have an end. The government
-complains about the few scalps we supply; it says we do not carry out
-the clauses of the agreement we have formed with it; it talks about
-disbanding us, as our services are useless, and therefore burdensome to
-the republic. It is our bounden duty to give a striking denial to these
-malevolent assertions, and prove to those who have placed confidence in
-us that we are ever ready to devote ourselves to the cause of humanity
-and civilisation. I have assembled you here for a war party, which I
-have been meditating for some time, and shall carry out this night. We
-are about to attack the rancheria of the Coras, who for some years past
-have had the impudence to establish themselves near this spot. They are
-pagans and thieves, who have one hundred times merited the severe
-chastisement we are about to inflict on them. But I implore you, señores
-caballeros, display no mistaken pity. Crush this race of vipers&mdash;let not
-one escape! The scalp of a child is worth as much as that of a man; so
-do not let yourselves be moved by cries or tears, but scalp, scalp to
-the end."</p>
-
-<p>This harangue was greeted as it deserved to be; that is, by yells of
-joy.</p>
-
-<p>"Señores," Red Cedar continued, "the worthy monk who accompanies me will
-call down the blessing of Heaven on our enterprise; so kneel down to
-receive the absolution he is about to give you."</p>
-
-<p>The bandits instantaneously dismounted, took off their hats, and knelt
-on the sand. Fray Ambrosio then repeated a long prayer, to which they
-listened with exemplary patience, repeating <i>amen</i> after each occasion,
-and he ended by giving them absolution. The rangers rose, delighted at
-being thus freed from the burden of their sins, and got into their
-saddles again.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar then whispered a few words in Fray Ambrosio's ears, who bowed
-his head in assent, and immediately set out in the direction of the
-Hacienda de la Noria, followed by Andrés Garote. The squatter then
-turned to the rangers, who were awaiting his orders.</p>
-
-<p>"You know where we are going, gentlemen," he said. "Let us start, and,
-before all, be silent, if we wish to catch our game in its lair; for you
-know that the Indians are as cunning as opossums."</p>
-
-<p>The band started at a gallop, Red Cedar and his sons being at their
-head. It was one of those calm nights which predispose the soul to
-reverie, such as America alone has the privilege of possessing. The dark
-blue sky was spangled with an infinite number of stars, in the centre of
-which shone the majestic Southern Cross, sparkling like a king's mantle;
-the atmosphere was extraordinarily transparent, and allowed objects to
-be noticed at a great distance; the moon profusely spread around her
-silvery rays, which gave the scenery a fantastic appearance; a
-mysterious breeze sported through the tops of the great trees; and at
-times vague rumours traversed the space, and were lost in the distance.</p>
-
-<p>The gloomy horsemen still went on, silent and frowning, like the
-phantoms of the ancient legends, which glide through the shadows to
-accomplish a deed without a name. At the end of scarce an hour the
-rancheria was reached. All were resting in the village&mdash;not a light
-flashed in the hut. The Indians, wearied with the hard toil of the day,
-were reposing, full of confidence in the sworn faith, and apprehending
-no treason.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar halted twenty yards from the rancheria, and drew up his
-horsemen so as to surround the village on all sides. When each had taken
-his post, and the torches were lighted, Red Cedar uttered the terrible
-war cry of the Apaches, and the rangers galloped at full speed on the
-village, uttering ferocious howls, and brandishing the torches, which
-they threw on the cabins.</p>
-
-<p>A scene of carnage then took place which the human pen is powerless to
-describe. The unhappy Indians, surprised in their sleep, rushed
-terrified and half naked out of their poor abodes, and were pitilessly
-massacred and scalped by the rangers, who waved with a demoniac laugh
-their smoking, blood-dripping scalps. Men, women, and children, all were
-killed with refinements of barbarity. The village, fired by the rangers'
-torches, soon became an immense funebral pile, in which victims and
-murderers were huddled pell-mell.</p>
-
-<p>Still a few Indians had succeeded in collecting. Formed in a compact
-troop of twenty men, they opposed a desperate resistance to their
-assassins, exasperated by the odour of blood and the intoxication of
-carnage. At the head of this band was a half-nude, tall Indian of
-intelligent features, who, armed with a ploughshare, which he wielded
-with extreme force and skill, felled all the assailants who came within
-reach of his terrible weapon. This man was the cacique of the Coras. At
-his feet lay his mother, wife, and two children&mdash;dead. The unhappy man
-struggled with the energy of despair. He knew his life would be
-sacrificed, but he wished to sell it as dearly as possible.</p>
-
-<p>In vain had the rangers fired on the cacique&mdash;he seemed invulnerable:
-not one of the bullets aimed at him had struck him. He still fought, and
-the weight of his weapon did not seem to fatigue his arm. The rangers
-excited each other to finish him; but not one dared to approach him.</p>
-
-<p>But this combat of giants could not endure longer. Of the twenty
-companions he had round him on commencing the struggle, the cacique now
-only saw two or three upright: the rest were dead. There must be an end.
-The circle that inclosed the hapless Indian drew closer and closer.
-Henceforth it was only a question of time with him. The rangers,
-recognising the impossibility of conquering this lion-hearted man, had
-changed their tactics: they no longer attacked him, but contented
-themselves with forming an impassable circle round him, waiting
-prudently for the moment when the strength of the prey, which could not
-escape them, was exhausted, in order to rush upon him.</p>
-
-<p>The Coras understood the intention of his enemies. A contemptuous smile
-contracted his haughty lips, and he rushed resolutely toward these men
-who recoiled before him. Suddenly, with a movement quicker than thought,
-he threw with extraordinary strength the ploughshare among the rangers,
-and bounding like a tiger, leaped on a horse, and clutched its rider
-with superhuman vigour.</p>
-
-<p>Ere the rangers had recovered from the surprise this unforeseen attack
-occasioned in them, by a desperate effort, and still holding the
-horseman, the chieftain drew from his girdle a short sharp knife, which
-he buried up to the hilt in the flanks of the horse. The animal uttered
-a shriek of pain, rushed headlong into the crowd, and bore both away
-with maddening speed.</p>
-
-<p>The rangers, rendered furious at being played with by a single man, and
-seeing their most terrible enemy escape them, started in pursuit; but
-with his liberty the Coras had regained all his energy: he felt himself
-saved. In spite of the desperate efforts the rangers made to catch him
-up, he disappeared in the darkness.</p>
-
-<p>The cacique continued to fly till he felt his horse tottering under him.
-He had not loosed his hold of the horseman, who was half strangled by
-the rude embrace, and both rolled on the ground. This man wore the
-costume of the Apache Indians. The Coras regarded him for an instant
-attentively, and then a smile of contempt played round his lips.</p>
-
-<p>"You are not a redskin," he said, in a hollow voice; "you are only a
-paleface dog. Why put on the skin of the lion when you are a cowardly
-coyote?"</p>
-
-<p>The ranger, still stunned by the fall he had suffered, and the hug he
-had endured, made no reply.</p>
-
-<p>"I could kill you," the Indian continued; "but my vengeance would not be
-complete. You and yours must pay me for all the innocent blood you have
-shed like cowards this night. I will mark you, so that I may know you
-again."</p>
-
-<p>Then, with fearful coolness, the Coras threw the ranger on his back, put
-his knee on his chest, and burying his finger in the socket of his eye,
-gave it a sharp rotatory movement, and plucked out his eyeball. On this
-frightful mutilation, the wretch uttered a cry of pain impossible to
-describe. The Indian got up.</p>
-
-<p>"Go!" he said to him. "Now I am certain of finding you again whenever I
-want you."</p>
-
-<p>At this moment the sound of hoofs could be heard a short distance off:
-the rangers had evidently heard their comrade's cry, and were hurrying
-to his aid. The Coras, rushed into the bushes and disappeared. A few
-moments later the rangers came up.</p>
-
-<p>"Nathan, my son!" Red Cedar shouted as he leaped from his horse and
-threw himself on the body of the wounded man. "Nathan, my firstborn, is
-dead!"</p>
-
-<p>"No," one of the rangers answered; "but he is very bad."</p>
-
-<p>It was really the squatter's eldest son whom the cacique had mutilated.
-Red Cedar seized him in his arms, placed him before him on the saddle,
-and the band started again at a gallop. The rangers had accomplished
-their task: they had sixty human scalps hanging from their girdles. The
-rancheria of the Coras was no longer aught save a pile of ashes.</p>
-
-<p>Of all the inhabitants of this hapless village only the cacique
-survived; but he would suffice to avenge his brothers.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE VALLEY OF THE BUFFALO.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Don Miguel Zarate, on leaving his son, remounted his horse and rode
-straight to Paso, to the house of Don Luciano Pérez, the <i>juez de
-letras</i> (police magistrate).</p>
-
-<p>The hacendero was one of the richest landed proprietors in the country;
-and as he was thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of the depositaries
-of justice in those parts, he had consequently been careful to line his
-purse well. Here were two reasons, then, to interest the judge in his
-favour, and this really happened.</p>
-
-<p>The worthy Don Luciano shuddered on hearing the details of what had
-occurred between Don Pablo and the squatters. He swore that he would,
-without delay, take an exemplary vengeance for this starting felony on
-the part of the heretic dogs, and that it was high time to bring them
-reason. Confirming himself more and more in his resolution, he buckled
-on his sword, gave orders to twenty well-armed alguaciles to mount, and
-placing himself at the head of this numerous escort, he proceeded toward
-Buffalo Valley.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel had witnessed with secret annoyance all these formidable
-preparations. He placed but slight confidence in the courage of the
-policemen, and he would have preferred the judge leaving him master to
-act as he pleased. He had even adroitly attempted to obtain from Don
-Luciano a regular warrant, which he would have executed however he might
-think proper; but the judge, burning with an unusual warlike ardor, and
-spurred on by the large sum he had received, would listen to nothing,
-but insisted on himself taking the head of the expedition.</p>
-
-<p>Don Luciano Pérez was a plump little man of about sixty years of age,
-round as a tub, with a jolly face, adorned with a rubicund nose and two
-cunning little eyes. This man cordially detested the North Americans;
-and, in the courageous deed he was committing at this moment, hatred was
-as much the instigation as avarice.</p>
-
-<p>The little band set out at a canter, and proceeded rapidly toward the
-forest. The judge hurled fire and flames at the audacious usurpers, as
-he called them; he spoke of nothing less than killing them without
-mercy, if they attempted even the slightest resistance to the orders he
-was about to give them. Don Miguel, who was much calmer, and foreboded
-no good from this great wrath, sought in vain to pacify him by telling
-him that he would in all probability have to do with men difficult to
-intimidate, against whom coolness would be the best weapon.</p>
-
-<p>They gradually approached. The hacendero, in order to shorten the
-journey, had led the band by a cross road, which saved at least
-one-third the distance; and the first trees of the forest already
-appeared about two miles off. The mischief produced by the squatters was
-much more considerable than Don Pablo had represented to his father;
-and, at the first glance, it seemed impossible that, in so short a time,
-four men, even though working vigorously, could have accomplished it.
-The finest trees lay on the ground; enormous piles of planks were
-arranged at regular distances, and on the San Pedro an already completed
-raft only awaited a few more stems of trees to be thrust into the water.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel could not refrain from sighing at the sight of the
-devastation committed in one of his best forests; but the nearer they
-approached the spot where they expected to meet the squatters, the more
-lukewarm grew the warlike zeal of the judge and his acolytes, and the
-hacendero soon found himself compelled to urge them on, instead of
-restraining them as he had hitherto done. Suddenly the sound of an axe
-re-echoed a few paces ahead of the band. The judge impelled by the
-feeling of his duty, and shame of appearing frightened, advanced boldly
-in the direction of the sound, followed by his escort.</p>
-
-<p>"Stop!" a rough voice shouted at the moment the policemen turned the
-corner of a lane.</p>
-
-<p>With that instinct of self-preservation which never abandons them, the
-alguaciles stopped as if their horses' feet had been suddenly welded to
-the ground. Ten paces from them stood a man in the centre of the ride,
-leaning on an American rifle. The judge turned to Don Miguel with such
-an expression of hesitation and honest terror that the hacendero could
-not refrain from laughing.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, courage, Don Luciano," he said to him. "This man is alone; he
-cannot venture to bar our passage."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Con mil diablos!</i>" the judge exclaimed, ashamed of this impression
-which he could not master, and frowning portentously, "forward, you
-fellows, and fire on that scoundrel if he make but a sign to resist
-you."</p>
-
-<p>The alguaciles set out again with prudential hesitation.</p>
-
-<p>"Stop! I tell you again," the squatter repeated. "Did you not hear the
-order I gave you!"</p>
-
-<p>The judge, reassured by the presence of the hacendero, then advanced,
-and said with a tone which he strove to render terrible, but which was
-only ridiculous through the terror he revealed,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"I, Don Luciano Pérez, <i>juez de letras</i> of the town of Paso, have come,
-by virtue of the powers delegated to me by the Government, to summon you
-and your adherents to quit within twenty-four hours this forest you have
-illegally entered, and which&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Ta, ta!" the stranger shouted, rudely interrupting the judge, and
-stamping his foot savagely. "I care as much for all your words and laws
-as I do for an old moccasin. The ground belongs to the first comers. We
-are comfortable here, and mean to remain."</p>
-
-<p>"Your language is very bold, young man," Don Miguel then said. "You do
-not consider that you are alone, and that, failing other rights, we have
-strength on our side."</p>
-
-<p>The squatter burst into a laugh.</p>
-
-<p>"You believe that," he said. "Learn, stranger, that I care as little for
-the ten humbugs I now have before me as I do for a woodcock, and that
-they will do well to leave me at peace, unless they want to learn the
-weight of my arm at their expense. However, here is my father; settle it
-with him."</p>
-
-<p>And he began carelessly whistling "Yankee Doodle." At the same instant
-three men, at the head of whom was Red Cedar, appeared on the path. At
-the sight of these unexpected reinforcements for their arrogant enemy
-the alguaciles made a movement in retreat. The affair was becoming
-singularly complicated, and threatened to assume proportions very grave
-for them.</p>
-
-<p>"Halloh! What's up?" the old man asked roughly. "Anything wrong,
-Sutter?"</p>
-
-<p>"These people," the young man answered, shrugging his shoulders
-contemptuously, "are talking about driving us from the forest by virtue
-of some order."</p>
-
-<p>"Halloh!" Red Cedar said, his eyes flashing as he cast a savage glance
-at the Mexicans. "The only law I recognise in the desert," he continued
-with a gesture of terrible energy as he struck his rifle barrel, "is
-this. Withdraw, strangers, if you do not wish blood to be shed between
-us. I am a peaceful man, wishing to do no one hurt; but I warn you that
-I will not allow myself to be kicked out without striking a blow."</p>
-
-<p>"You will not be turned out," the judge remarked timidly; "on the
-contrary, you have seized on what belongs to other people."</p>
-
-<p>"I won't listen to your arguments, which I do not understand," the
-squatter roughly exclaimed. "God gave the ground to man that he might
-labour on it. Every proprietor that does not fulfil this condition
-tacitly renounces his rights, and the earth then becomes the property of
-the man who tills it with the sweat of his brow; so go to the devil! Be
-off at full speed, if you do not wish harm to happen to you!"</p>
-
-<p>"We will not suffer ourselves to be intimidated by your threats," the
-judge said, impelled by his anger, and forgetting for a moment his
-alarm; "we will do our duty, whatever may happen."</p>
-
-<p>"Try it," Red Cedar said with a grin.</p>
-
-<p>And he made a sign to his sons. The latter arranged themselves in a
-single line, and occupied the entire width of the path.</p>
-
-<p>"In the name of the law," the judge said with energy, as he pointed out
-the old man, "alguaciles, seize that person."</p>
-
-<p>But, as so frequently happens under similar circumstances, this order
-was more easy to give than to execute. Red Cedar and his sons did not
-appear at all disposed to let themselves be collared. We must, however,
-do the alguaciles the justice of stating that they did not hesitate for
-a moment. They plainly refused to carry out the order they had received.</p>
-
-<p>"For the last time, will you be off?" the squatter shouted. "Let them
-have it."</p>
-
-<p>His three sons raised their rifles. At this movement, which removed all
-doubts that might still remain on their minds, and which proved to them
-that the squatters would not hesitate to proceed to extremities, the
-alguaciles were seized with an invincible terror. They turned bridle and
-galloped off at full speed, followed by the yells of the Americans.</p>
-
-<p>One man alone remained motionless before the squatters&mdash;Don Miguel
-Zarate. Red Cedar had not recognised him, either owing to the distance
-that separated them, or because the hacendero had purposely pulled over
-his eyes his broad-brimmed hat. Don Miguel dismounted, placed the
-pistols from his holsters through his belt, fastened his horse to a
-tree, and coolly throwing his rifle across his shoulders, boldly
-advanced toward the squatters. The latter, surprised by the courage of
-this man, who alone attempted what his comrades had given up all hopes
-of achieving, let him come up to them without offering the slightest
-opposition. When Don Miguel was a couple of paces from the old squatter;
-he stopped, put the butt of his rifle on the ground, and removing his
-hat, said,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar?"</p>
-
-<p>"Don Miguel Zarate!" the bandit shouted in surprise.</p>
-
-<p>"As the judge deserts me," the hacendero continued, "and fled like a
-coward before your threats, I am obliged to take justice for myself,
-and, by heavens! I will do so! Red Cedar, I, as owner of this forest, in
-which you have settled without permission, order you to depart at once."</p>
-
-<p>The young men exchanged a few muttered threats.</p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" Red Cedar commanded. "Let the caballero speak."</p>
-
-<p>"I have finished, and await your answer."</p>
-
-<p>The squatter appeared to reflect deeply for a few minutes.</p>
-
-<p>"The answer you demand is difficult to give," he at length said: "my
-position toward you is not a free one."</p>
-
-<p>"Why so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because I owe you my life."</p>
-
-<p>"I dispense you from all gratitude."</p>
-
-<p>"That is possible. You are at liberty to do so; but I cannot forget the
-service you rendered me."</p>
-
-<p>"It is of little consequence."</p>
-
-<p>"Much more than you fancy, caballero. I may be, through my character,
-habits, and the mode of life I lead, beyond the law of civilised beings;
-but I am not the less a man, and if of the worst sort, perhaps, I no
-more forget a kindness than I do an insult."</p>
-
-<p>"Prove it, then, by going away as quickly as you can, and then we shall
-be quits."</p>
-
-<p>The squatter shook his head.</p>
-
-<p>"Listen to me, Don Miguel," he said. "You have in this country the
-reputation of being the providence of the unfortunate. I know from
-myself the extent of your kindness and courage. It is said that you
-possess an immense fortune, of which you do not yourself know the
-extent."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, what then?" the hacendero impatiently interrupted him.</p>
-
-<p>"The damage I can commit here, even if I cut down all the trees in the
-forest, would be but a trifle to you; then whence comes the fury you
-display to drive me out?"</p>
-
-<p>"Your question is just, and I will answer it. I demand your departure
-from my estates, because, only a few days back, my son was grievously
-wounded by your lads, who led him into a cowardly snare; and if he
-escaped death, it was only through a miracle. That is the reason why we
-cannot live side by side, for blood severs us."</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar frowned.</p>
-
-<p>"Is this true?" he said, addressing his sons.</p>
-
-<p>The young men only hung their heads in reply.</p>
-
-<p>"I am waiting," Don Miguel went on.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, the question cannot be settled thus, so we will proceed to my
-jacal."</p>
-
-<p>"For what purpose? I ask you for a yes or no."</p>
-
-<p>"I cannot answer you yet. We must have a conversation together, after
-which you shall decide to my future conduct. Follow me, then, without
-fear."</p>
-
-<p>"I fear nothing, as I believe I have proved to you. Go on, as you demand
-it: I will follow you."</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar made his sons a sign to remains here they were, and proceeded
-with long strides toward his jacal, which was but a short distance off.
-Don Miguel walked carelessly after him. They entered the cabin. It was
-deserted. The two females were doubtless also occupied in the forest.
-Red Cedar closed the door after him, sat down on a bench, made his guest
-a sign to do the same, and began speaking in a low and measured voice,
-as if afraid what he had to say might be heard outside.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE ASSASSINATION.</h3>
-
-
-<p>"Listen to me, Don Miguel," Red Cedar said, "and pray do not mistake my
-meaning. I have not the slightest intention of intimidating you, nor do
-I think of attempting to gain your confidence by revelations which you
-may fairly assume I have accidentally acquired."</p>
-
-<p>The hacendero regarded with amazement the speaker, whose tone and
-manner had so suddenly changed.</p>
-
-<p>"I do not understand you," he said to him. "Explain yourself more
-clearly, for the words you have just uttered are an enigma, the key to
-which I seek in vain."</p>
-
-<p>"You shall be satisfied, caballero; and if you do not catch the meaning
-of my words this time it must be because you will not. Like all
-intelligent men, you are wearied of the incessant struggles in which the
-vital strength of your country is exhausted unprofitably. You have seen
-that a land so rich, so fertile, so gloriously endowed as Mexico, could
-not&mdash;I should say ought not&mdash;to remain longer the plaything of paltry
-ambitions, and the arena on which all these transitory tyrannies sport
-in turn. For nearly thirty years you have dreamed of emancipation, not
-of your entire country, for that would be too rude a task, and
-unrealisable; but you said to yourself, 'Let us render New Mexico
-independent; form it into a new State, governed by wise laws rigorously
-executed. By liberal institutions let us give an impetus to all the
-riches with which it is choked, give intellect all the liberty it
-requires, and perhaps within a few years the entire Mexican
-Confederation, amazed by the magnificent results I shall obtain, will
-follow my example. Then I shall die happy at what I have effected&mdash;my
-object will be carried out. I shall have saved my country from the abyss
-over which it hangs, through the double pressure of the invasion of the
-American Union and the exhaustion of the Spanish race.' Are not those
-ideas yours, caballero? Do you consider that I have explained myself
-clearly this time?"</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps so, though I do not yet see distinctly the point you wish to
-reach. The thoughts you attribute to me are such as naturally occur to
-all men who sincerely love their country, and I will not pretend that I
-have not entertained them."</p>
-
-<p>"You would be wrong in doing so, for they are great and noble, and
-breathe the purest patriotism."</p>
-
-<p>"A truce to compliments, and let us come to the point, for time
-presses."</p>
-
-<p>"Patience: I have not yet ended. These ideas must occur to you sooner
-than to another, as you are the descendant of the first Aztec kings, and
-born defender of the Indians in this hapless country. You see that I am
-well acquainted with you, Don Miguel Zarate."</p>
-
-<p>"Too well, perhaps," the Mexican gentleman muttered.</p>
-
-<p>The squatter smiled and went on:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"It is not chance that led me to this country. I knew what I was doing,
-and why I came. Don Miguel, the hour is a solemn one. All your
-preparations are made: will you hesitate to give New Mexico the signal
-which must render it independent of the metropolis which has so long
-been fattening at its expense? Answer me."</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel started. He fixed on the squatter a burning glance, in which
-admiration at the man's language could be read. Red Cedar shrugged his
-shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>"What! You still doubt?" he said.</p>
-
-<p>He rose, went to a box from which he took some papers, and threw them on
-the table before the hacendero, saying,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Read."</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel hurriedly seized the papers, and ran his eye over them.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" he asked, looking fixedly at the strange speaker.</p>
-
-<p>"You see," the squatter answered, "that I am your accomplice. General
-Ibañez, your agent in Mexico, is in correspondence with me, as is Mr.
-Wood, your agent at New York."</p>
-
-<p>"It is true," the Mexican said coldly, "you have the secret of the
-conspiracy. The only point left is to what extent that goes."</p>
-
-<p>"I possess it entirely. I have orders to enlist the volunteers who will
-form the nucleus of the insurrectionary army."</p>
-
-<p>"Good!"</p>
-
-<p>"Now, you see, by these letters of General Ibañez and Mr. Wood, that I
-am commissioned by them to come to an understanding with you, and
-receive your final orders."</p>
-
-<p>"I see it."</p>
-
-<p>"What do you purpose doing?"</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"What, nothing!" the squatter exclaimed, bounding with surprise. "You
-are jesting, I suppose."</p>
-
-<p>"Listen to me in your turn, and pay attention to my words, for they
-express my irrevocable resolution. I know not nor care to know, by what
-means, more or less honourable, you have succeeded in gaining the
-confidence of my partners, and becoming master of our secrets. Still it
-is my firm conviction that a cause which employs such men as yourself is
-compromised, if not lost; hence I renounce every combination in which
-you are called to play a part. Your antecedents, and the life you lead,
-have placed you without the pale of the law."</p>
-
-<p>"I am a bandit&mdash;out with it! What matter so long as you succeed? Does
-not the end justify the means?"</p>
-
-<p>"That may be your morality, but it will never be mine. I repudiate all
-community of ideas with men of your stamp. I will not have you either as
-accomplice or partner."</p>
-
-<p>The squatter darted a look at him laden with hatred and disappointment.</p>
-
-<p>"In serving us," Don Miguel continued, "you can only have an interested
-object, which I will not take the trouble of guessing at. An
-Anglo-American will never frankly aid a Mexican to conquer his liberty;
-he would lose too much by doing it."</p>
-
-<p>"Then?"</p>
-
-<p>"I renounce forever the projects I had formed. I had, I grant, dreamed
-of restoring to my country the independence of which it was unjustly
-stripped: but it shall remain a dream."</p>
-
-<p>"That is your last word?"</p>
-
-<p>"The last."</p>
-
-<p>"You refuse?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do."</p>
-
-<p>"Good; then I now know what is left me to do."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, what is it? Let me hear," the hacendero said, as he crossed his
-arms on his breast, and looked him boldly in the face.</p>
-
-<p>"I will tell you."</p>
-
-<p>"I am waiting for you to do so."</p>
-
-<p>"I hold your secret."</p>
-
-<p>"Entirely?"</p>
-
-<p>"Hence you are in my power."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps."</p>
-
-<p>"Who will prevent me going to the Governor of the State and denouncing
-you?"</p>
-
-<p>"He will not believe you."</p>
-
-<p>"You think so?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am sure of it."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps, I will say in my turn."</p>
-
-<p>"Why so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! you shall easily see."</p>
-
-<p>"I am curious to learn it."</p>
-
-<p>"However rich you may be, Don Miguel Zarate, and perhaps because of
-those very riches, and in spite of the kindness you sow broadcast, the
-number of your enemies is very considerable."</p>
-
-<p>"I know it."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. Those enemies will joyfully seize the first opportunity that
-presents itself to destroy you."</p>
-
-<p>"It is probable."</p>
-
-<p>"You see, then. When I go to the governor and tell him you are
-conspiring, and, in support of my denunciation, hand him not only these
-letters, but, several others written and signed by you, lying in that
-chest, do you believe that the governor will treat me as an impostor,
-and refuse to arrest you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Then you have letters in my hand-writing?"</p>
-
-<p>"I have three, which will be enough to have you shot."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes. Hang it all! you understand: that, in an affair so important as
-this, it is wise to take one's precautions, for no one knows what may
-happen; and men of my stamp," he added, with an ironical smile, "have
-more reasons than others for being prudent."</p>
-
-<p>"Come, that is well played," the hacendero said, carelessly.</p>
-
-<p>"Is it not?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, and I compliment you on it: you are a better player than I gave
-you credit for."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! You do not know me yet."</p>
-
-<p>"The little I do know suffices me."</p>
-
-<p>"Then?"</p>
-
-<p>"We will remain as we are, if you will permit me."</p>
-
-<p>"You still refuse?"</p>
-
-<p>"More than ever."</p>
-
-<p>The squatter frowned.</p>
-
-<p>"Take care, Don Miguel," he muttered, hoarsely. "I will do what I told
-you."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, if I allow you time."</p>
-
-<p>"Eh?"</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caspita!</i> If you are a clever scamp, I am not altogether a fool. Do
-you believe, in your turn, that I will let myself be intimidated by your
-threats, and that I should not find means to keep you from acting, not
-for my own sake, as I care little personally for what you can do, but
-for my friends, who are men of honour, and whose lives I do not wish to
-be compromised by your treachery?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am curious to know the means you will employ to obtain this result."</p>
-
-<p>"You shall see," Don Miguel replied with perfect coolness.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?"</p>
-
-<p>"I shall kill you."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, oh!" the squatter said, as he looked complacently at his muscular
-limbs, "That is not easy."</p>
-
-<p>"More so than you suppose, my master."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! and when do you reckon on killing me?"</p>
-
-<p>"At once!"</p>
-
-<p>The two men were seated in front of the hearth, each at the end of a
-bench: the table was between them, but a little back, so that while
-talking they only leaned an elbow on it. While uttering the last word,
-Don Miguel bounded like a tiger on the squatter, who did not at all
-expect the attack, seized him by the throat, and hurled him to the
-ground. The two enemies rolled on the uneven flooring of the jacal.</p>
-
-<p>The Mexican's attack had been so sudden and well directed that the
-half-strangled squatter, in spite of his Herculean strength, could not
-free himself from his enemy's iron clutch, which pressed his throat like
-a vice. Red Cedar could neither utter a cry nor offer the slightest
-resistance: the Mexican's knee crushed his chest, while his fingers
-pressed into his throat.</p>
-
-<p>So soon as he had reduced the wretch to utter impotence, Don Miguel drew
-from his vaquera boot a long sharp knife, and buried the entire blade in
-his body. The bandit writhed convulsively for a few seconds; a livid
-pallor suffused his face; his eyes closed, and he then remained
-motionless. Don Miguel left the weapon in the wound, and slowly rose.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah!" he muttered as he gazed at him with a sardonic air, "I fancy
-that rogue will not denounce me now."</p>
-
-<p>Without loss of time he seized the letters lying on the table, took from
-the box the few documents he found in it, hid them all in his bosom,
-opened the door of the cabin, which he carefully closed after him, and
-went off with long strides.</p>
-
-<p>The squatter's sons had not quitted their post; but, so soon as they
-perceived the Mexican, they went up to him.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," Shaw asked him, "have you come to an understanding with the old
-man?"</p>
-
-<p>"Perfectly so," the Mexican answered.</p>
-
-<p>"Then the affair is settled?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, to our mutual satisfaction."</p>
-
-<p>"All the better," the young men exclaimed joyously.</p>
-
-<p>The hacendero unfastened his horse and mounted.</p>
-
-<p>"Good-bye, gentlemen!" he said to them.</p>
-
-<p>"Good-bye!" they replied, returning his bow.</p>
-
-<p>The Mexican put his horse to a trot, but at the first turn in the road
-he dug his spurs into its flanks, and started at full speed.</p>
-
-<p>"Now," Sutter observed, "I believe that we can proceed to the cabin
-without inconvenience."</p>
-
-<p>And they gently walked toward the jacal, pleasantly conversing together.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel, however, had not succeeded so fully as he imagined. Red
-Cedar was not dead, for the old bandit kept a firm hold on life.
-Attacked unawares, the squatter had not attempted a resistance, which he
-saw at the first glance was useless, and would only have exasperated his
-adversary. With marvellous sagacity, on feeling the knife blade enter
-his body, he stiffened himself against the pain, and resolved on
-"playing 'possum;" that is to say, feigning death. The success of his
-stratagem was complete. Don Miguel, persuaded that he had killed him,
-did not dream of repeating his thrust.</p>
-
-<p>So long as his enemy remained in the jacal the squatter was careful not
-to make the slightest movement that might have betrayed him; but, so
-soon as he was alone, he opened his eyes, rose with an effort, drew the
-dagger from the wound, which emitted a jet of black blood, and looking
-at the door, through which his assassin had departed, with a glance so
-full of hatred that it is impossible to describe, he muttered,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Now we are quits, Don Miguel Zarate, since you have tried to take back
-the life of him you saved. Pray God never to bring us face to face
-again!"</p>
-
-<p>He uttered a deep sigh, and rolled heavily on the ground in a fainting
-fit. At this moment his sons entered the cabin.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE SACHEM OF THE CORAS.</h3>
-
-
-<p>A few days after the events we have described in the previous chapter
-there was one of those lovely mornings which are not accorded to our
-cold climates to know. The sun poured down in profusion its warm beams,
-which caused the pebbles and sand to glisten in the walks of the garden
-of the Hacienda de la Noria. In a clump of flowering orange and lemon
-trees, whose sweet exhalations perfumed the air, and beneath a copse of
-cactus, nopals, and aloes, a maiden was asleep, carelessly reclining in
-a hammock made of the thread of the <i>Phormium tenax,</i> which hung between
-two orange trees.</p>
-
-<p>With her head thrown back, her long black hair unfastened, and falling
-in disorder on her neck and bosom; with her coral lips parted, and
-displaying the dazzling pearl of her teeth, Doña Clara (for it was she
-who slept thus with an infantile slumber) was really charming. Her
-features breathed happiness, for not a cloud had yet arisen to perturb
-the azure horizon of her calm and tranquil life.</p>
-
-<p>It was nearly midday: there was not a breath in the air. The sunbeams,
-pouring down vertically, rendered the heat so stifling and
-unsupportable, that everyone in the hacienda had yielded to sleep, and
-was enjoying what is generally called in hot countries the <i>siesta.</i>
-Still, at a short distance from the spot where Doña Clara reposed, calm
-and smiling, a sound of footsteps, at first almost imperceptible, but
-gradually heightening, was heard, and a man made his appearance. It was
-Shaw, the youngest of the squatter's sons. How was he at this spot?</p>
-
-<p>The young man was panting, and the perspiration poured down his cheeks.
-On reaching the entrance of the clump he bent an anxious glance on the
-hammock.</p>
-
-<p>"She is there," he murmured with a passionate accent. "She sleeps."</p>
-
-<p>Then he fell on his knees upon the sand, and began admiring the maiden,
-dumb and trembling. He remained thus a long time, with his glance fixed
-on the slumberer with a strange expression. At length he uttered a sigh
-and tearing himself with an effort from this delicious contemplation, he
-rose sadly, muttering in a whisper,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"I must go&mdash;if she were to wake&mdash;oh, she will never know how much I love
-her!"</p>
-
-<p>He plucked an orange flower, and softly laid it on the maiden; then he
-walked a few steps from her, but almost immediately returning, he
-seized, with a nervous hand, Doña Clara's <i>rebozo,</i> which hung down from
-the hammock, and pressed it to his lips several times, saying, in a
-voice broken by the emotion he felt,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"It has touched her hair."</p>
-
-<p>And rushing from the thicket, he crossed the garden and disappeared. He
-had heard footsteps approaching. In fact, a few seconds after his
-departure, Don Miguel, in his turn, entered the copse.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, come," he said gaily, as he shook the hammock, "sleeper, will you
-not have finished your siesta soon?"</p>
-
-<p>Doña Clara opened her eyes, with a smile.</p>
-
-<p>"I am no longer asleep, father," she said.</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. That is the answer I like."</p>
-
-<p>And he stepped forward to kiss her; but, with sudden movement, the
-maiden drew herself back as if she had seen some frightful vision, and
-her face was covered with a livid pallor.</p>
-
-<p>"What is the matter with you?" the hacendero exclaimed with terror.</p>
-
-<p>The girl showed him the orange flower.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," her father continued, "what is there so terrific in that flower?
-It must have fallen from the tree during your sleep."</p>
-
-<p>Doña Clara shook her head sadly.</p>
-
-<p>"No," she said: "for some days past I have always noticed, on waking a
-similar flower thrown on me."</p>
-
-<p>"You are absurd; chance alone is to blame for it all. Come, think no
-more about it; you are pale as death, child. Why frighten yourself thus
-about a trifle? Besides the remedy may be easily found. If so afraid of
-flowers now, why not take your siesta in your bedroom, instead of
-burying yourself in this thicket?"</p>
-
-<p>"That is true, father," the girl said, all joyous, and no longer
-thinking of the fear she had undergone. "I will follow your advice."</p>
-
-<p>"Come, that is settled, so say no more about it. Now give me a kiss."</p>
-
-<p>The maiden threw herself into her father's arms, whom she stifled with
-kisses. Both sat down on a grassy mound, and commenced one of those
-delicious chit-chats whose charm only those who are parents can properly
-appreciate. Presently a peon came up.</p>
-
-<p>"What has brought you?" Don Miguel asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Excellency," the peon answered, "a redskin warrior has just arrived at
-the hacienda, who desires speech with you."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you know him?" Don Miguel asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, Excellency; it is Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras of the Rio
-San Pedro."</p>
-
-<p>"Mookapec! (Flying Eagle)" the hacendero repeated with surprise. "What
-can have brought him to me? Lead him here."</p>
-
-<p>The peon retired and in a few minutes returned, preceding Eagle-wing.</p>
-
-<p>The chief had donned the great war-dress of the sachems of his nation.
-His hair, plaited with the skin of a rattlesnake, was drawn up on the
-top of his head; in the centre an eagle plume was affixed. A blouse of
-striped calico, adorned with a profusion of bells, descended to his
-thighs, which were defended from the stings of mosquitoes by drawers of
-the same stuff. He wore moccasins made of peccary skin, adorned with
-glass beads and porcupine quills. To his heels were fastened several
-wolves' tails, the distinguishing mark of renowned warriors. Round his
-loins was a belt of elk hide, through which passed his knife, his pipe
-and his medicine bag. His neck was adorned by a collar of grizzly bear
-claws and buffalo teeth. Finally, a magnificent robe of a white female
-buffalo hide, painted red inside, was fastened to his shoulders, and
-fell down behind him like a cloak. In his right hand he held a fan
-formed of a single eagle's wing, and in his left hand an American rifle.
-There was something imposing and singularly martial in the appearance
-and demeanor of this savage child of the forest.</p>
-
-<p>On entering the thicket, he bowed gracefully to Doña Clara, and then
-stood motionless and dumb before Don Miguel. The Mexican regarded him
-attentively, and saw an expression of gloomy melancholy spread over the
-Indian chief's features.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother is welcome," the hacendero said to him. "To what do I owe
-the pleasure of seeing him?"</p>
-
-<p>The chief cast a side glance at the maiden. Don Miguel understood what
-he desired, and made Doña Clara a sign to withdraw. They remained alone.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother can speak," the hacendero then said; "the ears of a friend
-are open."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, my father is good," the chief replied in his guttural voice. "He
-loves the Indians: unhappily all the palefaces do not resemble him."</p>
-
-<p>"What does my brother mean? Has he cause to complain of anyone?"</p>
-
-<p>The Indian smiled sadly.</p>
-
-<p>"Where is there justice for the redskins?" he said. "The Indians are
-animals: the Great Spirit has not given them a soul, as He has done for
-the palefaces, and it is not a crime to kill them."</p>
-
-<p>"Come, chief, pray do not speak longer in riddles, but explain why you
-have quitted your tribe. It is far from Rio San Pedro to this place."</p>
-
-<p>"Mookapec is alone: his tribe no longer exists."</p>
-
-<p>"How?"</p>
-
-<p>"The palefaces came in the night, like jaguars without courage. They
-burned the village, and massacred all the inhabitants, even to the women
-and little children."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, that is frightful!" the hacendero murmured, in horror.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" the chief continued with an accent full of terrible irony, "The
-scalps of the redskins are sold dearly."</p>
-
-<p>"And do you know the men who committed this atrocious crime?"</p>
-
-<p>"Mookapec knows them, and will avenge himself."</p>
-
-<p>"Tell me their chief, if you know his name."</p>
-
-<p>"I know it. The palefaces call him Red Cedar, the Indians the Maneater."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! As for him, chief, you are avenged, for he is dead."</p>
-
-<p>"My father is mistaken."</p>
-
-<p>"How so? Why, I killed him myself."</p>
-
-<p>The Indian shook his head.</p>
-
-<p>"Red Cedar has a hard life," he said: "the blade of the knife my father
-used was too short. Red Cedar is wounded, but in a few days he will be
-about again, ready to kill and scalp the Indians."</p>
-
-<p>This news startled the hacendero: the enemy he fancied he had got rid
-of still lived, and he would have to begin a fresh struggle.</p>
-
-<p>"My father must take care," the chief continued. "Red Cedar has sworn to
-be avenged."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! I will not leave him the time. This man is a demon, of whom the
-earth must be purged at all hazards, before his strength has returned,
-and he begins his assassinations again."</p>
-
-<p>"I will aid my father in his vengeance."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, chief. I do not refuse your offer: perhaps I shall soon need
-the help of all my friends. And now, what do you purpose doing?"</p>
-
-<p>"Since the palefaces reject him, Eagle-wing will retire to the desert.
-He has friends among the Comanches. They are redskins, and will welcome
-him gladly."</p>
-
-<p>"I will not strive to combat your determination, chief, for it is just;
-and if, at a later date, you take terrible reprisals on the white men,
-they will have no cause of complaint, for they have brought it on
-themselves. When does my brother start?"</p>
-
-<p>"At sunset."</p>
-
-<p>"Rest here today: tomorrow will be soon enough to set out."</p>
-
-<p>"Mookapec must depart this day."</p>
-
-<p>"Act as you think proper. Have you a horse?"</p>
-
-<p>"No; but at the first manada I come to I will lasso one."</p>
-
-<p>"I do not wish you to set out thus, but will give you a horse."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks; my father is good. The Indian chief will remember&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Come, you shall choose for yourself."</p>
-
-<p>"I have still a few words to say to my father."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, chief; I am listening to you."</p>
-
-<p>"Koutonepi, the pale hunter, begged me to give my father an important
-warning."</p>
-
-<p>"What is it?"</p>
-
-<p>"A great danger threatens my father. Koutonepi wishes to see him as soon
-as possible, in order himself to tell him its nature."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! My brother will tell the hunter that I shall be tomorrow at the
-'clearing of the shattered oak,' and await him there till night."</p>
-
-<p>"I will faithfully repeat my father's words to the hunter."</p>
-
-<p>The two men then quitted the garden, and hurriedly proceeded toward the
-hacienda. Don Miguel let the chief choose his own horse, and while the
-sachem was harnessing his steed in the Indian fashion, he withdrew to
-his bedroom, and sent for his son to join him. The young man had
-perfectly recovered from his wound. His father told him that he was
-obliged to absent himself for some days: he intrusted to him the
-management of the hacienda, while recommending him on no consideration
-to leave the farm, and to watch attentively over his sister. The young
-man promised him all he wished, happy at enjoying perfect liberty for a
-few days.</p>
-
-<p>After embracing his son and daughter for the last time Don Miguel
-proceeded to the <i>patio</i>, where in the meanwhile, the chief had been
-amusing himself by making the magnificent horse he had chosen curvet.
-Don Miguel admired for several moments the Indian's skill and grace, for
-he managed a horse as well as the first Mexican <i>jinete;</i> then mounted,
-and the two men proceeded together toward the Paso del Norte, which they
-must cross in order to enter the desert, and reach the clearing of the
-shattered oak.</p>
-
-<p>The journey passed in silence, for the two men were deeply reflecting.
-At the moment they entered Paso the sun was setting on the horizon in a
-bed of red mist, which foreboded a storm for the night. At the entrance
-of the village they separated; and on the morrow, as we have seen in our
-first chapter, Don Miguel set out at daybreak, and galloped to the
-clearing.</p>
-
-<p>We will now end this lengthy parenthesis, which was, however,
-indispensable for the due comprehension of the facts that are about to
-follow, and take up our story again at the point where we left it.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>CONVERSATION.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Valentine Guillois, whom we have already introduced to the reader in
-previous works<a name="FNanchor_1_2" id="FNanchor_1_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_2" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>, had inhabited, or, to speak more correctly, traversed
-the vast solitudes of Mexico and Texas during the past five or six
-years. We saw him just now accompanied by the Araucano chief. These two
-men were the boldest hunters on the frontier. At times, when they had
-collected an ample harvest of furs, they went to sell them in the
-villages, renewed their stock of powder and ball, purchased a few
-indispensable articles, and then returned to the desert.</p>
-
-<p>Now and then they engaged themselves for a week, or even a fortnight,
-with the proprietors of the haciendas, to free them from the wild beasts
-that desolated their herds; but so soon as the ferocious animals were
-destroyed, and the reward obtained, no matter the brilliancy of the
-offers made them by the landowners, the two men threw their rifles on
-their shoulders and went off.</p>
-
-<p>No one knew who they were, or whence they came. Valentine and his friend
-maintained the most complete silence as to the events of their life
-which had preceded their appearance in these parts. Only one thing had
-betrayed the nationality of Valentine, whom his comrade called
-Koutonepi, a word belonging to the language of the Aucas, and signifying
-"The Valiant." On his chest the hunter wore the cross of the Legion of
-Honor. The deeds of every description performed by these hunters were
-incalculable, and their stories were the delight of the frontier
-dwellers during the winter night. The number of tigers they had killed
-was no longer counted.</p>
-
-<p>Chance had one day made them acquainted with Don Miguel Zarate under
-strange circumstances, and since then an uninterrupted friendship had
-been maintained between them. Don Miguel, during a tempestuous night,
-namely, had only owed his life to the accuracy of Valentine's aim, who
-sent a bullet through the head of the Mexican's horse at the moment
-when, mad with terror, and no longer obeying the bridle, it was on the
-point of leaping into an abyss with its master. Don Miguel had sworn
-eternal gratitude to his saviour.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine and Curumilla had made themselves the tutors of the
-hacendero's children, who, for their part, felt a deep friendship for
-the hunters. Don Pablo had frequently made long hunting parties in the
-desert with them; and it was to them he owed the certainty of his aim,
-his skill in handling weapons, and his knack in taming horses.</p>
-
-<p>No secrets existed between Don Miguel and the hunters: they read in his
-mind as in an ever open book. They were the disinterested confidants of
-his plans; for these rude wood rangers esteemed him, and only required
-for themselves one thing&mdash;the liberty of the desert. Still, despite the
-sympathy and friendship which so closely connected these different
-persons, and the confidence which formed the basis of that friendship,
-Don Miguel and his children had never been able to obtain from the
-hunters information as to the events that had passed prior to their
-arrival in this country.</p>
-
-<p>Frequently Don Miguel, impelled, not by curiosity, but merely by the
-interest he felt in them, had tried, by words cleverly thrown into the
-conversation, to give them an opening for confidence; but Valentine had
-always repelled those hints, though cleverly enough for Don Miguel not
-to feel offended by this want of confidence. With Curumilla they had
-been even more simple. Wrapped in his Indian stoicism, intrenched in his
-habitual sullenness, he was wont to answer all questions by a shake of
-the head, but nothing further.</p>
-
-<p>At length, weary of the attempt, the hacendero and his family had given
-up trying to read those secrets which their friends seemed obstinately
-determined to keep from them. Still the friendship subsisting between
-them had not grown cold in consequence, and it was always with equal
-pleasure that Don Miguel met the hunters again after a lengthened ramble
-in the prairies, which kept them away from his house for whole months at
-a time.</p>
-
-<p>The hunter and the Mexican were seated by the fire, while Curumilla,
-armed with his scalping knife, was busy flaying the two jaguars so
-skillfully killed by Don Miguel, and which were magnificent brutes.</p>
-
-<p>"Eh, <i>compadre!</i>" Don Miguel said with a laugh; "I was beginning to lose
-patience, and fancy you had forgotten the meeting you had yourself given
-me."</p>
-
-<p>"I never forgot anything, as you know," Valentine answered seriously;
-"and if I did not arrive sooner, it was because the road is long from my
-jacal to this clearing."</p>
-
-<p>"Heaven forbid that I should reproach you, my friend! Still I confess to
-you that the prospect of passing the night alone in this forest only
-slightly pleased me, and I should have been off had you not arrived
-before sunset."</p>
-
-<p>"You would have done wrong, Don Miguel: what I have to tell you is of
-the utmost importance to you. Who knows what the result might have been
-had I not been able to warn you?"</p>
-
-<p>"You alarm me, my friend."</p>
-
-<p>"I will explain. In the first place let me tell you that you committed,
-a few days back, a grave imprudence, whose consequences threaten to be
-most serious for you."</p>
-
-<p>"What is it?"</p>
-
-<p>"I said one, but ought to have said two."</p>
-
-<p>"I am waiting till you think proper to express yourself more clearly,"
-Don Miguel said with a slight tinge of impatience, "before I answer."</p>
-
-<p>"You have quarrelled with a North American bandit."</p>
-
-<p>"Red Cedar."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; and when you had him in your power you let him escape, instead of
-killing him out and out."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true, and I was wrong. What would you? The villain has as tough
-a life as an alligator. But be at ease. If ever he fall into my hands
-again, I swear that I will not miss him."</p>
-
-<p>"In the meanwhile you did do so&mdash;that is the evil."</p>
-
-<p>"Why so?"</p>
-
-<p>"You will understand me. This man is one of those villains, the scum of
-the United States, too many of whom have lived on the frontier during
-the last few years. I do not know how he contrived to deceive your New
-York agent; but he gained his confidence so cleverly that the latter
-told him all the secrets he knew about your enterprise."</p>
-
-<p>"He told me so himself."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. It was then, I suppose, that you stabbed him?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, and at the same time I plucked out his claws; that is to say, I
-seized the letters he held, and which might compromise me."</p>
-
-<p>"A mistake. This man is too thorough-paced a scoundrel not to foresee
-all the chances of his treason. He had a last letter, the most important
-of all; and that you did not take from him."</p>
-
-<p>"I took three."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, but there were four. As the last, however, in itself was worth as
-much as the other three, he always wore it about him in a leathern bag
-hung round his neck by a steel chain; you did not dream of looking for
-that."</p>
-
-<p>"But what importance can this letter, I do not even remember writing,
-possess, that you should attach such weight to it?"</p>
-
-<p>"It is merely the agreement drawn up between yourself, General Ibañez,
-and Mr. Wood, and bearing your three signatures."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Con mil demonios!</i>" the hacendero exclaimed in terror. "In that case
-I am lost; for if this man really possesses such a document, he will not
-fail to employ it in order to be revenged on me."</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing is lost so long as a man's heart beats in his breast, Don
-Miguel. The position is critical, I allow, but I have saved myself in
-situations far more desperate than the one you are now in."</p>
-
-<p>"What is to be done?"</p>
-
-<p>"Red Cedar has been about again for two days. His first care, so soon as
-he could sit a horse, was to go to Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico,
-and denounce you to the Governor. That has nothing to surprise you from
-such a man."</p>
-
-<p>"Then I can only fly as speedily as I can?"</p>
-
-<p>"Wait. Every man has in his heart at least one of the seven deadly sins
-as a bait for the demon."</p>
-
-<p>"What are you driving at?"</p>
-
-<p>"You will see. Fortunately for us, Red Cedar has them all seven, I
-believe, in the finest stage of development. Avarice, before all, has
-reached its acme with him."</p>
-
-<p>"Well?"</p>
-
-<p>"This happened. Our man denounced you to the governor as a conspirator,
-etc., but was careful not to give up the proofs he possessed in support
-of the denunciation at the outset. When General Isturitz, the governor,
-asked him for these proofs, he answered that he was ready to supply them
-in exchange for the sum of one hundred thousand piastres in gold."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" the hacendero said, with a breath of relief, "and what did
-Isturitz say?"</p>
-
-<p>"The general is one of your most inveterate enemies, I grant, and he
-would give a good deal for the pleasure of having you shot."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, but still the sum appeared to him, as it really is, exorbitant,
-the more so as he would have to pay it all himself, as the government
-does not recognise transactions of that nature."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, what did Red Cedar do then?"</p>
-
-<p>"He did not allow himself beaten; on the contrary, he told the general
-he would give him a week to reflect, and quietly left the Cabildo."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! And on what day was this visit paid?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yesterday morning; so that you have six days still left for action."</p>
-
-<p>"Six days&mdash;that is very little."</p>
-
-<p>"Eh?" the Frenchman said, with a shrug of his shoulders impossible to
-describe. "In my country&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, but you are Frenchmen."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true: hence I allow you twice the time we should require. Come,
-let us put joking aside. You are a man of more than common energy; you
-really wish the welfare of your country, so do not let yourself be
-crushed by the first reverse. Who knows but that it may all be for the
-best?"</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, my friend, I am alone! General Ibañez, who alone could help me in
-this critical affair, is fifty leagues off. What can I do? Nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"All. I foresaw your objection. Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras, has
-gone from me to warn the general. You know with what speed Indians
-travel; so he will bring us the general in a few hours, I feel
-convinced."</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel regarded the hunter with mingled admiration and respect.</p>
-
-<p>"You have done that, my friend?" he said to him as he warmly pressed his
-hand.</p>
-
-<p>"By Jove!" Valentine said, gaily, "I have done something else too. When
-the time arrives I will tell you what it is. But let us not lose an
-hour. What do you intend to do for the present?"</p>
-
-<p>"Act."</p>
-
-<p>"Good: that is the way I like to hear you talk."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, but I must first come to an understanding with the general."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true; but it is the least thing," Valentine answered, as he
-looked skyward, and attentively consulted the position of the stars. "It
-is now eight o'clock. Eagle-wing and the man he brings must be at
-midnight at the entrance of the <i>Cañon del Buitre</i>. We have four hours
-before us, and that is more than we require, as we have only ten leagues
-to go."</p>
-
-<p>"Let us go, let us go!" Don Miguel exclaimed eagerly.</p>
-
-<p>"Wait a moment; there is no such hurry. Don't be alarmed; we shall
-arrive in time."</p>
-
-<p>He then turned to Curumilla, and said to him in Araucano a few words
-which the hacendero did not understand. The Indian rose without
-replying, and disappeared in the density of the forest.</p>
-
-<p>"You know," Valentine continued, "that I prefer, through habit,
-travelling on foot; still, as under present circumstances minutes are
-precious, and we must not lose them, I have provided two horses."</p>
-
-<p>"You think of everything, my friend."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, when I have to act for those I love," Valentine answered with a
-retrospective sigh.</p>
-
-<p>There was a moment's silence between the two men, and at the end of
-scarce a quarter of an hour there was a noise in the shrubs, the
-branches parted, and Curumilla re-entered the clearing, holding two
-horses by the bridle. These noble animals, which were nearly untamed
-<i>mustangs</i>, bore a striking resemblance to the steeds of the Apaches, on
-whose territory our friends now were. They were literally covered with
-eagle plumes, beads, and ribbons, while long red and white spots
-completed their disguise, and rendered it almost impossible to recognise
-them.</p>
-
-<p>"Mount!" Don Miguel exclaimed so soon as he saw them. "Time is slipping
-away."</p>
-
-<p>"One word yet," Valentine remarked.</p>
-
-<p>"Speak."</p>
-
-<p>"You still have as chaplain a certain monk by the name of 'Fray
-Ambrosio.'"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Take care of that man&mdash;he betrays you."</p>
-
-<p>"You believe it?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am sure of it."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! I will remember."</p>
-
-<p>"All right. Now we will be off," Valentine said, as he buried his spurs
-in his horse's flanks.</p>
-
-<p>And the three horsemen rushed into the darkness with headlong speed.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_2" id="Footnote_1_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_2"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "Tiger-Slayer," etc. Same publishers.</p></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>EL MESON.</h3>
-
-
-<p>The day on which our story commences the village of the Paso del Norte
-presented an extraordinary appearance. The bells were ringing out full
-peals, for the three hundredth anniversary of its foundation was
-celebrated. The population of Paso, greatly diminished since the
-proclamation of Mexican independence, was hurrying to the churches,
-which flashed with silver and gold. The houses were decorated with rich
-tapestry, and the streets strewn with flowers.</p>
-
-<p>Toward nightfall the inhabitants, whom the intolerable heat of the
-tropical sun had kept prisoners in the interior of the houses, flocked
-out to inhale the sharp perfumes of the desert breeze, and bring back a
-little fresh air into their parched lungs. The town, which had for
-several hours appeared deserted, suddenly woke up: shouts and laughter
-were heard afresh. The walks were invaded by the mob, and in a few
-minutes the <i>mesóns</i> were thronged with idlers, who began drinking
-pulque and mezcal, while smoking their cigarettes, and strumming the
-jarabe and vihuela.</p>
-
-<p>In a house of poor appearance, built like all its neighbours, of earth
-bricks, and situated at the angle formed by the Plaza Mayor and the
-Calle de la Merced, some twenty-five fellows, whom it was easy to
-recognise as adventurers by the feather in their hats, their upturned
-moustaches, and specially by the long bronzed-hilted sword they wore on
-the thigh, were drinking torrents of aguardiente and pulque at the
-gambling tables, while yelling like deaf men, swearing like pagans, and
-threatening at every moment to unsheathe their weapons.</p>
-
-<p>In a corner of the room occupied by these troublesome guests two men,
-seated opposite each other at a table, seemed plunged in deep thought,
-and looked round them absently, not thinking about drinking the contents
-of their glasses, which had not been emptied for more than half an hour.
-These two men presented the most striking contrast. They were still
-young. The first, aged twenty-five at the most, had one of those frank,
-honest, and energetic faces which call for sympathy, and attract
-respect. His pallid brow, his face of a delicate hue, surrounded by his
-long black curls, his straight and flexible nose, his mouth filled with
-a double row of teeth of dazzling whiteness, and surmounted by a slight
-brown moustache, gave him a stamp of distinction, which was the more
-striking owing to the strict, and perhaps common, style of his attire.</p>
-
-<p>He wore the costume of the wood rangers; that is to say, the Canadian
-<i>mitasse</i>, fastened round the hips, and descending to the ankle; <i>botas
-vaqueras</i> of deer skin, fastened at the knee; and a striped zarapé of
-brilliant colours. A panama straw hat was thrown on the table, within
-reach of his hand, by the side of an American rifle and two
-double-barrelled pistols. A machete hung on his left side, and the hilt
-of a long knife peeped out of his left boot.</p>
-
-<p>His companion was short and thick-set; but his well-knit limbs and his
-outstanding muscles indicated no ordinary strength. His face, the
-features of which were commonplace enough, had a cunning look, which
-suddenly disappeared to make room for a certain nobility whenever under
-the influence Of any sudden emotion; his eyebrows contracted; and his
-glance, ordinarily veiled, flashed forth. He wore nearly the same garb
-as his comrade; but his hat stained with rain, and the colours of his
-zarapé faded by the sun, evidenced lengthened wear. Like the first one
-we described, he was well armed.</p>
-
-<p>It was easy to see at the first glance that these two men did not belong
-to the Hispano-American race, indeed, their conversation would have
-removed any doubts on that head, for they spoke in the French dialect
-employed in Canada.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" the first said, taking up his glass, which he carelessly raised
-to his lips. "After due consideration, Harry, I believe we shall do
-better by mounting our horses again, and starting, instead of remaining
-in this horrible den, amid these <i>gachupinos</i>, who croak like frogs
-before a storm."</p>
-
-<p>"Deuce take your impatience!" the other replied ill-temperedly. "Can't
-you remain a moment at rest?"</p>
-
-<p>"You call it a moment, Harry. Why, we have been here an hour."</p>
-
-<p>"By Jove! Dick, you're a wonderful fellow," the other continued with a
-laugh. "Do you think that business can be settled all in a moment?"</p>
-
-<p>"After all, what is our game? For may the old one twist my neck, or a
-grizzly give me a hug, if I know the least in the world! For five years
-we have hunted and slept side by side. We have come from Canada together
-to this place. I have grown into a habit&mdash;I cannot say why&mdash;of referring
-to you everything that concerns our mutual interests. Still I should not
-be sorry to know, if only for the rarity of the fact, why on earth we
-left the prairies, where we were so well off, to come here, where we are
-so badly off."</p>
-
-<p>"Have you ever repented, up to today, the confidence you placed in me?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do not say so, Harry. Heaven forbid! Still I think&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"You think wrong," the young man sharply interrupted. "Let me alone, and
-before three months you shall have three times your hat full of massive
-gold, or call me a fool."</p>
-
-<p>At this dazzling promise the eyes of Dick, the smaller of the hunters,
-glistened like two stars. He regarded his comrade with a species of
-admiration.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, oh!" he said in a low voice, "It is a placer, is it?"</p>
-
-<p>"Hang it!" the other said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "were it not,
-should I be here? But silence, our man has arrived."</p>
-
-<p>In fact, a man entered at this moment. On his appearance a sudden
-silence fell on the mesón; the adventurers gambling and cursing at all
-the tables, rose as if moved by a spring, respectfully took off their
-plumed hats, and ranged themselves with downcast eyes to let him pass.
-The man remained for an instant on the threshold of the venta, took a
-profound glance at the company, and then walked toward the two hunters.</p>
-
-<p>This man wore the gown of a monk; he had the ascetic face, with the
-harsh features and sharply-marked lines, that forms, as it were, the
-type of the Spanish monks of which Titian has so admirably caught the
-expression on his canvas. He passed through the adventurers, holding out
-right and left his wide sleeves, which they reverentially kissed. On
-approaching the two hunters he turned round.</p>
-
-<p>"Continue your sports, my sons," he said to the company; "my presence
-need not disturb your frolics, for I only wish to speak for a few
-moments with those two gentlemen."</p>
-
-<p>The adventurers did not let the invitation be repeated, but took their
-places again tumultuously, and soon cries and oaths recommenced with
-equal intensity. The monk smiled, took a butaca, and seated himself
-between the two hunters, while bending a searching glance on them. The
-latter had followed with a mocking eye all the interludes of this little
-scene, and without making a movement, they let the monk seat himself by
-their side. So soon as he had done so, Harry poured him out a large
-glass of pulque, and placed within his reach the squares of maize leaf
-and tobacco.</p>
-
-<p>"Drink and smoke, señor padre," he said to him.</p>
-
-<p>The monk, without any observation, rolled a cigarette, emptied the glass
-of pulque at a draught, and then leaning his elbows on the table and
-bending forward, said,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"You are punctual."</p>
-
-<p>"We have been waiting an hour," Dick observed in a rough voice.</p>
-
-<p>"What is an hour in the presence of eternity?" the monk said with a
-smile.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us not lose any more time," Harry continued. "What have you to
-propose to us?"</p>
-
-<p>The monk looked around him suspiciously, and lowered his voice.</p>
-
-<p>"I can, if you like, make you rich in a few days."</p>
-
-<p>"What is the business?" Dick asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Of course," the monk continued, "this fortune I offer you is a matter
-of indifference to me. If I have an ardent desire to obtain it, it is,
-in the first place, because it belongs to nobody, and will permit me to
-relieve the wretchedness of the thousands of beings confided to my
-charge."</p>
-
-<p>"Of course, señor padre," Harry answered seriously. "Let us not weigh
-longer on these details. According to what you told me a few days back,
-you have discovered a rich placer."</p>
-
-<p>"Not I," the monk sharply objected.</p>
-
-<p>"No consequence, provided that it exists," Dick answered.</p>
-
-<p>"Pardon me, but it is of great consequence to me. I do not wish to take
-on myself the responsibility of such a discovery. If, as I believe,
-people will go in search of it, it may entail the death of several
-persons, and the church abhors bloodshed."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good: you only desire to profit by it."</p>
-
-<p>"Not for myself."</p>
-
-<p>"For your parishioners. Very good; but let us try to come to an
-understanding, if possible, for our time is too precious for us to waste
-it in empty talk."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Válgame Dios</i>!" the monk said, crossing himself, "How you have
-retained the impetuosity of your French origin! Have a little patience,
-and I will explain myself."</p>
-
-<p>"That is all we desire."</p>
-
-<p>"But you will promise me&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing," Dick interrupted. "We are honest hunters, and not accustomed
-to pledge ourselves so lightly before knowing positively what is asked
-of us."</p>
-
-<p>Harry supported his friend's words by a nod. The monk drank a glass of
-pulque, and took two or three heavy puffs at his cigarette.</p>
-
-<p>"Your will be done," he then said. "You are terrible men. This is the
-affair."</p>
-
-<p>"Go on."</p>
-
-<p>"A poor scamp of a gambusino, lost, I know not how, in the great desert,
-discovered at a considerable distance off, between the Rio Gila and the
-Colorado, the richest placer the wildest imagination can conceive.
-According to his statement the gold is scattered over the surface, for
-an extent of two or three miles, in nuggets, each of which would make a
-man's fortune. This gambusino, dazzled by such treasures, but unable to
-appropriate them alone, displayed the greatest energy, and braved the
-utmost perils, in order to regain civilised regions. It was only through
-boldness and temerity that he succeeded in escaping the countless
-enemies who spied, and tracked him on all sides; but Heaven at length
-allowed him to reach Paso safe and sound."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good," Dick observed. "All this may very possibly, be true; but
-why did you not bring this gambusino, instead of talking to us about the
-placer, of which you know as little as we do? He would have supplied us
-with information which is indispensable for us, in the event of our
-consenting to help you in looking for this treasure."</p>
-
-<p>"Alas!" the monk replied, hypocritically casting his eyes down, "the
-unhappy man was not destined to profit by this discovery, made at the
-price of so many perils. Scarce two days after his arrival at Paso, he
-quarrelled with another gambusino, and received a stab which sent him a
-few hours later to the tomb."</p>
-
-<p>"In that case," Harry observed, "how did you learn all these details,
-señor padre?"</p>
-
-<p>"In a very simple way, my son. It was I who reconciled the poor wretch
-in his last moments with Heaven; and," he added, with an air of
-compunction splendidly assumed, "when he understood that his end was at
-hand, and that nothing could save him, he confided to me, in gratitude
-for the consolation I bestowed on him, what I have just told you,
-revealed to me the situation of the placer, and for greater certainty
-gave me a clumsy chart he had drawn out on the spot. You see that we can
-proceed almost with certainty."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," Harry said, thoughtfully; "but why, instead of first applying to
-the Mexicans, your countrymen, did you propose to us to help you in your
-enterprise?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because the Mexicans are men who cannot be trusted, and before reaching
-the placer we should have to fight the Apaches and Comanches, on whose
-territory it is situated."</p>
-
-<p>After these words, there was a lengthened silence between the three
-speakers: each was reflecting deeply on what he had just heard. The monk
-tried to read with cunning eye the impression produced on the hunters by
-his confidence; but his hopes were deceived. Their faces remained
-unmoved. At length Dick spoke in a rough voice, after exchanging a
-meaning look with his comrade.</p>
-
-<p>"All that is very fine," he said; "but it is absurd to suppose that two
-men, however brave they may be, can attempt such an enterprise in
-unknown regions peopled by ferocious tribes. It would require at least
-fifty resolute and devoted men, otherwise nothing could be possible."</p>
-
-<p>"You are right, and hence I did not calculate on you alone. You will
-have determined men under your orders, chosen carefully by myself, and I
-shall also accompany you."</p>
-
-<p>"Unluckily, if you have counted on us, you are mistaken, señor padre,"
-Harry said, peremptorily. "We are honest hunters; but the trade of a
-gambusino does not at all suit us. Even if we had a chance of gaining an
-incalculable fortune, we would not consent to take part in an expedition
-of gold seekers."</p>
-
-<p>"Not even if Red Cedar were at the head of the expedition, and consented
-to take the direction?" the monk said in a honeyed voice, and with a
-side glance.</p>
-
-<p>The hunter started, a feverish blush suffused his face, and it was in a
-voice choked by emotion that he exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Have you spoken with him about it?"</p>
-
-<p>"Here he is; you can ask him," the monk answered.</p>
-
-<p>In fact, a man was entering the mesón at this moment. Harry looked down
-in confusion, while Dick tapped the table with his dagger and whistled.
-A smile of undefinable meaning wandered over the monk's pallid lips.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>RED CEDAR.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Red Cedar was more than six feet in height; his enormous head was
-fastened to his square shoulders by a short and muscular neck, like a
-bull's; his bony members were covered with muscles hard as ropes. In
-short, his whole person was a specimen of brute strength at its
-culminating point.</p>
-
-<p>A fox-skin cap, pressed down on his head, allowed escape to a few tufts
-of coarse greyish hair, and fell on his little grey eyes, which were
-close to a nose that was hooked like the beak of a bird of prey; his
-wide mouth was filled with white, large teeth; his cheekbones were
-prominent and purpled; and the lower part of his face disappeared in a
-thick black beard, mingled with grey hairs. He wore a hunting shirt of
-striped calico, fastened round the waist by a strap of brown leather,
-through which were passed two pistols, an axe, and a long knife; a pair
-of leggings of tawny leather, sewed at equal distances with hair, fell
-down to his knees; while his legs were protected by Indian moccasins,
-ornamented with a profusion of beads and bells. A game bag of fawn skin,
-which seemed full, fell over his right hip; and he held in his hand an
-American rifle, studded with copper nails.</p>
-
-<p>No one knew who Red Cedar was, or whence he came. About two years prior
-to the period of our story opening he had suddenly made his appearance
-in the country, accompanied by a wife of a certain age&mdash;a species of
-Megaera, of masculine form and repellant aspect; a girl of seventeen;
-and three vigorous lads, who resembled him too closely not to be his
-own, and whose age varied from nineteen to twenty-four.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar himself appeared to be fifty-five at the most. The name by
-which he was known had been given to him by the Indians, of whom he had
-declared himself the implacable enemy, and boasted that he had killed
-two hundred. The old woman was called Betsy; the girl, Ellen; the eldest
-son, Nathan; the second, Sutter; and the last, Shaw.</p>
-
-<p>This family had built a shanty in the forest, a few miles from Paso, and
-lived alone in the desert, without having entered into any relations
-with the inhabitants of the village; or the trappers and wood rangers,
-its neighbours. The mysterious conduct of these strangers had given rise
-to numerous comments; but all had remained without reply or solution,
-and after two years they remained as perfect strangers as on the day of
-their arrival.</p>
-
-<p>Still, mournful and sad stories were in circulation on their account:
-they inspired an instinctive hatred and involuntary terror in the
-Mexicans. Some said in a whisper that old Red Cedar and his three sons
-were nothing less than "scalp hunters;" that is to say, in the public
-esteem, people placed beneath the pirates of the prairies, that unclean
-breed of birds of prey which everybody fears and despises.</p>
-
-<p>The entry of Red Cedar was significant; the otherwise unscrupulous men
-who filled the venta hurriedly retired on his approach, and made room
-for him with a zeal mingled with disgust. The old partisan crossed the
-room with head erect; a smile of haughty disdain played round his thin
-lips at the sight of the effect his presence produced, and he went up to
-the monk and his two companions. On reaching them he roughly placed the
-butt of his rifle on the ground, leaned his two crossed hands upon the
-barrel, and after bending a cunning glance on the persons before him,
-said to the monk in a hoarse voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"The deuce take you, señor padre! Here I am: what do you want with me?"</p>
-
-<p>Far from being vexed at this brutal address, the latter smiled on the
-colossus, and held out his hand to him, as he graciously made answer,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"You are welcome, Red Cedar; we were expecting you impatiently. Sit down
-by my side on this butaca, and we will talk while drinking a glass of
-pulque."</p>
-
-<p>"The deuce twist your neck, and may your accursed pulque choke you! Do
-you take me for a wretched abortion of your sort?" the other answered as
-he fell into the seat offered him. "Order me some brandy, and that of
-the strongest. I am not a babe, I suppose."</p>
-
-<p>Without making the slightest observation, the monk rose, went to speak
-with the host, and presently returned with a bottle, from which he
-poured a bumper for the old hunter. The latter emptied the glass at a
-draught, put it back on the table with a sonorous "hum!" and turned to
-the monk with a grimacing smile.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, the devil is not always so black as he looks, señor padre," he
-said, as he passed his hand over his mouth to wipe his moustache. "I see
-that we can come to an understanding."</p>
-
-<p>"It will only depend on you, Red Cedar. Here are two worthy Canadian
-hunters who will do nothing without your support."</p>
-
-<p>The Hercules took a side glance at the young men.</p>
-
-<p>"Eh!" he said, "what do you want with these children? Did I not promise
-you to reach the placer with my sons only?"</p>
-
-<p>"He, he! You are powerfully built, both you and your lads, I allow; but
-I doubt whether four men, were they twice as strong as you are, could
-carry out this affair successfully. You will have numerous enemies to
-combat on your road."</p>
-
-<p>"All the better! The more there are, the more we shall kill," he
-answered with a sinister laugh.</p>
-
-<p>"Señor padre," Dick interrupted, "as far as I am concerned, I care
-little about it."</p>
-
-<p>But he was suddenly checked by a meaning glance from his mate.</p>
-
-<p>"What do you care little about, my pretty lad?" the giant asked in a
-mocking voice.</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing," the young man answered drily. "Suppose I had not spoken."</p>
-
-<p>"Good," Red Cedar remarked; "it shall be as you wish. Here's your
-health."</p>
-
-<p>And he poured the rest of the bottle into his glass.</p>
-
-<p>"Come," said Harry, "Let us have but few words. Explain yourself once
-for all, without beating about the bush, señor padre."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," Red Cedar observed, "men ought not to waste their time thus in
-chattering."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. This, then, is what I propose. Red Cedar will collect within
-three days from this time thirty resolute men, of whom he will take the
-command, and we will start immediately in search of the placer. Does it
-suit you in that way?"</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" Red Cedar said. "In order to go in search of the placer we must
-know a little in what direction it is, or deuce take me if I undertake
-the business!"</p>
-
-<p>"Do not trouble yourself about that, Red Cedar; I will accompany you.
-Have I not got a plan of the country?"</p>
-
-<p>The colossus shot at the monk a glance which sparkled under his dark
-eyelash, but he hastened to moderate its brilliancy by letting his eyes
-fall.</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," he said with feigned indifference; "I forgot that you
-were coming with us. Then you will leave your parishioners during your
-absence?"</p>
-
-<p>"Heaven will watch over them."</p>
-
-<p>"Eh! It will have its work cut out. However, that does not concern me at
-all. But why did you oblige me to come to this mesón?"</p>
-
-<p>"In order to introduce you to these two hunters, who will accompany us."</p>
-
-<p>"I beg your pardon," Dick observed, "but I do not exactly see of what
-use I can be to you in all this: my aid, and that of my mate, do not
-appear to me to be indispensable."</p>
-
-<p>"On the contrary," the monk answered quickly, "I reckon entirely on
-you."</p>
-
-<p>The giant had risen.</p>
-
-<p>"What!" he said, as he roughly laid his enormous hand on Dick's
-shoulder, "You do not understand that this honourable personage, who did
-not hesitate to kill a man in order to rob him of the secret of the
-placer, has a terrible fear of finding himself alone with me on the
-prairie? He fears that I shall kill him in my turn to rob him of the
-secret of which he became master by a crime. Ha, ha, ha!"</p>
-
-<p>And he turned his back unceremoniously.</p>
-
-<p>"How can you suppose such things, Red Cedar?" the monk exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p>"Do you fancy that I did not read you?" the latter answered. "But it is
-all the same to you. Do as you please: I leave you at liberty to act as
-you like."</p>
-
-<p>"What! You are off already?"</p>
-
-<p>"Hang it! What have I to do any longer here? All is settled between us.
-In three days thirty of the best frontiersmen will be assembled by my
-care at Grizzly Bear Creek, where we shall expect you."</p>
-
-<p>After shrugging his shoulders once again he went off without any salute,
-or even turning his head.</p>
-
-<p>"It must be confessed," Dick observed, "that the man has a most
-villainous face. What a hideous fellow!"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" the monk answered with a sigh, "The exterior is nothing. You
-should know the inner man."</p>
-
-<p>"Why, in that case, do you have any dealings with him?"</p>
-
-<p>The monk blushed slightly.</p>
-
-<p>"Because it must be so," he muttered.</p>
-
-<p>"All right for you," Dick continued; "but as nothing obliges my friend
-and myself to have any more intimate relations with that man, you must
-not mind, señor Padre, if&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Silence, Dick!" Harry shouted, angrily. "You do not know what you are
-talking about. We will accompany you, señor padre. You can reckon on us
-to defend you if necessary, for I suppose that Red Cedar is right."</p>
-
-<p>"In what way?"</p>
-
-<p>"You do not wish to trust your life defencelessly in his hands, and you
-reckoned on us to protect you. Is it not so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why should I feign any longer? Yes, that man terrifies me, and I do not
-wish to trust myself to his mercy."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not be alarmed; we shall be there, and on our word as hunters, not a
-hair of your head shall fall."</p>
-
-<p>A lively satisfaction appeared on the monk's pale face at this generous
-promise.</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks," he said warmly.</p>
-
-<p>Harry's conduct appeared so extraordinary to Dick, who knew the lofty
-sentiments and innate honor of his comrade, that, without striving to
-fathom the motives which made him act thus, he contented himself by
-backing up his words by an affirmative nod of the head.</p>
-
-<p>"Be assured, caballeros, that when we have reached the placer, I will
-give you a large share, and you will have no cause to regret
-accompanying me."</p>
-
-<p>"The money question has but slight interest with us," Harry answered.
-"My friend and I are free hunters, caring very little for riches, which
-would be to us rather a source of embarrassment than of pleasure and
-enjoyment. Curiosity alone, and the desire of exploring strange
-countries, are sufficient to make us undertake this journey."</p>
-
-<p>"Whatever the reason that makes you accept my proposals, I am not the
-less obliged to you."</p>
-
-<p>"Now you will permit us to take leave of you, and we shall hold
-ourselves at your orders."</p>
-
-<p>"Go, gentlemen; I will not keep you longer. I know where to find you
-when I want you."</p>
-
-<p>The young men took up their hats, slung their rifles on their shoulders,
-and left the mesón. The monk looked after them.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" he muttered, "I believe I can trust to those men: they have still
-in their veins a few drops of that honest French blood which despises
-treachery. No matter," he added, as if on reflection; "I will take my
-precautions."</p>
-
-<p>After this aside, he rose and looked around him. The room was full of
-adventurers, who drank or played at <i>monte</i>, and whose energetic faces
-stood out in the semi-obscurity of the room, which was scarce lighted by
-a smoky lamp. After a moment's reflection the monk boldly struck the
-table with his clenched fist, and shouted in a loud voice:</p>
-
-<p>"Señores caballeros, I invite you to listen to me. I have, I fancy, an
-advantageous proposal to make to you."</p>
-
-<p>The company turned their heads; those who were gambling for a moment
-abandoned their cards and dice; the drinkers alone kept in their hands
-the glasses they held; but all approached the monk, round whom they
-grouped themselves curiously.</p>
-
-<p>"Caballeros," he continued, "if I am not mistaken, all present are
-gentlemen whom fortune has more or less ill-treated."</p>
-
-<p>The adventurers, by an automatic movement of extraordinary regularity,
-bowed their heads in affirmation.</p>
-
-<p>"If you wish it," he continued with an imperceptible smile, "I will
-undertake to repair the wrong by it done you."</p>
-
-<p>The adventurers pricked up their ears.</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, speak, señor padre!" they shouted with delight.</p>
-
-<p>"What is the affair?" a man with a hang-dog face said, who stood in the
-front ranks.</p>
-
-<p>"A war party which I intend to lead shortly into Apacheria," the monk
-said, "and for which purpose I need you."</p>
-
-<p>At this proposition the first ardor of the adventurers visibly cooled
-down. The Apaches and Comanches inspire an invincible terror in the
-inhabitants of the Mexican frontiers. The monk guessed the effect he had
-produced; but he continued, as if not observing anything:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"I take you all into my service for a month, at the rate of four
-piastres a day."</p>
-
-<p>At this magnificent offer the eyes of the adventurers sparkled with
-greed, fear gave way to avarice, and they all exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"We accept, reverend father!</p>
-
-<p>"But," the man continued who had already spoken, "we shall be happy,
-señor padre, if, before starting, you would give us your holy
-benediction, and absolve us from the few sins we may have committed."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the company yelled, "we shall be happy if you consent to that,
-reverend father."</p>
-
-<p>The monk appeared to reflect: the adventurers, anxiously waited.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, be it so," he answered after a moment. "As the work in which I am
-about to employ you is so meritorious, I will give you my blessing, and
-grant you absolution of your sins."</p>
-
-<p>For a few minutes there was a shout and exclamations of joy in the room.
-The monk demanded silence, and when it was restored he said,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Now, caballeros, give me each your name, that I may find you when I
-need you."</p>
-
-<p>He sat down and began enrolling the adventurers, who, with the men Red
-Cedar supplied, would form the band with which he hoped to reach the
-placer. We will leave the worthy monk for a few moments, and follow the
-two Canadian hunters.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE TWO HUNTERS.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Harry and Dick, whom we saw seated at a table in the mesón with Red
-Cedar and Fray Ambrosio, were however, very far from resembling those
-two men morally. They were free and bold hunters, who had spent the
-greater part of their life in the desert, and who, in the vast solitude
-of the prairie, had accustomed themselves to a life free and exempt from
-those vices which accompany a town residence.</p>
-
-<p>For them gold was only the means to procure the necessary objects for
-their trade as hunters and trappers; and they never imagined that the
-possession of a large quantity of that yellow metal they despised would
-place them in a position to enjoy other pleasures than those they found
-in their long hunts of wild beasts&mdash;hunts so full of strange incidents
-and striking joys.</p>
-
-<p>Thus Dick had been to the highest degree surprised when he saw his
-friend eagerly accept the monk's offer, and agree to go in search of the
-placer; but what even more surprised him was Harry's insisting that Red
-Cedar must take the lead of the expedition. Though no one could
-positively accuse the squatter, owing to the precautions he took, of
-leading a life of rapine and murder, still the mysterious conduct he
-affected, and the solitude in which he lived with his family, had cast
-on him a shadow of reprobation.</p>
-
-<p>Every one regarded him as a scalp hunter, and yet no one would have
-ventured to affirm the odious deeds of which he was accused. The result
-of the general reprobation that fell on the squatter, and which we know
-to be fully merited, was that he and his family were placed under a ban
-by the frontier hunters and trappers, and every one fled not only their
-society, but any contact with them. Dick was thoroughly acquainted with
-his friend's upright character and nobility of heart. Hence his conduct
-under the present circumstances seemed to him perfectly
-incomprehensible, and he resolved to have an explanation with him.</p>
-
-<p>They had scarce quitted the mesón ere Dick bent down to his companion,
-and said, while looking at him curiously,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"We have been hunting together for five years, Harry, and up to the
-present I have ever let myself be guided by you, leaving you free to act
-as you pleased for our mutual welfare. Still this evening your conduct
-has appeared to me so extraordinary that I am obliged, in the name of
-our friendship, which has never suffered a break up to this day, to ask
-you for an explanation of what has occurred in my presence."</p>
-
-<p>"For what good, my boy? Do you not know me well enough to be certain
-that I would not consent to do any dishonourable deed?"</p>
-
-<p>"Up to this evening I would have sworn it, Harry: yes, on my honor I
-would have sworn it&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"And now?" the young man asked, stopping and looking his friend in the
-face.</p>
-
-<p>"Now," Dick answered, with a certain degree of hesitation, "hang it all!
-I will be frank with you, Harry, as an honest hunter should ever be. Now
-I do not know if I should do so: no, indeed I should not."</p>
-
-<p>"What you say there causes me great pain, Dick. You oblige me, in order
-to dissipate your unjust suspicions, to confide to you a secret which is
-not my own, and which I would not have revealed for anything in the
-world."</p>
-
-<p>"Pardon me, Harry, but in my place I am convinced you would act as I am
-doing. We are very far from our country, which we shall never see again,
-perhaps. We are responsible for each other, and our actions must be free
-from all double interpretation."</p>
-
-<p>"I will do what you ask, Dick, whatever it may cost me. I recognise the
-justice of your observations. I understand how much my conduct this
-night must have hurt you and appeared ambiguous. I do not wish our
-friendship to receive the least wound, or the slightest cloud to arise
-between us. You shall be satisfied."</p>
-
-<p>"I thank you, Harry. What you tell me relieves my bosom of a heavy load.
-I confess that I should have been in despair to think badly of you; but
-the words of that intriguing monk, and the manners of that worthy
-acolyte, Red Cedar, put me in a passion. Had you not warned me so
-quickly to silence, I believe&mdash;Heaven pardon me!&mdash;that I should have
-ended by telling them a piece of my mind."</p>
-
-<p>"You displayed considerable prudence in keeping silence, and be assured
-you will completely approve me."</p>
-
-<p>"I do not doubt it, Harry; and now I feel certain I deceived myself. I
-feel all jolly again."</p>
-
-<p>While speaking thus the two hunters, who were walking with that rapid
-step peculiar to men habituated to traverse great distances on foot, had
-crossed the village, and found themselves already far in the plain. The
-night was magnificent&mdash;the sky of a deep blue. An infinite number of
-glistening stars seemed floating in ether. The moon spread its silvery
-rays profusely over the landscape. The sharp odour of the flowers
-perfumed the atmosphere. The two hunters still walked on.</p>
-
-<p>"Where are we going now, Harry?" Dick asked. "I fancy we should do
-better by taking a few hours' rest, instead of fatiguing ourselves
-without any definite object."</p>
-
-<p>"I never do anything without a reason, friend, as you know," Harry
-answered; "so let me guide you, and we shall soon arrive."</p>
-
-<p>"Do as you think proper, my boy; I shall say nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"In the first place you must know that the French hunter, Koutonepi, has
-begged me, for reasons he did not tell me, to watch Fray Ambrosio. That
-is one of the motives which made me be present at this night's
-interview, although I care as little for a placer as for a musk-rat's
-skin."</p>
-
-<p>"Koutonepi is the first hunter on the frontier; he has often done us a
-service in the desert. You acted rightly, Harry, in doing what he
-asked."</p>
-
-<p>"As for the second reason that dictated my conduct, Dick, you shall soon
-know it."</p>
-
-<p>Half talking, half dreaming, the young men reached Buffalo Valley, and
-soon entered the forest which served as a lair for the squatter and his
-family.</p>
-
-<p>"Where the deuce are we going?" Dick could not refrain from saying.</p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" said the other: "We are approaching."</p>
-
-<p>The darkness was profound in the forest: the density of the leafy dome
-under which they walked completely intercepted the light of the
-moonbeams. Still the Canadians, long accustomed to a night march,
-advanced as easily through the chaos of creepers and trees tangled in
-each other as if they had been in open day. On reaching a certain spot
-where the trees, growing less closely together, formed a species of
-clearing, and allowed an uncertain and tremorous light to pass, Harry
-stopped, and made his comrade a sign to do the same.</p>
-
-<p>"This is the place," he said. "Still, I as the person I have come to see
-expects me to be alone, and your unexpected presence might cause alarm,
-hide yourself behind that larch tree: above all, be careful not to stir
-till I call I you."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, oh!" the hunter said, with a laugh, "have you perchance led me to a
-love meeting, Harry?"</p>
-
-<p>"You shall judge," Harry replied laconically. "Hide yourself."</p>
-
-<p>Dick, greatly troubled, did not need the invitation to be repeated: he
-concealed himself behind the tree his friend had indicated, and which
-would have sheltered a dozen men behind its enormous stem. So soon as
-Harry was alone, he raised his fingers to his lips, and at three
-different intervals imitated the cry of an owl with such perfection that
-Dick himself was deceived, and mechanically looked up to seek the bird
-in the tall branches of the tree by which he stood. Almost immediately,
-a slight noise was audible in the shrubs, and a graceful and white form
-appeared in the glade. It was Ellen, who rapidly walked toward the young
-man.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, it is you, Harry!" she said with joy. "Heaven be blessed, I was
-afraid you would not come, as it is late."</p>
-
-<p>"It is true, Ellen: pardon me. I made all possible speed, however; and
-it is not my fault that I did not arrive sooner."</p>
-
-<p>"How good you are, Harry, to take so much trouble for my sake! How can I
-ever recognise the continual services you do me?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! Do not speak about them. It is a happiness for me to do anything
-agreeable to you."</p>
-
-<p>"Alas!" the maiden murmured, "Heaven is my witness that I feel a deep
-friendship for you, Harry."</p>
-
-<p>The young man sighed gently.</p>
-
-<p>"I have done what you asked of me," he said suddenly.</p>
-
-<p>"Then it is true my father is thinking about leaving this country to go
-further still?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, Ellen, and into frightful countries, among the ferocious Indians."</p>
-
-<p>The girl gave a start of terror.</p>
-
-<p>"Do you know the reason of his going?" she continued.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; he is about to look for a gold placer."</p>
-
-<p>"Alas! Who will protect me, who will defend me in future, if we go
-away?"</p>
-
-<p>"I, Ellen!" the hunter exclaimed impetuously. "Have I not sworn to
-follow you everywhere?"</p>
-
-<p>"It is true," she said sadly; "but why should you risk your life on the
-distant journey we are about to undertake? No, Harry, remain here; I
-cannot consent to your departure. From what I have heard say, the band
-my father commands will be numerous&mdash;it will have scarce anything to
-fear from the Indians; while, on the other hand, you, compelled to hide
-yourself, will be exposed alone to terrible danger. No, Harry, I will
-not permit it."</p>
-
-<p>"Undeceive yourself, Ellen. I shall not be forced to conceal myself; I
-shall not be alone, for I am a member of your father's band."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it possible, Harry?" she exclaimed, with an expression of joy that
-made the young man quiver.</p>
-
-<p>"I enrolled myself this very evening."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" she said, "Then in that case we can often meet?"</p>
-
-<p>"Whenever you please, Ellen, as I shall be there."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! Now I am anxious to be away from here, and wish we had already
-started."</p>
-
-<p>"It will not be long first, set your mind at rest. I am convinced that
-we shall start within the week."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks for the good news you bring me, Harry."</p>
-
-<p>"Are your father and mother still unkind to you, Ellen?"</p>
-
-<p>"It is nearly always the same thing; and yet their conduct toward me is
-strange. It often seems to me incomprehensible, as it is so marked with
-peculiarities. There are moments in which they seem to love me dearly.
-My father especially caresses and embraces me, and then all at once, I
-know not why, repulses me rudely, and looks at me in a way that causes
-me to shudder."</p>
-
-<p>"That is indeed strange, Ellen."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it not? There is one thing above all I cannot explain."</p>
-
-<p>"Tell it me, Ellen; perhaps I can do so."</p>
-
-<p>"You know that all my family are Protestants?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, I am a Catholic."</p>
-
-<p>"That is certainly curious."</p>
-
-<p>"I wear around my neck a small golden crucifix. Every time accident
-makes this trinket glisten before my father and mother they grow
-furious, threaten to beat me, and order me to hide it at once. Do you
-understand the meaning of this, Harry?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, I do not, Ellen; but, believe me, leave everything to time; perhaps
-it will enable us to find the clue to the mystery which we seek in vain
-at this moment."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, your presence has rendered me happy for a long time, Harry, so
-now I will retire."</p>
-
-<p>"Already?"</p>
-
-<p>"I must, my friend. Believe me that I am as sad as yourself at this
-separation; but my father has not yet returned, and may arrive at any
-moment. If he noticed that I was not asleep, who knows what might
-happen?"</p>
-
-<p>While saying the last words the girl held out her delicate hand to the
-hunter, who raised it to his lips passionately. Ellen withdrew it
-suddenly, and bounding like a startled fawn, darted into the forest,
-where she soon disappeared, giving the young man a parting word, which
-caused him to quiver with joy:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"We shall meet soon."</p>
-
-<p>Harry stood for a long time with his eyes fixed on the spot where the
-seductive vision had disappeared. At length he uttered a sigh, threw his
-rifle over his shoulder, and turned as if to depart. Dick was before
-him. Harry gave a start of surprise, for he had forgotten his friend's
-presence; but the latter smiled good-humouredly.</p>
-
-<p>"I now comprehend your conduct, Harry," he said to him; "you were right
-to act as you did. Pardon my unjust suspicions, and count on me
-everywhere and always."</p>
-
-<p>Harry silently pressed the hand his friend offered him, and they walked
-back rapidly in the direction of the village. As they emerged from the
-forest they passed, a man who did not see them. It was Red Cedar. So
-soon as he had gone a short distance Harry stopped his companion, and
-pointing to the squatter, whose long black shadow glided through the
-trees, said, as he laid his hand on his shoulder,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"That man hides in his heart a horrible secret, which I am ignorant of,
-but have sworn to discover."</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>FRAY AMBROSIO.</h3>
-
-
-<p>The monk remained for a long time in the room of the mesón, taking down
-the names of the adventurers he wished to enrol in his band. It was late
-when he left it to return to the Hacienda de la Noria; but he was
-satisfied with his night's work, and internally rejoiced at the rich
-collection of bandits of the purest water he had recruited.</p>
-
-<p>The monks form a privileged caste in Mexico: they can go at all hours of
-the night wherever they please without fearing the numerous "gentlemen
-of the road," scattered about the highways. Their gown inspires a
-respect which guarantees them from any insult, and preserves them better
-than anything from unpleasant rencontres. Besides, Fray Ambrosio, as the
-reader has doubtless already perceived, was not the man to neglect
-indispensable precautions in a country where, out of ten persons you
-meet on your road, you may boldly assert that nine are rogues, the tenth
-alone offering any doubts. The worthy chaplain carried under his gown a
-pair of double-barrelled pistols, and in his right sleeve he concealed a
-long <i>navaja</i>, sharp as a razor, and pointed as a needle.</p>
-
-<p>Not troubling himself about the solitude that reigned around him, the
-monk mounted his mule and proceeded quietly to the hacienda. It was
-about eleven o'clock.</p>
-
-<p>A few words about Fray Ambrosio, while he is peacefully ambling along
-the narrow path which will lead him in two hours to his destination,
-will show all the perversity of the man who is destined to play an
-unfortunately too important part in the course of our narrative.</p>
-
-<p>One day a gambusino, or gold seeker, who had disappeared for two years,
-no one knowing what had become of him, and who was supposed to be dead
-long ago, assassinated in the desert by the Indians, suddenly reappeared
-at the Paso del Norte. This man, Joaquin by name, was brother to Andrés
-Garote, an adventurer of the worst stamp, who had at least a dozen
-<i>cuchilladas</i> (knife stabs) on his conscience, whom everybody feared,
-but who, through the terror he inspired, enjoyed at the Paso, in spite
-of his well-avouched crimes, a reputation and species of impunity which
-he abused whenever the opportunity offered.</p>
-
-<p>The two brothers began frequenting together the mesones and ventas of
-the village, drinking from morn till night, and paying either in gold
-dust enclosed in stout quills, or in lumps of native gold. The rumour
-soon spread at Paso that Joaquin had discovered a rich placer, and that
-his expenses were paid with the specimens he had brought back. The
-gambusino replied neither yes nor no to the several insinuations which
-his friends, or rather his boon companions, attempted on him. He
-twinkled his eyes, smiled mysteriously, and if it were observed that, at
-the rate he was living at, he would soon be ruined, he shrugged his
-shoulders, saying:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"When I have none left I know where to find others."</p>
-
-<p>And he continued to enjoy his fill of all the pleasures which a wretched
-hole like Paso can furnish.</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio had heard speak, like everyone else, of the gambusino's
-asserted discovery; and his plan was at once formed to become master of
-this man's secret, and rob him of his discovery, were that possible.</p>
-
-<p>The same evening Joaquin and his brother Andrés were drinking, according
-to their wont, in a mesón, surrounded by a crowd of scamps like
-themselves. Fray Ambrosio, seated at a table with his hands hidden in
-the sleeves of his gown, and hanging head, appeared plunged in serious
-reflections, although he followed with a cunning eye the various
-movements of the drinkers, and not one of their gestures escaped him.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly a man entered, with his hand on his hip, and throwing in the
-face of the first person he passed the cigarette he was smoking. He
-planted himself in front of Joaquin, to whom he said nothing, but began
-looking at him impudently, shrugging his shoulders, and laughing
-ironically at all the gambusino said. Joaquin was not patient, he saw at
-the first glance that this person wished to pick a quarrel with him; and
-as he was brave, and feared nobody, man or devil, he walked boldly up to
-him, and looking at him fixedly in his turn, he said to him, as he
-thrust his face in his:</p>
-
-<p>"Do you seek a quarrel, Tomaso?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why not?" the latter said impudently, as he set his glass on the table.</p>
-
-<p>"I am your man. We will fight how you please."</p>
-
-<p>"Bah!" Tomaso said carelessly, "let us do things properly, and fight
-with the whole blade."</p>
-
-<p>"Be it so."</p>
-
-<p>The combats which take place between the adventurers are truly like
-those of wild beasts. These coarse men, with their cruel instincts, like
-fighting beyond all else, for the smell of blood intoxicates them. The
-announcement of this duel caused a thrill of pleasure to run through the
-ranks of the leperos and bandits who pressed round the two men. The fun
-was perfect: one of the adversaries would doubtless fall&mdash;perhaps
-both&mdash;and blood flow in streams. Cries and yells of delight were raised
-by the spectators.</p>
-
-<p>The duel with knives is the only one that exists in Mexico, and is
-solely left to the leperos and people of the lowest classes. This duel
-has its rules, which cannot be broken under any pretext. The knives
-usually employed, have blades from fourteen to sixteen inches in length,
-and the duelists fight according to the gravity of the insult, with one,
-two, three, six inches, or the entire blade. The inches are carefully
-measured and the hand clutches the knife at the marked spot.</p>
-
-<p>This time it was a duel with the whole blade, the most terrible of all.
-With extraordinary politeness and coolness the landlord had a large ring
-formed in the middle of the room, where the two adversaries stationed
-themselves, about six paces from each other at the most.</p>
-
-<p>A deep silence hung over the room, a moment previously so full of life
-and disturbance; every one anxiously awaited the <i>dénouement</i> of the
-terrible drama that was preparing. Fray Ambrosio alone had not quitted
-his seat or made a sign.</p>
-
-<p>The two men rolled their zarapés round their left arm, planted
-themselves firmly on their outstretched legs, bent their bodies slightly
-forward and gently placing the point of the knife blade on the arm
-rounded in front of the chest, they waited, fixed on each other flashing
-glances. A few seconds elapsed, during which the adversaries remained
-perfectly motionless: all hearts were contracted, all bosoms heaving.</p>
-
-<p>Worthy of Callot's pencil was the scene offered by these men, with their
-weather-stained faces and harsh features, and their clothes in rags,
-forming a circle round two combatants ready to kill each other in this
-mean room, slightly illumined by a smoky lamp, which flashed upon the
-blue blades of the knives, and in the shadow, almost disappearing in his
-black gown, the monk, with his implacable glance and mocking smile, who,
-like a tiger thirsting for blood, awaited the hour to pounce on his
-prey.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly, by a spontaneous movement rapid as lightning, the adversaries
-rushed on each other, uttering a yell of fury. The blades flashed, there
-was a clashing of steel, and both fell back again. Joaquin and Tomaso
-had both dealt the same stroke, called, in the slang of the country, the
-"blow of the brave man." Each had his face slashed from top to bottom
-with a gaping wound.</p>
-
-<p>The spectators frenziedly applauded this magnificent opening scene: the
-jaguars had scented blood, and were mad.</p>
-
-<p>"What a glorious fight!" they exclaimed with admiration.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the two combatants, rendered hideous by the blood that
-streamed from their wounds and stained their faces, were again watching
-for the moment to leap on one another. Suddenly they broke ground; but
-this time it was no skirmish, but the real fight, atrocious and
-merciless. The two men seized each other round the waist, and entwined
-like serpents, they twisted about, trying to stab each other, and
-exciting themselves to the struggle by cries of rage and triumph. The
-enthusiasm of the spectators was at its height: they laughed, clapped
-hands, and uttered inarticulate howls as they urged the fighters not to
-loose their hold.</p>
-
-<p>At length the enemies rolled on the ground still enclasped. For some
-seconds the combat continued on the ground, and it was impossible to
-distinguish who was the conqueror. All at once one of them, who no
-longer had a human form, and whose body was as red as an Indian's,
-bounded to his feet brandishing his knife. It was Joaquin.</p>
-
-<p>His brother rushed toward him to congratulate him on his victory, but
-all at once the gambusino tottered and fainted. Tomaso did not rise
-again: he remained motionless, stretched out on the uneven floor of the
-mesón. He was stark dead.</p>
-
-<p>This scene had been so rapid, its conclusion so unforeseen, that, in
-spite of themselves, the spectators had remained dumb, and as if struck
-with stupor. Suddenly the priest, whom all had forgotten, rose and
-walked into the centre of the room, looking round with a glance that
-caused all to let their eyes fall.</p>
-
-<p>"Retire, all of you," he said in a gloomy voice, "now that you have
-allowed this deed worthy of savages to be accomplished. The priest must
-offer his ministry, and get back from Satan, if there be still time, the
-soul of this Christian who is about to die. Begone!"</p>
-
-<p>The adventurers hung their heads, and in a few moments the priest was
-left alone with the two men, one of whom was dead, the other at the last
-gasp. No one could say what occurred in that room; but when the priest
-left it, a quarter of an hour later, his eyes flashed wildly. Joaquin
-had given his parting sigh. On opening the door to go out Fray Ambrosio
-jostled against a man, who drew back sharply to make room for him. It
-was Andrés Garote. What was he doing with his eye at the keyhole while
-the monk was shriving his brother?</p>
-
-<p>The adventurer told no one what he had seen during this last quarter of
-an hour, nor did the monk notice in the shade the man he had almost
-thrown down.</p>
-
-<p>Such was the way in which Fray Ambrosio became master of the gambusino's
-secret, and how he alone knew at present the spot where the placer was.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>TWO VARIETIES OF VILLAINS.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Now that the reader is well informed touching Fray Ambrosio, we will
-follow him on his road home from the mesón. The night was calm, silent
-and serene. Not a sound troubled the silence, save the trot of the mule
-over the pebbles on the road, or at times, in the distance, the snapping
-bark of the coyotes chasing in a pack, according to their wont, some
-straggling hind.</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio ambled gently on, while reflecting on the events of the
-evening, and calculating mentally the probable profits of the expedition
-he meditated. He had left far behind him the last houses of the village,
-and was advancing cautiously along a narrow path that wound through an
-immense sugar cane field. Already the shadow of the tall hacienda walls
-stood out blackly in the horizon. He expected to reach it within twenty
-minutes, when suddenly his mule, which had hitherto gone so quietly,
-pricked up its ears, raised its head, and stopped short.</p>
-
-<p>Roughly aroused from his meditations by this unexpected halt, the monk
-looked about for some obstacle that might impede his progress. About ten
-paces from him a man was standing right in the middle of the path. Fray
-Ambrosio was a man not easily to be frightened: besides, he was well
-armed. He drew out one of the pistols hidden under his gown, cocked it,
-and prepared to cross-question the person who so resolutely barred his
-way. But the latter, at the sharp sound of the setting hammer, thought
-it prudent to make himself known, and not await the consequences of an
-address nearly always stormy under similar circumstances.</p>
-
-<p>"Halloh!" he shouted in a loud voice, "Return your pistol to your belt,
-Fray Ambrosio; I only want to talk with you."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Diavolo</i>!" the monk said, "the hour and moment are singularly chosen
-for a friendly conversation, my good fellow."</p>
-
-<p>"Time belongs to nobody," the stranger answered sententiously. "I am
-obliged to choose that which I have at my disposal."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," the monk said as he quietly uncocked his pistol, though
-not returning it to his belt. "Who the deuce are you, and why are you so
-anxious to speak with me? Do you want to confess?</p>
-
-<p>"Have you not recognised me yet, Fray Ambrosio? Must I tell you my name
-that you may know with whom you have to deal?"</p>
-
-<p>"Needless, my good sir, needless; but how the deuce is it, Red Cedar,
-that I meet you here! What can you have so pressing to communicate to
-me?"</p>
-
-<p>"You shall know if you will stop for a few moments and dismount."</p>
-
-<p>"The deuce take you with your whims! Cannot you tell me that as well
-tomorrow! Night is getting on, my home is still some distance off and I
-am literally worn out."</p>
-
-<p>"Bah! you will sleep capitally by the side of a ditch, where you could
-not be more comfortable. Besides, what I have to say to you does not
-admit of delay."</p>
-
-<p>"You wish to make a proposal to me, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"What about, if you please?"</p>
-
-<p>"About the affair we discussed this evening at the Paso."</p>
-
-<p>"Why, I fancied we had settled all that, and you accepted my offer."</p>
-
-<p>"Not yet, not yet, my master. That will depend on the conversation we
-are about to have, so you had better dismount and sit down quietly by my
-side; for if you don't do it, it will come to nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"The deuce take people that change their minds every minute, and on whom
-one cannot reckon more than on an old surplice!" the monk growled with
-an air of annoyance, while, for all that, getting off his mule, which he
-fastened to a shrub.</p>
-
-<p>The squatter did not seem to remark the chaplain's ill temper, and let
-him sit down by his side without uttering a syllable.</p>
-
-<p>"Here I am," the monk went on, so soon as he was seated. "I really do
-not know, Red Cedar, why I yield so easily to all your whims."</p>
-
-<p>"Because you suspect that your interest depends on it: were it not for
-that, you would not do so."</p>
-
-<p>"Why talk thus in the open country, instead of going to your house,
-where we should be much more comfortable?"</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar shook his head in denial.</p>
-
-<p>"No," he said; "the open is better for what we have to talk about. Here
-we need not fear listeners at out doors."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true. Well, go on; I am listening."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! You insist upon my commanding the expedition you project?"</p>
-
-<p>"Of course. I have known you a long time. I am aware that you are a sure
-man, perfectly versed in Indian signs; for, if I am not mistaken, the
-greater part of your life has been spent among them."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not speak about what I have done? The question now concerns you, and
-not me."</p>
-
-<p>"How so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Good, good! Let me speak. You need me, so it is to my interest to make
-you pay as dearly as I can for me."</p>
-
-<p>"Eh?" the monk muttered, as he made a grimace. "I am not rich, gossip,
-as you are aware."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, yes; I know that, so soon as you have a few piastres or ounces,
-the monte table strips you of them immediately."</p>
-
-<p>"Hang it! I have always been unlucky at play."</p>
-
-<p>"For that reason I do not intend asking you for money."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. If you have no designs on my purse we can easily come to an
-understanding. You may speak boldly."</p>
-
-<p>"I hope that we shall easily understand one another, the mere so as the
-service I expect from you is almost a mere nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"Come to the point, Red Cedar: with your deuced way of twining your
-phrases together in the Indian way, you never make an end of it."</p>
-
-<p>"You know that I have a deadly hatred against Don Miguel Zarate?"</p>
-
-<p>"I have heard some say about it. Did he not lodge his knife somewhere in
-your chest?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, and the blow was so rude that I all but died of it; but, thanks to
-the devil, I am on my legs again, after remaining three weeks on my back
-like a cast sheep. I want my revenge."</p>
-
-<p>"I can't help saying you are right: in your place, may Satan twist my
-neck if I would not do the same!"</p>
-
-<p>"For that I count on your help."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! that is a delicate affair. I have no cause of complaint against
-Don Miguel&mdash;on the contrary: besides, I do not see how I can serve you."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! very easily."</p>
-
-<p>"You believe so?"</p>
-
-<p>"You shall see."</p>
-
-<p>"Go on, then; I am listening."</p>
-
-<p>"Don Miguel has a daughter?"</p>
-
-<p>"Doña Clara."</p>
-
-<p>"I mean to carry her off."</p>
-
-<p>"Deuce take the mad ideas that pass through your brain-pan, gossip! How
-would you have me help you in carrying off the daughter of Don Miguel,
-to whom I owe so many obligations? No, I cannot do that, indeed."</p>
-
-<p>"You must, though."</p>
-
-<p>"I will not, I tell you."</p>
-
-<p>"Measure your words well, Fray Ambrosio, for this conversation is
-serious. Before refusing so peremptorily to give me the help I ask,
-reflect well."</p>
-
-<p>"I have reflected well, Red Cedar, and never will I consent to help you
-in carrying off the daughter of my benefactor. Say what you like,
-nothing will ever change my resolution on that head, for it is
-inflexible."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! Whatever may happen, I swear that nothing will make me alter."</p>
-
-<p>"Swear not, Fray Ambrosio, for you will be a perjurer."</p>
-
-<p>"Ta, ta, ta! You are mad, my good fellow. Don't let us waste our time.
-If you have nothing else to say to me, I will leave you, though I take
-such pleasure in your society."</p>
-
-<p>"You have become scrupulous all of a sudden, my master."</p>
-
-<p>"There is a beginning to everything, compadre; so let us say no more,
-but good-bye."</p>
-
-<p>And the monk rose.</p>
-
-<p>"You are really going?"</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caray</i>! Do you fancy I mean to sleep here?"</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. You understand that you need not count on me for your
-expedition?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am sorry for it; but I will try to find someone to take your place."</p>
-
-<p>"Thank you."</p>
-
-<p>The two men were standing, and the monk had put his foot in the stirrup.
-Red Cedar also appeared ready to make a start. At the moment of
-separation a sudden idea seemed to occur to the squatter.</p>
-
-<p>"By the way," he said carelessly, "be kind enough to give me some
-information I require."</p>
-
-<p>"What is it now?" the monk asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! a mere trifle," the squatter remarked indifferently. "It concerns a
-certain Don Pedro de Tudela, whom I think you formerly knew."</p>
-
-<p>"Eh!?" the monk exclaimed, as he turned, with his leg still in the air.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, come, Fray Ambrosio," Red Cedar continued in a jeering voice,
-"let us have a little more talk together. I will tell you, if you like,
-a very remarkable story about this Don Pedro, with whom you were
-acquainted."</p>
-
-<p>The monk was livid; a nervous tremor agitated all his limbs; he let
-loose his mule's bridle, and followed the squatter mechanically, who
-seated himself tranquilly on the ground, making him a sign to follow his
-example. The monk fell, suppressing a sigh, and wiping away the drops of
-cold perspiration that beaded on his forehead.</p>
-
-<p>"Eh, eh!" the squatter continued at the end of a moment, "we must allow
-that Don Pedro was a charming gentleman&mdash;a little wild, perhaps; but
-what would you have? He was young. I remember meeting him at Albany a
-long time ago&mdash;some sixteen or seventeen years ago&mdash;how old one
-gets!&mdash;at the house of one&mdash;wait awhile, the name has slipped my
-memory&mdash;could you not help me to it, Fray Ambrosio?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do not know what you mean," the monk said in a hollow voice.</p>
-
-<p>The man was in a state that would have produced pity; the veins in his
-forehead were swollen ready to burst; he was choking; his right hand
-clutched the hilt of his dagger; and he bent on the squatter a glance
-full of deadly hatred. The latter seemed to see nothing of all this.</p>
-
-<p>"I have it!" he continued. "The man's name was Walter Brunnel, a very
-worthy gentleman."</p>
-
-<p>"Demon!" the monk howled in a gasping voice, "I know not who made you
-master of that horrible secret, but you shall die."</p>
-
-<p>And he rushed upon him, dagger in hand.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar had known Fray Ambrosio a long time, and was on his guard. By
-a rapid movement he checked his arm, twisted it, and seized the dagger,
-which he threw a long distance off.</p>
-
-<p>"Enough," he said in a harsh voice. "We understand one another, my
-master. Do not play that game with me, for you will be sick of it, I
-warn you."</p>
-
-<p>The monk fell back on his seat, without the strength to make a sign or
-utter a syllable. The squatter regarded him for a moment with mingled
-pity and contempt and shrugged his shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>"For sixteen years I have held that secret," he said, "and it has never
-passed my lips. I will continue to keep silence on one condition."</p>
-
-<p>"What is it?"</p>
-
-<p>"I want you to help me in carrying off the hacendero's daughter."</p>
-
-<p>"I will do it."</p>
-
-<p>"Mind, I expect honest assistance; so do not attempt any treachery."</p>
-
-<p>"I will help you, I tell you."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! I count on your word. Besides you may be easy, master; I will
-watch you."</p>
-
-<p>"Enough of threats. What is to be done?"</p>
-
-<p>"When do we start for Apacheria?"</p>
-
-<p>"You are coming, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"Of course."</p>
-
-<p>A sinister smile played round the monk's pale lips.</p>
-
-<p>"We shall start in a week," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Good! On the day of the start you will hand over the girl to me, one
-hour before our departure."</p>
-
-<p>"What shall I do to compel her to follow me?"</p>
-
-<p>"That is not my business."</p>
-
-<p>"Still&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"I insist."</p>
-
-<p>"Be it so," the monk said with an effort. "I will do it; but remember,
-demon, if I ever hold you in my hands, as I am this day in yours, I
-shall be pitiless and make you pay for all I suffer at this moment."</p>
-
-<p>"You will be right to do so&mdash;it is your due; still I doubt whether you
-will ever be able to reach me."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps."</p>
-
-<p>"Live and learn. In the meanwhile I am your master, and I reckon on your
-obedience."</p>
-
-<p>"I will obey."</p>
-
-<p>"That is settled. Now, one thing more; how many men have you enlisted
-this evening?"</p>
-
-<p>"About twenty."</p>
-
-<p>"That's not many; but, with the sixty I shall supply, we shall have a
-very decent band to hold the Indians in check."</p>
-
-<p>"May Heaven grant it!"</p>
-
-<p>"Don't be alarmed, my master," the squatter said, re-assuming the
-friendly tone which he employed at the outset of the conversation; "I
-pledge myself, to lead you straight to your placer. I have not lived ten
-years with the Indians not to be up to all their tricks."</p>
-
-<p>"Of course," the monk answered as he rose, "You know, Red Cedar, what
-was agreed upon; the placer will be shared between us. It is, therefore,
-to your interest to enable us to reach it without obstacle."</p>
-
-<p>"We shall reach it. Now that we have nothing more to say to each other
-and have agreed on all points&mdash;for we have done so, I think?" he said
-significantly.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, all."</p>
-
-<p>"We can part, and go each home. No matter, my master! I told you that I
-should succeed in making you alter your mind. Look you, Fray Ambrosio,"
-he added in impudent tone, which made the monk turn pale with rage;
-"people need only to understand one another to do anything."</p>
-
-<p>He rose, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and turning away sharply,
-went off with lengthened strides. The monk remained for a moment as if
-stunned by what had happened. Suddenly he thrust his hand under his
-gown, seized a pistol, and aimed at the squatter. But ere he had time to
-pull the trigger his enemy disappeared round a turning, uttering a
-formidable burst of laughter, which the mocking echo bore to his ear,
-and revealed to him all the immensity of his impotence.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" he muttered as he got in the saddle, "How did this fiend discover
-the secret which I believed no one knew?"</p>
-
-<p>And he went off gloomy and thoughtful. Half an hour later he reached the
-Hacienda de la Noria, when the gate was opened for him by a trusty peon,
-for everybody was asleep. It was past midnight.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>EL CAÑON DEL BUITRE.</h3>
-
-
-<p>We will now return to the hacendero, who, accompanied by his two
-friends, is galloping at full speed in the direction of Valentine's
-jacal. The road the three men followed led them further and further from
-the Paso del Norte. Around them nature grew more abrupt, the scenery
-sterner. They had left the forest, and were galloping over a wide and
-arid plain. On each side of the way the trees, becoming rarer, defiled
-like a legion of phantoms. They crossed several tributary streams of the
-Del Norte, in which their horses were immersed up to the chest.</p>
-
-<p>At length they entered a ravine deeply imbedded between two wooded
-hills, the soil of which, composed of large flat stones and rounded
-pebbles, proved that this spot was one of those <i>desaguaderos</i> which
-serve to carry off the waters in the rainy season. They had reached the
-Cañon del Buitre, so named on account of the numerous vultures
-constantly perched on the tops of the surrounding hills.</p>
-
-<p>The defile was deserted, and Valentine had his cabin not far from this
-spot. So soon as the three men had dismounted, Curumilla took the horses
-and led them to the jacal.</p>
-
-<p>"Follow me," Valentine said to Don Miguel.</p>
-
-<p>The latter obeyed, and the two men began then climbing the escarped
-flanks of the right hand hill. The climb was rude, for no road was
-traced; but the two hunters, long accustomed to force a passage through
-the most impracticable places, seemed hardly to perceive the difficulty
-of the ascent, which would have been impossible for men less used to a
-desert life.</p>
-
-<p>"This spot is really delicious," Valentine said with the complacent
-simplicity of a landowner who boasts of his estate. "If it were day, Don
-Miguel, you would enjoy from this spot a magnificent view. A few hundred
-yards from the place where we are, down there on that hill to the right,
-are the ruins of an ancient Aztec camp in a very fine state of
-preservation. Just imagine that this hill, carved by human hands, though
-you cannot see it in the darkness, is of the shape of a pyramidal cone:
-its base is triangular, the sides are covered with masonry, and it is
-divided into several terraces. The platform is about ninety yards long
-by seventy-five in width, and is surrounded on three sides by a
-platform, and flanked by a bastion on the north. You see that it is a
-perfect fortress, constructed according to all the rules of military
-art. On the platform are the remains of a species of small teocali,
-about twenty feet high, composed of large stones covered with
-hieroglyphics sculptured in relief, representing weapons, monsters,
-rabbits, crocodiles, and all sorts of things; for instance, men seated
-in the oriental fashion, and wearing spectacles. Is not that really
-curious? This little monument, which has no staircase, doubtless served
-as the last refuge to the besieged when they were too closely
-beleaguered by the enemy."</p>
-
-<p>"It is astonishing," Don Miguel answered, "that I never heard of these
-ruins."</p>
-
-<p>"Who knows them? Nobody. However, they bear a considerable likeness to
-those found at Jochicalco."</p>
-
-<p>"Where are you leading me, my friend? Are you aware that the road is not
-one of the pleasantest, and I am beginning to feel tired?"</p>
-
-<p>"A little patience: in ten minutes we shall arrive. I am leading you to
-a natural grotto which I discovered a short time back. It is admirable.
-It is probable that the Spaniards were unacquainted with it, although
-the Indians, to my knowledge, have visited it from time immemorial. The
-Apaches imagine it serves as a palace to the genius of the mountain. At
-any rate, I was so struck by its beauty that I abandoned my jacal, and
-converted it into my residence. Its extent is immense. I am certain,
-though I never tried to convince myself, that it goes for more than ten
-leagues under ground. I will not allude to the stalactites that hang
-from the roof, and form the quaintest and most curious designs; but the
-thing that struck me is this: this grotto is divided into an infinite
-number of chambers, some of them containing pools in which swim immense
-numbers of blind fish."</p>
-
-<p>"Blind fish! You are jesting, my friend," Don Miguel exclaimed, and
-stopped.</p>
-
-<p>"I am wrong: blind is not the word I should have employed, for these
-fish have no eyes."</p>
-
-<p>"What! No eyes?"</p>
-
-<p>"None at all; but that does not prevent them being very dainty food."</p>
-
-<p>"That is strange."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it not? But stay&mdash;we have arrived."</p>
-
-<p>In fact, they found themselves in front of a gloomy, gaping orifice,
-about ten feet high by eight wide.</p>
-
-<p>"Let me do the honours of my mansion," Valentine said.</p>
-
-<p>"Do so, my friend."</p>
-
-<p>The two men entered the grotto: the hunter struck a match, and lit a
-torch of candlewood. The fairy picture which suddenly rose before Don
-Miguel drew from him a cry of admiration. There was an indescribable
-confusion: here a gothic chapel, with its graceful soaring pillars;
-further on, obelisks, cones, trunks of trees covered with moss and
-acanthus leaves, hollow stalactites of a cylindrical form, drawn
-together and ranged side by side like the pipes of an organ, and
-yielding to the slightest touch varied metallic sounds which completed
-the illusion. Then, in the immeasurable depths of these cavernous halls,
-at times formidable sounds arose, which, returned by the echoes, rolled
-along the sides of the grotto like peals of thunder.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, it is grand, it is grand!" Don Miguel exclaimed, struck with fear
-and respect at the sight.</p>
-
-<p>"Does not man," Valentine answered, "feel very small and miserable
-before these sublime creations of nature, which God has scattered here
-as if in sport? Oh, my friend! It is only in the desert that we
-understand the grandeur and infinite omnipotence of the Supreme Being;
-for at every step man finds himself face to face with Him who placed him
-on this earth, and traces the mark of His mighty finger engraved in an
-indelible manner on everything that presents itself to his sight."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," Don Miguel said, who had suddenly become thoughtful, "it is only
-in the desert that a man learns to know, love, and fear God, for He is
-everywhere."</p>
-
-<p>"Come," said Valentine.</p>
-
-<p>He led his friend to a hall of not more than twenty square feet, the
-vault of which, however, was more than a hundred yards above them. In
-this hall a fire was lighted. The two men sat down on the ground and
-waited, while thinking deeply. After a few moments the sound of
-footsteps was audible, and the Mexican quickly raised his head.
-Valentine did not stir, for he had recognised his friend's tread. In
-fact, within a moment the Indian chief appeared.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" Valentine asked him.</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing yet," Curumilla laconically answered.</p>
-
-<p>"They are late, I fancy," Don Miguel observed.</p>
-
-<p>"No," the chief continued, "it is hardly half past eleven: we are before
-our time."</p>
-
-<p>"But will they find us here?"</p>
-
-<p>"They know we shall await them in this hall."</p>
-
-<p>After these few words each fell back into his thoughts. The silence was
-only troubled by the mysterious sounds of the grotto, which re-echoed
-nearly at equal intervals with an horrific din. A long period elapsed.
-All at once, ere any sensible noise had warned Don Miguel, Valentine
-raised his head with a hurried movement.</p>
-
-<p>"Here they are," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"You are mistaken, my friend," Don Miguel observed; "I heard nothing."</p>
-
-<p>The hunter smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"If you had spent," he said, "like we have, ten years in the desert,
-interrogating the mysterious voices of the night, your ear would be
-habituated to the vague rumours and sighs of nature which have no meaning
-to you at this moment, but which have all a significance for me, and, so
-to speak, a voice every note of which I understand, and you would not
-say I was mistaken. Ask the chief: you will hear his answer."</p>
-
-<p>"Two men are climbing the hill at this moment," Curumilla answered
-sententiously. "They are an Indian and a white man."</p>
-
-<p>"How can you recognise the distinction?"</p>
-
-<p>"Very easily," Valentine responded with a smile. "The Indian wears
-moccasins, which touch the ground without producing any other sound than
-a species of friction: the step is sure and unhesitating, as taken by a
-man accustomed to walk in the desert, and only put down his foot firmly:
-the white man wears high-heeled boots, which at each step produce a
-distinct and loud sound; the spurs fastened to his boots give out a
-continuous metallic clink; the step is awkward and timid; at each moment
-a stone or crumble of earth rolls away under the foot, which is only put
-down hesitatingly. It is easy to see that the man thus walking is
-accustomed to a horse, and does not know the use of his feet. Stay! They
-are now entering the grotto: you will soon hear the signal."</p>
-
-<p>At this moment the bark of the coyote was raised thrice at equal
-intervals. Valentine answered by a similar cry.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, was I mistaken?" he said.</p>
-
-<p>"I know not what to think, my friend. What astonishes me most is that
-you heard them so long before they arrived."</p>
-
-<p>"The ground of this cave is an excellent conductor of sound," the hunter
-answered simply: "that is all the mystery."</p>
-
-<p>"The devil!" Don Miguel could not refrain from saying; "You neglect
-nothing, I fancy."</p>
-
-<p>"If a man wants to live in the desert he must neglect nothing: the
-smallest things have their importance, and an observation carefully made
-may often save a man's life."</p>
-
-<p>While these few words were being exchanged between the two friends the
-noise of footsteps was heard drawing nearer and nearer. Two men
-appeared: one was Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras; the second,
-General Ibañez.</p>
-
-<p>The general was a man of about thirty-five, tall and well-built, with a
-delicate and intelligent face. His manners were graceful and noble. He
-bowed cordially to the hacendero and Valentine, squeezed Curumilla's
-hand, and fell down in a sitting posture by the fire.</p>
-
-<p>"Ouf!" he said, "I am done, gentlemen. I have just ridden an awful
-distance. My poor horse is foundered, and to recover myself I made an
-ascent, during which I thought twenty times I must break down; and that
-would have infallibly happened, had not friend Eagle-wing charitably
-come to my aid. I must confess that these Indians climb like real cats:
-we <i>gente de razón</i><a name="FNanchor_1_3" id="FNanchor_1_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_3" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> are worth nothing for that trade."</p>
-
-<p>"At length you have arrived, my friend," Don Miguel answered. "Heaven be
-praised! I was anxious to see you."</p>
-
-<p>"For my part I confess that my impatience was equally lively, especially
-since I learned the treachery of that scoundrelly Red Cedar. That humbug
-of a Wood sent him to me with so warm a recommendation that, in spite of
-all my prudence, I let myself be taken in, and nearly told him all our
-secrets. Unfortunately, the little I did let him know is sufficient to
-have us shot a hundred times like vulgar conspirators of no
-consequence."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not feel alarmed, my friend. After what. Valentine told me today, we
-have, perchance, a way of foiling the tricks of the infamous spy who has
-denounced us."</p>
-
-<p>"May Heaven grant it! But nothing will remove my impression that Wood
-has something to do with what has happened to us. I always doubted that
-American, who is cold as an iceberg, sour as a glass of lemonade, and
-methodical as a Quaker. What good is to be expected from these men, who
-covet the possession of our territory, and who, unable to take it from
-us at one lump, tear it away in parcels?"</p>
-
-<p>"Who knows, my friend? Perhaps you are right. Unfortunately, what is
-done cannot be helped, and our retrospective recriminations will do us
-no good."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true; but, as you know, man is the same everywhere. When he has
-committed a folly he is happy to find a scapegoat on which he can lay
-the iniquities with which he reproaches himself. That is slightly my
-case at this moment."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not take more blame on yourself, my friend, than you deserve; I
-guarantee your integrity and the loyalty of your sentiments. Whatever
-may happen, be persuaded that I will always do you justice, and, if
-needed, defend you against all."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, Don Miguel. What you say causes me pleasure and reconciles me
-with myself. I needed the assurance you give me in order to regain some
-slight courage, and not let myself be completely crushed by the
-unforeseen blow which threatens to overthrow our hopes at the very
-moment when we expected to find them realised."</p>
-
-<p>"Come, come, gentlemen," Valentine said, "the time is slipping away, and
-we have none to waste. Let us seek to find the means by which to repair
-the check we have suffered. If you permit me I will submit to your
-approval a plan which, I believe, combines all the desirable chances of
-success, and will turn in our favour the very treachery to which we have
-fallen victims."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, speak, my friend!" the two men exclaimed, as they prepared to
-listen.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine took the word.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_3" id="Footnote_1_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_3"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Literally, "men of reason"&mdash;a graceful expression the
-whites employ to distinguish themselves from the Indians, whom they
-affect to consider brute beasts, and to whom they do not even grant a
-soul.</p></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>FATHER SERAPHIN.</h3>
-
-
-<p>"Gentlemen," said Valentine, "this is what I propose. The treachery of
-Red Cedar, in surrendering to the Government the secret of your
-conspiracy, places you in a critical position, from which you cannot
-escape save by violent measures. You are between life and death. You
-have no alternative save victory or defeat. The powder is fired, the
-ground is mined under your feet, and an explosion is imminent. Well,
-then, pick up the glove treachery throws to you&mdash;accept frankly the
-position offered you. Do not wait till you are attacked, but commence
-the contest. Remember the vulgar adage, which is perfectly true in
-politics, and specially in revolution&mdash;that 'the first blow is half the
-battle.' Your enemies will be terrified by your boldness&mdash;dashed by this
-uprising which they are far from expecting, especially now, when they
-imagine they hold in their hands all the threads of the conspiracy&mdash;an
-error which makes them put faith in the revelations of a common spy, and
-will ruin them if you act with skill&mdash;above all, with promptitude. All
-depends on the first blow. It must be terrible, and terrify them: if
-not, you are lost."</p>
-
-<p>"All that is true; but we lack time," General Ibañez observed.</p>
-
-<p>"Time is never lacking when a man knows how to employ it properly,"
-Valentine answered peremptorily. "I repeat, you must be beforehand with
-your adversaries."</p>
-
-<p>At this moment the sound of footsteps was heard under the vault of the
-cave. The most extreme silence at once reigned in the chamber where the
-five conspirators were assembled. Mechanically each sought his weapons.
-The steps rapidly approached, and a man appeared in the entrance of the
-hall. On seeing him all present uttered a cry of joy and rose
-respectfully, repeating, "Father Seraphin!"</p>
-
-<p>The man advanced smiling, bowed gracefully, and answered in a gentle and
-melodious voice, which went straight to the soul,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Take your places again, gentlemen, I beg of you. I should be truly
-vexed if I caused you any disturbance. Permit me only to sit down for a
-few moments by your side."</p>
-
-<p>They hastened to make room for him. Let us say in a few words who this
-person was, whose unexpected arrival caused so much pleasure to the
-people assembled in the grotto.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin was a man of twenty-four at the most, although the
-fatigues he supported, the harsh labours he had imposed on himself, and
-which he fulfilled with more than apostolic abnegation, had left
-numerous traces on his face, with its delicate features, its gentle and
-firm expression, imprinted with a sublime melancholy, rendered even more
-touching by the beam of ineffable goodness which escaped from his large,
-blue and thoughtful eyes. His whole person, however, exhaled a perfume
-of youth and health which disguised his age, as to which a superficial
-observer might have been easily deceived.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin was a Frenchman, and belonged to the order of the
-Lazarists. For five years he had been traversing as an indefatigable
-missionary, with no other weapon than his staff, the unexplored
-solitudes of Texas and New Mexico, preaching the gospel to the Indians,
-while caring nothing for the terrible privations and nameless sufferings
-he incessantly endured, and the death constantly suspended over his
-head.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin was one of those numerous soldiers, ignored martyrs of
-the army of faith, who, making a shield of the Gospel, spread at the
-peril of their lives the word of God in those barbarous countries, and
-die heroically, falling bravely on their battlefield, worn out by the
-painful exigencies of their sublime mission, aged at thirty, but having
-gained over a few souls to the truth, and shed light among the ignorant
-masses.</p>
-
-<p>The abnegation and devotion of these modest men, yet so great in heart,
-are too much despised in France, where however, the greater number of
-these martyrs are recruited. Their sacrifices pass unnoticed; for, owing
-to the false knowledge possessed of beyond-sea countries, people are far
-from suspecting the continual struggles they have to sustain against a
-deadly climate. And who would credit it? The most obstinate adversaries
-they meet with in the accomplishment of their mission are not among the
-Indians, who always nearly welcome them with respect, if not joy, but
-among the men whom their labours benefit, and who ought to aid and
-protect them with all their might. There is no vexation or humiliation
-which they do not endure from the agents of Mexico and the American
-Union, to try and disgust and compel them to abandon the arena in which
-they combat so nobly.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin had gained the friendship and respect of all those with
-whom accident had brought him into contact. Charmed with meeting a
-fellow countryman in the midst of those vast solitudes so distant from
-that France he never hoped to see again, he had attached himself closely
-to Valentine, to whom he vowed a deep and sincere affection. For the
-same motives, the hunter, who admired the greatness of character of this
-priest so full of true religion, felt himself drawn to him by an
-irresistible liking. They had frequently taken long journeys together,
-the hunter guiding his friend to the Indian tribes across the desolate
-regions of Apacheria.</p>
-
-<p>So soon as Father Seraphin had taken his place near the fire, Eagle-wing
-and Curumilla hastened to offer him all those slight services which they
-fancied might be agreeable to him, and offered him a few lumps of roast
-venison with maize tortillas. The missionary gladly gratified the two
-chiefs, and accepted their offerings.</p>
-
-<p>"It is a long time since we saw you, father," the hacendero said. "You
-neglect us. My daughter asked me about you only two days ago, for she is
-anxious to see you."</p>
-
-<p>"Doña Clara is an angel who does not require me," the missionary replied
-gently. "I have spent nearly two months with the Comanche tribe of the
-Tortoise. Those poor Indians claim all my care. They are thirsting for
-the Divine Word."</p>
-
-<p>"Are you satisfied with your journey?"</p>
-
-<p>"Sufficiently so, for these men are not such as they are represented to
-us. Their instincts are noble, and, as their primitive nature is not
-adulterated by contact with the vicious civilization that surrounds
-them, they easily understood what is explained to them."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you reckon on staying long among us?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; this last journey has fatigued me extremely. My health is in a
-deplorable state, and I absolutely need a few days' rest in order to
-regain the requisite strength to continue my ministry."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, father, come with me to the hacienda; you will remain with us,
-and make us all truly happy."</p>
-
-<p>"I am going to make that request to you, Don Miguel. I am delighted that
-you have thus met my wishes. If I accept your obliging offer, it is
-because I know I shall not incommode you."</p>
-
-<p>"On the contrary, we shall be delighted to have you among us."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! I know the goodness of your heart."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not make me better than I am, father: there is a spice of egotism in
-what I am doing."</p>
-
-<p>"How so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Hang it! By labouring at the education of the Indians you render an
-immense service to the race I have the honor of belonging to; for I,
-too, am an Indian."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," the priest answered with a laugh. "Come, I absolve you
-from the sin of egotism, in favour of the intention which makes you
-commit it."</p>
-
-<p>"Father," Valentine then said, "is the game plentiful in the desert just
-at present?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, there is a great deal: the buffaloes have come down from the
-mountains in herds&mdash;the elks, the deer, and the antelopes swarm."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine rubbed his hands.</p>
-
-<p>"It will be a good season," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, for you. As for myself, I have no cause of complaint, for the
-Indians have been most attentive to me."</p>
-
-<p>"All the better. I ever tremble when I know you are among those red
-devils. I do not say that of the Comanches, who are warriors I esteem,
-and have always displayed the sincerest affection for you; but I have a
-terrible fear lest those villains of Apaches may play you a wicked trick
-some fine day."</p>
-
-<p>"Why entertain such ideas, my friend?"</p>
-
-<p>"They are correct. You cannot imagine what treacherous and cruel cowards
-those Apache thieves are. I know them, and carry their marks; but do not
-frighten yourself. If ever they ventured on any extremities against you,
-I know the road to their villages: there is not a nook in the desert
-which I have not thoroughly explored. It is not for nothing I have
-received the name of the 'Trail-hunter.' I swear to you I will not leave
-them a scalp."</p>
-
-<p>"Valentine, you know I do not like to hear you speak so. The Indians are
-poor ignorant men, who know not what they do, and must be pardoned for
-the evil they commit."</p>
-
-<p>"All right&mdash;all right!" the hunter growled. "You have your ideas on that
-score, and I mine."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the missionary replied with a smile, "but I believe mine be
-better."</p>
-
-<p>"It is possible. You know I do not discuss that subject with you; for I
-do not know how you do it, but you always succeed in proving to me that
-I am wrong."</p>
-
-<p>Everybody laughed at this sally.</p>
-
-<p>"And what are the Indians doing at this moment?" Valentine continued.
-"Are they still fighting?"</p>
-
-<p>"No; I succeeded in bringing Unicorn, the principal chief of the
-Comanches, and Stanapat (the Handful of Blood), the Apache sachem, to an
-interview, at which peace was sworn."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" Valentine said incredulously, "that peace will not last long, for
-Unicorn has too many reasons to owe the Apaches a grudge."</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing leads to the supposition, at present, that your forebodings
-will be speedily realised."</p>
-
-<p>"Why so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because, when I left Unicorn, he was preparing for a grand buffalo
-hunt, in which five hundred picked warriors were to take part."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah! and where do you think the hunt will take place, father?"</p>
-
-<p>"I know for a certainty, because, when I left Unicorn, he begged me to
-invite you to it, as he knew I should see you shortly."</p>
-
-<p>"I willingly accept, for a buffalo hunt always had great attractions for
-me."</p>
-
-<p>"You will not have far to go to find Unicorn, for he is scarce ten
-leagues from this place."</p>
-
-<p>"The hunt will take place, then, in the neighbourhood?"</p>
-
-<p>"The meeting-place is Yellowstone Plain."</p>
-
-<p>"I shall not fail to be there, father. Ah! I am delighted, more than you
-can suppose, at the happy news you have brought me."</p>
-
-<p>"All the better, my friend. Now, gentlemen, I will ask you to excuse me;
-for I feel so broken with fatigue that, with your permission, I will go
-and take a few hours' rest."</p>
-
-<p>"I was a fool not to think of it before," Valentine exclaimed with
-vexation as he struck his forehead. "Pardon me, father."</p>
-
-<p>"I thought for my brother," said Curumilla. "If my father will follow me
-all is ready."</p>
-
-<p>The missionary thanked him with a smile and rose, bowed to all present,
-and supported by Eagle-wing, he followed Curumilla into another chamber
-of the grotto. Father Seraphin found a bed of dry leaves covered with
-bear skins, and a fire so arranged as to burn all night. The two Indians
-retired after bowing respectfully to the father, and assuring themselves
-that he needed nothing more.</p>
-
-<p>After kneeling on the ground of the grotto Father Seraphin laid himself
-on his bed of leaves, crossed his arms on his chest, and fell into that
-childlike sleep which only the just enjoy. After his departure Valentine
-bent over to his two friends.</p>
-
-<p>"All is saved," he said in a low voice.</p>
-
-<p>"How? Explain yourself," they eagerly answered.</p>
-
-<p>"Listen to me. You will spend the night here; at daybreak you will start
-for the Hacienda de la Noria, accompanied by Father Seraphin."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! What next?"</p>
-
-<p>"General Ibañez will proceed, as from you, to the governor, and invite
-him to a grand hunt of wild horses, to take place in three days."</p>
-
-<p>"I do not understand what you are driving at."</p>
-
-<p>"That is not necessary at this moment. Let me guide you; but, above all,
-arrange it so that all the authorities of the town accept your
-invitation and are present at the hunt."</p>
-
-<p>"That I take on myself."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. You, general, will collect all the men you can, so that they
-can support you on a given signal, but hide themselves so that no one
-can suspect their presence."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good," Don Miguel answered; "all shall be done as you recommend.
-But where will you be all this while?"'</p>
-
-<p>"You know very well," he answered with a smile of undefinable meaning.
-"I shall be hunting the buffalo with my friend Unicorn, the great chief
-of the Comanches."</p>
-
-<p>Hastily breaking off the interview, the hunter wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe, stretched himself before the fire, closed his eyes, and
-slept, or feigned to sleep. After a few minutes' hesitation his friend
-imitated his example, and the grotto became calm and silent as on the
-day of the creation.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>UNICORN.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Before retiring to rest Father Seraphin, on the previous evening, had
-whispered a couple of words in the Indians' ears. The sun had scarce
-begun to rise a little above the extreme blue line of the horizon ere
-the missionary opened his eyes, and after a short prayer hurried to the
-hall in which his companions had remained. The four men were still
-asleep, wrapped in their furs and buffalo skins.</p>
-
-<p>"Wake up, brothers," Father Seraphin said, "for day is appearing."</p>
-
-<p>The four men started up in an instant.</p>
-
-<p>"My brothers," the young missionary said in a gentle and penetrating
-voice, "I thought that we ought, before separating, to thank God in
-common: for the blessings He does not cease to vouchsafe to us&mdash;to
-celebrate our happy meeting of last night. I have, therefore, resolved
-to hold a mass, at which I shall be happy to see you with that purity of
-heart which such a duty demands."</p>
-
-<p>At this proposition the four men exclaimed gladly their assent.</p>
-
-<p>"I will help you to prepare the altar, father," Valentine said; "the
-idea is excellent."</p>
-
-<p>"The altar is all ready, my friends. Have the kindness to follow me."</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin then led them out of the grotto.</p>
-
-<p>In the centre of a small esplanade in front of the cave an altar had
-been built by Eagle-wing and Curumilla on a grassy mound. It was very
-simple. A copper crucifix planted in the centre of the mound, covered by
-a cloth of dazzling whiteness; on either side of it two block-tin
-candlesticks, in which burned candles of yellow tallow, a Bible on the
-right, the pyx in the centre&mdash;that was all.</p>
-
-<p>The hunter and the two Mexicans knelt piously, and Father Seraphin
-commenced offering the holy sacrifice, served devotedly by the two
-Indian chiefs.</p>
-
-<p>It was a magnificent morning; thousands of birds, hidden beneath the
-foliage, saluted the birth of day with their harmonious songs; a fickle
-breeze poured through the branches, and refreshed the air; in the
-distance, far as eye could extend, undulated the prairie, with its
-oceans of tall grass incessantly agitated by the hurried foot falls of
-the wild beasts returning to their dens; and on the naked side of this
-hill, at the entrance of this grotto&mdash;one of the marvels of the New
-World&mdash;a priest, simple as an apostle, was celebrating mass on a grass
-altar under the eye of Heaven, served by two poor savages, and having as
-sole congregation three half-civilised men.</p>
-
-<p>This spectacle, so simple primitive, had something about it imposing and
-sublime, which inspired respect and summoned up dreams of ancient days,
-when the persecuted church took refuse in the desert, to find itself
-face to face with God. Hence the emotion experienced by the witnesses of
-this religious act was sincere. A beam of happiness descended into their
-souls, and it was with real effusion that they thanked the priest for
-the pleasant surprise he had reserved for them. Father Seraphin was
-delighted at the result he had attained. Seeing the truly profound faith
-of his friends, he felt his courage heightened to continue the rude and
-noble task he had imposed on himself.</p>
-
-<p>The mass lasted about three quarters of an hour. When it was finished
-the missionary placed the poor holy vessels in the bag he constantly
-carried with him, and they returned to the grotto for breakfast. An hour
-later, Don Miguel, General Ibañez, and the missionary took leave of
-Valentine, and mounted on their horses, which Curumilla had led to the
-entrance of the ravine. They started at a gallop in the direction of the
-Paso del Norte, whence they were about twenty leagues distant. Valentine
-and the two Indian chiefs remained behind.</p>
-
-<p>"I am about to leave my brother," Eagle-wing said.</p>
-
-<p>"Why not remain with us, chief?"</p>
-
-<p>"My pale brother no longer requires Eagle-wing. The chief hears the
-cries of the men and women of his tribe who were cowardly assassinated,
-and demand vengeance."</p>
-
-<p>"Where goes my brother?" the hunter asked, who was too thoroughly
-acquainted with the character of the Indians to try and change the
-warrior's determination, though he was vexed at his departure.</p>
-
-<p>"The Coras dwell in villages on the banks of the Colorado. Eagle-wing is
-returning to his friends. He will ask for warriors to avenge his
-brothers who are dead."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine bowed.</p>
-
-<p>"May the Great Spirit protect my father!" he said. "The road is long to
-the villages of his tribe. The chief is leaving friends who love him."</p>
-
-<p>"Eagle-wing knows it: he will remember," the chief said with a deep
-intonation.</p>
-
-<p>And, after pressing the hands the two hunters held out to him, he
-bounded on his horse, and soon disappeared in the windings of the
-cañon.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine watched his departure with a sad and melancholy look.</p>
-
-<p>"Shall I ever see him again!" he murmured. "He is an Indian: he is
-following his vengeance. It is his nature: he obeys it, and God will
-judge him. Every man must obey his destiny."</p>
-
-<p>After this aside the hunter threw his rifle on his shoulder and started
-in his turn, followed by Curumilla. Valentine and his comrade were on
-foot: they preferred that mode of travelling, which seemed to them sure,
-and quite as quick as on horseback. The two men, after the Indian
-custom, walked one behind the other, not uttering a syllable; but toward
-midday the heat became so insupportable that they were obliged to stop
-to take a few moments' repose. At length the sunbeams lost their
-strength, the evening breeze rose, and the hunters could resume their
-journey. They soon reached the banks of the Rio Puerco (Dirty River),
-which they began ascending, keeping as close as they could to the banks,
-while following the tracks made since time immemorial by wild animals
-coming down to drink.</p>
-
-<p>The man unacquainted with the splendid American scenery will have a
-difficulty in imagining the imposing and savage majesty of the prairie
-the hunters were traversing. The river, studded with islets covered with
-cottonwood trees, flowed silent and rapid between banks of slight
-elevation, and overgrown with grass so tall that it obeyed the impulse
-of the wind from a long distance. Over the vast plain were scattered
-innumerable hills, whose summits, nearly all of the same height, present
-a flat surface; and for a greater distance northward the ground was
-broadcast with large lumps of pebbles resembling gravestones.</p>
-
-<p>At a few hundred yards from the river rose a conical mound, bearing on
-its summit a granite obelisk one hundred and twenty feet in height. The
-Indians, who, like all primitive nations, are caught by anything
-strange, frequently assembled at this spot; and here the hecatombs are
-offered to the Kitchi Manitou.</p>
-
-<p>A great number of buffalo skulls, piled up at the foot of the column,
-and arranged in circles, ellipses, and other geometrical figures, attest
-their piety for this god of the hunt, whose protecting spirit, they say,
-looks down from the top of the monolith. Here and there grew patches of
-the Indian potato, wild onion, prairie tomato, and those millions of
-strange flowers and trees composing the American flora. The rest of the
-country was covered with tall grass, continually undulating beneath the
-light footfall of the graceful antelopes or big horns, which bounded
-from one rock to the other, startled by the approach of the travellers.</p>
-
-<p>Far, far away on the horizon, mingling with the azure of the sky,
-appeared the denuded peaks of the lofty mountains that serve as
-unassailable fortresses to the Indians: their summits, covered with
-eternal snow, formed the frame of this immense and imposing picture,
-which was stamped with a gloomy and mysterious grandeur.</p>
-
-<p>At the hour when the <i>maukawis</i> uttered its last song to salute the
-setting of the sun, which, half plunged in the purple of evening, still
-jaspered the sky with long red bands, the travellers perceived the tents
-of the Comanches picturesquely grouped on the sides of a verdurous hill.
-The Indians had, in a few hours, improvised a real village with their
-buffalo skin tents, aligned to form streets and squares.</p>
-
-<p>On arriving at about five hundred yards from the village the hunters
-suddenly perceived an Indian horseman. Evincing not the slightest
-surprise, they stopped and unfolded their buffalo robes, which floated
-in the breeze, as a signal of peace. The horseman uttered a loud cry. At
-this signal&mdash;for it was evidently one&mdash;a troop of Comanche warriors
-debouched at a gallop from the village, and poured like a torrent down
-the sides of the hill, coming up close to the motionless travellers,
-brandishing their weapons, and uttering their war yell.</p>
-
-<p>The hunters waited, carelessly leaning on their guns. Assuredly, to a
-man not acquainted with the singular manners of the prairie, this mode
-of reception would have seemed overt hostilities. But it was not so;
-for, on coming within range of the hunters, the Comanches began making
-their horses leap and curvet with that grace and skill characteristic of
-the Indians, and deploying to the right and left, they formed a vast
-circle, inclosing the two unmoved hunters.</p>
-
-<p>Then a horseman quitted the group, dismounted, and rapidly approached
-the newcomers: the latter hastened to meet him. All three had their arm
-extended with the palm forward in sign of peace. The Indian who thus
-advanced to meet the hunters was Unicorn, the great chief of the
-Comanches.</p>
-
-<p>As a distinctive sign of his race, his skin was of a red tinge, brighter
-than the palest new copper. He was a man of thirty at the most, with
-masculine and expressive features; his face possessed a remarkable
-intelligence, and was stamped with that natural majesty found among the
-savage children of the prairie; he was tall and well built; and his
-muscular limbs evidenced a vigour and suppleness against which few men
-would have contended with advantage.</p>
-
-<p>He was completely painted and armed for war; his black hair was drawn up
-on his head in the form of a casque, and fell down his back like a mane;
-a profusion of wampum collars, claws of grizzly bear, and buffalo teeth
-adorned his breast, on which was painted with rare dexterity a blue
-tortoise, the distinctive sign of the tribe to which he belonged, and of
-the size of a hand.</p>
-
-<p>The rest of his costume was composed of the <i>mitasses</i>, fastened round
-the hips by a leathern belt, and descending to the ankles; a deerskin
-shirt, with long hanging sleeves, the seams of which, like those of the
-mitasse, were fringed with leather strips and feathers; a wide cloak, of
-the hide of a female buffalo, was fastened across his shoulders with a
-buckle of pure gold, and fell down to the ground; on his feet he had
-elegant moccasins of different colours, embroidered with beads and
-porcupine quills, from the heels of which trailed several wolf tails; a
-light round shield, covered with buffalo hide, and decorated with human
-scalps, hung on his left side by his panther skin quiver full of arrows.
-His weapons were those of the Comanche Indians; that is to say, the
-scalping knife, the tomahawk, a bow, and an American rifle; but a long
-whip, the handle of which painted red, was adorned with scalps,
-indicated his rank as chief.</p>
-
-<p>When the three men were close together they saluted by raising their
-hands to their foreheads; then Valentine and Unicorn crossed their arms
-by passing the right hand over the left shoulder, and bowing their heads
-at the same time, kissed each other's mouth after the prairie fashion.
-Unicorn then saluted Curumilla in the same way; and this preliminary
-ceremony terminated, the Comanche chief took the word.</p>
-
-<p>"My brothers are welcome at the village of my tribe," he said. "I was
-expecting them impatiently. I had begged the Chief of Prayer of the
-palefaces to invite them in my name."</p>
-
-<p>"He performed his promise last night. I thank my brother for having
-thought of me."</p>
-
-<p>"The two stranger great hunters are friends of Unicorn. His heart was
-sad not to see them near him for the buffalo hunt his young people are
-preparing."</p>
-
-<p>"Here we are! We set out this morning at sunrise."</p>
-
-<p>"My brothers will follow me, and rest at the council fire."</p>
-
-<p>The hunters bowed assent. Each received a horse, and at a signal from
-Unicorn, who had placed himself between them, the troop started at a
-gallop, and returned to the village, which it entered to the deafening
-sound of drums, chikikouis, shouts of joy from the women and children
-who saluted their return, and the furious barking of the dogs. When the
-chiefs were seated round the council fire the pipe was lit, and
-ceremoniously presented to the two strangers, who smoked in silence for
-some minutes. When the pipe had gone the round several times Unicorn
-addressed Valentine.</p>
-
-<p>"Koutonepi is a great hunter," he said to him; "he has often followed
-the buffalo on the plains of the Dirty River. The chief will tell him
-the preparations he has made, that the hunter may give his opinion."</p>
-
-<p>"It is needless, chiefs," Valentine replied. "The buffalo is the friend
-of the redskins: the Comanches know all its stratagems. I should like to
-ask a question of my brother."</p>
-
-<p>"The hunter can speak; my ears are open."</p>
-
-<p>"How long will the chief remain on the hunting grounds with his young
-men?"</p>
-
-<p>"About a week. The buffaloes are suspicious: my young men are
-surrounding them, but they drive them in our direction before four or
-five days."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine gave a start of joy.</p>
-
-<p>"Good," he said. "Is my brother sure of it?"</p>
-
-<p>"Very sure."</p>
-
-<p>"How many warriors have remained with the chief?"</p>
-
-<p>"About four hundred: the rest are scattered over the plain to announce
-the approach of the buffaloes."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! If my brother likes I will procure him a fine hunt within three
-days."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" the chief exclaimed, "then my brother has started some game?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" Valentine answered with a laugh, "Let my brother trust to me, and
-I promise him rich spoils."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! Of what game does my brother speak?"</p>
-
-<p>"Of <i>gachupinos</i><a name="FNanchor_1_4" id="FNanchor_1_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_4" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>. In two days they will meet in large numbers not far
-from here."</p>
-
-<p>"Wah!" said the Comanche, whose eyes sparkled at this news, "My young
-men will hunt them. My brother must explain."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine shook his head.</p>
-
-<p>"My words are for the ears of a chief," he said.</p>
-
-<p>Without replying, Unicorn made a signal: the Indians rose silently, and
-left the tent. Curumilla and Unicorn alone remained near the fire.
-Valentine then explained to the Comanche, in its fullest details, the
-plan he had conceived, in the execution of which the aid of the Indians
-was indispensable for him. Unicorn listened attentively without
-interrupting. When Valentine had ended,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"What does my brother think?" the latter asked, fixing a scrutinising
-glance on the impassive countenance of the chief.</p>
-
-<p>"Wah!" the other replied, "the paleface is very crafty. Unicorn will do
-what he desires."</p>
-
-<p>This assurance filled Valentine's heart with joy.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_4" id="Footnote_1_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_4"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Wearers of shoes&mdash;a name given by the Indians to the
-Spaniards at the conquest.</p></div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE HUNT OF WILD HORSES.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Don Miguel Zarate and his two friends did not reach the hacienda till
-late. They were received in the porch by Don Pablo and Doña Clara, who
-manifested great joy at the sight of the French missionary, for whom
-they felt a sincere esteem and great friendship. Spite of all his care,
-Fray Ambrosio had always seen his advances repelled by the young people,
-in whom he instinctively inspired that fear mingled with disgust that is
-experienced at the sight of a reptile.</p>
-
-<p>Doña Clara, who was very pious, carried this repulsion to such a pitch
-that she only confessed her faults and approached the holy table when
-Father Seraphin came to spend a few days at the hacienda.</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio was too adroit to appear to notice the effect his presence
-produced on the hacendero's children: he feigned to attribute to
-timidity and indifference on religious matters what was in reality a
-strongly expressed loathing for himself personally. But in his heart a
-dull hatred fermented against the two young folk, and especially against
-the missionary, whom he had several times already attempted to destroy
-by well-laid snares.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin had always escaped them by a providential chance; but in
-spite of the chaplain's obsequious advances, and the offers of service
-he did not fail to overwhelm him with each time they met, the missionary
-had thoroughly read the Mexican monk. He had guessed what fearful
-corruption was hidden beneath his apparent simplicity and feigned piety:
-and while keeping to himself the certainty he had acquired, he remained
-on his guard, and carefully watched this man, whom he suspected of
-incessantly planning some dark treachery against him. Don Miguel left
-his children with the missionary, who immediately took possession of him
-and dragged him away, lavishing on him every possible attention. The
-hacendero retired to his study with General Ibañez, when the two men
-drew up a list of the persons they intended to invite; that is to say,
-the persons Valentine proposed to get out of the way, though they were
-innocent of his scheme. The general then mounted his horse, and rode off
-to deliver the invitations personally. For his part Don Miguel sent off
-a dozen peons and vaqueros in search of the wild horses, and to drive
-them gradually toward the spot chosen for the hunt.</p>
-
-<p>Gen. Ibañez succeeded perfectly: the invitations were gladly accepted,
-and the next evening the guests began arriving at the hacienda, Don
-Miguel receiving them with marks of the most profound respect and lavish
-hospitality.</p>
-
-<p>The governor, General Isturitz, Don Luciano Pérez, and seven or eight
-persons of inferior rank were soon assembled at the hacienda. At sunrise
-a numerous party, composed of forty persons, left the hacienda, and
-proceeded, accompanied by a crowd of well-mounted peons, towards the
-meet. This was a vast plain on the banks of the Rio del Norte, where the
-wild horses were accustomed to graze at this season. The caravan
-produced the most singular and picturesque effect with the brilliant
-costumes of the persons who composed it, and their horses glittering
-with gold and silver. Starting at about four a.m. from the hacienda,
-they reached four hours later a clump of trees, beneath whose shade
-tents had been raised and tables laid by Don Miguel's orders, so that
-they might breakfast before the hunt.</p>
-
-<p>The riders, who had been journeying for four hours, already exposed to
-the rays of the sun and the dust, uttered a shout of joy at the sight of
-the tents. Each dismounted: the ladies were invited to do the same,
-among them being the wives of the governor and General Isturitz, and
-Doña Clara, and they gaily sat down round the tables.</p>
-
-<p>Toward the end of the breakfast Don Pablo arrived, who had started the
-evening previously to join the vaqueros. He announced that the horses
-had been started, that a large manada was now crossing the Plain of the
-Coyotes, watched by the vaqueros, and that they must make haste if they
-wished to have good sport. This news augmented the ardor of the hunters.
-The ladies were left in camp under the guard of a dozen well-armed
-peons, and the whole party rushed at a gallop in the direction indicated
-by Don Pablo.</p>
-
-<p>The Plain of the Coyotes extended for an enormous distance along the
-banks of the river. Here and there rose wooded hills, which varied the
-landscape that was rendered monotonous by the tall grass, in which the
-riders disappeared up to their waists. When the hunting party reached
-the skirt of the plain Don Miguel ordered a halt, that they might hold a
-council, and hear the report of the leader of the vaqueros.</p>
-
-<p>The races of wild horses that nowadays people the deserts of North
-America, and especially of Mexico, is descended from Cortez' cavalry.
-Hence it is a pure breed, for at the period of the Spanish conquest only
-Arab horses were employed. These horses have multiplied in really an
-extraordinary manner. It is not rare to meet with manadas of twenty and
-even thirty thousand head. They are small, but gifted with an energy and
-vigour of which it is impossible to form a fair idea without having seen
-them. They accomplish without fatigue journeys of prodigious length.
-Their coat is the same as that of other horses, save that during winter
-it grows very long, and frizzy like the wool of sheep. In spring this
-species of fur falls off. The American horses may be easily trained.
-Generally, so soon as they find themselves caught they easily submit to
-the saddle.</p>
-
-<p>The Mexicans treat their steeds very harshly, make them journey the
-whole day without food or drink, and only give them their ration of
-maize and water on reaching the bivouac, where they let them wander
-about the whole night under guard of the <i>nena</i>, a mare whose bell the
-horses follow, and will never leave. It is not from any cruel motive,
-however, that the Mexicans treat their horses thus, for the riders are
-very fond of their animals, which at a given moment may save their
-lives. But it seems that this mode of treatment, which would be
-impracticable in Europe, is perfectly successful in Mexico, where the
-horses are much better off than if treated in a more gentle way.</p>
-
-<p>The leader of the vaqueros made his report. A manada of about ten
-thousand head was two leagues off on the plain, quietly grazing in the
-company of a few elks and buffaloes. The hunters scaled a hill, from the
-top of which they easily saw on the horizon a countless mob of animals,
-grouped in a most picturesque way, and apparently not at all suspecting
-the danger that threatened them.</p>
-
-<p>To hunt the wild horses men must be like the Mexicans, perfect centaurs.
-I have seen the <i>jinetes</i> of that country accomplish feats of
-horsemanship before which our Europeans would turn pale.</p>
-
-<p>After the vaquero's report Don Miguel and his friends held a council,
-and this is the resolution they came to. They formed what is called in
-Mexico the grand circle of the wild horses; that is to say, the most
-skilful riders were echeloned in every direction at a certain distance
-from each other, so as to form an immense circle. The wild horses are
-extremely suspicious: their instinct is so great, their scent is so
-subtle, that the slightest breath of wind is sufficient to carry to them
-the smell of their enemies, and make them set off at headlong speed.
-Hence it is necessary to act with the greatest prudence, and use many
-precautions, if a surprise is desired.</p>
-
-<p>When all the preparations were made the hunters dismounted, and dragging
-their horses after them, glided through the tall grass so as to contract
-the circle. This manoeuvre had gone on for some time, and they had
-sensibly drawn nearer, when the manada began to display some signs of
-restlessness. The horses, which had hitherto grazed calmly, raised their
-heads, pricked their ears, and neighed as they inhaled the air. Suddenly
-they collected, formed a compact band, and started at a trot in the
-direction of some cottonwood trees which stood on the banks of the
-river. The hunt was about to commence.</p>
-
-<p>At a signal from Don Miguel six well-mounted vaqueros rushed at full
-speed ahead of the manada, making their lassoes whistle round their
-heads. The horses, startled by the apparition of the riders, turned back
-hastily, uttering snorts of terror, and fled in another direction. But
-each time they tried to force the circle, horsemen rode into the midst
-of them, and compelled them to turn back.</p>
-
-<p>It is necessary to have been present at such a chase, to have seen this
-hunt on the prairies, to form an idea of the magnificent sight offered
-by all these noble brutes, their eyes afire, their mouths foaming, their
-heads haughtily thrown up, and their manes fluttering in the wind, as
-they bounded and galloped in the fatal circle the hunters had formed
-round them. There is in such a sight something intoxicating, which
-carries away the most phlegmatic, and renders them mad with enthusiasm
-and pleasure.</p>
-
-<p>When this manoeuvre had lasted long enough, and the horses began to grow
-blinded with terror, at a signal given by Don Miguel the circle was
-broken at a certain spot. The horses rushed, with a sound like thunder,
-toward this issue which opened before them, overturning with their
-chests everything that barred their progress. But it was this the
-hunters expected. The horses, in their mad race, galloped on without
-dreaming that the road they followed grew gradually narrower in front of
-them, and terminated in inevitable captivity.</p>
-
-<p>Let us explain the termination of the hunt. The manada had been cleverly
-guided by the hunters toward the entrance of a cañon, or ravine, which
-ran between two rather lofty hills. At the end of this ravine the
-vaqueros had formed, with stakes fifteen feet long, planted in the
-ground, and firmly fastened together with cords of twisted bark, an
-immense corral or inclosure, into which the horses rushed without seeing
-it. In less than no time the corral was full; then the hunters went to
-meet the manada, which they cut off at the risk of their lives, while
-the others closed the entrance of the corral. More than fifteen hundred
-magnificent wild horses were thus captured at one stroke.</p>
-
-<p>The noble animals rushed with snorts of fury at the walls of the
-inclosure, trying to tear up the stakes with their teeth, and dashing
-madly against them. At length they recognised the futility of their
-efforts, lay down, and remained motionless. In the meanwhile a
-tremendous struggle was going on in the ravine between the hunters and
-the rest of the manada. The horses confined in this narrow space made
-extraordinary efforts to open a passage and fly anew. They neighed,
-stamped, and flew at everything that came within their reach. At length
-they succeeded in regaining their first direction, and rushed into the
-plain with the velocity of an avalanche. Several vaqueros had been
-dismounted and trampled on by the horses, and two of them had received
-such injuries that they were carried off the ground in a state of
-insensibility.</p>
-
-<p>With all the impetuosity of youth Don Pablo had rushed into the very
-heart of the manada. Suddenly his horse received a kick which broke its
-off foreleg, and it fell to the ground, dragging its rider with it. The
-hunters uttered a cry of terror and agony. In the midst of this band of
-maddened horses the young man was lost, for he must be trampled to death
-under their hoofs. But he rose with the rapidity of lightning, and quick
-as thought seizing the mane of the nearest horse, he leaped on its back,
-and held on by his knees. The horses were so pressed against one another
-that any other position was impossible. Then a strange thing
-occurred&mdash;an extraordinary struggle between the horse and its rider. The
-noble beast, furious at feeling its back dishonoured by the weight it
-bore, bounded, reared, rushed forward; but all was useless, for Don
-Pablo adhered firmly.</p>
-
-<p>So long as it was in the ravine, the horse, impeded by its comrades,
-could not do all it might have wished to get rid of the burden it bore;
-but so soon as it found itself on the plain it threw up its head, made
-several leaps on one side, and then started forward at a speed which
-took away the young man's breath.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo held on firmly by digging his knees into the panting sides of
-his steed; he unfastened his cravat, and prepared to play the last scene
-in this drama, which threatened to terminate in a tragic way for him.
-The horse had changed its tactics; it was racing in a straight line to
-the river, resolved to drown itself with its rider sooner than submit.
-The hunters followed with an interest mingled with terror the moving
-interludes of this mad race, when suddenly the horse changed its plans
-again, reared, and tried to fall back with its rider. The hunters
-uttered a shout of agony. Don Pablo clung convulsively to his animal's
-neck, and, at the moment it was falling back, he threw his cravat over
-its eyes with extraordinary skill.</p>
-
-<p>The horse, suddenly blinded, fell back again on its feet, and stood
-trembling with terror. Then the young man dismounted, put his face to
-the horse's head, and breathed into its nostrils, while gently
-scratching its forehead. This operation lasted ten minutes at the most,
-the horse panting and snorting, but not daring to leave the spot. The
-Mexican again leaped on the horse's back, and removed the bandage; it
-remained stunned&mdash;Don Pablo had tamed it<a name="FNanchor_1_5" id="FNanchor_1_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_5" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>. Everybody rushed toward the
-young man, who smiled proudly, in order to compliment him on his
-splendid victory. Don Pablo dismounted, gave his horse to a vaquero, who
-immediately passed a bridle round its neck, and then walked toward his
-father, who embraced him tenderly. For more than an hour Don Miguel had
-despaired of his son's life.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_5" id="Footnote_1_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_5"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This mode of taming horses is well known to the Indians,
-and we submit the fact to our readers without comment.</p></div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE SURPRISE.</h3>
-
-
-<p>So soon as the emotion caused by Don Pablo's prowess was calmed they
-began thinking about returning. The sun was rapidly descending in the
-horizon: the whole day had been spent with the exciting incidents of the
-chase. The Hacienda de la Noria was nearly ten leagues distant: it was,
-therefore, urgent to start as speedily as possible, unless the party
-wished to run the risk of bivouacking in the open air.</p>
-
-<p>The men would easily have put up with this slight annoyance, which, in a
-climate like that of New Mexico, and at this season of the year, has
-nothing painful about it; but they had ladies with them. Left one or two
-leagues in the rear, they must feel alarmed by the absence of the
-hunters&mdash;an absence which, as so frequently happens when out hunting,
-had been protracted far beyond all expectation.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel gave the vaqueros orders to brand the captured horses with
-his cipher; and the whole party then returned, laughing and singing, in
-the direction of the tents where the ladies had been left. The vaqueros
-who had served as beaters during the day remained behind to guard the
-horses.</p>
-
-<p>In these countries, where there is scarce any twilight, night succeeds
-the day almost without transition. As soon as the sun had set the
-hunters found themselves in complete darkness; for, as the sun descended
-on the horizon, the shade invaded the sky in equal proportions, and, at
-the moment when the day planet disappeared, the night was complete. The
-desert, hitherto silent, seemed to wake up all at once: the birds,
-stupefied by the heat, commenced a formidable concert, in which joined
-at intervals, from the inaccessible depths of the forest, the snapping
-of the <i>carcajous</i> and the barking of the coyotes mingled with the
-hoarse howling of the wild beasts that had left their dens to come down
-and drink in the river.</p>
-
-<p>Then gradually the cries, the songs, and the howling ceased, and nothing
-was audible save the hurried footfalls of the hunters' horses on the
-pebbles of the road. A solemn silence seemed to brood over this abrupt
-and primitive scenery. At intervals the green tufts of the trees and the
-tall grass bowed slowly with a prolonged rustling of leaves and
-branches, as if a mysterious breath passed over them, and compelled them
-to bend their heads. There was something at once striking and terrible
-in the imposing appearance offered by the prairie at this hour of the
-night, beneath this sky studded with brilliant stars, which sparkled
-like emeralds, in the presence of this sublime immensity, which only
-suffered one voice to be heard&mdash;that of Deity.</p>
-
-<p>The young and enthusiastic man to whom it is given to be present at such
-a spectacle feels a thrill run over all his body: he experiences an
-undefinable feeling of happiness and extraordinary pleasure on looking
-round him at the desert, whose unexplored depths conceal from him so
-many secrets, and display to him Divine Majesty in all its grandeur and
-omnipotence. Many a time during our adventurous journeys on the American
-continent, when marching at hazard during these lovely nights so full of
-charms, which nothing can make those comprehend who have not experienced
-them, we have yielded to the soft emotions that overcame us. Isolating
-and absorbing ourselves within ourselves, we, have fallen into a state
-of beatitude, from which nothing had the power of drawing us.</p>
-
-<p>The hunters so gay and talkative at the start, had yielded to this
-omnipotent influence of the desert, and advanced rapidly and silently,
-only exchanging a few syllables at lengthened intervals. The profoundest
-calm still continued to reign over the desert; and while, owing to the
-astonishing transparency of the atmosphere, the eye could embrace a
-horizon, nothing suspicious was visible.</p>
-
-<p>The fireflies buzzed carelessly round the top of the grass, and the
-flickering fires burning before the tents to which the hunters were
-bound could be already seen about half a league ahead. At a signal from
-Don Miguel the party, which had, up to the present, only trotted, set
-out at a long canter; for each felt anxious to leave a scene which, in
-the darkness, had assumed a sinister aspect.</p>
-
-<p>They thus arrived within a hundred yards of the fires, whose ruddy glow
-was reflected on the distant trees, when suddenly a fearful yell crossed
-the air, and from behind every bush out started an Indian horseman
-brandishing his weapons, and making his horse curvet round the white
-men, while uttering his war cry. The Mexicans, taken unawares, were
-surrounded ere they sufficiently recovered from their stupor to think
-about employing their weapons. At a glance Don Miguel judged the
-position: it was a critical one. The hunters were at the most but
-twenty: the number of Comanche warriors surrounding them was at least
-three hundred.</p>
-
-<p>The Comanches and Apaches are the most implacable foes of the white
-race. In their periodical invasions of the frontiers they hardly ever
-make any prisoners: they mercilessly kill all who fall into their hands.
-Still the Mexicans rallied. Certain of the fate that awaited them, they
-were resolved to sell their lives dearly. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation before the commencement of the deadly combat, when suddenly
-an Indian galloped out of the ranks of the warriors, and rode within
-three paces of the little band of Mexicans. On arriving there he
-stopped, and waved his buffalo robe in sign of peace. The governor of
-the provinces prepared to speak.</p>
-
-<p>"Let me carry on the negotiations," Don Miguel said. "I know the Indians
-better than you do, and perhaps I shall succeed in getting out of this
-awkward position."</p>
-
-<p>"Do so," the governor answered.</p>
-
-<p>General Ibañez was the only one who had remained calm and impassive
-since the surprise: he did not make a move to seize his weapons; on the
-contrary, he crossed his arms carelessly on his chest, and took a
-mocking glance at his comrades as he hummed a seguidilla between his
-teeth. Don Pablo had placed himself by his father's side, ready to
-defend him at the peril of his life. The Indian chief took the word.</p>
-
-<p>"Let the palefaces listen," he said; "an Indian sachem is about to
-speak."</p>
-
-<p>"We have no time to spare in listening to the insidious words which you
-are preparing to say to us," Don Miguel replied in a haughty voice.
-"Withdraw, and do not obstinately bar our passage, or there will be
-blood spilt."</p>
-
-<p>"The palefaces will have brought it on themselves," the Comanche
-answered in a gentle voice. "The Indians mean no harm to the pale
-warriors."</p>
-
-<p>"Why, then, this sudden attack? The chief is mad. We do not let
-ourselves be so easily deceived as he seems to suppose: we know very
-well that he wants our scalps."</p>
-
-<p>"No; Unicorn wishes to make a bargain with the palefaces."</p>
-
-<p>"Come, chief, explain yourself; perhaps your intentions are as you
-describe them. I do not wish to reproach myself with having refused to
-listen to you."</p>
-
-<p>The Indian smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" he said. "The great white chief is becoming reasonable. Let him
-listen, then, to the words Unicorn will pronounce."</p>
-
-<p>"Go on, chief; my comrades and myself are listening."</p>
-
-<p>"The palefaces are thieving dogs," the chief said in a rough voice;
-"they carry on a continual war with the redskins, and buy their scalps
-as if they were peltry; but the Comanches are magnanimous warriors, who
-disdain to avenge themselves. The squaws of the white men are in their
-power: they will restore them."</p>
-
-<p>At these words a shudder of terror ran along the ranks of the hunters;
-their courage failed them; they had only one desire left&mdash;that of saving
-those who had so wretchedly fallen into the hands of these bloodthirsty
-men.</p>
-
-<p>"On what conditions will the Comanches restore their prisoners?" Don
-Miguel asked, whose heart was contracted at the thought of his daughter,
-who was also a prisoner. He secretly cursed Valentine, whose fatal
-advice was the sole cause of the frightful evil that assailed him at
-this moment.</p>
-
-<p>"The palefaces," the chief continued, "will dismount and arrange
-themselves in a line. Unicorn will choose from among his enemies those
-whom he thinks proper to carry off as prisoners; the rest will be free,
-and all the women restored."</p>
-
-<p>"Those conditions are harsh, chief. Can you not modify them?"</p>
-
-<p>"A chief has only one word. Do the palefaces consent?"</p>
-
-<p>"Let us consult together for a few moments at any rate."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! Let the white men consult. Unicorn grants them ten minutes," the
-chief made answer.</p>
-
-<p>And turning his horse, he went back to his men. Don Miguel then
-addressed his friends.</p>
-
-<p>"Well; what do you think of what has occurred?"</p>
-
-<p>The Mexicans were terrified: still they were compelled to allow that the
-conduct of the Indians was extraordinary, and that they had never before
-evinced such lenity. Now that reflection had followed on the first
-feeling of excitement, they understood that a struggle against enemies
-so numerous was insensate, and could only result in rendering their
-position worse than it was before, and that the chiefs conditions, harsh
-as they were, offered at least some chance of safety for a portion of
-them, and the ladies would be saved.</p>
-
-<p>This last and all powerful consideration decided them. Don Miguel had no
-occasion to convince them of the necessity of submission. Whatever
-struggle it cost them, they dismounted and arranged themselves in a
-line, as the chief had demanded, Don Miguel and his son placing
-themselves at the head.</p>
-
-<p>Unicorn, with that cool courage characteristic of the Indians, then
-advanced alone toward the Mexicans, who still held their weapons, and
-who, impelled by their despair, and at the risk of being all massacred,
-would have sacrificed him to their vengeance. The chief had also
-dismounted. With his hands crossed on his back, and frowning brow, he
-now commenced his inspection.</p>
-
-<p>Many a heart contracted at his approach, for a question of life and
-death was being decided for these hapless men: only the perspective of
-the atrocious tortures which menaced the ladies could have made them
-consent to this humiliating and degrading condition. The Unicorn,
-however, was generous: he only selected eight of the Mexicans, and the
-rest received permission to mount their horses, and leave the fatal
-circle that begirt them. Still, by a strange accident, or a
-premeditation of which the reason escaped them, these, eight
-prisoners&mdash;among whom were the governor, General Isturitz, and the
-criminal judge, Don Luciano Pérez&mdash;were the most important personages in
-the party, and the members of the Provincial Government.</p>
-
-<p>It was not without surprise that Don Miguel observed this; the
-Comanches, however, faithfully fulfilled their compact, and the ladies
-were at once set at liberty. They had been treated with the greatest
-respect by the Indians, who had surprised their camp, and seized them
-almost in the same way as they had done the hunters&mdash;that is to say, the
-camp was invaded simultaneously on all sides. It was a matter worthy of
-remark in an Indian ambuscade that not a drop of blood had been spilt.</p>
-
-<p>After the moments given up to the happiness of seeing his daughter again
-safe and sound, Don Miguel resolved to make a last attempt with Unicorn
-in favour of the unhappy men who remained in his hands. The chief
-listened with deference, and let him speak without interruption; then he
-replied with a smile whose expression the hacendero tried in vain to
-explain,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"My father has Indian blood in his veins; the redskins love him: never
-will they do him the slightest injury. Unicorn would like to restore him
-immediately the prisoners, for whom he cares very little; but that is
-impossible. My father himself would speedily regret Unicorn's obedience
-to his Wish; but, in order to prove to my father how much the chief
-desires to do a thing that will be agreeable to him, the prisoners will
-not be ill-treated, and will be let off with a few days' annoyance.
-Unicorn consents to accept a ransom for them, instead of making them
-slaves. My father can himself tell them this good news."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, chief," Don Miguel answered. "The nobility of your character
-touches my heart: I shall not forget it. Be persuaded that, under all
-circumstances, I shall be happy to prove to you how grateful I am."</p>
-
-<p>The chief bowed gracefully and withdrew, in order to give the hacendero
-liberty to communicate with his companions. The latter were seated sadly
-on the ground, gloomy and downcast. Don Miguel repeated to them the
-conversation he had held with Unicorn, and the promise he had made with
-respect to them. This restored them all their courage; and, with the
-most affectionate words and marks of the liveliest joy, they thanked the
-hacendero for the attempt he had made in their favour.</p>
-
-<p>In fact, thanks to the promise of liberating them for a ransom at the
-end of a week, and treating them well during the period of their
-captivity, there was nothing so very terrifying about the prospect; and
-it was one of those thousand annoyances to which men are exposed by
-accident, but whose proportions had been so reduced in their eyes, that,
-with the carelessness which forms the staple of the national character,
-they were the first to laugh at their mishap.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel, however, was anxious to retire; so he took leave of his
-companions, and rejoined the chief. The latter repeated his assurances
-that the prisoners should be free within a week, if they consented each
-to pay a ransom of one thousand piastres, which was a trifle. He assured
-the hacendero that he was at liberty to withdraw whenever he pleased,
-and he should not oppose his departure.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel did not allow the invitation to be repeated. His friends and
-himself immediately mounted their horses, together with the ladies, who
-were placed in the centre of the detachment; and after taking leave of
-Unicorn, the Mexicans dug their spurs into their horses, and started at
-a gallop, glad to have got off so cheaply. The campfires were soon left
-far behind them, and General Ibañez then approached his friend, and
-bending down to his ear, whispered,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Don Miguel, can the Comanches be our allies? I fancy that they have
-this night given a bold push to the success of our enterprise."</p>
-
-<p>This thought, like a ray of light, had already crossed the hacendero's
-brain several times.</p>
-
-<p>"I do not know," he said with a clever smile; "but at any rate, my dear
-general, they are very adroit foes."</p>
-
-<p>The little band continued to advance rapidly toward the hacienda, which
-was now no great distance, and which they hoped to reach before sunrise.
-The events we have described had occurred in less than an hour.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE MEETING.</h3>
-
-
-<p>"By Jove!" General Ibañez said, "it must be confessed that these red
-devils have done us an immense service without suspecting it. It might
-be said, deuce take me, that they acted under a knowledge of facts. This
-Unicorn, as the chief is called, is a precious man in certain
-circumstances. I am anxious to cultivate his acquaintance, for no one
-knows what may happen. It is often good to have so intelligent a friend
-as him at hand."</p>
-
-<p>"You are always jesting, general. When will you be serious for once?"
-Don Miguel said with a smile.</p>
-
-<p>"What would you have, my friend? We are at this moment staking our heads
-in a desperate game, so let us at any rate keep our gaiety. If we are
-conquered, it will be time enough then to be sad, and make bitter
-reflections about the instability of human affairs."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, your philosophy is not without a certain dose of fatalism, which
-renders it more valuable to me. I am happy to see you in this good
-temper, especially at a moment when we are preparing to play our last
-card."</p>
-
-<p>"All is not desperate yet, and I have a secret foreboding, on the
-contrary, that all is for the best. Our friend the Trail-hunter, I feel
-convinced, has something to do, if not all, with what has happened to
-us."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you believe it?" Don Miguel asked quickly.</p>
-
-<p>"I am certain of it. You know as well as I do these Indios Bravos, and
-the implacable hatred they have vowed against us. The war they wage with
-us is atrocious; and for them to be suddenly changed from wolves into
-lambs requires some powerful motive to make them act thus. People do not
-lay aside in a moment a hatred which has endured for ages. The
-Comanches, by the choice they made, know the importance of the prisoners
-they have seized. How is it that they consent so easily to give them up
-for a trifling ransom? There is some inexplicable mystery in all this."</p>
-
-<p>"Which is very easy to explain though," a laughing voice interrupted
-from behind the shrubs.</p>
-
-<p>The two Mexicans started, and checked their horses. A man leaped from a
-thicket, and suddenly appeared in the centre of the track the little
-band of hunters was following. The latter, believing in a fresh attack
-and treachery on the part of the Comanches, seized their weapons.</p>
-
-<p>"Stop!" Don Miguel said sharply, "the man is alone. Let me speak with
-him."</p>
-
-<p>Each waited with his hand on his weapon.</p>
-
-<p>"Hold!" Don Miguel continued, addressing the stranger, who stood
-motionless, carelessly resting on his gun. "Who are you, my master?"</p>
-
-<p>"Do you not recognise me, Don Miguel? and must I really tell you my
-name?" the stranger answered with a laugh.</p>
-
-<p>"The Trail-hunter!" Don Miguel exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p>"Himself," Valentine continued. "Hang it all! You take a long time to
-recognise your friends."</p>
-
-<p>"You will forgive us when you know all that has happened to us, and how
-much we must keep on our guard."</p>
-
-<p>"Confound it!" Valentine said laughingly, as he regulated his pace by
-the trot of the horses, "do you fancy you are going to tell me any news?
-Did you not really suspect from what quarter the blow came?"</p>
-
-<p>"What!" Don Miguel exclaimed in surprise, "did you&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Who else but I? Do you think the Spaniards are such friends of the
-Indians that the latter would treat them so kindly when meeting them
-face to face in the desert?"</p>
-
-<p>"I was sure of it," General Ibañez affirmed. "I guessed it at the first
-moment."</p>
-
-<p>"Good heavens! Nothing was more simple. Your position, through Red
-Cedar's treachery, was most critical. I wished to give you the time to
-turn round by removing, for a few days, the obstacles that prevented the
-success of your plans. I have succeeded, I fancy."</p>
-
-<p>"You could not have managed better," exclaimed the general.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" Don Miguel said with a reproachful accent, "why did you hide it
-from me?"</p>
-
-<p>"For a very simple reason, my friend. I wished that in these
-circumstances your will and conscience should be free."</p>
-
-<p>"But&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Let me finish. Had I told you of my plan, it is certain that you would
-have opposed it. You are a man of honor, Don Miguel: your heart is most
-loyal."</p>
-
-<p>"My friend&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Answer me. Had I explained to you the plan I formed, what would you
-have done?"</p>
-
-<p>"Well&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Answer frankly."</p>
-
-<p>"I should have refused."</p>
-
-<p>"I was sure of it. Why would you have done so? Because you would never
-have consented to violate the laws of hospitality, and betray enemies
-you sheltered beneath your roof, though you knew all the while that
-these men, on leaving you, would have considered it their duty to seize
-you, and that they watched your every movement while sitting by your
-side, and eating at your table. Is it not so?"</p>
-
-<p>"It is true; my honor as a gentleman would have revolted. I could not
-have suffered such horrible treachery to be carried out under my very
-eyes."</p>
-
-<p>"There! You see that I acted wisely in saying nothing to you. In that
-way your honor is protected, your conscience easy, and I have in the
-most simple fashion freed you for some days from your enemies."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true; still&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"What? Have the prisoners to complain of the way in which they have been
-treated?"</p>
-
-<p>"Not at all; on the contrary, the Comanches, and Unicorn in particular,
-treated them most kindly."</p>
-
-<p>"All is for the best, then. You must congratulate yourself on the
-unexpected success you have achieved, and must now profit by it without
-delay."</p>
-
-<p>"I intend to do so."</p>
-
-<p>"You must act at once."</p>
-
-<p>"I ask nothing better. All is ready. Our men are warned, and they will
-rise at the first signal."</p>
-
-<p>"It must be given immediately."</p>
-
-<p>"I only ask the time to leave my daughter at the hacienda; then
-accompanied by my friends, I will march on Paso, while General Ibañez,
-at the head of a second band, seizes Santa Fe."</p>
-
-<p>"The plan is well conceived. Can you count on the persons who follow
-you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; they are all my relatives or friends."</p>
-
-<p>"All for the best. Let us not go further. We are here at the place where
-the roads part; let your horses breathe awhile, and I will tell you a
-plan I have formed, and which, I think, will please you."</p>
-
-<p>The small party halted. The horsemen dismounted, and lay down on the
-grass. As all knew of the conspiracy formed by Don Miguel, and were his
-accomplices in different degrees, this halt did not surprise them, for
-they suspected that the moment for action was not far off, and that
-their chief doubtless wished to take his final measures before throwing
-off the mask, and proclaiming the independence of New Mexico. On
-inviting them to hunt the wild horses, Don Miguel had not concealed from
-them Red Cedar's treachery, and the necessity in which he found himself
-of dealing a great blow, if he did not wish all to be hopelessly lost.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine led the hacendero and the general a short distance apart.
-When they were out of ear-shot the hunter carefully examined the
-neighbourhood; then within a few minutes rejoined his friends, whom his
-way of acting considerably perplexed.</p>
-
-<p>"Caballeros," he said to them, "what do you intend doing? In our
-position minutes are ages. Are you ready to make your pronunciamento?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," they answered.</p>
-
-<p>"This is what I propose. You, Don Miguel, will proceed direct on Paso.
-At about half a league from that town you will find Curumilla, with
-twenty of the best rifles on the frontier. These men, in whom you can
-trust, are Canadian and Indian hunters devoted to me. They will form the
-nucleus of a band sufficient for you to seize on Paso without striking a
-blow, as it is only defended by a garrison of forty soldiers. Does that
-plan suit you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; I will set about it at once. But my daughter?"</p>
-
-<p>"I will take charge of her. You will also leave me your son, and I will
-convey them both to the hacienda. As for the other ladies, on reaching
-the town, they will merely go to their homes, which I fancy, presents no
-difficulty."</p>
-
-<p>"None."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! Then that is settled?"</p>
-
-<p>"Perfectly."</p>
-
-<p>"As for you, general, your men have been échelonned by my care in
-parties of ten and twenty along the Santa Fe road, up to two leagues of
-the city, so that you will only have to pick them up. In this way you
-will find yourself, within three hours, at the head of five hundred
-resolute and well-armed men."</p>
-
-<p>"Why, Valentine, my friend," the general said laughingly, "do you know
-there is the stuff in you to make a partisan chief, and that I am almost
-jealous of you."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! that would be wrong, general: I assure you I am most disinterested
-in the affair."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, my friend, I know it: you are a free desert hunter, caring very
-little for our paltry schemes."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true; but I have vowed to Don Miguel and his family a
-friendship which will terminate with my life. I tremble for him and his
-children when I think of the numberless dangers that surround him, and I
-try to aid him as far as my experience and activity permit me. That is
-the secret of my conduct."</p>
-
-<p>"This profession of faith was at least useless, my friend. I have known
-you too intimately and too long to doubt your intentions. Hence, you
-see, I place such confidence in you, that I accept your ideas without
-discussion, so convinced am I of the purity of your intentions."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, Don Miguel; you have judged me correctly. Come, gentlemen, to
-horse, and start. We must separate here&mdash;you, Don Miguel, to proceed by
-the right-hand track to Paso; you, general, by the left hand one to
-Santa Fe; while I, with Don Pablo and his sister proceed straight on
-till we reach the Hacienda de la Noria."</p>
-
-<p>"To horse, then!" the hacendero shouted resolutely; "And may God defend
-the right!"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the general added; "for from this moment the revolution is
-commenced."</p>
-
-<p>The three men returned to their friends. Don Miguel said a few words to
-his children, and in an instant the whole party were in the saddle.</p>
-
-<p>"The die is cast!" Valentine exclaimed. "May Heaven keep you,
-gentlemen!"</p>
-
-<p>"Forward!" Don Miguel commanded.</p>
-
-<p>"Forward!" General Ibañez shouted, as he rushed in the opposite
-direction.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine looked after his departing friends. Their black outlines were
-soon blended with the darkness, and then the footfalls of their horses
-died out in the night. Valentine gave a sigh and raised his head.</p>
-
-<p>"God will protect them," he murmured; then turning to the two young
-people, "Come on, children," he said.</p>
-
-<p>They started, and for some minutes kept silence. Valentine was too busy
-in thought to address his companions; and yet Doña Clara and Don Pablo,
-whose curiosity was excited to the highest pitch, were burning to
-question him. At length the girl, by whose side the hunter marched with
-that quick step which easily keeps up with a horse, bent down to him.</p>
-
-<p>"My friend," she said to him in her soft voice, "what is taking place?
-Why has my father left us, instead of coming to his house?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," Don Pablo added, "he seemed agitated when he parted from us. His
-voice was stern, his words sharp. What is happening, my friend? Why did
-not my father consent to my accompanying him?"</p>
-
-<p>Valentine hesitated to answer.</p>
-
-<p>"I implore you, my friend," Doña Clara continued, "do not leave us in
-this mortal anxiety. The announcement of a misfortune would certainly
-cause us less pain than the perplexity in which we are."</p>
-
-<p>"Why force me to speak, my children?" the hunter answered in a saddened
-voice. "The secret you ask of me is not mine. If your father did not
-impart his plans to you, it was doubtless because weighty reasons oppose
-it. Do not force me to render you more sorrowful by telling you things
-you ought not to know."</p>
-
-<p>"But I am not a child," Don Pablo exclaimed. "It seems tome that my
-father ought not to have thus held his confidence from me."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not accuse your father, my friend," Valentine answered gravely:
-"probably he could not have acted otherwise."</p>
-
-<p>"Valentine, Valentine! I will not accept those poor reasons," the young
-man urged. "In the name of our friendship I insist on your explaining
-yourself."</p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" the hunter suddenly interrupted him. "I hear suspicious
-sounds around us."</p>
-
-<p>The three travellers stopped and listened, but all was quiet. The
-hacienda was about five hundred yards at the most from the spot where
-they halted. Don Pablo and Doña Clara heard nothing, but Valentine made
-them a sign to remain quiet; then he dismounted and placed his ear to
-the ground.</p>
-
-<p>"Follow me," he said. "Something is happening here which I cannot make
-out; but it alarms me."</p>
-
-<p>The young people obeyed without hesitation; but they had only gone a few
-paces when Valentine stopped again.</p>
-
-<p>"Are your weapons loaded?" he sharply asked Don Pablo.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! Perhaps you will have to make use of them."</p>
-
-<p>All at once the gallop of a horse urged to its utmost speed was audible.</p>
-
-<p>"Attention!" Valentine muttered.</p>
-
-<p>Still the horseman, whoever he might be, rapidly advanced in the
-direction of the travellers, and soon came up to them. Suddenly
-Valentine bounded like a panther, seized the horse by the bridle and
-stopped it dead.</p>
-
-<p>"Who are you, and where are you going?" he shouted, as he put a pistol
-barrel against the stranger's chest.</p>
-
-<p>"Heaven be praised!" the latter said, not replying to the question.
-"Perhaps I shall be able to save you. Fly, fly, in all haste!"</p>
-
-<p>"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said with stupor, as he lowered his pistol.
-"What has happened?"</p>
-
-<p>"Fly, fly!" the missionary repeated, who seemed a prey to the most
-profound terror.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE ABDUCTION.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio had not remained inactive since their last
-interview up to the day when Don Miguel set out to hunt the wild horses.
-These two fellows, so suited to understand each other, had manoeuvred
-with extreme skill. Fray Ambrosio, all whose avaricious instincts had
-been aroused since he had so artfully stolen from poor Joaquin the
-secret of his placer, had assembled a formidable collection of the
-bandits who always swarm on the Indian frontiers. In a few days he found
-himself at the head of one hundred and twenty adventurers, all men who
-had cheated the gallows, and of whom he felt the more sure as the secret
-of the expedition was concealed from them, and they fancied they formed
-a war party engaged to go scalp hunting.</p>
-
-<p>These men, who all knew Red Cedar by reputation, burnt to set out, so
-convinced were they of carrying out a successful expedition under such a
-leader. Only two men formed an exception to this band of scoundrels, the
-smallest culprit of whom had at least three or four murders on his
-conscience. They were Harry, and Dick, who, for reasons the reader has
-doubtless guessed, found themselves, to their great regret, mixed up
-with these bandits. Still we must say, in justice to Fray Ambrosio's
-soldiers, that they were all bold hunters, accustomed for many a year to
-desert life, who knew all its perils, and feared none of its dangers.</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio; apprehending the effects of mezcal and pulque on his men,
-had made them bivouac at the entrance of the desert, at a sufficiently
-great distance from the Paso del Norte to prevent them easily going
-there. The adventurers spent their time joyously in playing, not for
-money, as they had none, but for the scalps they intended presently to
-lift from the Indians, each of which represented a very decent sum.
-Still Fray Ambrosio, so soon as his expedition was completely organised,
-had only one desire&mdash;to start as speedily as possible; but for two days
-Red Cedar was not to be found. At length Fray Ambrosio succeeded in
-catching him just as he was entering his jacal.</p>
-
-<p>"What has become of you?" he asked him.</p>
-
-<p>"What does that concern you?" the squatter answered brutally. "Have I to
-answer for my conduct to you?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do not say so: still, connected as we are at this moment, it would be
-as well for me to know where to find you when I want you."</p>
-
-<p>"I have been attending to my business, as you have to yours."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, are you satisfied?"</p>
-
-<p>"Very much so," he answered with a sinister smile. "You will soon learn
-the result of my journey."</p>
-
-<p>"All the better. If you are satisfied, I am so too."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah!"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, all is ready for departure."</p>
-
-<p>"Let us be off&mdash;tomorrow if you like."</p>
-
-<p>"On this very night."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. You are like me, and don't care to travel by day on account
-of the heat of the sun."</p>
-
-<p>The two accomplices smiled at this delicate jest.</p>
-
-<p>"But before starting," the squatter continued, becoming serious again,
-"we have something left to do here."</p>
-
-<p>"What is it?" Fray Ambrosio asked with candor.</p>
-
-<p>"It is wonderful what a short memory you have. Take care: that failing
-may play an awkward trick some day."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks! I will try to correct it."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, and the sooner the better: in the meanwhile I will refresh your
-memory."</p>
-
-<p>"I shall feel obliged to you."</p>
-
-<p>"And Doña Clara, do you fancy we are going to leave her behind?"</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! Then you still think of that?"</p>
-
-<p>"By Jove! More than ever."</p>
-
-<p>"The fact is it will not be easy to carry her off at this moment."</p>
-
-<p>"Why not?"</p>
-
-<p>"In the first place, she is not at the hacienda."</p>
-
-<p>"That is certainly a reason."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it not?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; but she must be somewhere, I suppose?" the squatter said with a
-coarse laugh.</p>
-
-<p>"She has gone with her father to a hunt of wild horses."</p>
-
-<p>"The hunt is over and they are on their return."</p>
-
-<p>"You are well informed."</p>
-
-<p>"It is my trade. Come, do you still mean serving me?"</p>
-
-<p>"I must."</p>
-
-<p>"That is how I like you. There cannot be many people at the hacienda?"</p>
-
-<p>"A dozen at the most."</p>
-
-<p>"Better still. Listen to me: it is now four in the afternoon. I have a
-ride to take. Return to the hacienda, and I will come there this evening
-at nine, with twenty resolute men. You will open the little gate of the
-corral, and leave me to act. I'll answer for all."</p>
-
-<p>"If you wish it it must be so," Fray Ambrosio said with a sigh.</p>
-
-<p>"Are you going to begin again?" the squatter asked in a meaning voice as
-he rose.</p>
-
-<p>"No, no, it is unnecessary," the monk exclaimed. "I shall expect you."</p>
-
-<p>"Good: till this evening."</p>
-
-<p>"Very well."</p>
-
-<p>On which the two accomplices separated. All happened as had been
-arranged between them. At nine o'clock Red Cedar reached the little
-gate, which was opened for him by Fray Ambrosio, and the squatter
-entered the hacienda at the head of his three sons and a party of
-bandits. The peons, surprised in their sleep, were bound before they
-even knew what was taking place.</p>
-
-<p>"Now," Red Cedar said, "we are masters of the place, the girl can come
-as soon as she likes."</p>
-
-<p>"Eh?" the monk went on. "All is not finished yet. Don Miguel is a
-resolute man, and is well accompanied: he will not let his daughter be
-carried off under his eyes without defending her."</p>
-
-<p>"Don Miguel will not come," the squatter said with a sardonic grin.</p>
-
-<p>"How do you know?"</p>
-
-<p>"That is not your business."</p>
-
-<p>"We shall see."</p>
-
-<p>But the bandits had forgotten Father Seraphin. The missionary, aroused
-by the unusual noise he heard in the hacienda, had hastily risen. He had
-heard the few words exchanged between the accomplices, and they were
-sufficient to make him guess the fearful treachery they meditated. Only
-listening to his heart, the missionary glided out into the corral,
-saddled a horse, and opening a door, of which he had a key, so that he
-could enter or leave the hacienda as his duties required, he started at
-full speed in the direction which he supposed the hunters must follow in
-returning to the hacienda. Unfortunately, Father Seraphin had been
-unable to effect his flight unheard by the squatter's practised ear.</p>
-
-<p>"Malediction!" Red Cedar shouted, as he rushed, rifle in hand, toward a
-window, which he dashed out with his fist, "We are betrayed."</p>
-
-<p>The bandits rushed in disorder into the corral where their horses were
-tied up, and leaped into their saddles. At this moment a shadow flitted
-across the plain in front of the squatter, who rapidly shouldered his
-rifle and fired. Then he went out: a stifled cry reached his ear, but
-the person the bandit had fired at still went on.</p>
-
-<p>"No matter," the squatter muttered; "that fine bird has lead in its
-wing. Sharp, sharp, my men, on the trail!"</p>
-
-<p>And all the bandits rushed off in pursuit of the fugitive.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin had fallen in a fainting condition at Valentine's feet.</p>
-
-<p>"Good heavens!" the hunter exclaimed in despair, "what can have
-happened?"</p>
-
-<p>And he gently carried the missionary into a ditch that ran by the side
-of the road. Father Seraphin had his shoulder fractured, and the blood
-poured in a stream from the wound. The hunter looked around him; but at
-this moment a confused sound could be heard like the rolling of distant
-thunder.</p>
-
-<p>"We must fall like brave men, Don Pablo, that is all," he said sharply.</p>
-
-<p>"Be at your ease," the young man answered coldly.</p>
-
-<p>Doña Clara was pale and trembling.</p>
-
-<p>"Come," Valentine said.</p>
-
-<p>And, with a movement rapid as thought, he bounded on to the missionary's
-horse. The three fugitives started at full speed. The flight lasted a
-quarter of an hour, and then Valentine stopped. He dismounted, gave the
-young people a signal to wait, lay down on the ground, and began
-crawling on his hands and knees, gliding like a serpent through the long
-grass that concealed him, and stopping at intervals to look around him,
-and listen attentively to the sounds of the desert. Suddenly he rushed
-towards his companions, seized the horses by the bridle, and dragged
-them behind a mound, where they remained concealed, breathless and
-unable to speak.</p>
-
-<p>A formidable noise of horses was audible. Some twenty black shadows
-passed like a tornado within ten paces of their hiding place, not seeing
-them in consequence of the darkness.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine drew a deep breath.</p>
-
-<p>"All hope is not lost," he muttered.</p>
-
-<p>He waited anxiously for five minutes: their pursuers were going further
-away. Presently the sound of their horses' hoofs ceased to disturb the
-silence of the night.</p>
-
-<p>"To horse!" Valentine said.</p>
-
-<p>They leaped into their saddles and started again, not in the direction
-of the hacienda, but in that of the Paso.</p>
-
-<p>"Loosen your bridles," the hunter said: "more still&mdash;we are not moving."</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly a loud neigh was borne on the breeze to the ears of the
-fugitives.</p>
-
-<p>"We are lost!" Valentine muttered. "They have found our trail."</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar was too old a hand on the prairie to be long thrown out: he
-soon perceived that he was mistaken, and was now turning back, quite
-certain this time of holding the trail. Then began one of those fabulous
-races which only the dwellers on the prairie can witness&mdash;races which
-intoxicate and cause a giddiness, and which no obstacle is powerful
-enough to stop or check, for the object is success or death. The
-bandits' half wild horses, apparently identifying themselves with the
-ferocious passions of their riders, glided through the night with the
-rapidity of the phantom steed in the German ballad, bounded over
-precipices, and rushed with prodigious speed.</p>
-
-<p>At times a horseman rolled with his steed from the top of a rock, and
-fell into an abyss, uttering a yell of distress; but his comrades passed
-over his body, borne along like a whirlwind, and responding to this cry
-of agony, the final appeal of a brother, by a formidable howl of rage.
-This pursuit had already lasted two hours, and the fugitives had not
-lost an inch of ground: their horses, white with foam, uttered hoarse
-cries of fatigue and exhaustion as a dense smoke came out of their
-nostrils. Doña Clara, with her hair untied and floating in the breeze,
-with sparkling eye and closely pressed lips, constantly urged her horse
-on with voice and hand.</p>
-
-<p>"All is over!" the hunter suddenly said. "Save yourselves! I will let
-myself be killed here, so that you may go on for ten minutes longer, and
-be saved. I will hold out for that time, so go on."</p>
-
-<p>"No," Don Pablo answered nobly; "we will be all saved or perish
-together."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the maiden remarked.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine shrugged his shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>"You are mad," he said.</p>
-
-<p>All at once he started, for their pursuers were rapidly approaching.</p>
-
-<p>"Listen," he said. "Do you two let yourselves be captured; they will not
-follow me, as they owe me no grudge. I swear to you that if I remain at
-liberty I will deliver you, even if they hide you in the bowels of the
-earth."</p>
-
-<p>Without replying Don Pablo dismounted, and Valentine leaped on to his
-horse.</p>
-
-<p>"Hope for the best!" he shouted hoarsely, and disappeared.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo, so soon as he was alone with his sister, made her dismount,
-seated her at the foot of a tree, and stood before her with a pistol in
-either hand. He had not to wait long, for almost immediately he was
-surrounded by the bandits.</p>
-
-<p>"Surrender!" Red Cedar shouted in a panting voice.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo smiled disdainfully.</p>
-
-<p>"Here is my answer," he said.</p>
-
-<p>And with two pistol shots he laid two bandits low; then he threw away
-his useless weapons, and crossing his arms on his breast said,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Do what you please now; I am avenged."</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar bounded with fury.</p>
-
-<p>"Kill that dog!" he shouted.</p>
-
-<p>Shaw rushed toward the young man, threw his nervous arms around him, and
-whispered in his ear,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Do not resist, but fall as if dead."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo mechanically followed his advice.</p>
-
-<p>"It is all over," said Shaw. "Poor devil! He did not cling to life."</p>
-
-<p>He returned his knife to his belt, threw the supposed corpse on his
-shoulders, and dragged it into a ditch. At the sight of her brother's
-body, whom she supposed to be dead, Doña Clara uttered a shriek of
-despair and fainted. Red Cedar laid the maiden across his saddle-bow,
-and the whole band, starting at a gallop was soon lost in the darkness.
-Don Pablo then rose slowly, and took a sorrowful glance around.</p>
-
-<p>"My poor sister!" he murmured.</p>
-
-<p>Then he perceived her horse near him.</p>
-
-<p>"Valentine alone can save her," he said.</p>
-
-<p>He mounted the horse, and proceeded toward the Paso, asking himself this
-question, which he found it impossible to answer:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"But why did not that man kill me?"</p>
-
-<p>A few paces from the village he perceived two men halting on the road,
-and conversing with the greatest animation. They hurriedly advanced
-toward him, and the young man uttered a cry of surprise on recognising
-them. They were Valentine and Curumilla.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE REVOLT.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Don Miguel Zarate had marched rapidly on the Paso, and an hour after
-leaving Valentine he saw flashing in the distance the lights that shone
-in the village windows. The greatest calmness prevailed in the vicinity;
-only at times could be heard the barking of the dogs baying at the moon,
-or the savage miawling of the wild cats hidden in the shrubs. At about
-one hundred yards from the village a man suddenly rose before the small
-party.</p>
-
-<p>"Who goes there?" he shouted.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Méjico e independencia!</i>" the hacendero answered.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>¿Qué gente?</i>" the stranger continued.</p>
-
-<p>"Don Miguel Zarate."</p>
-
-<p>At these words twenty men hidden in the brushwood rose suddenly, and
-throwing their rifles on their shoulders, advanced to meet the horsemen.
-They were the hunters commanded by Curumilla, who, by Valentine's
-orders, were awaiting the hacendero's arrival to join him.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," Don Miguel asked the chief, "is there anything new?"</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla shook his head.</p>
-
-<p>"Then we can advance?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"What is the matter, chief? Have you seen anything alarming?"</p>
-
-<p>"No; and yet I have a feeling of treachery."</p>
-
-<p>"How so?"</p>
-
-<p>"I cannot tell you. Apparently everything is as usual: still there is
-something which is not so. Look you, it is scarce ten o'clock: generally
-at that hour all the mesones are full, the ventas are crammed with
-gamblers and drinkers, the streets flocked with promenaders. This night
-there is nothing of the sort: all is closed&mdash;the town seems abandoned.
-This tranquillity is factitious. I am alarmed, for <i>I hear the silence</i>.
-Take care."</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel was involuntarily struck by the chief's remarks. He had known
-Curumilla for a long time. He had often seen him display in the most
-dangerous circumstances a coolness and contempt for death beyond all
-praise: hence some importance must be attached to the apprehensions and
-anxiety of such a man. The hacendero ordered his party to halt,
-assembled his friends, and held a council. All were of opinion that,
-before venturing to advance further, they should send as scout a clever
-man to traverse the town, and see for himself if the fears of the Indian
-chief were well founded.</p>
-
-<p>One of the hunters offered himself. The conspirators concealed
-themselves on either side the road, and awaited, lying in the shrubs,
-the return of their messenger. He was a half-breed, Simon Muñez by
-name, to whom the Indians had given the soubriquet of "Dog-face," owing
-to his extraordinary likeness to that animal. This name had stuck to the
-hunter, who, <i>nolens volens</i>, had been compelled to accept it. He was
-short and clumsy, but endowed with marvellous strength; and we may say
-at once that he was an emissary of Red Cedar, and had only joined the
-hunters in order to betray them.</p>
-
-<p>When he left the conspirators he proceeded toward the village whistling.
-He had scarce taken a dozen steps into the first street ere a door
-opened, and a man appeared. This man stepped forward and addressed the
-hunter.</p>
-
-<p>"You whistle very late, my friend."</p>
-
-<p>"A whistle to wake those who are asleep," the half breed made answer.</p>
-
-<p>"Come in," the man continued.</p>
-
-<p>Dog-face went in, and the door closed upon him. He remained in the house
-half an hour, then went out, and hurried back along the road he had
-traversed.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar, who wished before all to avenge himself on Don Miguel Zarate,
-had discovered, through Fray Ambrosio, the conspirators' new plan.
-Without loss of time he had taken his measures in consequence, and had
-managed so well that, although the general, the governor, and the
-criminal judge were prisoners, Don Miguel must succumb in the contest he
-was preparing to provoke. Fray Ambrosio, to his other qualities, joined
-that of being a listener at doors. In spite of the distrust which his
-patron was beginning to display toward him on Valentine's
-recommendation, he had surprised a conversation between Don Miguel and
-General Ibañez. This conversation, immediately reported to Red Cedar,
-who, according to his usual custom, had appeared to attach no importance
-to it, had been sufficient, however, to make the squatter prepare his
-batteries and countermine the conspiracy.</p>
-
-<p>Dog-face rejoined his companions after an hour's absence.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" Don Miguel asked him.</p>
-
-<p>"All is quiet," the half-breed answered; "the inhabitants have retired
-to their houses, and everybody is asleep."</p>
-
-<p>"You noticed nothing of a suspicious nature?"</p>
-
-<p>"I went through the town from one end to the other, and saw nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"We can advance, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"In all security: it will only be a promenade."</p>
-
-<p>On this assurance the conspirators regained their courage, Curumilla was
-treated as a visionary, and the order was given to advance. Still
-Dog-face's report, far from dissipating the Indian chief's doubts, had
-produced the contrary effect, and considerably augmented them. Saying
-nothing, he placed himself by the hunter's side, with the secret
-intention of watching him closely.</p>
-
-<p>The plan of the conspirators was very simple. They would march directly
-on the Cabildo (Town hall), seize it, and proclaim a Provisional
-Government. Under present circumstances nothing appeared to be easier.
-Don Miguel and his band entered the Paso, and nothing occurred to arouse
-their suspicions. It resembled that town in the "Arabian Nights," in
-which all the inhabitants, struck by the wand of the wicked enchanter,
-sleep an eternal sleep. The conspirators advanced into the town with
-their rifle barrels thrust forward, with eye and ear on the watch, and
-ready to fire at the slightest alarm; but nothing stirred. As Curumilla
-had observed, the town was too quiet. This tranquillity hid something
-extraordinary, and must conceal the tempest. In spite of himself Don
-Miguel felt a secret apprehension which he could not master.</p>
-
-<p>To our European eyes Don Miguel will perhaps appear a poor conspirator,
-without foresight or any great connection in his ideas. From our point
-of view that is possible; but in a country like Mexico, which counts its
-revolutions by hundreds, and where <i>pronunciamentos</i> take place, in most
-cases, without sense or reason because a colonel wishes to become a
-general, or a lieutenant a captain, things are not regarded so closely;
-and the hacendero, on the contrary, had evidenced tact, prudence, and
-talent in carrying out a conspiracy which, during the several years it
-had been preparing, had only come across one traitor. And now it was too
-late to turn back: the alarm had been given, and the Government was on
-its guard. They must go onwards, even if they succumbed in the struggle.</p>
-
-<p>All these considerations had been fully weighed by Don Miguel; and he
-had not given the signal till he was driven into his last intrenchments,
-and convinced that there was no way of escape left him. Was it not a
-thousand fold better to die bravely with arms in their hands, in support
-of a just cause, than wait to be arrested without having made an attempt
-to succeed? Don Miguel had sacrificed his life, and no more could be
-expected of him.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the conspirators advanced. They had nearly reached the
-heart of the town; they were at this moment in a little, dirty, and
-narrow street, called the Calle de San Isidro, which opens out on the
-Plaza Mayor, when suddenly a dazzling light illumined the darkness;
-torches flashed from all the windows; and Don Miguel saw that the two
-ends of the street in which he was were guarded by strong detachments of
-cavalry.</p>
-
-<p>"Treachery!" the conspirators shouted in terror.</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla bounded on Dog-face, and buried his knife between his
-shoulders. The half-breed fell in a lump, quite dead, and not uttering a
-cry. Don Miguel judged the position at the first glance: he saw that he
-and his party were lost.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us die!" he said.</p>
-
-<p>"We will!" the conspirators resolutely responded.</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla with the butt of his rifle beat in the door of the nearest
-house, and rushed in, the conspirators following him. They were soon
-intrenched on the roof. In Mexico all the houses have flat roofs, formed
-like terraces. Thanks to the Indian chief's idea, the rebels found
-themselves in possession of an improvised fortress, where they could
-defend themselves for a long time, and sell their lives dearly.</p>
-
-<p>The troops advanced from each end of the street, while the roofs of all
-the houses were occupied by soldiers. The battle was about to begin
-between earth and heaven, and promised to be terrible. At this moment
-General Guerrero, who commanded the troops, bade them halt, and advanced
-alone to the house on the top of which the conspirators were intrenched.
-Don Miguel beat up the guns of his comrades, who aimed at the officer.</p>
-
-<p>"Wait," he said to them; and, addressing the general, "What do you
-want?" he shouted.</p>
-
-<p>"To offer you propositions."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak."</p>
-
-<p>The general came a few paces nearer, so that those he addressed could
-not miss one of his words.</p>
-
-<p>"I offer you life and liberty if you consent to surrender your leader,"
-he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Never!" the conspirators shouted in one voice.</p>
-
-<p>"It is my place to answer," Don Miguel said; and then turning to the
-general, "What assurance do you give me that these conditions will be
-honourably carried out?"</p>
-
-<p>"My word of honor as a soldier," the general answered.</p>
-
-<p>"Very good," Don Miguel went on; "I accept. All the men who accompany me
-will leave the town one after the other."</p>
-
-<p>"No, we will not!" the conspirators shouted as they brandished their
-weapons; "we would sooner die."</p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" the hacendero said in a loud voice. "I alone have the right
-to speak here, for I am your chief. The life of brave men like you must
-not be needlessly sacrificed. Go, I say; I order you&mdash;I implore it of
-you," he added with tears in his voice. "Perhaps you will soon take your
-revenge."</p>
-
-<p>The conspirators hung their heads mournfully.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" the general asked.</p>
-
-<p>"My friends, accept. I will remain alone here. If you break your word I
-will kill myself."</p>
-
-<p>"I repeat that you hold my word," the general answered.</p>
-
-<p>The conspirators came one after the other to embrace Don Miguel, and
-then went down into the street without being in any way interfered with.
-Things happen thus in this country, where conspiracies and revolutions
-are on the order of the day, as it were. The defeated are spared as far
-as possible, from the simple reason that the victors may find themselves
-tomorrow fighting side by side with them for the same cause. Curumilla
-was the last to depart.</p>
-
-<p>"All is not ended yet," he said to Don Miguel. "Koutonepi will save you,
-father."</p>
-
-<p>The hacendero shook his head sadly.</p>
-
-<p>"Chief," he said in a deeply moved voice, "I leave my daughter to
-Valentine, Father Seraphin, and yourself. Watch over her: the poor child
-will soon have no father."</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla embraced Don Miguel silently and retired; he had soon
-disappeared in the crowd, the general having honourably kept his word.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel threw down his weapons and descended.</p>
-
-<p>"I am your prisoner," he said.</p>
-
-<p>General Guerrero bowed, and made him a sign to mount the horse a soldier
-had brought up.</p>
-
-<p>"Where are we going?" the hacendero said.</p>
-
-<p>"To Santa Fe," the general answered, "where you will be tried with
-General Ibañez, who will doubtless soon be a prisoner like yourself."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" Don Miguel muttered thoughtfully, "who betrayed us this time?"</p>
-
-<p>"It was still Red Cedar," the general answered.</p>
-
-<p>The hacendero let his head sink on his chest, and remained silent. A
-quarter of an hour later the prisoner left the Paso del Norte, escorted
-by a regiment of dragoons. When the last trooper had disappeared in the
-windings of the road three men left the shrubs that concealed them, and
-stood like three phantoms in the midst of the desolate plain.</p>
-
-<p>"O heavens!" Don Pablo cried in a heart-rending voice, "my father, my
-sister&mdash;who will restore them to me?"</p>
-
-<p>"I!" Valentine said in a grave voice, as he laid his hand on his
-shoulder. "Am I not the TRAIL-HUNTER?"</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="PART_II_EL_PRESIDIO_DE_SANTA_FE" id="PART_II_EL_PRESIDIO_DE_SANTA_FE">PART II.&mdash;EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE.</a></h2>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_Ib" id="CHAPTER_Ib">CHAPTER I.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>EL RANCHO DEL COYOTE.</h3>
-
-
-<p>About a month after the events we have described in the first part of
-this veracious history, two horsemen, well mounted, and carefully
-enwrapped in their cloaks, entered at a smart trot the town of Santa Fe
-between three and four o'clock in the afternoon.</p>
-
-<p>Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, is a pretty town, built in the
-midst of a laughing and fertile plain. One of its sides occupies the
-angle formed by a small stream: it is surrounded by the <i>adobe</i> walls of
-the houses by which it is bordered. The entrance of each street is
-closed by stakes in the form of palisades; and like the majority of
-towns in Spanish America, the houses, built only one story high in
-consequence of the earthquakes, are covered with terraces of well-beaten
-earth, called <i>azoteas,</i> which are a sufficient protection in this
-glorious climate, where the sky is constantly pure.</p>
-
-<p>In the time of the Castilian rule Santa Fe enjoyed a certain importance,
-owing to its strategic position, which allowed an easy defence against
-the incursions of the Indians; but since the emancipation of Mexico this
-city, like all the other centres of population in his unhappy country,
-has seen its splendour vanish forever, and despite the fertility of its
-soil and the magnificence of its climate, it has entered into such a
-state of decadence that the day is at hand when it will be only an
-uninhabited ruin. In a word, this city, which fifty years back contained
-more than ten thousand inhabitants, has now scarcely three thousand,
-eaten up by fevers and the utmost wretchedness.</p>
-
-<p>Still during the last few weeks Santa Fe had appeared to emerge, as if
-by magic from the lethargy into which it is ordinarily plunged; a
-certain degree of animation prevailed in its usually deserted streets;
-in short, a new life circulated in the veins of this population, to
-whom, however, all must appear a matter of indifference. The fact was
-that an event of immense importance had recently taken place in this
-town. The two leaders of the conspiracy lately attempted had been
-transferred to safe keeping at Santa Fe.</p>
-
-<p>The Mexicans, ordinarily so slow when justice has to be dealt, are the
-most expeditious people in the world when a conspiracy has to be
-punished. Don Miguel and General Ibañez had not pined long in prison. A
-court martial, hurriedly convened, had assembled under the presidency of
-the governor, and the two conspirators were unanimously condemned to be
-shot.</p>
-
-<p>The hacendero, through his name and his position, and especially on
-account of his fortune, had numerous partisans in the province: hence
-the announcement of the verdict had caused a profound stupor, which
-almost immediately changed into anger, among the rich land owners and
-the Indians of New Mexico. A dull agitation prevailed throughout the
-country; and the governor, who felt too weak to hold head against the
-storm that threatened him, and regretted that he had carried matters so
-far, was temporising, and trying to evade the peril of his position
-until a regiment of dragoons he had asked of the Government arrived, and
-gave strength to the law. The condemned men, whom the governor had not
-yet dared to place in <i>capilla</i>, were still provisionally detained in
-the prison.</p>
-
-<p>The two men of whom we have spoken, rode without stopping through the
-streets of the town, deserted at this hour, when everybody is at home
-enjoying his siesta, and proceeded toward an unpretending rancho, built
-on the banks of the stream, at the opposite end of the town from that by
-which they entered.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," one of the horsemen said, addressing his comrade, "was I not
-right? You see everyone is asleep: there is nobody to watch us. We have
-arrived at a capital moment."</p>
-
-<p>"Bah!" the other answered in a rough voice, "Do you believe that? In
-towns there is always somebody watching to see what does not concern
-him, and report it after his fashion."</p>
-
-<p>"That is possible," the first said, shrugging his shoulders
-disdainfully. "I care about it as little as I do for a stringhalt
-horse."</p>
-
-<p>"And I, too," the other said sharply. "Do you imagine that I care more
-than you do for the gossips? But stay; I fancy we have reached the
-rancho of Andrés Garote. This must be the filthy tenement, unless I am
-mistaken."</p>
-
-<p>"It is the house. I only hope the scamp has not forgotten, the meeting I
-gave him. Wait a minute, señor padre; I will give the agreed-on signal."</p>
-
-<p>"It is not worth while, Red Cedar. You know that I am always at your
-excellency's orders when you may please to give them," a mocking voice
-said from inside the rancho, the door of which immediately opened to
-give admission to the newcomers, and allowed a glimpse of the tall
-figure and intelligent face of Andrés Garote himself.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Ave Maria purísima!</i>" the travellers said, as they dismounted and
-entered the rancho.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Sin pecado concebida!</i>" Andrés replied, as he took the bridles of the
-horses and led them to the corral, where he unsaddled them and gave each
-a truss of alfalfa.</p>
-
-<p>The travellers, fatigued by a long journey, sat down on butacas arranged
-against the wall, and awaited the host's return, while wiping their dank
-foreheads and twisting a maize cigarette between their fingers. The room
-in which they were had nothing extremely attractive about it. It was a
-large chamber with two windows, protected by iron bars, the greasy panes
-allowing but a doubtful light to pass. The naked and smoky walls were
-covered with clumsily-painted pictures, representing various holy
-objects. The furniture only consisted of three or four halting tables,
-the same number of benches, and a few butacas, the torn and harsh
-leather of which evinced lengthened use. As for the floor, it was merely
-of beaten earth, but rendered uneven by the mud incessantly brought in
-upon the feet of visitors. A door carefully closed led to an inner room,
-in which the ranchero slept. Another door was opposite to it, and
-through this Andrés speedily entered after giving the horses their
-provender.</p>
-
-<p>"I did not expect you yet," he said as he entered; "but you are welcome.
-Is there anything new?"</p>
-
-<p>"My faith, I know nothing but the affair that brings us. It is rather
-serious, I fancy, and prevents us attending to anything else," Red Cedar
-remarked.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caspita</i>! what vivacity, compadre!" Andrés exclaimed. "But, before
-talking, I hope you will take some refreshment at any rate. There is
-nothing like a cup of mezcal or pulque to clear the brain."</p>
-
-<p>"Not to forget," Fray Ambrosio said, "that it is infernally hot, and my
-tongue is glued to my palate, as I have swallowed so much dust."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Cuerpo de Dios</i>!" Andrés said as he went to look for a bottle among
-several others arranged on a sort of bar, and placed it before the
-travellers. "Pay attention to that, señor padre; for it is serious, and
-you run a risk of death, <i>caray!</i>"</p>
-
-<p>"Give me the remedy, then, chatterer," the monk replied as he held out
-his glass.</p>
-
-<p>The mezcal, liberally poured out, was swallowed at a draught by the
-three men, who put back their glasses on the table with a "hum" of
-satisfaction, and that clinking of the tongue peculiar to topers when
-they are swallowing anything that tickles the throat.</p>
-
-<p>"And now suppose we talk seriously," Red Cedar said.</p>
-
-<p>"At your orders, señores caballeros," Andrés replied. "Still, if you
-prefer a hand at monte, you know that I have cards at your service."</p>
-
-<p>"Presently, señor Andrés, presently. Everything will have its turn. Let
-us first settle our little business," Fray Ambrosio judiciously
-observed.</p>
-
-<p>Andrés Garote bowed his head in resignation, while thrusting back into
-his pocket the pack of cards he had already half drawn out. The three
-men made themselves as comfortable as they could, and Red Cedar, after
-casting a suspicious glance around him, at length took the word.</p>
-
-<p>"You know, caballeros," he said, "how, when we thought we had nothing to
-do but proceed straight to Apacheria, the sudden desertion of nearly all
-our gambusinos checked us. The position was most critical for us, and
-the abduction of Doña Clara compelled us to take the utmost
-precautions."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," Andrés Garote observed with an air of conviction.</p>
-
-<p>"Although certain influential persons protect us under the rose," Red
-Cedar continued, "we are compelled to keep in the shade as far as we
-can. I therefore sought to remedy the gravest points in the business. In
-the first place, the girl was hidden in an inaccessible retreat, and
-then I began looking for comrades to take the place of those who
-abandoned us so suddenly."</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" the two men interrupted him sharply.</p>
-
-<p>"At this moment," Red Cedar calmly continued, "when the placers of
-California call away all the men belonging to the profession, it was
-certainly no easy task to collect one hundred men of the sort we want,
-the more so as we shall have to fight the Indios Bravos in our
-expedition. I did not care to enlist novices, who at the sight of the
-first Apache or Comanche savages, would bolt in terror, and leave us in
-the lurch on the prairies. What I wanted were resolute men, whom no
-fatigue would disgust, and who, once attached to our enterprise, would
-follow it out to the end. I have, therefore, during the past month, been
-running about to all the frontier presidios; and the devil has come to
-my help tolerably well, for the evil is now repaired, and the band
-complete."</p>
-
-<p>"I hope, Red Cedar," Fray Ambrosio asked, "that you have not spoken
-about the placer to your men?"</p>
-
-<p>"Do you take me for a fool! No, padre," the squatter answered sharply,
-"no, no. A hundred thousand reasons urge us to be prudent, and keep the
-expedition secret. In the first place, I do not wish to make the fortune
-of the Government while making our own. An indiscretion would ruin us
-now, when the whole world only dreams of mines and placers, and Europe
-sends us a mob of lean and starving vagabonds, greedy to grow fat at our
-expense."</p>
-
-<p>"Famously reasoned," said Andrés.</p>
-
-<p>"No, no, trust to me. I have assembled the finest collection of picaros
-ever brought together for an expedition, all food for the gallows,
-ruined by monte, who do not care for hard blows, and on whom I can fully
-count, while being very careful not to drop a word that can enlighten
-them as to the spot whither we propose leading them; for, in that case,
-I know as well as you do that they would abandon us without the
-slightest scruples, or, as is even more probable, assassinate us to gain
-possession of the immense treasures we covet."</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing can be more just," Fray Ambrosio answered. "I am quite of your
-opinion, Red Cedar. Now what have you resolved on?"</p>
-
-<p>"We have not an instant to lose," the squatter continued. "This very
-evening, or tomorrow at the latest, we must set out. Who knows whether
-we have not already delayed our start too long? Perhaps one of those
-European vagabonds may have discovered our placer, for those scoundrels
-have a peculiar scent for gold."</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio cast a suspicious glance at his partner.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" he muttered, "that would be very unlucky, for hitherto the
-business has been well managed."</p>
-
-<p>"For that reason," Red Cedar hastened to add, "I only suggest a doubt
-&mdash;nothing more."</p>
-
-<p>"Come, Red Cedar," the monk said, "you have yourself narrated all the
-embarrassments of our position, and the countless difficulties we shall
-have to surmount before reaching our object. Why, then, complicate the
-gravity of our situation still more, and create fresh enemies
-needlessly?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do not understand you, señor padre. Be good enough to explain
-yourself more clearly."</p>
-
-<p>"I allude to the young girl you carried off."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah!" Red Cedar said with a grin, "Is that where the shoe pinches
-you, comrade? I am vexed at it; but I will not answer your question. If
-I carried off that woman, it was because I had pressing reasons to do
-so. These reasons still exist; that is all I can tell you. All the
-better if these explanations are sufficient for you; if not, you must
-put up with them, for you will get no others."</p>
-
-<p>"Still it appears to me that, regarding the terms on which we stand to
-each other&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"What can there be in common between the abduction of Doña Clara and the
-discovery of a placer in the heart of Apacheria? Come, you are mad, Fray
-Ambrosio; the mezcal is getting to your head."</p>
-
-<p>"Still&mdash;" the monk insisted.</p>
-
-<p>"Enough of that!" Red Cedar shouted as he roughly smote the table with
-his clenched fist. "I will not hear another word on the subject."</p>
-
-<p>At this moment two smart blows were heard on the carefully-bolted door.</p>
-
-<p>The three men started, and Red Cedar broke off.</p>
-
-<p>"Shall I open?" Andrés asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," Fray Ambrosio answered: "hesitation or refusal might give an
-alarm. We must foresee everything."</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar consented with a toss of his head, and the ranchero went with
-an ill grace toward the door, which was being struck as if about to be
-beaten in.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IIb" id="CHAPTER_IIb">CHAPTER II.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE CUCHILLADA.</h3>
-
-
-<p>So soon as the door was opened two men appeared on the threshold. The
-first was Curumilla; the other, wrapped up in a large cloak, and with
-his broad-brimmed hat drawn over his eyes, entered the room, making the
-Indian chief a sign to follow him. The latter was evidently a Mexican.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Santas tardes!</i>" he said as he raised his hand to his hat, but not
-removing it.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Dios las de a usted buenas!</i>" the ranchero answered. "What shall I
-serve to your excellencies?"</p>
-
-<p>"A bottle of mezcal," the stranger said.</p>
-
-<p>The newcomers seated themselves at the end of the room, at a spot which
-the light reached in such a weakened state that it was almost dark. When
-they were served each poured out a glass of liquor, which he drank; and
-leaning his head on his hands, the Mexican appeared plunged in deep
-thought, not occupying himself the least in the world about the persons
-near him. Curumilla crossed his arms on his chest, half closed his eyes,
-and remained motionless.</p>
-
-<p>Still the arrival of these two men, especially the presence of the
-stranger, had suddenly frozen the eloquence of our three friends. Gloomy
-and silent, they instinctively felt that the newcomers were enemies, and
-anxiously waited for what was about to occur. At length Red Cedar,
-doubtless more impatient than his comrades, and wishful to know at once
-what he had to expect, rose, filled his glass, and turned toward the
-strangers.</p>
-
-<p>"Señores caballeros," he said, imitating that exquisite politeness which
-the Mexicans possess in the highest degree. "I have the honor of
-drinking to your health."</p>
-
-<p>At this invitation Curumilla remained insensible as a granite statue:
-his companion slowly raised his head, fixed his eye for a moment on the
-speaker, and answered in a loud and firm voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"It is needless, señor, for I shall not drink to yours. What I say to
-you," he added, laying a stress on the words, "your friends can also
-take for themselves if they think proper."</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio rose violently.</p>
-
-<p>"What do you say?" he exclaimed in a threatening voice. "Do you mean to
-insult me?"</p>
-
-<p>"There are people whom a man cannot mean to insult," the stranger
-continued in a cutting voice. "Remember this, señor padre&mdash;I do not wish
-to have any dealings with you."</p>
-
-<p>"Why so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because I do not please&mdash;that is all. Now, gentlemen, do not trouble
-yourselves about me, I beg, but continue your conversation: it was most
-interesting when I arrived. You were speaking, I believe, about an
-expedition you are preparing: there was a question too, I fancy, when I
-entered, about a girl your worthy friend, or partner&mdash;I do not know
-which he is&mdash;carried off with your assistance. Do not let me disturb
-you. I should, on the contrary, be delighted to learn what you intend
-doing with that unhappy creature."</p>
-
-<p>No words could render the feeling of stupor and terror which seized on
-the three partners at this, crushing revelation of their plans. When
-they fancied they had completely concealed them by their cunning and
-skill, to see them thus suddenly unveiled in all their extent by a man
-whom they did not know, but who knew them, and in consequence could only
-be an enemy&mdash;this terrified them to such a degree that for a moment they
-fancied they had to do with the spirit of evil. The two Mexicans crossed
-themselves simultaneously, while the American uttered a hoarse
-exclamation of rage.</p>
-
-<p>But Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio were men too hardened in iniquity for
-any event, however grave in its nature, to crush them for long. The
-first moment past, they recovered themselves, and amazement gave way to
-fury. The monk drew from his vaquera boot a knife, and posted himself
-before the door to prevent egress; while Red Cedar, with frowning brow
-and a machete in his hand, advanced resolutely toward the table, behind
-which their bold adversary, standing with folded arms, seemed to defy
-them by his ironical smile.</p>
-
-<p>"Whoever you may be," Red Cedar said, stopping two paces from his
-opponent, "chance has made you master of a secret that kills, and you
-shall die."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you really believe that I owe a knowledge of your secrets to
-chance?" the other said with a mocking accent.</p>
-
-<p>"Defend yourself," Red Cedar howled furiously, "If you do not wish me to
-assassinate you; for, <i>con mil diablos!</i> I shall not hesitate, I warn
-you."</p>
-
-<p>"I know it," the stranger replied quietly. "I shall not be the first
-person to whom that has happened: the Sierra Madre and El Bolsón de
-Mapimi have often heard the agonising cries of your victims, when
-Indians were wanting to fill up your number of scalps."</p>
-
-<p>At this allusion to his frightful trade the squatter felt a livid pallor
-cover his face, a tremor agitated all his limbs, and he yelled in a
-choking voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"You lie! I am a hunter."</p>
-
-<p>"Of scalps," the stranger immediately retorted, "unless you have given
-up that lucrative and honourable profession since your last expedition to
-the village of the Coras."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" the squatter shouted with an indescribable burst of fury, "He is a
-coward who hides his face while uttering such words."</p>
-
-<p>The stranger shrugged his shoulders contemptuously, and let the folds of
-his mantle fall sharply.</p>
-
-<p>"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar, since your conscience has not yet
-whispered my name to you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" the three men exclaimed in horror, and instinctively recoiling
-"Don Pablo de Zarate!"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the young man continued, "Don Pablo, who has come, Red Cedar, to
-ask of you an account of his sister, whom you carried off."</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar was in a state of extraordinary agitation: with eyes dilated
-by terror, and contracted features, he felt the cold perspiration
-beading on his temples at this unexpected apparition.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" he said in a hollow voice, "Do the dead, then, leave the tomb?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the young man shouted loudly, "they leave their tomb to tear your
-victims from you. Red Cedar, restore me my sister!"</p>
-
-<p>The squatter leaped like a hyena on the young man, brandishing his
-machete.</p>
-
-<p>"Dog!" he yelled, "I will kill you a second time."</p>
-
-<p>But his wrist was suddenly seized by a hand of iron, and the bandit
-tottered back to the wall of the rancho, against which he was forced to
-lean, lest he should roll on the ground. Curumilla, who had hitherto
-remained an impassive witness of the scene that took place before him,
-had thought the moment for interference, had arrived, and had sharply
-hurled him back. The squatter, with eyes injected with blood, and lips
-clenched by rage, looked around him with glaring worthy of a wild beast.
-Fray Ambrosio and the ranchero, held in check by the Indian chief, did
-not dare to interfere. Don Pablo walked with slow and measured step
-toward the bandit. When he was ten paces from him he stopped, and looked
-fixedly at him.</p>
-
-<p>"Red Cedar," he repeated in a calm voice, "give me back my sister."</p>
-
-<p>"Never!" the squatter answered in a voice choked by rage.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the monk and the ranchero had treacherously approached
-the young man, watching for the propitious moment to fall on him. The
-five men assembled in this room offered a strange and sinister scene by
-the uncertain light that filtered through the windows, as each stood
-with his hand on his weapon, ready to kill or be killed, and only
-awaiting the opportunity to rush on his enemy. There was a moment of
-supreme silence. Assuredly these men were brave. In many circumstances
-they had seen death under every aspect; and yet their hearts beat as if
-to burst their breasts, for they knew that the combat about to commence
-between them was without truce or mercy. At length Don Pablo spoke
-again.</p>
-
-<p>"Take care, Red Cedar," he said. "I have come to meet you alone and
-honourably. I have asked you for my sister several times, and you have
-not answered; so take care."</p>
-
-<p>"I will sell your sister to the Apaches," the squatter howled. "As for
-you, accursed one, you shall not leave this room alive. May I be
-eternally condemned if your heart does not serve as a sheath to my
-knife!"</p>
-
-<p>"The scoundrel is mad!" the young man said contemptuously.</p>
-
-<p>He fell back a pace, and then stopped.</p>
-
-<p>"Listen," he continued. "I will now retire, but we shall meet again; and
-woe to you then, for I shall be as pitiless to you as you have been to
-me. Farewell!"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! you shall not go in that way, my master," replied the squatter, who
-had regained all his boldness and impudence. "Did I not tell you I would
-kill you?"</p>
-
-<p>The young man fixed upon him a glance of undefinable expression, and
-crossed his arms boldly on his chest.</p>
-
-<p>"Try it," he said in a voice rendered harsh by the fury boiling in his
-heart.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar uttered a yell of rage, and bounded on Don Pablo. The latter
-calmly awaited the attack; but, so soon as the squatter was within reach
-he suddenly took off his mantle, and threw it over his enemy's head,
-who, blinded by the folds of the thick garment, rolled about on the
-ground, unable to free himself from the accursed cloth that held him
-like a net. With one bound the young man was over the table, and
-troubling himself no further about Red Cedar, proceeded toward the door.</p>
-
-<p>At this moment Fray Ambrosio rushed upon him, trying to bury his knife
-in his chest. Feeling not the slightest alarm, Don Pablo seized his
-assailant's wrist, and with a strength he was far from anticipating,
-twisted his arm so violently that his fingers opened, and he let the
-knife fall with a yell of pain. Don Pablo picked it up, and seized the
-monk by the throat.</p>
-
-<p>"Listen, villain!" he said to him. "I am master of your life. You
-betrayed my father, who took pity on you, and received you into his
-house. You dishonour the gown you wear by your connection with
-criminals, whose ill deeds you share in. I could kill you, and perhaps
-ought to do so; but it would be robbing the executioner to whom you
-belong, and cheating the garrote which awaits you. This gown, of which
-you are unworthy, saves your life; but I will mark you so that you shall
-never forget me."</p>
-
-<p>And placing the point of the knife on the monk's livid face, he made two
-gashes in the shape of a cross along the whole length and breadth of his
-face.</p>
-
-<p>"We shall meet again!" he added in a thundering voice, as he threw the
-knife away in disgust.</p>
-
-<p>Andrés Garote had not dared to make a move: terror nailed him motionless
-to the ground beneath the implacable eye of the Indian warrior. Don
-Pablo and Curumilla then rushed from the room and disappeared, and ere
-long the hoofs of two horses departing at full speed from the town could
-be heard clattering over the pavement.</p>
-
-<p>By the aid of the ranchero, Red Cedar presently succeeded in freeing
-himself from the fold of the cloak that embarrassed him. When the three
-accomplices found themselves alone again an expression of impotent rage
-and deadly hatred distorted their faces.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" the squatter muttered, grinding his teeth, and raising his fist to
-heaven, "I will be revenged."</p>
-
-<p>"And I too," said Fray Ambrosio in a hollow voice, as he wiped away the
-blood that stained his face.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! I do not care," Andrés Garote said to himself aside. "That family
-of the Zarates is a fine one; but, <i>caray</i>! it must be confessed that
-Don Pablo is a rough fellow."</p>
-
-<p>The worthy ranchero was the only one chance had favoured in this meeting
-by letting him escape safe and sound.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IIIb" id="CHAPTER_IIIb">CHAPTER III.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE HUNTERS.</h3>
-
-
-<p>At about two leagues from Santa Fe, in a clearing situated on the banks
-of the stream which borders that town, and on the evening of the same
-day, a man was seated before a large fire, which he carefully kept up,
-while actively engaged in making preparations for supper. A frugal meal,
-at any rate, this supper! It was composed of a buffalo hump, a few
-potatoes, and maize tortillas baked on the ashes, the whole washed down
-with pulque.</p>
-
-<p>The night was gloomy. Heavy black clouds coursed athwart the sky, at
-times intercepting the sickly rays of the moon, which only shed an
-uncertain light over the landscape, which was itself buried in one of
-those dense mists that, in equatorial countries, exhale from the ground
-after a hot day. The wind blew violently through the trees, whose
-branches came in contact, with plaintive moans: and in the depths of the
-woods the miawling of the wild cats was mingled with the snarl of the
-coyotes and the howls of the pumas and jaguars. All at once the sound of
-galloping horses could be heard in the forest, and two riders burst into
-the clearing. On seeing them the hunter uttered an exclamation of joy,
-and hurried to meet them. They were Don Pablo and Curumilla.</p>
-
-<p>"Heaven be praised!" the hunter said. "Here you are at last. I was
-beginning to grow alarmed at your long absence."</p>
-
-<p>"You see that nothing has happened to me," the young man answered,
-affectionately pressing the hunter's hands.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo had dismounted, and hobbled his own horse and Curumilla's near
-Valentine, while the Indian chief busied himself in preparing the
-supper.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, come," the hunter said gaily, "to table. You must be hungry, and
-I am dying of inanition. You can tell me all that has occurred while we
-are eating."</p>
-
-<p>The three men went to the table; that is, they seated themselves on the
-grass in front of the fire, and vigorously assailed their meagre repast.
-Desert life has this peculiarity&mdash;that in whatever position you may find
-yourself, as the struggles you go through are generally physical rather
-than moral, nature never resigns her claims: you feel the need of
-keeping up your strength, so as to be ready for all eventualities. There
-is no alarm great enough to prevent you from eating and drinking.</p>
-
-<p>"Now," Valentine asked presently, "what have you done? I fancy you
-remained much longer than was necessary in that accursed town."</p>
-
-<p>"We did, my friend. Certain reasons forced me to remain longer than I
-had at first intended."</p>
-
-<p>"Proceed in regular order, if you have no objection. I fancy that is the
-only way of understanding each other."</p>
-
-<p>"Act as you please, my friend."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good: the chief and I will light our Indian pipes while you make
-your cigarette. We will sit with our backs to the fire, so as to watch
-the neighbourhood, and in that way can converse without apprehension.
-What do you say, Pablo?"</p>
-
-<p>"You are always right, my friend. Your inexhaustible gaiety, your honest
-carelessness, restore me all my courage, and make me quite a different
-man."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" Valentine said, "I am glad to hear you speak so. The position is
-serious, it is true; but it is far from being desperate. The chief and I
-have many times been in situations were our lives only depended on a
-thread: and yet we always emerged from them honourably&mdash;did we not,
-chief?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the Indian answered laconically, drawing in a mouthful of smoke,
-which he sent forth again from his mouth and nostrils.</p>
-
-<p>"But that is not the question of the moment. I have sworn to save your
-father and sister, Pablo, and will do so, or my carcass shall be food
-for the wild beasts of the prairie; so leave me to act. Have you seen
-Father Seraphin?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I have. Our poor friend is still very weak and pale, and his wound
-is scarce cicatrised. Still, paying no heed to his sufferings, and
-deriving strength from his unbounded devotion to humanity, he has done
-all we agreed on. For the last week he has only left my father to hasten
-to his judges. He has seen the general, the governor, the
-bishop&mdash;everybody, in short&mdash;and has neglected nothing. Unfortunately
-all his exertions have hitherto been fruitless."</p>
-
-<p>"Patience!" the hunter said with a smile of singular meaning.</p>
-
-<p>"Father Seraphin believes for certain that my father will be placed in
-the capilla within two days. The governor wishes to have done with
-it&mdash;that is the expression he employed; and Father Seraphin told me that
-we have not a moment to lose."</p>
-
-<p>"Two days are a long time, my friend; before they have elapsed many
-things may have occurred."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true; but my father's life is at stake, and I feel timid."</p>
-
-<p>"Good, Don Pablo; I like to hear you speak so. But reassure yourself;
-all is going on well, I repeat."</p>
-
-<p>"Still, my friend, I believe it would be wise to take certain
-precautions. Remember it is a question of life or death, and we must
-make haste. How many times, under similar circumstances, have the best
-arranged plans failed! Do you think that your measures are well taken?
-Do you not fear lest an unhappy accident may derange all your plans at
-the decisive moment?"</p>
-
-<p>"We are playing at this moment the devil's own game, my friend,"
-Valentine answered coldly. "We have chance on our side; that is to say,
-the greatest power that exists, and which governs the world."</p>
-
-<p>The young man lowered his head, as if but slightly convinced. The hunter
-regarded him for a moment with a mixture of interest and tender pity,
-and then continued in a soothing voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Listen, Don Pablo de Zarate," he said. "I have said that I will save
-your father, and mean to do so. Still I wish him to leave the prison in
-which he now is, like a man of his character ought to leave it, in open
-day, greeted by the applause of the crowd, and not by escaping furtively
-during the night, like a vile criminal. Hang it all! Do you think it
-would have been difficult for me to enter the town, and effect your
-father's escape by filing the bars or bribing the jailer? I would not do
-it. Don Miguel would not have accepted that cowardly and shameful
-flight. Your father shall leave his prison, but begged to do so by the
-governor himself, and all the authorities of Santa Fe. So regain your
-courage, and no longer doubt a man whose friendship and experience
-should, on the contrary, restore your confidence."</p>
-
-<p>The young man had listened to these words with even increasing interest.
-When Valentine ceased speaking he seized his hand.</p>
-
-<p>"Pardon me, my friend," he answered him. "I know how devoted you are to
-my family; but I suffer, and grief renders me unjust. Forgive me."</p>
-
-<p>"Child, let us forget it all. Was the town quiet today?"</p>
-
-<p>"I cannot tell you, for I was so absorbed in thought that I saw nothing
-going on around me. Still I fancy there was a certain agitation, which
-was not natural, on the Plaza Mayor, near the governor's palace."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine indulged once again in that strange smile that had already
-played round the corners of his delicate lips.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" he said. "And did you, as I advised, try to gain any information
-about Red Cedar?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," he answered with a start of joy, "I did; and I have positive
-news."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah! How so?"</p>
-
-<p>"I will tell you."</p>
-
-<p>And Don Pablo described the scene that had taken place in the rancho.
-The hunter listened to it with the utmost attention, and when it was
-finished he tossed his head several times with an air of
-dissatisfaction.</p>
-
-<p>"All young people are so," he muttered; "they always allow their passion
-to carry them beyond the bounds of reason. You were wrong, extremely
-wrong, Don Pablo," he then added. "Red Cedar believed you dead, and that
-might have been of great use to us presently. You do not know the
-immense power that demon has at his disposal: all the bandits on the
-frontier are devoted to him. Your outbreak will be most injurious to
-your sister's safety."</p>
-
-<p>"Still, my friend&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"You acted like a madman in arousing the slumbering fury of the tiger.
-Red Cedar will persist in destroying you. I have known the wretch for a
-long time. But that is not the worst you have done."</p>
-
-<p>"What is it, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, madman as you are, instead of keeping dark, watching your enemies
-without saying a word&mdash;in short, seeing through their game&mdash;by an
-unpardonable act of bravado you have unmasked all your batteries."</p>
-
-<p>"I do not understand you, my friend."</p>
-
-<p>"Fray Ambrosio is a villain of a different stamp from Red Cedar, it is
-true; but I consider him even a greater scoundrel than the scalp hunter.
-At any rate, the latter is purely a rogue, and you know what to expect
-from him: all about him bears the stamp of his hideous soul. Had you
-stabbed that wild beast, who perspires blood by every pore, and dreams
-of naught but murder, I might possibly have pardoned you; but you have
-completely failed, not only in prudence, but in good sense, by acting as
-you have done with Fray Ambrosio. That man is a hypocrite. He owes all
-to your family, and is furious at seeing this treachery discovered. Take
-care, Don Pablo. You have made at one blow two implacable enemies, the
-more terrible now because they have nothing to guard against."</p>
-
-<p>"It is true," the young man said; "I acted like a fool. But what would
-you? At the sight of those two men, when I heard from their very lips
-the crimes they had committed, and those they still meditate against us,
-I was no longer master of myself. I entered the rancho, and you know the
-rest."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, yes, the cuchillada was a fine one. Certainly the bandit deserved
-it; but I fear lest the cross you so smartly drew on his face will cost
-you dearly some day."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, let us leave it in the hand of Heaven. You know the proverb, 'It
-is better to forget what cannot be remedied.' Provided my father escape
-the fate that menaces him, I shall be happy. I shall take my precautions
-to defend myself."</p>
-
-<p>"Did you learn nothing further?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; Red Cedar's gambusinos are encamped a short distance from us. I
-know that their chief intends starting tomorrow at the latest."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, oh! Already? We must make haste and prepare our ambuscade, if we
-wish to discover the road they mean to follow."</p>
-
-<p>"When shall we start?"</p>
-
-<p>"At once."</p>
-
-<p>The three men made their preparations; the horses were saddled, the
-small skins the horseman always carries at his saddle-bow in these dry
-countries were filled with water, and five minutes later the hunters
-mounted. At the moment they were leaving the clearing a rustling of
-leaves was heard, the branches parted, and an Indian appeared. It was
-Unicorn, the great sachem of the Comanches. On seeing him the three men
-dismounted and waited. Valentine advanced alone to meet the Indian.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother is welcome," he said. "What does he want of me?"</p>
-
-<p>"To see the face of a friend," the chief answered in a gentle voice.</p>
-
-<p>The two men then bowed after the fashion of the prairie. After this
-ceremony Valentine went on:</p>
-
-<p>"My father must approach the fire, and smoke from the calumet of his
-white friends."</p>
-
-<p>"I will do so," Unicorn answered.</p>
-
-<p>And drawing near the fire, he crouched down in Indian fashion, took his
-pipe from his belt, and smoked in silence. The hunters, seeing the turn
-this unexpected interview was taking, had fastened up their horses, and
-seated themselves again round the fire. A few minutes passed thus, no
-one speaking, each waiting till the Indian chief should explain the
-motive of his coming. At length Unicorn shook the ashes from his
-calumet, returned it to his belt, and addressed Valentine.</p>
-
-<p>"Is my brother setting out to hunt buffaloes again?" he said. "There are
-many this year on the prairies of the Rio Gila."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the Frenchman replied, "we are going hunting. Does my brother
-intend to accompany us?"</p>
-
-<p>"No; my heart is sad.</p>
-
-<p>"What means the chief? Has any misfortune happened to him?"</p>
-
-<p>"Does not my brother understand me, or am I really mistaken? It is that
-my brother only really loves the buffaloes, whose meat he eats, and
-whose hides he sells at the <i>toldería</i>?"</p>
-
-<p>"Let my brother explain himself more clearly; then I will try to answer
-him."</p>
-
-<p>There was a moment of silence. The Indian seemed to be reflecting
-deeply: his nostrils were dilated, and at times his black eye flashed
-fire. The hunters calmly awaited the issue of this conversation, whose
-object they had not yet caught. At length Unicorn raised his head,
-restored all the serenity to his glance, and said in a soft and
-melodious voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Why pretend not to understand me, Koutonepi? A warrior must not have a
-forked tongue. What a man cannot do alone, two can attempt and carry
-out. Let my brother speak: the ears of a friend are open."</p>
-
-<p>"My brother is right. I will not deceive his expectations. The hunt I
-wish to make is serious. I am anxious to save a woman of my colour; but
-what can the will of one man effect?"</p>
-
-<p>"Koutonepi is not alone: I see at his side the best two rifles of the
-frontier. What does the white hunter tell me? Is he no longer the great
-warrior I knew? Does he doubt the friendship of his brother Haboutzelze,
-the great sachem of the Comanches?"</p>
-
-<p>"I never doubted the friendship of my brother. I am an adopted son of
-his nation. At this very moment is he not seeking to do me a service?"</p>
-
-<p>"That service is only half what I wish to do. Let my brother speak the
-word, and two hundred Comanche warriors shall join him to deliver the
-virgin of the palefaces, and take the scalps of her ravishers."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine started with joy at this noble offer.</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, chief," he said eagerly. "I accept; and I know that your word
-is sacred."</p>
-
-<p>"Michabou protects us," the Indian said. "My brother can count on me. A
-chief does not forget a service. I owe obligations to the pale hunter,
-and will deliver to him the gachupino robbers."</p>
-
-<p>"Here is my hand, chief: my heart has long been yours."</p>
-
-<p>"My brother speaks well. I have done what he requested of me."</p>
-
-<p>And, bowing courteously, the Comanche chief withdrew without adding a
-word.</p>
-
-<p>"Don Pablo," Valentine exclaimed joyously, "I can now guarantee your
-father's safety: this night&mdash;perhaps tomorrow&mdash;he will be free."</p>
-
-<p>The young man fell into the hunter's arms, and hid his head on his
-honest chest, not having the strength to utter a word. A few minutes
-later, the hunters left the clearing to go in search of the gambusinos,
-and prepare their ambuscade.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IVb" id="CHAPTER_IVb">CHAPTER IV.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>SUNBEAM.</h3>
-
-
-<p>We will now go a little way back, in order to clear up certain portions
-of the conversation between Valentine and Unicorn, whose meaning the
-reader can not have caught.</p>
-
-<p>Only a few months after their arrival in Apacheria the Frenchman and
-Curumilla were hunting the buffalo on the banks of the Rio Gila. It was
-a splendid day in the month of July. The two hunters, fatigued by a long
-march under the beams of the parching sun, that fell vertically on their
-heads, had sheltered themselves under a clump of cedar wood trees, and,
-carelessly stretched out on the ground, were smoking while waiting till
-the great heat had passed, and the evening breeze rose to enable them to
-continue their hunt. A quarter of elk was roasting for their dinner.</p>
-
-<p>"Eh, <i>penni</i>," Valentine said, addressing his comrade, and rising on his
-elbow, "the dinner seems to be ready; so suppose we feed? The sun is
-rapidly sinking behind the virgin forest, and we shall soon have to
-start again."</p>
-
-<p>"Eat," Curumilla answered, sharply.</p>
-
-<p>The meat was laid on a leaf between the two hunters, who began eating
-with good appetite, and indulging in cakes of <i>hautle</i>. These cakes,
-which are very good, are certainly curious. They are made of the pounded
-eggs of a species of water bug, collected by a sort of harvest in the
-Mexican lakes. They are found on the leaves of the <i>toule</i> (bulrush),
-and the farina is prepared in various ways. It is an Aztec preparation
-<i>par excellence</i>, for so long back as 1625 they were sold on the
-marketplace of the Mexican capital. They form the chief food of the
-Indians, who consider them as great a dainty as the Chinese do their
-swallow nests, with which this article of food has a certain resemblance
-in taste. Valentine had taken a third bite at his hautle cake when he
-stopped, with his arm raised and his head bent forward, as if an unusual
-sound had suddenly smitten his ear. Curumilla imitated his friend, and
-both listened with that deep attention that only results from a
-lengthened desert life; for on the prairie every sound is
-suspicious&mdash;every meeting is feared, especially with man.</p>
-
-<p>Some time elapsed ere the noise which startled the hunters was repeated.
-For a moment they fancied themselves deceived, and Valentine took
-another bite, when he was again checked. This time he had distinctly
-heard a sound resembling a stifled sigh, but so weak and hollow that it
-needed the Trail-hunter's practised ear to catch it. Curumilla himself
-had perceived nothing. He looked at his friend in amazement, not knowing
-to what he should attribute his state of agitation. Valentine rose
-hurriedly, seized his rifle, and rushed in the direction of the river,
-his friend following him in all haste.</p>
-
-<p>It was from the river, in fact, that the sigh heard by Valentine had
-come, and fortunately it was but a few paces distant. So soon as the
-hunters had leaped over the intervening bushes they found themselves on
-the bank, and a fearful sight presented itself to their startled eyes. A
-long plank was descending the river, turning on its axis, and borne by
-the current, which ran rather strongly at this point. On this plank was
-fastened a woman, who held a child in her clasped arms. Each time the
-plank revolved the unhappy woman plunged with her child into the stream,
-and at ten yards at the most from it an enormous cayman was swimming
-vigorously to snap at its two victims.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine raised his rifle. Curumilla at the same moment glided into the
-water, holding his knife blade between his teeth, and swam toward the
-plank. Valentine remained for a few seconds motionless, as if changed
-into a block of marble. All at once he pulled the trigger, and the
-discharge was re-echoed by the distant mountains. The cayman leaped out
-of the water, and plunged down again; but it reappeared a moment later,
-belly upwards. It was dead. Valentine's bullet had passed through its
-eye.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile Curumilla, had reached the plank with a few strokes,
-without loss of time he turned it in the opposite direction from what it
-was following; and while holding it so that it could not revolve, he
-pushed it onto the sand. In two strokes he cut the bonds that held the
-hapless woman, seized her in his arms, and ran off with her to the
-bivouac fire.</p>
-
-<p>The poor woman gave no signs of life, and the two hunters eagerly sought
-to restore her. She was an Indian, apparently not more than eighteen,
-and very beautiful. Valentine found great difficulty in loosening her
-arms and removing the baby; for the frail creature about a year old, by
-an incomprehensible miracle, had been preserved&mdash;thanks, doubtless to
-its mother's devotion. It smiled pleasantly at the hunter when he laid
-it on a bed of dry leaves.</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla opened the woman's mouth slightly with his knife blade, placed
-in it the mouth of his gourd, and made her swallow a few drops of
-mezcal. A long time elapsed ere she gave the slightest move that
-indicated an approaching return to life. The hunters, however, would not
-be foiled by the ill-success of their attentions, but redoubled their
-efforts. At length a deep sigh burst painfully from the sufferer's
-oppressed chest, and she opened her eyes, murmuring in a voice weak as a
-breath!</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Xocoyotl</i> (My child)!"</p>
-
-<p>The cry of the soul&mdash;this first and supreme appeal of a mother on the
-verge of the tomb&mdash;affected the two men with their hearts of bronze.
-Valentine cautiously lifted the child, which had gone to sleep
-peacefully on the leaves, and presented it to the mother, saying in a
-soft voice:</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Nantli joltinemi</i> (Mother, he lives)!"</p>
-
-<p>At these words, which restored her hope, the woman leaped up as if moved
-by a spring, seized the child, and covered it with kisses, as she burst
-into tears. The hunters respected this outpouring of maternal love: they
-withdrew, leaving food and water by the woman's side. At sunset the two
-men returned. The woman was squatting by the fire, nursing her child,
-and lulling it to sleep by singing an Indian song. The night passed
-tranquilly, the two hunters watching in turn over the slumbers of the
-woman they had saved, and who reposed in peace.</p>
-
-<p>At sunrise she awoke; and, with the skill and handiness peculiar to the
-women of her race, she rekindled the fire and prepared breakfast. The
-two men looked at her with a smile, then threw their rifles over their
-shoulders, and set out in search of game. When they returned to the
-bivouac the meal was ready. After eating, Valentine lit his Indian pipe,
-seated himself at the foot of a tree, and addressed the young woman.</p>
-
-<p>"What is my sister's name?" he asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Tonameyotl (the Sunbeam)," she replied, with a joyous smile that
-revealed the double row of pearls that adorned her mouth.</p>
-
-<p>"My sister has a pretty name," Valentine answered. "She doubtless
-belongs to the great nation of the Apaches."</p>
-
-<p>"The Apaches are dogs," she said in a hollow voice, and with a flash of
-hatred in her glance. "The Comanche women will weave them petticoats.
-The Apaches are cowardly as the coyotes: they only fight a hundred
-against one. The Comanche warriors are like the tempest."</p>
-
-<p>"Is my sister the wife of a cacique?"</p>
-
-<p>"Where is the warrior who does not know Unicorn?" she said proudly.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine bowed. He had already heard the name of this terrible chief
-pronounced several times. Mexicans and Indians, trappers, hunters, and
-warriors, all felt for him a respect mingled with terror.</p>
-
-<p>"Sunbeam is Unicorn's wife," the Indian girl continued.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" Valentine answered. "My sister will tell me where to find the
-village of her tribe, and I will lead her back to the chief."</p>
-
-<p>The young woman smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"I have in my heart a small bird that sings at every instant of the
-day," she said in her gentle and melodious voice. "The swallow cannot
-live without its mate, and the chief is on the trail of Sunbeam."</p>
-
-<p>"We will wait the chief here, then," Valentine said.</p>
-
-<p>The hunter felt great pleasure in conversing with this simple child.</p>
-
-<p>"How was my sister thus fastened to the trunk of tree, and thrown into
-the current of the Gila, to perish there with her child? It is an
-atrocious vengeance."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, it is the vengeance of an Apache dog," she answered. "Aztatl (the
-Heron), daughter of Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, loved
-Unicorn&mdash;her heart bounded at the mere name of the great Comanche
-warrior; but the chief of my nation has only one heart, and it belongs
-to Sunbeam. Two days ago the warriors of my tribe set out for a great
-buffalo hunt, and the squaws alone remained in the village. While I
-slept in my hut four Apache thieves, taking advantage of my slumber,
-seized me and my child, and delivered us into the hands of Stanapat's
-daughter. 'You love your husband,' she said with a grin: 'you doubtless
-suffer at being separated from him. Be happy: I will send you to him by
-the shortest road. He is hunting on the prairies down the river, and in
-two hours you will be in his arms, unless,' she added with a laugh, 'the
-caymans stop you on the road.'&mdash;'The Comanche women despise death,' I
-answered her. 'For a hair you pluck from me, Unicorn will take the
-scalps of your whole tribe; so act as you think proper;' and I turned my
-head away, resolved to answer her no more. She herself fastened me to
-the log, with my face turned to the sky, in order, as she said, that I
-might see my road; and then she hurled me into the river, yelling:
-'Unicorn is a cowardly rabbit, whom the Apache women despise. This is
-how I revenge myself.' I have told my brother, the pale hunter,
-everything as it happened."</p>
-
-<p>"My sister is a brave woman," Valentine replied: "she is worthy to be
-the wife of a renowned chief."</p>
-
-<p>The young mother smiled as she embraced her child, which she presented,
-with a movement full of grace, to the hunter, who kissed it on the
-forehead. At this moment the song of the maukawis was heard at a short
-distance off. The two hunters raised their heads in surprise, and looked
-around them.</p>
-
-<p>"The quail sings very late, I fancy," Valentine muttered suspiciously.</p>
-
-<p>The Indian girl smiled as she looked down, but gave no answer. Suddenly
-a slight cracking of dry branches disturbed the silence. Valentine and
-Curumilla made a move, as if to spring up and seize their rifles that
-lay by their side.</p>
-
-<p>"My brothers must not stir," the squaw said quickly: "it is a friend."</p>
-
-<p>The hunters remained motionless, and the girl then imitated with rare
-perfection the cry of the blue jay. The bushes parted, and an Indian
-warrior, perfectly painted and armed for war, bounded like a jackal over
-the grass and herbs that obstructed his passage, and stopped in face of
-the hunters. This warrior was Unicorn. He saluted the two men with that
-grace innate in the Indian race; then he crossed his arms on his breast
-and waited, without taking a glance at his squaw, or even appearing to
-have seen her. On her side the Indian woman did not stir.</p>
-
-<p>During several moments a painful silence fell on the four persons whom
-chance had assembled in so strange a way. At length Valentine, seeing
-the warrior insisted on being silent, decided he would be the first to
-speak.</p>
-
-<p>"Unicorn is welcome to our camp," he said. "Let him take a seat by the
-fire of his brothers, and share with them the provisions they possess."</p>
-
-<p>"I will take a seat by the fire of my paleface brother," he replied;
-"but he must first answer me a question I wish to ask of him."</p>
-
-<p>"My brother can speak: my ears are open."</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" the chief answered. "How is it the hunters have with them
-Unicorn's wife?"</p>
-
-<p>"Sunbeam can answer that question best," Valentine said gravely.</p>
-
-<p>The chief turned to his squaw.</p>
-
-<p>"I am waiting," he remarked.</p>
-
-<p>The Indian woman repeated, word for word, to her husband the story she
-had told a few minutes before. Unicorn listened without evincing either
-surprise or wrath: his face remained impassive, but his brows were
-imperceptibly contracted. When the woman had finished speaking, the
-Comanche chief bowed his head on his chest, and remained for a moment
-plunged in serious thought. Presently he raised his head.</p>
-
-<p>"Who saved Sunbeam from the river when she was about to perish?" he
-asked her.</p>
-
-<p>The young woman's face lit up with a charming smile.</p>
-
-<p>"These hunters," she replied.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" the chief said, laconically, as he bent on the two men glances
-full of the most unspeakable gratitude.</p>
-
-<p>"Could we leave her to perish?" Valentine said.</p>
-
-<p>"My brothers did well. Unicorn is one of the first sachems of his
-nation. His tongue is not forked: he gives his heart once, and takes it
-back no more. Unicorn's heart belongs to the hunters."</p>
-
-<p>These simple words were uttered with the majesty and grandeur the
-Indians know so well how to assume when they think proper. The two men
-vowed their gratitude, and the chief continued:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Unicorn is returning to his village with his wife: his young men are
-awaiting him twenty paces from here. He would be happy if the hunters
-would consent to accompany him there."</p>
-
-<p>"Chief," Valentine answered, "we came into the prairie to hunt the
-buffalo."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, what matter? My brothers will hunt with me and my young men; but
-if they wish to prove to me that they accept my friendship, they will
-follow me to my village."</p>
-
-<p>"The chief is mounted, while we are on foot."</p>
-
-<p>"I have horses."</p>
-
-<p>Any further resistance would have been a breach of politeness, and the
-hunters accepted the invitation. Valentine, whom accident had brought on
-to the prairies of the Rio Gila and Del Norte, was in his heart not
-sorry to make friends there, and have allies on whose support he could
-reckon in case of need. The squaw had by this time risen: she timidly
-approached her husband, and held up the child, saying in a soft and
-frightened voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Kiss this warrior."</p>
-
-<p>The chief took the frail creature in his muscular arms, and kissed it
-repeatedly with a display of extraordinary tenderness, and then returned
-it to the mother. The latter wrapped the babe in a small blanket, then
-placed it on a plank shaped like a cradle, and covered with dry moss,
-fastened a hoop over the place where its head rested, to guard it from
-the burning beams of the sun, and hung the whole on her back by means of
-a woolen strap passing over her forehead.</p>
-
-<p>"I am ready," she said.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us go," the chief replied.</p>
-
-<p>The hunters followed him, and they were soon on the prairie.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_Vb" id="CHAPTER_Vb">CHAPTER V.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE ADOPTION.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Some sixty Comanche warriors were lying in the grass awaiting their
-sachem, while the tethered horses were nibbling the tall prairie grasses
-and the tree shoots. It could be seen at the first glance that these men
-were picked warriors, selected for a dangerous expedition. From the
-heels of all dangled five or six wolf tails&mdash;marks of honor which only
-renowned warriors have the right to wear.</p>
-
-<p>On seeing their chief, they hurriedly rose and leaped into their
-saddles. All were aware that their sachem's wife had been carried off,
-and that the object of their expedition was to deliver her. Still, on
-noticing her, they evidenced no surprise, but saluted her as if she had
-left them only a few moments previously. The war party had with it
-several horses, which the chief ordered to be given to his squaw and his
-new friends; then, at a signal from him, the whole party started at full
-speed, for the Indians know no other pace than the gallop.</p>
-
-<p>After about two hours' ride they reached the vicinity of the village,
-which could be smelt some time before reaching, owing to the habit the
-Comanches have of placing their dead on scaffoldings outside the
-villages, where they moulder away: these scaffoldings, composed of four
-stakes planted in the ground, terminated in a fork, while from poles
-stuck up near them hung skins and other offerings made by the Indians to
-the genius of good.</p>
-
-<p>At the entrance of the village a number of horsemen were assembled,
-awaiting the return of the sachem. So soon as they perceived him they
-burst into a formidable yell, and rushed forward like a whirlwind,
-shouting, firing guns, and brandishing their weapons. Unicorn's band
-followed this example, and there was soon a most extraordinary
-confusion.</p>
-
-<p>The sachem made his entry into the village in the midst of shouts,
-barking of dogs, and shots; in short, he was accompanied to the square
-by an indescribable row. On reaching it the warriors stopped. Unicorn
-begged the hunters to dismount, and guided them to his cabin, which he
-made them enter before him.</p>
-
-<p>"Now," he said to them, "brothers, you are at home: rest in peace, eat
-and drink. This evening I will come and talk with you, and make you a
-proposal which I sincerely hope you will not reject."</p>
-
-<p>The two hunters, wearied by the long ride they had made, fell back with
-extreme satisfaction on the beds of dried leaves which awaited them.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," Valentine asked Curumilla, "penni, what do you say about what is
-happening to us?"</p>
-
-<p>"It may be good."</p>
-
-<p>"Can it not?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>On which Curumilla fell asleep, and Valentine soon followed his example.
-As he had promised, toward evening Unicorn entered the cabin.</p>
-
-<p>"Have my brothers rested?" he asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," Valentine answered.</p>
-
-<p>"Are they disposed to listen to me?"</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, chief; we are listening."</p>
-
-<p>The Comanche sachem then squatted near the fire, and remained for
-several minutes, with his head bent forward and his eyes fixed on the
-ground, in the position of a man who is reflecting. At length he raised
-his head, stretched forth his arm as if to give greater authority to the
-words he was about to utter, and began thus:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Brother, you and your friend are two brave warriors. The prairies
-rejoice at your arrival among us; the deer and the buffaloes fly at your
-approach; for your arm is strong, and your eye unerring. Unicorn is only
-a poor Indian; but he is a great warrior among the Comanches, and a much
-feared chief of his tribe. You have saved his wife, Sunbeam, whom the
-Apache dogs threw into the Gila, and whom the hideous alligators were
-preparing to devour. Since his wife, the joy of his hearth, and his son,
-the hope of his old days, have been restored to him, Unicorn has sought
-in his heart the means to prove to you his gratitude. He asked the Chief
-of Life what he could do to attach you to him. Unicorn is terrible in
-combat; he has the heart of the grizzly bear for his enemies&mdash;he has the
-heart of the gazelle for those he loves."</p>
-
-<p>"Chief," Valentine answered, "the words you utter at this moment amply
-repay us for what we have done. We are happy to have saved the wife and
-son of a celebrated warrior: our reward is in our hearts, and we wish
-for no other."</p>
-
-<p>The chief shook his head.</p>
-
-<p>"No," he said; "the two hunters are no longer strangers for the
-Comanches; they are the brothers of our tribe. During their sleep
-Unicorn assembled round the council fire the chiefs of his nation, and
-told them what has passed. The chiefs have ranged themselves on
-Unicorn's side, and have ordered him to make known to the hunters the
-resolution they have formed."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, then, chief," Valentine said, "and believe that the wishes of
-the council will be commands to us."</p>
-
-<p>A smile of joy played round the chief's lips.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" he said. "This is what was agreed on among the great chiefs. My
-brothers the hunters will be adopted by the tribe, and be henceforth
-sons of the great Comanche nation. What say my brothers?"</p>
-
-<p>A lively feeling of pleasure made Valentine quiver at this unexpected
-proposition. To be adopted by the Comanche tribe, was obtaining the
-right of hunting over the whole extent of the immense prairies which
-that powerful nation holds through its indomitable courage and the
-number of its warriors. The hunter exchanged a glance with his silent
-comrade and rose.</p>
-
-<p>"I accept for myself and friend," he said as he held out his hand to the
-chief, "the honor the Comanches do us in admitting us into the number of
-the sons of their warlike nation. We shall prove ourselves worthy of
-this marked favour."</p>
-
-<p>Unicorn smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"Tomorrow," he said as he rose, "my brothers will be adopted by the
-nation."</p>
-
-<p>After bowing gracefully to the hunters he took leave of them and
-withdrew. The next daybreak the chiefs entered the cabin. Valentine and
-Curumilla were ready, and had long been acquainted with the trials they
-would have to undergo. The neophytes were conducted into the great
-medicine hut, where a copious meal was prepared. It consisted of dog
-meat boiled in bear fat, tortillas, maize, and hautle cakes. The chiefs
-squatted in a circle, while the squaws waited on them.</p>
-
-<p>When the meal was ended all rose. Unicorn placed himself between the
-hunters, laid his hands on their heads, and struck up the great war
-song. This song was repeated in chorus by the company to the sound of
-the war whistles, the drums and the <i>chikikouis.</i> The following is the
-translation of the song:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Master of Life, regard us with a favourable eye.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">We are receiving two brothers in arms who appear to have sense.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">They display vigour in their arms.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">They fear not to expose their bodies to the blows of their enemies."</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p>It is impossible for anyone who has not been present at the ceremony to
-form even a distant idea of the frightful noise produced by their hoarse
-voices mingled with the shrill and discordant instruments: it was enough
-to produce a deafness. When the song was ended each took his seat by the
-council fire.</p>
-
-<p>The hunters were seated on beaver skins, and the great war calumet was
-presented to them, from which each took several puffs, and it went the
-round. Unicorn then rose, and fastened round the neck of each a wampum
-collar, and another made of the claws of the grizzly bear. The Indians,
-during this time, had built near the medicine lodge a cabin for the
-sweating, and when it was finished the hunters took off their clothes
-and entered it. The chiefs then brought two large stones which had been
-previously made red hot, and after closing the hut carefully, left the
-neophytes in it.</p>
-
-<p>The latter threw water on the stones, and the steam which arose almost
-immediately produced a profuse perspiration. When this was at its height
-the hunters ran out of the hut, passed through the double row of
-warriors, and leaped into the river, according to the usual fashion.
-They were immediately drawn from the water, wrapped in blankets, and led
-to Unicorn's hut, in order to undergo the final trial, which is also the
-most painful. The hunters were laid on their backs, then Unicorn traced
-on their chests with a sharp stick dipped in water in which gunpowder
-had been dissolved, the figure of the animal serving as <i>totem</i>
-(protector) to the tribe. Then with two spikes fastened to a small piece
-of wood, and dipped in vermillion, he proceeded to prick the design.</p>
-
-<p>Whenever Unicorn came to a place that was too hard he made an incision
-in the flesh with a gun-flint. The places that were not marked with
-vermillion were rubbed in with powder, so that the result was a red and
-blue tattooing. During the course of this operation the war songs and
-chikikouis were constantly heard, in order to drown the cries which the
-atrocious pain might draw from the patients; but the latter endured it
-all without even a contraction of the eyebrows evidencing the pain they
-must have felt.</p>
-
-<p>When the tattooing was over the wounds were cauterised with rotten wood
-to prevent suppuration; they were washed with cold water, in which had
-been infused a herb resembling box, a great deal of which the Indians
-mix with their tobacco to reduce the strength. The trial we have
-described is so painful to endure, that nearly always it is only
-accomplished at intervals, and often lasts a week. This time the hunters
-endured it bravely during the six hours it lasted, not uttering a cry,
-or giving a sign of weakness. Hence the Indians, from this moment,
-regarded them with a species of respect; for with them courage is the
-first of qualities.</p>
-
-<p>"My brothers are children of the tribe," the chief said, offering each a
-horse. "The prairie belongs to them. These coursers will bear them to
-the most remote limits of the desert, chasing the wild beasts, or
-pursuing the Apache dogs."</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" Valentine answered.</p>
-
-<p>At one bound the two hunters were in their saddles, and made their
-horses perform the most elegant and graceful curvets. This last and
-heroic deed, after all they had suffered during the course of the day,
-raised to their full height the joy and enthusiasm of the Comanches, who
-applauded with frenzied shouts and yells all they saw their new brothers
-execute. After remaining nearly an hour on horseback they dismounted,
-and followed the chiefs into the medicine lodge; and when each had taken
-his seat round the council fire, and the calumet had again been smoked,
-Unicorn rose.</p>
-
-<p>"The Master of Life loves His Comanche sons, since He gives them for
-brothers such warriors as Koutonepi and Curumilla. Who can equal their
-courage! Who would dare to contend with them! On their approach the
-grizzly bear hides at the extremity of its den; the jaguar bounds far
-away on seeing them; the eagle itself, which looks the sun in the face,
-flies from their unerring bullet. Brothers, we congratulate ourselves on
-counting you among our warriors. Henceforth we shall be invincible.
-Brothers, give up the names you have up to this day borne, and assume
-those we now give you. You, Koutonepi, are henceforth Quauhtli, and bear
-the name of that eagle, whose courage and strength you possess. You,
-Curumilla, will be called Vexolotl, and the cock will be proud to see
-that you have taken possession of its name."</p>
-
-<p>The two hunters warmly thanked their new brothers, and were led back by
-the chiefs to their cabin, who wished them a pleasant night after so
-rude a day. Such was the way in which Valentine and Curumilla, to whom
-we shall continue to give their old names, formed the acquaintance of
-Unicorn, and the result of it.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VIb" id="CHAPTER_VIb">CHAPTER VI.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE MISSIONARY.</h3>
-
-
-<p>With time the relations existing between the hunters and the Indians
-were drawn closer, and became more friendly. In the desert physical
-strength is the quality most highly esteemed. Man, compelled to struggle
-incessantly against the dangers of every description that rise each
-moment before him, is bound to look only to himself for the means to
-surmount them. Hence the Indians profess a profound contempt, for sickly
-people, and weak and timid nerves.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine easily induced Unicorn to seize, during the hunt of the wild
-horses, the Mexican magistrates, in order to make hostages of them if
-the conspiracy were unsuccessful. What the hunter foresaw happened. Red
-Cedar had opposed stratagem to stratagem; and, as we have seen, Don
-Miguel was arrested in the midst of his triumph, at the very moment when
-he fancied himself master of the Paso del Norte.</p>
-
-<p>After Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo had seen, from their hiding
-place in the bushes, the mournful escort pass that was taking Don Miguel
-as a prisoner to Santa Fe, they held a council. Moments were precious;
-for in Mexico conspirators have the sad privilege over every other
-prisoner of being tried quickly, and not left to pine. The prisoner must
-be saved. Valentine, with that promptitude of decision which formed the
-salient point of his character, soon arranged in his head one of those
-bold schemes which only he could discover.</p>
-
-<p>"Courage!" he said to Don Pablo. "As long as the heart beats in the
-breast there is hope, thank Heaven! The first hand is lost, I allow; but
-now for the second game."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo had entire faith in Valentine: he had often been in the
-position to try his friend. If these words did not completely reassure
-him, they at least almost restored his hope, and gave him back that
-courage so necessary to him at this supreme moment, and which had
-abandoned him.</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, my friend," he said. "What is to be done?"</p>
-
-<p>"Let us attend to the most important thing first, and save Father
-Seraphin, who devoted himself for us."</p>
-
-<p>The three men started. The night was a gloomy one. The moon only
-appeared at intervals: incessantly veiled by thick clouds which passed
-over its disc, it seemed to shed its sickly rays regretfully on the
-earth. The wind whistled through the branches of the trees, which
-uttered mysterious murmurs as they came into collision. The coyotes
-howled in the plain, and at times their sinister form shot athwart the
-skyline. After a march of about an hour the three men approached the
-spot where the missionary had fallen from the effect of Red Cedar's
-bullet; but he had disappeared. An alarm mingled with a frightful agony
-contracted the hunter's hearts. Valentine took a despairing glance
-around; but the darkness was too dense for him possibly to distinguish
-anything.</p>
-
-<p>"What is to be done?" Don Pablo asked sadly.</p>
-
-<p>"Seek," Valentine replied sharply: "he cannot be far."</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla had already taken up the trail, and had disappeared in the
-gloom. The Araucano had never been a great speaker naturally: with age
-he had grown almost dumb, and never uttered a word save when absolutely
-necessary. But if the Indian did not talk, he acted; and in critical
-situations his determination was often worth long harangues. Don Pablo,
-obedient to Valentine's orders, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and
-prepared to execute them.</p>
-
-<p>"Where are you going?" the hunter asked him, as he seized his arm.</p>
-
-<p>"To look for Father Seraphin."</p>
-
-<p>"Wait."</p>
-
-<p>The two men stood motionless, listening to the mysterious sounds of the
-desert, that nameless melody which plunges the soul into a soft reverie.
-Nearly an hour passed thus, nothing revealing to the hunters that
-Curumilla's search had proved successful. Valentine, growing impatient
-at this long delay, was also preparing to go on, at once the weak,
-snapping cry of the walkon rose in the air.</p>
-
-<p>"What's that?" Don Pablo asked in surprise.</p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" Valentine muttered.</p>
-
-<p>A second time the walkon sang, but this time stronger, and much nearer.
-Valentine raised his fingers to his lips, and imitated the sharp, shrill
-yell of the ocelot twice, with such perfection that Don Pablo started
-involuntarily, and looked round for the wild beast, whose eyes he
-fancied he could see flashing behind a thicket. Almost immediately the
-note of the walkon was heard a third time. Valentine rested the butt of
-his rifle on the ground.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" he said. "Do not be alarmed, Don Pablo. Curumilla has found
-Father Seraphin."</p>
-
-<p>The young man looked at him in amazement. The hunter smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"They will both arrive directly," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"How do you know?"</p>
-
-<p>"Child!" Valentine interrupted him, "In the desert the human voice is
-more injurious than useful. The song of birds, the cry of wild beasts,
-serve us as a language."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the young man answered simply, "that is true. I have often heard
-it stated; but I was not aware you could understand one another so
-easily."</p>
-
-<p>"That is nothing," the hunter answered good-humouredly: "you will see
-much more if you only pass a month in our company."</p>
-
-<p>In a few moments the sound of footsteps became audible, at first faint,
-then gradually coming nearer, and two shadows were dimly drawn on the
-night.</p>
-
-<p>"Halloa!" Valentine shouted as he Raised and cocked his rifle, "friend
-or foe?"</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Pennis</i> (brothers)," a voice answered.</p>
-
-<p>"It is Curumilla," said Valentine. "Let us go to meet him."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo followed him, and they soon reached the Indian, who walked
-slowly, obliged as he was to support, almost carry, the missionary.</p>
-
-<p>When Father Seraphin fell off his horse he almost immediately lost his
-senses. He remained for a long time lying in the ditch, but by degrees
-the night cold had brought him round again. At the first moment the poor
-priest, whose ideas were still confused, had cast anxious glances around
-him, while asking himself how he came there. He tried to rise; but then
-a poignant pain he felt in his shoulder reminded him of what had
-occurred. Still he did not despair. Alone, by night in the desert,
-exposed to a thousand unknown dangers, of which the least was being
-devoured by wild beasts, without weapons to defend himself, too weak,
-indeed, to attempt it, even if he had them, he resolved not to remain in
-this terrible position, but make the greatest efforts to rise, and drag
-himself as well as he could to the Paso, which was three leagues distant
-at the most, where he was sure of finding that care his condition
-demanded.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin, like the majority of the missionaries who generously
-devote themselves to the welfare of humanity, was a man who, under a
-Weak and almost feminine appearance, concealed an indomitable energy,
-and a resolution that would withstand all trials. So soon as he had
-formed his plan he began carrying it out. With extreme difficulty and
-atrocious pain he succeeded in fastening his handkerchief round his
-shoulder, so as to check the hemorrhage. It took more than an hour
-before he could stand on his legs: often he felt himself fainting, a
-cold perspiration beaded at the root of his hair, he had a buzzing in
-his ears, and everything seemed to be turning round him; but he wrestled
-with the pain, clasped his hands with an effort, raised his tear laden
-eyes to heaven, and murmured from the bottom of his heart,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"O God! Deign to support thy servant, for he has set on thee all his
-hopes and confidence."</p>
-
-<p>Prayer, when made with faith, produces in a man an effect whose
-consequences are immediate; it consoles him, gives him courage, and
-almost restores him the strength that has deserted him. This was what
-happened to Father Seraphin. After uttering these few words he set out
-boldly, supporting his tottering footsteps with a stick, which a
-providential chance had placed in his way. He walked thus for nearly
-half a league stopping at every instant to draw breath; but human
-endurance has limits beyond which it cannot go. In spite of the efforts
-he made, the missionary at length felt his legs give way under, him; he
-understood that he could not go further; and he sank at the foot of a
-tree, certain that he had attempted impossibilities, and henceforth
-resigning to Providence the care of saving him.</p>
-
-<p>It was at this moment Curumilla arrived near him. The Indian aided him
-to rise, and then warned his comrades of the success of his search.
-Father Seraphin, though the chief offered to carry him, refused, and
-wished to walk to join his friends; but his strength deserted him a
-second time, he lost his senses, and fell into the arms of the Indian,
-who watched him attentively; for he noticed his increasing weakness, and
-foresaw his fall. Valentine and Curumilla hastily constructed a litter
-of tree branches, on which they laid the poor wounded man, and raising
-him on their shoulders, went off rapidly. The night passed away, and the
-sun was already high on the horizon, and yet the hunters&mdash;were marching.
-At length, at about eleven o'clock, they reached the cavern which served
-Valentine as a shelter, and to which he had resolved to carry his
-patient, that he might himself nurse him.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin was in a raging fever; his face was red, his eyes
-flashing. As nearly always happens with gunshot wounds, a suppurating
-fever had declared itself. The missionary was laid on a bed of furs, and
-Valentine immediately prepared to probe the wound. By a singular chance
-the ball had lodged in the shoulder without fracturing the blade bone.
-Valentine drew it; and then helped by Curumilla, who had quietly pounded
-oregano leaves, he formed a cataplasm, which he laid on the wound, after
-first carefully washing it. Scarcely had this been done ere the
-missionary fell into a deep sleep, which lasted till nightfall.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine's treatment had effected wonders. The fever had disappeared,
-the priest's features were calmed, the flush that purpled his cheeks had
-given place to a pallor caused by the loss of blood; in short, he was as
-well as could be expected. On opening his eyes he perceived the three
-hunters watching him anxiously. He smiled, and said in a weak voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, my brothers, thanks for the help you have afforded me. Heaven
-will reward you. I feel much better."</p>
-
-<p>"The Lord be praised!" Valentine answered. "You will escape, my father,
-more cheaply than I had dared to hope."</p>
-
-<p>"Can it be possible?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, your wound, though serious, is not dangerous, and in a few days
-you can, if you think necessary, resume your avocations."</p>
-
-<p>"I thank you for this new good, my dear Valentine. I no longer count the
-times I have owed my life to you. Heaven, in its infinite goodness, has
-placed you near me to support me in my tribulations, and succour me in
-days of danger."</p>
-
-<p>The hunter blushed.</p>
-
-<p>"Do not speak so, my father," he said; "I have only performed a sacred
-duty. Do you feel strong enough to talk for a few minutes with me?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes. Speak, my friend."</p>
-
-<p>"I wished to ask your advice."</p>
-
-<p>"My talents are very slight: still you know how I love you, Valentine.
-Tell me what vexes you, and perhaps I may be able to be useful to you."</p>
-
-<p>"I believe it, my father."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, then, in Heaven's name, my friend; for, if you have recourse to
-me, the affair must be very serious."</p>
-
-<p>"It cannot be more so."</p>
-
-<p>"Go on: I am listening."</p>
-
-<p>And the missionary settled himself on his bed to hear as comfortably as
-he could the confession the hunter wished to make to him.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VIIb" id="CHAPTER_VIIb">CHAPTER VII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE INTERVIEW.</h3>
-
-
-<p>At daybreak the next morning Curumilla started for Unicorn's village. At
-sunset he returned to the cavern, accompanied by the Comanche chief. The
-sachem entertained the most profound respect for Father Seraphin, whose
-noble character he could appreciate, and felt pained at the state in
-which he found him.</p>
-
-<p>"Father," he said to him as he kissed his hand. "Who are the villains
-who thus wounded you, to whom the Master of Life has imparted the secret
-to make us happy? Whoever they may be, these men shall die."</p>
-
-<p>"My son," the priest answered gently, "I will not pronounce before you
-the name of the unhappy man who, in a moment of madness, raised his hand
-against me. My God is a God of peace; He is merciful, and recommends His
-creatures to forget injuries, and requite good for evil."</p>
-
-<p>The Indian looked at him in amazement. He did not understand the soft
-and touching sublimity of these precepts of love. Educated in the
-sanguinary principles of his race&mdash;persuaded, like all redskins, that a
-warrior's first duty is revenge&mdash;he only admitted that atrocious law of
-the prairies which commands, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth"&mdash;a terrible
-law, which we do not venture, however, utterly to condemn in these
-countries, where ambushes are permanent, and implacable death stands at
-every corner of the road.</p>
-
-<p>"My son," Father Seraphin continued, "you are a great warrior. Many a
-time you have braved the atrocious tortures of the stake of blood, a
-thousand fold more terrible than death itself. Often have you, with a
-pleasure I excuse (for it is in your nature), thrown down your enemy,
-and planted your knee on his chest. Have you never pardoned anybody in
-fight?"</p>
-
-<p>"Never!" the Indian answered, his eye sparkling with satisfied pride.
-"Unicorn has sent many Apache dogs to the happy hunting grounds: their
-scalps are drying at the door of his cabin."</p>
-
-<p>"Well," the missionary said gently, "try clemency once, only once, and
-you will know one of the greatest pleasures God has granted to man on
-earth&mdash;that of pardoning."</p>
-
-<p>The chief shook his head.</p>
-
-<p>"No," he said; "a dead enemy is no longer to be feared. Better to kill
-than leave him means to avenge himself at a later date."</p>
-
-<p>"My son, you love me, I believe?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes. My father is good; he has behaved well to the Comanches, and they
-are grateful. Let my father command, and his son will obey."</p>
-
-<p>"I have no right to give you an order, my son. I can only ask a favour of
-you."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! My father can explain himself. Unicorn will do what he desires."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, then," said the missionary with a lively feeling of joy, "promise
-me to pardon the first unhappy man, whoever he may be, who falls into;
-your hands, and you will render me happy."</p>
-
-<p>The chief frowned, and an expression of dissatisfaction appeared on his
-features. Father Seraphin anxiously followed on the Comanche's
-intelligent countenance the different shadows reflected on it as in a
-mirror. At length the Indian regained his stoicism, and his face grew
-serene again.</p>
-
-<p>"Does my father demand it?" he asked in a gentle voice.</p>
-
-<p>"I desire it."</p>
-
-<p>"Be it so: my father shall be satisfied. I promise him to pardon the
-first enemy whom the Manitou causes to fall beneath the point of my
-lance."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, chief," the missionary exclaimed joyfully, "thanks! Heaven will
-reward you for this good idea."</p>
-
-<p>The Indian bowed silently and turned to Valentine, who had been
-listening to the conversation.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother called me, and I came. What does he want of Unicorn?"</p>
-
-<p>"My brother will take his seat at the council fire, and smoke the
-calumet with his friend. Chiefs do not speak without reflecting on the
-words they are about to utter."</p>
-
-<p>"My brother speaks well, and I will take my seat at his fire."</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla had lighted a large fire in the first grotto of the cavern.
-The four men left Father Seraphin to take a few moments' rest, and
-seated themselves round the fire, when the calumet passed from hand to
-hand. The Indians never undertake anything important, or commence a
-discussion, without first smoking the calumet in council, whatever may
-be the circumstances in which they are placed. When the calumet had gone
-the round Valentine rose.</p>
-
-<p>"Every day," he said, bowing to the chief, "I appreciate more and more
-the honor the Comanches did me in adopting me as a son. My brother's
-nation is powerful; its hunting grounds cover the whole surface of the
-earth. The Apaches fly before the Comanche warriors like cowardly
-coyotes before courageous men. My brother has already several times done
-me a service with that greatness of soul which distinguishes him, and
-can only belong to a warrior so celebrated as he is. Today I have again
-a service to ask of my brother, and will he do it me? I presume so; for
-I know his heart, and that the Great Spirit of the Master of Life dwells
-in him."</p>
-
-<p>"Let my brother explain," Unicorn answered. "He is speaking to a chief;
-he must remove the skin from his heart and let his blood flow red and
-bright before a friend. The great white hunter is a portion of myself. I
-should have to be prevented by an arrant impossibility if I refused any
-request emanating from him."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, brother," Valentine said with emotion. "Your words have passed
-from your lips into my breast, which they have rejoiced. I am not
-mistaken. I see that I can ever count on your well-tried friendship and
-honest aid. Acumapicthzin de Zarate, the descendant of the Mexican
-kings, the friend of the redskins, whom he has ever protected, is a
-prisoner to the gachupinos. They have carried him to Santa Fe in order
-to put him to death, and deprive the Indians of the last friend left
-them."</p>
-
-<p>"And what does my brother want?"</p>
-
-<p>"I wish to save my friend."</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" the chief answered. "My brother claims my help to succeed in
-that project, I suppose?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! The descendant of the Tlatoanis shall be saved. My brother can
-feel reassured."</p>
-
-<p>"I can count, then, on my brother's aid?" Valentine asked quickly.</p>
-
-<p>The chief smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"Unicorn holds in his hands Spaniards who will answer for the life of
-the prisoner."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true!" Valentine exclaimed as he struck his forehead. "Your
-idea is a good one, chief."</p>
-
-<p>"My brother will leave me to act. I answer for success on my head."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caramba!</i> Act as you please, chief. Still, were it only form's sake, I
-should not be sorry to know what you intend doing."</p>
-
-<p>"My brother has a white skin, but his heart is Indian. Let him trust to
-the prudence of a chief; Unicorn knows how to treat with the
-gachupinos."</p>
-
-<p>"Doubtless."</p>
-
-<p>"Unicorn will go to Santa Fe to speak with the chief of the white men."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine looked at him in amazement. The chief smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"Have I not hostages?" he said.</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," Valentine remarked.</p>
-
-<p>The chief went on:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"The Spaniards are like chattering old women, prodigal of seductive
-words, but Unicorn knows them. How many times already has he trodden the
-warpath on their territory at the head of his warriors! They will not
-dare to deceive him. Ere the sun has twice accomplished its revolution
-round the tortoise whose immense shell supports the world, the chief of
-the Comanches will carry the bloody arrows to the whites, and propose to
-them peace or war. Is my brother satisfied?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am. My heart is full of gratitude toward my red brother."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! What is that to Unicorn? Less than nothing. Has my brother
-anything else to ask of me?"</p>
-
-<p>"One thing more."</p>
-
-<p>"Let my brother explain himself as quickly as possible, that no cloud
-may remain between him and his red brother."</p>
-
-<p>"I will do so. Men without fear of the Great Spirit, urged by some mad
-desire, have carried off Doña Clara, the daughter of the white chief
-whom my brother pledged to save."</p>
-
-<p>"Who are these? Does my brother know them?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I know them only too well. They are bandits, at the head of whom
-is a monster with a human face, called Red Cedar."</p>
-
-<p>At this name the Indian started slightly, his eye flashed fire, and a
-deep wrinkle hollowed his forehead.</p>
-
-<p>"Red Cedar is a ferocious jaguar," he said with concentrated passion.
-"He has made himself the scourge of the Indians, whose scalps he
-desires. This man has no pity either for women or children, but he
-possesses no courage: he only attacks his enemies in the dark, twenty
-against one, and when he is sure of meeting with no resistance."</p>
-
-<p>"My brother knows this man, I see."</p>
-
-<p>"And this man has carried off the white gazelle?'</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! My brother wishes to know what Red Cedar has done with his
-prisoner?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do wish it."</p>
-
-<p>The Indian rose.</p>
-
-<p>"Time is slipping away," he said. "Unicorn will return to his friends.
-My brother the hunter need not feel alarmed: a chief is watching."</p>
-
-<p>After uttering these few words the chief went down into the cavern,
-mounted his horse, and disappeared in direction of the desert. Valentine
-had every reason to be satisfied with his interview with the Comanche
-chief; but Father Seraphin was less pleased than the hunter. The worthy
-priest, both through his nature and his vocation, was not disposed to
-employ violent measures, which were repugnant to him: he would have
-liked, were it possible, to settle everything by gentleness, and without
-running the risk of bloodshed.</p>
-
-<p>Three weeks elapsed, however, ere Unicorn appeared to be effectually
-carrying out the plan he had explained to Valentine, who only learnt
-indirectly that a strong party of Comanche warriors had invaded the
-Mexican frontiers. Father Seraphin, though not yet completely cured, had
-insisted on proceeding to Santa Fe to take some steps to save Don
-Miguel, whose trial had gone on rapidly, who was on the point of being
-executed. For his part Don Pablo, half mad with uneasiness, also
-insisted, in spite of Valentine's entreaties and remarks, on entering
-Santa Fe furtively, and trying to see his father.</p>
-
-<p>The night on which we found Valentine in the clearing Unicorn visited
-him for the first time in a month: he came to inform him of the success
-of the measures he had taken. Valentine, used to Indian habits,
-understood half a word: hence he had not hesitated to announce to Don
-Pablo as a positive fact that his father would soon be free.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VIIIb" id="CHAPTER_VIIIb">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE PRISON.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Don Miguel had been transferred to the prison of Santa Fe. Europeans,
-accustomed to philanthropic manners, and regarding human life as of some
-value, cannot imagine what atrocities the word "prison" contains in
-Mexico. In countries beyond sea the penitentiary system is not even in
-its infancy; for it is completely ignored, and has not even been
-suggested yet. With the exception of the United States, prisons are in
-America what they were at the period of the Spanish dominion; that is to
-say, filthy dens, where the wretched prisoners suffer a thousand
-tortures.</p>
-
-<p>Among ourselves, so long as a man is not proved guilty, he is assumed to
-be innocent; but over there, so soon as a man is arrested, he is
-considered guilty, and consequently every consideration and all pity
-vanish, to make room for brutal and barbarous treatment. Thrown on a
-little straw in fetid holes, often inhabited by serpents and other
-unclean animals, the prisoners have more than once been found dead at
-the expiration of twenty-four hours, and half devoured. We have
-witnessed scores of times atrocious tortures inflicted by coarse and
-cruel soldiers on poor fellows whose crimes, in our country, would have
-merited a slight chastisement at the most. Still, in the great centres
-of populations, the prisons are better managed than in the towns and
-villages; and in this land, where money is the most powerful lever, a
-rich man easily succeeds in obtaining all he wishes, and rendering his
-position at any rate tolerable.</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel and General Ibañez had managed to be confined together by the
-expenditure of many entreaties and a heavy sum of gold. They inhabited
-two wretched rooms, the entire furniture of which consisted in a halting
-table, a few leather covered butacas, and two benches which served them
-as beds. These two men, so powerful by nature, had endured without
-complaint all the humiliation and insults inflicted on them during their
-trial, resolved to die as they had lived, with head erect and firm
-heart, without giving the judges who had condemned them the satisfaction
-of seeing them turn weak at the last moment.</p>
-
-<p>It was toward evening of the same day on which we saw Valentine in the
-clearing. Darkness fell rapidly, and the only window, a species of
-narrow slit that served to light the prison, allowed but a weak and
-dubious light to penetrate. Don Miguel was walking with long strides up
-and down his prison, while the general, carelessly reclining on one of
-the benches, quietly smoking his cigarette, watching with childish
-pleasure the light clouds of bluish smoke which rose in a spiral to the
-ceiling, and which he constantly blew asunder.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," Don Miguel said all at once, "it seems it is not for today
-either."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the general said, "unless (though I do not believe it) they wish
-to do us the honor of a torchlight execution."</p>
-
-<p>"Can you at all account for this delay?"</p>
-
-<p>"On my honor, no. I have ransacked my brains in vain to guess the reason
-that prevents them shooting us, and I have given it up as a bad job."</p>
-
-<p>"Same with me. At first I fancied they were trying to frighten us by the
-continued apprehension of death constantly suspended over our heads like
-another sword of Damocles; but this idea seemed to me too absurd."</p>
-
-<p>"I am entirely of your opinion: still something extraordinary must be
-occurring."</p>
-
-<p>"What makes you suppose that?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, for the last two days our worthy jailer, Tio Quesada, has become,
-not polite to us&mdash;for that is impossible&mdash;but less brutal. I noticed
-that he has drawn in his claws, and attempted a grin. It is true that
-his face is so little accustomed to assume that expression, that the
-only result he obtains is to make a wretched grimace."</p>
-
-<p>"And you conclude from that?"</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing positive," the general said. "Still I ask myself whence comes
-this incomprehensible change. It would be as absurd to attribute it to
-the pity he feels for our position as to suppose the governor will come
-to ask our pardon for having tried and condemned us."</p>
-
-<p>"Eh?" Don Miguel said with a toss of his head. "All is not over&mdash;we are
-not dead yet."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true; but keep your mind at rest&mdash;we shall be so soon."</p>
-
-<p>"Our life is in God's hands. He will dispose of it at His pleasure."</p>
-
-<p>"Amen!" the general said with a laugh, as he rolled a fresh cigarette.</p>
-
-<p>"Do you not consider it extraordinary that, during the whole month we
-have been here, our friends have not given a sign of life?"</p>
-
-<p>The general shrugged his shoulders carelessly.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" he said, "a prisoner is very sick, and our friends doubtless
-feared to make us worse by the sight of their grief: that is why they
-have deprived themselves of the pleasure of visiting us."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not jest, general. You accuse them wrongfully, I feel convinced."</p>
-
-<p>"May Heaven grant it! For my part, I heartily forgive them their
-indifference, and the oblivion in which; they have left us."</p>
-
-<p>"I cannot believe that Don Valentine, that true-hearted and noble-minded
-man, for whom I ever felt so deep a friendship, has not tried to see
-me."</p>
-
-<p>"Bah! How, Don Miguel, can you, so near death as you are, still believe
-in honourable feelings in any man?"</p>
-
-<p>At this moment there was a great clash of iron outside, and the door of
-the room was opened sufficiently to afford passage to the jailer, who
-preceded another person. The almost complete obscurity that prevailed in
-the prison prevented the condemned men from recognising the visitor, who
-wore a long black gown.</p>
-
-<p>"Eh, eh!" the general muttered in his comrade's ear, "I believe that
-General Ventura, our amiable governor, has at length made up his mind."</p>
-
-<p>"Why so?" Don Miguel asked in a low voice.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Canarios!</i> he has sent us a priest, which means that we shall be
-executed tomorrow."</p>
-
-<p>"On my word, all the better," Don Miguel could not refrain from saying.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the jailer, a short, thick-set man, with a ferret face
-and cunning eye, had turned to the priest, whom he invited to enter,
-saying in a hoarse voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Here it is, señor padre: these are the condemned persons."</p>
-
-<p>"Will you leave us alone, my friend?" the stranger said.</p>
-
-<p>"Will you have my lantern? It is getting dark, and when people are
-talking they like to see one another."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks; you can do so. You will open when I call you by tapping at the
-door."</p>
-
-<p>"All right&mdash;I will do so;" and he turned to the condemned, to whom he
-said savagely, "Well, señores, here is a priest. Take advantage of his
-services now you have got him. In your position there is no knowing what
-may happen from one moment to the other."</p>
-
-<p>The prisoners shrugged their shoulder's contemptuously, but made no
-reply. The jailer went out. When the sound of his footsteps had died
-away in the distance, the priest, who had till this moment stood with
-his body bent forward and his ear on the watch, drew himself up, and
-walked straight to Don Miguel. This manoeuvre on the part of the
-stranger surprised the two gentlemen, who anxiously awaited what was
-about to happen. The lantern left by the jailer only spread a faint and
-flickering light, scarcely sufficient to distinguish objects.</p>
-
-<p>"My father," the hacendero said in a firm voice, "I thank the person
-who sent you to prepare me for death, for I anxiously wished to fulfil
-my duties as a Christian before being executed. If you will proceed with
-me into the adjoining room I will confess my sins to you: they are those
-which an honest man ordinarily commits; for my heart is pure, and I have
-nothing to reproach myself with."</p>
-
-<p>The priest took off his hat, seized the lantern, and placed it near his
-pale face, whose noble and gentle features were suddenly displayed in
-the light.</p>
-
-<p>"Father Seraphin!" the prisoners exclaimed with a surprise mingled with
-joy.</p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" the priest ordered quickly. "Do not pronounce my name so
-loudly, brothers: everyone is ignorant of my being here except the
-jailer, who is my confidant."</p>
-
-<p>"He!" Don Miguel said with a stupor; "the man who has been insulting and
-humiliating us during a month!"</p>
-
-<p>"That man is henceforth ours. Lose no time, come. I have secure means to
-get you out of prison, and to leave the town ere your evasion can be
-even suspected: the horses are prepared&mdash;an escort is awaiting you.
-Come, gentlemen, for the moments are precious."</p>
-
-<p>The two prisoners interchanged a glance of sublime eloquence; then
-General Ibañez quietly seated himself on a butaca, while Don Miguel
-replied,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, my father. You have undertaken the noble task of soothing all
-sorrow, and you do not wish to fail in your duty. Thanks for the offer
-you make us, which we cannot, however, accept. Men like us must not give
-our enemies right by flying like criminals. We fought for a sacred
-principle, and succumbed. We owe it to our countrymen and to ourselves
-to endure death bravely. When we conspired we were perfectly well aware
-of what awaited us if we were conquered. Once again, thanks; but we will
-only quit this prison as free men, or to walk to punishment."</p>
-
-<p>"I have not the courage, gentlemen, to blame your heroic resolution: in
-a similar case I should act as you are doing. You have a very slight
-hope still left, so wait. Perchance, within a few hours, unforeseen
-events will occur to change the face of matters."</p>
-
-<p>"We hope for nothing more, my father."</p>
-
-<p>"That word is a blasphemy in your mouth, Don Miguel. God can do all He
-wills. Hope, I tell you."</p>
-
-<p>"I am wrong, father: forgive me."</p>
-
-<p>"Now I am ready to hear your confession."</p>
-
-<p>The prisoners bowed. Father Seraphin shrived them in turn, and gave them
-absolution.</p>
-
-<p>"Hola!" the jailer shouted through the door. "Make haste; it is getting
-late. It will soon be impossible to leave the city."</p>
-
-<p>"Open the door," the missionary said in a firm voice.</p>
-
-<p>The jailer appeared.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" he asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Light me and lead me out of the prison. These caballeros refuse to
-profit by the chance of safety I came to offer them."</p>
-
-<p>The jailer shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>"They are mad," he said.</p>
-
-<p>And he went out, followed by the priest, who turned on the threshold and
-pointed to heaven. The prisoners remained alone.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IXb" id="CHAPTER_IXb">CHAPTER IX.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE EMBASSY.</h3>
-
-
-<p>On the selfsame day that Father Seraphin went to the prison to propose
-an escape to the condemned, a very strange circumstance had aroused the
-entire population of Santa Fe. At about midday, at the moment when the
-inhabitants were enjoying their siesta, and the streets, calcined by the
-beams of a tropical sun, were completely deserted, a formidable whoop,
-the terrible war yell of the Comanche Indians, burst forth at the
-entrance of the town.</p>
-
-<p>There was a general alarm, and everybody barricaded himself in his
-house, believing in a sudden assault of the savages. Presently an
-immense clamour, and cries of distress and despair uttered by a
-terrified population, could be heard throughout the town. Several times
-already the Comanches, in their periodical incursions, had come near
-Santa Fe, but never so closely as this time; and the remembrance of the
-cruelties they had practised on the hapless Spaniards who fell into
-their hands was still present to every mind.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile a few inhabitants, bolder than the rest, or having
-nothing to lose, proceeded with the greatest precautions toward the spot
-whence the shouts were heard; and a singular spectacle presented itself.
-A detachment of dismounted Comanche warriors, about two hundred strong,
-was marching in close column, flanked on either wing by two troops, each
-of fifty horses. About twenty paces in front caracoled Unicorn.</p>
-
-<p>All these men had a martial aspect which was really remarkable: all were
-strangely painted, well adorned, and in their full war costume. The
-horsemen were loaded with all sorts of arms and ornaments: they had a
-bow and quiver on their backs, their guns slung and decorated with their
-medicine bags, and their lances in their hands. They were crowned with
-magnificent black and white eagle feathers, with a falling tuft. The
-upper part of the body, otherwise naked, was covered by a coyote skin
-rolled up and worn across the shoulder; their bucklers were ornamented
-with feathers, cloth of different colours, and human scalps. They were
-seated on handsome saddlecloth of panthers' skins, lined with red, which
-almost covered the horses' backs. According to the prairie fashion, they
-had no stirrups.</p>
-
-<p>Unicorn brandished in his right hand the long medicine lance, the
-distinctive mark of the powerful "dance of the prairie dogs." It was a
-staff in the shape of a crook, covered with an otter skin, and decorated
-through its entire length with owl feathers. This talisman, which he had
-inherited, possessed the power of bringing under his orders all the
-warriors of his nation scattered over the prairies: hence on all grand
-occasions he never failed to carry it. He wore a shirt made of the skin
-of the bighorn, embroidered on the sleeves with blue flowers, and
-adorned on the right arm with long stripes of rolled ermine and red
-feathers, and on the left arm with long tresses of black hair cut from
-the scalps he had raised. Over his shoulders he had thrown a cloak of
-gazelle skin, having at each end an enormous tuft of ermine. On his
-forehead the chief had fastened two buffalo horns, which with the blue,
-red, and green paint plastered on his face, gave him a terrible aspect.
-His magnificent horse, a mustang full of fire, which he managed with
-inimitable grace and skill, was painted red in different fashions: on
-its legs were stripes like a zebra, and on either side the backbone were
-designed arrowhead, lances, beavers, tortoises, &amp;c. The same was the
-case with the face and the haunches.</p>
-
-<p>There was something at once imposing and striking in the appearance
-presented by this band of ferocious warriors as they advanced though the
-deserted streets of the city, brandishing their tremendous weapons, and
-uttering at intervals their sinister war cry, which they accompanied by
-the shrill sound of long whistles made of human thigh bones, which they
-wore suspended by strips of wild beast hide.</p>
-
-<p>By this time the Comanches had penetrated to the heart of the city,
-driving before them, though without violence, the few inhabitants who
-had ventured to get in their way. They marched in good order, not
-turning to the right or left to plunder, and doing no reprehensive
-action.</p>
-
-<p>The Spaniards, more and more surprised at the haughty and bold attitude
-of the Indians, and their exemplary conduct, asked themselves with
-terror what these men wanted, and what reason had led them to invade
-their frontiers in so sudden and secret a way, that the scouts the
-Mexican Government pays to watch them had no knowledge of their march.
-As usually happens in such cases, terror gradually gave way to
-curiosity. In the first place the leperos and adventurers dared to
-approach the Indians; then the inhabitants, if not completely
-tranquilised, still reassured by their peaceful attitude, mingled with
-the groups; so that when the Comanche war party arrived on the Plaza
-Mayor; it was followed by a crowd of Spaniards, who regarded them with
-the restless and stupid curiosity only to be found among the masses.</p>
-
-<p>The Comanches did not appear to notice the excitement they created. As
-soon as they were on the Plaza Mayor they halted, and remained
-motionless, as if their feet had suddenly grown to the ground. Unicorn
-made a sign with his talisman; a warrior quitted the ranks, and rode up
-to the sentry standing in front of the governor's palace, who regarded
-the singular scene with a dazed air.</p>
-
-<p>"Wah!" the Indian said sarcastically, as he lightly touched the soldier
-with the end of his lance. "Is my brother asleep, that he does not hear
-a warrior addressing him?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am not asleep," the soldier answered, as he fell back a pace. "What
-do you want?"</p>
-
-<p>"The great sachem of the Comanches, the cacique whom the red children
-call Haboutzelze, has come to speak to his great white father, the chief
-of the frontier palefaces."</p>
-
-<p>"What does he want with him?" the soldier asked, not knowing what he
-said, so much had the unexpected sight of the redskin disturbed him.</p>
-
-<p>"Is my brother a chief?" the Indian asked cunningly.</p>
-
-<p>"No," the soldier answered, greatly confused by this lesson.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, then, let him close his ears as regards those the Great Spirit
-has set above him, and deliver the message I give him in the sachem's
-name."</p>
-
-<p>While the Comanche was exchanging these few words with the sentry,
-several persons, drawn out of the palace by the unusual disturbance they
-heard, mingled with the crowd. Among them were several officers, one of
-whom advanced to the Indian horseman.</p>
-
-<p>"What does my brother want?" he asked him.</p>
-
-<p>The warrior saw at the first glance that this time he had to do with a
-chief. He bowed courteously, and answered.</p>
-
-<p>"A deputation of the great Comanche nation desires to be introduced to
-my great white father."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! But all the warriors cannot enter the palace," the officer said.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother is right. Their chiefs alone will go in: their young men
-will await them here."</p>
-
-<p>"Let my brother be patient. I will go and deliver his message in all
-haste."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! My brother is a chief. The Spider will await him."</p>
-
-<p>The officer disappeared in the interior, while the Spider planted the
-end of his long lance in the ground, and remained with his eye fixed on
-the gate of the palace, not evincing the slightest impatience.</p>
-
-<p>The new governor of Santa Fe was a general of the name of Don Benito
-Ventura. He was ignorant as a fish, stupid and haughty as a heathcock.
-Like the majority of his colleagues in this eccentric country, he had
-gained his general's epaulettes by repeated pronunciamentos, managing
-to gain a step by every revolution, while never having seen more fire
-than that of the thin husk <i>pajillo</i> he constantly had in his mouth. To
-sum him up, he was very rich, a wonderful coward, and more afraid of
-blows than aught else in the world. Such he was morally: physically he
-was a plump little man, round as a barrel, with a rubicund face, lighted
-up by two small grey eyes.</p>
-
-<p>This worthy officer perspired water and blood when the duties of his
-station obliged him to put on the uniform, every seam of which was
-overlaid with gold lace: his chest literally disappeared under the
-infinity of crosses of every description with which each president had
-honoured him on attaining power. In a word, General Ventura was a worthy
-man, as fit to be a soldier as he was to be a cardinal; and he had only
-one object, that of being President of the Republic in his turn; but
-this object he ever pursued without Once swerving from his path.</p>
-
-<p>If he accepted the governorship of New Mexico, it was for the simple
-reason that, as Santa Fe was a long distance from Mexico, he had
-calculated that it would be easy for him to make a <i>pronunciamento</i> in
-his own favour, and become, <i>ipso facto</i>, president. He was not aware, on
-coming to Santa Fe, that the province he was about to govern was
-incessantly menaced by Indian forays. Had he known it, however
-advantageous the post of governor might, be for his schemes, he would
-have refused point blank so perilous an honour.</p>
-
-<p>He had learned with the utmost terror the entrance of the Comanches into
-the town, and when the officer intrusted with the Spider's message
-presented himself before him he had literally lost his head. It took all
-possible trouble to make him comprehend that the Indians came as
-friends, that they merely wished to have a palaver with him, and that
-since their coming their conduct had been most honourable and exemplary.
-Fortunately for the Spanish honour, other officers entered the apartment
-in which was the governor, attracted to the palace by the news, which
-had spread with the speed of a train of powder through Santa Fe, of the
-appearance of an Indian detachment.</p>
-
-<p>When the general saw himself surrounded and supported by the officers of
-his staff his terror was slightly toned down, he regained his presence
-of mind and it was with a calm and almost dignified demeanor that he
-discussed the question whether it was proper to receive the Indian
-deputation, and in what manner it should be done. The other officers,
-who, in the course of their professional career, had had many a skirmish
-with the redskins, felt no inclination to anger them. They produced in
-support of their opinions such peremptory reasons, that General Ventura,
-convinced by their arguments gave the officer who brought the message
-orders to bring the three principal Indian chiefs into the palace.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_Xb" id="CHAPTER_Xb">CHAPTER X.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE PRESENTATION.</h3>
-
-
-<p>It needed the thorough knowledge the Comanches possessed of the terror
-they inspired the Mexicans with to have dared to enter in so small a
-body a town like Santa Fe, where they might expect to find a
-considerable garrison.</p>
-
-<p>The general officer sent by General Ventura had performed his duty.
-Unicorn and two other chiefs dismounted, and followed him into the
-palace; while the Indian warriors, in spite of the heat of the sunbeams
-that played on their heads, remained motionless on the spot where their
-caciques bade them wait.</p>
-
-<p>The general desired, by a certain display of strength, to impose on the
-redskin deputies; but unfortunately, as is always the case in Mexico,
-the garrison, which on paper represented eight hundred men, was in
-reality only composed of sixty at the most&mdash;a very small number for a
-frontier town, especially under the present circumstances. But if
-soldiers were lacking, to make up for it there was no paucity of
-officers; for about thirty were assembled at the palace, which allowed
-one officer to every two privates. This detail, which might appear
-exaggerated, is, however, strictly correct, and shows in what a state of
-anarchy this hapless country is plunged. The thirty officers, attired in
-their splendid uniforms, that glistened with gold and decorations, were
-arranged round the general, while three posts of ten men each held the
-doors of the halls of reception.</p>
-
-<p>When the preparations were completed the ambassadors were introduced.
-The Indian chiefs, accustomed for a long period to Spanish luxury,
-entered without testifying the slightest surprise. They bowed with
-dignity to the assembly, and, crossing their arms on their chests,
-waited till they were addressed. The general regarded them with an
-astonishment pardonable enough, for this was the first time he had found
-himself in the presence of these untamable redskins, whose terrible
-renown had so often made him shudder.</p>
-
-<p>"What reason can have been so powerful as to oblige my sons to come and
-see me?" he asked in a gracious and conciliating tone. "Let them make
-their request, and, if I can do so, I shall be most ready to satisfy
-it."</p>
-
-<p>This opening, which the governor fancied to be very politic, was, on the
-contrary, most awkward, as it offended the pride of those he addressed,
-and whom he had the greatest interest in humouring. Unicorn took a step
-forward. A sarcastic smile played on his lips, and he replied in a voice
-slightly tinged with irony,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"I have heard a parrot speak. Are the words addressed to me?"</p>
-
-<p>The general blushed up to the eyes at this insult, which he did not dare
-retaliate.</p>
-
-<p>"The chief has not understood my words," he said. "My intentions are
-good, and I only wish to be agreeable to him."</p>
-
-<p>"The Comanches do not come here to ask a favour," Unicorn answered,
-haughtily. "They know how to avenge themselves when insulted."</p>
-
-<p>"What do my sons want then?"</p>
-
-<p>"To treat with my father for the ransom of the white chiefs who are in
-their power. Five palefaces inhabit the cabin of the Comanches. The
-young men of the tribe demand their punishment, for the blood of the
-palefaces is agreeable to the Master of Life. Tomorrow the prisoners
-will have ceased to live if my father does not buy them off today."</p>
-
-<p>After these words, uttered in a firm and peremptory tone, there was a
-moment of supreme silence. The Mexican officers reflected sadly on the
-fearful fate that threatened their friends. Unicorn continued:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"What does my father say? Shall we fasten our prisoners to the stake of
-blood, or restore them to liberty?"</p>
-
-<p>"What ransom do you ask?" the general said.</p>
-
-<p>"Listen, all you chiefs of the palefaces here present, and judge of the
-clemency and generosity of the Comanches. We only, wish, for the life of
-these five men, the life of two men."</p>
-
-<p>"That is little, I allow," the general remarked; "and who are the two
-men whose lives you ask?"</p>
-
-<p>"The palefaces call them, the first, Don Miguel Zarate; the second,
-General Ibañez."</p>
-
-<p>The general started.</p>
-
-<p>"These two men cannot be delivered to you," he answered; "they are
-condemned to death, and will die tomorrow."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! My prisoners will be tortured this night," the chief replied
-stoically.</p>
-
-<p>"Confound it!" the general sharply exclaimed, "Is there no other
-arrangement possible? Let my brothers ask me a thing I can grant them,
-and&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"I want those two men," the chief quickly interrupted. "If not, my
-warriors will themselves deliver them; and in that case the Comanche
-chiefs cannot prevent the injury their warriors may commit in the town."</p>
-
-<p>One of the officers present at this interview was aroused by the tone
-Unicorn had affected since the beginning of the audience. He was a brave
-old soldier, and the cowardice of his comrades shamed him. He rose at
-this point.</p>
-
-<p>"Chief," he said in a firm voice, "your words are very haughty and
-foolish for the mouth of an ambassador. You are here, at the head of
-scarce two hundred warriors, in the heart of a town peopled by brave
-men. Despite all my desire to be agreeable to you, if you do not pay
-greater respect to your audience, prompt and severe justice shall be
-inflicted on your insolence."</p>
-
-<p>The Indian chief turned toward the new speaker, whose remarks had
-aroused a sympathetic murmur.</p>
-
-<p>"My words are those of a man who fears nothing, and holds in his hands
-the life of five men."</p>
-
-<p>"Well," the officer retorted sharply, "what do we care for them? If they
-were such fools as to let you capture them, they must suffer the
-consequences of their madness; we cannot pay for them. Besides, as you
-have already been told, those you claim must die."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! We will retire," Unicorn said haughtily. "Longer discourse is
-needless; our deeds shall speak for us."</p>
-
-<p>"A moment!" the general exclaimed. "All may yet be arranged. An affair
-like the present cannot be settled all in a hurry; we must reflect on
-the propositions made to us. My son is a chief, and will grant us
-reasonable time to offer him a reply."</p>
-
-<p>Unicorn bent a suspicious glance on the governor.</p>
-
-<p>"My father has spoken wisely," he presently made answer. "Tomorrow at
-the twelfth hour, I will come for the final answer of the palefaces. But
-my father will promise me not to order the punishment of the prisoners
-till he has told me the decision he has come to."</p>
-
-<p>"Be it so," the general answered. "But what will the Comanches do till,
-then?"</p>
-
-<p>"They will leave the town as they entered it, and bivouac on the plain."</p>
-
-<p>"Agreed on."</p>
-
-<p>"The Master of Life has heard my father's promise. If he break his word
-and possess a forked tongue, the blood shed will fall on his head."</p>
-
-<p>The Comanche uttered these words in a significant tone that made the
-general tremble inwardly; then he bowed to the assembly, and left the
-hall with his companions. On reaching the square the chiefs remounted
-their horses and placed themselves at the head of their warriors. An
-hour later the Comanches had left the town, and camped within two
-gunshots of the walls, on the banks of the river. It was after this
-interview that Unicorn had the conversation with Valentine which we
-recently described.</p>
-
-<p>Still, when the Mexican officers were alone with the general, their
-courage returned all at once, and they reproached him for the little
-dignity he had displayed before the Indians, and specially for the
-promise he had made them. The general listened to them calmly, with a
-smile on his lips, and contented himself with answering them, in a tone,
-of indescribable meaning,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"The promise you allude to pledges me to nothing. Between this and
-tomorrow certain things will happen to free us from the Comanches, and
-let us dispense with surrendering the prisoners they demand so
-insolently."</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIb" id="CHAPTER_XIb">CHAPTER XI.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>PSYCHOLOGICAL.</h3>
-
-
-<p>About half a league to the west of Santa Fe three men and a woman were
-seated behind a dense clump of trees, which sheltered while rendering
-them unseen, over a <i>bois-de-vache</i> fire, supping with good appetite,
-and chatting together. The three men were Red Cedar's sons; the female
-was Ellen. The maiden was pale and sad: her dreamy eye wandered around
-with a distraught expression. She listened hardly to what her brothers
-said, and would certainly have been greatly embarrassed to describe the
-conversation, for her mind was elsewhere.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" Sutter said, "what the deuce can keep the old one so long? He
-told us he should be back by four o'clock at the latest; but the sun is
-just disappearing on the horizon, and he has not come yet."</p>
-
-<p>"Pshaw!" Nathan said with a shrug of the shoulders. "Are you afraid that
-something has happened to him? The old chap has beak and nails to defend
-himself; and since his last turn up with Don Miguel, the fellow who is
-to be shot tomorrow at Santa Fe, he has kept on his guard."</p>
-
-<p>"I care very little," Sutter replied brusquely, "whether father is here
-or not; but I believe we should do well not to wait longer, but return
-to the camp, where our presence is doubtless necessary."</p>
-
-<p>"Nonsense! Our comrades can do without us," Shaw observed. "We are all
-right here, so suppose we stop the night. Tomorrow it will be day. Well,
-if father has not returned by sunrise, we will go back to camp. Harry
-and Dick can keep good order till our return."</p>
-
-<p>"In truth, Shaw is right," Nathan said. "Father is at times so strange,
-that he might be angry with us for not having waited for him; for he
-never does anything lightly. If he told us to stay here, he probably had
-his reasons."</p>
-
-<p>"Let us stay, then," Sutter remarked carelessly. "I ask for nothing
-better. We shall only have to keep the fire up, and so one of us will
-watch while the others sleep."</p>
-
-<p>"Agreed on," Nathan replied. "In that way, if the old man comes during
-our sleep, he will see that we waited for him."</p>
-
-<p>The three brothers rose. Sutter and Nathan collected a pile of dry wood
-to maintain the fire, while Shaw intertwined a few branches to make his
-sister a sufficient shelter for the night. The two elder brothers thrust
-their feet toward the fire, wrapped themselves in their blankets, and
-went to sleep, after advising Shaw to keep a bright lookout, not only
-against wild beasts, but to announce the old squatter's approach. Shaw,
-after stirring up the fire, threw himself at the foot of a larch tree,
-and letting his head sink on his chest, plunged into deep and painful
-meditation.</p>
-
-<p>This poor boy, hardly twenty years of age, was a strange composite of
-good and evil qualities. Reared in the desert, he had grown up like one
-of its native trees, thrusting out here and there branches full of
-powerful sap. Nothing had ever thwarted his instincts, no matter what
-their nature might be. Possessing no cognizance of justice and
-injustice, he had never been able to appreciate the squatter's conduct,
-or see the injury he did society by the life he led. Habituated to
-regard as belonging to himself all that he wished for, allowing himself
-to be guided by his impressions and caprices, never having felt any
-other fetter than his father's despotic will, this young man had at once
-a nature expansive and reserved, generous and avaricious, gentle and
-cruel: in a word, he possessed all the qualities of his vices; but he
-was, before all, a man of sensations. Endowed with a vast intellect,
-extreme audacity, and lively comprehensions, he would have been
-indubitably a remarkable man, had he been born in a different position.</p>
-
-<p>His sister Ellen was the only member of his family for whom he
-experienced sympathy; and yet it was only with extreme reserve that he
-intrusted his boyish secrets to her&mdash;secrets which, during the last few
-days, had acquired an importance he did not himself suspect, but which
-his sister, with the innate intelligence of woman, had already divined.</p>
-
-<p>Shaw, as we have said, was thinking. The young savage's indomitable
-nature revolted against an unknown force which had suddenly sprung up in
-his heart&mdash;mastered and subdued him in spite of all his efforts. He was
-in love! He loved, ignorant even of the meaning of the word love, which
-comprises in this nether world all earthly joy and suffering. Vainly he
-sought to explain his feelings; but no light flashed across his mind, or
-illumined the darkness of his heart. He loved without desire and without
-hope, involuntarily obeying that divine law which compels even the
-roughest man to seek a mate. He was dreaming of Doña Clara. He loved
-her, as he was capable of loving, with that passionate impetuosity, that
-violence of feeling, to which his uncultivated mind adapted him. The
-sight of the maiden caused him a strange trouble, which he did not
-attempt to account for. He did not try to analyse his feelings, for that
-would have been impossible; and yet at times he was a prey to cold and
-terrible fury, when thinking that the haughty maiden, who was even
-unconscious of his existence, would probably only spurn and despise him
-if she knew it. He was yielding to these crushing thoughts, when he
-suddenly felt a hand laid on his shoulder. On turning, Ellen stood
-before him, upright and motionless, like the white apparitions of the
-German legends. He raised his head, and bent an inquiring glance on his
-sister.</p>
-
-<p>"You are not asleep, Ellen?"</p>
-
-<p>"No," she answered in a voice soft as a bird's song. "Brother, my heart
-is sad."</p>
-
-<p>"What is the matter, Ellen? Why not enjoy a few hours of that repose so
-necessary for you?"</p>
-
-<p>"My heart is sad, I tell you, brother," she went on. "In vain do I seek
-sleep&mdash;it flies far from me."</p>
-
-<p>"Sister, tell me the cause of your sufferings, and perhaps I can appease
-the grief that devours you."</p>
-
-<p>"Can you not guess it?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do not understand you."</p>
-
-<p>She looked at him so sternly that he could not let his eyes fall.</p>
-
-<p>"On the contrary, you understand me too well, Shaw," she said with a
-sigh. "Your heart rejoices at this moment at the misfortune of the woman
-you should defend."</p>
-
-<p>The young man blushed.</p>
-
-<p>"What can I do?" he murmured faintly.</p>
-
-<p>"Everything, if you have the firm will," she exclaimed energetically.</p>
-
-<p>"No," Shaw went on, shaking his head with discouragement; "the person of
-whom you speak is the old man's prisoner. I cannot contend against my
-father."</p>
-
-<p>Ellen smiled contemptuously.</p>
-
-<p>"You seek in vain to hide your thoughts from me," she said harshly. "I
-read your heart as an open book: your sorrow is feigned, and you really
-rejoice at the thought that in future you will constantly be by Doña
-Clara's side."</p>
-
-<p>"I!" he exclaimed with an angry start.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, you only see in her captivity a means to approach her. Your
-selfish heart is secretly gladdened by that hope."</p>
-
-<p>"You are harsh to me, sister. Heaven is my witness that, were it
-possible, I would at once restore her the liberty torn from her."</p>
-
-<p>"You can if you like."</p>
-
-<p>"No, it is impossible. My father watches too closely over his prisoner."</p>
-
-<p>"He will not distrust you, but allow you to approach her freely."</p>
-
-<p>"What you ask of me is impossible."</p>
-
-<p>"Because you will not, Shaw. Remember that women only love men in
-proportion to the sacrifices they make for them: they despise cowards."</p>
-
-<p>"But how to save her?"</p>
-
-<p>"That is your affair, Shaw."</p>
-
-<p>"At least give me some advice which will help me to escape from the
-difficult position in which I find myself."</p>
-
-<p>"In such serious circumstances your heart must guide you, and you must
-only ask counsel of it."</p>
-
-<p>"But the old one?" Shaw said hesitatingly.</p>
-
-<p>"Our father will not know your movements. I take on myself to prevent
-him noticing them."</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" the young man remarked, half convinced; "but I do not know where
-the maiden is hidden."</p>
-
-<p>"I will tell you, if you swear to do all in your power to save her."</p>
-
-<p>There was a moment of silence.</p>
-
-<p>"I swear to obey you, Ellen. If I do not succeed in carrying the girl
-off, I will at any rate employ all my intellect to obtain that result.
-Speak, then, without fear."</p>
-
-<p>"Doña Clara is confined at the Rancho del Coyote: she was intrusted to
-Andrés Garote."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah!" the young man said, as if speaking to himself, "I did not
-fancy her so near us."</p>
-
-<p>"You will save her?"</p>
-
-<p>"At all events I will try to free her from the hands of the man who
-guards her."</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" the maiden remarked; "I now recognise you. Lose no time: my
-father's absence alarms me. Perhaps at this moment he is preparing a
-safer hiding place for his prisoner."</p>
-
-<p>"Your idea is excellent, sister. Who knows whether it is not too late
-now to tear from the old man the prey he covets?"</p>
-
-<p>"When do you intend to start?"</p>
-
-<p>"At once: I have not a moment to lose. If the old man returned I should
-be compelled to remain here. But who will keep watch while my brothers
-sleep?"</p>
-
-<p>"I will," the maiden answered resolutely.</p>
-
-<p>"Whence arises the interest you feel in this woman, sister, as you do
-not know her?" the young man asked in surprise.</p>
-
-<p>"She is a woman, and unhappy. Are not those reasons sufficient?"</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps so," Shaw remarked doubtfully.</p>
-
-<p>"Child!" Ellen muttered, "Can you not read in your own heart, the motive
-of my conduct toward this stranger?"</p>
-
-<p>The young savage started at this remark.</p>
-
-<p>"It is true!" He exclaimed passionately. "Pardon me, sister! I am mad;
-but I love you, and you know me better than I do myself."</p>
-
-<p>And rising hurriedly, he kissed his sister, threw his rifle over his
-shoulder, and ran off in the direction of Santa Fe.</p>
-
-<p>When he had disappeared in the gloom, and the sound of his footsteps had
-died out in the distance, the girl fell on the ground, muttering in a
-low, sad voice:</p>
-
-<p>"Will he succeed?"</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIIb" id="CHAPTER_XIIb">CHAPTER XII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Red Cedar did not remain long under the effect of the startling insult
-he had received. Pride, wrath, and, before all, the desire to avenge
-himself restored his strength, and a few minutes after Don Pablo
-Zarate's departure the squatter had regained all his coolness and
-audacity.</p>
-
-<p>"You see, señor padre," he said, addressing the monk, "that our little
-plans are known to our enemies; we must, therefore, make haste if we do
-not wish to see persons break in here, from whom it is of the utmost
-importance to conceal ourselves. Tomorrow night at the latest, perhaps
-before, we shall start. Do not stir from here till my return. Your face
-is too well known at Santa Fe for you to venture to show it in the
-streets without imprudence."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" the monk muttered, "That demon, whom I fancied dead, is a rude
-adversary. Fortunately we shall soon have nothing more to fear from his
-father, for I hardly know how we should get out of it."</p>
-
-<p>"If the son has escaped us," Red Cedar said with an ugly smile, "that is
-fortunately not the case with the father. Don't be alarmed; Don Miguel
-will cause us no further embarrassment."</p>
-
-<p>"I wish it most earnestly, <i>canarios!</i> for he is a determined man; but I
-confess to you that I shall not be entirely at my ease till I have seen
-him fall beneath the bullets of the soldiers."</p>
-
-<p>"You will not have long to wait. General Ventura has ordered me to go
-and meet the regiment of dragoons he expects, in order to hurry them on,
-and bring them into the town this very night, if possible. So soon as
-the governor has an imposing force at his disposal he will no longer
-fear a revolt on the part of the troops, and give the order for
-execution without delay."</p>
-
-<p>"May Heaven grant it! But," he added with a sigh of regret, "what a pity
-that most of our scamps deserted us! We should have almost arrived at
-the placer by this time, and been safe from the vengeance of our
-enemies."</p>
-
-<p>"Patience, señor padre; all is for the best, perhaps, trust to me.
-Andrés, my horse."</p>
-
-<p>"You will start at once, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes. I recommend you to watch carefully over our prisoner."</p>
-
-<p>The monk shrugged his shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>"Our affairs are tolerably well embarrassed already; then why burden
-ourselves with a woman?"</p>
-
-<p>The squatter frowned.</p>
-
-<p>"That is my business," he exclaimed in a peremptory tone. "Keep all
-stupid observations to yourself. A thousand devils! I know what I am
-about. That woman will possibly prove our safeguard at a later date."</p>
-
-<p>And mounting his horse, Red Cedar galloped out of Santa Fe.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" Andrés Garote said as he watched him depart, "what a diabolical
-eye! Though I have known him several years, I never saw him like that
-before. How will all this end?"</p>
-
-<p>Without further remarks he arranged matters in the rancho, repairing as
-well as he could the disorder caused by the previous struggle; then he
-took a look round him. The monk, with his elbows on the table and a
-cigarette in his mouth, was drinking the fluid left in the bottle,
-doubtless to console himself for the <i>navajada</i> with which Don Pablo had
-favoured him.</p>
-
-<p>"Why, señor padre," the ranchero said in an insinuating voice, "do you
-know that it is hardly five o'clock?"</p>
-
-<p>"Do you think so?" the other answered for the sake of saying something.</p>
-
-<p>"Does not the time seem to you to go very slowly?"</p>
-
-<p>"Extraordinarily so."</p>
-
-<p>"If you liked we could easily shorten it."</p>
-
-<p>"In what way?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, for instance, with these."</p>
-
-<p>And Andrés drew from his boot a pack of greasy cards, which he
-complacently spread out on the table.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! That is a good idea," the monk exclaimed with sparkling eyes. "Let
-us have a game of monte."</p>
-
-<p>"At your orders."</p>
-
-<p>"Don Andrés, you are a most worthy gentlemen. What shall we play for?"</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, hang it! That is true; we must play for something," the ranchero
-said, scratching his head.</p>
-
-<p>"The merest trifle, simply to render the game interesting."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, but to do that man must possess the trifle."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not let that trouble you. If you permit me I will make you a
-proposal."</p>
-
-<p>"Do so, señor. You are a remarkable clever man, and can have none but
-bright ideas."</p>
-
-<p>The monk bowed to his flattering insinuation.</p>
-
-<p>"This is it: we will play, if you like for the share of the gold we
-shall receive when we reach the placer."</p>
-
-<p>"Done!" the ranchero shouted enthusiastically.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," the monk said, drawing from his pocket a pack of cards no less
-dirty than the others, "we can at any rate kill time."</p>
-
-<p>"What! You have cards too?" the ranchero remarked.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, and quite new, as you see." Andrés bowed with an air of
-conviction.</p>
-
-<p>The game began at once, and soon the two men were completely absorbed in
-the combinations of the <i>seis de copas,</i> the <i>as de bastos</i>, the <i>dos de
-oro</i>, and the <i>cuatro d'espadas</i>. The monk, who had no necessity to
-feign at this moment, as he was in the company of a man thoroughly
-acquainted with him, yielded frenziedly to his ruling passion. In
-Mexico, and throughout Spanish America, the <i>angelus</i> rings at sunset.
-In those countries, where there is no twilight, night arrives without
-transition, so that ere the bell has done tinkling the gloom is dense.
-At the last stroke of the angelus the game ceased, as if by common
-agreement between the two men, and they threw their cards on the table.</p>
-
-<p>Although Garote was a passed master in trickery, and had displayed all
-his science, he found in the monk so skilful an adversary that, after
-more than three hours of an obstinate struggle, they both found
-themselves as little advanced as at the outset. The monk, however, on
-coming to the rancho, had an object which Red Cedar was far from
-suspecting.</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio rested his arms on the table, bent his body slightly
-forward, and while carelessly playing with the cards, which he amused
-himself by sorting, he said to the ranchero, as he fixed a scrutinising
-glance upon him,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Shall we talk a little, Don Andrés?"</p>
-
-<p>"Willingly," the latter replied, who had partly risen, but now fell back
-on his chair.</p>
-
-<p>By a secret foreboding Andrés Garote had guessed that the monk wished to
-make some important proposal to him. Hence, thanks to that instinctive
-intuition which rogues possess for certain things, the two men read each
-other's thoughts. Fray Ambrosio bit his lips, for the gambusino's
-intelligence startled him. Still the latter bent upon him a glance so
-full of stupid meaning, that he continued to make a confidant of him, as
-it were involuntarily.</p>
-
-<p>"Señor Don Andrés," he said in a soft and insinuating voice, "what a
-happiness that your poor brother, on dying, revealed to me the secret of
-the rich placer, which he concealed even from yourself!"</p>
-
-<p>"It is true," Andrés answered, turning slightly pale; "it was very
-fortunate, señor padre. For my part, I congratulate myself on it daily."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it not so? For without it the immense fortune would have been lost
-to you and all else."</p>
-
-<p>"It is terrible to think of."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, at this moment I have a horrible fear."</p>
-
-<p>"What is it, señor padre?"</p>
-
-<p>"That we have deferred our departure too long, and that some of those
-European vagabonds we were speaking of just now may have discovered our
-placer. Those scoundrels have a peculiar scent for finding gold."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caray</i>, señor padre!" Andrés said, striking the table with a feigned
-grief (for he knew very well what the monk was saying was only a clever
-way of attaining his real point), "that would drive me mad&mdash;an affair so
-well managed hitherto."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," Fray Ambrosio said in corroboration. "I could never
-console myself."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Demonios</i>! I have as great an interest in it as yourself, señor
-padre," the gambusino replied with superb coolness. "You know that an
-uninterrupted succession of unfortunate speculations robbed me of my
-fortune, and I hoped thus to regain it at a stroke."</p>
-
-<p>At these words Fray Ambrosio had incredible difficulty in repressing a
-smile; for it was a matter of public notoriety that señor Don Andrés
-Garote was a lepero, who, as regarded fortune, had never possessed a
-farthing of patrimony; that throughout his life he had never been aught
-but an adventurer; and that the unlucky speculations of which he
-complained were simply an ill luck at monte, which had recently stripped
-him of 20,000 piastres, acquired Heaven alone knew how. But señor Don
-Andrés Garote was a man of unequalled bravery, gifted with a fertile and
-ready mind, whom the accidents of life had compelled to live for a
-lengthened period on the <i>llanos</i> (prairies), whose paths he knew as
-thoroughly as he did the tricks of those who dwelt on them. Hence, and
-for many other reasons, Andrés Garote was an invaluable comrade for Fray
-Ambrosio, who had also a bitter revenge to take on the monte table,
-because he pretended to place the most sincere faith in what it pleased
-his honourable mate to say touching his lost fortune.</p>
-
-<p>"However," he said, after an instant's reflection, "supposing that the
-placer is intact, and that no one has discovered it, we shall have a
-long journey to reach it."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the gambusino remarked, significantly; "the road is difficult and
-broadcast with perils innumerable."</p>
-
-<p>"We must march with our chins on our shoulders, and finger on the rifle
-trigger&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Fight nearly constantly with wild beasts or Indians&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"In a word, do you not believe that the woman Red Cedar has carried off
-will prove a horrid bore?"</p>
-
-<p>"Dreadfully so," Andrés made answer, with an intelligent glance.</p>
-
-<p>"What is to be done?"</p>
-
-<p>"Hang it! That is difficult to say."</p>
-
-<p>"Still we cannot run the risk, on account of a wretched woman, of having
-our hair raised by the Indians."</p>
-
-<p>"That's true enough."</p>
-
-<p>"Is she here?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the gambusino said, pointing to a door; "in that room."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!"</p>
-
-<p>"You remarked&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"Could we not&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"What?"</p>
-
-<p>"It is perhaps difficult," Andrés continued, with feigned hesitation.</p>
-
-<p>"Explain yourself."</p>
-
-<p>The gambusino seemed to make up his mind.</p>
-
-<p>"Suppose we restore her to her family?" he said.</p>
-
-<p>"I have thought of that already."</p>
-
-<p>"That is strange."</p>
-
-<p>"It must be all managed very cleverly."</p>
-
-<p>"And the relations pay a proper ransom."</p>
-
-<p>"That is what I meant to say.".</p>
-
-<p>There was a silence.</p>
-
-<p>Decidedly these two honourable persons were made to understand one
-another.</p>
-
-<p>"But who is to undertake this delicate mission?" asked the monk.</p>
-
-<p>"I, <i>con mil demonios!</i>" the gambusino exclaimed, his eyes sparkling
-with greed at the thought of the rich ransom he would demand.</p>
-
-<p>"But if Red Cedar were to find out," the monk remarked, "that we
-surrendered his prisoner?"</p>
-
-<p>"Who will tell him?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am sure I shan't."</p>
-
-<p>"Nor I."</p>
-
-<p>"It is very easy; the girl will have escaped."</p>
-
-<p>"Quite true."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not let us lose time, then. You have a horse?"</p>
-
-<p>"I have two."</p>
-
-<p>"Bravo! You will place Doña Clara on one, and mount the other yourself."</p>
-
-<p>"And go straight to the Hacienda de la Noria."</p>
-
-<p>"That is it. Don Pablo will be delighted to recover his sister, whom he
-expected never to see again, and will not haggle over the price he pays
-for her deliverance."</p>
-
-<p>"Famous! In that way we run no risk of not reaching the placer, as our
-party will only consist of men."</p>
-
-<p>"Excellently reasoned!"</p>
-
-<p>Andrés Garote rose with a smile which would have caused the monk to
-reflect, had he seen it; but at the same moment the latter was rubbing
-his hands, saying in a low voice, and with a most satisfied air,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Now, my scamp, I've got you."</p>
-
-<p>What secret thought possessed these two men, who were carrying on a
-mutual deceit, none save themselves could have said. The gambusino
-approached the door of the room where Doña Clara was confined, and put
-the key in the lock. At this moment two vigorous blows were dealt on the
-door of the rancho, which had been carefully bolted after Red Cedar's
-departure. The two accomplices started.</p>
-
-<p>"Must I open?" Andrés asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the monk answered; "hesitation or refusal might create alarm. In
-our position we must foresee everything."</p>
-
-<p>The ranchero went to open the door, which the newcomer threatened to
-break in. A man walked in, who took a careful glance around, then doffed
-his hat and bowed. The confederates exchanged a glance of vexation on
-recognising him, for he was no other than Shaw, Red Cedar's youngest
-son.</p>
-
-<p>"I am afraid I disturb you, gentlemen," the young man said, with an
-ironical smile.</p>
-
-<p>"Not at all," Andrés made answer; "on the contrary, we are delighted to
-see you."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks!"</p>
-
-<p>And the young man fell back into a butaca.</p>
-
-<p>"You are very late at Santa Fe," the monk remarked.</p>
-
-<p>"It is true," the American said, with some embarrassment; "I am looking
-for my father, and fancied I should find him here."</p>
-
-<p>"He was so a few hours back, but he was obliged to leave us."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!"</p>
-
-<p>This exclamation was rather drawn from the young man by the necessity he
-felt of replying, than through any interest he took in the information
-afforded him. He was evidently preoccupied; but Fray Ambrosio did not
-appear to notice it, as he continued,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Yes: it appears that his Excellency the Governor ordered your father to
-go and meet a regiment of dragoons intended to reinforce the garrison,
-and hasten its march."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true; I forgot it."</p>
-
-<p>The monk and the miner did not at all understand the American's conduct,
-and lost themselves in conjectures as to the reasons that brought him to
-the rancho. They guessed instinctively that what he said about his
-father was only a pretext or means of introduction; and that a powerful
-motive, he would not or dared not avow, had brought him. For his part,
-the young man, in coming to the Rancho del Coyote, where he knew that
-Doña Clara was imprisoned, expected to find Andrés alone, with whom he
-hoped to come to an understanding in some way or another. The presence
-of the monk disturbed all his plans. Still, time was slipping away he
-must make up his mind, and, before all, profit by Red Cedar's
-providential absence, which offered him an opportunity he could hardly
-dare to hope again.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIIIb" id="CHAPTER_XIIIb">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>A STORMY DISCUSSION.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Shaw was not timid, as we have said&mdash;he ought rather be accused of the
-opposite excess; he was not the man, once his resolution was formed, to
-let anything soever turn him from it. His hesitation was not long; he
-suddenly rose, and violently stamping his rifle butt on the ground,
-looked at the two men, while saying in a firm voice,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Be frank, my presence here at this hour astonishes you, and you ask
-yourselves what cause can have brought me."</p>
-
-<p>"Sir," the monk said, with a certain degree of hesitation rendered
-highly natural by the young man's tone.</p>
-
-<p>"Pardon me," Shaw exclaimed, interrupting him, "the cause you will seek
-in vain. I will tell you: I have come to deliver Doña Clara."</p>
-
-<p>"Can it be possible?" the two men exclaimed with stupefaction.</p>
-
-<p>"It is so; whether you like it or not, I care little. I am the man to
-hold my own against both of you, and no one can prevent me restoring the
-maiden to her father, as I have resolved on doing."</p>
-
-<p>"What do I hear?" said Fray Ambrosio.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" the young man continued quickly, "Believe me, do not attempt any
-useless resistance, for I have resolved, if needs must, to pass over
-your bodies to success."</p>
-
-<p>"But we have not the slightest wish&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Take care," he interrupted him in a voice full of menace and frowning,
-"I will only leave this house accompanied by her I wish to save."</p>
-
-<p>"Sir," the monk remarked, in an authoritative voice which momentarily
-quelled the young savage, "two words of explanation."</p>
-
-<p>"Make haste!" he answered, "For I warn you that my patience is
-exhausted."</p>
-
-<p>"I do not insist on your listening any length of time. You have come
-here, you say, with the intention of delivering Doña Clara?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," he answered impatiently, "and if you attempt to oppose it&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Pardon me," the monk interrupted, "such a determination on your part
-naturally surprises us."</p>
-
-<p>"Why so?" the young man said, raising his head haughtily.</p>
-
-<p>"Because," Fray Ambrosio answered tranquilly, "You are the son of Red
-Cedar, and it is at least I strange that&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Enough talking," Shaw exclaimed violently; "will you or not give me up
-her I have come to seek?"</p>
-
-<p>"I must know, in the first place, what you intend doing with her.</p>
-
-<p>"How does that concern you?"</p>
-
-<p>"More than you imagine. Since that girl has been a prisoner I
-constituted myself&mdash;if not her guardian, for the dress I wear forbids
-that&mdash;her defender; in that quality I have the right of knowing for what
-reason you, the son of the man who tore her from her family, have come
-so audaciously to demand her surrender to you, and what your object is
-in acting thus?"</p>
-
-<p>The young man had listened to those remarks with an impatience that
-became momentarily more visible; it could be seen that he made
-superhuman efforts to restrain himself. When the monk stopped, he looked
-at him for a moment with a strange expression, then walked up so close
-as almost to touch him, drew a pair of pistols from his girdle and
-pointed them at the monk.</p>
-
-<p>"Surrender Doña Clara to me," he said, in a low and menacing voice.</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio had attentively followed all the American's movements, and
-when the latter put the pistol muzzles to his chest, the monk, with an
-action rapid as lightning, also drew two pistols from his girdle, and
-placed them, on his adversary's chest. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation, of indescribable agony; the two men were motionless, face
-to face panting, each with his fingers on a trigger, pale, and their
-brows dank with cold perspiration. Andrés Garote, his lips curled by an
-ironical smile, and his arms crossed, carelessly leaned against a table,
-watching this scene which had for him all the attractions of a play.</p>
-
-<p>All at once the door of the rancho, which had not been fastened again
-after the squatter's entry was violently thrown back and a man appeared.
-It was Father Seraphin. At a glance he judged the position and boldly
-threw himself between the foemen, hurling them back, but not uttering a
-word. The two men recoiled, and lowered their weapons, but continued to
-menace each other with their glances.</p>
-
-<p>"What!" the missionary said in a deep voice, "Have I arrived just in
-time to prevent a double murder, gentlemen? In Heaven's name, hide those
-homicidal weapons; do not stand opposite each other like wild beasts
-preparing for a leap."</p>
-
-<p>"Withdraw, father; you have nothing to do here. Let me treat this man as
-he deserves," the squatter answered, casting at the missionary a
-ferocious glance&mdash;"his life belongs to me."</p>
-
-<p>"Young man," the priest replied, "the life of a fellow being belongs
-only to God, who has the right to deprive, him of it; lower your
-weapons"&mdash;and turning to Fray Ambrosio, he said to him in a cutting
-voice, "and you who dishonour the frock you wear, throw away those
-pistols which sully your hands&mdash;a minister of the altar should not
-employ other weapons than the Gospel."</p>
-
-<p>The monk bowed, and caused his pistols to disappear, saying in a soft
-and cautious voice, "My father, I was compelled to defend my life which
-that maniac assailed. Heaven is my witness that I reprove these violent
-measures, too frequently employed in this unhappy country; but this man
-came into the house with threats on his lips; he insisted on our
-delivering a wretched girl whom this caballero," he said, pointing to
-the gambusino, "and myself did not think proper to surrender."</p>
-
-<p>Andrés corroborated the monk's words by a nod of the head.</p>
-
-<p>"I wish to save that young girl from your hands," Shaw said, "and
-restore her to her father."</p>
-
-<p>"Of whom are you speaking, my friend?" the missionary asked with a
-secret beating of his heart.</p>
-
-<p>"Of whom should I speak, save Doña Clara de Zarate, whom these villains
-retain here by force?"</p>
-
-<p>"Can it be possible?" Father Seraphin exclaimed in amazement. "Doña
-Clara here?"</p>
-
-<p>"Ask those men," Shaw answered, roughly, as he angrily struck the butt
-of his rifle against the ground.</p>
-
-<p>"Is it true?" the priest inquired.</p>
-
-<p>"It is," the gambusino answered.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin frowned, and his pale forehead was covered with febrile
-ruddiness.</p>
-
-<p>"Sir," he said, in a voice choking with indignation. "I summon you, in
-the name of that God whom you serve, and whose minister you lay claim to
-being, to restore at once to liberty the hapless girl whom you have so
-unworthily imprisoned, in defiance of all laws, human and divine. I
-engage to deliver her into the hands of those who bewail her loss."</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio bowed; he let his eyes fall, and said in a hypocritical
-voice&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Father, you are mistaken as regards myself. I had nothing to do with
-the carrying off of that poor child, which on the contrary, I opposed to
-the utmost of my power; and that is so true, father," he added, "that at
-the moment when this young madman arrived, the worthy gambusino and
-myself had resolved, at all risks, on restoring Doña Clara to her
-family."</p>
-
-<p>"I should wish to believe you, sir; if I am mistaken, as you say, you
-will forgive me, for appearances were against you; it only depends on
-yourself to produce a perfect justification by carrying out my wishes."</p>
-
-<p>"You shall be satisfied, father," the monk replied. At a signal from him
-Garote left the room. During the few words interchanged between the two
-men, Shaw remained motionless, hesitating, not knowing what he ought to
-do; but he suddenly made up his mind, threw his rifle over his shoulder,
-and turned to the missionary.</p>
-
-<p>"Father," he said respectfully, "my presence is now needless here.
-Farewell; my departure will prove to you the purity of my intentions."</p>
-
-<p>And turning suddenly on his heel, he hurried out of the rancho. A few
-moments after his departure the gambusino returned, Doña Clara following
-him.</p>
-
-<p>Doña Clara no longer wore the dress of the whites, for Red Cedar, in
-order to render her unrecognizable, had compelled her to don the Indian
-garb, which the maiden wore with an innate grace which heightened its
-strange elegance. Like all Indian squaws, she was attired in two white
-chemises of striped calico&mdash;the one fastened around the neck, fell to
-the hips; while the other, drawn in at the waist, descended to her
-ankles. Her neck was adorned with collars of fine pearls, mingled with
-those small shells called wampum, and employed by the Indians as money.
-Her arms and ankles were surrounded by wide circles of gold, and a small
-diadem of the same metal relieved the pale tint of her forehead.
-Moccasins of deer hide, embroidered with wool and beads of every colour
-imprisoned her small and high-arched feet.</p>
-
-<p>As she entered the room, a shadow of melancholy and sadness spread over
-her face, adding, were that possible, a further charm to her person. On
-seeing the missionary, Doña Clara uttered a cry of joy, and rushed
-toward him, fell into his arms, and murmured in a heart-rending voice:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Father! save me! save me!"</p>
-
-<p>"Be calm, my daughter!" the priest said to her, gently. "You have
-nothing more to fear now that I am near you."</p>
-
-<p>"Come!" she exclaimed, wildly, "Let us fly from this accursed house, in
-which I have suffered so greatly."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, my daughter, we will go; set your mind at rest."</p>
-
-<p>"You see, father," Fray Ambrosio said, hypocritically, "that I did not
-deceive you."</p>
-
-<p>The missionary cast at the monk a glance of undefinable meaning.</p>
-
-<p>"I trust that you spoke truly," he replied; "the God who gauges hearts
-will judge you according to works. I will rescue this maiden at once."</p>
-
-<p>"Do so, father; I am happy to know her under your protection."</p>
-
-<p>And picking up the cloak which Don Pablo left after blinding Red Cedar,
-he placed it delicately on the shuddering shoulders of Doña Clara, in
-order to conceal her Indian garb. Father Seraphin drew her arm through
-his own, and led her from the rancho. Ere long they disappeared in the
-darkness. Fray Ambrosio looked after them as long as he could see them,
-and then re-entered the room, carefully bolting the door after him.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," Andrés Garote asked him, "what do you think, señor Padre, of all
-that has happened?"</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps things are better as they are."</p>
-
-<p>"And Red Cedar?"</p>
-
-<p>"I undertake to render ourselves as white in his sight as the snows of
-the Caffre de Perote."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! it will be difficult."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps so."</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIVb" id="CHAPTER_XIVb">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE MYSTERY.</h3>
-
-
-<p>On leaving the Rancho del Coyote, Red Cedar dug his spurs into his
-horse's flanks, and galloped in a south-western direction. So soon as he
-was out of the town he turned to the left, took a narrow path that ran
-round the walls, pulled up his horse, and advanced with the utmost
-caution. Throwing suspicious glances on either side, he went on thus for
-about three-quarters of an hour, when he reached a house, in one of the
-windows of which burned three wax tapers.</p>
-
-<p>The lights thus arranged were evidently a signal for the squatter, for
-so soon as he came to the house he stopped and dismounted, attached his
-horse to a larch-tree, and prudently concealing himself behind a
-thicket, imitated thrice at equal intervals the hu-hu of an owl. The
-lights burning in the window were extinguished, as if by enchantment.</p>
-
-<p>The night was gloomy, only a few stars studded the vault of heaven; a
-leaden silence brooded over the plain, which appeared quite solitary. At
-this moment a voice could be heard from the house which Red Cedar was
-watching so carefully. The squatter listened; the speaker leaned for a
-second out of the window looked cautiously round, and disappeared
-muttering loud enough for the American to overhear&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"All is quiet in the neighbourhood."</p>
-
-<p>"Still," the squatter said, without showing himself, "the coyotes prowl
-about the plain."</p>
-
-<p>"Are you coming or going?" the man at the window continued.</p>
-
-<p>"Both," the squatter answered, still hidden behind his bush.</p>
-
-<p>"You can come on, for you are expected."</p>
-
-<p>"I know it; hence here I am."</p>
-
-<p>While making this answer, the squatter left his hiding place, and placed
-himself before the door with folded arms, like a man who has nothing to
-fear.</p>
-
-<p>The door was cautiously opened; a man emerged, carefully wrapped up in,
-a wide cloak, which only allowed eyes to be seen, that flashed in the
-gloom like a jackal's. This person walked straight up to Red Cedar.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," he asked, in a low voice, "have you reflected?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"And what is the result of your reflections?"</p>
-
-<p>"I refuse."</p>
-
-<p>"Still?"</p>
-
-<p>"More than ever."</p>
-
-<p>"Take care."</p>
-
-<p>"I do not care, Don Melchior, for I am not afraid of you."</p>
-
-<p>"No names!" the stranger exclaimed, impatiently.</p>
-
-<p>"We are alone."</p>
-
-<p>"No one is ever alone in the desert."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," Red Cedar muttered. "Let us return to our business."</p>
-
-<p>"It is simple&mdash;give and give."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! You get to work very fast; unfortunately it cannot be so."</p>
-
-<p>"Why not?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, because I am growing tired of constantly taking in my nets game by
-which others profit, and which I ought to keep as a safeguard."</p>
-
-<p>"You call that girl a guarantee?"</p>
-
-<p>"By Heaven! what else do you mean to make of her?"</p>
-
-<p>"Do not compare me with you, scoundrel!"</p>
-
-<p>"Where is the difference between us? I am a scoundrel, I grant; but, by
-heaven, you are another, my master, however powerful you may be."</p>
-
-<p>"Listen, caballero!" the stranger answered, in a cutting voice. "I will
-lose no more of my time in discoursing with you. I want that girl, and
-will have her, whatever you may do to prevent me."</p>
-
-<p>"Good; in that case you declare war against me?" the squatter said, with
-a certain tinge of alarm, which he tried in vain to conceal.</p>
-
-<p>The stranger shrugged his shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>"We have known one another long enough to be perfectly well acquainted;
-we can only be friends or foes. Is not that your opinion?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, then, hand Doña Clara over to me, and I will give you the papers
-which&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Enough!" the squatter said, sharply. "Have you those papers about you?"</p>
-
-<p>The stranger burst into a laugh.</p>
-
-<p>"Do you take me for such a fool?" he said.</p>
-
-<p>"I do not understand you."</p>
-
-<p>"I will not insult you by believing you. No, I have not those papers
-about me. I am not such an ass as to risk assassination at your hands."</p>
-
-<p>"What would your death profit me?"</p>
-
-<p>"Hang it all! If it were only my scalp you would be sure to receive at
-least fifty dollars for it."</p>
-
-<p>At this mournful jest the squatter began laughing.</p>
-
-<p>"I did not think of that," he said,</p>
-
-<p>"Listen to me, Red Cedar, and print the words on your memory."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak."</p>
-
-<p>"In a month from today, hour for hour, day for day, wherever you may be,
-I shall present myself to you."</p>
-
-<p>"For what purpose?' the squatter asked impudently.</p>
-
-<p>"To repeat my demand with reference to the prisoner."</p>
-
-<p>"Then, as now, I shall reply No, my master."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps so. Live and learn. Now good-bye, and may the devil, your
-patron saint, preserve you in good health until our next meeting. You
-know that I have you tight; so consider yourself warned."</p>
-
-<p>"Good, good! Threats do not frighten me. <i>Demonios</i>, since I have been
-traversing the desert, I have found myself opposed to enemies quite as
-dangerous as you, and yet I managed to get quit of them."</p>
-
-<p>"That is possible, Red Cedar; but believe me, meditate carefully on my
-words."</p>
-
-<p>"I repeat that your threats do not frighten me."</p>
-
-<p>"I do not threaten, I warn you."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! Well, then, listen in your turn. In the desert, every man armed
-with a good rifle has nothing to fear from whomsoever."</p>
-
-<p>"What next?" the stranger interrupted him, in a sarcastic voice.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, my rifle is excellent, I have a sure aim, and I say no more."</p>
-
-<p>"Nonsense, you are mad! I defy you to kill me!"</p>
-
-<p>"Hang it, though, what can be your motive for wishing to have this girl
-in your power?"</p>
-
-<p>"That is no affair of yours. I have no explanations due to you. Enough
-for you to know that I want her."</p>
-
-<p>"You shall not have her."</p>
-
-<p>"We shall see. Good-bye, Red Cedar."</p>
-
-<p>"Good-bye, Don Melchior, or whatever be the name you please to bear."</p>
-
-<p>The stranger made no reply, but turned his head with a gesture of
-contempt, and whistled. A man emerged from the house, holding a horse by
-the bridle; at one bound the stranger reached the saddle, and ordered
-the servant to withdraw.</p>
-
-<p>"Farewell, <i>Compadre</i>, remember our appointment."</p>
-
-<p>And loosing his reins, the stranger started at a gallop, not
-condescending even to turn his head. Red Cedar looked after him with an
-indescribable expression of rage.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh," he muttered in a low voice, "demon! Shall I never free myself from
-your clutches?"</p>
-
-<p>And with a motion rapid as thought he shouldered his rifle, and aimed at
-the departing man. All at once the latter turned his horse, and stood
-right opposite Red Cedar.</p>
-
-<p>"Mind not to miss me!" he cried, with a burst of laughter that caused a
-cold perspiration to bead on the bandit's forehead.</p>
-
-<p>The latter let his rifle fall, saying in a hollow voice: "He is right,
-and I am mad! If I only had the papers!"</p>
-
-<p>The stranger waited for a moment calm and motionless; then he started
-again and soon disappeared in the darkness. Red Cedar stood with his
-body bowed forward, and his ears on the watch, so long as the horse's
-hoofs could be heard; then he returned to his own steed, and bounded
-into the saddle.</p>
-
-<p>"Now to go and warn the dragoons," he said, and pushed on.</p>
-
-<p>The squatter had scarce departed ere several men appeared from either
-side; they were Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo on the right;
-Unicorn and Eagle-wing on the left. Valentine and his friends were
-astonished at meeting the Comanche chief, whom they believed gone back
-to his camp; but the sachem explained to them, in a few words, how, at
-the moment he was crossing the spot where they now were, he had heard
-Red Cedar's voice, and concealed himself in the shrubs in order to
-overhear the squatter's colloquy with his strange friend. Valentine had
-done the same; but, unfortunately, the party had been greatly
-disappointed, for the squatter's conversation remained to them an
-enigma, of which they sought the key in vain.</p>
-
-<p>"'Tis strange," Valentine remarked, as he passed his hand several times
-across his forehead. "I do not know where I have seen the man just now
-talking here with Red Cedar, but I have a vague reminiscence of having
-met him before, where and under what circumstance I try, though in vain,
-to recall."</p>
-
-<p>"What shall we do?" Don Pablo asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Hang it, what we agreed on;" and turning to the chief, he said, "Good
-luck, brother, I believe we shall save our friend."</p>
-
-<p>"I am sure of it," the Indian replied, laconically.</p>
-
-<p>"May heaven hear you, brother," Valentine continued. "Act! While, on
-your side, you watch the town for fear of treason. We then will ambush
-ourselves on the road the gambusinos must take, in order to know
-positively the direction in which they are proceeding. Till tomorrow,
-chief!"</p>
-
-<p>"Stop!" a panting voice exclaimed, and a man suddenly appeared in the
-midst of them.</p>
-
-<p>"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said in a surprise. "What chance brings you
-this way?"</p>
-
-<p>"I was looking for you."</p>
-
-<p>"What do you want with me?"</p>
-
-<p>"To give you some good news."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak! Speak quickly, father! Has Don Miguel left his prison?"</p>
-
-<p>"Alas! Not yet; but his daughter is free!"</p>
-
-<p>"Doña Clara free!" Valentine shouted joyously. "Heaven be blessed! Where
-is she?"</p>
-
-<p>"She is temporarily in safety, be assured of that; but let me give you a
-warning, which may perhaps prove useful to you."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak! Speak!"</p>
-
-<p>"By order of the governor, Red Cedar has gone to meet the regiment of
-dragoons, coming up to reinforce the Santa Fe garrison."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caramba</i>," Valentine said, "are you sure of your statement, father?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am: in my presence, the men who carried off Doña Clara spoke about
-it."</p>
-
-<p>"All is lost if these soldiers arrive."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the missionary said; "but, how to prevent it?"</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla lightly touched the leader's arm.</p>
-
-<p>"What do you want, chief!"</p>
-
-<p>"The Comanches are warriors," Curumilla answered, curtly.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" Valentine exclaimed, and tapping his forehead with delight, "that
-is true, chief; you save us."</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla smiled with pleasure.</p>
-
-<p>"While you go in pursuit of the soldiers," said Don Pablo, "as I can be
-of no service to you, I will accompany Father Seraphin to my poor
-sister, whom I have not seen so long, and am eager to embrace."</p>
-
-<p>"Do so," Valentine answered. "At daybreak you will bring Doña Clara to
-the camp, that I may myself deliver her to her father."</p>
-
-<p>"That is agreed."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn rushed out in the plain, while Father
-Seraphin and Don Pablo returned to the town. The two gentlemen, anxious
-to join the girl, did not perceive that they were closely watched by an
-individual, who followed their every movement, while careful not to be
-seen by them. It was Nathan, Red Cedar's eldest son.</p>
-
-<p>How was that man there?</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVb" id="CHAPTER_XVb">CHAPTER XV.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE AMBUSCADE.</h3>
-
-
-<p>The nigh breeze had swept the clouds away; the sky, of a deep azure, was
-studded with an infinity of stars; the night was limpid, the atmosphere
-so transparent as to allow the slightest varieties of the landscape to
-be distinguished. About four leagues from Santa Fe, a numerous band of
-horsemen was following a path scarce traced in the tall grass, which
-approached the town with countless turns and windings. These horsemen,
-who marched in rather decent order, were nearly 600 in number, and
-formed the regiment of dragoons so anxiously expected by General
-Ventura.</p>
-
-<p>About ten paces ahead rode four or five officers gaily chatting
-together, among whom was the colonel. The regiment continued its march
-slowly, advancing cautiously, through fear of losing its way in a
-perfectly strange country. The colonel and his officers who had always
-fought in the States bordering the Atlantic, found themselves now for
-the first time in these savage countries.</p>
-
-<p>"Caballeros," the colonel suddenly remarked, "I confess to you that I am
-completely ignorant as to our whereabouts. Can any one of you throw a
-light on the subject? This road is fearful, it seems to lead nowhere,
-and I am afraid we have lost our way."</p>
-
-<p>"We are all as ignorant as yourself on that head, colonel," an officer
-answered, "not one of us could say where we are."</p>
-
-<p>"On my word!" the colonel went on, taking a glance of satisfaction
-around, "We are not in a hurry to reach Santa Fe. I suppose it makes
-little difference whether we get there today or tomorrow. I believe that
-the best thing for us to do is to bivouac here for the rest of the
-night; at sunrise we will start again."</p>
-
-<p>"You are right, colonel," the officer said, whom he seemed to address
-most particularly, "a few hours' delay is of no consequence, and we run
-the risk of going out of our course."</p>
-
-<p>"Give the order to halt."</p>
-
-<p>The officer immediately obeyed; the soldiers, wearied with a long
-night's march, greeted with shouts of joy the order to stop. They
-dismounted. The horses were unsaddled and picketed, campfires were
-lighted, in less than an hour the bivouac was arranged.</p>
-
-<p>The colonel, in desiring to camp for the night, had a more serious fear
-than that of losing his way; it was that of falling in with a party of
-<i>Indios bravos.</i></p>
-
-<p>The colonel was brave, and had proved it on many occasions; grown gray
-in harness, he was an old soldier who feared nothing in the world
-particularly; but accustomed to warfare in the interior of the Republic,
-had never seen opposed to him any but civilised foes, he professed for
-the Indians that instinctive fear which all the Mexicans entertain, and
-he would not risk a fight with an Apache or Comanche war party in the
-middle of the night, in a country whose resources he did not know, and
-run the risk of having his regiment cut to pieces by such Protean
-enemies. On the other hand, he was unaware that the governor of Santa Fe
-had such pressing need of his presence, and this authorised him in
-acting with the utmost precaution. Still, as soon as the bivouac was
-established, and the sentries posted, the colonel sent off a dozen
-resolute men under an Alferez, to trot up the country and try to procure
-a guide.</p>
-
-<p>We will observe, in passing, that in Spanish America, so soon as you
-leave the capitals, such as Lima, or Mexico, roads, such as we
-understand them in Europe, no longer exist; you only find paths traced,
-in nine cases out of ten, by the footprints of wild beasts, and which
-are so entangled one with the other, that, unless you have been long
-accustomed to them, it is almost impossible to find your way. The
-Spaniards, we grant, laid out wide and firm roads, but since the War of
-Independence, they had been cut up, deteriorated and so abandoned by the
-neglect of the ephemeral governments that have followed each other in
-Mexico, that with the exception of the great highways of communication
-in the interior of the country, the rest had disappeared under the
-herbage.</p>
-
-<p>The little squad of troopers sent out to beat up the country had started
-at a gallop, but it soon reduced its pace, and the soldiers and sergeant
-began laughing and talking, caring little for the important mission with
-which they were intrusted. The moon rose on the horizon, shedding her
-fantastic rays over the ground. As we have said, it was one of those
-lovely nights of the American desert full of strange odours. A majestic
-silence hovered over the plain, only disturbed at intervals by those
-sounds, without any known cause, which are heard on the savannahs, and
-which seem to be the respiration of the sleeping world. Suddenly the
-mockingbird sung twice, and its plaintive and soft song resounded
-melodiously through the air.</p>
-
-<p>"Hallo," one of the dragoons said, addressing his comrade, "that's a
-bird that sings very late."</p>
-
-<p>"An evil omen," the other said with a shake of his head.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Canarios</i>! What omen are you talking about, comrade?"</p>
-
-<p>"I have always heard say," the second, speaker remarked sententiously,
-"that when you hear a bird sing on your left at night it predicts
-misfortune."</p>
-
-<p>"The deuce confound you and your prognostics."</p>
-
-<p>At this moment the song, which appeared previously some distance off,
-could be heard much more close, and seemed to come from some trees on
-the side of the path the dragoons were following. The Alferez raised his
-head and stopped, as if mechanically trying to explain the sound that
-smote his ears; but all became silent again, so he shook his head and
-continued his conversation. The detachment had been out more than an
-hour. During this long stroll, the soldiers had discovered nothing
-suspicious; as for the guide they sought, it is needless to say that
-they had not found him, for they had not met a living soul. The Alferez
-was about to give orders to return to camp, when one of the troopers
-pointed out to him some heavy, black forms, apparently prowling about
-unsuspiciously.</p>
-
-<p>"What on earth can that be?" the officer asked, after carefully
-examining what was pointed out to him.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caspita</i>," one of the dragoons exclaimed, "that is easy to see; they
-are browsing deer!"</p>
-
-<p>"Deer!" said the Alferez, in whom the hunter's instinct was suddenly
-aroused, "there are at least thirty; suppose we try to catch some."</p>
-
-<p>"It is difficult."</p>
-
-<p>"Pshaw!" another soldier shouted, "It is light enough for each of us to
-send them a bullet."</p>
-
-<p>"You must by no means use your carbines," the Alferez interposed
-sharply; "if our shots, re-echoed through the mountains, caught the ears
-of the Indians, who are probably ambushed in the thickets, we should be
-ruined."</p>
-
-<p>"What is to be done, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"Lasso them, <i>caspita</i>, as you wish to try and catch them."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true; I did not think of that."</p>
-
-<p>The dragoons, delighted at the opportunity of indulging in their
-favourite sport, dismounted, fastened their horses to the roadside trees
-and seized their lassos. They then advanced cautiously toward the deer,
-which continued grazing tranquilly, without appearing to suspect that
-enemies were so near them. On arriving at a short distance from the
-game, the dragoons separated in order to have room for whirling their
-lassos, and making a covering of each tree, they managed to approach
-within fifteen paces of the animals. Then they stopped, exchanged
-glances, carefully calculated the distance, and, at a signal from their
-leader, sent their lassos whizzing through the air.</p>
-
-<p>A strange thing happened at this moment, however. All the deer hides
-fell simultaneously to the ground, displaying Valentine, Curumilla, and
-a dozen Comanche warriors, who, profiting by the stupor of the troopers
-at their extraordinary metamorphosis, hunted the hunters by throwing
-lassos over their shoulders and hurled them to the ground. The ten
-dragoons and their leader were prisoners.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, my friends," Valentine said with a grin, "how do you like that
-sort of fun?"</p>
-
-<p>The startled dragoons made no reply, but allowed themselves to be bound;
-one alone muttered between his teeth:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"I was quite sure that villain of a mockingbird would bring us ill luck;
-it sang on our left. That never deceives, <i>Canarios!</i>"</p>
-
-<p>Valentine smiled at this sally. He then placed two fingers in his mouth
-and imitated the cry of the mockingbird with such perfection, that the
-soldier looked up at the trees. He had scarce ended, when a rustling was
-heard among the bushes, and a man leaped between the hunters and their
-prisoners. It was Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVIb" id="CHAPTER_XVIb">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>A FRIENDLY DISCUSSION.</h3>
-
-
-<p>After leaving his enemy (for the mysterious man with whom he had so
-stormy a discussion could be nothing else), Red Cedar set out to join
-the regiment, and hasten its arrival according to the orders he had
-received. In spite of himself, the squatter was suffering from
-extraordinary nervousness, and involuntarily he went over the various
-points of the conversation with the person who took such precautions in
-communicating with him. The threats he had proffered recurred to his
-mind. It appeared as if the bandit, who feared nothing in the world, had
-good reason, however, for trembling in the presence of the man who, for
-more than an hour, had crushed him with his irony. What reason could be
-so powerful as to produce so startling a change in this indomitable
-being? No one could have said; for the squatter was master of his
-secret, and would have mercilessly killed anybody he suspected of having
-read even a portion of it.</p>
-
-<p>The reason was, at any rate, very powerful; for after a few minutes of
-deep thought, his hand let go the reins and his head fell on his breast:
-the horse, no longer feeling the curb, stopped and began nibbling the
-young tree shoots. The squatter did not notice this halt; he was
-thinking, and hoarse exclamations now and then came from his chest, like
-the growling of a wild beast. At length he raised his head.</p>
-
-<p>"No," he shouted, as he directed a savage glance at the starlit sky,
-"any struggle with that demon is impossible. I must fly, so soon as
-possible, to the prairies of the far west. I will leave this implacable
-foe; I will fly from him, as the lion does, carrying off my prey in my
-claws. I have not a moment to lose. What do I care for the Spaniards and
-their paltry disputes? General Ventura will seek another emissary, for
-more important matters claim my attention. I must go to the Rancho del
-Coyote, for there alone I shall find my revenge. Fray Ambrosio and his
-prisoner can supply me with the weapons I need for the terrible contest
-I am compelled to wage against that demon who comes straight from hell,
-and whom I will send back there."</p>
-
-<p>After having uttered these words in a low voice, in the fashion of men
-wont to live in solitude, Red Cedar appeared to regain all his boldness
-and energy. He looked savagely around, and, burying his spurs in his
-horse's flanks, he started with the speed of an arrow in the direction
-of the rancho, which he had left but a few hours previously, and where
-his two accomplices still remained.</p>
-
-<p>The monk and the gambusino, delighted at the unforeseen termination of
-the scene we recently narrated, delighted above all at having got rid of
-Doña Clara without being immediately mixed up in her escape, tranquilly
-resumed their game of <i>monte</i>, and played with that mental satisfaction
-produced by the certainty of having nothing to reproach themselves with,
-disputing with the utmost obstinacy for the few reals they still
-happened to have in their pockets. In the midst of a most interesting
-game, they heard the furious gallop of a horse up the paved street.
-Instinctively they stopped and listened; a secret foreboding seemed to
-warn them that this horse was coming to the rancho, and that its rider
-wanted them.</p>
-
-<p>In truth, neither Fray Ambrosio nor Andrés Garote had a quiet
-conscience, even supposing, which was very doubtful, that either had a
-conscience at all, for they felt they were responsible to Red Cedar for
-Doña Clara. Now that the maiden had escaped like, a bird flying from its
-cage, their position with their terrible ally appeared to them in all
-its desperate gravity. They did not conceal from themselves that the
-squatter would demand a severe account of their conduct, and despite
-their cunning and roguishness, they knew not how they should get out of
-it. The sharp gallop of the approaching horse heightened their
-perplexity. They dared not communicate their fears to each other, but
-they sat with heads bent forward, foreseeing that they would soon have
-to sustain a very firm attack.</p>
-
-<p>The horse stopped short before the rancho; a man dismounted, and the
-door shook beneath the tremendous blows of his fists.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" the gambusino whispered, as he blew out the solitary candle that
-illumined the room. "Who the deuce can come at this advanced hour of the
-night! I have a great mind not to open."</p>
-
-<p>Strange to say, Fray Ambrosio had apparently regained all his serenity.
-With a smiling face, crossed arms, and back leaned against the wall, he
-seemed to be a perfect stranger to what perplexed his mate so furiously.
-At Garote's remark an ironical smile played round his pale lips for a
-second, and he replied with the most perfect indifference&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"You are at liberty to act as you please, gossip; still I think it my
-duty to warn you of one thing?"</p>
-
-<p>"What is it?"</p>
-
-<p>"That, if you do not open your door, the man, whoever he may be, now
-battering it, is very capable of breaking it in, which would be a
-decided nuisance for you."</p>
-
-<p>"You speak very much at your ease, señor Padre," the gambusino answered,
-ill-temperedly. "Suppose it be Red Cedar?"</p>
-
-<p>"The greater reason to open the door. If you hesitate, he will begin to
-suspect you; and then take care, for he is a man capable of killing you
-like a dog."</p>
-
-<p>"That is possible; but do you think that, in such a case, you will
-escape with clean hands?"</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, but made no further
-answer.</p>
-
-<p>"Will you open, <i>demonios</i>?" a rough voice shouted.</p>
-
-<p>"Red Cedar!" both men whispered.</p>
-
-<p>"I am coming," Andrés replied, in a voice which terror caused to
-tremble.</p>
-
-<p>He rose unwillingly, and walked slowly towards the door, which the
-squatter threatened to tear from its hinges.</p>
-
-<p>"A little patience, caballero," the gambusino said, in that honeyed
-voice peculiar to Mexicans when they meditate some roguery. "Coming,
-coming."</p>
-
-<p>And he began unbarring the door.</p>
-
-<p>"Make haste!" the squatter howled, "For I am in a hurry."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! It is surely he!" the gambusino thought. "Who are you?" he asked.</p>
-
-<p>"What! Who am I?" Red Cedar exclaimed, bounding with wrath. "Did you not
-recognise me, or are you having a game with me?"</p>
-
-<p>"I never have a game with anyone," Andrés replied, imperturbably: "but I
-warn you that, although I fancy I recognise your voice, I shall not open
-till you mention your name. The night is too far advanced for me to risk
-receiving a suspicious person into my house."</p>
-
-<p>"I will break the door down."</p>
-
-<p>"Try it," the gambusino shouted boldly, "and by our Lady of Pilar I will
-send a bullet through your head."</p>
-
-<p>At this threat the squatter rushed against the door in incredible fury,
-with the evident intention of breaking it in; but, contrary to his
-expectations, though it creaked and groaned on its hinges, it did not
-give way. Andrés Garote had indulged in a line of reasoning which was
-far from being illogical, and revealed a profound knowledge of the human
-heart. He had said to himself, that, as he must face Red Cedar's anger,
-it would be better to let it reach its paroxysm at once so as to have
-only the decreasing period to endure. He smiled at the American's
-sterile attempts, then, and repeated his request.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, then," the other said, furiously, "I am Red Cedar. Do you
-recognise me now, you devil's own Gachupino?"</p>
-
-<p>"Of course; I see that I can open without danger to your Excellency."</p>
-
-<p>And the gambusino hurriedly drew back the bolts.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar rushed into the room with a yell of fury, but Andrés had put
-out the light. The squatter stopped, surprised by the gloom which
-prevented him distinguishing any object.</p>
-
-<p>"Hallo!" he said. "What is the meaning of this darkness? I can see
-nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caspita</i>!" Andrés replied, impudently, "Do you think I amuse myself o'
-nights by watching the moon? I was asleep, compadre, when you came to
-arouse me with your infernal hammerings."</p>
-
-<p>"That is possible," the squatter remarked; "but that was no reason for
-keeping me so long at your door."</p>
-
-<p>"Prudence is the mother of security. We must not let every comer enter
-the rancho."</p>
-
-<p>"Certainly not; I approve of that. Still, you must have recognised my
-voice."</p>
-
-<p>"True. Still I might be mistaken; it is difficult to know anyone through
-the thickness of a door; that is why I wished you to give your name."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good, then," Red Cedar said, as if tired of combating arguments
-which did not convince him. "And where is Fray Ambrosio?"</p>
-
-<p>"Here, I suppose."</p>
-
-<p>"He has not left the rancho?"</p>
-
-<p>"No; unless he took advantage of your arrival to do so."</p>
-
-<p>"Why should he do that?"</p>
-
-<p>"I don't know; you question, and I answer; that's all."</p>
-
-<p>"Why does he not speak, if he is here?"</p>
-
-<p>"He is possibly asleep."</p>
-
-<p>"After the row I made, that is highly improbable."</p>
-
-<p>"Hang it, he may be a hard sleeper."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" the squatter snorted, suspiciously; "Light the candle."</p>
-
-<p>Andrés struck a match, and Red Cedar looked eagerly round the room Fray
-Ambrosio had disappeared.</p>
-
-<p>"Where is the monk?" the American asked.</p>
-
-<p>"I do not know: probably gone."</p>
-
-<p>The squatter shook his head.</p>
-
-<p>"All this is not clear," he muttered; "there is treachery behind it."</p>
-
-<p>"That is possible," the gambusino answered, calmly.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar bent on Andrés eyes that flashed with fury, and roughly seized
-him by the throat.</p>
-
-<p>"Answer, scoundrel?" he shouted. "What has become of Doña Clara?"</p>
-
-<p>The gambusino struggled, though in vain, to escape from the clutch of
-the squatter, whose fingers entered his flesh, and pressed him as in a
-vice.</p>
-
-<p>"Let me loose," he panted, "you are choking me!"</p>
-
-<p>"Where is Doña Clara?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do not know."</p>
-
-<p>The squatter squeezed more tightly.</p>
-
-<p>"You do not know!" he yelled.</p>
-
-<p>"Aie!" Andrés whined, "I tell you I do not know."</p>
-
-<p>"Malediction!" Red Cedar went on. "I will kill you, <i>picaro</i>, if you are
-obstinate."</p>
-
-<p>"Let that man go, and I will tell you all you wish to know," was said in
-a firm voice by a hunter, who at this moment appeared on the threshold.</p>
-
-<p>The two men turned in amazement.</p>
-
-<p>"Nathan!" Red Cedar shouted on recognising his son. "What are you doing
-here?"</p>
-
-<p>"I will tell you, father," the young man said, as he entered the room.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVIIb" id="CHAPTER_XVIIb">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>NATHAN.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Nathan was not asleep, as Ellen supposed, when she urged on Shaw to
-devote himself to liberate Doña Clara, and he had listened attentively
-to the conversation. Nathan was a man of about thirty years of age, who,
-both physically and morally, bore a marked resemblance to his father.
-Hence the old squatter had concentrated in him all the affection which
-his uncultivated savage nature was capable of feeling. Since the fatal
-night, when the chief of the Coras had avenged himself for the burning
-of his village and the murder of its inhabitants, Nathan's character had
-grown still more gloomy; a dull and deep hatred boiled in his heart
-against the whole human race; he only dreamed of assassination: he had
-sworn in his heart to revenge on all those who fell into his hands the
-injury one man had inflicted on him; in a word, Nathan loved none and
-hated everything.</p>
-
-<p>When Shaw had disappeared among the bushes, and Ellen, after taking a
-final glance around to convince herself that all was in order,
-re-entered the hut that served her as a shelter, Nathan rose cautiously,
-threw his rifle over his shoulder, and rushed after his brother. Another
-reason urged him to foil Shaw and Ellen's plans; he had a double grudge
-against Don Miguel&mdash;the first for the stab the Mexican gentlemen had
-given his father; the second because Don Miguel had compelled him to
-leave the forest in which his family had so daringly installed itself.</p>
-
-<p>Convinced of the importance of the affair, and knowing the value the
-squatter attached to carrying off the maiden, who was a most precious
-hostage for him, Nathan did not lose a moment, but reached Santa Fe by
-the most direct route, bounding with the agility of a tiger cat over the
-obstacles that beset his path. Presently he reached an isolated house,
-not far from which several men were conversing together in a low voice.
-Nathan stopped and listened; but he was too far off, and could
-distinguish nothing. The squatter's son, reared in the desert, was
-thoroughly versed in all its stratagems; with the piercing eye of a man
-accustomed to night journeys in the prairie, he recognised well-known
-persons, and his mind was at once made up.</p>
-
-<p>He laid himself on the ground, and following the shadow cast by the
-moon, lest he might be perceived by the speakers, he advanced, inch by
-inch, crawling like a serpent, stopping at intervals lest the waving of
-the grass might reveal his presence, in short, employing all the
-precautions usual under such circumstances. At length he reached a clump
-of Peru trees only a few yards distant from the spot where the men he
-wished to overhear were standing. He then got up, leaned against the
-largest tree, and prepared to listen. His expectations were not
-deceived; though a few words escaped him here and there, he was near
-enough perfectly to catch the sense of the conference. This conversation
-was, in truth, most interesting to him; a sinister smile lit up his
-face, and he eagerly clenched the barrel of his rifle.</p>
-
-<p>Presently the party broke into two. Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn,
-took the road leading to the open country, while Don Pablo and Father
-Seraphin returned toward the town. Valentine and his two friends almost
-touched the young man as they passed, and he instinctively carried his
-hands to his pistols; they even stopped for a moment and cast suspicious
-glances at the clump that concealed their foe. While conversing in
-whispers, Unicorn drew a few branches aside and peered in; for some
-seconds Nathan felt an indescribable agony; a cold perspiration stood at
-the root of his hair and the blood coursed to his heart; in a word, he
-was afraid. He knew that if these men, his mortal enemies, discovered
-him, they would be pitiless to him and kill him like a dog. But this
-apprehension did not last longer than a lightning flash. Unicorn
-carelessly let the leafy curtain fall again, saying only one word to his
-comrades:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing."</p>
-
-<p>The latter resumed their march.</p>
-
-<p>"I do not know why," said Valentine, "but I fancy there is someone
-hidden there."</p>
-
-<p>"No," the chief answered, "there is nobody."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, be it so," the hunter muttered, with a toss of his head.</p>
-
-<p>So soon, as he was alone, Nathan drew two or three deep breaths, and
-started in pursuit of Don Pablo and the missionary, whom he soon caught
-up. As they did not suppose they were followed, they were conversing
-freely together.</p>
-
-<p>In Spanish America, where the days are so warm and the nights so fresh,
-the inhabitants, shut up at home so long as the sun calcines the ground,
-go out at nightfall to breathe a little pure air; the streets, deserted
-in consequence of the heat, are gradually peopled; benches are placed
-before the doors, on which persons recline to smoke and gossip, drink
-orangeade, strum the guitar, and sing. Frequently the entire night is
-passed in these innocent amusements, and folks do not return home till
-dawn, in order to indulge in the sleep so grateful after this long
-watch. Hence the Hispano-American towns must be especially visited by
-night, if you wish to judge truthfully the nature of this people&mdash;a
-strange composite of the most discordant contrasts, who only live for
-enjoyment, and only accept from existence the most intoxicating
-pleasures. Still, on the night to which we refer, the town of Santa Fe,
-usually so laughing and chattering, was plunged into a gloomy sadness,
-the streets were deserted, the doors closed; no light filtered through
-the hermetically closed windows; all slept or at least feigned to sleep.
-The fact was, that Santa Fe was at this moment in a state of mortal
-agitation, caused by the condemnation of Don Miguel Zarate, the richest
-land owner in the province&mdash;a man who was loved and revered by the whole
-population. The agitation took its origin in the unexpected apparition
-of the Comanche war detachment&mdash;those ferocious enemies whose cruelties
-have become proverbial on the Mexican frontier, and whose presence
-presaged nothing good.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo and his companion walked quickly, like persons anxious to
-reach a place where they knew they are expected, exchanging but a few
-words at intervals, whose meaning, however, caught up by the man who
-followed them, urged them still more not to let them out of sight. They
-thus traversed the greater part of the town, and on reaching the Calle
-de la Merced, they stopped at their destination&mdash;a house of handsome
-aspect.</p>
-
-<p>A weak light burned at the window of a ground floor room. By an
-instinctive movement, the two gentlemen turned round at the moment of
-entering the house but Nathan had slipped into a doorway, and they did
-not perceive him. Father Seraphin tapped gently; the door was at once
-opened, and they went in. Nathan stationed himself in the middle of the
-street, with his eye ardently fixed on the only window of the house lit
-up. Ere long, shadows crossed the curtains.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" the young man muttered; "But how to warn the old one that the
-dove is in her nest?"</p>
-
-<p>All at once, a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, and Nathan turned,
-fiercely clutching a bowie knife. A man was before him, gloomy, silent
-and wrapped in the thick folds of his cloak. The American started.</p>
-
-<p>"Go your way," he said in a menacing voice.</p>
-
-<p>"What are you doing here?" the stranger asked.</p>
-
-<p>"How does that concern you? The street is free to all."</p>
-
-<p>"No."</p>
-
-<p>This word was pronounced with a sharp accent. Nathan tried in vain to
-scan the features of the man with whom he had to deal.</p>
-
-<p>"Give way," he said, "or blood will surely be shed between us."</p>
-
-<p>As sole reply, the stranger took a pistol in his right hand, a knife in
-his left.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" Nathan said, mockingly, "You mean fighting."</p>
-
-<p>"For the last time, withdraw."</p>
-
-<p>"Nonsense, you are mad, señor Caballero; the road belongs to all, I tell
-you. This place suits me, and I shall remain."</p>
-
-<p>"I wish to be alone here."</p>
-
-<p>"You mean to kill me, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"If I must, yes, without hesitation."</p>
-
-<p>The two speakers had exchanged these words in a low and hurried voice,
-in less time than we have employed to write them. They stood but a few
-paces apart with flashing eyes, ready to rush on each other. Nathan
-returned his pistol to his belt.</p>
-
-<p>"No noise," he said; "the knife will do; besides, we are in a country
-where that is the only weapon in use."</p>
-
-<p>"Be it so," the stranger replied; "then, you will not give way to me?"</p>
-
-<p>"You would laugh at me if I did," the American said with a grin.</p>
-
-<p>"Then your blood will be on your own head."</p>
-
-<p>"Or on yours."</p>
-
-<p>The two foemen each fell back a pace, and stood on guard, with their
-cloaks rolled round their left arms. The moon, veiled by clouds, shed no
-light; the darkness was perfect; midnight struck from the cathedral; the
-voice of the <i>serenos</i> chanting the hour could be heard in the distance,
-announcing that all was quiet. There was a moment's hesitation, which
-the enemies employed in scrutinising each other. Suddenly Nathan uttered
-a hoarse yell rushed on his enemy, and threw his cloak in his face, to
-put him on his guard. The stranger parried the stroke dealt him, and
-replied by another, guarded off with equal dexterity. The two men then
-seized each other round the waist, and wrestled for some minutes,
-without uttering a word; at length the stranger rolled on the ground
-with a heavy sigh; Nathan's knife was buried in his chest. The American
-rose with a yell of triumph&mdash;his enemy was motionless.</p>
-
-<p>"Can I have killed him?" Nathan muttered.</p>
-
-<p>He returned his knife to his vaquera boot, and bent over the wounded
-man. All at once he started back, for he had recognised his brother
-Shaw.</p>
-
-<p>"What is to be done now?" he said; but then added carelessly, "Pshaw!
-all the worse for him. Why did he come across my path?"</p>
-
-<p>And, leaving there the body of the young man, who gave no sign of life&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Well, Heaven knows, I ought not, and could not have hesitated," he
-said.</p>
-
-<p>Shaw lay to all appearance dead, with pale and drawn cheeks, in the
-centre of the street.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVIIIb" id="CHAPTER_XVIIIb">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE WOUNDED MAN.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Nathan proceeded straight to the Rancho del Coyote, where his unexpected
-arrival was a blessing for Andrés Garote, whom the old squatter was
-treating very roughly. On hearing his son's words, Red Cedar let go of
-the gambusino, who tottered back against the wall.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," he asked, "where is Doña Clara?"</p>
-
-<p>"Come with me, father," the young man answered; "I will lead you to
-her."</p>
-
-<p>"You know her hiding place, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"And so do I," Fray Ambrosio shouted, as he rushed into the room with
-discomfited features; "I felt sure I should discover her."</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar looked at him in amazement, but the monk did not wince.</p>
-
-<p>"What has happened to her?" the squatter said presently, as he looked
-suspiciously from the monk to the gambusino.</p>
-
-<p>"A very simple matter," Fray Ambrosio answered, with an inimitably
-truthful accent; "about two hours back your son Shaw came here."</p>
-
-<p>"Shaw!" the squatter exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, the youngest of your sons; he is called so, I think?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; go on."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good. He presented himself to us as coming from you to remove our
-prisoner."</p>
-
-<p>"And what did you do?" the squatter asked, impatiently.</p>
-
-<p>"What could we do?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, oppose the girl's departure."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caspita</i>! Do you fancy we let her go so?" the monk asked,
-imperturbably.</p>
-
-<p>The squatter looked at him in surprise&mdash;he no longer understood
-anything. Like all men of action, discussion was to him almost a matter
-of impossibility; especially with an adversary so crafty as the one he
-had before him. Deceived by the monk's coolness and the apparent
-frankness of his answers, he wished to make an end of it.</p>
-
-<p>"Come," he said, "how did all this finish?"</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks to an ally who came to your son's help, and to whom we were
-obliged to bow&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"An ally! What man can be so bold as to dare&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Eh!" the monk sharply interrupted Red Cedar, "that man is a priest, to
-whom you have already bowed many a time."</p>
-
-<p>"You are jesting, señor Padre," the squatter exclaimed, savagely.</p>
-
-<p>"Not the least in the world. Had it been anyone else, I should have
-resisted; but I, too, belong to the Church; and, as Father Seraphin is
-my superior, I was forced to obey him."</p>
-
-<p>"What!" the squatter said, with a groan, "Is he not dead?"</p>
-
-<p>"It appears," the monk remarked, ironically, "as if those you kill are
-all in good state of health, Red Cedar."</p>
-
-<p>At this allusion to Don Pablo's death, the squatter stifled a cry of
-anger, and clenched his fists.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" he said; "If I do not always kill, I know how to take my
-revenge. Where is Doña Clara, at this moment?"</p>
-
-<p>"In a house no great distance from here," Nathan answered.</p>
-
-<p>"Have you seen her?" the squatter asked.</p>
-
-<p>"No; but I followed Don Pablo and the missionary to that house, which
-they entered, and as they were ignorant that I was close to them, their
-conversation left me no doubt as to the whereabouts of the girl."</p>
-
-<p>An ill-omened smile momentarily lit up the old bandit's features.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" he said; "as the dove is in her nest, we shall be able to find
-her. What o'clock is it?"</p>
-
-<p>"Three in the morning," Andrés interjected. "Day will soon break."</p>
-
-<p>"We must make haste, then. Follow me, all of you." Then he added, "But
-what has become of Shaw? Does anyone of you know?"</p>
-
-<p>"You will probably find him at the door of Doña Clara's house," Nathan
-said, in a hollow voice.</p>
-
-<p>"How so? Has my son entered into a compact with my enemies?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; as he arranged with them to carry off your prisoner."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! I will kill him if he prove a traitor!" the squatter shouted with
-an accent that made the blood run cold in the veins of his hearers.</p>
-
-<p>Nathan fell back two steps, drew his knife from his boot, and showed it
-to his father.</p>
-
-<p>"That is done," he said, harshly. "Shaw tried to stab me, so I killed
-him."</p>
-
-<p>After these mournful words, there was a moment of silence in the rancho.
-All these men, though their hearts were steeled by crime, shuddered
-involuntarily. Without, the night was gloomy; the wind whistled sadly;
-the flickering light of the candle threw a weird light over the scene,
-which contained a certain degree of terrible poetry. The squatter passed
-his hard hand over his dank brow. A sigh, like a howl, painfully forced
-its way from his oppressed chest.</p>
-
-<p>"He was my last born," he said, in a voice broken by an emotion he could
-not control. "He deserved death, but he ought not to have received it at
-his brother's hands."</p>
-
-<p>"Father!" Nathan muttered.</p>
-
-<p>"Silence!" Red Cedar shouted, in a hollow voice, as he stamped his foot
-passionately on the ground; "What is done cannot be undone; but woe to
-my enemies' family! Oh! I feel now that I can take such vengeance on
-them as will make all shudder who hear it spoken of!"</p>
-
-<p>After uttering these words, which were listened to in silence, the
-squatter walked a few steps up the rancho. He approached a table, seized
-a bottle half full of mezcal that stood on it, and emptied it at a
-draught. When he had finished drinking, he threw down the bottle, which
-broke with a crash, and said to his mates in a hollow voice&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Let us be off! We have wasted too much time here already!"</p>
-
-<p>And he rushed out of the rancho, the others following close at his
-heels.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile, Don Pablo and Father Seraphin were in the house. The
-priest had taken the maiden to the house of an honest family which owed
-him great obligations, and was too happy to receive the poor sufferer.
-The missionary did not intend, however, to let her be long a burthen to
-these worthy people. At daybreak he intended to deliver her to certain
-relations of her father, who inhabited a hacienda a few leagues from
-Santa Fe.</p>
-
-<p>Doña Clara had been placed in a comfortable room by her hosts. Their
-first care had been to make her doff the Indian robes for others more
-suitable to her birth and position. The maiden worn out by poignant
-emotions of the scene she had witnessed, was on the point of retiring to
-bed, when Father Seraphin and Don Pablo tapped at the door of her room.
-She hastily opened it, and the sight of her brother, whom she had not
-hoped to see so speedily, overwhelmed her with joy.</p>
-
-<p>An hour soon slipped away in pleasant chat. Don Pablo was careful not to
-tell his sister of the misfortune that had befallen her father; for he
-did not wish to dull by that confession the joy the poor girl promised
-herself for the morrow. Then, as the night was advancing, the two men
-withdrew, so as to allow her to enjoy that rest so needed to strengthen
-her for the long journey to the hacienda, promising to come and fetch
-her in a few hours. Father Seraphin generously offered Don Pablo to pass
-the night with him by sharing the small lodging he had not far from the
-Plaza de la Merced, and the young man eagerly accepted. It was too late
-to seek a lodging at a locanda, and in this way he would be all the
-sooner with his sister next morning. After a lengthened leave-taking,
-they, therefore, left the house, and, so soon as they were gone, Doña
-Clara threw herself, ready dressed, into a hammock hanging at one end of
-the room, when she speedily fell asleep.</p>
-
-<p>On reaching the street, Don Pablo saw a body lying motionless in front
-of the house.</p>
-
-<p>"What's this?" he asked, in surprise.</p>
-
-<p>"A poor wretch whom the ladrones killed in order to plunder him," the
-missionary answered.</p>
-
-<p>"That is possible."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps he is not quite dead," the missionary went on; "it is our duty
-to succour him."</p>
-
-<p>"For what good?" Don Pablo said, with an air of indifference; "if a
-sereno were to pass he might accuse us of having killed the man."</p>
-
-<p>"Nay, sir," the missionary observed, "the ways of the Lord are
-impenetrable. If He allowed us to come across this unhappy man, it was
-because He judged in His wisdom that we might prove of use to him."</p>
-
-<p>"Be it so," the young man said; "let us look at him, as you wish it. But
-you know that in this country good actions of such a nature generally
-entail annoyance."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true, my son. Well, we will run the risk," said the missionary,
-who had already bent over the wounded man.</p>
-
-<p>"As you please," Don Pablo said, as he followed him.</p>
-
-<p>Shaw, for it was he, gave no signs of life. The missionary examined him,
-then rose hastily, seized Don Pablo's arm, and drew him to him, as he
-whispered&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Look!"</p>
-
-<p>"Shaw!" the Mexican exclaimed, in surprise; "What could that man be
-doing here?"</p>
-
-<p>"Help me, and we shall learn. The poor fellow has only fainted; and the
-loss of blood has produced this semblance to death."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo, greatly perplexed by this singular meeting, obeyed the
-missionary without further remark. The two men raised the wounded lad,
-and carried him gently to Father Seraphin's lodging, where they proposed
-to give him all the help his condition required.</p>
-
-<p>They had scarce turned the corner of the street, when several men
-appeared at the other extremity. They were Red Cedar and his
-confederates. On arriving in front of the house they stopped: all the
-windows were in the deepest obscurity.</p>
-
-<p>"Which is the girl's room?" the squatter asked in a whisper.</p>
-
-<p>"This one," Nathan said, as he pointed to it.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar crawled up to the house, drove his dagger into the wall,
-raised himself to the window, and placed his face against a pane.</p>
-
-<p>"All is well! She sleeps!" he said, when he came down. "You, Fray
-Ambrosio, to one corner of the street; you, Garote, to the other, and do
-not let me be surprised."</p>
-
-<p>The monk and the gambusino went to their allotted posts. When Red Cedar
-was alone with his son he bent and whispered in his ear&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"What did you do with your brother after stabbing him?"</p>
-
-<p>"I left him on the spot where he fell."</p>
-
-<p>"Where was that?"</p>
-
-<p>"Just where we now stand."</p>
-
-<p>The squatter stooped down to the ground, and walked a few steps,
-carefully examining the bloody traces left on the pebbles.</p>
-
-<p>"He has been carried off," he said, when he rose again. "Perhaps he is
-not dead."</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps so," the young man observed, with a shake of his head.</p>
-
-<p>His father gave him a most significant look.</p>
-
-<p>"To work," he said coldly.</p>
-
-<p>And they prepared to escalade the window.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIXb" id="CHAPTER_XIXb">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>INDIAN DIPLOMACY.</h3>
-
-
-<p>We will return, for the present, to Valentine and his comrades.</p>
-
-<p>The sudden apparition of the sachem of the Coras had produced a certain
-degree of emotion among the hunters and the Comanches. Valentine, the
-first to recover from his surprise, addressed Eagle-wing.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother is welcome," he said, as he held out his hand, which the
-Indian warmly pressed, "What news does the chief bring us?"</p>
-
-<p>"Good," the Coras answered laconically.</p>
-
-<p>"All the better," the hunter said gaily; "for some time past all we have
-received has been so bad that my brother's will create a diversion."</p>
-
-<p>The Indian smiled at this sally, but made no remark.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother can speak," Valentine continued; "he is surrounded by none
-but friends."</p>
-
-<p>"I know it," the chief answered, as he bowed gracefully to the company.
-"Since I left my brother two months have passed away: I have worn out
-many moccasins amid the thorns and brambles of the desert; I have been
-beyond the Great Lakes to the villages of my nation."</p>
-
-<p>"Good; my brother is a chief; he was doubtless well received by the
-sachems of the Coras of the Great Lakes."</p>
-
-<p>"Mookapec is a renowned warrior among his people," the Indian answered
-proudly; "his place by the council fire of the nation is pointed out.
-The chiefs saw him with joy: on his road he had taken the scalps of
-seven gachupinos: they are now drying before the great medicine lodge."</p>
-
-<p>"It was your right to do so, chief, and I cannot blame you. The
-Spaniards have done you harm enough for you to requite them."</p>
-
-<p>"My brother speaks well; his skin is white, but his heart is red."</p>
-
-<p>"Hum," observed Valentine; "I am a friend to justice; vengeance is
-permissible against treachery. Go on, chief."</p>
-
-<p>The hunter's comrades had drawn nearer, and now formed a circle round
-the two speakers. Curumilla was occupied silently, as was his wont, in
-completely stripping each Spanish prisoner, whom he then bound in such a
-way that the slightest movement was impossible.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine, although time pressed, knew too well the Redskin character to
-try and hurry Eagle-wing on. He felt certain that the chief had
-important news to communicate to him; but it would have been no use
-trying to draw it from him; hence he allowed him to act as he pleased.
-Unicorn, leaning on his rifle, listened attentively, without evincing
-the slightest impatience.</p>
-
-<p>"Did my brother remain long with his tribe," Valentine continued.</p>
-
-<p>"Two suns. Eagle-wing had left behind him friends to whom his heart drew
-him."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, chief, for the pleasant recollections of us."</p>
-
-<p>"The chiefs assembled in council to hear the words of Eagle-wing," the
-Coras continued. "They shuddered with fury on hearing of the massacre of
-their children; but Mookapec had formed his plan, and two hundred
-warriors are assembled beneath his <i>totem</i>."</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" said Valentine, "the chief will avenge himself."</p>
-
-<p>The Indian smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," he said, "my young men have their orders, they know what I mean
-to do."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good; in that case they are near here?"</p>
-
-<p>"No," the chief replied, with a shake of his head. "Eagle-wing does not
-march with them; he has hidden himself under the skin of an Apache dog."</p>
-
-<p>"What does my brother say?" Valentine asked with amazement.</p>
-
-<p>"My white brother is quick," Unicorn said, sententiously; "he will let
-Mookapec speak. He is a great sachem, and wisdom dwells in him."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine shook his head, however, and said&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! Answering one act of treachery by another, that is not the way in
-which the warriors of my nation behave."</p>
-
-<p>"The nation of my brother is great, and strong as the grizzly bear,"
-Unicorn said; "it does not need to march along hidden paths. The poor
-Indians are weak as the beaver, but like him they are very cunning."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," Valentine replied, "cunning must be allowed you in
-dealing with the implacable enemies who surround you. I was wrong; so go
-on, chief; tell us what deviltry you have invented, and if it is
-ingenious. Well, I will be the first to applaud it."</p>
-
-<p>"Wah, my brother shall judge. Red Cedar is about to enter the desert, as
-my brother doubtless knows?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Does my brother know the <i>Gringo</i> has asked the Apaches for a guide?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, I did not."</p>
-
-<p>"Good. Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, sent a Navajo warrior
-to act as guide to Red Cedar."</p>
-
-<p>"Well?"</p>
-
-<p>"The Navajo was scalped by Eagle-wing."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah! Then Red Cedar cannot set out?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, he can do so when he likes."</p>
-
-<p>"How so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because Eagle-wing takes the place of the guide."</p>
-
-<p>Unicorn smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother has a deal of wisdom," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" Valentine remarked, with some show of ill-humour. "It is
-possible, but you play for a heavy stake, chief. That old villain is as
-crafty as ten monkeys and ten opossums united. I warn you that he will
-recognise you."</p>
-
-<p>"No."</p>
-
-<p>"I wish it; for if he does, you are a lost man."</p>
-
-<p>"Good, my brother can be easy. Eagle-wing is a warrior; he will see the
-white hunter again in the desert."</p>
-
-<p>"I wish so, chief; but I doubt. However, act as you please. When will
-you join Red Cedar?"</p>
-
-<p>"This night."</p>
-
-<p>"You are going to leave us?"</p>
-
-<p>"At once. Eagle-wing has nothing more to confide to his brother."</p>
-
-<p>And, after bowing courteously to the company, the Coras chief glided
-into the thicket, in which he disappeared almost instantaneously.
-Valentine looked after him for some time.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," he said at last, with a thoughtful air, "his project is a daring
-one, such as might be expected from so great a warrior. May heaven
-protect him, and allow him to succeed! Well, we shall see; perhaps all
-is for the best so."</p>
-
-<p>And he turned to Curumilla.</p>
-
-<p>"The clothes?" he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Here they are," the Aucas answered, laconically, as he pointed to an
-enormous heap of clothing.</p>
-
-<p>"What does my brother mean to do with them?" Unicorn asked.</p>
-
-<p>"My brother will see," Valentine said, with a smile, "each of us is
-going to put on one of those uniforms."</p>
-
-<p>The Comanche drew himself up hastily.</p>
-
-<p>"No," he said, "Unicorn does not put off the dress of his people. What
-need have we of this disguise?"</p>
-
-<p>"In order to enter the camp of the Spaniards without being discovered."</p>
-
-<p>"Wah! For what good? Unicorn will summon his young men to cut a passage
-through the corpses of the gachupinos."</p>
-
-<p>But Valentine shook his head mournfully.</p>
-
-<p>"It is true," he remarked, "we could do so. But why shed blood
-needlessly? No; let my brother put confidence in me."</p>
-
-<p>"The hunter will act rightly. Unicorn knows it, and he leaves him free;
-but Unicorn is a chief, he cannot put on the clothes of the palefaces."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine no longer insisted, as it would have been unavailing; so he
-agreed to modify his plan. He made each of his comrades put on a dragoon
-uniform, and himself donned the clothes stripped from the Alferez. When
-all this metamorphosis was as complete as possible, he turned to
-Unicorn.</p>
-
-<p>"The chief will remain here," he said, "to guard the prisoners."</p>
-
-<p>"Good," the Comanche answered. "Is Unicorn, then, a chattering old
-woman, that warriors place him on one side?"</p>
-
-<p>"My brother does not understand me. I do not wish to insult him, but he
-cannot enter the camp with us."</p>
-
-<p>The chief shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.</p>
-
-<p>"The Comanche warriors can crawl as well as serpents. Unicorn will
-enter."</p>
-
-<p>"Let my brother come, then, since he wishes it."</p>
-
-<p>"Good; my brother is vexed; a cloud has passed over his face. He is
-wrong; his friend loves him."</p>
-
-<p>"I know it, chief, I know it. I am not vexed, but my heart is sad to see
-a warrior thus run the risk of being killed without any necessity."</p>
-
-<p>"Unicorn is a sachem; he must give an example to his young men on the
-warpath."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine gave a nod of assent.</p>
-
-<p>"Here are the horses of the palefaces," Curumilla said; "my brother will
-need them."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," the hunter answered, with a smile; "my brother is a
-great chief&mdash;he thinks of everything."</p>
-
-<p>Everyone mounted, Unicorn alone remaining a-foot. Valentine placed the
-Alferez by his side.</p>
-
-<p>"Caballero," he said to him, "you will act as our guide to the camp. We
-do not wish to take the lives of your countrymen; our intention is
-simply to prevent them following us at present. Pay attention to my
-words: if you attempt to deceive us, I blow out your brains. You are
-warned."</p>
-
-<p>The Spaniard bowed, but made no reply. As for the prisoners, they had
-been so conscientiously tied by Curumilla that there was no chance of
-their escaping. The little band then set out, Unicorn disappearing among
-the trees. When they came a short distance from the bivouac, a sentry
-challenged, "Who goes there?"</p>
-
-<p>"Answer," Valentine whispered the Alferez.</p>
-
-<p>He did so. They passed, and the sentry, suddenly seized by Curumilla,
-was bound and gagged in the twinkling of an eye, all the other sentinels
-sharing the same fate. The Mexicans keep up a very bad watch in the
-field, even in the presence of an enemy; the greater reason, then, for
-them to neglect all precaution when they fancy themselves in safety.
-Everybody was asleep, and Valentine and his friends were masters of the
-camp. The regiment of dragoons had been surprised without striking a
-blow.</p>
-
-<p>Valentine's comrades dismounted; they knew exactly how to act, and did
-not deviate from the instructions given by their leader. They proceeded
-from picket to picket, removing the horses, which were led out of camp.
-Within twenty minutes all had been carried off. Valentine had anxiously
-followed the movements of his men. When they had finished, he raised the
-curtain of the colonel's tent, and found himself face to face with
-Unicorn, from whose waist-belt hung a reeking scalp. Valentine could not
-repress a movement of horror.</p>
-
-<p>"What have you done, chief?" he asked, reproachfully.</p>
-
-<p>"Unicorn has killed his enemy," the Comanche replied, peremptorily.
-"When the leader of the antelopes is killed, his flock disperses; the
-gachupinos will do the same."</p>
-
-<p>Valentine drew near the colonel. The unhappy man, fearfully mutilated,
-with his brain laid bare, and his heart pierced by the knife of the
-implacable Indian, lay stark dead, in a pool of blood, in the middle of
-the tent. The hunter vented a sigh at this sorry sight.</p>
-
-<p>"Poor devil!" he said, with an air of compassion.</p>
-
-<p>After this short funeral oration, he took away his sabre and epaulettes,
-left the tent, followed by the Indian chief, and rejoined his comrades.
-The horses were led to the Comanche camp, after which Valentine and his
-party wrapped themselves in their blankets, and slept calmly till
-daybreak. The dragoons were no longer to be feared.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXb" id="CHAPTER_XXb">CHAPTER XX.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE STRANGER.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Father Seraphin and Don Pablo we left bearing the wounded man to the
-missionary's lodging. Although the house to which they were proceeding
-was but a short distance off, yet the two gentlemen, compelled to take
-every precaution, employed considerable time on the journey. Nearly
-every step they were compelled to halt, so as not to fatigue too greatly
-the wounded man, whose inert limbs swayed in every direction.</p>
-
-<p>"The man is dead," Don Pablo remarked, during a halt they made on the
-Plaza de la Merced.</p>
-
-<p>"I fear so," the missionary answered, sadly; "still, as we are not
-certain of it, our conscience bids us to bestow our care on him, until
-we acquire the painful conviction that it avails him nought."</p>
-
-<p>"Father, the love of one's neighbour often carries you too far; better
-were it, perhaps, if this wretch did not come back to life."</p>
-
-<p>"You are severe, my friend. This man is still young&mdash;almost a boy.
-Trained amid a family of bandits, never having aught but evil examples
-before him, he has hitherto only done evil, in a spirit of imitation.
-Who knows whether this fearful wound may not offer him the means to
-enter the society of honest people, which he has till now been ignorant
-of? I repeat to you, my friend, the ways of the Lord are inscrutable."</p>
-
-<p>"I will do what you wish, father. You have entire power over me. Still,
-I fear that all our care will be thrown away."</p>
-
-<p>"God, whose humble instruments we are, will prove you wrong, I hope.
-Come, a little courage, a few paces further, and we shall have arrived."</p>
-
-<p>"Come on then," Don Pablo said with resignation.</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin lodged at a house of modest appearance, built of adobes
-and reeds, in a small room he hired from a poor widow, for the small sum
-of nine reals a month. This room, very small, and which only received
-air from a window opening on an inner yard, was a perfect conventual
-cell, as far as furniture was concerned, for the latter consisted of a
-wooden frame, over which a bull hide was stretched, and served as the
-missionary's bed; a butaca and a prie-dieu, above which a copper
-crucifix was fastened to the whitewashed wall. But, like all cells, this
-room was marvellously clean. From a few nails hung the well-worn clothes
-of the poor priest, and a shelf supported vials and flasks which
-doubtless contained medicaments; for, like all the missionaries, Father
-Seraphin had a rudimentary knowledge of medicine, and took in charge
-both the souls and bodies of his neophytes.</p>
-
-<p>The father lit a candle of yellow tallow standing in an iron
-candlestick, and, aided by Don Pablo, laid the wounded man on his own
-bed; after which the young man fell back into the butaca to regain his
-breath. Father Seraphin, on whom, spite of his fragile appearance, the
-fatigue had produced no apparent effect, then went downstairs to lock
-the street door, which he had left open. As he pushed it to, he felt an
-opposition outside, and a man soon entered the yard.</p>
-
-<p>"Pardon, my reverend father," the stranger said; "but be kind enough not
-to leave me outside."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you live in this house?"</p>
-
-<p>"No," the stranger coolly replied, "I do not live in Santa Fe, where I
-am quite unknown."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you ask hospitality of me, then?" Father Seraphin continued, much
-surprised at this answer.</p>
-
-<p>"Not at all, reverend father."</p>
-
-<p>"Then what do you want?" the missionary said, still more surprised.</p>
-
-<p>"I wish to follow you to the room where you have laid the wounded man,
-to whose aid you came so generously a short time back."</p>
-
-<p>"This request, sir&mdash;" the priest said, hesitating.</p>
-
-<p>"Has nothing that need surprise you. I have the greatest interest in
-seeing with my own eyes in what state that man is, for certain reasons
-which in no way concern you."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you know who he is?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do."</p>
-
-<p>"Are you a relation or friend of his?"'</p>
-
-<p>"Neither one nor the other. Still, I repeat to you, very weighty reasons
-compel me to see him and speak with him, if that be possible."</p>
-
-<p>Father Seraphin took a searching glance at the speaker.</p>
-
-<p>He was a man of great height, apparently in the fullest vigour of life.
-His features, so far as it was possible to distinguish them by the pale
-and tremulous moonbeams, were handsome, though an expression of
-unbending will was the marked thing about them. He wore the dress of
-rich Mexican hacenderos, and had in his right hand a magnificently
-inlaid American rifle. Still the missionary hesitated.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," the stranger continued, "have you made up your mind, father?"</p>
-
-<p>"Sir," Father Seraphin answered with firmness, "do not take in ill part
-what I am going to say to you."</p>
-
-<p>The stranger bowed.</p>
-
-<p>"I do not know who you are; you present yourself to me in the depths of
-the night, under singular circumstances. You insist, with strange
-tenacity, on seeing the poor man whom Christian charity compelled me to
-pick up. Prudence demands that I should refuse to let you see him."</p>
-
-<p>A certain annoyance was depicted on the stranger's features.</p>
-
-<p>"You are right, father," he answered; "appearances are against me.
-Unfortunately, the explanation you demand from me justly would make us
-lose too much precious time, hence I cannot give them to you at this
-moment. All I can do is to swear, in the face of Heaven, on that
-crucifix you wear round your neck, and which is the symbol of our
-redemption, that I only wish well to the man you have housed, and that I
-am this moment seeking to punish a great criminal."</p>
-
-<p>The stranger uttered these words with such frankness, and such an air of
-conviction, his face glistened with so much honesty, that the missionary
-felt convinced: he took up the crucifix and offered it to this
-extraordinary man.</p>
-
-<p>"Swear," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"I swear it," he replied in a firm voice.</p>
-
-<p>"Good," the priest went on, "now you can enter, sir; you are one of
-ourselves; I will not even insult you by asking your name."</p>
-
-<p>"My name would teach you nothing, father," the stranger said sadly.</p>
-
-<p>"Follow me, sir."</p>
-
-<p>The missionary locked the gate and led the stranger to his room, on
-entering which the newcomer took off his hat reverently, took up a post
-in a corner of the room, and did not stir.</p>
-
-<p>"Do not trouble yourself about me, father," he said in a whisper, "and
-put implicit faith in the oath I took."</p>
-
-<p>The missionary only replied by a nod, and as the wounded man gave no
-sign of life, but still lay much in the position he was first placed in,
-Father Seraphin walked up to him. For a long time, however, the
-attention he lavished on him proved sterile, and seemed to produce no
-effect on the squatter's son. Still, the father did not despair,
-although Don Pablo shook his head. An hour thus passed, and no
-ostensible change had taken place in the young man's condition; the
-missionary had exhausted all his stock of knowledge, and began to fear
-the worst. At this moment the stranger walked up to him.</p>
-
-<p>"My father," he said, touching him gently on the arm, "you have done all
-that was humanly possible, but have not succeeded."</p>
-
-<p>"Alas! No!" the missionary said sadly.</p>
-
-<p>"Will you permit me to try in my turn?"</p>
-
-<p>"Do you fancy you will prove, more successful than I?" the priest asked
-in surprise.</p>
-
-<p>"I hope so," the stranger said softly.</p>
-
-<p>"Still, you see I have tried everything that the medical art prescribes
-in such a case."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true, father; but the Indians possess certain secrets known
-only to themselves, and which are of great efficacy."</p>
-
-<p>"I have heard so. But do you know those secrets?"</p>
-
-<p>"Some of them have been revealed to me; if you will permit me, I will
-try their effects on this young man, who, as far as I can judge, is in a
-desperate condition."</p>
-
-<p>"I fear he is, poor fellow."</p>
-
-<p>"We shall, therefore, run no risk in trying the efficacy of my superior
-remedy upon him."</p>
-
-<p>"Certainly not."</p>
-
-<p>The stranger bent over the young man, and regarded him for a moment with
-fixed attention; then he drew from his pocket a flask of carved crystal,
-filled with a fluid as green as emerald. With the point of his dagger he
-slightly opened the wounded man's closed teeth, and poured into his
-mouth four or five drops of the fluid contained in the flask. A strange
-thing then occurred; the young man gave vent to a deep sigh, opened his
-eyes several times, and suddenly, as if moved by supernatural force, he
-sat up and looked around him with amazement. Don Pablo and the
-missionary were almost inclined to believe in a miracle so extraordinary
-did the fact appear to them. The stranger returned to his dark corner.
-Suddenly the young man passed his hand over his dank forehead, and
-muttered in a hollow voice:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Ellen, my sister, it is too late. I cannot save her. See, see, they are
-carrying her off; she is lost!"</p>
-
-<p>And he fell back on the bed, as the three men rushed towards him.</p>
-
-<p>"He sleeps!" the missionary said in amazement.</p>
-
-<p>"He is saved?" the stranger answered.</p>
-
-<p>"What did he want to say, though?" Don Pablo inquired anxiously.</p>
-
-<p>"Did you not understand it?" the stranger asked of him.</p>
-
-<p>"No."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, then, I will tell you."</p>
-
-<p>"You!"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I; listen! That lad wished to deliver your sister!"</p>
-
-<p>"How do you know?"</p>
-
-<p>"Is it true?"</p>
-
-<p>"It is; go on."</p>
-
-<p>"He was stabbed at the door of the house when she sought shelter."</p>
-
-<p>"What next?"</p>
-
-<p>"Those who stabbed him wished to get him out of the way, in order to
-carry her off a second time."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, that is impossible!"</p>
-
-<p>"It is the fact."</p>
-
-<p>"How do you know it?"</p>
-
-<p>"I do not know it, but I can read it plainly."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" Don Pablo exclaimed in despair, "my father&mdash;let us fly to my
-sister's aid!"</p>
-
-<p>The two gentlemen rushed from the house with a presentiment of
-misfortune. When the stranger found himself alone with the wounded man,
-he walked up to him, wrapped him in his cloak, threw him over his
-shoulders as easy as if he were only a child, and went out in his turn.
-On reaching the street, he carefully closed the door, and went off at a
-great rate, soon disappearing in the darkness. At the same instant the
-melancholy voice of the sereno could be heard chanting&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><i>"Ave Maria purísima! Los cuatro han dado! Viva Méjico! Todo es
-quieto!</i>"<a name="FNanchor_1_6" id="FNanchor_1_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_6" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
-
-<p>What irony on the part of accident was this cry after the terrible
-events of the night!</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_6" id="Footnote_1_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_6"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Hail, most pure Mary! It has struck four. Long live Mexico!
-All is quiet.</p></div>
-
-
-
-
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIb" id="CHAPTER_XXIb">CHAPTER XXI.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>GENERAL VENTURA.</h3>
-
-
-<p>It was about six in the morning. A dazzling sun poured down its
-transparent rays on the streets of the Presidio of Santa Fe, which were
-already full of noise and movement at that early hour of the morning.
-General Ventura was still plunged in a deep sleep, probably lulled by
-agreeable dreams, judging from the air of beatitude spread over his
-features. The general, reassured by the speedy arrival of the dragoons
-promised him, fancied he had nothing more to fear from mutineers who had
-hitherto inspired him with lively apprehensions. He thought, too, that
-by the aid of the reinforcements, he could easily get rid of the
-Comanche, who, on the previous day, had so audaciously bearded him in
-the very heart of his palace.</p>
-
-<p>He slept, then, that pleasant morning sleep, in which the body, entirely
-rested from its fatigue, leaves the mind the entire liberty of its
-faculties. Suddenly the door of the sleeping room in which the worthy
-governor reposed, was torn violently open, and an officer entered.
-General Ventura, aroused with a start, sat up in his bed, fixing on the
-importunate visitor a glance, at first stern, but which at once became
-uneasy on seeing the alarm depicted on the officer's features.</p>
-
-<p>"What is the matter, señor Captain Don Lopez?" he asked, trying in vain
-to give firmness to his voice, which trembled involuntarily from a
-foreboding of evil.</p>
-
-<p>Captain Lopez was a soldier of fortune, who had grown grey in harness,
-and contracted a species of rough frankness, that prevented him toning
-the truth down under any circumstances, which fact made him appear, in
-the General's eyes, a bird of very evil omen. The captain's arrival,
-therefore, doubly disquieted the governor. In the first place, through
-his alarmed face; and secondly, the reputation he enjoyed. To the
-general's query the captain only replied the following three storm laden
-words&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing that's good."</p>
-
-<p>"What do you mean? Have the people rebelled??"</p>
-
-<p>"On my word, no! I do not fancy they even dream of such a thing."</p>
-
-<p>"Very well, then," the general went on, quite cheered by the good news,
-"what the deuce have you to tell me, captain?"</p>
-
-<p>"I have not come to tell you anything," the other said, roughly. "There
-is a soldier outside who has just come from I don't know where, and who
-insists on speaking with you. Shall I bring him, or send him about his
-business."</p>
-
-<p>"One moment," exclaimed the general, whose features had suddenly become
-gloomy; "who is the soldier?"</p>
-
-<p>"A dragoon, I fancy."</p>
-
-<p>"A dragoon! Let him come in at once. May heaven bless you, with all your
-circumlocution! The man, doubtless, brings me news of the arrival of the
-regiment I am expecting, and which should have been here before."</p>
-
-<p>The captain shrugged his shoulders with an air of doubt.</p>
-
-<p>"What is it now?" the general said, whom this expressive pantomime
-eminently alarmed; "What are you going to say?"</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing, except that the soldier looks very sad to be the bearer of
-such good news."</p>
-
-<p>"We shall soon know what we have to depend on. Let him come in."</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," said the captain, as he went off.</p>
-
-<p>During this conversation the general had leaped from his bed, and
-dressed himself with the promptness peculiar to soldiers. He now
-anxiously awaited the appearance of the trooper whom Don Lopez had
-announced to him. In vain he tried to persuade himself that the captain
-was mistaken, and that the soldier had been sent to tell him of the
-arrival of the regiment. In spite of himself, he felt in his heart a
-species of alarm which he could not account for, and yet nothing could
-dissipate.</p>
-
-<p>A few minutes were thus passed in febrile restlessness. All at once a
-great noise was heard in the Plaza Major. The general went to a window,
-pulled aside a curtain, and looked out. A tumultuous and dense crowd was
-thronging every street leading to the square and uttering sharp cries.
-This crowd, momentarily increasing, seemed urged on by something
-terrible, which the general could not perceive.</p>
-
-<p>"What is this?" the general exclaimed; "And what can be the meaning of
-this disturbance?"</p>
-
-<p>At this moment the shouts grew louder, and the detachment of Comanche
-warriors appeared debouching by the Calle de la Merced, and marching in
-good order, and at quick step, upon the palace. On seeing them the
-general could not restrain a start of surprise.</p>
-
-<p>"The Indians again!" he said; "How can they dare to present themselves
-here? They must be ignorant of the arrival of the dragoons. Such
-boldness is incomprehensible."</p>
-
-<p>He let the curtain fall, and turned away. The soldier whom the captain
-had announced to him stood before him, waiting the general's pleasure to
-question him. The general started on perceiving him. He was pale; his
-uniform was torn and stained with mud, as if he had made a long journey
-on foot through brambles. The general wished to clear up his doubts;
-but, just as he was opening his mouth to ask the man a question, the
-door flew back, and several officers, among whom was Captain Don Lopez,
-entered the room.</p>
-
-<p>"General," the captain said, "make haste! You are expected in the
-council hall. The Indians have come for the answer you promised to give
-them this morning."</p>
-
-<p>"Well! Why this startled look, gentlemen?" the general said, severely.
-"I fancy the town has not yet been set on fire. I am not at the orders
-of those savages, so tell them that I have no time to grant them an
-audience."</p>
-
-<p>The officers gazed at the general with a surprise they did not attempt
-to conceal, on hearing these strange and incomprehensible words.</p>
-
-<p>"Good, good," Captain Lopez said, roughly, "the town is not yet fired,
-'tis true; but it might be so, erelong, if you went on in this way."</p>
-
-<p>"What do you mean?" the general asked, as he turned pale. "Are matters
-so serious?"</p>
-
-<p>"They are most serious. We have not a moment to lose, if we wish to
-avoid heavy disasters."</p>
-
-<p>The general started.</p>
-
-<p>"Gentlemen," he then said, in an ill-assured voice, "it is our duty to
-watch over the safety of the population. I follow you."</p>
-
-<p>And taking no further heed of the soldier he had ordered to be sent in,
-he proceeded towards the council hall.</p>
-
-<p>The disorder that prevailed without had at length gained the interior of
-the palace. Nothing was to be heard but shrieks or exclamations of anger
-and terror. The Mexican officers assembled in the hall were tumultuously
-discussing the measures to be adopted in order to save a contest and the
-town. The entrance of the governor produced a healthy effect upon them,
-in so far that the discussion, which was degenerating into personalities
-and reproaches, dictated by individual fear, suddenly ceased, and
-calmness was restored.</p>
-
-<p>General Ventura regretted in his heart having counted on imaginary help,
-and not having listened to the sensible advice of some of his officers,
-who urged him the previous day to satisfy the Indians by giving them
-what they asked. In spite of the terror he felt, however, his pride
-revolted at being compelled to treat on equal terms with barbarians, and
-accept harsh conditions which they would doubtless impose on him, in the
-consciousness of having the upper hand.</p>
-
-<p>The governor, in entering the hall, looked around the assembly
-anxiously. All had taken their places, and, externally at least, had
-assumed that grace and stern appearance belonging to men who are
-penetrated with the grandeur of the duties they have to perform, and are
-resolved to carry them out at all hazards. But this appearance was very
-deceptive. If the faces were impassive the hearts were timorous. All
-these men, habituated to a slothful and effeminate life, did not feel
-capable of waging a contest with the rude enemies who menaced them so
-audaciously, even at the doors of the governor's palace.</p>
-
-<p>Under present circumstances, however, resistance was impossible. The
-Indians, by the fact of their presence on the square, were masters of
-the town. There were no troops to oppose to them; hence, the only hope
-was to make the easiest terms possible with the Comanches. Still, as all
-these men wished to save appearances at any rate, the discussion began
-anew. When everyone had given his opinion, the governor rose, and said
-in a trembling voice&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Caballeros, all of us here present: are men of courage, and have
-displayed that quality in many difficult circumstances. Certainly, if
-the only thing, was to sacrifice our lives to save the hapless townsmen,
-we would not hesitate to do so, for we are too well imbued with the
-soundness of our duties tot hesitate; but, unhappily, that sacrifice
-would not avail to save those whom we wish before all to protect. Let us
-treat, then, with the barbarians, as we cannot conquer them. Perhaps in
-this way we shall succeed in protecting our wives; and children from the
-danger that menaces them. In acting thus, under the grave circumstances
-in which we find ourselves, we shall at least have the consolation of
-having done our duty, even if we do not obtain all we desire."</p>
-
-<p>Hearty applause greeted this harangue, and the governor, turning to the
-porter, who stood motionless at the door, gave orders to introduce the
-principal Indian chiefs.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIIb" id="CHAPTER_XXIIb">CHAPTER XXII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE COMANCHES.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Valentine and his friends awoke at daybreak. The Comanches were already
-prepared to start; and Unicorn, dressed in his great war costume,
-presented himself to the hunter.</p>
-
-<p>"Is my brother going?" Valentine asked him.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the sachem answered. "I am returning to the Presidio to receive
-the answer of the chief of the palefaces."</p>
-
-<p>"What is my brother's intention, should his demand be rejected?"</p>
-
-<p>Unicorn smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"The Comanches have long lances," he said; "the palefaces will not
-refuse."</p>
-
-<p>"My anxiety will be extreme till you return, chief; the Spaniards are
-perfidious; take care they have not planned some treachery."</p>
-
-<p>"They would not dare," Unicorn said, haughtily. "If the chief, whom my
-brother loves, is not delivered to me safe and sound, the Spanish
-prisoners shall be tortured on the plaza of Santa Fe, the town burned
-and sacked. I have spoken; my brother's mind may be at rest."</p>
-
-<p>"Good! Unicorn is a wise chief; he will do what is necessary."</p>
-
-<p>In the meantime the Comanche warriors had formed their ranks, and only
-awaited the signal of the sachem to start. The Spanish prisoners taken
-during the night were placed in the centre bound and half naked.
-Suddenly a disturbance was heard in the camp, and two men rushed panting
-toward the spot where stood Valentine, the sachem and Curumilla. They
-were Don Pablo and Father Seraphin, their clothes in disorder, their
-features haggard, and their faces glistening with perspiration. On
-reaching their friends, they fell, almost in a fainting state, on the
-ground. The proper attentions were at once paid them, and the missionary
-was the first to recover. Don Pablo seemed stupefied; the tears poured
-incessantly down his cheeks, and he could not utter a word. Valentine
-felt strangely alarmed.</p>
-
-<p>"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "What has happened? Don Miguel&mdash;?"</p>
-
-<p>The missionary shook his head.</p>
-
-<p>"No," he said, "nothing has happened to him, as far as I know."</p>
-
-<p>"Heaven be praised! But what is the matter, father? What misfortune have
-you to announce to me?"</p>
-
-<p>"A frightful one, indeed, my son," the missionary replied, as he buried
-his face in his hands.</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, in Heaven's name! Your delay is killing me."</p>
-
-<p>"Doña Clara&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Well!" he hunter said, sharply.</p>
-
-<p>"Was captured again last night by Red Cedar, and torn from the refuge
-where I placed her."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" Valentine exclaimed, with concentrated fury, as he stamped his
-foot, "Always that demon&mdash;that accursed Red Cedar. My curses on him! But
-take courage, father; let us first save Don Miguel, and then I swear to
-you that I will restore his daughter to him."</p>
-
-<p>Unicorn advanced.</p>
-
-<p>"Master of prayer," he said to Father Seraphin, in a soft and impressive
-voice, "your heart is good. The Comanches love you. Unicorn will help
-you. Pray to your God. He will protect us in our researches, since He
-is, as you say, so powerful."</p>
-
-<p>Then the chief turned to Don Pablo, and laid his hand firmly on his
-shoulder.</p>
-
-<p>"Women weep," he said; "men avenge themselves. Has not my brother his
-rifle?"</p>
-
-<p>On feeling the Comanche's hand laid on him&mdash;on hearing these words&mdash;the
-young man quivered as if he had received an electric shock. He drew
-himself up, and fixed on the chief his eyes burning with the fever of
-sorrow.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," he said, in a broken voice, "you are right, chief, and," passing
-his hand over his eyes, with a gesture of rage, "let us leave tears to
-women, who have no other weapons to protect their weakness. I am a man,
-and will avenge myself."</p>
-
-<p>"Good. My brother speaks well: he is a warrior; Unicorn esteems him; he
-will become great on the war path."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pablo, crushed for a moment, had regained all his energy; he was no
-longer the same man; he looked around him.</p>
-
-<p>"Where are you going?" he asked.</p>
-
-<p>"To Santa Fe, to deliver your father."</p>
-
-<p>"I will go with you."</p>
-
-<p>"Come," said Unicorn.</p>
-
-<p>"No," Valentine interposed, authoritatively. "Your place is not there,
-Don Pablo; leave the Comanche warriors to act as they please; they do
-not need your help to carry out their plans properly. Remain with me."</p>
-
-<p>"Command me, my friend," the young man said with resignation; "I have
-perfect confidence in your experience."</p>
-
-<p>"Good. You are reasonable. Brother," he added, turning to the chief,
-"you can start. The sun is already high in the horizon; may Heaven grant
-that you may succeed!"</p>
-
-<p>Unicorn gave the signal for departure. The Comanches uttered their war
-yell, while brandishing their arms, and started at a quick amble, the
-only pace they know. Curumilla then rose, and wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe; Valentine watching him, inquiringly.</p>
-
-<p>"Does my brother leave us?" he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the Araucano answered, laconically.</p>
-
-<p>"For long?"</p>
-
-<p>"For a few hours?"</p>
-
-<p>"Where is my brother going?"</p>
-
-<p>"To look for the camp of Red Cedar's gambusinos," the Indian replied
-with a cunning smile.</p>
-
-<p>"Good," Valentine said, gleefully. "My brother is a wise chief; he
-forgets nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"Curumilla loves his brother; he thinks for him," the chief answered,
-simply.</p>
-
-<p>After uttering these words, the Unicorn bowed gracefully, and proceeded
-in the direction of the Paso del Norte, soon disappearing in the
-windings of the road. Valentine looked after him for a long while. When
-he no longer saw him, he let his head fall pensively on his chest,
-murmuring in a low voice&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Good, intelligent fellow! Heart of gold! The only friend left me! The
-only one remaining of my old and faithful comrades! Louis, my poor
-Louis, where are you now?" A deep sigh burst from his bosom, and he
-remained absorbed in a gloomy reverie.</p>
-
-<p>At length Valentine raised his head, passed his hand over his brow, as
-if to dispel these sad thoughts, and turned to his friends.</p>
-
-<p>"Pardon me," he said, "but I, at times, give way to my thoughts in that
-fashion. Alas! I, too, have suffered; but let us leave that," he added,
-gaily. "Bygones must be bygones. Let us attend to your affairs."</p>
-
-<p>He made them a sign to sit down by his side on the grass, rummaged his
-alforjas and produced some slight food, which he laid before them.</p>
-
-<p>"Eat," he said to them; "we do not know what awaits us within the next
-few hours, and we must recruit our strength. When you have satisfied
-your appetite, you will tell me all about Doña Clara being carried off
-again, for I must have the fullest details."</p>
-
-<p>We will leave the three now conversing, and join the Comanches and
-Unicorn again.</p>
-
-<p>When the Comanches reached the Plaza Mayor, opposite the Cabildo, they
-halted. At an order from Unicorn, the prisoners were completely stripped
-of their clothing and placed some distance in front of the first rank of
-Indians, each of them having at his side a fully armed Indian ready to
-massacre him mercilessly at the slightest sign from Unicorn. When the
-preparations were completed, and the Comanches had stationed sentinels
-at each corner of the streets, opening in the square, in order not to be
-taken in reverse, and surrounded by the Spaniards, if they felt any
-inclination for fighting, the Spider, the chief who had already
-performed the duty of flag of truce, pranced up to the gate of the
-palace, and demanded speech with the governor.</p>
-
-<p>The officer of the guard, who was no other than Don Lopez, politely
-requested the Indian warrior to wait a few moments, and then proceeded
-in all haste to General Ventura. We have seen what took place, and,
-after a delay of nearly half an hour, Captain Don Lopez returned. It was
-time, for the Comanches were beginning to grow tired of waiting, and
-were preparing to force the passage which was not voluntarily granted
-them. After some preliminary explanations, Captain Lopez informed the
-Spider that the general, surrounded by his staff, was awaiting, in the
-hall of audience, the sachem of the nation and his three principal
-warriors.</p>
-
-<p>The Spider communicated this answer to Unicorn, who gave a nod of
-assent, dismounted, and entered the Cabildo.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIIIb" id="CHAPTER_XXIIIb">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>NEGOTIATIONS.</h3>
-
-
-<p>When Unicorn entered the council chamber, preceded by Captain Lopez, and
-followed by the three Indian chiefs, the deepest silence prevailed among
-the Spanish officers assembled to meet him. The governor, seated in a
-chair placed in the centre of the hall, was looking nervously round him,
-while tapping on the arm of the chair with the fingers of his right
-hand. Still, his countenance was tolerably composed; nothing externally
-revealed the terror that devoured him. He answered by a nod the
-ceremonious bow of the Comanches, and drew himself up as if intending to
-address them; but if such were his desire, Unicorn did not grant him
-time to do so. The sachem draped himself in his buffalo robe with that
-majestic grace possessed by all those untamed sons of the desert, drew
-his head up proudly, and walked toward General Ventura, who watched him
-approach with an anxious eye. On coming within four paces of the
-governor, Unicorn stopped, crossed his arms on his chest, and took the
-word.</p>
-
-<p>"I salute my father!" he said, in a loud and fierce voice. "I have come,
-as was agreed on yesterday, to fetch the answer he owes me."</p>
-
-<p>The general hesitated for an instant.</p>
-
-<p>"I am waiting!" the Indian went on, with a frown that augured ill.</p>
-
-<p>The general, forced almost into his last entrenchments, saw that the
-hour for surrender had at length arrived, and that no way of escape was
-left him.</p>
-
-<p>"Chief," he answered, in anything but a firm voice, "your behavior
-naturally surprises me. To my knowledge the Spaniards are not at war
-with your nation; the whites have not done anything of which you have a
-right to complain. For what reason do you come, then, against the sworn
-faith, and when nothing authorises you, to invade a defenceless town,
-and interfere in matters that only concern ourselves?"</p>
-
-<p>The sachem understood that the Spaniard was trying to shift the question
-on to other ground; he saw the snare offered him, and was not to be
-caught.</p>
-
-<p>"My father does not answer my request," he said. "Still, in order to
-have finished at once with the recriminations he brings up, I will
-answer his questions peremptorily, separating them one from the other.
-In the first place, my father knows very well that the palefaces and
-redskins have been in a constant state of warfare since the arrival of
-white men in America. This war may have slightly relaxed at intervals,
-but has never really ceased. Our two races are hostile; the struggle
-will not end between them until one of the two families, whether white
-or red, has given place to the other by its general extinction.
-Secondly, my father said that nothing has been done of which we had a
-right to complain. My father is mistaken, we have a cause, the
-imprisonment of Don Miguel Zarate, who, himself an Indian, has never
-belied his origin. Hence my father must no longer ask by what right I am
-here, for that is perfectly established; it is that which every honest
-man possesses of defending an innocent person who is oppressed. Now that
-fact is cleared up, let us pass to another. When I came here yesterday,
-my father gave me to understand that my propositions would be accepted,
-and the exchange of prisoners carried out."</p>
-
-<p>"It is possible, chief," the general replied; "but things are so in this
-world, no one knows today what he will do tomorrow. With night
-reflection has come, and, in short, your propositions have appeared to
-me unacceptable."</p>
-
-<p>"Wah!" the Indian said, though not testifying his surprise otherwise.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," the general continued, growing animated, "I should be ashamed to
-grant them, for I should have the appearance of only yielding to
-threats. No, it cannot be. The two gentlemen you claim are guilty, and
-shall die; and if you venture to oppose the execution of the just
-sentence of the court, we will defend ourselves, and God will protect
-the good cause."</p>
-
-<p>The Mexican officers warmly applauded this haughty response, which they
-were far from expecting. They felt their courage rekindled, and did not
-despair of obtaining better conditions. A smile of disdain played round
-the chiefs haughty lips.</p>
-
-<p>"Good," he said; "my father speaks very loudly. The coyotes are bold
-when they hunt the buffalo in packs. My father has carefully reflected,
-and is determined to accept the consequences of his answer. He wishes
-for war, then?"</p>
-
-<p>"No," the general quickly interposed, "heaven forbid! I should be glad
-to settle this matter amicably with you, chief, but honor forbids me
-subscribing those disgraceful proposals which you did not fear to lay
-before me."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it really honour that has dictated my father's answer?" the Indian
-asked, ironically. "He will permit me to doubt it. In short, whatever be
-the reason that guides him, I can but withdraw; but, before doing so, I
-will give him news of a friend whom he doubtless impatiently expects."</p>
-
-<p>"What means that word, doubtless?"</p>
-
-<p>"This," the Indian said, sharply. "The warriors whom my father expected
-to arrive to his aid this day have been dispersed by my young men, as
-the autumn breeze sweeps away the leaves. They will not come."</p>
-
-<p>A murmur of surprise, almost of terror, ran through the assembly. The
-sachem let the long folds of his buffalo robe fall back, tore from his
-girdle the bleeding scalp that hung there, and threw it at the general's
-feet.</p>
-
-<p>"That," he said, gloomily, "is the scalp of the man who commanded my
-father's warriors! Does the chief of the palefaces recognise it? This
-scalp was raised by me from the head of the man who was to arrive, and
-who, at this hour, has set out for the happy hunting grounds of his
-nation."</p>
-
-<p>A shudder of terror ran round the room at the sight of the scalp; the
-general felt the small dose of courage that had still animated him
-oozing out.</p>
-
-<p>"Chief," he exclaimed, in a trembling voice "is it possible you have
-done that?"</p>
-
-<p>"I have done it," the sachem answered, coldly. "Now, farewell. I am
-about to join my young men, who are impatient at my long absence."</p>
-
-<p>With these words the Comanche haughtily turned his back on the governor,
-and walked toward the door.</p>
-
-<p>"A few moments longer, chief," the general said; "perhaps we are nearer
-an understanding than you suppose."</p>
-
-<p>The Comanche gave the speaker a glance which made him quiver.</p>
-
-<p>"Here is my last word," he said. "I insist on the two prisoners being
-handed over to me."</p>
-
-<p>"They shall be."</p>
-
-<p>"Good; but no perfidity, no treachery."</p>
-
-<p>"We will act honourably," the general replied, not dreaming, of resenting
-the insult conveyed in the Indian's words.</p>
-
-<p>"We shall see. My warriors and myself will remain on the square till my
-father has performed his promise. If, within an hour, the palefaces are
-not free, the prisoners I hold will be pitilessly massacred, and the
-<i>altepetl</i> plundered. I have spoken."</p>
-
-<p>A gloomy silence greeted these terrible threats. The pride of the
-Mexicans was quelled, and they at length recognised that nothing could
-save them from the vengeance of the Comanche chief. The general bowed in
-assent, not having strength to answer otherwise. The sight of the scalp
-had paralyzed in him all desire to contend longer. Unicorn left the
-hall, mounted his horse again, and calmly awaited the fulfilment of the
-promise made to him.</p>
-
-<p>When the Indians had left the council chamber, the Mexicans rose
-tumultuously, for each feared the execution of the chief's threats.
-General Ventura was pressed on all sides to make haste, and run no risk
-of breaking his word. When the governor saw that his officers were as
-terrified as himself, he re-assumed his coolness, and cleverly profited
-by this state of mind, in order to throw the responsibility off himself,
-and appear only to act under the impulse of others.</p>
-
-<p>"Caballeros," he said, "you have heard this man. You understood as well
-as I did the menaces he dared to offer us. Shall such an insult be left
-unpunished? Will you allow yourselves to be thus braved in the heart of
-the town by a handful of scoundrels, and not attempt to inflict on them
-the chastisement they deserve? To arms, caballeros, and let us die
-bravely, if it must be so, sooner than suffer this stain on the old
-Spanish honor our fathers transmitted to us!"</p>
-
-<p>This warm address produced the effect the general anticipated from it;
-that is to say, it redoubled, were that possible, the terror of the
-hearers, who had long been acquainted with their chiefs cowardice, and
-knew how little he could be depended on. This sudden warlike order
-seemed to them so unusual, and before all so inopportune, that they
-pressed him to accept without delay the proposals dictated by the
-sachem.</p>
-
-<p>This was all the governor wanted. He had the minutes of the council at
-once drawn up, when it was signed by all present, he put it in his
-pocket.</p>
-
-<p>"As you insist," he said, "and nothing can induce you to offer an
-honourable resistance, I will myself proceed to the prison, in order to
-avoid any misunderstanding, and have the doors opened for Don Miguel
-Zarate and General Ibañez."</p>
-
-<p>"Make haste, pray?" the officers answered.</p>
-
-<p>The general, glad in his heart at having got out of the scrape so well,
-left the Cabildo, and walked across the square to the prison, which
-stood on the opposite side. The Comanches were motionless as statues of
-Florentine bronze, leaning on their weapons, with their eyes fixed on
-the chief, ready to carry out his orders.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIVb" id="CHAPTER_XXIVb">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>FREE.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Don Miguel and General Ibañez were completely ignorant of what was going
-on outside, and the rumours of the town did not reach their ears. Had
-they deigned to question their jailer, the latter, who was beginning to
-fear for himself the effects of the ill-treatment he had made the two
-gentlemen undergo, would doubtless not have hesitated to give them all
-possible information, for the sake of regaining their favour; but each
-time this man presented himself before them, and opened his mouth to
-speak, they turned their backs contemptuously, giving him a sign to
-withdraw at once, and be silent.</p>
-
-<p>On this day, according to their wont, the two prisoners had risen at
-sunrise, and then, with incredible coolness, began conversing on
-indifferent topics. Suddenly a great noise was heard in the prison; a
-clang of arms reached the prisoners' ears, and hurried footsteps
-approached the rooms in which they were confined. They listened.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, oh!" said Ibañez, "I fancy it is for today at last."</p>
-
-<p>"Heaven be praised!" Don Miguel answered; "I am glad they have made up
-their minds to bring matters to a conclusion."</p>
-
-<p>"On my honour, and so am I," the general said, gaily; "time was
-beginning to hang heavy in this prison, where a man has not the
-slightest relaxation. We are going to see again that splendid sun which
-seems afraid of showing itself in this den. <i>Viva Cristo</i>! I feel
-delighted at the mere thought, and gladly pardon my judges."</p>
-
-<p>Still the noise drew nearer and nearer, and confused voices were mingled
-with the echoing steps in the passage, and the rattling of sabres.</p>
-
-<p>"Here they are," said Don Miguel; "we shall see them in a minute."</p>
-
-<p>"They are welcome if they bring us death, that supreme solace of the
-afflicted."</p>
-
-<p>At this moment a key creaked in the lock, and the door opened. The two
-prisoners fell back in surprise on seeing the general, who rushed into
-the cell followed by two or three officers. Assuredly, if the prisoners
-expected to see anybody, it was not the worthy General Ventura. Ibañez'
-surprise was so great at this unexpected apparition, that he could not
-refrain from exclaiming, with that accent of caustic gaiety which formed
-the basis of his character&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"What the deuce do you want here, Señor Governor? Have you, too,
-suddenly become a frightful conspirator, such as we are accused of
-being?"</p>
-
-<p>Before answering, the general fell back into a chair, wiping away the
-perspiration that trickled down his forehead, such speed had he
-displayed in coming to the prison. Three or four officers stood
-motionless on the threshold of the widely open door. The condemned men
-could not at all understand the affair.</p>
-
-<p>"Have you by any chance, my dear governor," General Ibañez said, gaily,
-though not believing a word of it, "come to restore us to liberty? That
-would be a most gallant action, and I should feel deeply indebted to you
-for it."</p>
-
-<p>General Ventura raised his head, fixed on the prisoners eyes sparkling
-with joy, and said, in a panting voice&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, my friends, yes; I <i>would</i> come myself to tell you that you are
-free; I would not yield to anyone else the pleasure of announcing the
-good news."</p>
-
-<p>The prisoners fell back in amazement.</p>
-
-<p>"What!" General Ibañez exclaimed, "You are speaking seriously?"</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel attentively looked at the governor, trying to read in his
-face the reasons of his conduct.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, come," General Ventura cried, "this hole is frightful; do not
-remain any longer in it."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" Don Miguel remarked, bitterly, "You find it frightful; you have
-been a long time in discovering the fact; for we have lived in it nearly
-a month, and the thought never once occurred to you of disturbing our
-repose."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not be angry with me, Don Miguel," the governor answered eagerly,
-"it was greatly against my will you were detained so long; had it only
-depended on me you would have been free; but, thanks to Heaven, all is
-settled now, and I have succeeded in having justice done you. Come away;
-do not remain a moment longer in this pestilential den."</p>
-
-<p>"Pardon me, Caballero," Don Miguel said coldly, "but, with your
-permission, we will remain a few moments longer in it."</p>
-
-<p>"Why so?" General Ventura asked, opening his eyes to their fullest
-extent.</p>
-
-<p>"I will tell you."</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel pointed to a chair, and sat down himself. Ibañez following
-his example. There was a moment of deep silence between these three men
-as they strove to read each other's real secret thoughts.</p>
-
-<p>"I am waiting your pleasure to explain yourself," the governor at last
-said, as he was anxious to get away, and time pressed.</p>
-
-<p>"I am about doing so," Don Miguel answered; "you have come to tell us we
-are free, sir; but you do not say on what conditions."</p>
-
-<p>"What do you mean by conditions?" the general asked, not understanding
-him.</p>
-
-<p>"Of course," Ibañez went on, supporting his friend; "and these
-conditions, too, must suit us; you must see, my dear sir, we cannot
-leave this delightful place without knowing the why or wherefore. <i>Viva
-Cristo</i>! We are not vagabonds to be got rid of in that way; we must know
-if we are justified in accepting the proposals you have just made."</p>
-
-<p>"The general is right, sir," the hacendero said in his turn; "the care
-of our honor does not permit us to accept a liberation which might stain
-it; hence, we shall not leave this prison until you have given us an
-explanation."</p>
-
-<p>The governor hardly knew whether he was on his head or his heels; he had
-never before had to deal with such obstinate prisoners. He racked his
-brains in vain to discover why it was that men condemned to death could
-so peremptorily decline their liberty. His ideas were too narrow, his
-heart was too cowardly for him to comprehend the grandeur and nobility
-in this determination on the part of two men, who preferred an honourable
-death to a branded life which they only owed to the pity of their
-judges. Still, he must induce them to quit the prison, for time was fast
-slipping away, and their obstinacy might ruin everything. Hence, General
-Ventura made up his mind like a man.</p>
-
-<p>"Gentlemen," he said, with feigned admiration, "I understand what
-nobleness there is in your scruples, and am happy to see that I was not
-mistaken in the greatness of your character. You can leave this prison
-in full security, and take once more the station that belongs to you in
-the world. I will lay no conditions on you; you are free, purely and
-simply. Here are the documents connected with your trial, the proofs
-produced against you; take them and destroy them, and accept my sincere,
-apologies for all that has passed."</p>
-
-<p>While saying this, the governor drew from his breast an enormous bundle
-of papers, which he offered Don Miguel. The latter declined them with an
-air of disgust; but General Ibañez, less scrupulous or wiser in his
-generation, eagerly clutched them, looked through them to see that the
-governor was not deceiving him, and then threw them into the <i>brasero</i>,
-standing in the middle of the room. In less than four minutes, all this
-undigested mass was consumed. General Ibañez watched them burning with a
-certain degree of pleasure, for he began to feel himself really free.</p>
-
-<p>"I am waiting for you, gentlemen," said the governor.</p>
-
-<p>"One word more, by your leave," the hacendero remarked.</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, sir."</p>
-
-<p>"On leaving this prison, where are we to go?"</p>
-
-<p>"Wherever you please, gentlemen. I repeat to you that you are perfectly
-free, and can act as you think proper. I do not even ask your word of
-honor to enter into no further conspiracy."</p>
-
-<p>"Good sir," Don Miguel said, holding out his hand to General Ventura,
-"your conduct affects me&mdash;thanks."</p>
-
-<p>The governor blushed.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, come," he said, to hide his embarrassment on receiving this so
-ill-deserved praise.</p>
-
-<p>The prisoners no longer hesitated to follow him.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile, the news of Don Miguel's deliverance had spread
-through the town with the rapidity of a train of gunpowder. The
-inhabitants, reassured by the continence of the Comanches, and knowing
-that they had only come to save a man, in whose fate the entire
-population felt interested, had ventured to leave their houses, and at
-length thronged the streets and squares; the windows and roofs were
-filled with men, women, and children, whose eyes, fixed on the prison,
-awaited the moment of Don Miguel's appearance. When he did so,
-tremendous shouts greeted him.</p>
-
-<p>Unicorn walked up to the governor.</p>
-
-<p>"My father has kept his promise," he said, gravely, "I will keep mine;
-the white prisoners are free; I now depart."</p>
-
-<p>The governor listened to these words with a blush; the sachem returned
-to the head of his war party, which rapidly retired, followed by the
-shouts of a mob intoxicated with joy. Don Miguel, perplexed by the scene
-which had taken place in his presence, and who began to suspect a
-mystery in the governor's conduct, turned to him to ask an explanation
-of the Indian chief's words&mdash;an explanation the governor luckily
-escaped, owing to the eagerness of the people who flocked up to
-congratulate the prisoners on their release.</p>
-
-<p>On reaching the gate of the Cabildo, General Ventura bowed courteously
-to the two gentlemen, and hurried into his palace, happy at having
-escaped so cheaply, and not tearing with his own hands the cloak of
-generosity which he had paraded in the sight of his prisoners.</p>
-
-<p>"What do you think of all that?" the hacendero asked his friend.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" General Ibañez muttered, "The governor's conduct seems to me
-rather queer; but, no matter, we are free. I confess to you, my friend,
-that I should have no objection to go a little distance from this place,
-the air of which, despite General Ventura's protestations, appears to me
-remarkably unhealthy for us."</p>
-
-<p>At this moment, and ere Don Miguel could answer, the general felt a
-slight touch on his shoulders; he turned and saw Curumilla before him,
-with a smiling face. Don Miguel and the general suppressed a cry of joy
-at the sight of the grave and excellent Indian.</p>
-
-<p>"Come!" he said to them, laconically.</p>
-
-<p>They followed him, with some difficulty, through the crowd that
-accompanied them with shouts, and whom they were obliged to stop and
-thank. On reaching a small street near the square, and which was nearly
-deserted, Curumilla led them to a house before which he stopped.</p>
-
-<p>"It is here," he said, as he tapped twice.</p>
-
-<p>The door opened, and they entered a courtyard, in which were three ready
-saddled horses, held by a groom, which they at once mounted.</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks, brother," the hacendero said, warmly, as he pressed the chiefs
-hand; "but how did you learn our deliverance?"</p>
-
-<p>The Araucano smiled pleasantly. "Let us go," he said, making no other
-answer.</p>
-
-<p>"Where to?" Don Miguel asked.</p>
-
-<p>"To join Koutonepi."</p>
-
-<p>The three men started at full speed. Ten minutes later they were out of
-the town, and galloping across the plain.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh!" General Ibañez said, gaily, "How pleasant the fresh air is! How
-good it is to inhale it after remaining for two months stifled between
-the walls of a prison!"</p>
-
-<p>"Shall we soon arrive? Don Miguel asked.</p>
-
-<p>"In an hour," the chief answered.</p>
-
-<p>And they went on with renewed speed.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXVb" id="CHAPTER_XXVb">CHAPTER XXV.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>THE MEETING.</h3>
-
-
-<p>On reaching a spot where the trail they were following formed a species
-of fork, Curumilla stopped, and the two gentlemen imitated him.</p>
-
-<p>"That is your road," the Araucano chief said. "At the end of that path
-you will see Koutonepi's bivouac fire. I must leave you here."</p>
-
-<p>After uttering these words, Curumilla turned his horse and started,
-after giving them a parting wave of the hand. The Unicorn was not much
-of a talker naturally; generally, he did more than he said. His friends,
-convinced that urgent necessity could alone have forced him thus to
-break through his habits, made no observation, but let him go. When they
-were alone, they gently relaxed the pace of their horses, and proceeded
-at a canter.</p>
-
-<p>General Ibañez was radiant. He inhaled the fresh air Of the desert,
-which dilated his wide chest, revelling in his liberty. He thought of
-nothing but enjoying the present, regardless of the past, which, with
-his careless character, he had already forgotten, only to dream of the
-future, which he gazed on through a prism of brilliant hues. Don Miguel,
-on the contrary, felt, during the last few moments, a sad melancholy
-invade his mind. Not able to account for the emotion he experienced, he
-had a species of secret presentiment that a misfortune was suspended
-over his head. In vain did he try to dispel these ideas, but they
-constantly returned more obstinately than ever and it was with a sort of
-dread that he advanced in the direction where he was to meet Valentine,
-although he was his best friend, so much did he fear that he would greet
-his arrival with evil tidings.</p>
-
-<p>The two gentlemen went on thus for nearly half an hour without
-exchanging a syllable; but, just as they turned a corner in the path,
-they saw a horseman about thirty paces in front of them, barring the
-road, and apparently waiting for them. The Mexicans examined him
-attentively. He was a tall man, well armed, and wearing the garb of the
-rich hacenderos; but, singularly enough, a black velvet mask prevented
-them distinguishing his features. By an instinctive movement Don Miguel
-and his friend moved a hand to their holsters, but they were empty.</p>
-
-<p>"What is to be done?" the hacendero asked the general.</p>
-
-<p>"Go on, of course. We have just escaped too great a peril for us to fear
-this. Even in the event of the mysterious being planted there before us,
-like an equestrian statue, trying to play us a trick, which is not
-impossible."</p>
-
-<p>"Let us trust to Heaven," Don Miguel muttered, and pushed on.</p>
-
-<p>The distance separating them from the stranger was soon cleared. On
-coming within five yards of him, they stopped.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Santas tardes</i>, caballeros," said the stranger, in a friendly voice.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Santas tardes</i>!" the gentlemen answered, in accord.</p>
-
-<p>"I salute you, Don Miguel Zarate, and you, General Ibañez," the stranger
-then said. "I am happy to see you at length safe and sound out of the
-claws of that worthy General Ventura, who, if he could, would certainly
-have played you a trick."</p>
-
-<p>"Caballero," Don Miguel made answer, "I thank you for the kind words you
-address to me, and which can only come from a friend's lips. I should be
-pleased if you would take off the mask that conceals your features, so
-that I may recognise you."</p>
-
-<p>"Gentlemen, if I removed my mask you would be disappointed, for my
-features are unfamiliar to you. Do not be angry with me for keeping it
-on; but, be assured that you are not mistaken with regard to me, and I
-am really your friend."</p>
-
-<p>The two Mexicans bowed courteously to each other, and the stranger went
-on.</p>
-
-<p>"I knew that so soon as you were free you would hasten to join that
-worthy hunter Valentine, whom the trappers and gambusinos along the
-frontier have christened the 'Trail-hunter.' I placed myself here, where
-you must infallibly pass, in order to make you a communication of the
-utmost importance, which interests you extremely."</p>
-
-<p>"I am listening, sir," Don Miguel responded with secret alarm; "and I
-beg you to accept, beforehand, my sincere thanks for the step you have
-taken on my behalf."</p>
-
-<p>"You will thank me when the proper time comes, Don Miguel. Today I only
-warn you: at a later date I hope to aid you, and my help will not prove
-useless."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak, sir! You excite my curiosity to the highest pitch, and I am
-anxious to learn the news of which you have condescended to be the
-bearer."</p>
-
-<p>The stranger shook his head sadly, and there was a moment's silence.
-This meeting of three horsemen, one of whom was masked, in this deserted
-place, where no sound troubled the imposing silence of solitude, had
-something strange about it. At length the mask spoke again.</p>
-
-<p>"Two months have elapsed, Don Miguel, since, through the treachery of
-Red Cedar, you were arrested and made prisoner at the Paso del Norte.
-Many events of which you are ignorant have occurred since then; but
-there is one I must inform you of at once. On the very night of your
-arrest, at the moment you laid down your arms, your daughter was carried
-off by Red Cedar."</p>
-
-<p>"My daughter!" the hacendero exclaimed; "And Valentine to whom I
-confided her, and who was responsible for her safety?"</p>
-
-<p>"Valentine attempted impossibilities to save her; but what can one man
-effect against twenty?"</p>
-
-<p>Don Miguel shook his head mournfully.</p>
-
-<p>"After researches, long, sterile, and extraordinary efforts, a man
-providentially aided by Father Seraphin, at length succeeded last night
-in taking Doña Clara from her ravishers; but Red Cedar, advised by some
-extraordinary chance, entered the house where the maiden had sought
-shelter, and carried her off again."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! I will avenge myself on that man!" the hacendero shouted,
-passionately.</p>
-
-<p>The stranger's eyes flashed with a lurid light though the holes in his
-mask.</p>
-
-<p>"You will find your son and Father Seraphin with Valentine. Red Cedar
-intends to start this evening at the head of a band of gambusinos, to go
-into the deserts of the Rio Gila in search of a placer, which his
-accomplice, Fray Ambrosio, had indicated to him."</p>
-
-<p>"Fray Ambrosio!" the hacendero repeated, in stupor.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes. Your former chaplain, who served as spy to the squatter, revealed
-your plans to him, and provided him the means to enter the hacienda and
-carry off your daughter."</p>
-
-<p>"Good," Don Miguel said, in a hollow voice. "I will remember."</p>
-
-<p>"Red Cedar, I know not with what design, is taking your daughter with
-him into the desert."</p>
-
-<p>"I will follow him, were it for a thousand leagues," Don Miguel said,
-resolutely. "Thanks to you for having instructed me so fully. But whence
-comes the interest you take in me so gratuitously, since, as you say, I
-do not know you?"</p>
-
-<p>"You shall learn at a later date, Don Miguel. Now, before I leave you,
-one last word&mdash;an earnest warning."</p>
-
-<p>"I listen attentively, caballero."</p>
-
-<p>"Do not tell anyone&mdash;not even the French hunter, not even your son&mdash;of
-our meeting. Let this secret be buried in your breast. When you reach
-the far west, if you see before you, at one of your bivouacs, a piece of
-mahogany bearing the impress of a horse's shoe, rise at midnight, and
-leave the camp, not letting anyone see you. When you have gone one
-hundred paces in the tall grass, whistle thrice; a similar whistle will
-answer you, and then you will learn many things important for you to
-know, but which I cannot tell you today."</p>
-
-<p>"Good. Thanks. I will do what you tell me."</p>
-
-<p>"You promised it?"</p>
-
-<p>"I swear it on my word as a gentleman," Don Miguel said, as he took off
-his hat.</p>
-
-<p>"I accept your oath. Farewell."</p>
-
-<p>"Farewell."</p>
-
-<p>The stranger dug his spurs into his horse's sides and the animal started
-off as if impelled by a tornado.</p>
-
-<p>The two gentlemen looked after him for a long time, admiring the grace
-and ease of his movements; at length, when horse and rider had
-disappeared in the distance, Don Miguel went on again pensively, while
-saying to the general&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Who can that man be?"</p>
-
-<p>"I know no more than you do. <i>Viva Cristo</i>!" his friend answered, "but I
-assure you I will know, even if to do so I have to search all the
-thickets and caverns in the desert."</p>
-
-<p>"What," Don Miguel exclaimed, "do you intend to come with me?"</p>
-
-<p>"Did you ever doubt it, Don Miguel? If so, you insulted me. You will
-need all your friends to go in search of your daughter, and inflict on
-that demon of a gringo squatter the chastisement he deserves. No, no; I
-will not leave you under such circumstances, for that would be
-committing a bad action; besides, I shall not be sorry," he added with a
-smile, "to get out of the sight of the government for a time."</p>
-
-<p>"My friend, I thank you," the hacendero said, as he took his hand. "I
-have long known that you were entirely devoted to me; I am pleased to
-receive this new proof of your friendship."</p>
-
-<p>"And you accept it?" the general asked gaily.</p>
-
-<p>"Most heartily; the help of an iron arm like yours must be most useful
-to me under the painful circumstances in which I am placed."</p>
-
-<p>"That is settled, then; we will start together, <i>Mil rayas!</i> and I swear
-we will deliver Doña Clara."</p>
-
-<p>"May Heaven grant it," the hacendero said, sadly.</p>
-
-<p>The conversation then dropped, and the two friends proceeded in silence.
-A quarter of an hour later they reached the Trail-hunter's bivouac.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIb" id="CHAPTER_XXVIb">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>DOÑA CLARA.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Valentine had been warned, nearly an hour previously, by Unicorn of the
-result of the negotiations with the governor of Santa Fe, and the
-immediate liberation of the prisoners; he was, therefore, expecting
-them. Though they were ignorant where to find him, Valentine presumed
-that the chief would leave some Indian to direct them, and, therefore,
-did not feel at all surprised at seeing them. So soon as he noticed
-their approach he walked to meet them, followed by Don Pablo and the
-missionary, while the hacendero and his comrade on their side pricked
-on to join them sooner.</p>
-
-<p>A few hours were spent, after the first greetings were over, in a
-conference, of which the poor child so audaciously carried off was the
-sole subject. Valentine drew up with his friends the plan of the
-campaign against Red Cedar, which was so daring that it would have made
-a European nervous; but the free adventurers who were about to carry it
-out in no way feared the mysterious dangers of the desert which they
-were going to confront. We say, free, because Father Seraphin had taken
-leave of his friends and found Unicorn, with whom he wished to go to the
-Comanche villages, in the hope of spreading the light of the Gospel
-there. Still, he did not despair about, meeting his friends in the
-prairies, whither he was himself proceeding. Toward evening, Curumilla
-arrived. The Araucano was covered with dust, and his face damp with
-perspiration; Not uttering a word, he sat down by the fire, took his
-calumet from his girdle, and began smoking. Valentine let him do so
-without asking a question, but so soon as he saw him absorbed in his
-pipe, he laid his hand on his shoulder.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" he said to him.</p>
-
-<p>"Curumilla has seen them."</p>
-
-<p>"Good; are they numerous?"</p>
-
-<p>"Ten times the number of fingers on my two hands, and one more."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caramba!</i>" Valentine exclaimed, "Are they so many as that? We shall
-have a tough job in that case."</p>
-
-<p>"They are bold hunters," the chief added.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum! Do you know when they will start?"</p>
-
-<p>"This evening, when the new moon rises."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, ah! I read their plan," the hunter said. "They intend crossing the
-ford of the Toro before day."</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla bowed his head in affirmation.</p>
-
-<p>"That is true," Valentine remarked; "once the ford is passed they will
-be in the desert, and have comparatively nothing to fear, or at least
-they suppose so. I must confess," he added, addressing his friends,
-"that Red Cedar is a remarkably clever scoundrel; nothing, escapes him,
-but this time he has a' tough adversary. I have my revenge to take on
-him, and, with the help of Heaven, it shall be exemplary."</p>
-
-<p>"What shall we do?" Don Miguel asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Sleep," Valentine answered, "we have still several hours before us, so
-let us profit by them; in the new life we are beginning, we must neglect
-nothing, the body and mind must repose, so that we may act vigorously."</p>
-
-<p>Curumilla had slipped away but now returned, bringing with him two
-rifles, pistols, and knives.</p>
-
-<p>"My brothers had no weapons," he said, as he laid his load before the
-Mexicans.</p>
-
-<p>The latter thanked him heartily; for, owing to the foresight of
-Curumilla, who thought of everything, they could now enter the desert
-boldly. Two minutes later the five men were fast asleep, and we will
-take advantage of their slumber to return to Red Cedar, whom we left on
-the point of climbing through Doña Clara's window, while Fray Ambrosio
-and Andrés Garote were watching at either end of the street.</p>
-
-<p>At one bound the bandit was in the room, after breaking open the window
-with a blow of his fist. Doña Clara, suddenly aroused, leaped from the
-bed, uttering fearful cries at the sight of the terrible apparition
-before her.</p>
-
-<p>"Silence," Red Cedar said to her, in a threatening voice, as he placed
-the point of his knife on her chest, "one cry more, and I kill you like
-a dog."</p>
-
-<p>The maiden, trembling with fright, looked pitifully at the bandit; but
-Red Cedar's face wore such an expression of cruelty, that she understood
-how little she had to hope from this man. She addressed a silent prayer
-to Heaven, and resigned herself to her fate. The bandit gagged the poor
-child with the rebozo that lay on the bed, threw her over his shoulder,
-and clambered out of the window again. So soon as he put foot on the
-ground, he whistled lightly for his comrades to rejoin him, which they
-did immediately, and, still carrying his burthen, he proceeded with them
-in the direction of the Rancho del Coyote.</p>
-
-<p>During the walk, which was not a long one, the bandits did not meet a
-soul. Andrés opened the door and lit a candle; the ruffians entered, and
-the door was carefully bolted again. Thus, after only a few hours of
-liberty, the wretched girl had fallen once more into the hands of her
-ravishers, and placed again by them in the wretched room where she had
-spent so many days in prayer and weeping. Red Cedar carried Doña Clara,
-who was in a half-fainting state, to her room, removed the rebozo, and
-then returned to the bar.</p>
-
-<p>"There;" he said, with satisfaction, "that is all right; the sheep has
-returned to the fold. What do you say, reverend father? This time let us
-hope she will not escape us."</p>
-
-<p>The monk smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"We shall do well in not remaining here long," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Why so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because this hiding place is known and will soon be visited."</p>
-
-<p>The squatter shrugged his shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>"Listen! Fray Ambrosio," he said, with a sinister grimace, which he
-intended for a smile. "I predict that, rogue as you are, you run a great
-chance of dying in a fool's skin, if you are not flayed beforehand,
-which may easily be the case."</p>
-
-<p>The monk shuddered. Red Cedar's gaiety had the peculiarity of being even
-more fearful than his anger. The squatter sat down on a bench, and
-turned to the gambusino.</p>
-
-<p>"Drink!" he said roughly.</p>
-
-<p>Garote fetched a jar of mezcal, which he placed before his terrible
-accomplice. The latter, not taking the trouble to pour the liquor into a
-glass, raised the jar to his lips, and drank till breath failed him.</p>
-
-<p>"Hum!" he said, with a click of his tongue, "That's pleasant tipple when
-you're thirsty. Listen to my orders, my dear children, and try to carry
-them out to the letter; or, if not, your roguish hides will bear the
-blame."</p>
-
-<p>The three men bowed silently.</p>
-
-<p>"You, Nathan," he went on, "will come with me, for you are not wanted
-here, but your presence is necessary at. Cerro Prieto, where our
-comrades are encamped."</p>
-
-<p>"I will follow you," the young man replied, laconically.</p>
-
-<p>"Good! Now, you others, bear this carefully in mind:&mdash;Our enemies will
-never suppose that I have made such a mistake as to bring my prisoner
-back here; for that is so absurd, that the idea will never enter their
-heads; so you can be at ease, and no one will trouble your peace of
-mind. Tomorrow, so soon as the moon rises, you will make the girl put on
-an Indian dress, mount her, and come to me at Cerro Prieto. Immediately
-after your arrival we shall start."</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" Fray Ambrosio answered. "We will take care."</p>
-
-<p>"I expect so; for, if you do not, I wouldn't give a <i>cuartillo</i> for your
-accursed hide, my reverend friend."</p>
-
-<p>After uttering these friendly words, the squatter seized the jar of
-mezcal, emptied it at a draught, and sent it flying across the room,
-where it broke to pieces.</p>
-
-<p>"Good bye till tomorrow," he then said, "come, Nathan."</p>
-
-<p>"Till tomorrow," they answered.</p>
-
-<p>The squatter and his son left the rancho, and walked on silently side by
-side, plunged in gloomy reflections produced by the events of the night.
-They soon left the town. The night was gloomy, but darkness did not
-exist for squatters accustomed to find their way anywhere, and never
-dreaming of going astray. They walked thus for a long time, with slung
-rifle, not exchanging a word, but listening to the slightest noise and
-sounding, the darkness with their tiger-cat eyes. All at once they heard
-the firm footfall of a man coming towards them. They cocked their
-rifles, ready for any emergency. A voice was then heard, though the
-person to whom it belonged was invisible.</p>
-
-<p>"My brothers must not fire; they would kill a friend."</p>
-
-<p>The words were Apache&mdash;a language well known to the squatters.</p>
-
-<p>"Tis an Indian," said Nathan.</p>
-
-<p>"Do you think I did not recognise him?" Red Cedar replied, brutally;
-"then," he added, in the same dialect, "there are no friends in the
-shadow of the desert. My brother must get out of my path, or I will kill
-him like a coyote."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it thus," the Indian continued, "that the 'maneater' receives the
-guide whom Stanapat, the Great Chief of the Apaches, sends him? In that
-case, good-bye. I will retire."</p>
-
-<p>"One moment," the squatter said, sharply, as he lowered his rifle, and
-made his son a sign to follow his example. "I could not guess who you
-were. Advance without fear and be welcome, brother, for I was anxiously
-expecting you."</p>
-
-<p>The Indian stepped forward. He wore the costume and characteristic paint
-of the Apache warriors; in a word, he was so well disguised, that
-Valentine himself could not, have recognised in him his friend,
-Eagle-wing the Chief of the Coras, though it was he.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar, delighted at the arrival of his guide, received him in the
-most affable manner. He had long been acquainted with Stanapat, the most
-ferocious warrior of all the Indian nations that traverse the immense
-regions of the Rio Gila, and whom we shall presently visit. After
-several questions, which Eagle-wing answered without hesitation or once
-tripping, Red Cedar, convinced that he was really the man the Apache
-chief had promised to send him, dismissed all doubt, and conversed with
-him in the most friendly spirit, inquiring after certain warriors he had
-formerly known.</p>
-
-<p>"What is my brother's name?" he asked, in conclusion.</p>
-
-<p>"The Heart of Stone!" Eagle-wing replied.</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" the squatter said, "My brother has a grand name. He must be a
-renowned warrior in his tribe."</p>
-
-<p>A short time after, the three men reached the camp of the gambusinos,
-established in a formidable position on the top of a rock called the
-Cerro Prieto (Black Mountain). The miners greeted Red Cedar's arrival
-with the most lively joy, for his presence announced a speedy departure;
-and all these semi-savages, the greater part of whose life had been
-spent in the prairies, were anxious to quit civilization to re-assume
-their adventurous career, which was so full of charms and strange
-incidents.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIIb" id="CHAPTER_XXVIIb">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></h4>
-
-<h3>EL VADO DEL TORO.</h3>
-
-
-<p>Red Cedar reasoned correctly when he told Fray Ambrosio and Garote that
-Doña Clara was in safety at the rancho, and no one would dream of
-seeking her there. In truth, Valentine knew the squatter's cunning too
-well to suppose that he would commit the impudence of bringing his
-prisoner back to the very spot where she was discovered.</p>
-
-<p>The squatter's two accomplices passed the day quietly in playing, on
-credit, at monte; each cheating with a dexterity which did honor to
-their knowledge of that noble game. No one came to disturb them, or cast
-an indiscreet glance into this famous den, which, in the bright
-sunshine, had an air of respectability pleasant to look on, and amply
-sufficient to dispel all suspicions. About nine in the evening, the
-moon, though new, rose magnificently on a deep blue sky, studded with
-brilliant stars.</p>
-
-<p>"I fancy it is time to get ready, gossip," Fray Ambrosio said, "the moon
-is peering through the trees in your neighbour's garden."</p>
-
-<p>"You are right, señor Padre, we will be off; but let me, I implore you,
-first finish this deal; it is one of the most magnificent I ever
-witnessed. <i>Caspita!</i> I will bet a nugget as big as my thumb on the
-seven of clubs."</p>
-
-<p>"I'll back the two of spades. Something tells me it will turn up first,
-especially if you pull up the sleeves of your jacket, which must be
-horribly in the way when dealing."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh dear, no, I assure you; but stay, what did I tell you? There is the
-seven of clubs."</p>
-
-<p>"That is really extraordinary," Fray Ambrosio replied, with feigned
-surprise, for he was not duped by the gambusino's trickery; "but I fancy
-we had better make haste."</p>
-
-<p>"Decidedly," said Andrés, as he hid his greasy cards in his vaquera
-boots, and proceeded to the room in which Doña Clara was confined. She
-followed him out, weeping bitterly.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, come," the gambusino said to her, "dry your tears, señorita; we
-do not mean you any harm. Hang it all! Who knows but this may end
-perhaps better than you expect; ask that holy monk what he thinks."</p>
-
-<p>Fray Ambrosio bowed an assent, but the maiden made no response to the
-gambusino's consolation; she allowed herself to be disguised
-unresistingly, but still continued to weep.</p>
-
-<p>"In truth, it is absurd," the worthy Andrés muttered, in an aside to
-himself, while attiring his prisoner and looking covetously at the
-pearls with which she was adorned, "to waste gold and pearls in this
-fashion; would it not be much better to use them in buying something
-serviceable? What she has on her is worth at least three thousand
-piastres&mdash;what a splendid game of monte a fellow could have with that
-sum&mdash;and if that demon of a Red Cedar had only been willing&mdash;well, we
-shall see presently."</p>
-
-<p>While making these judicious reflections, the gambusino had completed
-the maiden's Indian toilet. He perfected the disguise by throwing a
-zarapé over her shoulders; then giving a parting glance round his
-domicile, he put in his pocket a pack of cards accidentally left on the
-table, drank a large glass of spirits, and left the room, followed by
-Doña Clara and the monk, who, in spite of the varying incidents of the
-last few days had regained all his good humour, doubtless owing to the
-good company in which he was, and the game of monte&mdash;that inveterate
-passion in every Mexican.</p>
-
-<p>Doña Clara was placed on a horse; Andrés and the monk also mounted, and
-leaving the house to the problemical care of Providence, the gambusino
-gave the signal for departure. He made a wide circuit, to avoid passing
-through the Presidio, and then started at a gallop in the direction of
-the Cerro Prieto.</p>
-
-<p>Red Cedar had lost no time, and all was ready for departure. The
-newcomers did not even dismount, but so soon as they were sighted, the
-caravan, composed, as we have stated of some hundred and twenty resolute
-men, after forming in Indian file, started in the direction of the
-prairies, having first prudently detached two scouts to watch the
-neighbourhood.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing is so mournful as a night march in an unknown country, covered
-with snares of every description, when you fear least the ever-watchful
-enemy may pounce on you from every bush. Thus, the gambusinos, restless,
-and starting at the slightest rustling of the leaves, advanced silently
-and gloomily, with their eyes fixed on the clumps that grew along the
-wayside, rifle in hand, ready to fire at the slightest suspicious
-movement. They marched, however, for upwards of three hours, and nothing
-happened to justify their fears; a solemn calmness continued to prevail
-around them. Gradually these apprehensions were dissipated; they began
-talking in a suppressed voice, and laughing at their past terrors, when
-they reached, on the banks of the Del Norte, the <i>vado</i>, or Ford del
-Toro.</p>
-
-<p>In the interior of Southern America, and specially in New Mexico, a
-country still almost entirely unknown, the means of communication are
-<i>nil</i>, and consequently bridges may be looked for in vain. There are
-only two methods of crossing even the widest rivers&mdash;looking for a ford,
-or, if you are in a great hurry, forcing your horse into the oft-times
-rapid current, and trying to reach the other bank by swimming.</p>
-
-<p>The squatter had selected the first method, and in a few minutes the
-whole party was in the water. Although the ground of the ford was
-uneven, and at times the horses were up to their chests, and compelled
-to swim, the gambusinos managed to get across safely. The only persons
-left on the bank were Red Cedar, Eagle-wing, the guide, Doña Clara, and
-Andrés Garote.</p>
-
-<p>"It is our turn now, Heart of Stone," the squatter said, addressing
-Eagle-wing; "you see that our men are in safety, and only await us to
-set out again."</p>
-
-<p>"The squaw first," the Indian replied, laconically.</p>
-
-<p>"That is true, chief," the squatter said, and, turning to the prisoner,
-"Go across," he said to her, coarsely.</p>
-
-<p>The maiden, not deigning to answer, boldly made her horse enter the
-river, and the three men followed. The night was dark, the sky covered
-with clouds, and the moon, constantly veiled, only shone forth at
-lengthened intervals, which rendered the passage difficult and even
-dangerous, as it did not allow objects to be distinguished, even at a
-distance. Still, after a few seconds, Red Cedar fancied he saw that Doña
-Clara's horse was not following the line traced by the ford, but was
-turning to the left, as if carried away by the current. He pushed his
-horse forward, to assure himself of the reality of the fact; but
-suddenly a vigorous hand seized his right leg, and before he could even
-think of resisting, he was hurled back into the water, and his throat
-seized by an Indian. Andrés Garote hurried to his assistance.</p>
-
-<p>During this time, Doña Clara's horse, probably obeying a hidden impulse,
-was proceeding still further from the spot where the gambusinos had
-landed. Some of them, at the head of whom were Dick, Harry, and the
-squatter's three sons, perceiving what was going on, returned to the
-water, to proceed to their chiefs help, while the others, guided by Fray
-Ambrosio, galloped down the river bank, in order to cut off retreat,
-when Doña Clara's horse landed.</p>
-
-<p>Andrés Garote, after several fruitless efforts, succeeded in catching
-Red Cedar's horse, which he brought to him at the moment when the latter
-had scalped his enemy. The American got into his saddle again, reached
-the bank, and tried to restore some order among his band, while actually
-watching the incidents of the silent drama being played in the river
-between Eagle-wing and the young Spanish girl.</p>
-
-<p>The Coras sachem had urged his steed in pursuit of Doña Clara's, and
-both were following almost the same line down the stream, the former
-striving to catch up the latter, who, for her part, was doing her utmost
-to widen the distance between them. Suddenly the Coras horse gave a
-leap, while uttering a snort of pain, and began madly beating the water
-with its forelegs, while the river was tinged with blood around it. The
-chief, perceiving that his horse was mortally wounded, leaped from the
-saddle, and leant over the side, ready to leap off. At this moment, a
-hideous face appeared flush with water, and a hand was stretched out to
-grasp him. With that imperturbable coolness that never deserts the
-Indians, even under the most critical circumstances, the Coras seized
-his tomahawk, split his enemy's skull open, and glided into the river.</p>
-
-<p>A formidable war yell was, at this moment, heard from the forest, and
-some fifty shots were fired from both banks at once, illumining the
-scene with their fugitive flashes. A multitude of redskins rushed on the
-gambusinos, and a terrible fight commenced. The Mexicans, taken
-unawares, defended themselves at first poorly, giving ground and seeking
-shelter behind trees; but, obeying the thundering voice of the squatter,
-who performed prodigies of valor while exciting his comrades to sell
-their lives dearly, they regained courage, formed in close column, and
-charged the Indians furiously, beating them down with the butts of their
-muskets, or slashing them with their machetes.</p>
-
-<p>The combat was short; the redskins, who were only a party of marauding
-Pawnees, seeing the ill-result of their surprise, grew discouraged, and
-disappeared as rapidly as they had come. Two minutes later calmness and
-silence were so perfectly re-established, that had it not been for a few
-wounded gambusinos, and several Indians stretched dead on the
-battlefield, the strange scene would have appeared as a dream.</p>
-
-<p>So soon as the Indians were routed, Red Cedar bent an eager glance up
-the river; on that side the struggle was also over, and Eagle-wing,
-mounted behind the young lady, was guiding her horse to the bank, which
-it soon reached.</p>
-
-<p>"Well?" the squatter asked.</p>
-
-<p>"The Pawnees are cowardly coyotes," the Coras answered, pointing to two
-human scalps that hung all bloody from his girdle; "they fly like old
-women, so soon as they see the war plume of a warrior of my nation."</p>
-
-<p>"Good!" the squatter said, gleefully, "My brother is a great warrior; he
-has a friend."</p>
-
-<p>The Coras bowed with a smile of indescribable meaning. His object was
-gained; he had acquired the confidence of the man he meant to destroy.
-Doña Clara, Ellen, and the squatter's wife were placed in the centre of
-the caravan, and the band started again.</p>
-
-<p>An hour later, a second party of horsemen also crossed the Vado del
-Toro. It was much less numerous than the first, as it consisted of only
-five men, but they were Valentine, Curumilla, Don Miguel, his son, and
-General Ibañez. The real struggle was about to commence: behind them
-they left the civilised world, to find themselves face to face on the
-desert with their enemies.</p>
-
-<p>(Those of our readers who take an interest in the Trail-hunter, we must
-ask to follow his adventures through a second volume, to be called&mdash;THE
-PIRATES OF THE PRAIRIES.)</p>
-
-
-<h4>THE END</h4>
-
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<h3><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h3>
-
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
-<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">PART I. RED CEDAR</td><td align="right"></td><td align="center">PART II. EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">The Virgin Forest</a></td><td align="right">I.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_Ib">El Rancho de Coyote</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">The Contest</a></td><td align="right">II.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IIb">The Cuchillada</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Don Miguel Zarate</a></td><td align="right">III.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IIIb">The Hunters</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">The Peccaries</a></td><td align="right">IV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IVb">Sunbeam</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">The Wound</a></td><td align="right">V.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_Vb">The Adoption</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">The Squatter's Shanty</a></td><td align="right">VI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIb">The Missionary</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">The Rangers</a></td><td align="right">VII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIIb">The Interview</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">The Valley of the Buffalo</a></td><td align="right">VIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIIIb">The Prison</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">The Assassination</a></td><td align="right">IX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IXb">The Embassy</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">The Sachem of the Coras</a></td><td align="right">X.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_Xb">The Presentation</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Conversation</a></td><td align="right">XI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIb">Psychological</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">El Mesón</a></td><td align="right">XII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIIb">Diamond Cut Diamond</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">Red Cedar</a></td><td align="right">XIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIIIb">A Stormy Discussion</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XIV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">The Two Hunters</a></td><td align="right">XIV.</td><td align="left">T<a href="#CHAPTER_XIVb">he Mystery</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">Fray Ambrosio</a></td><td align="right">XV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVb">The Ambuscade</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XVI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">Two Varieties of Villains</a></td><td align="right">XVI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIb">A Friendly Discussion</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XVII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">El Cañon Del Buitre</a></td><td align="right">XVII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIIb">Nathan</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XVIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">Father Seraphin</a></td><td align="right">XVIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIIIb">The Wounded Man</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XIX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">Unicorn</a></td><td align="right">XIX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIXb">Indian Diplomacy</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">The Hunt of Wild Horses</a></td><td align="right">XX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">The Stranger</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XXI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">The Surprise</a></td><td align="right">XXI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIb">General Ventura</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XXII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">The Meeting</a></td><td align="right">XXII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIIb">The Comanches</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XXIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">The Abduction</a></td><td align="right">XXIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIIIb">Negotiations</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="right">XXIV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">The Revolt</a></td><td align="right">XXIV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIVb">Free</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XXV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVb">The Meeting</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XXVI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIb">Doña Clara</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XXVII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIIIb">El Vado del Toro</a></td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Trail-Hunter, by Gustave Aimard
-
-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 www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: The Trail-Hunter
-       A Tale of the Far West
-
-Author: Gustave Aimard
-
-Translator: Lascelles Wraxall
-
-Release Date: February 17, 2013 [EBook #42115]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAIL-HUNTER ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Camilo Bernard and Marc D'Hooghe at
-http://www.freeliterature.org (Images at the Internet
-Archive, scanned by Google)
-
-
-
-
-
-THE TRAIL HUNTER.
-
-A TALE OF THE FAR WEST.
-
-BY
-
-GUSTAVE AIMARD,
-
-AUTHOR OF "THE PRAIRIE FLOWER," "THE INDIAN CHIEF," ETC.
-
-
-LONDON:
-
-WARD AND LOCK,
-
-158, FLEET STREET.
-
-1861.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE.
-
-
-The present volume of Aimard's Indian Tales is devoted to the earlier
-adventures of those hunters, whose acquaintance the reader has formed,
-I trust with pleasure, in the preceding series. It does not become me to
-say anything further in its favour, than that the sustained interest of
-the narrative, which has been regarded as the charm of stories referring
-to life in the desert and prairie, has not been departed from in this
-instance. The stories themselves supply an innate proof of the writer's
-correctness to Nature, and, in truth, many of the scenes are so
-startling that they must be the result of personal observation.
-
-In conclusion, I may be permitted to thank the Press generally for the
-kindly aid they have afforded me in making the English translation of
-Aimard's volumes known to the British reading public, and the hearty way
-in which they have recognized the merits of the previous series. It
-would be an easy task to collect paragraphs, expressing a belief that
-Aimard is second to none of the writers who have hitherto described
-Indian life and scenery; but I prefer to rest my hopes of success on the
-inherent qualities of his stories.
-
-                                                      LASCELLES WRAXALL.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
-   PART I. RED CEDAR                       PART II. EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE
-
-
-   I.--The Virgin Forest                   I.--El Rancho de Coyote
-   II.--The Contest                        II.--The Cuchillada
-   III.--Don Miguel Zarate                 III.--The Hunters
-   IV.--The Peccaries                      IV.--Sunbeam
-   V.--The Wound                           V.--The Adoption
-   VI.--The Squatter's Shanty              VI.--The Missionary
-   VII.--The Rangers                       VII.--The Interview
-   VIII.--The Valley of the Buffalo        VIII.--The Prison
-   IX.--The Assassination                  IX.--The Embassy
-   X.--The Sachem of the Coras             X.--The Presentation
-   XI.--Conversation                       XI.--Psychological
-   XII.--El Meson                          XII.--Diamond Cut Diamond
-   XIII--Red Cedar                         XIII.--A Stormy Discussion
-   XIV.--The Two Hunters                   XIV.--The Mystery
-   XV.--Fray Ambrosio                      XV.--The Ambuscade
-   XVI.--Two Varieties of Villains         XVI.--A Friendly Discussion
-   XVII.--El Canyon Del Buitre             XVII.--Nathan
-   XVIII.--Father Seraphin                 XVIII.--The Wounded Man
-   XIX.--Unicorn                           XIX.--Indian Diplomacy
-   XX.--The Hunt of Wild Horses            XX--The Stranger
-   XXI.--The Surprise                      XXI.--General Ventura
-   XXII.--The Meeting                      XXII.--The Comanches
-   XXIII.--The Abduction                   XXIII.--Negotiations
-   XXIV.--The Revolt                       XXIV.--Free
-                                           XXV.--The Meeting
-                                           XXVI.--Dona Clara
-                                           XXVII.--El Vado del Toro
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-TRAIL HUNTER BY GUSTAVE AIMARD.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-THE VIRGIN FOREST.
-
-
-In Mexico the population is only divided into two classes, the upper and
-the lower. There is no intermediate rank to connect the two extremes,
-and this is the cause of the two hundred and thirty-nine revolutions
-which have overthrown this country since the declaration of its
-independence. Why this is so is simple enough. The intellectual power is
-in the hands of a small number, and all the revolutions are effected by
-this turbulent and ambitious minority; whence it results that the
-country is governed by the most complete military despotism, instead of
-being a free republic.
-
-Still the inhabitants of the States of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Texas have
-retained, even to the present day, that stern, savage, and energetic
-physiognomy which may be sought in vain among the other States of the
-Confederation.
-
-Beneath a sky colder than that of Mexico, the winter, which frequently
-covers the rivers of the region with a thick layer of ice, hardens the
-muscles of the inhabitants, cleanses their blood, purifies their hearts,
-and renders them picked men, who are distinguished for their courage,
-their intelligence, and their profound love of liberty.
-
-The Apaches, who originally inhabited the greater portion of New Mexico,
-have gradually fallen back before the axe of the pioneers; and after
-retiring into the immense deserts that cover the triangle formed by the
-Rio Gila, the Del Norte, and the Colorado, they ravage almost with
-impunity the Mexican frontiers, plundering, firing, and devastating all
-they meet with on their passage.
-
-The inhabitants of the countries we alluded to above, held in respect by
-these ever-shifting savages, are in a state of continual warfare with
-them, always ready to fight, fortifying their haciendas, and only
-travelling with weapons in their hands.
-
-El Paso del Norte may be regarded as the outpost of the civilised
-portion of Mexico. Beyond that, to the north and north-west, extend the
-vast unfilled plains of Chihuahua, the _bolson_ of Mapimi, and the arid
-deserts of the Rio Gila. These immense deserts, known by the name of
-Apacheria, are still as little investigated as they were at the close of
-the eighteenth century. El Paso del Norte owes its name to its situation
-near a ford of the Rio Del Norte. It is the oldest of all the New
-Mexican settlements, and its establishment dates back to the close of
-the sixteenth century. The present settlement is scattered for a
-distance of about ten miles along the banks of the Del Norte, and
-contains four thousand inhabitants at the most. The _plaza_, or village
-of the Paso, is situated at the head of the valley: at the other
-extremity is the Presidio of San Elezario. All the interval is occupied
-by a continuous line of white, flat-roofed houses, buried in gardens,
-and surrounded by vineyards. About a mile above the ford the stream is
-dammed up, and led by a canal into the valley, which it waters.
-Apacheria begins only a few miles from this settlement.
-
-It is easily seen that the foot of civilised man has only trodden
-timidly and at rare intervals this thoroughly primitive country, in
-which nature, free to develop herself under the omnipotent eye of the
-creator, assumes an aspect of incredible beauty and fancifulness.
-
-On a lovely morning in the month of May, which the Indians call "the
-moon of the flowers," a man of high stature, with harsh and marked
-features, mounted on a tall, half-tamed steed, started at a canter from
-the plaza, and after a few minutes of hesitation, employed in realising
-his position, resolutely buried his spurs in the horse's flanks, crossed
-the ford, and after leaving behind him the numerous cottonwood trees
-which at this spot cover the river banks, proceeded toward the dense
-forest that flashed on the horizon.
-
-This horseman was dressed in the costume generally adopted on the
-frontiers, and which was so picturesque that we will give a short
-description of it. The stranger wore a pelisse of green cloth,
-embroidered with silver, allowing a glimpse of an elegantly-worked
-shirt, the collar of which was fastened by a loosely-knotted black silk
-handkerchief, the ends passed through a diamond ring. He wore green
-cloth breeches, trimmed with silver, and two rows of buttons of the same
-metal, and fastened round the hips by a red silken scarf with gold
-fringe. The breeches, open on the side half way up the thigh, displayed
-his fine linen drawers beneath: his legs were defended by a strip of
-brown embossed and stamped leather, called _botas vaqueras_, attached
-below the knee by a silver garter. On his heels enormous spurs clanked.
-A _manga_, glistening with gold, and drawn up on the shoulder, protected
-the upper part of his body, while his head was sheltered from the
-burning sunbeams by a broad-leafed hat of brown stamped felt, the crown
-of which was contracted by a large silver _toquilla_ passed twice or
-thrice round it.
-
-His steed was caparisoned with graceful luxuriousness, which heightened
-all its beautiful points: a rich saddle of embossed leather, adorned
-with massive silver, on the back of which the _zarape_ was fastened;
-wide Moorish silver stirrups, and handsome water bottles at the
-saddle-bow; while an elegant _anquera_, made of openwork leather, and
-decorated with small steel chains, entirely covered the horse's croup,
-and sparkled with its slightest movement.
-
-The stranger appeared, judging from the luxury he displayed, to belong
-to the high class of society. A _machete_ hung down his right side,
-two pistols were passed through his girdle, the handle of a long knife
-protruded from his right boot, and he held a superbly damascened rifle
-across the saddle in front of him.
-
-Bending over the neck of his galloping steed, he advanced rapidly
-without looking round him, although the landscape that lay extended
-before him was one of the most attractive and majestic in those regions.
-
-The river formed the most capricious windings in the centre of a terrain
-diversified in a thousand strange ways. Here and there on the sandy
-banks enormous trees might be seen lying, which, dried up by the sun,
-evidenced, in their washed-out appearance, that they had been dead for
-centuries. Near the shallow and marshy spots, caymans and alligators
-wandered about awkwardly. At other places, where the river ran almost
-straight, its banks were uniform, and covered with tall trees, round
-which creepers had twined, and then struck root in the ground again,
-thus forming the most inextricable confusion. Here and there small
-clearings or marshy spots might be detected in the midst of the dense
-wood, often piled up with trees that had died of old age. Further on,
-other trees, which seemed still young, judging from their colour and the
-solidity of their bark, fell into dust with the slightest breath of
-wind.
-
-At times, the earth, entirely undermined beneath, drawn down by its own
-weight, dragged with it the wood which it bore, and produced a crashing,
-confused sound, which was returned on all sides by the echo, and
-possessed a certain degree of grandeur in this desert, whose depths no
-man has ever yet ventured to scrutinise.
-
-Still the stranger galloped on, with his eye ardently fixed before him,
-and not appearing to see anything. Several hours passed thus: the
-horseman buried himself deeper in the forest. He had left the banks of
-the river, and only progressed with extreme difficulty, through the
-entanglement of branches, grass, and shrubs, which at every step
-arrested his movements, and forced him to make innumerable turnings. He
-merely reined in his horse now and then, took a glance at the sky, and
-then started again, muttering to himself but one word:
-
-"_Adelante_! (Forward!)"
-
-At length he stopped in a vast clearing, took a suspicious glance around
-him, and probably reassured by the leaden silence which weighed on the
-desert, he dismounted, hobbled his horse, and took off its bridle that
-it might browse on the young tree shoots. This duty accomplished, he
-carelessly lay down on the ground, rolled a maize cigarette in his
-fingers, produced a gold _mechero_ from his waist belt, and struck a
-light.
-
-The clearing was of considerable extent. On one side the eye could
-survey with ease, through the trees, the widely extending prairie, on
-which deer were browsing with security. On the other side, the forest,
-wilder than ever, seemed, on the contrary, an impassable wall of
-verdure. All was abrupt and primitive at this spot, which the foot of
-man had so rarely trodden. Certain trees, either entirely or partially
-dried up, offered the vigorous remains of a rich and fertile soil;
-others, equally ancient, were sustained by the twisted creepers, which
-in the course of time almost equalled their original support in size:
-the diversity of the leaves produced the strangest possible mixture.
-Others, containing in their hollow trunk a manure which, formed of the
-remains of their leaves and half-dead branches, had warmed the seeds
-they had let fall, and offered, in the young shoots they contained, some
-compensation for the loss of their father tree.
-
-In the prairies, nature, ever provident, seems to have been desirous to
-shelter from the insults of time certain old trees, patriarchs of the
-forest which are crushed beneath the weight of ages, by forming them a
-cloak of greyish moss, which hangs in festoons from the highest branches
-to the ground, assuming the wildest and most fantastic shapes.
-
-The stranger, lying on his back, with his head resting on his two
-crossed hands, was smoking with that beatitude, full of ease and sloth,
-which is peculiar to the Hispano-Americans. He only interrupted this
-gentle occupation to roll a fresh cigarette and cast a glance around,
-while muttering:
-
-"Hum! He keeps me waiting a long time."
-
-He emitted a puff of bluish smoke, and resumed his first position.
-Several hours passed thus. Suddenly, a rather loud rustling was heard in
-the thicket, some distance behind the stranger.
-
-"Ah, ah!" he said, "I fancy my man is coming at last."
-
-In the meanwhile, the sound became louder, and rapidly approached.
-
-"Come on, hang it!" the horseman shouted, as he rose. "By our Lady of
-Pilar! You have surely been keeping me waiting long enough."
-
-Nothing appeared: the clearing was still deserted, although the sound
-had attained a certain degree of intensity. The stranger, surprised at
-the obstinate silence of the man he was addressing, and specially by his
-continuing not to show himself, at length rose to see for himself the
-reason. At this moment, his horse pricked up its ears, snorted
-violently, and made a sudden effort to free itself from the lasso that
-held it; but our new acquaintance rushed toward it and patted it. The
-horse trembled all over, and made prodigious bounds in order to escape.
-The stranger, more and more surprised, looked round for an explanation
-of these extraordinary movements, and was soon satisfied.
-
-Scarce twenty yards from him a magnificent jaguar, with a
-splendidly-spotted hide, was crouched on the main branch of an enormous
-cypress, and fixed on him two ferocious eyes, as it passed its
-blood-red, rugged tongue over its lips with a feline pleasure.
-
-"Ah, ah!" the stranger said to himself in a low voice, but displaying no
-further excitement, "I did not expect you; but no matter, you are
-welcome, comrade. _Caray_! We shall have a fight for it."
-
-Without taking his eye off the jaguar, he convinced himself that his
-machete quitted its scabbard readily, picked up his rifle, and, after
-these precautions were taken, he advanced resolutely toward the
-ferocious brute, which saw him coming without changing its position. On
-arriving within ten yards of the jaguar, the stranger threw away the
-cigarette he had till now held between his lips, shouldered his rifle,
-and put his finger on the trigger. The jaguar drew itself together and
-prepared to leap forward. At the same moment a hoarse yell was heard
-from the opposite side of the clearing.
-
-"Wait a minute," the stranger said to himself with a smile; "it seems
-there are two of them, and I fancied I had to do with a bachelor jaguar.
-This is beginning to grow interesting."
-
-And he threw a glance on one side. He had not deceived himself: a second
-jaguar, rather larger than the first, had fixed its flashing eyes upon
-him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE CONTEST.
-
-
-The dwellers on the Mexican frontiers are accustomed to fight
-continually with wild animals, both men and brutes, that continually
-attack them. Hence the stranger was but slightly affected by the
-unexpected visit of the two jaguars. Although his position between his
-two ferocious enemies was somewhat precarious, and he did not at all
-conceal from himself the danger he ran alone against two, he did not the
-less resolve to confront them bravely. Not taking his eye off the jaguar
-he had first seen, he went back a few steps obliquely, so as to have his
-foes nearly opposite him, instead of standing between them. This
-manoeuvre, which demanded some little time, succeeded beyond his hopes.
-The jaguars watched him, licking their lips, and passing their paws
-behind their ears with those graceful movements peculiar to the feline
-race. The two wild beasts, certain of their prey, seemed to be playing
-with it and not over eager to pounce on it.
-
-While keeping his eye on the watch, the Mexican did not yield to any
-treacherous feeling of security: he knew that the struggle he was about
-to undertake was a supreme one, and he took his precautions. Jaguars
-never attack a man unless forced by necessity; and the latter tried,
-before all, to seize the horse. The noble animal, securely fastened by
-its master, exhausted itself in efforts to break the bonds that held it,
-and escape. It trembled with terror on scenting its ferocious enemies.
-
-The stranger, when his precautions were completely taken, shouldered his
-rifle for the second time. At this moment the jaguars raised their
-heads, while laying back their ears and snuffing anxiously. An almost
-imperceptible sound was audible in the bushes.
-
-"Who goes there?" the Mexican asked in a loud voice.
-
-"A friend, Don Miguel Zarate," was the reply.
-
-"Ah! It is Don Valentine," the Mexican continued. "You have arrived just
-in time to see some fine sport."
-
-"Ah, ah!" the man who had already spoken went on. "Can I help you?"
-
-"It is useless; but make haste if you want to see."
-
-The branches were sharply drawn aside, and two men appeared in the
-clearing. At the sight of the jaguars they stopped, not through alarm,
-for they quietly placed the butts of their rifles on the ground, but in
-order to give the hunter every facility to emerge victoriously from his
-rash combat.
-
-The jaguars seemed to comprehend that the moment for action had arrived.
-As if by one accord, they drew themselves up and bounded on their enemy.
-The first, struck in its leap by a bullet which passed through its right
-eye, rolled on the ground, where it remained motionless. The second was
-received on the point of the hunter's machete, who after discharging his
-rifle, had fallen on his knee, with his left arm folded in his blanket
-in front, and the machete in the other hand. The man and the tiger
-writhed together in a deadly embrace, and after a few seconds only one
-of the adversaries rose: it was the man. The tiger was dead: the
-hunter's machete, guided by a firm hand, had passed right through its
-heart.
-
-During this rapid fight the newcomers had not made a sign, but remained
-stoical spectators of all that was taking place. The Mexican rose,
-thrust his machete in the grass to clean the blade, and turning coldly
-to the strangers, said:
-
-"What do you say to that?"
-
-"Splendidly played," the first answered; "it is one of the best double
-strokes I ever saw in my life."
-
-The two men threw their rifles on their shoulders, and walked up to the
-Mexican, who reloaded his piece with as much coolness and tranquillity
-as if he had not just escaped from a terrible danger by a miracle of
-skill.
-
-The sun was sinking on the horizon, the shadow of the trees assumed a
-prodigious length, and the luminary appeared like a ball of fire amid
-the limpid azure of the heavens. The night would soon arrive, and the
-desert was awaking. On all sides could be heard, in the gloomy and
-mysterious depths of the virgin forest, the hoarse howling of the
-coyotes and the other wild beasts, mingled with the song of the birds
-perched on all the branches. The desert, silent and gloomy during the
-oppressive heat of the day, emerged from its unhealthy torpor on the
-approach of dark, and was preparing to resume its nocturnal sports.
-
-The three men in the clearing collected dried branches, made a pile of
-them and set fire to it. They doubtlessly intended to camp for a portion
-of the night at this spot. So soon as the flames rose joyously, skyward
-in long spirals, the two strangers produced from their game bags maize
-tortillas, jerked meat, and a gourd of pulque. These various comestibles
-were complacently spread out on the grass, and the three men began a
-hunter's meal. When the gourd had gone the round several times, and the
-tortillas had disappeared, the newcomers lit their Indian pipes, and the
-Mexican rolled a papelito.
-
-Although this meal had been short, it lasted, however, long enough for
-night to have completely set in ere it was ended. Perfect darkness
-brooded over the clearing, the ruddy reflections of the fire played on
-the energetic faces of the three men, and gave them a fantastic
-appearance.
-
-"And now," the Mexican said, after lighting his cigarette, "I will, with
-your permission, explain to you why I was so anxious to see you."
-
-"One moment," one of the hunters answered. "You know that in the deserts
-the leaves have often eyes, and the trees ears. If I am not mistaken in
-your hints, you invited us here that our interview might be secret."
-
-"In truth, I have the greatest interest in nothing of what is said here
-being overheard, or even suspected."
-
-"Very good. Curumilla, to work."
-
-The second hunter rose, seized his rifle and disappeared noiselessly in
-the gloom. His absence was rather long; but as long as it lasted, the
-two men left at the fire did not exchange a syllable. In about half an
-hour the hunter returned, however, and seated himself by his comrades'
-side.
-
-"Well?" the one who had sent him off asked him.
-
-"My brother can speak," he replied laconically; "the desert is quiet."
-
-On this assurance the three men banished all anxiety. Still prudence did
-not abandon them: they took up their pipes, and turned their backs to
-the fire, so that they might watch the neighbourhood while conversing.
-
-"We are ready to listen to you," the first hunter said.
-
-"Listen to me with the greatest attention," the Mexican began; "what you
-are about to hear is of the utmost importance."
-
-The two men bowed silently, and the Mexican prepared to speak again.
-
-Before going further we must introduce to the reader the two men we have
-just brought on the stage, and go back a few paces in order to make it
-perfectly understood why Don Miguel Zarate, in lieu of receiving them at
-his own house, had given them the meeting in the heart of the virgin
-forest.
-
-The two hunters seemed at the first glance to be Indians; but on
-examining them more attentively, you could recognise that one of them
-belonged to those white trappers whose boldness has become proverbial in
-Mexico. Their appearance and equipment offered a singular medley of
-savage and civilised life. Their hair was of a remarkable length; for in
-those countries, where a man is frequently only fought for the glory of
-lifting his scalp, it is considered the thing to wear it long and easy
-to seize.
-
-The hunters had their hair neatly plaited, and intertwined with beaver
-skins and bright coloured ribbons. The rest of their garb harmonised with
-this specimen of their taste. A hunting shirt of bright red calico fell
-down to their knees; gaiters decorated with woolen ribbons and bells
-surrounded their legs; and their feet were shod with moccasins
-embroidered with beads which the squaws know so well how to make. A
-striped blanket, fastened round the hips by a belt of tanned deer hide,
-completed their clothing, but was not so closely drawn that at their
-every movement the butt of the pistols and the hilt of the machetes
-might be seen glistening. As for their rifles, useless at this moment,
-and carelessly thrown on the ground by their side, if they had been
-stripped of the plume-worked elk skin that covered them, it would have
-been possible to see, with what care their owners had decorated them
-with copper nails painted of various colours; for all about these two men
-bore the imprint of Indian habits.
-
-The first of the two hunters was a man of thirty-eight at the most, tall
-and well-built; his muscular limbs denoted great bodily strength, allied
-to unequalled lightness. Although he affected all the manners of the
-redskins, it was an easy matter to perceive that he not only belonged to
-the unmixed white race, but also to the Norman or Gaulish type. He was
-fair; his large, blue and pensive eyes, adorned with long lashes, had an
-expression of undefinable sadness: his nose was slightly aquiline; his
-mouth large, and filled with teeth of dazzling whiteness; a thick
-chestnut beard covered the lower part of his face, which revealed
-gentleness, kindness, and courage without boasting, though the whole
-were combined with a will of iron.
-
-His companion evidently belonged to the Indian race, all the
-characteristic signs of which he displayed; but, strange to say, he was
-not coppery like the American aborigines of Texas and North America; and
-his skin was brown and slightly of an olive hue. He had a lofty brow, a
-bent nose, small but piercing eyes, a large mouth and square chin; in
-short, he presented the complete type of the American race, which
-inhabits a limited territory in the South of Chili. This hunter had
-round his brow a purple-coloured fillet, in which was thrust over the
-right ear a plume of the Andes Eagle, a sign which serves to distinguish
-the chiefs of the Aucas.
-
-These two men, whom the reader has doubtless already recognised, as they
-played an important part in our previously published works[1], were
-Valentine Guillois, an ex-noncommissioned officer in the Spahis, and
-Curumilla, his friend--Ulmen of the Great Hare tribe.
-
-We will introduce a parenthesis to explain their present position, and
-which is indispensable for a right understanding of what follows. The
-moment is capitally selected, by the way, for opening this parenthesis;
-for the three hunters are gaily talking round their fire, the night is
-gloomy, the forest quiet, and it does not appear likely that anything
-will arise to disturb them.
-
-
-
-[1] "The Chief of the Aucas," "The Tiger Slayer," "The Gold Finders,"
-"The Indian Chief."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-DON MIGUEL ZARATE.
-
-
-Were Mexico better governed, it would be, without contradiction, one of
-the richest countries on the face of the globe. Indeed the largest
-private fortunes must still be sought in that country. Since the United
-States Americans have revealed to the world, by seizing one-half of
-Mexico, whither their ambition tends, the inhabitants of that fine
-country have slightly emerged from the torpor they enjoyed, and have
-made great efforts to colonise their provinces, and summon to their
-soil, which is so rich and fertile, intelligent and industrious
-labourers, who might change the face of affairs, and cause abundance and
-wealth to abound at spots, where, prior to their arrival, there was
-naught save ruin, desolation, carelessness, and misery.
-
-Unfortunately, the noble efforts made up to the present day have,
-through an inexplicable fatality, remained without result, either owing
-to the natural apathy of the inhabitants, or the fault of the Mexican
-Government itself. Still the large landowners, comprehending all the
-advantages of the proposed measure, and how much it is to their interest
-to combat the deadly influence of the American invasions, have
-generously devoted themselves to the realization of this great question
-of social economy, which, unluckily is growing more and more
-unrealisable.
-
-In fact, in Northern America two hostile races--the Anglo-Saxon and the
-Spanish--stand face to face. The Anglo-Saxons are devoured by an ardour
-for conquest, and a rage for invasion, which nothing can arrest, or even
-retard. It is impossible to see without amazement the expansive
-tendencies of this active and singular people, a heterogeneous composite
-of all the races which misery or evil instincts expelled from Europe
-originally, and which feels restricted in the immense territory which
-its numerical weakness yet prevents it entirely occupying.
-
-Imprisoned within its vast frontiers, making a right of strength, it is
-continually displacing its neighbours' landmarks, and encroaching on
-territory of which it can make no use. Daily, bands of emigrants abandon
-their dwellings, and with their rifles on their shoulders, their axes in
-their hand, they proceed south, as if impelled by a will stronger than
-themselves; and neither mountains, deserts, nor virgin forests are
-sufficient obstacles to make them halt even for an instant. The Yankees
-imagine themselves generally the instruments of Providence, and
-appointed by the decrees of the Omnipotent to people and civilise the
-New World. They count with feverish impatience the hours which must
-elapse ere the day (close at hand in their ideas) arrive in which their
-race and government system will occupy the entire space contained
-between Cape North and the Isthmus of Panama, to the exclusion of the
-Spanish republics on one side, and the English colonies on the other.
-
-These projects, of which the Americans make no mystery, but, on the
-contrary, openly boast, are perfectly well known to the Mexicans, who
-cordially detest their neighbours, and employ all the means in their
-power to create difficulties for them, and impede their successive
-encroachments.
-
-Among the New Mexican landowners who resolved to make sacrifices in
-order to stop, or at least check, the imminent invasion from North
-America, the richest, and possibly, first of all, through his
-intelligence and the influence he justly enjoyed in the country, was Don
-Miguel Acamarichtzin Zarate.
-
-Whatever may be asserted, the Indian population of Mexico is nearly
-double in number to the white men, and possesses an enormous influence.
-Don Miguel descended in a straight line from Acamarichtzin, first king
-of Mexico, whose name had been preserved in the family as a precious
-relic. Possessed of an incalculable fortune, Don Miguel lived on his
-enormous estates like a king in his empire, beloved and respected by the
-Indians, whom he effectively protected whenever the occasion presented
-itself, and who felt for him a veneration carried almost to idolatry;
-for they saw in him the descendant from one of their most celebrated
-kings, and the born defender of their race.
-
-In New Mexico the Indian population has very largely increased during
-the past fifty years. Some authors, indeed, assert that it is now more
-numerous than prior to the conquest, which is very probable, through the
-apathy of the Spaniards, and the carelessness they have ever displayed
-in their struggles against it. But the Indians have remained stationary
-amid the incessant progress of civilization, and still retain intact the
-principal traits of their old manners. Scattered here and there in
-miserable ranchos or villages, they live in separate tribes, governed by
-their caciques, and they have mingled but very few Spanish words with
-their idioms, which they speak as in the time of the Aztecs. The sole
-apparent change in them is their conversion to Catholicism--a conversion
-more than problematical, as they preserve with the utmost care all the
-recollections of their ancient religion, follow its rites in secret, and
-keep up all its superstitious practices.
-
-The Indians--above all, in New Mexico--although called _Indios fideles_,
-are always ready on the first opportunity to ally themselves with their
-desert congeners; and in the incursions of the Apaches and Comanches it
-is rare for the faithful Indians not to serve them as scouts, guides,
-and spies.
-
-The family of Don Miguel Zarate had retired to New Mexico, which country
-it did not leave again--a few years after the conquests of the
-adventurer Cortez. Don Miguel had closely followed the policy of his
-family by maintaining the bonds of friendship and good neighbourhood
-which, from time immemorial, attached it to the Indians, believers or
-not. This policy had borne its fruit. Annually, in September, when the
-terrible red warriors, preceded by murder and arson, rushed like a
-torrent on the wretched inhabitants, whom they massacred in the farms
-they plundered, without pity of age or sex, Don Miguel Zarate's estates
-were respected; and not merely was no damage inflicted on them, but even
-if at times a field were unwittingly trampled by the horses' hoofs, or a
-few trees destroyed by plunderers, the evil was immediately repaired ere
-the owner had opportunity for complaint.
-
-This conduct of the Indians had not failed to arouse against Don Miguel
-extreme jealousy on the part of the inhabitants, who saw themselves
-periodically ruined by the _Indios Bravos._ Earnest complaints had been
-laid against him before the Mexican Government; but whatever might be
-the power of his enemies, and the means they employed to ruin him, the
-rich hacendero had never been seriously disturbed: in the first place,
-because New Mexico is too remote from the capital for the inhabitants to
-have anything to fear from the governing classes; and secondly, Don
-Miguel was too rich not to render it easy for him to impose silence on
-those who were most disposed to injure him.
-
-Don Miguel, whose portrait we drew in a previous chapter, was left a
-widower after eight years' marriage, with two children, a boy and a
-girl, the son being twenty-four, the daughter seventeen, at the period
-when our story opens. Dona Clara--such was the daughter's name--was one
-of the most delicious maidens that can be imagined. She had one of those
-Murillo's virgin heads, whose black eyes, fringed with long silky
-lashes, pure mouth, and dreamy brow seem to promise divine joys. Her
-complexion, slightly bronzed by the warm sunbeams, wore that gilded
-reflection which so well becomes the women of these intertropical
-countries. She was short of stature, but exquisitely modelled. Gentle
-and simple, ignorant as a Creole, this delicious child was adored by her
-father, who saw in her the wife he had so loved living once more. The
-Indians looked after her when she at times passed pensively, plucking a
-flower before their wretched huts, and scarce bending the slants on
-which she placed her delicate foot. In their hearts they compared this
-frail maiden, with her soft and vaporous outline, to the "virgin of the
-first loves," that sublime creation of the Indian religion which holds
-so great a place in the Aztec mythology.
-
-Don Pablo Zarate, the hacendero's son, was a powerfully built man, with
-harshly marked features, and a haughty glance, although at times it was
-imprinted with gentleness and kindness. Endowed with more than ordinary
-strength, skilled in all bodily exercises, Don Pablo was renowned
-through the whole country for his talent in taming the most spirited
-horses, and the correctness of his aim when on the chase. A determined
-hunter and daring wood ranger, this young man, when he had a good horse
-between his legs, and his rifle in his hand, knew none, man or animal,
-capable of barring his passage. The Indians, in their simple faith,
-yielded to the son the same respect and veneration they entertained for
-the father, and fancied they saw in him the personification of
-_Huitzilopochtli_, that terrible war god of the Aztecs, to whom 62,000
-human victims were sacrificed in one day, upon the inauguration of his
-_teocali_.
-
-The Zarates, then, at the period when our story opens, were real kings
-of New Mexico. The felicity they enjoyed was suddenly troubled by one of
-those vulgar incidents which, though unimportant in themselves, do not
-fail to cause a general perturbation, and a discomfort possessing no
-apparent cause, from the fact that it is impossible to foresee or
-prevent them. The circumstance was as follows:--
-
-Don Miguel possessed, in the vicinity of the Paso, vast estates
-extending for a great distance, and consisting principally of haciendas,
-prairies, and forests. One day Don Miguel was returning from a visit to
-his haciendas. It was late, and he pressed on his horse in order to
-reach ere night the ford, when, at about three or four leagues at the
-most from the spot to which he was proceeding, and just as he was
-entering a dense forest of cottonwood trees, through which he must pass
-ere reaching the ford, his attention was attracted by cries mingled with
-growls emerging from the wood he was about to enter. The hacendero
-stopped in order to account for the unusual sounds he heard, and bent
-his head forward to detect what was happening. But it was impossible for
-him to distinguish anything through the chaos of creepers and shrubs
-which intercepted vision. In the meanwhile, the noise grew louder, and
-the shouts were redoubled, and mingled with oaths and passionate
-exclamations.
-
-The Mexican's horse laid back its ears, neighed, and refused to advance.
-Still Don Miguel must make up his mind. Thinking that a man was probably
-attacked by wild beasts, he only consulted his heart; and, in spite of
-the visible repugnance of his steed, he compelled it to go forward and
-enter the wood. He had scarce gone a few yards ere he stopped in
-amazement at the strange spectacle that presented itself to him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-THE PECCARIES.
-
-
-In the middle of the clearing lay a ripped up horse, which six or eight
-peccaries were rending, while a dozen others were attacking with their
-tusks the stem of an enormous tree, in the topmost branches of which a
-man had sought shelter.
-
-Let us explain to our readers, who probably know little about them, what
-sort of animals the peccaries are. The peccaries hold the intermediate
-grade between the domestic pig and the wild boar. Although this animal
-does not exceed two feet in height, and is not more than three feet long
-from the end of the snout to the beginning of the tail, it is
-indubitably one of the most dangerous animals in North America. The
-animal's jaw is provided with tusks rather like those of the boar, but
-straight and sharp, their length varying between four and six inches. In
-the shape of the body it resembles a pig, but the bristles scattered
-over its warty hide are in colored strips; the part nearest the skin is
-white, and the point of a chocolate tinge. So soon as the animal is
-enraged, these bristles stand out like the quills of a porcupine.
-
-The movements of the peccaries are as quick and sharp as those of a
-squirrel. They ordinarily live in herds of fifteen, thirty, and even
-fifty. The strength of the head, neck, and shoulders is so great when
-they charge, that nothing can resist the impetuosity of their attacks. A
-remarkable peculiarity of this genus is the clumsy wart they have on
-their backs, whence a musty fluid evaporates when the animal is in a
-fury.
-
-The peccary lives in preference on acorns, roots, wheat, sugar cane, and
-reptiles of every description. It is a proved fact that the most
-venomous serpents are devoured by them without their feeling in the
-slightest degree incommoded.
-
-The mode in which the peccary forms its lair is very singular. This lair
-is generally in the midst of tufted and impenetrable canes, found in
-marshy spots round the monarchs of the forest, which still stand like
-crushed giants, with their grappling lines of creepers and virgin vines.
-The trunks of these trees, which at times measure forty feet in
-circumference, are nearly all hollow, and thus afford a convenient
-shelter for the peccaries, which retire to them every night in herds of
-twenty to twenty-five, entering the cavity one after the other
-backwards; so that the last has the end of its snout placed just at the
-entrance of the hole, thus watching, as it were, over the rest of its
-companions.
-
-The peccaries are unboundedly ferocious: they know not danger, or at
-least despise it completely. They always attack in herds, and fight with
-unequalled rage until the last succumbs, no matter the nature of their
-foe.
-
-Hence men and animals all fly a meeting with these terrible beasts: the
-jaguar, so strong and redoubtable, will become their prey if it be so
-imprudent as to attack them. This is the way they set about conquering
-this wild beast:--
-
-When a jaguar has wounded a peccary, the latter collect, chase it, and
-pursue until they can contrive to surround the common enemy. When every
-issue is closed, the jaguar, believing it can thus escape, seeks refuge
-up a tree. But the peccaries do not resign the vengeance; they establish
-themselves at the foot of the tree, being incessantly recruited by fresh
-allies, and patiently waiting till the jaguar, driven to extremities by
-hunger and thirst, decides on descending from its improvised fortress.
-This is almost always sure to happen at the end of two or three days at
-the most. The jaguar bounds into the midst of its enemies, which boldly
-await it, and attack it bravely; a terrible fight commences; and the
-tiger, after covering the ground with victims, at length succumbs
-beneath the efforts of its assailants, and is ripped up by their tusks.
-
-After what we have said, it is easy to understand how precarious was the
-position of the man perched on the top of the tree, and surrounded by
-peccaries. His enemies seemed determined not to leave their ground; they
-craftily crept round the tree, attacked its base with their tusks, and
-then recognising the inutility of their onsets, they quietly lay down by
-the carcass of the horse, which they had already sacrificed to their
-fury. Don Miguel felt moved to pity for the poor fellow, whose position
-grew momentarily more critical; but in vain did he rack his brains how
-to help the unhappy man whose destruction was assured.
-
-To attack the peccaries would have been extreme imprudence, and have
-produced no other result than that of turning on himself the fury of the
-animals, while not saving the man he wished to help. Still time pressed.
-What was to be done? How, without sacrificing himself, save the man who
-ran so great a risk?
-
-The Mexican hesitated for a long period. It seemed to Don Miguel
-impossible to leave, without help, this man whose death was certain.
-This idea, which presented itself to his mind several times, he had
-energetically repulsed, so monstrous did it appear to him. At length he
-resolved at all risks to attempt impossibilities in favour of this
-stranger, of whose death he would have eventually accused himself had he
-left him to perish in the desert.
-
-The stranger's position was the more critical because, in his haste to
-defend himself from the attacks of his enemies, he had left his rifle
-fall at the foot of the tree, and was consequently unable to reduce the
-number of the peccaries. In spite of their fineness of scent, the latter
-had not noticed Don Miguel's approach, who, by a providential accident,
-had entered the wood on the side opposite the wind. The Mexican
-dismounted with a sigh, patted his horse, and then took off its
-accoutrements. The noble animal, habituated to its master's caresses,
-shook his head joyously, and fixed its large intelligent eyes on him.
-Don Miguel could not repress another sigh: a tear fell down on his
-bronzed cheeks. On the point of accomplishing the sacrifice, he
-hesitated.
-
-It was a faithful companion, almost a friend, he was about to separate
-from; but the life of a man was at stake. The Mexican drove back the
-feelings that agitated him, and his resolution was formed. He passed a
-lasso round his horse's neck, and, in spite of its obstinate resistance,
-compelled it to advance to the entrance of the clearing in which the
-peccaries were assembled. A frail curtain of creepers and leaves alone
-hid it from their sight. On arriving here Don Miguel stopped: he had one
-more moment's hesitation, but only one; for then seizing a piece of
-tinder, which he lighted, he thrust it into the poor animal's ear while
-caressing it.
-
-The effect was sudden and terrible. The horse uttered a snort of pain;
-and rendered mad by the burning, bounded forward into the clearing,
-striving in vain to get rid of the tinder which caused it intolerable
-suffering. Don Miguel had smartly leaped aside, and now followed with an
-anxious glance the result of the terrible tentative he had just made to
-save the stranger. On seeing the horse appear suddenly in their midst,
-the peccaries rose, formed a compact group and rushed with their heads
-down in pursuit of the horse, thinking no longer of the man. The animal,
-spurred on still more by the sight of its ferocious enemies, shot ahead
-with the speed of an arrow, breaking down with its chest all the
-obstacles in its way, and followed closely by the peccaries.
-
-The man saved; but at what a price! Don Miguel repressed a last sigh of
-regret, and leaped into the clearing. The stranger had already descended
-from the tree; but the emotion he had undergone was so extreme, that he
-remained seated on the ground, almost in a state of unconsciousness.
-
-"Quick, quick!" Don Miguel said to him sharply. "We have not a moment to
-lose: the peccaries may alter their minds and return."
-
-"That is true," the stranger muttered in a hollow voice, as he cast a
-terrified glance around. "Let us be off--off at once."
-
-He made an effort over himself, seized his rifle, and rose. Through a
-presentiment for which he could not account to himself, Don Miguel
-experienced at the sight of this man, whom he had hitherto scarce looked
-at, a feeling of invincible doubt and disgust. Owing to the life he was
-obliged to lead on these frontiers, frequented by people of every
-description, the hacendero had been often brought into relation with
-trappers and hunters whose faces were no recommendation to them; but
-never ere now had chance brought him in contact with an individual of
-such sinister appearance as this one.
-
-Still he did not allow his feelings to be seen through, and invited this
-man to follow him. The latter did not let the invitation be repeated;
-for he was anxious to escape from the spot where he had been so near
-death. Thanks to the Mexican's acquaintance with the country, the wood
-was speedily traversed, and the two men, after a walk of scarce an
-hour's duration, reached the banks of the Del Norte, just opposite the
-village. Their speed had been so great, their anxiety so serious, that
-they had not exchanged a syllable, so terrified were they of seeing the
-peccaries appear at any moment. Fortunately this was not the case, and
-they reached the ford without being again disturbed.
-
-Don Miguel was burdened with his horse's trappings, which he now threw
-on the ground, and looked around him in the hope of finding someone who
-would help him in crossing the river. His expectations were not
-deceived; for just as they reached the ford an _arriero_ was preparing
-to cross to the other side of the river with his _recca_ of mules, and,
-with the generosity innate in all Mexicans, he offered to carry them
-both to the Paso. The two men eagerly accepted, each mounted a mule, and
-half an hour later they found themselves in safety at the village. After
-giving the arriero a few reals to requite him for his services, Don
-Miguel took up his horse's trappings again, and prepared to start. The
-stranger stopped.
-
-"We are about to part here, caballero," he said in a rough voice, with a
-very marked English accent; "but before leaving, let me express to you
-my deep gratitude for the noble and generous manner in which you saved
-my life at the peril of your own."
-
-"Sir," the Mexican simply answered, "I only did my duty in saving you.
-In the desert all men are brothers, and owe each other protection. Hence
-do not thank me, I beg, for a very simple action: any other in my place
-would have acted as I have done."
-
-"Perhaps so," the stranger continued; "but be kind enough, pray, to tell
-me your name, so that I may know to whom I owe my life."
-
-"That is needless," Don Miguel said with a smile. "Still, as I fancy you
-are a stranger in these parts, let me give you a piece of advice."
-
-"What is it, sir?"
-
-"Never in future to attack the peccaries. They are terrible enemies,
-only to be conquered by a strong body of men; and an individual in
-attacking them commits an unpardonable folly, to which he must fall a
-victim."
-
-"Be assured, sir, that I shall profit by the lesson I have received this
-day, and shall never put myself in such a wasps' nest again. I was too
-near paying dearly for my imprudence. But I beg you, sir, do not let us
-separate ere I know the name of my preserver."
-
-"As you insist, sir, you shall learn it. I am Don Miguel de Zarate."
-
-The stranger took a peculiar glance at the speaker, while repressing a
-movement of surprise.
-
-"Ah!" he said in a singular tone, "Thanks, Don Miguel Zarate. Without
-knowing you personally, I was already acquainted with your name."
-
-"That is possible," the hacendero answered; "for I am well known in
-this country, where my family has been established for many a long
-year."
-
-"I, sir, am the man whom the Indians call Witchasta Joute, the Maneater,
-and the hunters, my companions, Red Cedar."
-
-And after lifting his hand to his cap in salute, this man threw his
-rifle on his shoulder, turned on his heel, and went off at full speed.
-Don Miguel looked after him for a while, and then walked pensively
-toward the house he inhabited at el Paso. The hacendero did not suspect
-that he had sacrificed his favourite horse to save the life of his most
-implacable enemy.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE WOUND.
-
-
-At sunrise, Don Miguel, mounted on an excellent horse, left the Paso,
-and proceeded toward the hacienda where he resided with his family. It
-was situated a few miles from the Presidio of San Elezario, in a
-delicious position, and was known as the _Hacienda de la Noria_ (the
-Farm of the Well). The estate inhabited by Don Miguel stood in the
-centre of the vast delta formed by the Del Norte and the Rio San Pedro,
-or Devil's River. It was one of those strong and massive buildings which
-the Spaniards alone knew how to erect when they were absolute masters of
-Mexico.
-
-The hacienda formed a vast parallelogram, supported at regular distances
-by enormous cross walls of carved stone. Like all the frontier
-habitations, which are rather fortresses than houses, it was only
-pierced on the side of the plain with a few narrow windows resembling
-loopholes, and protected by solid iron bars. This abode was begirt by a
-thick wall of circumvallation, defended on the top by that fretwork
-called _almenas_, which indicated the nobility of the owner. Within this
-wall, but separated from the chief apartments, were the stables,
-outhouses, barns and cabins for the peons.
-
-At the extremity of the courtyard, in an angle of the hacienda, was the
-tall square belfry of the chapel, rising above its terraced roof. This
-chapel was served by a monk called Fray Ambrosio. A magnificent plain
-closed in this splendid farm. At the end of a valley more than fifty
-miles in length were cactus trees of a conical shape, loaded with fruit
-and flowers, and whose stems were as much as six feet in diameter.
-
-Don Miguel employed a considerable number of peons in the cultivation of
-the sugar cane, which he carried on upon a very large scale. As
-everybody knows, the cane is planted by laying it horizontally in
-furrows half a foot deep. From each knot springs a shoot which reaches a
-height of about three yards, and which is cut at the end of a year to
-extract the juice.
-
-Nothing can be more picturesque than the sight of a field of sugar
-canes. It was one of those superb American mornings during which nature
-seems to be holding a festival. The _centzontle_ (American nightingale)
-frequently poured forth its harmonious notes; the red throstled
-cardinals, the blue birds, the parakeets, chattered gaily beneath the
-foliage; far away on the plain galloped flocks of light antelopes and
-timid ashatas, while on the extreme verge of the horizon rushed startled
-_manadas_ of wild horses, which raised clouds of impalpable dust beneath
-the vibration of their rapid hoofs. A few alligators, carelessly
-stretched out on the river mud, were drying their scales in the sun, and
-in mid air the grand eagles of the Sierra Madre hovered majestically
-above the valley.
-
-Don Miguel advanced rapidly at the favourite pace of the Mexican
-_jinetes,_ and which consists in making the horse raise its front legs,
-while the hind ones almost graze the ground--a peculiar sort of amble
-which is very gentle and rapid. The hacendero only employed four hours
-in traversing the distance separating him from the hacienda, where he
-arrived about nine in the morning. He was received on the threshold of
-the house by his daughter, who, warned of his arrival, had hastened to
-meet him.
-
-Don Miguel had been absent from home a fortnight; hence, he received his
-daughter's caresses with the greatest pleasure. When he had embraced her
-several times, while continuing to hold her tightly clasped in his arms,
-he regarded her attentively during several seconds.
-
-"What is the matter, _mi querida_ Clara?" he asked with sympathy. "You
-seem very sad. Can you feel vexed at the sight of me?" he added, with a
-smile.
-
-"Oh, you cannot believe that, father!" she answered quickly; "for you
-know how happy your presence must render me."
-
-"Thanks, my child! But whence, in that case, comes the sorrow I see
-spread over your features?"
-
-The maiden let her eyes sink, but made no reply.
-
-Don Miguel threw a searching glance around.
-
-"Where is Don Pablo?" he said. "Why has he not come to greet me? Can he
-be away from the hacienda?"
-
-"No, father, he is here."
-
-"Well, then, what is the reason he is not by your side?"
-
-"Because--" the girl said, with hesitation.
-
-"Well?"
-
-"He is ill."
-
-"My son ill!" Don Miguel exclaimed.
-
-"I am wrong," Dona Clara corrected herself.
-
-"Explain yourself, in Heaven's name!"
-
-"My father, the fact is that Pablo is wounded."
-
-"Wounded!" the hacendero sharply said; and thrusting his daughter
-aside, he rushed toward the house, bounded up the few steps leading to
-the porch, crossed several rooms without stopping, and reached his son's
-chamber. The young man was lying, weak and faint, on his bed; but on
-perceiving his parent he smiled, and held his hand to him. Don Miguel
-was fondly attached to his son, his sole heir, and walked up to him.
-
-"What is this wound of which I have heard?" he asked him in great
-agitation.
-
-"Less than nothing, father," the young man replied, exchanging a meaning
-glance with his sister, who entered at the moment. "Clara is a foolish
-girl, who, in her tenderness, wrongly alarmed you."
-
-"But, after all, you are wounded?" the father continued.
-
-"But I repeat that it is a mere nothing."
-
-"Come, explain yourself. How and when did you receive this wound?"
-
-The young man blushed, and maintained silence.
-
-"I insist on knowing," Don Miguel continued pressingly.
-
-"Good heavens, father!" Don Pablo replied with an air of ill-humour, "I
-do not understand why you are alarmed for so futile a cause. I am not a
-child, whom a scratch should make frightened; and many times have I been
-wounded previously, and you have not disturbed yourself so much."
-
-"That is possible; but the mode in which you answer me, the care you
-seem trying to take to keep me ignorant of the cause of this wound--in a
-word, everything tells me that this time you are trying to hide
-something grave from me."
-
-"You are mistaken, father, and shall convince yourself."
-
-"I wish nothing more: speak. Clara, my child, go and give orders to have
-breakfast prepared, for I am dying of hunger."
-
-The girl went out.
-
-"Now it is our turn," Don Miguel continued. "In the first place, where
-are you wounded?"
-
-"Oh! I have merely a slight scratch on my shoulder: if I went to bed it
-was more through indolence than any other motive."
-
-"Hum! and what scratched your shoulder?"
-
-"A bullet."
-
-"What! A bullet! Then you must have fought a duel, unhappy boy!" Don
-Miguel exclaimed with a shudder.
-
-The young man smiled, pressed his father's hand, and bending toward him,
-said,--
-
-"This is what has happened."
-
-"I am listening to you," Don Miguel replied, making an effort to calm
-himself.
-
-"Two days after your departure, father," Don Pablo continued, "I was
-superintending, as you wished me to do, the cutting of the cane crop,
-when a hunter whom you will probably remember having seen prowling about
-the estate, a man of the name of Andres Garote, accosted me at the
-moment I was about to return home after giving my orders to the
-majordomo. After saluting me obsequiously as his wont, the scamp smiled
-cunningly, and lowering his voice so as not to be overheard by those
-around us, said, 'Don Pablo, I fancy you would give half an ounce to the
-man who brought you important news?' 'That depends,' I answered; for,
-having known the man a long time, I was aware much confidence could not
-be placed in him. 'Bah! Your grace is so rich,' he continued
-insidiously, 'that a miserable sum like that is less than nothing in his
-pocket, while in mine it would do me a deal of good.'
-
-"Apart from his defects, this scamp had at times done us a few small
-services; and then, as he said, a half-ounce is but a trifle, so I gave
-it to him. He stowed it away in his pockets, and then bent down to my
-ear. 'Thanks, Don Pablo,' he said to me. 'I shall not cheat you of your
-money. Your horse is rested, and can stand a long journey. Proceed to
-Buffalo Valley, and there you will learn something to interest you.' It
-was in vain that I urged him to explain himself more clearly; I could
-draw no more from him. He merely added before parting from me, 'Don
-Pablo, you have good weapons; so take them with you, for no man knoweth
-what may happen.' Somehow the scamp's veiled confidence aroused my
-curiosity: hence I resolved to go to Buffalo Valley, and gain the clue
-of this riddle."
-
-"Andres Garote is a villain, who laid a snare for you, into which you
-fell," Don Miguel interrupted.
-
-"No, father, you are mistaken. Andres was honest towards me, and I have
-only thanks to give him. Still he should have explained himself,
-perhaps, more distinctly."
-
-The hacendero shook his head with a doubting air.
-
-"Go on," he said.
-
-"I entered my house, procured the weapons, and then, mounted on Negro,
-my black charger, I proceeded toward Buffalo Valley. As you are aware,
-father, the place we call so, and which belongs to us, is an immense
-forest of cedars and maples, nearly forty miles in circumference, and
-traversed almost through its entire length by a wide confluent of the
-Rio San Pedro."
-
-"Of course I know it, and I intend next year to fell some of the wood
-there."
-
-"You need not take the trouble," the young man said with a smile, "for
-someone has done it for you."
-
-"What do you mean?" the hacendero asked wrathfully. "Who dared?"
-
-"Oh! One of those wretched heretic squatters, as they call themselves.
-The villain found the spot to suit him, and has quietly settled there
-with his three whelps--three big fellows with hang-dog faces, who
-laughed at me when I told them the forest was mine, and answered, while
-aiming at me, that they were North Americans, who cared as little for me
-as they did for a coyote; that the ground belonged to the first comer;
-and that I shall afford them lively pleasure by being off at full speed.
-What more shall I tell you, father? I take after you. I have hot blood,
-and I cordially hate that race of Yankee pirates, who, for some years
-back, have settled on our lovely country like a swarm of mosquitoes. I
-saw our forest plundered, our finest trees cut down. I could not remain
-unmoved in the presence of these scoundrels' insolence, and the quarrel
-became so sharp that they fired at me."
-
-"_Virgen Santisima_!" Don Miguel exclaimed in fury, "They shall pay
-dearly for the affront they have offered you I swear it! I will take
-exemplary vengeance."
-
-"Why be so angry, father?" the young man replied, visibly annoyed at the
-effect his story had produced. "The harm these people do us is really
-very trifling. I was in the wrong to let my passion carry me away."
-
-"On the contrary, you were right. I will not have these Northern thieves
-come and commit their plunder here. I will put a stop to it."
-
-"I assure you that, if you will leave me to act, I feel certain of
-arranging this affair to your entire satisfaction."
-
-"I forbid you taking the slightest steps, for this matter concerns me
-now. Whatever may occur, I do not wish you to interfere. Will you
-promise me this?"
-
-"As you insist, I do so, father."
-
-"Very good. Get cured as speedily as possible, and keep your mind at
-rest. The Yankees shall pay me dearly for the blood they have shed."
-
-With these words Don Miguel retired, and his son fell back on his bed
-stifling a sigh, and uttering a hoarse exclamation of passion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE SQUATTER'S SHANTY.
-
-
-Don Pablo had not told his father the facts in all their truth or
-detail. He had fallen into a perfect ambuscade. He was suddenly attacked
-by the three brothers, who would have mercilessly killed him, resolved
-to lay the blame of his death on the wild beasts, had not, at the moment
-when one of them lifted his knife on the young man, who was thrown down
-and rendered motionless by the others, a providential succour reached him
-in the person of a charming maid scarce sixteen years of age.
-
-The courageous girl rushed from a copse with the rapidity of a fawn, and
-threw herself resolutely into the midst of the assassins.
-
-"What are you about, brother?" she exclaimed in a melodious voice, whose
-harmonious notes echoed amorously in Don Pablo's ears. "Why do you wish
-to kill this stranger?"
-
-The three squatters, surprised by this apparition, which they were far
-from expecting, fell back a few paces. Don Pablo profited by this truce
-to jump up and regain possession of his arms, which had fallen by his
-side.
-
-"Was it not enough," the girl continued, "to rob this man, that you must
-now try to take his life? Fie, brothers! Do you not know that blood
-leaves on the hands of him who spills it stains which nothing can
-efface? Let this man retire in peace."
-
-The young men hesitated. Although unconsciously yielding to their
-sister's influence, they were ashamed of thus executing her wishes.
-Still they did not dare express their thoughts, and merely bent on their
-enemy, who awaited them with a firm foot and pistols in hand, glances
-laden with hatred and anger.
-
-"Ellen is right," the youngest of her brothers suddenly said. "No, I
-will not allow any harm to be done the stranger."
-
-The others looked at him savagely.
-
-"You would defend him, if necessary, I suppose, Shaw?" Nathan said to
-him ironically.
-
-"Why should I not, were it required?" the young man said boldly.
-
-"Eh!" Sutter remarked with a grin, "He is thinking of the Wood
-Eglantine."
-
-This word had been scarce uttered ere Shaw, with purpled face,
-contracted features, and eyes injected with blood, rushed with uplifted
-knife on his brother, who awaited him firmly. The girl dashed between
-them.
-
-"Peace, peace!" she shrieked in a piercing voice, "Do brothers dare
-threaten one another?"
-
-The two young fellows remained motionless, but watching and ready to
-strike in a moment. Don Pablo fixed an ardent glance on the girl, who
-was really admirable at this moment. With her features animated by
-anger, her head erect, and her arms stretched out between the two men,
-she bore a startling likeness to those Druidesses who in olden times
-summoned the warriors to combat beneath the forests of Germany.
-
-In her whole person she offered the complete type of the gentle Northern
-woman. Her hair light and golden like ripe corn; her eyes of extreme
-purity, which reflected the azure of the sky; her earnest mouth, with
-rosy lips and pearly teeth; her flexible and small waist; the whiteness
-of her complexion, whose delicate and transparent skin still bore the
-flush of adolescence--all was combined in this charming maiden to render
-her the most seductive creature imaginable.
-
-Don Pablo, a stranger to this kind of beauty, felt himself involuntarily
-attracted toward the girl, and entirely subjugated by her. Forgetting
-the reason that had brought him to this spot, the danger he had
-incurred, and that which still menaced him, he was fascinated and
-trembling before this delicious apparition, fearing at each instant to
-see it vanish like a vision, and not daring to turn his glance from her
-while he felt he had no strength left to admire her.
-
-This young creature, so frail and delicate, formed a strange contrast
-with the tall statures and marked features of her brothers, whose coarse
-and savage manners only served to heighten the elegance and charm
-exhaled by her whole person. Still this scene could not be prolonged,
-and must be ended at once. The maiden walked toward Don Pablo.
-
-"Sir," she said to him with a soft smile, "You have nothing more to fear
-from my brothers; you can mount your horse again, and set out, and no
-one will oppose your departure."
-
-The young man understood that he had no pretext to prolong his stay at
-this spot; he therefore let his head sink, placed his pistols in his
-holsters, leaped on his horse, and set out with regret, and as slowly as
-possible.
-
-He had scarce gone a league when he heard the hasty clatter of a horse
-behind him. He turned back. The approaching horseman was Shaw, who soon
-caught up with Don Pablo. The pair then proceeded some distance side by
-side without exchanging a syllable, and both seemed plunged in profound
-thought. On reaching the skirt of the forest, Shaw checked his horse,
-and softly laid his right hand on the Mexican's bridle. Don Pablo also
-stopped on this hint, and waited, while fixing an inquiring glance on
-his strange comrade.
-
-"Stranger," the young man said, "my sister sends me. She implores you,
-if it be possible, to keep secret what occurred between us today. She
-deeply regrets the attack to which you fell a victim, and the wound you
-have received; and she will try to persuade Red Cedar, our father, to
-retire from your estates."
-
-"Thank your sister for me," Don Pablo answered. "Tell her that her
-slightest wish will ever be a command to me, and that I shall be happy
-to execute it."
-
-"I will repeat your words to her."
-
-"Thanks. Render me a parting service."
-
-"Speak."
-
-"What is your sister's name?"
-
-"Ellen. She is the guardian angel of our hearth. My name is Shaw."
-
-"I am obliged to you for telling me your name, though I cannot guess the
-reason that induces you to do so."
-
-"I will tell you. I love my sister Ellen before all: she urged me to
-offer you my friendship. I obey her. Remember, stranger, that Shaw is
-yours to the death."
-
-"I shall not forget it, though I hope never to be under the necessity of
-reminding you of your words."
-
-"All the worse," the American said, with a shake of his head; "but if at
-any time the opportunity offers, I will prove to you that I am a man of
-my word, so surely as I am a Kentuckian."
-
-And hurriedly turning his horse's head, the young man rapidly
-disappeared in the windings of the forest.
-
-Buffalo Valley, illumined by the parting rays of the setting sun, seemed
-a lake of verdure to which the golden mist of night imparted magical
-tones. A light breeze rustled through the lofty crests of the cedars,
-catalpas, tulip and Peru trees, and agitated the grass on the banks of
-the Rio San Pedro. Don Pablo let the reins float idly on his horse's
-neck, and advanced dreamily through the forest, where the birds were
-leaping from spray to spray, each saluting in its language the arrival
-of night.
-
-An hour later, the young man reached the hacienda; but the wound he had
-received in his shoulder was more serious than was at first supposed. He
-was obliged, to his great regret, to keep his bed, which prevented him
-seeking to meet again the maiden whose image was deeply engraved on his
-heart.
-
-So soon as the Mexican had gone off, the squatters continued felling
-trees and sawing planks, and did not abandon this work till the night
-had grown quite black. Ellen had returned to the interior of the jacal,
-where she attended to the housekeeping duties with her mother. This
-jacal was a wretched hut, hastily made with branches of intertwined
-trees, which trembled with every breeze, and let the sun and rain
-penetrate to the interior.
-
-This cabin was divided into three compartments: the one to the right
-served as the bedroom of the two females, while the men slept in the one
-to the left. The central compartment, furnished with worm-eaten benches
-and a clumsily-planed table, was at once keeping room and kitchen.
-
-It was late: the squatters, assembled round the fire, over which a huge
-pot was boiling, were silently awaiting the return of Red Cedar, who had
-been absent since the morning. At length, a horse's hoofs sounded
-sharply on the detritus collected for years on the floor of the forest,
-the noise grew gradually nearer, the horse stopped in front of the
-jacal, and a man made his appearance. It was Red Cedar. The men slowly
-turned their heads toward him, but did not otherwise disturb themselves,
-or address a syllable to him.
-
-Ellen alone rose and embraced her father affectionately. The giant
-seized the girl in his nervous arms, raised her from the ground, and
-kissed her several times, saying in his rough voice, which his
-tenderness sensibly softened,--
-
-"Good evening, my dear."
-
-Then he put her down on the ground again, and not troubling himself
-further about her, fell heavily on a bench near the fire, and thrust his
-feet toward the fire.
-
-"Come, wife," he said, after the expiration of a moment, "the supper, in
-the fiend's name! I have a coyote's hunger."
-
-The wife did not let this be repeated. A few moments later an immense
-dish of _frijoles_, with pimiento, smoked on the table, with large pots
-of pulque. The meal was short and silent, the four men eating with
-extreme rapacity. So soon as the beans had disappeared Red Cedar and his
-sons lit their pipes, and began smoking, while drinking large draughts
-of whiskey, though still not speaking. At length Red Cedar took his pipe
-from his lips, and hit the table sharply, while saying in a rough
-voice,--
-
-"Come, women, decamp! You have nothing more to do here. You are in our
-way, so go to the deuce!"
-
-Ellen and her mother immediately went out, and entered their separate
-apartment. For a few minutes they could be heard moving about, and then
-all became silent again.
-
-Red Cedar made a sign, and Sutter rose and gently put his ear to the
-parting board. He listened for a few moments while holding his breath,
-and then returned to his seat, saying laconically,--
-
-"They are asleep."
-
-"Quick, my whelps!" the old squatter said in a low voice. "We have not a
-minute to lose: the others are expecting us."
-
-A strange scene then occurred in this mean room, which was merely
-illumined by the expiring light of the hearth. The four men arose,
-opened a large chest, and produced from it various objects of strange
-shapes--leggings, mittens, buffalo robes, collars of grizzly bear claws;
-in a word, the complete costumes of Apache Indians.
-
-The squatters disguised themselves as redskins; and when they had put on
-their garments, which rendered it impossible to recognise them, they
-completed the metamorphosis by painting their faces of different colours.
-
-Assuredly the traveller whom accident had brought at this moment to the
-jacal would have fancied it inhabited by Apaches or Comanches.
-
-The garments which the squatters had taken off were locked up in the
-chest, of which Red Cedar took the key; and the four men, armed with
-their American rifles, left the cabin, mounted their horses, which were
-awaiting them ready saddled, and started at full gallop through the
-winding forest paths.
-
-At the moment they disappeared in the gloom Ellen stood in the doorway
-of the cabin, took a despairing glance in the direction where they had
-gone, and fell to the ground murmuring sadly,--
-
-"Good Heaven! What diabolical work are they going to perform this
-night?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE RANGERS.
-
-
-On the banks of the Rio San Pedro, and on the side of a hill, stood a
-_rancheria_ composed of some ten cabins, inhabited by a population of
-sixty persons at the most, including men, women and children. These
-people were Coras Indians, hunters and agriculturists, belonging to the
-Tortoise tribe. These poor Indians lived there on terms of peace with
-their neighbours, under the protection of the Mexican laws. Quiet and
-inoffensive beings, during the nearly twenty years they had been
-established at this place they had never once offered a subject of
-complaint to their neighbours, who, on the contrary, were glad to see
-them prosper, owing to their gentle and hospitable manners. Though
-Mexican subjects, they governed themselves after their fashion, obeying
-their caciques, and regulating in the assembly of their elders all the
-difficulties that arose in their village.
-
-On the night when we saw the squatters leave the cabin in disguise, some
-twenty individuals, armed to the teeth and clothed in strange costumes,
-with their faces blackened so as to render them unrecognizable, were
-bivouacked at about two leagues from the rancheria, in a plain on the
-river's bank. Seated or lying round huge fires, they were singing,
-laughing, quarrelling or gambling with multitudinous yells and oaths.
-Two men seated apart at the foot of an enormous cactus, were conversing
-in a low tone, while smoking their husk cigarettes. These two men, of
-whom we have already spoken to the reader, were Fray Ambrosio, chaplain
-to the Hacienda de la Noria, and Andres Garote, the hunter.
-
-Andres was a tall, thin fellow, with a sickly and cunning face, who
-draped himself defiantly in his sordid rags, but whose weapons were in a
-perfectly good condition.
-
-Who were the men causing this disturbance? They were "rangers," but this
-requires explanation.
-
-Immediately after each of the different revolutions which have
-periodically overturned Mexico since that country so pompously declared
-its independence, the first care of the new president who reaches power
-is to dismiss the volunteers who had accidentally swollen the ranks of his
-army, and supplied him the means of overthrowing his predecessor. These
-volunteers, we must do them the justice of allowing, are the very scum
-of society, and the most degraded class human nature produces. These
-sanguinary men, without religion or law, who have no relations or
-friends, are an utter leprosy to the country.
-
-Roughly driven back into society, the new life they are forced to adopt
-in no way suits their habits of murder and pillage. No longer able to
-wage war on their countrymen, they form free corps, and engage
-themselves for a certain salary, to hunt the Indios Bravos--that is to
-say, the Apaches and Comanches--who desolate the Mexican frontiers. In
-addition to this, the paternal government of North America in Texas, and
-of Mexico in the States of the Confederation, allots them a certain sum
-for each Indian scalp they bring in.
-
-We do not fancy we are saying anything new in asserting that they are
-the scourge of the colonists and inhabitants, they plunder shamelessly
-in every way when they are not doing worse.
-
-The men assembled at this moment on the banks of the Rio San Pedro were
-preparing for a war party--the name they give to the massacres they
-organise against the redskins.
-
-Toward midnight Red Cedar and his three sons reached the rangers' camp.
-They must have been impatiently expected, for the bandits received them
-with marks of the greatest joy and the warmest enthusiasm. The dice, the
-cards, and botas of mezcal and whiskey were immediately deserted. The
-rangers mounted their horses, and grouped round the squatters, near whom
-stood Fray Ambrosio and his friend Andres Garote.
-
-Red Cedar took a glance round the mob, and could not repress a smile of
-pride at the sight of the rich collection of bandits of every
-description whom he had around him, and who recognised him as chief. He
-extended his arm to command peace. When all were silent the giant took
-the word.
-
-"Senores caballeros," he said, in a powerful and marked voice, which
-made all these scamps quiver with delight at being treated like honest
-people, "the audacity of the redskins is growing intolerable. If we let
-them alone they would soon inundate the country, when they would end by
-expelling us. This state of things must have an end. The government
-complains about the few scalps we supply; it says we do not carry out
-the clauses of the agreement we have formed with it; it talks about
-disbanding us, as our services are useless, and therefore burdensome to
-the republic. It is our bounden duty to give a striking denial to these
-malevolent assertions, and prove to those who have placed confidence in
-us that we are ever ready to devote ourselves to the cause of humanity
-and civilisation. I have assembled you here for a war party, which I
-have been meditating for some time, and shall carry out this night. We
-are about to attack the rancheria of the Coras, who for some years past
-have had the impudence to establish themselves near this spot. They are
-pagans and thieves, who have one hundred times merited the severe
-chastisement we are about to inflict on them. But I implore you, senores
-caballeros, display no mistaken pity. Crush this race of vipers--let not
-one escape! The scalp of a child is worth as much as that of a man; so
-do not let yourselves be moved by cries or tears, but scalp, scalp to
-the end."
-
-This harangue was greeted as it deserved to be; that is, by yells of
-joy.
-
-"Senores," Red Cedar continued, "the worthy monk who accompanies me will
-call down the blessing of Heaven on our enterprise; so kneel down to
-receive the absolution he is about to give you."
-
-The bandits instantaneously dismounted, took off their hats, and knelt
-on the sand. Fray Ambrosio then repeated a long prayer, to which they
-listened with exemplary patience, repeating _amen_ after each occasion,
-and he ended by giving them absolution. The rangers rose, delighted at
-being thus freed from the burden of their sins, and got into their
-saddles again.
-
-Red Cedar then whispered a few words in Fray Ambrosio's ears, who bowed
-his head in assent, and immediately set out in the direction of the
-Hacienda de la Noria, followed by Andres Garote. The squatter then
-turned to the rangers, who were awaiting his orders.
-
-"You know where we are going, gentlemen," he said. "Let us start, and,
-before all, be silent, if we wish to catch our game in its lair; for you
-know that the Indians are as cunning as opossums."
-
-The band started at a gallop, Red Cedar and his sons being at their
-head. It was one of those calm nights which predispose the soul to
-reverie, such as America alone has the privilege of possessing. The dark
-blue sky was spangled with an infinite number of stars, in the centre of
-which shone the majestic Southern Cross, sparkling like a king's mantle;
-the atmosphere was extraordinarily transparent, and allowed objects to
-be noticed at a great distance; the moon profusely spread around her
-silvery rays, which gave the scenery a fantastic appearance; a
-mysterious breeze sported through the tops of the great trees; and at
-times vague rumours traversed the space, and were lost in the distance.
-
-The gloomy horsemen still went on, silent and frowning, like the
-phantoms of the ancient legends, which glide through the shadows to
-accomplish a deed without a name. At the end of scarce an hour the
-rancheria was reached. All were resting in the village--not a light
-flashed in the hut. The Indians, wearied with the hard toil of the day,
-were reposing, full of confidence in the sworn faith, and apprehending
-no treason.
-
-Red Cedar halted twenty yards from the rancheria, and drew up his
-horsemen so as to surround the village on all sides. When each had taken
-his post, and the torches were lighted, Red Cedar uttered the terrible
-war cry of the Apaches, and the rangers galloped at full speed on the
-village, uttering ferocious howls, and brandishing the torches, which
-they threw on the cabins.
-
-A scene of carnage then took place which the human pen is powerless to
-describe. The unhappy Indians, surprised in their sleep, rushed
-terrified and half naked out of their poor abodes, and were pitilessly
-massacred and scalped by the rangers, who waved with a demoniac laugh
-their smoking, blood-dripping scalps. Men, women, and children, all were
-killed with refinements of barbarity. The village, fired by the rangers'
-torches, soon became an immense funebral pile, in which victims and
-murderers were huddled pell-mell.
-
-Still a few Indians had succeeded in collecting. Formed in a compact
-troop of twenty men, they opposed a desperate resistance to their
-assassins, exasperated by the odour of blood and the intoxication of
-carnage. At the head of this band was a half-nude, tall Indian of
-intelligent features, who, armed with a ploughshare, which he wielded
-with extreme force and skill, felled all the assailants who came within
-reach of his terrible weapon. This man was the cacique of the Coras. At
-his feet lay his mother, wife, and two children--dead. The unhappy man
-struggled with the energy of despair. He knew his life would be
-sacrificed, but he wished to sell it as dearly as possible.
-
-In vain had the rangers fired on the cacique--he seemed invulnerable:
-not one of the bullets aimed at him had struck him. He still fought, and
-the weight of his weapon did not seem to fatigue his arm. The rangers
-excited each other to finish him; but not one dared to approach him.
-
-But this combat of giants could not endure longer. Of the twenty
-companions he had round him on commencing the struggle, the cacique now
-only saw two or three upright: the rest were dead. There must be an end.
-The circle that inclosed the hapless Indian drew closer and closer.
-Henceforth it was only a question of time with him. The rangers,
-recognising the impossibility of conquering this lion-hearted man, had
-changed their tactics: they no longer attacked him, but contented
-themselves with forming an impassable circle round him, waiting
-prudently for the moment when the strength of the prey, which could not
-escape them, was exhausted, in order to rush upon him.
-
-The Coras understood the intention of his enemies. A contemptuous smile
-contracted his haughty lips, and he rushed resolutely toward these men
-who recoiled before him. Suddenly, with a movement quicker than thought,
-he threw with extraordinary strength the ploughshare among the rangers,
-and bounding like a tiger, leaped on a horse, and clutched its rider
-with superhuman vigour.
-
-Ere the rangers had recovered from the surprise this unforeseen attack
-occasioned in them, by a desperate effort, and still holding the
-horseman, the chieftain drew from his girdle a short sharp knife, which
-he buried up to the hilt in the flanks of the horse. The animal uttered
-a shriek of pain, rushed headlong into the crowd, and bore both away
-with maddening speed.
-
-The rangers, rendered furious at being played with by a single man, and
-seeing their most terrible enemy escape them, started in pursuit; but
-with his liberty the Coras had regained all his energy: he felt himself
-saved. In spite of the desperate efforts the rangers made to catch him
-up, he disappeared in the darkness.
-
-The cacique continued to fly till he felt his horse tottering under him.
-He had not loosed his hold of the horseman, who was half strangled by
-the rude embrace, and both rolled on the ground. This man wore the
-costume of the Apache Indians. The Coras regarded him for an instant
-attentively, and then a smile of contempt played round his lips.
-
-"You are not a redskin," he said, in a hollow voice; "you are only a
-paleface dog. Why put on the skin of the lion when you are a cowardly
-coyote?"
-
-The ranger, still stunned by the fall he had suffered, and the hug he
-had endured, made no reply.
-
-"I could kill you," the Indian continued; "but my vengeance would not be
-complete. You and yours must pay me for all the innocent blood you have
-shed like cowards this night. I will mark you, so that I may know you
-again."
-
-Then, with fearful coolness, the Coras threw the ranger on his back, put
-his knee on his chest, and burying his finger in the socket of his eye,
-gave it a sharp rotatory movement, and plucked out his eyeball. On this
-frightful mutilation, the wretch uttered a cry of pain impossible to
-describe. The Indian got up.
-
-"Go!" he said to him. "Now I am certain of finding you again whenever I
-want you."
-
-At this moment the sound of hoofs could be heard a short distance off:
-the rangers had evidently heard their comrade's cry, and were hurrying
-to his aid. The Coras, rushed into the bushes and disappeared. A few
-moments later the rangers came up.
-
-"Nathan, my son!" Red Cedar shouted as he leaped from his horse and
-threw himself on the body of the wounded man. "Nathan, my firstborn, is
-dead!"
-
-"No," one of the rangers answered; "but he is very bad."
-
-It was really the squatter's eldest son whom the cacique had mutilated.
-Red Cedar seized him in his arms, placed him before him on the saddle,
-and the band started again at a gallop. The rangers had accomplished
-their task: they had sixty human scalps hanging from their girdles. The
-rancheria of the Coras was no longer aught save a pile of ashes.
-
-Of all the inhabitants of this hapless village only the cacique
-survived; but he would suffice to avenge his brothers.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE VALLEY OF THE BUFFALO.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate, on leaving his son, remounted his horse and rode
-straight to Paso, to the house of Don Luciano Perez, the _juez de
-letras_ (police magistrate).
-
-The hacendero was one of the richest landed proprietors in the country;
-and as he was thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of the depositaries
-of justice in those parts, he had consequently been careful to line his
-purse well. Here were two reasons, then, to interest the judge in his
-favour, and this really happened.
-
-The worthy Don Luciano shuddered on hearing the details of what had
-occurred between Don Pablo and the squatters. He swore that he would,
-without delay, take an exemplary vengeance for this starting felony on
-the part of the heretic dogs, and that it was high time to bring them
-reason. Confirming himself more and more in his resolution, he buckled
-on his sword, gave orders to twenty well-armed alguaciles to mount, and
-placing himself at the head of this numerous escort, he proceeded toward
-Buffalo Valley.
-
-Don Miguel had witnessed with secret annoyance all these formidable
-preparations. He placed but slight confidence in the courage of the
-policemen, and he would have preferred the judge leaving him master to
-act as he pleased. He had even adroitly attempted to obtain from Don
-Luciano a regular warrant, which he would have executed however he might
-think proper; but the judge, burning with an unusual warlike ardor, and
-spurred on by the large sum he had received, would listen to nothing,
-but insisted on himself taking the head of the expedition.
-
-Don Luciano Perez was a plump little man of about sixty years of age,
-round as a tub, with a jolly face, adorned with a rubicund nose and two
-cunning little eyes. This man cordially detested the North Americans;
-and, in the courageous deed he was committing at this moment, hatred was
-as much the instigation as avarice.
-
-The little band set out at a canter, and proceeded rapidly toward the
-forest. The judge hurled fire and flames at the audacious usurpers, as
-he called them; he spoke of nothing less than killing them without
-mercy, if they attempted even the slightest resistance to the orders he
-was about to give them. Don Miguel, who was much calmer, and foreboded
-no good from this great wrath, sought in vain to pacify him by telling
-him that he would in all probability have to do with men difficult to
-intimidate, against whom coolness would be the best weapon.
-
-They gradually approached. The hacendero, in order to shorten the
-journey, had led the band by a cross road, which saved at least
-one-third the distance; and the first trees of the forest already
-appeared about two miles off. The mischief produced by the squatters was
-much more considerable than Don Pablo had represented to his father;
-and, at the first glance, it seemed impossible that, in so short a time,
-four men, even though working vigorously, could have accomplished it.
-The finest trees lay on the ground; enormous piles of planks were
-arranged at regular distances, and on the San Pedro an already completed
-raft only awaited a few more stems of trees to be thrust into the water.
-
-Don Miguel could not refrain from sighing at the sight of the
-devastation committed in one of his best forests; but the nearer they
-approached the spot where they expected to meet the squatters, the more
-lukewarm grew the warlike zeal of the judge and his acolytes, and the
-hacendero soon found himself compelled to urge them on, instead of
-restraining them as he had hitherto done. Suddenly the sound of an axe
-re-echoed a few paces ahead of the band. The judge impelled by the
-feeling of his duty, and shame of appearing frightened, advanced boldly
-in the direction of the sound, followed by his escort.
-
-"Stop!" a rough voice shouted at the moment the policemen turned the
-corner of a lane.
-
-With that instinct of self-preservation which never abandons them, the
-alguaciles stopped as if their horses' feet had been suddenly welded to
-the ground. Ten paces from them stood a man in the centre of the ride,
-leaning on an American rifle. The judge turned to Don Miguel with such
-an expression of hesitation and honest terror that the hacendero could
-not refrain from laughing.
-
-"Come, courage, Don Luciano," he said to him. "This man is alone; he
-cannot venture to bar our passage."
-
-"_Con mil diablos!_" the judge exclaimed, ashamed of this impression
-which he could not master, and frowning portentously, "forward, you
-fellows, and fire on that scoundrel if he make but a sign to resist
-you."
-
-The alguaciles set out again with prudential hesitation.
-
-"Stop! I tell you again," the squatter repeated. "Did you not hear the
-order I gave you!"
-
-The judge, reassured by the presence of the hacendero, then advanced,
-and said with a tone which he strove to render terrible, but which was
-only ridiculous through the terror he revealed,--
-
-"I, Don Luciano Perez, _juez de letras_ of the town of Paso, have come,
-by virtue of the powers delegated to me by the Government, to summon you
-and your adherents to quit within twenty-four hours this forest you have
-illegally entered, and which--"
-
-"Ta, ta!" the stranger shouted, rudely interrupting the judge, and
-stamping his foot savagely. "I care as much for all your words and laws
-as I do for an old moccasin. The ground belongs to the first comers. We
-are comfortable here, and mean to remain."
-
-"Your language is very bold, young man," Don Miguel then said. "You do
-not consider that you are alone, and that, failing other rights, we have
-strength on our side."
-
-The squatter burst into a laugh.
-
-"You believe that," he said. "Learn, stranger, that I care as little for
-the ten humbugs I now have before me as I do for a woodcock, and that
-they will do well to leave me at peace, unless they want to learn the
-weight of my arm at their expense. However, here is my father; settle it
-with him."
-
-And he began carelessly whistling "Yankee Doodle." At the same instant
-three men, at the head of whom was Red Cedar, appeared on the path. At
-the sight of these unexpected reinforcements for their arrogant enemy
-the alguaciles made a movement in retreat. The affair was becoming
-singularly complicated, and threatened to assume proportions very grave
-for them.
-
-"Halloh! What's up?" the old man asked roughly. "Anything wrong,
-Sutter?"
-
-"These people," the young man answered, shrugging his shoulders
-contemptuously, "are talking about driving us from the forest by virtue
-of some order."
-
-"Halloh!" Red Cedar said, his eyes flashing as he cast a savage glance
-at the Mexicans. "The only law I recognise in the desert," he continued
-with a gesture of terrible energy as he struck his rifle barrel, "is
-this. Withdraw, strangers, if you do not wish blood to be shed between
-us. I am a peaceful man, wishing to do no one hurt; but I warn you that
-I will not allow myself to be kicked out without striking a blow."
-
-"You will not be turned out," the judge remarked timidly; "on the
-contrary, you have seized on what belongs to other people."
-
-"I won't listen to your arguments, which I do not understand," the
-squatter roughly exclaimed. "God gave the ground to man that he might
-labour on it. Every proprietor that does not fulfil this condition
-tacitly renounces his rights, and the earth then becomes the property of
-the man who tills it with the sweat of his brow; so go to the devil! Be
-off at full speed, if you do not wish harm to happen to you!"
-
-"We will not suffer ourselves to be intimidated by your threats," the
-judge said, impelled by his anger, and forgetting for a moment his
-alarm; "we will do our duty, whatever may happen."
-
-"Try it," Red Cedar said with a grin.
-
-And he made a sign to his sons. The latter arranged themselves in a
-single line, and occupied the entire width of the path.
-
-"In the name of the law," the judge said with energy, as he pointed out
-the old man, "alguaciles, seize that person."
-
-But, as so frequently happens under similar circumstances, this order
-was more easy to give than to execute. Red Cedar and his sons did not
-appear at all disposed to let themselves be collared. We must, however,
-do the alguaciles the justice of stating that they did not hesitate for
-a moment. They plainly refused to carry out the order they had received.
-
-"For the last time, will you be off?" the squatter shouted. "Let them
-have it."
-
-His three sons raised their rifles. At this movement, which removed all
-doubts that might still remain on their minds, and which proved to them
-that the squatters would not hesitate to proceed to extremities, the
-alguaciles were seized with an invincible terror. They turned bridle and
-galloped off at full speed, followed by the yells of the Americans.
-
-One man alone remained motionless before the squatters--Don Miguel
-Zarate. Red Cedar had not recognised him, either owing to the distance
-that separated them, or because the hacendero had purposely pulled over
-his eyes his broad-brimmed hat. Don Miguel dismounted, placed the
-pistols from his holsters through his belt, fastened his horse to a
-tree, and coolly throwing his rifle across his shoulders, boldly
-advanced toward the squatters. The latter, surprised by the courage of
-this man, who alone attempted what his comrades had given up all hopes
-of achieving, let him come up to them without offering the slightest
-opposition. When Don Miguel was a couple of paces from the old squatter;
-he stopped, put the butt of his rifle on the ground, and removing his
-hat, said,--
-
-"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar?"
-
-"Don Miguel Zarate!" the bandit shouted in surprise.
-
-"As the judge deserts me," the hacendero continued, "and fled like a
-coward before your threats, I am obliged to take justice for myself,
-and, by heavens! I will do so! Red Cedar, I, as owner of this forest, in
-which you have settled without permission, order you to depart at once."
-
-The young men exchanged a few muttered threats.
-
-"Silence!" Red Cedar commanded. "Let the caballero speak."
-
-"I have finished, and await your answer."
-
-The squatter appeared to reflect deeply for a few minutes.
-
-"The answer you demand is difficult to give," he at length said: "my
-position toward you is not a free one."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because I owe you my life."
-
-"I dispense you from all gratitude."
-
-"That is possible. You are at liberty to do so; but I cannot forget the
-service you rendered me."
-
-"It is of little consequence."
-
-"Much more than you fancy, caballero. I may be, through my character,
-habits, and the mode of life I lead, beyond the law of civilised beings;
-but I am not the less a man, and if of the worst sort, perhaps, I no
-more forget a kindness than I do an insult."
-
-"Prove it, then, by going away as quickly as you can, and then we shall
-be quits."
-
-The squatter shook his head.
-
-"Listen to me, Don Miguel," he said. "You have in this country the
-reputation of being the providence of the unfortunate. I know from
-myself the extent of your kindness and courage. It is said that you
-possess an immense fortune, of which you do not yourself know the
-extent."
-
-"Well, what then?" the hacendero impatiently interrupted him.
-
-"The damage I can commit here, even if I cut down all the trees in the
-forest, would be but a trifle to you; then whence comes the fury you
-display to drive me out?"
-
-"Your question is just, and I will answer it. I demand your departure
-from my estates, because, only a few days back, my son was grievously
-wounded by your lads, who led him into a cowardly snare; and if he
-escaped death, it was only through a miracle. That is the reason why we
-cannot live side by side, for blood severs us."
-
-Red Cedar frowned.
-
-"Is this true?" he said, addressing his sons.
-
-The young men only hung their heads in reply.
-
-"I am waiting," Don Miguel went on.
-
-"Come, the question cannot be settled thus, so we will proceed to my
-jacal."
-
-"For what purpose? I ask you for a yes or no."
-
-"I cannot answer you yet. We must have a conversation together, after
-which you shall decide to my future conduct. Follow me, then, without
-fear."
-
-"I fear nothing, as I believe I have proved to you. Go on, as you demand
-it: I will follow you."
-
-Red Cedar made his sons a sign to remains here they were, and proceeded
-with long strides toward his jacal, which was but a short distance off.
-Don Miguel walked carelessly after him. They entered the cabin. It was
-deserted. The two females were doubtless also occupied in the forest.
-Red Cedar closed the door after him, sat down on a bench, made his guest
-a sign to do the same, and began speaking in a low and measured voice,
-as if afraid what he had to say might be heard outside.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE ASSASSINATION.
-
-
-"Listen to me, Don Miguel," Red Cedar said, "and pray do not mistake my
-meaning. I have not the slightest intention of intimidating you, nor do
-I think of attempting to gain your confidence by revelations which you
-may fairly assume I have accidentally acquired."
-
-The hacendero regarded with amazement the speaker, whose tone and
-manner had so suddenly changed.
-
-"I do not understand you," he said to him. "Explain yourself more
-clearly, for the words you have just uttered are an enigma, the key to
-which I seek in vain."
-
-"You shall be satisfied, caballero; and if you do not catch the meaning
-of my words this time it must be because you will not. Like all
-intelligent men, you are wearied of the incessant struggles in which the
-vital strength of your country is exhausted unprofitably. You have seen
-that a land so rich, so fertile, so gloriously endowed as Mexico, could
-not--I should say ought not--to remain longer the plaything of paltry
-ambitions, and the arena on which all these transitory tyrannies sport
-in turn. For nearly thirty years you have dreamed of emancipation, not
-of your entire country, for that would be too rude a task, and
-unrealisable; but you said to yourself, 'Let us render New Mexico
-independent; form it into a new State, governed by wise laws rigorously
-executed. By liberal institutions let us give an impetus to all the
-riches with which it is choked, give intellect all the liberty it
-requires, and perhaps within a few years the entire Mexican
-Confederation, amazed by the magnificent results I shall obtain, will
-follow my example. Then I shall die happy at what I have effected--my
-object will be carried out. I shall have saved my country from the abyss
-over which it hangs, through the double pressure of the invasion of the
-American Union and the exhaustion of the Spanish race.' Are not those
-ideas yours, caballero? Do you consider that I have explained myself
-clearly this time?"
-
-"Perhaps so, though I do not yet see distinctly the point you wish to
-reach. The thoughts you attribute to me are such as naturally occur to
-all men who sincerely love their country, and I will not pretend that I
-have not entertained them."
-
-"You would be wrong in doing so, for they are great and noble, and
-breathe the purest patriotism."
-
-"A truce to compliments, and let us come to the point, for time
-presses."
-
-"Patience: I have not yet ended. These ideas must occur to you sooner
-than to another, as you are the descendant of the first Aztec kings, and
-born defender of the Indians in this hapless country. You see that I am
-well acquainted with you, Don Miguel Zarate."
-
-"Too well, perhaps," the Mexican gentleman muttered.
-
-The squatter smiled and went on:--
-
-"It is not chance that led me to this country. I knew what I was doing,
-and why I came. Don Miguel, the hour is a solemn one. All your
-preparations are made: will you hesitate to give New Mexico the signal
-which must render it independent of the metropolis which has so long
-been fattening at its expense? Answer me."
-
-Don Miguel started. He fixed on the squatter a burning glance, in which
-admiration at the man's language could be read. Red Cedar shrugged his
-shoulders.
-
-"What! You still doubt?" he said.
-
-He rose, went to a box from which he took some papers, and threw them on
-the table before the hacendero, saying,--
-
-"Read."
-
-Don Miguel hurriedly seized the papers, and ran his eye over them.
-
-"Well?" he asked, looking fixedly at the strange speaker.
-
-"You see," the squatter answered, "that I am your accomplice. General
-Ibanez, your agent in Mexico, is in correspondence with me, as is Mr.
-Wood, your agent at New York."
-
-"It is true," the Mexican said coldly, "you have the secret of the
-conspiracy. The only point left is to what extent that goes."
-
-"I possess it entirely. I have orders to enlist the volunteers who will
-form the nucleus of the insurrectionary army."
-
-"Good!"
-
-"Now, you see, by these letters of General Ibanez and Mr. Wood, that I
-am commissioned by them to come to an understanding with you, and
-receive your final orders."
-
-"I see it."
-
-"What do you purpose doing?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"What, nothing!" the squatter exclaimed, bounding with surprise. "You
-are jesting, I suppose."
-
-"Listen to me in your turn, and pay attention to my words, for they
-express my irrevocable resolution. I know not nor care to know, by what
-means, more or less honourable, you have succeeded in gaining the
-confidence of my partners, and becoming master of our secrets. Still it
-is my firm conviction that a cause which employs such men as yourself is
-compromised, if not lost; hence I renounce every combination in which
-you are called to play a part. Your antecedents, and the life you lead,
-have placed you without the pale of the law."
-
-"I am a bandit--out with it! What matter so long as you succeed? Does
-not the end justify the means?"
-
-"That may be your morality, but it will never be mine. I repudiate all
-community of ideas with men of your stamp. I will not have you either as
-accomplice or partner."
-
-The squatter darted a look at him laden with hatred and disappointment.
-
-"In serving us," Don Miguel continued, "you can only have an interested
-object, which I will not take the trouble of guessing at. An
-Anglo-American will never frankly aid a Mexican to conquer his liberty;
-he would lose too much by doing it."
-
-"Then?"
-
-"I renounce forever the projects I had formed. I had, I grant, dreamed
-of restoring to my country the independence of which it was unjustly
-stripped: but it shall remain a dream."
-
-"That is your last word?"
-
-"The last."
-
-"You refuse?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Good; then I now know what is left me to do."
-
-"Well, what is it? Let me hear," the hacendero said, as he crossed his
-arms on his breast, and looked him boldly in the face.
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-"I am waiting for you to do so."
-
-"I hold your secret."
-
-"Entirely?"
-
-"Hence you are in my power."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Who will prevent me going to the Governor of the State and denouncing
-you?"
-
-"He will not believe you."
-
-"You think so?"
-
-"I am sure of it."
-
-"Perhaps, I will say in my turn."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Oh! you shall easily see."
-
-"I am curious to learn it."
-
-"However rich you may be, Don Miguel Zarate, and perhaps because of
-those very riches, and in spite of the kindness you sow broadcast, the
-number of your enemies is very considerable."
-
-"I know it."
-
-"Very good. Those enemies will joyfully seize the first opportunity that
-presents itself to destroy you."
-
-"It is probable."
-
-"You see, then. When I go to the governor and tell him you are
-conspiring, and, in support of my denunciation, hand him not only these
-letters, but, several others written and signed by you, lying in that
-chest, do you believe that the governor will treat me as an impostor,
-and refuse to arrest you?"
-
-"Then you have letters in my hand-writing?"
-
-"I have three, which will be enough to have you shot."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-"Yes. Hang it all! you understand: that, in an affair so important as
-this, it is wise to take one's precautions, for no one knows what may
-happen; and men of my stamp," he added, with an ironical smile, "have
-more reasons than others for being prudent."
-
-"Come, that is well played," the hacendero said, carelessly.
-
-"Is it not?"
-
-"Yes, and I compliment you on it: you are a better player than I gave
-you credit for."
-
-"Oh! You do not know me yet."
-
-"The little I do know suffices me."
-
-"Then?"
-
-"We will remain as we are, if you will permit me."
-
-"You still refuse?"
-
-"More than ever."
-
-The squatter frowned.
-
-"Take care, Don Miguel," he muttered, hoarsely. "I will do what I told
-you."
-
-"Yes, if I allow you time."
-
-"Eh?"
-
-"_Caspita!_ If you are a clever scamp, I am not altogether a fool. Do
-you believe, in your turn, that I will let myself be intimidated by your
-threats, and that I should not find means to keep you from acting, not
-for my own sake, as I care little personally for what you can do, but
-for my friends, who are men of honour, and whose lives I do not wish to
-be compromised by your treachery?"
-
-"I am curious to know the means you will employ to obtain this result."
-
-"You shall see," Don Miguel replied with perfect coolness.
-
-"Well?"
-
-"I shall kill you."
-
-"Oh, oh!" the squatter said, as he looked complacently at his muscular
-limbs, "That is not easy."
-
-"More so than you suppose, my master."
-
-"Hum! and when do you reckon on killing me?"
-
-"At once!"
-
-The two men were seated in front of the hearth, each at the end of a
-bench: the table was between them, but a little back, so that while
-talking they only leaned an elbow on it. While uttering the last word,
-Don Miguel bounded like a tiger on the squatter, who did not at all
-expect the attack, seized him by the throat, and hurled him to the
-ground. The two enemies rolled on the uneven flooring of the jacal.
-
-The Mexican's attack had been so sudden and well directed that the
-half-strangled squatter, in spite of his Herculean strength, could not
-free himself from his enemy's iron clutch, which pressed his throat like
-a vice. Red Cedar could neither utter a cry nor offer the slightest
-resistance: the Mexican's knee crushed his chest, while his fingers
-pressed into his throat.
-
-So soon as he had reduced the wretch to utter impotence, Don Miguel drew
-from his vaquera boot a long sharp knife, and buried the entire blade in
-his body. The bandit writhed convulsively for a few seconds; a livid
-pallor suffused his face; his eyes closed, and he then remained
-motionless. Don Miguel left the weapon in the wound, and slowly rose.
-
-"Ah, ah!" he muttered as he gazed at him with a sardonic air, "I fancy
-that rogue will not denounce me now."
-
-Without loss of time he seized the letters lying on the table, took from
-the box the few documents he found in it, hid them all in his bosom,
-opened the door of the cabin, which he carefully closed after him, and
-went off with long strides.
-
-The squatter's sons had not quitted their post; but, so soon as they
-perceived the Mexican, they went up to him.
-
-"Well," Shaw asked him, "have you come to an understanding with the old
-man?"
-
-"Perfectly so," the Mexican answered.
-
-"Then the affair is settled?"
-
-"Yes, to our mutual satisfaction."
-
-"All the better," the young men exclaimed joyously.
-
-The hacendero unfastened his horse and mounted.
-
-"Good-bye, gentlemen!" he said to them.
-
-"Good-bye!" they replied, returning his bow.
-
-The Mexican put his horse to a trot, but at the first turn in the road
-he dug his spurs into its flanks, and started at full speed.
-
-"Now," Sutter observed, "I believe that we can proceed to the cabin
-without inconvenience."
-
-And they gently walked toward the jacal, pleasantly conversing together.
-
-Don Miguel, however, had not succeeded so fully as he imagined. Red
-Cedar was not dead, for the old bandit kept a firm hold on life.
-Attacked unawares, the squatter had not attempted a resistance, which he
-saw at the first glance was useless, and would only have exasperated his
-adversary. With marvellous sagacity, on feeling the knife blade enter
-his body, he stiffened himself against the pain, and resolved on
-"playing 'possum;" that is to say, feigning death. The success of his
-stratagem was complete. Don Miguel, persuaded that he had killed him,
-did not dream of repeating his thrust.
-
-So long as his enemy remained in the jacal the squatter was careful not
-to make the slightest movement that might have betrayed him; but, so
-soon as he was alone, he opened his eyes, rose with an effort, drew the
-dagger from the wound, which emitted a jet of black blood, and looking
-at the door, through which his assassin had departed, with a glance so
-full of hatred that it is impossible to describe, he muttered,--
-
-"Now we are quits, Don Miguel Zarate, since you have tried to take back
-the life of him you saved. Pray God never to bring us face to face
-again!"
-
-He uttered a deep sigh, and rolled heavily on the ground in a fainting
-fit. At this moment his sons entered the cabin.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE SACHEM OF THE CORAS.
-
-
-A few days after the events we have described in the previous chapter
-there was one of those lovely mornings which are not accorded to our
-cold climates to know. The sun poured down in profusion its warm beams,
-which caused the pebbles and sand to glisten in the walks of the garden
-of the Hacienda de la Noria. In a clump of flowering orange and lemon
-trees, whose sweet exhalations perfumed the air, and beneath a copse of
-cactus, nopals, and aloes, a maiden was asleep, carelessly reclining in
-a hammock made of the thread of the _Phormium tenax,_ which hung between
-two orange trees.
-
-With her head thrown back, her long black hair unfastened, and falling
-in disorder on her neck and bosom; with her coral lips parted, and
-displaying the dazzling pearl of her teeth, Dona Clara (for it was she
-who slept thus with an infantile slumber) was really charming. Her
-features breathed happiness, for not a cloud had yet arisen to perturb
-the azure horizon of her calm and tranquil life.
-
-It was nearly midday: there was not a breath in the air. The sunbeams,
-pouring down vertically, rendered the heat so stifling and
-unsupportable, that everyone in the hacienda had yielded to sleep, and
-was enjoying what is generally called in hot countries the _siesta._
-Still, at a short distance from the spot where Dona Clara reposed, calm
-and smiling, a sound of footsteps, at first almost imperceptible, but
-gradually heightening, was heard, and a man made his appearance. It was
-Shaw, the youngest of the squatter's sons. How was he at this spot?
-
-The young man was panting, and the perspiration poured down his cheeks.
-On reaching the entrance of the clump he bent an anxious glance on the
-hammock.
-
-"She is there," he murmured with a passionate accent. "She sleeps."
-
-Then he fell on his knees upon the sand, and began admiring the maiden,
-dumb and trembling. He remained thus a long time, with his glance fixed
-on the slumberer with a strange expression. At length he uttered a sigh
-and tearing himself with an effort from this delicious contemplation, he
-rose sadly, muttering in a whisper,--
-
-"I must go--if she were to wake--oh, she will never know how much I love
-her!"
-
-He plucked an orange flower, and softly laid it on the maiden; then he
-walked a few steps from her, but almost immediately returning, he
-seized, with a nervous hand, Dona Clara's _rebozo,_ which hung down from
-the hammock, and pressed it to his lips several times, saying, in a
-voice broken by the emotion he felt,--
-
-"It has touched her hair."
-
-And rushing from the thicket, he crossed the garden and disappeared. He
-had heard footsteps approaching. In fact, a few seconds after his
-departure, Don Miguel, in his turn, entered the copse.
-
-"Come, come," he said gaily, as he shook the hammock, "sleeper, will you
-not have finished your siesta soon?"
-
-Dona Clara opened her eyes, with a smile.
-
-"I am no longer asleep, father," she said.
-
-"Very good. That is the answer I like."
-
-And he stepped forward to kiss her; but, with sudden movement, the
-maiden drew herself back as if she had seen some frightful vision, and
-her face was covered with a livid pallor.
-
-"What is the matter with you?" the hacendero exclaimed with terror.
-
-The girl showed him the orange flower.
-
-"Well," her father continued, "what is there so terrific in that flower?
-It must have fallen from the tree during your sleep."
-
-Dona Clara shook her head sadly.
-
-"No," she said: "for some days past I have always noticed, on waking a
-similar flower thrown on me."
-
-"You are absurd; chance alone is to blame for it all. Come, think no
-more about it; you are pale as death, child. Why frighten yourself thus
-about a trifle? Besides the remedy may be easily found. If so afraid of
-flowers now, why not take your siesta in your bedroom, instead of
-burying yourself in this thicket?"
-
-"That is true, father," the girl said, all joyous, and no longer
-thinking of the fear she had undergone. "I will follow your advice."
-
-"Come, that is settled, so say no more about it. Now give me a kiss."
-
-The maiden threw herself into her father's arms, whom she stifled with
-kisses. Both sat down on a grassy mound, and commenced one of those
-delicious chit-chats whose charm only those who are parents can properly
-appreciate. Presently a peon came up.
-
-"What has brought you?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Excellency," the peon answered, "a redskin warrior has just arrived at
-the hacienda, who desires speech with you."
-
-"Do you know him?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Yes, Excellency; it is Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras of the Rio
-San Pedro."
-
-"Mookapec! (Flying Eagle)" the hacendero repeated with surprise. "What
-can have brought him to me? Lead him here."
-
-The peon retired and in a few minutes returned, preceding Eagle-wing.
-
-The chief had donned the great war-dress of the sachems of his nation.
-His hair, plaited with the skin of a rattlesnake, was drawn up on the
-top of his head; in the centre an eagle plume was affixed. A blouse of
-striped calico, adorned with a profusion of bells, descended to his
-thighs, which were defended from the stings of mosquitoes by drawers of
-the same stuff. He wore moccasins made of peccary skin, adorned with
-glass beads and porcupine quills. To his heels were fastened several
-wolves' tails, the distinguishing mark of renowned warriors. Round his
-loins was a belt of elk hide, through which passed his knife, his pipe
-and his medicine bag. His neck was adorned by a collar of grizzly bear
-claws and buffalo teeth. Finally, a magnificent robe of a white female
-buffalo hide, painted red inside, was fastened to his shoulders, and
-fell down behind him like a cloak. In his right hand he held a fan
-formed of a single eagle's wing, and in his left hand an American rifle.
-There was something imposing and singularly martial in the appearance
-and demeanor of this savage child of the forest.
-
-On entering the thicket, he bowed gracefully to Dona Clara, and then
-stood motionless and dumb before Don Miguel. The Mexican regarded him
-attentively, and saw an expression of gloomy melancholy spread over the
-Indian chief's features.
-
-"My brother is welcome," the hacendero said to him. "To what do I owe
-the pleasure of seeing him?"
-
-The chief cast a side glance at the maiden. Don Miguel understood what
-he desired, and made Dona Clara a sign to withdraw. They remained alone.
-
-"My brother can speak," the hacendero then said; "the ears of a friend
-are open."
-
-"Yes, my father is good," the chief replied in his guttural voice. "He
-loves the Indians: unhappily all the palefaces do not resemble him."
-
-"What does my brother mean? Has he cause to complain of anyone?"
-
-The Indian smiled sadly.
-
-"Where is there justice for the redskins?" he said. "The Indians are
-animals: the Great Spirit has not given them a soul, as He has done for
-the palefaces, and it is not a crime to kill them."
-
-"Come, chief, pray do not speak longer in riddles, but explain why you
-have quitted your tribe. It is far from Rio San Pedro to this place."
-
-"Mookapec is alone: his tribe no longer exists."
-
-"How?"
-
-"The palefaces came in the night, like jaguars without courage. They
-burned the village, and massacred all the inhabitants, even to the women
-and little children."
-
-"Oh, that is frightful!" the hacendero murmured, in horror.
-
-"Ah!" the chief continued with an accent full of terrible irony, "The
-scalps of the redskins are sold dearly."
-
-"And do you know the men who committed this atrocious crime?"
-
-"Mookapec knows them, and will avenge himself."
-
-"Tell me their chief, if you know his name."
-
-"I know it. The palefaces call him Red Cedar, the Indians the Maneater."
-
-"Oh! As for him, chief, you are avenged, for he is dead."
-
-"My father is mistaken."
-
-"How so? Why, I killed him myself."
-
-The Indian shook his head.
-
-"Red Cedar has a hard life," he said: "the blade of the knife my father
-used was too short. Red Cedar is wounded, but in a few days he will be
-about again, ready to kill and scalp the Indians."
-
-This news startled the hacendero: the enemy he fancied he had got rid
-of still lived, and he would have to begin a fresh struggle.
-
-"My father must take care," the chief continued. "Red Cedar has sworn to
-be avenged."
-
-"Oh! I will not leave him the time. This man is a demon, of whom the
-earth must be purged at all hazards, before his strength has returned,
-and he begins his assassinations again."
-
-"I will aid my father in his vengeance."
-
-"Thanks, chief. I do not refuse your offer: perhaps I shall soon need
-the help of all my friends. And now, what do you purpose doing?"
-
-"Since the palefaces reject him, Eagle-wing will retire to the desert.
-He has friends among the Comanches. They are redskins, and will welcome
-him gladly."
-
-"I will not strive to combat your determination, chief, for it is just;
-and if, at a later date, you take terrible reprisals on the white men,
-they will have no cause of complaint, for they have brought it on
-themselves. When does my brother start?"
-
-"At sunset."
-
-"Rest here today: tomorrow will be soon enough to set out."
-
-"Mookapec must depart this day."
-
-"Act as you think proper. Have you a horse?"
-
-"No; but at the first manada I come to I will lasso one."
-
-"I do not wish you to set out thus, but will give you a horse."
-
-"Thanks; my father is good. The Indian chief will remember--"
-
-"Come, you shall choose for yourself."
-
-"I have still a few words to say to my father."
-
-"Speak, chief; I am listening to you."
-
-"Koutonepi, the pale hunter, begged me to give my father an important
-warning."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"A great danger threatens my father. Koutonepi wishes to see him as soon
-as possible, in order himself to tell him its nature."
-
-"Good! My brother will tell the hunter that I shall be tomorrow at the
-'clearing of the shattered oak,' and await him there till night."
-
-"I will faithfully repeat my father's words to the hunter."
-
-The two men then quitted the garden, and hurriedly proceeded toward the
-hacienda. Don Miguel let the chief choose his own horse, and while the
-sachem was harnessing his steed in the Indian fashion, he withdrew to
-his bedroom, and sent for his son to join him. The young man had
-perfectly recovered from his wound. His father told him that he was
-obliged to absent himself for some days: he intrusted to him the
-management of the hacienda, while recommending him on no consideration
-to leave the farm, and to watch attentively over his sister. The young
-man promised him all he wished, happy at enjoying perfect liberty for a
-few days.
-
-After embracing his son and daughter for the last time Don Miguel
-proceeded to the _patio_, where in the meanwhile, the chief had been
-amusing himself by making the magnificent horse he had chosen curvet.
-Don Miguel admired for several moments the Indian's skill and grace, for
-he managed a horse as well as the first Mexican _jinete;_ then mounted,
-and the two men proceeded together toward the Paso del Norte, which they
-must cross in order to enter the desert, and reach the clearing of the
-shattered oak.
-
-The journey passed in silence, for the two men were deeply reflecting.
-At the moment they entered Paso the sun was setting on the horizon in a
-bed of red mist, which foreboded a storm for the night. At the entrance
-of the village they separated; and on the morrow, as we have seen in our
-first chapter, Don Miguel set out at daybreak, and galloped to the
-clearing.
-
-We will now end this lengthy parenthesis, which was, however,
-indispensable for the due comprehension of the facts that are about to
-follow, and take up our story again at the point where we left it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-CONVERSATION.
-
-
-Valentine Guillois, whom we have already introduced to the reader in
-previous works[1], had inhabited, or, to speak more correctly, traversed
-the vast solitudes of Mexico and Texas during the past five or six
-years. We saw him just now accompanied by the Araucano chief. These two
-men were the boldest hunters on the frontier. At times, when they had
-collected an ample harvest of furs, they went to sell them in the
-villages, renewed their stock of powder and ball, purchased a few
-indispensable articles, and then returned to the desert.
-
-Now and then they engaged themselves for a week, or even a fortnight,
-with the proprietors of the haciendas, to free them from the wild beasts
-that desolated their herds; but so soon as the ferocious animals were
-destroyed, and the reward obtained, no matter the brilliancy of the
-offers made them by the landowners, the two men threw their rifles on
-their shoulders and went off.
-
-No one knew who they were, or whence they came. Valentine and his friend
-maintained the most complete silence as to the events of their life
-which had preceded their appearance in these parts. Only one thing had
-betrayed the nationality of Valentine, whom his comrade called
-Koutonepi, a word belonging to the language of the Aucas, and signifying
-"The Valiant." On his chest the hunter wore the cross of the Legion of
-Honor. The deeds of every description performed by these hunters were
-incalculable, and their stories were the delight of the frontier
-dwellers during the winter night. The number of tigers they had killed
-was no longer counted.
-
-Chance had one day made them acquainted with Don Miguel Zarate under
-strange circumstances, and since then an uninterrupted friendship had
-been maintained between them. Don Miguel, during a tempestuous night,
-namely, had only owed his life to the accuracy of Valentine's aim, who
-sent a bullet through the head of the Mexican's horse at the moment
-when, mad with terror, and no longer obeying the bridle, it was on the
-point of leaping into an abyss with its master. Don Miguel had sworn
-eternal gratitude to his saviour.
-
-Valentine and Curumilla had made themselves the tutors of the
-hacendero's children, who, for their part, felt a deep friendship for
-the hunters. Don Pablo had frequently made long hunting parties in the
-desert with them; and it was to them he owed the certainty of his aim,
-his skill in handling weapons, and his knack in taming horses.
-
-No secrets existed between Don Miguel and the hunters: they read in his
-mind as in an ever open book. They were the disinterested confidants of
-his plans; for these rude wood rangers esteemed him, and only required
-for themselves one thing--the liberty of the desert. Still, despite the
-sympathy and friendship which so closely connected these different
-persons, and the confidence which formed the basis of that friendship,
-Don Miguel and his children had never been able to obtain from the
-hunters information as to the events that had passed prior to their
-arrival in this country.
-
-Frequently Don Miguel, impelled, not by curiosity, but merely by the
-interest he felt in them, had tried, by words cleverly thrown into the
-conversation, to give them an opening for confidence; but Valentine had
-always repelled those hints, though cleverly enough for Don Miguel not
-to feel offended by this want of confidence. With Curumilla they had
-been even more simple. Wrapped in his Indian stoicism, intrenched in his
-habitual sullenness, he was wont to answer all questions by a shake of
-the head, but nothing further.
-
-At length, weary of the attempt, the hacendero and his family had given
-up trying to read those secrets which their friends seemed obstinately
-determined to keep from them. Still the friendship subsisting between
-them had not grown cold in consequence, and it was always with equal
-pleasure that Don Miguel met the hunters again after a lengthened ramble
-in the prairies, which kept them away from his house for whole months at
-a time.
-
-The hunter and the Mexican were seated by the fire, while Curumilla,
-armed with his scalping knife, was busy flaying the two jaguars so
-skillfully killed by Don Miguel, and which were magnificent brutes.
-
-"Eh, _compadre!_" Don Miguel said with a laugh; "I was beginning to lose
-patience, and fancy you had forgotten the meeting you had yourself given
-me."
-
-"I never forgot anything, as you know," Valentine answered seriously;
-"and if I did not arrive sooner, it was because the road is long from my
-jacal to this clearing."
-
-"Heaven forbid that I should reproach you, my friend! Still I confess to
-you that the prospect of passing the night alone in this forest only
-slightly pleased me, and I should have been off had you not arrived
-before sunset."
-
-"You would have done wrong, Don Miguel: what I have to tell you is of
-the utmost importance to you. Who knows what the result might have been
-had I not been able to warn you?"
-
-"You alarm me, my friend."
-
-"I will explain. In the first place let me tell you that you committed,
-a few days back, a grave imprudence, whose consequences threaten to be
-most serious for you."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"I said one, but ought to have said two."
-
-"I am waiting till you think proper to express yourself more clearly,"
-Don Miguel said with a slight tinge of impatience, "before I answer."
-
-"You have quarrelled with a North American bandit."
-
-"Red Cedar."
-
-"Yes; and when you had him in your power you let him escape, instead of
-killing him out and out."
-
-"That is true, and I was wrong. What would you? The villain has as tough
-a life as an alligator. But be at ease. If ever he fall into my hands
-again, I swear that I will not miss him."
-
-"In the meanwhile you did do so--that is the evil."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"You will understand me. This man is one of those villains, the scum of
-the United States, too many of whom have lived on the frontier during
-the last few years. I do not know how he contrived to deceive your New
-York agent; but he gained his confidence so cleverly that the latter
-told him all the secrets he knew about your enterprise."
-
-"He told me so himself."
-
-"Very good. It was then, I suppose, that you stabbed him?"
-
-"Yes, and at the same time I plucked out his claws; that is to say, I
-seized the letters he held, and which might compromise me."
-
-"A mistake. This man is too thorough-paced a scoundrel not to foresee
-all the chances of his treason. He had a last letter, the most important
-of all; and that you did not take from him."
-
-"I took three."
-
-"Yes, but there were four. As the last, however, in itself was worth as
-much as the other three, he always wore it about him in a leathern bag
-hung round his neck by a steel chain; you did not dream of looking for
-that."
-
-"But what importance can this letter, I do not even remember writing,
-possess, that you should attach such weight to it?"
-
-"It is merely the agreement drawn up between yourself, General Ibanez,
-and Mr. Wood, and bearing your three signatures."
-
-"_Con mil demonios!_" the hacendero exclaimed in terror. "In that case
-I am lost; for if this man really possesses such a document, he will not
-fail to employ it in order to be revenged on me."
-
-"Nothing is lost so long as a man's heart beats in his breast, Don
-Miguel. The position is critical, I allow, but I have saved myself in
-situations far more desperate than the one you are now in."
-
-"What is to be done?"
-
-"Red Cedar has been about again for two days. His first care, so soon as
-he could sit a horse, was to go to Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico,
-and denounce you to the Governor. That has nothing to surprise you from
-such a man."
-
-"Then I can only fly as speedily as I can?"
-
-"Wait. Every man has in his heart at least one of the seven deadly sins
-as a bait for the demon."
-
-"What are you driving at?"
-
-"You will see. Fortunately for us, Red Cedar has them all seven, I
-believe, in the finest stage of development. Avarice, before all, has
-reached its acme with him."
-
-"Well?"
-
-"This happened. Our man denounced you to the governor as a conspirator,
-etc., but was careful not to give up the proofs he possessed in support
-of the denunciation at the outset. When General Isturitz, the governor,
-asked him for these proofs, he answered that he was ready to supply them
-in exchange for the sum of one hundred thousand piastres in gold."
-
-"Ah!" the hacendero said, with a breath of relief, "and what did
-Isturitz say?"
-
-"The general is one of your most inveterate enemies, I grant, and he
-would give a good deal for the pleasure of having you shot."
-
-"That is true."
-
-"Yes, but still the sum appeared to him, as it really is, exorbitant,
-the more so as he would have to pay it all himself, as the government
-does not recognise transactions of that nature."
-
-"Well, what did Red Cedar do then?"
-
-"He did not allow himself beaten; on the contrary, he told the general
-he would give him a week to reflect, and quietly left the Cabildo."
-
-"Hum! And on what day was this visit paid?"
-
-"Yesterday morning; so that you have six days still left for action."
-
-"Six days--that is very little."
-
-"Eh?" the Frenchman said, with a shrug of his shoulders impossible to
-describe. "In my country--"
-
-"Yes, but you are Frenchmen."
-
-"That is true: hence I allow you twice the time we should require. Come,
-let us put joking aside. You are a man of more than common energy; you
-really wish the welfare of your country, so do not let yourself be
-crushed by the first reverse. Who knows but that it may all be for the
-best?"
-
-"Ah, my friend, I am alone! General Ibanez, who alone could help me in
-this critical affair, is fifty leagues off. What can I do? Nothing."
-
-"All. I foresaw your objection. Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras, has
-gone from me to warn the general. You know with what speed Indians
-travel; so he will bring us the general in a few hours, I feel
-convinced."
-
-Don Miguel regarded the hunter with mingled admiration and respect.
-
-"You have done that, my friend?" he said to him as he warmly pressed his
-hand.
-
-"By Jove!" Valentine said, gaily, "I have done something else too. When
-the time arrives I will tell you what it is. But let us not lose an
-hour. What do you intend to do for the present?"
-
-"Act."
-
-"Good: that is the way I like to hear you talk."
-
-"Yes, but I must first come to an understanding with the general."
-
-"That is true; but it is the least thing," Valentine answered, as he
-looked skyward, and attentively consulted the position of the stars. "It
-is now eight o'clock. Eagle-wing and the man he brings must be at
-midnight at the entrance of the _Canyon del Buitre_. We have four hours
-before us, and that is more than we require, as we have only ten leagues
-to go."
-
-"Let us go, let us go!" Don Miguel exclaimed eagerly.
-
-"Wait a moment; there is no such hurry. Don't be alarmed; we shall
-arrive in time."
-
-He then turned to Curumilla, and said to him in Araucano a few words
-which the hacendero did not understand. The Indian rose without
-replying, and disappeared in the density of the forest.
-
-"You know," Valentine continued, "that I prefer, through habit,
-travelling on foot; still, as under present circumstances minutes are
-precious, and we must not lose them, I have provided two horses."
-
-"You think of everything, my friend."
-
-"Yes, when I have to act for those I love," Valentine answered with a
-retrospective sigh.
-
-There was a moment's silence between the two men, and at the end of
-scarce a quarter of an hour there was a noise in the shrubs, the
-branches parted, and Curumilla re-entered the clearing, holding two
-horses by the bridle. These noble animals, which were nearly untamed
-_mustangs_, bore a striking resemblance to the steeds of the Apaches, on
-whose territory our friends now were. They were literally covered with
-eagle plumes, beads, and ribbons, while long red and white spots
-completed their disguise, and rendered it almost impossible to recognise
-them.
-
-"Mount!" Don Miguel exclaimed so soon as he saw them. "Time is slipping
-away."
-
-"One word yet," Valentine remarked.
-
-"Speak."
-
-"You still have as chaplain a certain monk by the name of 'Fray
-Ambrosio.'"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Take care of that man--he betrays you."
-
-"You believe it?"
-
-"I am sure of it."
-
-"Good! I will remember."
-
-"All right. Now we will be off," Valentine said, as he buried his spurs
-in his horse's flanks.
-
-And the three horsemen rushed into the darkness with headlong speed.
-
-
-[1] "Tiger-Slayer," etc. Same publishers.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-EL MESON.
-
-
-The day on which our story commences the village of the Paso del Norte
-presented an extraordinary appearance. The bells were ringing out full
-peals, for the three hundredth anniversary of its foundation was
-celebrated. The population of Paso, greatly diminished since the
-proclamation of Mexican independence, was hurrying to the churches,
-which flashed with silver and gold. The houses were decorated with rich
-tapestry, and the streets strewn with flowers.
-
-Toward nightfall the inhabitants, whom the intolerable heat of the
-tropical sun had kept prisoners in the interior of the houses, flocked
-out to inhale the sharp perfumes of the desert breeze, and bring back a
-little fresh air into their parched lungs. The town, which had for
-several hours appeared deserted, suddenly woke up: shouts and laughter
-were heard afresh. The walks were invaded by the mob, and in a few
-minutes the _mesons_ were thronged with idlers, who began drinking
-pulque and mezcal, while smoking their cigarettes, and strumming the
-jarabe and vihuela.
-
-In a house of poor appearance, built like all its neighbours, of earth
-bricks, and situated at the angle formed by the Plaza Mayor and the
-Calle de la Merced, some twenty-five fellows, whom it was easy to
-recognise as adventurers by the feather in their hats, their upturned
-moustaches, and specially by the long bronzed-hilted sword they wore on
-the thigh, were drinking torrents of aguardiente and pulque at the
-gambling tables, while yelling like deaf men, swearing like pagans, and
-threatening at every moment to unsheathe their weapons.
-
-In a corner of the room occupied by these troublesome guests two men,
-seated opposite each other at a table, seemed plunged in deep thought,
-and looked round them absently, not thinking about drinking the contents
-of their glasses, which had not been emptied for more than half an hour.
-These two men presented the most striking contrast. They were still
-young. The first, aged twenty-five at the most, had one of those frank,
-honest, and energetic faces which call for sympathy, and attract
-respect. His pallid brow, his face of a delicate hue, surrounded by his
-long black curls, his straight and flexible nose, his mouth filled with
-a double row of teeth of dazzling whiteness, and surmounted by a slight
-brown moustache, gave him a stamp of distinction, which was the more
-striking owing to the strict, and perhaps common, style of his attire.
-
-He wore the costume of the wood rangers; that is to say, the Canadian
-_mitasse_, fastened round the hips, and descending to the ankle; _botas
-vaqueras_ of deer skin, fastened at the knee; and a striped zarape of
-brilliant colours. A panama straw hat was thrown on the table, within
-reach of his hand, by the side of an American rifle and two
-double-barrelled pistols. A machete hung on his left side, and the hilt
-of a long knife peeped out of his left boot.
-
-His companion was short and thick-set; but his well-knit limbs and his
-outstanding muscles indicated no ordinary strength. His face, the
-features of which were commonplace enough, had a cunning look, which
-suddenly disappeared to make room for a certain nobility whenever under
-the influence Of any sudden emotion; his eyebrows contracted; and his
-glance, ordinarily veiled, flashed forth. He wore nearly the same garb
-as his comrade; but his hat stained with rain, and the colours of his
-zarape faded by the sun, evidenced lengthened wear. Like the first one
-we described, he was well armed.
-
-It was easy to see at the first glance that these two men did not belong
-to the Hispano-American race, indeed, their conversation would have
-removed any doubts on that head, for they spoke in the French dialect
-employed in Canada.
-
-"Hum!" the first said, taking up his glass, which he carelessly raised
-to his lips. "After due consideration, Harry, I believe we shall do
-better by mounting our horses again, and starting, instead of remaining
-in this horrible den, amid these _gachupinos_, who croak like frogs
-before a storm."
-
-"Deuce take your impatience!" the other replied ill-temperedly. "Can't
-you remain a moment at rest?"
-
-"You call it a moment, Harry. Why, we have been here an hour."
-
-"By Jove! Dick, you're a wonderful fellow," the other continued with a
-laugh. "Do you think that business can be settled all in a moment?"
-
-"After all, what is our game? For may the old one twist my neck, or a
-grizzly give me a hug, if I know the least in the world! For five years
-we have hunted and slept side by side. We have come from Canada together
-to this place. I have grown into a habit--I cannot say why--of referring
-to you everything that concerns our mutual interests. Still I should not
-be sorry to know, if only for the rarity of the fact, why on earth we
-left the prairies, where we were so well off, to come here, where we are
-so badly off."
-
-"Have you ever repented, up to today, the confidence you placed in me?"
-
-"I do not say so, Harry. Heaven forbid! Still I think--"
-
-"You think wrong," the young man sharply interrupted. "Let me alone, and
-before three months you shall have three times your hat full of massive
-gold, or call me a fool."
-
-At this dazzling promise the eyes of Dick, the smaller of the hunters,
-glistened like two stars. He regarded his comrade with a species of
-admiration.
-
-"Oh, oh!" he said in a low voice, "It is a placer, is it?"
-
-"Hang it!" the other said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "were it not,
-should I be here? But silence, our man has arrived."
-
-In fact, a man entered at this moment. On his appearance a sudden
-silence fell on the meson; the adventurers gambling and cursing at all
-the tables, rose as if moved by a spring, respectfully took off their
-plumed hats, and ranged themselves with downcast eyes to let him pass.
-The man remained for an instant on the threshold of the venta, took a
-profound glance at the company, and then walked toward the two hunters.
-
-This man wore the gown of a monk; he had the ascetic face, with the
-harsh features and sharply-marked lines, that forms, as it were, the
-type of the Spanish monks of which Titian has so admirably caught the
-expression on his canvas. He passed through the adventurers, holding out
-right and left his wide sleeves, which they reverentially kissed. On
-approaching the two hunters he turned round.
-
-"Continue your sports, my sons," he said to the company; "my presence
-need not disturb your frolics, for I only wish to speak for a few
-moments with those two gentlemen."
-
-The adventurers did not let the invitation be repeated, but took their
-places again tumultuously, and soon cries and oaths recommenced with
-equal intensity. The monk smiled, took a butaca, and seated himself
-between the two hunters, while bending a searching glance on them. The
-latter had followed with a mocking eye all the interludes of this little
-scene, and without making a movement, they let the monk seat himself by
-their side. So soon as he had done so, Harry poured him out a large
-glass of pulque, and placed within his reach the squares of maize leaf
-and tobacco.
-
-"Drink and smoke, senor padre," he said to him.
-
-The monk, without any observation, rolled a cigarette, emptied the glass
-of pulque at a draught, and then leaning his elbows on the table and
-bending forward, said,--
-
-"You are punctual."
-
-"We have been waiting an hour," Dick observed in a rough voice.
-
-"What is an hour in the presence of eternity?" the monk said with a
-smile.
-
-"Let us not lose any more time," Harry continued. "What have you to
-propose to us?"
-
-The monk looked around him suspiciously, and lowered his voice.
-
-"I can, if you like, make you rich in a few days."
-
-"What is the business?" Dick asked.
-
-"Of course," the monk continued, "this fortune I offer you is a matter
-of indifference to me. If I have an ardent desire to obtain it, it is,
-in the first place, because it belongs to nobody, and will permit me to
-relieve the wretchedness of the thousands of beings confided to my
-charge."
-
-"Of course, senor padre," Harry answered seriously. "Let us not weigh
-longer on these details. According to what you told me a few days back,
-you have discovered a rich placer."
-
-"Not I," the monk sharply objected.
-
-"No consequence, provided that it exists," Dick answered.
-
-"Pardon me, but it is of great consequence to me. I do not wish to take
-on myself the responsibility of such a discovery. If, as I believe,
-people will go in search of it, it may entail the death of several
-persons, and the church abhors bloodshed."
-
-"Very good: you only desire to profit by it."
-
-"Not for myself."
-
-"For your parishioners. Very good; but let us try to come to an
-understanding, if possible, for our time is too precious for us to waste
-it in empty talk."
-
-"_Valgame Dios_!" the monk said, crossing himself, "How you have
-retained the impetuosity of your French origin! Have a little patience,
-and I will explain myself."
-
-"That is all we desire."
-
-"But you will promise me--"
-
-"Nothing," Dick interrupted. "We are honest hunters, and not accustomed
-to pledge ourselves so lightly before knowing positively what is asked
-of us."
-
-Harry supported his friend's words by a nod. The monk drank a glass of
-pulque, and took two or three heavy puffs at his cigarette.
-
-"Your will be done," he then said. "You are terrible men. This is the
-affair."
-
-"Go on."
-
-"A poor scamp of a gambusino, lost, I know not how, in the great desert,
-discovered at a considerable distance off, between the Rio Gila and the
-Colorado, the richest placer the wildest imagination can conceive.
-According to his statement the gold is scattered over the surface, for
-an extent of two or three miles, in nuggets, each of which would make a
-man's fortune. This gambusino, dazzled by such treasures, but unable to
-appropriate them alone, displayed the greatest energy, and braved the
-utmost perils, in order to regain civilised regions. It was only through
-boldness and temerity that he succeeded in escaping the countless
-enemies who spied, and tracked him on all sides; but Heaven at length
-allowed him to reach Paso safe and sound."
-
-"Very good," Dick observed. "All this may very possibly, be true; but
-why did you not bring this gambusino, instead of talking to us about the
-placer, of which you know as little as we do? He would have supplied us
-with information which is indispensable for us, in the event of our
-consenting to help you in looking for this treasure."
-
-"Alas!" the monk replied, hypocritically casting his eyes down, "the
-unhappy man was not destined to profit by this discovery, made at the
-price of so many perils. Scarce two days after his arrival at Paso, he
-quarrelled with another gambusino, and received a stab which sent him a
-few hours later to the tomb."
-
-"In that case," Harry observed, "how did you learn all these details,
-senor padre?"
-
-"In a very simple way, my son. It was I who reconciled the poor wretch
-in his last moments with Heaven; and," he added, with an air of
-compunction splendidly assumed, "when he understood that his end was at
-hand, and that nothing could save him, he confided to me, in gratitude
-for the consolation I bestowed on him, what I have just told you,
-revealed to me the situation of the placer, and for greater certainty
-gave me a clumsy chart he had drawn out on the spot. You see that we can
-proceed almost with certainty."
-
-"Yes," Harry said, thoughtfully; "but why, instead of first applying to
-the Mexicans, your countrymen, did you propose to us to help you in your
-enterprise?"
-
-"Because the Mexicans are men who cannot be trusted, and before reaching
-the placer we should have to fight the Apaches and Comanches, on whose
-territory it is situated."
-
-After these words, there was a lengthened silence between the three
-speakers: each was reflecting deeply on what he had just heard. The monk
-tried to read with cunning eye the impression produced on the hunters by
-his confidence; but his hopes were deceived. Their faces remained
-unmoved. At length Dick spoke in a rough voice, after exchanging a
-meaning look with his comrade.
-
-"All that is very fine," he said; "but it is absurd to suppose that two
-men, however brave they may be, can attempt such an enterprise in
-unknown regions peopled by ferocious tribes. It would require at least
-fifty resolute and devoted men, otherwise nothing could be possible."
-
-"You are right, and hence I did not calculate on you alone. You will
-have determined men under your orders, chosen carefully by myself, and I
-shall also accompany you."
-
-"Unluckily, if you have counted on us, you are mistaken, senor padre,"
-Harry said, peremptorily. "We are honest hunters; but the trade of a
-gambusino does not at all suit us. Even if we had a chance of gaining an
-incalculable fortune, we would not consent to take part in an expedition
-of gold seekers."
-
-"Not even if Red Cedar were at the head of the expedition, and consented
-to take the direction?" the monk said in a honeyed voice, and with a
-side glance.
-
-The hunter started, a feverish blush suffused his face, and it was in a
-voice choked by emotion that he exclaimed,--
-
-"Have you spoken with him about it?"
-
-"Here he is; you can ask him," the monk answered.
-
-In fact, a man was entering the meson at this moment. Harry looked down
-in confusion, while Dick tapped the table with his dagger and whistled.
-A smile of undefinable meaning wandered over the monk's pallid lips.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-RED CEDAR.
-
-
-Red Cedar was more than six feet in height; his enormous head was
-fastened to his square shoulders by a short and muscular neck, like a
-bull's; his bony members were covered with muscles hard as ropes. In
-short, his whole person was a specimen of brute strength at its
-culminating point.
-
-A fox-skin cap, pressed down on his head, allowed escape to a few tufts
-of coarse greyish hair, and fell on his little grey eyes, which were
-close to a nose that was hooked like the beak of a bird of prey; his
-wide mouth was filled with white, large teeth; his cheekbones were
-prominent and purpled; and the lower part of his face disappeared in a
-thick black beard, mingled with grey hairs. He wore a hunting shirt of
-striped calico, fastened round the waist by a strap of brown leather,
-through which were passed two pistols, an axe, and a long knife; a pair
-of leggings of tawny leather, sewed at equal distances with hair, fell
-down to his knees; while his legs were protected by Indian moccasins,
-ornamented with a profusion of beads and bells. A game bag of fawn skin,
-which seemed full, fell over his right hip; and he held in his hand an
-American rifle, studded with copper nails.
-
-No one knew who Red Cedar was, or whence he came. About two years prior
-to the period of our story opening he had suddenly made his appearance
-in the country, accompanied by a wife of a certain age--a species of
-Megaera, of masculine form and repellant aspect; a girl of seventeen;
-and three vigorous lads, who resembled him too closely not to be his
-own, and whose age varied from nineteen to twenty-four.
-
-Red Cedar himself appeared to be fifty-five at the most. The name by
-which he was known had been given to him by the Indians, of whom he had
-declared himself the implacable enemy, and boasted that he had killed
-two hundred. The old woman was called Betsy; the girl, Ellen; the eldest
-son, Nathan; the second, Sutter; and the last, Shaw.
-
-This family had built a shanty in the forest, a few miles from Paso, and
-lived alone in the desert, without having entered into any relations
-with the inhabitants of the village; or the trappers and wood rangers,
-its neighbours. The mysterious conduct of these strangers had given rise
-to numerous comments; but all had remained without reply or solution,
-and after two years they remained as perfect strangers as on the day of
-their arrival.
-
-Still, mournful and sad stories were in circulation on their account:
-they inspired an instinctive hatred and involuntary terror in the
-Mexicans. Some said in a whisper that old Red Cedar and his three sons
-were nothing less than "scalp hunters;" that is to say, in the public
-esteem, people placed beneath the pirates of the prairies, that unclean
-breed of birds of prey which everybody fears and despises.
-
-The entry of Red Cedar was significant; the otherwise unscrupulous men
-who filled the venta hurriedly retired on his approach, and made room
-for him with a zeal mingled with disgust. The old partisan crossed the
-room with head erect; a smile of haughty disdain played round his thin
-lips at the sight of the effect his presence produced, and he went up to
-the monk and his two companions. On reaching them he roughly placed the
-butt of his rifle on the ground, leaned his two crossed hands upon the
-barrel, and after bending a cunning glance on the persons before him,
-said to the monk in a hoarse voice,--
-
-"The deuce take you, senor padre! Here I am: what do you want with me?"
-
-Far from being vexed at this brutal address, the latter smiled on the
-colossus, and held out his hand to him, as he graciously made answer,--
-
-"You are welcome, Red Cedar; we were expecting you impatiently. Sit down
-by my side on this butaca, and we will talk while drinking a glass of
-pulque."
-
-"The deuce twist your neck, and may your accursed pulque choke you! Do
-you take me for a wretched abortion of your sort?" the other answered as
-he fell into the seat offered him. "Order me some brandy, and that of
-the strongest. I am not a babe, I suppose."
-
-Without making the slightest observation, the monk rose, went to speak
-with the host, and presently returned with a bottle, from which he
-poured a bumper for the old hunter. The latter emptied the glass at a
-draught, put it back on the table with a sonorous "hum!" and turned to
-the monk with a grimacing smile.
-
-"Come, the devil is not always so black as he looks, senor padre," he
-said, as he passed his hand over his mouth to wipe his moustache. "I see
-that we can come to an understanding."
-
-"It will only depend on you, Red Cedar. Here are two worthy Canadian
-hunters who will do nothing without your support."
-
-The Hercules took a side glance at the young men.
-
-"Eh!" he said, "what do you want with these children? Did I not promise
-you to reach the placer with my sons only?"
-
-"He, he! You are powerfully built, both you and your lads, I allow; but
-I doubt whether four men, were they twice as strong as you are, could
-carry out this affair successfully. You will have numerous enemies to
-combat on your road."
-
-"All the better! The more there are, the more we shall kill," he
-answered with a sinister laugh.
-
-"Senor padre," Dick interrupted, "as far as I am concerned, I care
-little about it."
-
-But he was suddenly checked by a meaning glance from his mate.
-
-"What do you care little about, my pretty lad?" the giant asked in a
-mocking voice.
-
-"Nothing," the young man answered drily. "Suppose I had not spoken."
-
-"Good," Red Cedar remarked; "it shall be as you wish. Here's your
-health."
-
-And he poured the rest of the bottle into his glass.
-
-"Come," said Harry, "Let us have but few words. Explain yourself once
-for all, without beating about the bush, senor padre."
-
-"Yes," Red Cedar observed, "men ought not to waste their time thus in
-chattering."
-
-"Very good. This, then, is what I propose. Red Cedar will collect within
-three days from this time thirty resolute men, of whom he will take the
-command, and we will start immediately in search of the placer. Does it
-suit you in that way?"
-
-"Hum!" Red Cedar said. "In order to go in search of the placer we must
-know a little in what direction it is, or deuce take me if I undertake
-the business!"
-
-"Do not trouble yourself about that, Red Cedar; I will accompany you.
-Have I not got a plan of the country?"
-
-The colossus shot at the monk a glance which sparkled under his dark
-eyelash, but he hastened to moderate its brilliancy by letting his eyes
-fall.
-
-"That is true," he said with feigned indifference; "I forgot that you
-were coming with us. Then you will leave your parishioners during your
-absence?"
-
-"Heaven will watch over them."
-
-"Eh! It will have its work cut out. However, that does not concern me at
-all. But why did you oblige me to come to this meson?"
-
-"In order to introduce you to these two hunters, who will accompany us."
-
-"I beg your pardon," Dick observed, "but I do not exactly see of what
-use I can be to you in all this: my aid, and that of my mate, do not
-appear to me to be indispensable."
-
-"On the contrary," the monk answered quickly, "I reckon entirely on
-you."
-
-The giant had risen.
-
-"What!" he said, as he roughly laid his enormous hand on Dick's
-shoulder, "You do not understand that this honourable personage, who did
-not hesitate to kill a man in order to rob him of the secret of the
-placer, has a terrible fear of finding himself alone with me on the
-prairie? He fears that I shall kill him in my turn to rob him of the
-secret of which he became master by a crime. Ha, ha, ha!"
-
-And he turned his back unceremoniously.
-
-"How can you suppose such things, Red Cedar?" the monk exclaimed.
-
-"Do you fancy that I did not read you?" the latter answered. "But it is
-all the same to you. Do as you please: I leave you at liberty to act as
-you like."
-
-"What! You are off already?"
-
-"Hang it! What have I to do any longer here? All is settled between us.
-In three days thirty of the best frontiersmen will be assembled by my
-care at Grizzly Bear Creek, where we shall expect you."
-
-After shrugging his shoulders once again he went off without any salute,
-or even turning his head.
-
-"It must be confessed," Dick observed, "that the man has a most
-villainous face. What a hideous fellow!"
-
-"Oh!" the monk answered with a sigh, "The exterior is nothing. You
-should know the inner man."
-
-"Why, in that case, do you have any dealings with him?"
-
-The monk blushed slightly.
-
-"Because it must be so," he muttered.
-
-"All right for you," Dick continued; "but as nothing obliges my friend
-and myself to have any more intimate relations with that man, you must
-not mind, senor Padre, if--"
-
-"Silence, Dick!" Harry shouted, angrily. "You do not know what you are
-talking about. We will accompany you, senor padre. You can reckon on us
-to defend you if necessary, for I suppose that Red Cedar is right."
-
-"In what way?"
-
-"You do not wish to trust your life defencelessly in his hands, and you
-reckoned on us to protect you. Is it not so?"
-
-"Why should I feign any longer? Yes, that man terrifies me, and I do not
-wish to trust myself to his mercy."
-
-"Do not be alarmed; we shall be there, and on our word as hunters, not a
-hair of your head shall fall."
-
-A lively satisfaction appeared on the monk's pale face at this generous
-promise.
-
-"Thanks," he said warmly.
-
-Harry's conduct appeared so extraordinary to Dick, who knew the lofty
-sentiments and innate honor of his comrade, that, without striving to
-fathom the motives which made him act thus, he contented himself by
-backing up his words by an affirmative nod of the head.
-
-"Be assured, caballeros, that when we have reached the placer, I will
-give you a large share, and you will have no cause to regret
-accompanying me."
-
-"The money question has but slight interest with us," Harry answered.
-"My friend and I are free hunters, caring very little for riches, which
-would be to us rather a source of embarrassment than of pleasure and
-enjoyment. Curiosity alone, and the desire of exploring strange
-countries, are sufficient to make us undertake this journey."
-
-"Whatever the reason that makes you accept my proposals, I am not the
-less obliged to you."
-
-"Now you will permit us to take leave of you, and we shall hold
-ourselves at your orders."
-
-"Go, gentlemen; I will not keep you longer. I know where to find you
-when I want you."
-
-The young men took up their hats, slung their rifles on their shoulders,
-and left the meson. The monk looked after them.
-
-"Oh!" he muttered, "I believe I can trust to those men: they have still
-in their veins a few drops of that honest French blood which despises
-treachery. No matter," he added, as if on reflection; "I will take my
-precautions."
-
-After this aside, he rose and looked around him. The room was full of
-adventurers, who drank or played at _monte_, and whose energetic faces
-stood out in the semi-obscurity of the room, which was scarce lighted by
-a smoky lamp. After a moment's reflection the monk boldly struck the
-table with his clenched fist, and shouted in a loud voice:
-
-"Senores caballeros, I invite you to listen to me. I have, I fancy, an
-advantageous proposal to make to you."
-
-The company turned their heads; those who were gambling for a moment
-abandoned their cards and dice; the drinkers alone kept in their hands
-the glasses they held; but all approached the monk, round whom they
-grouped themselves curiously.
-
-"Caballeros," he continued, "if I am not mistaken, all present are
-gentlemen whom fortune has more or less ill-treated."
-
-The adventurers, by an automatic movement of extraordinary regularity,
-bowed their heads in affirmation.
-
-"If you wish it," he continued with an imperceptible smile, "I will
-undertake to repair the wrong by it done you."
-
-The adventurers pricked up their ears.
-
-"Speak, speak, senor padre!" they shouted with delight.
-
-"What is the affair?" a man with a hang-dog face said, who stood in the
-front ranks.
-
-"A war party which I intend to lead shortly into Apacheria," the monk
-said, "and for which purpose I need you."
-
-At this proposition the first ardor of the adventurers visibly cooled
-down. The Apaches and Comanches inspire an invincible terror in the
-inhabitants of the Mexican frontiers. The monk guessed the effect he had
-produced; but he continued, as if not observing anything:--
-
-"I take you all into my service for a month, at the rate of four
-piastres a day."
-
-At this magnificent offer the eyes of the adventurers sparkled with
-greed, fear gave way to avarice, and they all exclaimed,--
-
-"We accept, reverend father!
-
-"But," the man continued who had already spoken, "we shall be happy,
-senor padre, if, before starting, you would give us your holy
-benediction, and absolve us from the few sins we may have committed."
-
-"Yes," the company yelled, "we shall be happy if you consent to that,
-reverend father."
-
-The monk appeared to reflect: the adventurers, anxiously waited.
-
-"Well, be it so," he answered after a moment. "As the work in which I am
-about to employ you is so meritorious, I will give you my blessing, and
-grant you absolution of your sins."
-
-For a few minutes there was a shout and exclamations of joy in the room.
-The monk demanded silence, and when it was restored he said,--
-
-"Now, caballeros, give me each your name, that I may find you when I
-need you."
-
-He sat down and began enrolling the adventurers, who, with the men Red
-Cedar supplied, would form the band with which he hoped to reach the
-placer. We will leave the worthy monk for a few moments, and follow the
-two Canadian hunters.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-THE TWO HUNTERS.
-
-
-Harry and Dick, whom we saw seated at a table in the meson with Red
-Cedar and Fray Ambrosio, were however, very far from resembling those
-two men morally. They were free and bold hunters, who had spent the
-greater part of their life in the desert, and who, in the vast solitude
-of the prairie, had accustomed themselves to a life free and exempt from
-those vices which accompany a town residence.
-
-For them gold was only the means to procure the necessary objects for
-their trade as hunters and trappers; and they never imagined that the
-possession of a large quantity of that yellow metal they despised would
-place them in a position to enjoy other pleasures than those they found
-in their long hunts of wild beasts--hunts so full of strange incidents
-and striking joys.
-
-Thus Dick had been to the highest degree surprised when he saw his
-friend eagerly accept the monk's offer, and agree to go in search of the
-placer; but what even more surprised him was Harry's insisting that Red
-Cedar must take the lead of the expedition. Though no one could
-positively accuse the squatter, owing to the precautions he took, of
-leading a life of rapine and murder, still the mysterious conduct he
-affected, and the solitude in which he lived with his family, had cast
-on him a shadow of reprobation.
-
-Every one regarded him as a scalp hunter, and yet no one would have
-ventured to affirm the odious deeds of which he was accused. The result
-of the general reprobation that fell on the squatter, and which we know
-to be fully merited, was that he and his family were placed under a ban
-by the frontier hunters and trappers, and every one fled not only their
-society, but any contact with them. Dick was thoroughly acquainted with
-his friend's upright character and nobility of heart. Hence his conduct
-under the present circumstances seemed to him perfectly
-incomprehensible, and he resolved to have an explanation with him.
-
-They had scarce quitted the meson ere Dick bent down to his companion,
-and said, while looking at him curiously,--
-
-"We have been hunting together for five years, Harry, and up to the
-present I have ever let myself be guided by you, leaving you free to act
-as you pleased for our mutual welfare. Still this evening your conduct
-has appeared to me so extraordinary that I am obliged, in the name of
-our friendship, which has never suffered a break up to this day, to ask
-you for an explanation of what has occurred in my presence."
-
-"For what good, my boy? Do you not know me well enough to be certain
-that I would not consent to do any dishonourable deed?"
-
-"Up to this evening I would have sworn it, Harry: yes, on my honor I
-would have sworn it--"
-
-"And now?" the young man asked, stopping and looking his friend in the
-face.
-
-"Now," Dick answered, with a certain degree of hesitation, "hang it all!
-I will be frank with you, Harry, as an honest hunter should ever be. Now
-I do not know if I should do so: no, indeed I should not."
-
-"What you say there causes me great pain, Dick. You oblige me, in order
-to dissipate your unjust suspicions, to confide to you a secret which is
-not my own, and which I would not have revealed for anything in the
-world."
-
-"Pardon me, Harry, but in my place I am convinced you would act as I am
-doing. We are very far from our country, which we shall never see again,
-perhaps. We are responsible for each other, and our actions must be free
-from all double interpretation."
-
-"I will do what you ask, Dick, whatever it may cost me. I recognise the
-justice of your observations. I understand how much my conduct this
-night must have hurt you and appeared ambiguous. I do not wish our
-friendship to receive the least wound, or the slightest cloud to arise
-between us. You shall be satisfied."
-
-"I thank you, Harry. What you tell me relieves my bosom of a heavy load.
-I confess that I should have been in despair to think badly of you; but
-the words of that intriguing monk, and the manners of that worthy
-acolyte, Red Cedar, put me in a passion. Had you not warned me so
-quickly to silence, I believe--Heaven pardon me!--that I should have
-ended by telling them a piece of my mind."
-
-"You displayed considerable prudence in keeping silence, and be assured
-you will completely approve me."
-
-"I do not doubt it, Harry; and now I feel certain I deceived myself. I
-feel all jolly again."
-
-While speaking thus the two hunters, who were walking with that rapid
-step peculiar to men habituated to traverse great distances on foot, had
-crossed the village, and found themselves already far in the plain. The
-night was magnificent--the sky of a deep blue. An infinite number of
-glistening stars seemed floating in ether. The moon spread its silvery
-rays profusely over the landscape. The sharp odour of the flowers
-perfumed the atmosphere. The two hunters still walked on.
-
-"Where are we going now, Harry?" Dick asked. "I fancy we should do
-better by taking a few hours' rest, instead of fatiguing ourselves
-without any definite object."
-
-"I never do anything without a reason, friend, as you know," Harry
-answered; "so let me guide you, and we shall soon arrive."
-
-"Do as you think proper, my boy; I shall say nothing."
-
-"In the first place you must know that the French hunter, Koutonepi, has
-begged me, for reasons he did not tell me, to watch Fray Ambrosio. That
-is one of the motives which made me be present at this night's
-interview, although I care as little for a placer as for a musk-rat's
-skin."
-
-"Koutonepi is the first hunter on the frontier; he has often done us a
-service in the desert. You acted rightly, Harry, in doing what he
-asked."
-
-"As for the second reason that dictated my conduct, Dick, you shall soon
-know it."
-
-Half talking, half dreaming, the young men reached Buffalo Valley, and
-soon entered the forest which served as a lair for the squatter and his
-family.
-
-"Where the deuce are we going?" Dick could not refrain from saying.
-
-"Silence!" said the other: "We are approaching."
-
-The darkness was profound in the forest: the density of the leafy dome
-under which they walked completely intercepted the light of the
-moonbeams. Still the Canadians, long accustomed to a night march,
-advanced as easily through the chaos of creepers and trees tangled in
-each other as if they had been in open day. On reaching a certain spot
-where the trees, growing less closely together, formed a species of
-clearing, and allowed an uncertain and tremorous light to pass, Harry
-stopped, and made his comrade a sign to do the same.
-
-"This is the place," he said. "Still, I as the person I have come to see
-expects me to be alone, and your unexpected presence might cause alarm,
-hide yourself behind that larch tree: above all, be careful not to stir
-till I call I you."
-
-"Oh, oh!" the hunter said, with a laugh, "have you perchance led me to a
-love meeting, Harry?"
-
-"You shall judge," Harry replied laconically. "Hide yourself."
-
-Dick, greatly troubled, did not need the invitation to be repeated: he
-concealed himself behind the tree his friend had indicated, and which
-would have sheltered a dozen men behind its enormous stem. So soon as
-Harry was alone, he raised his fingers to his lips, and at three
-different intervals imitated the cry of an owl with such perfection that
-Dick himself was deceived, and mechanically looked up to seek the bird
-in the tall branches of the tree by which he stood. Almost immediately,
-a slight noise was audible in the shrubs, and a graceful and white form
-appeared in the glade. It was Ellen, who rapidly walked toward the young
-man.
-
-"Oh, it is you, Harry!" she said with joy. "Heaven be blessed, I was
-afraid you would not come, as it is late."
-
-"It is true, Ellen: pardon me. I made all possible speed, however; and
-it is not my fault that I did not arrive sooner."
-
-"How good you are, Harry, to take so much trouble for my sake! How can I
-ever recognise the continual services you do me?"
-
-"Oh! Do not speak about them. It is a happiness for me to do anything
-agreeable to you."
-
-"Alas!" the maiden murmured, "Heaven is my witness that I feel a deep
-friendship for you, Harry."
-
-The young man sighed gently.
-
-"I have done what you asked of me," he said suddenly.
-
-"Then it is true my father is thinking about leaving this country to go
-further still?"
-
-"Yes, Ellen, and into frightful countries, among the ferocious Indians."
-
-The girl gave a start of terror.
-
-"Do you know the reason of his going?" she continued.
-
-"Yes; he is about to look for a gold placer."
-
-"Alas! Who will protect me, who will defend me in future, if we go
-away?"
-
-"I, Ellen!" the hunter exclaimed impetuously. "Have I not sworn to
-follow you everywhere?"
-
-"It is true," she said sadly; "but why should you risk your life on the
-distant journey we are about to undertake? No, Harry, remain here; I
-cannot consent to your departure. From what I have heard say, the band
-my father commands will be numerous--it will have scarce anything to
-fear from the Indians; while, on the other hand, you, compelled to hide
-yourself, will be exposed alone to terrible danger. No, Harry, I will
-not permit it."
-
-"Undeceive yourself, Ellen. I shall not be forced to conceal myself; I
-shall not be alone, for I am a member of your father's band."
-
-"Is it possible, Harry?" she exclaimed, with an expression of joy that
-made the young man quiver.
-
-"I enrolled myself this very evening."
-
-"Oh!" she said, "Then in that case we can often meet?"
-
-"Whenever you please, Ellen, as I shall be there."
-
-"Oh! Now I am anxious to be away from here, and wish we had already
-started."
-
-"It will not be long first, set your mind at rest. I am convinced that
-we shall start within the week."
-
-"Thanks for the good news you bring me, Harry."
-
-"Are your father and mother still unkind to you, Ellen?"
-
-"It is nearly always the same thing; and yet their conduct toward me is
-strange. It often seems to me incomprehensible, as it is so marked with
-peculiarities. There are moments in which they seem to love me dearly.
-My father especially caresses and embraces me, and then all at once, I
-know not why, repulses me rudely, and looks at me in a way that causes
-me to shudder."
-
-"That is indeed strange, Ellen."
-
-"Is it not? There is one thing above all I cannot explain."
-
-"Tell it me, Ellen; perhaps I can do so."
-
-"You know that all my family are Protestants?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Well, I am a Catholic."
-
-"That is certainly curious."
-
-"I wear around my neck a small golden crucifix. Every time accident
-makes this trinket glisten before my father and mother they grow
-furious, threaten to beat me, and order me to hide it at once. Do you
-understand the meaning of this, Harry?"
-
-"No, I do not, Ellen; but, believe me, leave everything to time; perhaps
-it will enable us to find the clue to the mystery which we seek in vain
-at this moment."
-
-"Well, your presence has rendered me happy for a long time, Harry, so
-now I will retire."
-
-"Already?"
-
-"I must, my friend. Believe me that I am as sad as yourself at this
-separation; but my father has not yet returned, and may arrive at any
-moment. If he noticed that I was not asleep, who knows what might
-happen?"
-
-While saying the last words the girl held out her delicate hand to the
-hunter, who raised it to his lips passionately. Ellen withdrew it
-suddenly, and bounding like a startled fawn, darted into the forest,
-where she soon disappeared, giving the young man a parting word, which
-caused him to quiver with joy:--
-
-"We shall meet soon."
-
-Harry stood for a long time with his eyes fixed on the spot where the
-seductive vision had disappeared. At length he uttered a sigh, threw his
-rifle over his shoulder, and turned as if to depart. Dick was before
-him. Harry gave a start of surprise, for he had forgotten his friend's
-presence; but the latter smiled good-humouredly.
-
-"I now comprehend your conduct, Harry," he said to him; "you were right
-to act as you did. Pardon my unjust suspicions, and count on me
-everywhere and always."
-
-Harry silently pressed the hand his friend offered him, and they walked
-back rapidly in the direction of the village. As they emerged from the
-forest they passed, a man who did not see them. It was Red Cedar. So
-soon as he had gone a short distance Harry stopped his companion, and
-pointing to the squatter, whose long black shadow glided through the
-trees, said, as he laid his hand on his shoulder,--
-
-"That man hides in his heart a horrible secret, which I am ignorant of,
-but have sworn to discover."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-FRAY AMBROSIO.
-
-
-The monk remained for a long time in the room of the meson, taking down
-the names of the adventurers he wished to enrol in his band. It was late
-when he left it to return to the Hacienda de la Noria; but he was
-satisfied with his night's work, and internally rejoiced at the rich
-collection of bandits of the purest water he had recruited.
-
-The monks form a privileged caste in Mexico: they can go at all hours of
-the night wherever they please without fearing the numerous "gentlemen
-of the road," scattered about the highways. Their gown inspires a
-respect which guarantees them from any insult, and preserves them better
-than anything from unpleasant rencontres. Besides, Fray Ambrosio, as the
-reader has doubtless already perceived, was not the man to neglect
-indispensable precautions in a country where, out of ten persons you
-meet on your road, you may boldly assert that nine are rogues, the tenth
-alone offering any doubts. The worthy chaplain carried under his gown a
-pair of double-barrelled pistols, and in his right sleeve he concealed a
-long _navaja_, sharp as a razor, and pointed as a needle.
-
-Not troubling himself about the solitude that reigned around him, the
-monk mounted his mule and proceeded quietly to the hacienda. It was
-about eleven o'clock.
-
-A few words about Fray Ambrosio, while he is peacefully ambling along
-the narrow path which will lead him in two hours to his destination,
-will show all the perversity of the man who is destined to play an
-unfortunately too important part in the course of our narrative.
-
-One day a gambusino, or gold seeker, who had disappeared for two years,
-no one knowing what had become of him, and who was supposed to be dead
-long ago, assassinated in the desert by the Indians, suddenly reappeared
-at the Paso del Norte. This man, Joaquin by name, was brother to Andres
-Garote, an adventurer of the worst stamp, who had at least a dozen
-_cuchilladas_ (knife stabs) on his conscience, whom everybody feared,
-but who, through the terror he inspired, enjoyed at the Paso, in spite
-of his well-avouched crimes, a reputation and species of impunity which
-he abused whenever the opportunity offered.
-
-The two brothers began frequenting together the mesones and ventas of
-the village, drinking from morn till night, and paying either in gold
-dust enclosed in stout quills, or in lumps of native gold. The rumour
-soon spread at Paso that Joaquin had discovered a rich placer, and that
-his expenses were paid with the specimens he had brought back. The
-gambusino replied neither yes nor no to the several insinuations which
-his friends, or rather his boon companions, attempted on him. He
-twinkled his eyes, smiled mysteriously, and if it were observed that, at
-the rate he was living at, he would soon be ruined, he shrugged his
-shoulders, saying:--
-
-"When I have none left I know where to find others."
-
-And he continued to enjoy his fill of all the pleasures which a wretched
-hole like Paso can furnish.
-
-Fray Ambrosio had heard speak, like everyone else, of the gambusino's
-asserted discovery; and his plan was at once formed to become master of
-this man's secret, and rob him of his discovery, were that possible.
-
-The same evening Joaquin and his brother Andres were drinking, according
-to their wont, in a meson, surrounded by a crowd of scamps like
-themselves. Fray Ambrosio, seated at a table with his hands hidden in
-the sleeves of his gown, and hanging head, appeared plunged in serious
-reflections, although he followed with a cunning eye the various
-movements of the drinkers, and not one of their gestures escaped him.
-
-Suddenly a man entered, with his hand on his hip, and throwing in the
-face of the first person he passed the cigarette he was smoking. He
-planted himself in front of Joaquin, to whom he said nothing, but began
-looking at him impudently, shrugging his shoulders, and laughing
-ironically at all the gambusino said. Joaquin was not patient, he saw at
-the first glance that this person wished to pick a quarrel with him; and
-as he was brave, and feared nobody, man or devil, he walked boldly up to
-him, and looking at him fixedly in his turn, he said to him, as he
-thrust his face in his:
-
-"Do you seek a quarrel, Tomaso?"
-
-"Why not?" the latter said impudently, as he set his glass on the table.
-
-"I am your man. We will fight how you please."
-
-"Bah!" Tomaso said carelessly, "let us do things properly, and fight
-with the whole blade."
-
-"Be it so."
-
-The combats which take place between the adventurers are truly like
-those of wild beasts. These coarse men, with their cruel instincts, like
-fighting beyond all else, for the smell of blood intoxicates them. The
-announcement of this duel caused a thrill of pleasure to run through the
-ranks of the leperos and bandits who pressed round the two men. The fun
-was perfect: one of the adversaries would doubtless fall--perhaps
-both--and blood flow in streams. Cries and yells of delight were raised
-by the spectators.
-
-The duel with knives is the only one that exists in Mexico, and is
-solely left to the leperos and people of the lowest classes. This duel
-has its rules, which cannot be broken under any pretext. The knives
-usually employed, have blades from fourteen to sixteen inches in length,
-and the duelists fight according to the gravity of the insult, with one,
-two, three, six inches, or the entire blade. The inches are carefully
-measured and the hand clutches the knife at the marked spot.
-
-This time it was a duel with the whole blade, the most terrible of all.
-With extraordinary politeness and coolness the landlord had a large ring
-formed in the middle of the room, where the two adversaries stationed
-themselves, about six paces from each other at the most.
-
-A deep silence hung over the room, a moment previously so full of life
-and disturbance; every one anxiously awaited the _denouement_ of the
-terrible drama that was preparing. Fray Ambrosio alone had not quitted
-his seat or made a sign.
-
-The two men rolled their zarapes round their left arm, planted
-themselves firmly on their outstretched legs, bent their bodies slightly
-forward and gently placing the point of the knife blade on the arm
-rounded in front of the chest, they waited, fixed on each other flashing
-glances. A few seconds elapsed, during which the adversaries remained
-perfectly motionless: all hearts were contracted, all bosoms heaving.
-
-Worthy of Callot's pencil was the scene offered by these men, with their
-weather-stained faces and harsh features, and their clothes in rags,
-forming a circle round two combatants ready to kill each other in this
-mean room, slightly illumined by a smoky lamp, which flashed upon the
-blue blades of the knives, and in the shadow, almost disappearing in his
-black gown, the monk, with his implacable glance and mocking smile, who,
-like a tiger thirsting for blood, awaited the hour to pounce on his
-prey.
-
-Suddenly, by a spontaneous movement rapid as lightning, the adversaries
-rushed on each other, uttering a yell of fury. The blades flashed, there
-was a clashing of steel, and both fell back again. Joaquin and Tomaso
-had both dealt the same stroke, called, in the slang of the country, the
-"blow of the brave man." Each had his face slashed from top to bottom
-with a gaping wound.
-
-The spectators frenziedly applauded this magnificent opening scene: the
-jaguars had scented blood, and were mad.
-
-"What a glorious fight!" they exclaimed with admiration.
-
-In the meanwhile the two combatants, rendered hideous by the blood that
-streamed from their wounds and stained their faces, were again watching
-for the moment to leap on one another. Suddenly they broke ground; but
-this time it was no skirmish, but the real fight, atrocious and
-merciless. The two men seized each other round the waist, and entwined
-like serpents, they twisted about, trying to stab each other, and
-exciting themselves to the struggle by cries of rage and triumph. The
-enthusiasm of the spectators was at its height: they laughed, clapped
-hands, and uttered inarticulate howls as they urged the fighters not to
-loose their hold.
-
-At length the enemies rolled on the ground still enclasped. For some
-seconds the combat continued on the ground, and it was impossible to
-distinguish who was the conqueror. All at once one of them, who no
-longer had a human form, and whose body was as red as an Indian's,
-bounded to his feet brandishing his knife. It was Joaquin.
-
-His brother rushed toward him to congratulate him on his victory, but
-all at once the gambusino tottered and fainted. Tomaso did not rise
-again: he remained motionless, stretched out on the uneven floor of the
-meson. He was stark dead.
-
-This scene had been so rapid, its conclusion so unforeseen, that, in
-spite of themselves, the spectators had remained dumb, and as if struck
-with stupor. Suddenly the priest, whom all had forgotten, rose and
-walked into the centre of the room, looking round with a glance that
-caused all to let their eyes fall.
-
-"Retire, all of you," he said in a gloomy voice, "now that you have
-allowed this deed worthy of savages to be accomplished. The priest must
-offer his ministry, and get back from Satan, if there be still time, the
-soul of this Christian who is about to die. Begone!"
-
-The adventurers hung their heads, and in a few moments the priest was
-left alone with the two men, one of whom was dead, the other at the last
-gasp. No one could say what occurred in that room; but when the priest
-left it, a quarter of an hour later, his eyes flashed wildly. Joaquin
-had given his parting sigh. On opening the door to go out Fray Ambrosio
-jostled against a man, who drew back sharply to make room for him. It
-was Andres Garote. What was he doing with his eye at the keyhole while
-the monk was shriving his brother?
-
-The adventurer told no one what he had seen during this last quarter of
-an hour, nor did the monk notice in the shade the man he had almost
-thrown down.
-
-Such was the way in which Fray Ambrosio became master of the gambusino's
-secret, and how he alone knew at present the spot where the placer was.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-TWO VARIETIES OF VILLAINS.
-
-
-Now that the reader is well informed touching Fray Ambrosio, we will
-follow him on his road home from the meson. The night was calm, silent
-and serene. Not a sound troubled the silence, save the trot of the mule
-over the pebbles on the road, or at times, in the distance, the snapping
-bark of the coyotes chasing in a pack, according to their wont, some
-straggling hind.
-
-Fray Ambrosio ambled gently on, while reflecting on the events of the
-evening, and calculating mentally the probable profits of the expedition
-he meditated. He had left far behind him the last houses of the village,
-and was advancing cautiously along a narrow path that wound through an
-immense sugar cane field. Already the shadow of the tall hacienda walls
-stood out blackly in the horizon. He expected to reach it within twenty
-minutes, when suddenly his mule, which had hitherto gone so quietly,
-pricked up its ears, raised its head, and stopped short.
-
-Roughly aroused from his meditations by this unexpected halt, the monk
-looked about for some obstacle that might impede his progress. About ten
-paces from him a man was standing right in the middle of the path. Fray
-Ambrosio was a man not easily to be frightened: besides, he was well
-armed. He drew out one of the pistols hidden under his gown, cocked it,
-and prepared to cross-question the person who so resolutely barred his
-way. But the latter, at the sharp sound of the setting hammer, thought
-it prudent to make himself known, and not await the consequences of an
-address nearly always stormy under similar circumstances.
-
-"Halloh!" he shouted in a loud voice, "Return your pistol to your belt,
-Fray Ambrosio; I only want to talk with you."
-
-"_Diavolo_!" the monk said, "the hour and moment are singularly chosen
-for a friendly conversation, my good fellow."
-
-"Time belongs to nobody," the stranger answered sententiously. "I am
-obliged to choose that which I have at my disposal."
-
-"That is true," the monk said as he quietly uncocked his pistol, though
-not returning it to his belt. "Who the deuce are you, and why are you so
-anxious to speak with me? Do you want to confess?
-
-"Have you not recognised me yet, Fray Ambrosio? Must I tell you my name
-that you may know with whom you have to deal?"
-
-"Needless, my good sir, needless; but how the deuce is it, Red Cedar,
-that I meet you here! What can you have so pressing to communicate to
-me?"
-
-"You shall know if you will stop for a few moments and dismount."
-
-"The deuce take you with your whims! Cannot you tell me that as well
-tomorrow! Night is getting on, my home is still some distance off and I
-am literally worn out."
-
-"Bah! you will sleep capitally by the side of a ditch, where you could
-not be more comfortable. Besides, what I have to say to you does not
-admit of delay."
-
-"You wish to make a proposal to me, then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"What about, if you please?"
-
-"About the affair we discussed this evening at the Paso."
-
-"Why, I fancied we had settled all that, and you accepted my offer."
-
-"Not yet, not yet, my master. That will depend on the conversation we
-are about to have, so you had better dismount and sit down quietly by my
-side; for if you don't do it, it will come to nothing."
-
-"The deuce take people that change their minds every minute, and on whom
-one cannot reckon more than on an old surplice!" the monk growled with
-an air of annoyance, while, for all that, getting off his mule, which he
-fastened to a shrub.
-
-The squatter did not seem to remark the chaplain's ill temper, and let
-him sit down by his side without uttering a syllable.
-
-"Here I am," the monk went on, so soon as he was seated. "I really do
-not know, Red Cedar, why I yield so easily to all your whims."
-
-"Because you suspect that your interest depends on it: were it not for
-that, you would not do so."
-
-"Why talk thus in the open country, instead of going to your house,
-where we should be much more comfortable?"
-
-Red Cedar shook his head in denial.
-
-"No," he said; "the open is better for what we have to talk about. Here
-we need not fear listeners at out doors."
-
-"That is true. Well, go on; I am listening."
-
-"Hum! You insist upon my commanding the expedition you project?"
-
-"Of course. I have known you a long time. I am aware that you are a sure
-man, perfectly versed in Indian signs; for, if I am not mistaken, the
-greater part of your life has been spent among them."
-
-"Do not speak about what I have done? The question now concerns you, and
-not me."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Good, good! Let me speak. You need me, so it is to my interest to make
-you pay as dearly as I can for me."
-
-"Eh?" the monk muttered, as he made a grimace. "I am not rich, gossip,
-as you are aware."
-
-"Yes, yes; I know that, so soon as you have a few piastres or ounces,
-the monte table strips you of them immediately."
-
-"Hang it! I have always been unlucky at play."
-
-"For that reason I do not intend asking you for money."
-
-"Very good. If you have no designs on my purse we can easily come to an
-understanding. You may speak boldly."
-
-"I hope that we shall easily understand one another, the mere so as the
-service I expect from you is almost a mere nothing."
-
-"Come to the point, Red Cedar: with your deuced way of twining your
-phrases together in the Indian way, you never make an end of it."
-
-"You know that I have a deadly hatred against Don Miguel Zarate?"
-
-"I have heard some say about it. Did he not lodge his knife somewhere in
-your chest?"
-
-"Yes, and the blow was so rude that I all but died of it; but, thanks to
-the devil, I am on my legs again, after remaining three weeks on my back
-like a cast sheep. I want my revenge."
-
-"I can't help saying you are right: in your place, may Satan twist my
-neck if I would not do the same!"
-
-"For that I count on your help."
-
-"Hum! that is a delicate affair. I have no cause of complaint against
-Don Miguel--on the contrary: besides, I do not see how I can serve you."
-
-"Oh! very easily."
-
-"You believe so?"
-
-"You shall see."
-
-"Go on, then; I am listening."
-
-"Don Miguel has a daughter?"
-
-"Dona Clara."
-
-"I mean to carry her off."
-
-"Deuce take the mad ideas that pass through your brain-pan, gossip! How
-would you have me help you in carrying off the daughter of Don Miguel,
-to whom I owe so many obligations? No, I cannot do that, indeed."
-
-"You must, though."
-
-"I will not, I tell you."
-
-"Measure your words well, Fray Ambrosio, for this conversation is
-serious. Before refusing so peremptorily to give me the help I ask,
-reflect well."
-
-"I have reflected well, Red Cedar, and never will I consent to help you
-in carrying off the daughter of my benefactor. Say what you like,
-nothing will ever change my resolution on that head, for it is
-inflexible."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Oh! Whatever may happen, I swear that nothing will make me alter."
-
-"Swear not, Fray Ambrosio, for you will be a perjurer."
-
-"Ta, ta, ta! You are mad, my good fellow. Don't let us waste our time.
-If you have nothing else to say to me, I will leave you, though I take
-such pleasure in your society."
-
-"You have become scrupulous all of a sudden, my master."
-
-"There is a beginning to everything, compadre; so let us say no more,
-but good-bye."
-
-And the monk rose.
-
-"You are really going?"
-
-"_Caray_! Do you fancy I mean to sleep here?"
-
-"Very good. You understand that you need not count on me for your
-expedition?"
-
-"I am sorry for it; but I will try to find someone to take your place."
-
-"Thank you."
-
-The two men were standing, and the monk had put his foot in the stirrup.
-Red Cedar also appeared ready to make a start. At the moment of
-separation a sudden idea seemed to occur to the squatter.
-
-"By the way," he said carelessly, "be kind enough to give me some
-information I require."
-
-"What is it now?" the monk asked.
-
-"Oh! a mere trifle," the squatter remarked indifferently. "It concerns a
-certain Don Pedro de Tudela, whom I think you formerly knew."
-
-"Eh!?" the monk exclaimed, as he turned, with his leg still in the air.
-
-"Come, come, Fray Ambrosio," Red Cedar continued in a jeering voice,
-"let us have a little more talk together. I will tell you, if you like,
-a very remarkable story about this Don Pedro, with whom you were
-acquainted."
-
-The monk was livid; a nervous tremor agitated all his limbs; he let
-loose his mule's bridle, and followed the squatter mechanically, who
-seated himself tranquilly on the ground, making him a sign to follow his
-example. The monk fell, suppressing a sigh, and wiping away the drops of
-cold perspiration that beaded on his forehead.
-
-"Eh, eh!" the squatter continued at the end of a moment, "we must allow
-that Don Pedro was a charming gentleman--a little wild, perhaps; but
-what would you have? He was young. I remember meeting him at Albany a
-long time ago--some sixteen or seventeen years ago--how old one
-gets!--at the house of one--wait awhile, the name has slipped my
-memory--could you not help me to it, Fray Ambrosio?"
-
-"I do not know what you mean," the monk said in a hollow voice.
-
-The man was in a state that would have produced pity; the veins in his
-forehead were swollen ready to burst; he was choking; his right hand
-clutched the hilt of his dagger; and he bent on the squatter a glance
-full of deadly hatred. The latter seemed to see nothing of all this.
-
-"I have it!" he continued. "The man's name was Walter Brunnel, a very
-worthy gentleman."
-
-"Demon!" the monk howled in a gasping voice, "I know not who made you
-master of that horrible secret, but you shall die."
-
-And he rushed upon him, dagger in hand.
-
-Red Cedar had known Fray Ambrosio a long time, and was on his guard. By
-a rapid movement he checked his arm, twisted it, and seized the dagger,
-which he threw a long distance off.
-
-"Enough," he said in a harsh voice. "We understand one another, my
-master. Do not play that game with me, for you will be sick of it, I
-warn you."
-
-The monk fell back on his seat, without the strength to make a sign or
-utter a syllable. The squatter regarded him for a moment with mingled
-pity and contempt and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"For sixteen years I have held that secret," he said, "and it has never
-passed my lips. I will continue to keep silence on one condition."
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"I want you to help me in carrying off the hacendero's daughter."
-
-"I will do it."
-
-"Mind, I expect honest assistance; so do not attempt any treachery."
-
-"I will help you, I tell you."
-
-"Good! I count on your word. Besides you may be easy, master; I will
-watch you."
-
-"Enough of threats. What is to be done?"
-
-"When do we start for Apacheria?"
-
-"You are coming, then?"
-
-"Of course."
-
-A sinister smile played round the monk's pale lips.
-
-"We shall start in a week," he said.
-
-"Good! On the day of the start you will hand over the girl to me, one
-hour before our departure."
-
-"What shall I do to compel her to follow me?"
-
-"That is not my business."
-
-"Still--"
-
-"I insist."
-
-"Be it so," the monk said with an effort. "I will do it; but remember,
-demon, if I ever hold you in my hands, as I am this day in yours, I
-shall be pitiless and make you pay for all I suffer at this moment."
-
-"You will be right to do so--it is your due; still I doubt whether you
-will ever be able to reach me."
-
-"Perhaps."
-
-"Live and learn. In the meanwhile I am your master, and I reckon on your
-obedience."
-
-"I will obey."
-
-"That is settled. Now, one thing more; how many men have you enlisted
-this evening?"
-
-"About twenty."
-
-"That's not many; but, with the sixty I shall supply, we shall have a
-very decent band to hold the Indians in check."
-
-"May Heaven grant it!"
-
-"Don't be alarmed, my master," the squatter said, re-assuming the
-friendly tone which he employed at the outset of the conversation; "I
-pledge myself, to lead you straight to your placer. I have not lived ten
-years with the Indians not to be up to all their tricks."
-
-"Of course," the monk answered as he rose, "You know, Red Cedar, what
-was agreed upon; the placer will be shared between us. It is, therefore,
-to your interest to enable us to reach it without obstacle."
-
-"We shall reach it. Now that we have nothing more to say to each other
-and have agreed on all points--for we have done so, I think?" he said
-significantly.
-
-"Yes, all."
-
-"We can part, and go each home. No matter, my master! I told you that I
-should succeed in making you alter your mind. Look you, Fray Ambrosio,"
-he added in impudent tone, which made the monk turn pale with rage;
-"people need only to understand one another to do anything."
-
-He rose, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and turning away sharply,
-went off with lengthened strides. The monk remained for a moment as if
-stunned by what had happened. Suddenly he thrust his hand under his
-gown, seized a pistol, and aimed at the squatter. But ere he had time to
-pull the trigger his enemy disappeared round a turning, uttering a
-formidable burst of laughter, which the mocking echo bore to his ear,
-and revealed to him all the immensity of his impotence.
-
-"Oh!" he muttered as he got in the saddle, "How did this fiend discover
-the secret which I believed no one knew?"
-
-And he went off gloomy and thoughtful. Half an hour later he reached the
-Hacienda de la Noria, when the gate was opened for him by a trusty peon,
-for everybody was asleep. It was past midnight.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-EL CANYON DEL BUITRE.
-
-
-We will now return to the hacendero, who, accompanied by his two
-friends, is galloping at full speed in the direction of Valentine's
-jacal. The road the three men followed led them further and further from
-the Paso del Norte. Around them nature grew more abrupt, the scenery
-sterner. They had left the forest, and were galloping over a wide and
-arid plain. On each side of the way the trees, becoming rarer, defiled
-like a legion of phantoms. They crossed several tributary streams of the
-Del Norte, in which their horses were immersed up to the chest.
-
-At length they entered a ravine deeply imbedded between two wooded
-hills, the soil of which, composed of large flat stones and rounded
-pebbles, proved that this spot was one of those _desaguaderos_ which
-serve to carry off the waters in the rainy season. They had reached the
-Canyon del Buitre, so named on account of the numerous vultures
-constantly perched on the tops of the surrounding hills.
-
-The defile was deserted, and Valentine had his cabin not far from this
-spot. So soon as the three men had dismounted, Curumilla took the horses
-and led them to the jacal.
-
-"Follow me," Valentine said to Don Miguel.
-
-The latter obeyed, and the two men began then climbing the escarped
-flanks of the right hand hill. The climb was rude, for no road was
-traced; but the two hunters, long accustomed to force a passage through
-the most impracticable places, seemed hardly to perceive the difficulty
-of the ascent, which would have been impossible for men less used to a
-desert life.
-
-"This spot is really delicious," Valentine said with the complacent
-simplicity of a landowner who boasts of his estate. "If it were day, Don
-Miguel, you would enjoy from this spot a magnificent view. A few hundred
-yards from the place where we are, down there on that hill to the right,
-are the ruins of an ancient Aztec camp in a very fine state of
-preservation. Just imagine that this hill, carved by human hands, though
-you cannot see it in the darkness, is of the shape of a pyramidal cone:
-its base is triangular, the sides are covered with masonry, and it is
-divided into several terraces. The platform is about ninety yards long
-by seventy-five in width, and is surrounded on three sides by a
-platform, and flanked by a bastion on the north. You see that it is a
-perfect fortress, constructed according to all the rules of military
-art. On the platform are the remains of a species of small teocali,
-about twenty feet high, composed of large stones covered with
-hieroglyphics sculptured in relief, representing weapons, monsters,
-rabbits, crocodiles, and all sorts of things; for instance, men seated
-in the oriental fashion, and wearing spectacles. Is not that really
-curious? This little monument, which has no staircase, doubtless served
-as the last refuge to the besieged when they were too closely
-beleaguered by the enemy."
-
-"It is astonishing," Don Miguel answered, "that I never heard of these
-ruins."
-
-"Who knows them? Nobody. However, they bear a considerable likeness to
-those found at Jochicalco."
-
-"Where are you leading me, my friend? Are you aware that the road is not
-one of the pleasantest, and I am beginning to feel tired?"
-
-"A little patience: in ten minutes we shall arrive. I am leading you to
-a natural grotto which I discovered a short time back. It is admirable.
-It is probable that the Spaniards were unacquainted with it, although
-the Indians, to my knowledge, have visited it from time immemorial. The
-Apaches imagine it serves as a palace to the genius of the mountain. At
-any rate, I was so struck by its beauty that I abandoned my jacal, and
-converted it into my residence. Its extent is immense. I am certain,
-though I never tried to convince myself, that it goes for more than ten
-leagues under ground. I will not allude to the stalactites that hang
-from the roof, and form the quaintest and most curious designs; but the
-thing that struck me is this: this grotto is divided into an infinite
-number of chambers, some of them containing pools in which swim immense
-numbers of blind fish."
-
-"Blind fish! You are jesting, my friend," Don Miguel exclaimed, and
-stopped.
-
-"I am wrong: blind is not the word I should have employed, for these
-fish have no eyes."
-
-"What! No eyes?"
-
-"None at all; but that does not prevent them being very dainty food."
-
-"That is strange."
-
-"Is it not? But stay--we have arrived."
-
-In fact, they found themselves in front of a gloomy, gaping orifice,
-about ten feet high by eight wide.
-
-"Let me do the honours of my mansion," Valentine said.
-
-"Do so, my friend."
-
-The two men entered the grotto: the hunter struck a match, and lit a
-torch of candlewood. The fairy picture which suddenly rose before Don
-Miguel drew from him a cry of admiration. There was an indescribable
-confusion: here a gothic chapel, with its graceful soaring pillars;
-further on, obelisks, cones, trunks of trees covered with moss and
-acanthus leaves, hollow stalactites of a cylindrical form, drawn
-together and ranged side by side like the pipes of an organ, and
-yielding to the slightest touch varied metallic sounds which completed
-the illusion. Then, in the immeasurable depths of these cavernous halls,
-at times formidable sounds arose, which, returned by the echoes, rolled
-along the sides of the grotto like peals of thunder.
-
-"Oh, it is grand, it is grand!" Don Miguel exclaimed, struck with fear
-and respect at the sight.
-
-"Does not man," Valentine answered, "feel very small and miserable
-before these sublime creations of nature, which God has scattered here
-as if in sport? Oh, my friend! It is only in the desert that we
-understand the grandeur and infinite omnipotence of the Supreme Being;
-for at every step man finds himself face to face with Him who placed him
-on this earth, and traces the mark of His mighty finger engraved in an
-indelible manner on everything that presents itself to his sight."
-
-"Yes," Don Miguel said, who had suddenly become thoughtful, "it is only
-in the desert that a man learns to know, love, and fear God, for He is
-everywhere."
-
-"Come," said Valentine.
-
-He led his friend to a hall of not more than twenty square feet, the
-vault of which, however, was more than a hundred yards above them. In
-this hall a fire was lighted. The two men sat down on the ground and
-waited, while thinking deeply. After a few moments the sound of
-footsteps was audible, and the Mexican quickly raised his head.
-Valentine did not stir, for he had recognised his friend's tread. In
-fact, within a moment the Indian chief appeared.
-
-"Well?" Valentine asked him.
-
-"Nothing yet," Curumilla laconically answered.
-
-"They are late, I fancy," Don Miguel observed.
-
-"No," the chief continued, "it is hardly half past eleven: we are before
-our time."
-
-"But will they find us here?"
-
-"They know we shall await them in this hall."
-
-After these few words each fell back into his thoughts. The silence was
-only troubled by the mysterious sounds of the grotto, which re-echoed
-nearly at equal intervals with an horrific din. A long period elapsed.
-All at once, ere any sensible noise had warned Don Miguel, Valentine
-raised his head with a hurried movement.
-
-"Here they are," he said.
-
-"You are mistaken, my friend," Don Miguel observed; "I heard nothing."
-
-The hunter smiled.
-
-"If you had spent," he said, "like we have, ten years in the desert,
-interrogating the mysterious voices of the night, your ear would be
-habituated to the vague rumours and sighs of nature which have no meaning
-to you at this moment, but which have all a significance for me, and, so
-to speak, a voice every note of which I understand, and you would not
-say I was mistaken. Ask the chief: you will hear his answer."
-
-"Two men are climbing the hill at this moment," Curumilla answered
-sententiously. "They are an Indian and a white man."
-
-"How can you recognise the distinction?"
-
-"Very easily," Valentine responded with a smile. "The Indian wears
-moccasins, which touch the ground without producing any other sound than
-a species of friction: the step is sure and unhesitating, as taken by a
-man accustomed to walk in the desert, and only put down his foot firmly:
-the white man wears high-heeled boots, which at each step produce a
-distinct and loud sound; the spurs fastened to his boots give out a
-continuous metallic clink; the step is awkward and timid; at each moment
-a stone or crumble of earth rolls away under the foot, which is only put
-down hesitatingly. It is easy to see that the man thus walking is
-accustomed to a horse, and does not know the use of his feet. Stay! They
-are now entering the grotto: you will soon hear the signal."
-
-At this moment the bark of the coyote was raised thrice at equal
-intervals. Valentine answered by a similar cry.
-
-"Well, was I mistaken?" he said.
-
-"I know not what to think, my friend. What astonishes me most is that
-you heard them so long before they arrived."
-
-"The ground of this cave is an excellent conductor of sound," the hunter
-answered simply: "that is all the mystery."
-
-"The devil!" Don Miguel could not refrain from saying; "You neglect
-nothing, I fancy."
-
-"If a man wants to live in the desert he must neglect nothing: the
-smallest things have their importance, and an observation carefully made
-may often save a man's life."
-
-While these few words were being exchanged between the two friends the
-noise of footsteps was heard drawing nearer and nearer. Two men
-appeared: one was Eagle-wing, the Chief of the Coras; the second,
-General Ibanez.
-
-The general was a man of about thirty-five, tall and well-built, with a
-delicate and intelligent face. His manners were graceful and noble. He
-bowed cordially to the hacendero and Valentine, squeezed Curumilla's
-hand, and fell down in a sitting posture by the fire.
-
-"Ouf!" he said, "I am done, gentlemen. I have just ridden an awful
-distance. My poor horse is foundered, and to recover myself I made an
-ascent, during which I thought twenty times I must break down; and that
-would have infallibly happened, had not friend Eagle-wing charitably
-come to my aid. I must confess that these Indians climb like real cats:
-we _gente de razon_[1] are worth nothing for that trade."
-
-"At length you have arrived, my friend," Don Miguel answered. "Heaven be
-praised! I was anxious to see you."
-
-"For my part I confess that my impatience was equally lively, especially
-since I learned the treachery of that scoundrelly Red Cedar. That humbug
-of a Wood sent him to me with so warm a recommendation that, in spite of
-all my prudence, I let myself be taken in, and nearly told him all our
-secrets. Unfortunately, the little I did let him know is sufficient to
-have us shot a hundred times like vulgar conspirators of no
-consequence."
-
-"Do not feel alarmed, my friend. After what. Valentine told me today, we
-have, perchance, a way of foiling the tricks of the infamous spy who has
-denounced us."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! But nothing will remove my impression that Wood
-has something to do with what has happened to us. I always doubted that
-American, who is cold as an iceberg, sour as a glass of lemonade, and
-methodical as a Quaker. What good is to be expected from these men, who
-covet the possession of our territory, and who, unable to take it from
-us at one lump, tear it away in parcels?"
-
-"Who knows, my friend? Perhaps you are right. Unfortunately, what is
-done cannot be helped, and our retrospective recriminations will do us
-no good."
-
-"That is true; but, as you know, man is the same everywhere. When he has
-committed a folly he is happy to find a scapegoat on which he can lay
-the iniquities with which he reproaches himself. That is slightly my
-case at this moment."
-
-"Do not take more blame on yourself, my friend, than you deserve; I
-guarantee your integrity and the loyalty of your sentiments. Whatever
-may happen, be persuaded that I will always do you justice, and, if
-needed, defend you against all."
-
-"Thanks, Don Miguel. What you say causes me pleasure and reconciles me
-with myself. I needed the assurance you give me in order to regain some
-slight courage, and not let myself be completely crushed by the
-unforeseen blow which threatens to overthrow our hopes at the very
-moment when we expected to find them realised."
-
-"Come, come, gentlemen," Valentine said, "the time is slipping away, and
-we have none to waste. Let us seek to find the means by which to repair
-the check we have suffered. If you permit me I will submit to your
-approval a plan which, I believe, combines all the desirable chances of
-success, and will turn in our favour the very treachery to which we have
-fallen victims."
-
-"Speak, speak, my friend!" the two men exclaimed, as they prepared to
-listen.
-
-Valentine took the word.
-
-
-[1] Literally, "men of reason"--a graceful expression the whites employ
-to distinguish themselves from the Indians, whom they affect to consider
-brute beasts, and to whom they do not even grant a soul.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-FATHER SERAPHIN.
-
-
-"Gentlemen," said Valentine, "this is what I propose. The treachery of
-Red Cedar, in surrendering to the Government the secret of your
-conspiracy, places you in a critical position, from which you cannot
-escape save by violent measures. You are between life and death. You
-have no alternative save victory or defeat. The powder is fired, the
-ground is mined under your feet, and an explosion is imminent. Well,
-then, pick up the glove treachery throws to you--accept frankly the
-position offered you. Do not wait till you are attacked, but commence
-the contest. Remember the vulgar adage, which is perfectly true in
-politics, and specially in revolution--that 'the first blow is half the
-battle.' Your enemies will be terrified by your boldness--dashed by this
-uprising which they are far from expecting, especially now, when they
-imagine they hold in their hands all the threads of the conspiracy--an
-error which makes them put faith in the revelations of a common spy, and
-will ruin them if you act with skill--above all, with promptitude. All
-depends on the first blow. It must be terrible, and terrify them: if
-not, you are lost."
-
-"All that is true; but we lack time," General Ibanez observed.
-
-"Time is never lacking when a man knows how to employ it properly,"
-Valentine answered peremptorily. "I repeat, you must be beforehand with
-your adversaries."
-
-At this moment the sound of footsteps was heard under the vault of the
-cave. The most extreme silence at once reigned in the chamber where the
-five conspirators were assembled. Mechanically each sought his weapons.
-The steps rapidly approached, and a man appeared in the entrance of the
-hall. On seeing him all present uttered a cry of joy and rose
-respectfully, repeating, "Father Seraphin!"
-
-The man advanced smiling, bowed gracefully, and answered in a gentle and
-melodious voice, which went straight to the soul,--
-
-"Take your places again, gentlemen, I beg of you. I should be truly
-vexed if I caused you any disturbance. Permit me only to sit down for a
-few moments by your side."
-
-They hastened to make room for him. Let us say in a few words who this
-person was, whose unexpected arrival caused so much pleasure to the
-people assembled in the grotto.
-
-Father Seraphin was a man of twenty-four at the most, although the
-fatigues he supported, the harsh labours he had imposed on himself, and
-which he fulfilled with more than apostolic abnegation, had left
-numerous traces on his face, with its delicate features, its gentle and
-firm expression, imprinted with a sublime melancholy, rendered even more
-touching by the beam of ineffable goodness which escaped from his large,
-blue and thoughtful eyes. His whole person, however, exhaled a perfume
-of youth and health which disguised his age, as to which a superficial
-observer might have been easily deceived.
-
-Father Seraphin was a Frenchman, and belonged to the order of the
-Lazarists. For five years he had been traversing as an indefatigable
-missionary, with no other weapon than his staff, the unexplored
-solitudes of Texas and New Mexico, preaching the gospel to the Indians,
-while caring nothing for the terrible privations and nameless sufferings
-he incessantly endured, and the death constantly suspended over his
-head.
-
-Father Seraphin was one of those numerous soldiers, ignored martyrs of
-the army of faith, who, making a shield of the Gospel, spread at the
-peril of their lives the word of God in those barbarous countries, and
-die heroically, falling bravely on their battlefield, worn out by the
-painful exigencies of their sublime mission, aged at thirty, but having
-gained over a few souls to the truth, and shed light among the ignorant
-masses.
-
-The abnegation and devotion of these modest men, yet so great in heart,
-are too much despised in France, where however, the greater number of
-these martyrs are recruited. Their sacrifices pass unnoticed; for, owing
-to the false knowledge possessed of beyond-sea countries, people are far
-from suspecting the continual struggles they have to sustain against a
-deadly climate. And who would credit it? The most obstinate adversaries
-they meet with in the accomplishment of their mission are not among the
-Indians, who always nearly welcome them with respect, if not joy, but
-among the men whom their labours benefit, and who ought to aid and
-protect them with all their might. There is no vexation or humiliation
-which they do not endure from the agents of Mexico and the American
-Union, to try and disgust and compel them to abandon the arena in which
-they combat so nobly.
-
-Father Seraphin had gained the friendship and respect of all those with
-whom accident had brought him into contact. Charmed with meeting a
-fellow countryman in the midst of those vast solitudes so distant from
-that France he never hoped to see again, he had attached himself closely
-to Valentine, to whom he vowed a deep and sincere affection. For the
-same motives, the hunter, who admired the greatness of character of this
-priest so full of true religion, felt himself drawn to him by an
-irresistible liking. They had frequently taken long journeys together,
-the hunter guiding his friend to the Indian tribes across the desolate
-regions of Apacheria.
-
-So soon as Father Seraphin had taken his place near the fire, Eagle-wing
-and Curumilla hastened to offer him all those slight services which they
-fancied might be agreeable to him, and offered him a few lumps of roast
-venison with maize tortillas. The missionary gladly gratified the two
-chiefs, and accepted their offerings.
-
-"It is a long time since we saw you, father," the hacendero said. "You
-neglect us. My daughter asked me about you only two days ago, for she is
-anxious to see you."
-
-"Dona Clara is an angel who does not require me," the missionary replied
-gently. "I have spent nearly two months with the Comanche tribe of the
-Tortoise. Those poor Indians claim all my care. They are thirsting for
-the Divine Word."
-
-"Are you satisfied with your journey?"
-
-"Sufficiently so, for these men are not such as they are represented to
-us. Their instincts are noble, and, as their primitive nature is not
-adulterated by contact with the vicious civilization that surrounds
-them, they easily understood what is explained to them."
-
-"Do you reckon on staying long among us?"
-
-"Yes; this last journey has fatigued me extremely. My health is in a
-deplorable state, and I absolutely need a few days' rest in order to
-regain the requisite strength to continue my ministry."
-
-"Well, father, come with me to the hacienda; you will remain with us,
-and make us all truly happy."
-
-"I am going to make that request to you, Don Miguel. I am delighted that
-you have thus met my wishes. If I accept your obliging offer, it is
-because I know I shall not incommode you."
-
-"On the contrary, we shall be delighted to have you among us."
-
-"Ah! I know the goodness of your heart."
-
-"Do not make me better than I am, father: there is a spice of egotism in
-what I am doing."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Hang it! By labouring at the education of the Indians you render an
-immense service to the race I have the honor of belonging to; for I,
-too, am an Indian."
-
-"That is true," the priest answered with a laugh. "Come, I absolve you
-from the sin of egotism, in favour of the intention which makes you
-commit it."
-
-"Father," Valentine then said, "is the game plentiful in the desert just
-at present?"
-
-"Yes, there is a great deal: the buffaloes have come down from the
-mountains in herds--the elks, the deer, and the antelopes swarm."
-
-Valentine rubbed his hands.
-
-"It will be a good season," he said.
-
-"Yes, for you. As for myself, I have no cause of complaint, for the
-Indians have been most attentive to me."
-
-"All the better. I ever tremble when I know you are among those red
-devils. I do not say that of the Comanches, who are warriors I esteem,
-and have always displayed the sincerest affection for you; but I have a
-terrible fear lest those villains of Apaches may play you a wicked trick
-some fine day."
-
-"Why entertain such ideas, my friend?"
-
-"They are correct. You cannot imagine what treacherous and cruel cowards
-those Apache thieves are. I know them, and carry their marks; but do not
-frighten yourself. If ever they ventured on any extremities against you,
-I know the road to their villages: there is not a nook in the desert
-which I have not thoroughly explored. It is not for nothing I have
-received the name of the 'Trail-hunter.' I swear to you I will not leave
-them a scalp."
-
-"Valentine, you know I do not like to hear you speak so. The Indians are
-poor ignorant men, who know not what they do, and must be pardoned for
-the evil they commit."
-
-"All right--all right!" the hunter growled. "You have your ideas on that
-score, and I mine."
-
-"Yes," the missionary replied with a smile, "but I believe mine be
-better."
-
-"It is possible. You know I do not discuss that subject with you; for I
-do not know how you do it, but you always succeed in proving to me that
-I am wrong."
-
-Everybody laughed at this sally.
-
-"And what are the Indians doing at this moment?" Valentine continued.
-"Are they still fighting?"
-
-"No; I succeeded in bringing Unicorn, the principal chief of the
-Comanches, and Stanapat (the Handful of Blood), the Apache sachem, to an
-interview, at which peace was sworn."
-
-"Hum!" Valentine said incredulously, "that peace will not last long, for
-Unicorn has too many reasons to owe the Apaches a grudge."
-
-"Nothing leads to the supposition, at present, that your forebodings
-will be speedily realised."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because, when I left Unicorn, he was preparing for a grand buffalo
-hunt, in which five hundred picked warriors were to take part."
-
-"Ah, ah! and where do you think the hunt will take place, father?"
-
-"I know for a certainty, because, when I left Unicorn, he begged me to
-invite you to it, as he knew I should see you shortly."
-
-"I willingly accept, for a buffalo hunt always had great attractions for
-me."
-
-"You will not have far to go to find Unicorn, for he is scarce ten
-leagues from this place."
-
-"The hunt will take place, then, in the neighbourhood?"
-
-"The meeting-place is Yellowstone Plain."
-
-"I shall not fail to be there, father. Ah! I am delighted, more than you
-can suppose, at the happy news you have brought me."
-
-"All the better, my friend. Now, gentlemen, I will ask you to excuse me;
-for I feel so broken with fatigue that, with your permission, I will go
-and take a few hours' rest."
-
-"I was a fool not to think of it before," Valentine exclaimed with
-vexation as he struck his forehead. "Pardon me, father."
-
-"I thought for my brother," said Curumilla. "If my father will follow me
-all is ready."
-
-The missionary thanked him with a smile and rose, bowed to all present,
-and supported by Eagle-wing, he followed Curumilla into another chamber
-of the grotto. Father Seraphin found a bed of dry leaves covered with
-bear skins, and a fire so arranged as to burn all night. The two Indians
-retired after bowing respectfully to the father, and assuring themselves
-that he needed nothing more.
-
-After kneeling on the ground of the grotto Father Seraphin laid himself
-on his bed of leaves, crossed his arms on his chest, and fell into that
-childlike sleep which only the just enjoy. After his departure Valentine
-bent over to his two friends.
-
-"All is saved," he said in a low voice.
-
-"How? Explain yourself," they eagerly answered.
-
-"Listen to me. You will spend the night here; at daybreak you will start
-for the Hacienda de la Noria, accompanied by Father Seraphin."
-
-"Good! What next?"
-
-"General Ibanez will proceed, as from you, to the governor, and invite
-him to a grand hunt of wild horses, to take place in three days."
-
-"I do not understand what you are driving at."
-
-"That is not necessary at this moment. Let me guide you; but, above all,
-arrange it so that all the authorities of the town accept your
-invitation and are present at the hunt."
-
-"That I take on myself."
-
-"Very good. You, general, will collect all the men you can, so that they
-can support you on a given signal, but hide themselves so that no one
-can suspect their presence."
-
-"Very good," Don Miguel answered; "all shall be done as you recommend.
-But where will you be all this while?"'
-
-"You know very well," he answered with a smile of undefinable meaning.
-"I shall be hunting the buffalo with my friend Unicorn, the great chief
-of the Comanches."
-
-Hastily breaking off the interview, the hunter wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe, stretched himself before the fire, closed his eyes, and
-slept, or feigned to sleep. After a few minutes' hesitation his friend
-imitated his example, and the grotto became calm and silent as on the
-day of the creation.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-UNICORN.
-
-
-Before retiring to rest Father Seraphin, on the previous evening, had
-whispered a couple of words in the Indians' ears. The sun had scarce
-begun to rise a little above the extreme blue line of the horizon ere
-the missionary opened his eyes, and after a short prayer hurried to the
-hall in which his companions had remained. The four men were still
-asleep, wrapped in their furs and buffalo skins.
-
-"Wake up, brothers," Father Seraphin said, "for day is appearing."
-
-The four men started up in an instant.
-
-"My brothers," the young missionary said in a gentle and penetrating
-voice, "I thought that we ought, before separating, to thank God in
-common: for the blessings He does not cease to vouchsafe to us--to
-celebrate our happy meeting of last night. I have, therefore, resolved
-to hold a mass, at which I shall be happy to see you with that purity of
-heart which such a duty demands."
-
-At this proposition the four men exclaimed gladly their assent.
-
-"I will help you to prepare the altar, father," Valentine said; "the
-idea is excellent."
-
-"The altar is all ready, my friends. Have the kindness to follow me."
-
-Father Seraphin then led them out of the grotto.
-
-In the centre of a small esplanade in front of the cave an altar had
-been built by Eagle-wing and Curumilla on a grassy mound. It was very
-simple. A copper crucifix planted in the centre of the mound, covered by
-a cloth of dazzling whiteness; on either side of it two block-tin
-candlesticks, in which burned candles of yellow tallow, a Bible on the
-right, the pyx in the centre--that was all.
-
-The hunter and the two Mexicans knelt piously, and Father Seraphin
-commenced offering the holy sacrifice, served devotedly by the two
-Indian chiefs.
-
-It was a magnificent morning; thousands of birds, hidden beneath the
-foliage, saluted the birth of day with their harmonious songs; a fickle
-breeze poured through the branches, and refreshed the air; in the
-distance, far as eye could extend, undulated the prairie, with its
-oceans of tall grass incessantly agitated by the hurried foot falls of
-the wild beasts returning to their dens; and on the naked side of this
-hill, at the entrance of this grotto--one of the marvels of the New
-World--a priest, simple as an apostle, was celebrating mass on a grass
-altar under the eye of Heaven, served by two poor savages, and having as
-sole congregation three half-civilised men.
-
-This spectacle, so simple primitive, had something about it imposing and
-sublime, which inspired respect and summoned up dreams of ancient days,
-when the persecuted church took refuse in the desert, to find itself
-face to face with God. Hence the emotion experienced by the witnesses of
-this religious act was sincere. A beam of happiness descended into their
-souls, and it was with real effusion that they thanked the priest for
-the pleasant surprise he had reserved for them. Father Seraphin was
-delighted at the result he had attained. Seeing the truly profound faith
-of his friends, he felt his courage heightened to continue the rude and
-noble task he had imposed on himself.
-
-The mass lasted about three quarters of an hour. When it was finished
-the missionary placed the poor holy vessels in the bag he constantly
-carried with him, and they returned to the grotto for breakfast. An hour
-later, Don Miguel, General Ibanez, and the missionary took leave of
-Valentine, and mounted on their horses, which Curumilla had led to the
-entrance of the ravine. They started at a gallop in the direction of the
-Paso del Norte, whence they were about twenty leagues distant. Valentine
-and the two Indian chiefs remained behind.
-
-"I am about to leave my brother," Eagle-wing said.
-
-"Why not remain with us, chief?"
-
-"My pale brother no longer requires Eagle-wing. The chief hears the
-cries of the men and women of his tribe who were cowardly assassinated,
-and demand vengeance."
-
-"Where goes my brother?" the hunter asked, who was too thoroughly
-acquainted with the character of the Indians to try and change the
-warrior's determination, though he was vexed at his departure.
-
-"The Coras dwell in villages on the banks of the Colorado. Eagle-wing is
-returning to his friends. He will ask for warriors to avenge his
-brothers who are dead."
-
-Valentine bowed.
-
-"May the Great Spirit protect my father!" he said. "The road is long to
-the villages of his tribe. The chief is leaving friends who love him."
-
-"Eagle-wing knows it: he will remember," the chief said with a deep
-intonation.
-
-And, after pressing the hands the two hunters held out to him, he
-bounded on his horse, and soon disappeared in the windings of the
-canyon.
-
-Valentine watched his departure with a sad and melancholy look.
-
-"Shall I ever see him again!" he murmured. "He is an Indian: he is
-following his vengeance. It is his nature: he obeys it, and God will
-judge him. Every man must obey his destiny."
-
-After this aside the hunter threw his rifle on his shoulder and started
-in his turn, followed by Curumilla. Valentine and his comrade were on
-foot: they preferred that mode of travelling, which seemed to them sure,
-and quite as quick as on horseback. The two men, after the Indian
-custom, walked one behind the other, not uttering a syllable; but toward
-midday the heat became so insupportable that they were obliged to stop
-to take a few moments' repose. At length the sunbeams lost their
-strength, the evening breeze rose, and the hunters could resume their
-journey. They soon reached the banks of the Rio Puerco (Dirty River),
-which they began ascending, keeping as close as they could to the banks,
-while following the tracks made since time immemorial by wild animals
-coming down to drink.
-
-The man unacquainted with the splendid American scenery will have a
-difficulty in imagining the imposing and savage majesty of the prairie
-the hunters were traversing. The river, studded with islets covered with
-cottonwood trees, flowed silent and rapid between banks of slight
-elevation, and overgrown with grass so tall that it obeyed the impulse
-of the wind from a long distance. Over the vast plain were scattered
-innumerable hills, whose summits, nearly all of the same height, present
-a flat surface; and for a greater distance northward the ground was
-broadcast with large lumps of pebbles resembling gravestones.
-
-At a few hundred yards from the river rose a conical mound, bearing on
-its summit a granite obelisk one hundred and twenty feet in height. The
-Indians, who, like all primitive nations, are caught by anything
-strange, frequently assembled at this spot; and here the hecatombs are
-offered to the Kitchi Manitou.
-
-A great number of buffalo skulls, piled up at the foot of the column,
-and arranged in circles, ellipses, and other geometrical figures, attest
-their piety for this god of the hunt, whose protecting spirit, they say,
-looks down from the top of the monolith. Here and there grew patches of
-the Indian potato, wild onion, prairie tomato, and those millions of
-strange flowers and trees composing the American flora. The rest of the
-country was covered with tall grass, continually undulating beneath the
-light footfall of the graceful antelopes or big horns, which bounded
-from one rock to the other, startled by the approach of the travellers.
-
-Far, far away on the horizon, mingling with the azure of the sky,
-appeared the denuded peaks of the lofty mountains that serve as
-unassailable fortresses to the Indians: their summits, covered with
-eternal snow, formed the frame of this immense and imposing picture,
-which was stamped with a gloomy and mysterious grandeur.
-
-At the hour when the _maukawis_ uttered its last song to salute the
-setting of the sun, which, half plunged in the purple of evening, still
-jaspered the sky with long red bands, the travellers perceived the tents
-of the Comanches picturesquely grouped on the sides of a verdurous hill.
-The Indians had, in a few hours, improvised a real village with their
-buffalo skin tents, aligned to form streets and squares.
-
-On arriving at about five hundred yards from the village the hunters
-suddenly perceived an Indian horseman. Evincing not the slightest
-surprise, they stopped and unfolded their buffalo robes, which floated
-in the breeze, as a signal of peace. The horseman uttered a loud cry. At
-this signal--for it was evidently one--a troop of Comanche warriors
-debouched at a gallop from the village, and poured like a torrent down
-the sides of the hill, coming up close to the motionless travellers,
-brandishing their weapons, and uttering their war yell.
-
-The hunters waited, carelessly leaning on their guns. Assuredly, to a
-man not acquainted with the singular manners of the prairie, this mode
-of reception would have seemed overt hostilities. But it was not so;
-for, on coming within range of the hunters, the Comanches began making
-their horses leap and curvet with that grace and skill characteristic of
-the Indians, and deploying to the right and left, they formed a vast
-circle, inclosing the two unmoved hunters.
-
-Then a horseman quitted the group, dismounted, and rapidly approached
-the newcomers: the latter hastened to meet him. All three had their arm
-extended with the palm forward in sign of peace. The Indian who thus
-advanced to meet the hunters was Unicorn, the great chief of the
-Comanches.
-
-As a distinctive sign of his race, his skin was of a red tinge, brighter
-than the palest new copper. He was a man of thirty at the most, with
-masculine and expressive features; his face possessed a remarkable
-intelligence, and was stamped with that natural majesty found among the
-savage children of the prairie; he was tall and well built; and his
-muscular limbs evidenced a vigour and suppleness against which few men
-would have contended with advantage.
-
-He was completely painted and armed for war; his black hair was drawn up
-on his head in the form of a casque, and fell down his back like a mane;
-a profusion of wampum collars, claws of grizzly bear, and buffalo teeth
-adorned his breast, on which was painted with rare dexterity a blue
-tortoise, the distinctive sign of the tribe to which he belonged, and of
-the size of a hand.
-
-The rest of his costume was composed of the _mitasses_, fastened round
-the hips by a leathern belt, and descending to the ankles; a deerskin
-shirt, with long hanging sleeves, the seams of which, like those of the
-mitasse, were fringed with leather strips and feathers; a wide cloak, of
-the hide of a female buffalo, was fastened across his shoulders with a
-buckle of pure gold, and fell down to the ground; on his feet he had
-elegant moccasins of different colours, embroidered with beads and
-porcupine quills, from the heels of which trailed several wolf tails; a
-light round shield, covered with buffalo hide, and decorated with human
-scalps, hung on his left side by his panther skin quiver full of arrows.
-His weapons were those of the Comanche Indians; that is to say, the
-scalping knife, the tomahawk, a bow, and an American rifle; but a long
-whip, the handle of which painted red, was adorned with scalps,
-indicated his rank as chief.
-
-When the three men were close together they saluted by raising their
-hands to their foreheads; then Valentine and Unicorn crossed their arms
-by passing the right hand over the left shoulder, and bowing their heads
-at the same time, kissed each other's mouth after the prairie fashion.
-Unicorn then saluted Curumilla in the same way; and this preliminary
-ceremony terminated, the Comanche chief took the word.
-
-"My brothers are welcome at the village of my tribe," he said. "I was
-expecting them impatiently. I had begged the Chief of Prayer of the
-palefaces to invite them in my name."
-
-"He performed his promise last night. I thank my brother for having
-thought of me."
-
-"The two stranger great hunters are friends of Unicorn. His heart was
-sad not to see them near him for the buffalo hunt his young people are
-preparing."
-
-"Here we are! We set out this morning at sunrise."
-
-"My brothers will follow me, and rest at the council fire."
-
-The hunters bowed assent. Each received a horse, and at a signal from
-Unicorn, who had placed himself between them, the troop started at a
-gallop, and returned to the village, which it entered to the deafening
-sound of drums, chikikouis, shouts of joy from the women and children
-who saluted their return, and the furious barking of the dogs. When the
-chiefs were seated round the council fire the pipe was lit, and
-ceremoniously presented to the two strangers, who smoked in silence for
-some minutes. When the pipe had gone the round several times Unicorn
-addressed Valentine.
-
-"Koutonepi is a great hunter," he said to him; "he has often followed
-the buffalo on the plains of the Dirty River. The chief will tell him
-the preparations he has made, that the hunter may give his opinion."
-
-"It is needless, chiefs," Valentine replied. "The buffalo is the friend
-of the redskins: the Comanches know all its stratagems. I should like to
-ask a question of my brother."
-
-"The hunter can speak; my ears are open."
-
-"How long will the chief remain on the hunting grounds with his young
-men?"
-
-"About a week. The buffaloes are suspicious: my young men are
-surrounding them, but they drive them in our direction before four or
-five days."
-
-Valentine gave a start of joy.
-
-"Good," he said. "Is my brother sure of it?"
-
-"Very sure."
-
-"How many warriors have remained with the chief?"
-
-"About four hundred: the rest are scattered over the plain to announce
-the approach of the buffaloes."
-
-"Good! If my brother likes I will procure him a fine hunt within three
-days."
-
-"Ah!" the chief exclaimed, "then my brother has started some game?"
-
-"Oh!" Valentine answered with a laugh, "Let my brother trust to me, and
-I promise him rich spoils."
-
-"Good! Of what game does my brother speak?"
-
-"Of _gachupinos_[1]. In two days they will meet in large numbers not far
-from here."
-
-"Wah!" said the Comanche, whose eyes sparkled at this news, "My young
-men will hunt them. My brother must explain."
-
-Valentine shook his head.
-
-"My words are for the ears of a chief," he said.
-
-Without replying, Unicorn made a signal: the Indians rose silently, and
-left the tent. Curumilla and Unicorn alone remained near the fire.
-Valentine then explained to the Comanche, in its fullest details, the
-plan he had conceived, in the execution of which the aid of the Indians
-was indispensable for him. Unicorn listened attentively without
-interrupting. When Valentine had ended,--
-
-"What does my brother think?" the latter asked, fixing a scrutinising
-glance on the impassive countenance of the chief.
-
-"Wah!" the other replied, "the paleface is very crafty. Unicorn will do
-what he desires."
-
-This assurance filled Valentine's heart with joy.
-
-
-[1] Wearers of shoes--a name given by the Indians to the Spaniards at
-the conquest.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-THE HUNT OF WILD HORSES.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate and his two friends did not reach the hacienda till
-late. They were received in the porch by Don Pablo and Dona Clara, who
-manifested great joy at the sight of the French missionary, for whom
-they felt a sincere esteem and great friendship. Spite of all his care,
-Fray Ambrosio had always seen his advances repelled by the young people,
-in whom he instinctively inspired that fear mingled with disgust that is
-experienced at the sight of a reptile.
-
-Dona Clara, who was very pious, carried this repulsion to such a pitch
-that she only confessed her faults and approached the holy table when
-Father Seraphin came to spend a few days at the hacienda.
-
-Fray Ambrosio was too adroit to appear to notice the effect his presence
-produced on the hacendero's children: he feigned to attribute to
-timidity and indifference on religious matters what was in reality a
-strongly expressed loathing for himself personally. But in his heart a
-dull hatred fermented against the two young folk, and especially against
-the missionary, whom he had several times already attempted to destroy
-by well-laid snares.
-
-Father Seraphin had always escaped them by a providential chance; but in
-spite of the chaplain's obsequious advances, and the offers of service
-he did not fail to overwhelm him with each time they met, the missionary
-had thoroughly read the Mexican monk. He had guessed what fearful
-corruption was hidden beneath his apparent simplicity and feigned piety:
-and while keeping to himself the certainty he had acquired, he remained
-on his guard, and carefully watched this man, whom he suspected of
-incessantly planning some dark treachery against him. Don Miguel left
-his children with the missionary, who immediately took possession of him
-and dragged him away, lavishing on him every possible attention. The
-hacendero retired to his study with General Ibanez, when the two men
-drew up a list of the persons they intended to invite; that is to say,
-the persons Valentine proposed to get out of the way, though they were
-innocent of his scheme. The general then mounted his horse, and rode off
-to deliver the invitations personally. For his part Don Miguel sent off
-a dozen peons and vaqueros in search of the wild horses, and to drive
-them gradually toward the spot chosen for the hunt.
-
-Gen. Ibanez succeeded perfectly: the invitations were gladly accepted,
-and the next evening the guests began arriving at the hacienda, Don
-Miguel receiving them with marks of the most profound respect and lavish
-hospitality.
-
-The governor, General Isturitz, Don Luciano Perez, and seven or eight
-persons of inferior rank were soon assembled at the hacienda. At sunrise
-a numerous party, composed of forty persons, left the hacienda, and
-proceeded, accompanied by a crowd of well-mounted peons, towards the
-meet. This was a vast plain on the banks of the Rio del Norte, where the
-wild horses were accustomed to graze at this season. The caravan
-produced the most singular and picturesque effect with the brilliant
-costumes of the persons who composed it, and their horses glittering
-with gold and silver. Starting at about four a.m. from the hacienda,
-they reached four hours later a clump of trees, beneath whose shade
-tents had been raised and tables laid by Don Miguel's orders, so that
-they might breakfast before the hunt.
-
-The riders, who had been journeying for four hours, already exposed to
-the rays of the sun and the dust, uttered a shout of joy at the sight of
-the tents. Each dismounted: the ladies were invited to do the same,
-among them being the wives of the governor and General Isturitz, and
-Dona Clara, and they gaily sat down round the tables.
-
-Toward the end of the breakfast Don Pablo arrived, who had started the
-evening previously to join the vaqueros. He announced that the horses
-had been started, that a large manada was now crossing the Plain of the
-Coyotes, watched by the vaqueros, and that they must make haste if they
-wished to have good sport. This news augmented the ardor of the hunters.
-The ladies were left in camp under the guard of a dozen well-armed
-peons, and the whole party rushed at a gallop in the direction indicated
-by Don Pablo.
-
-The Plain of the Coyotes extended for an enormous distance along the
-banks of the river. Here and there rose wooded hills, which varied the
-landscape that was rendered monotonous by the tall grass, in which the
-riders disappeared up to their waists. When the hunting party reached
-the skirt of the plain Don Miguel ordered a halt, that they might hold a
-council, and hear the report of the leader of the vaqueros.
-
-The races of wild horses that nowadays people the deserts of North
-America, and especially of Mexico, is descended from Cortez' cavalry.
-Hence it is a pure breed, for at the period of the Spanish conquest only
-Arab horses were employed. These horses have multiplied in really an
-extraordinary manner. It is not rare to meet with manadas of twenty and
-even thirty thousand head. They are small, but gifted with an energy and
-vigour of which it is impossible to form a fair idea without having seen
-them. They accomplish without fatigue journeys of prodigious length.
-Their coat is the same as that of other horses, save that during winter
-it grows very long, and frizzy like the wool of sheep. In spring this
-species of fur falls off. The American horses may be easily trained.
-Generally, so soon as they find themselves caught they easily submit to
-the saddle.
-
-The Mexicans treat their steeds very harshly, make them journey the
-whole day without food or drink, and only give them their ration of
-maize and water on reaching the bivouac, where they let them wander
-about the whole night under guard of the _nena_, a mare whose bell the
-horses follow, and will never leave. It is not from any cruel motive,
-however, that the Mexicans treat their horses thus, for the riders are
-very fond of their animals, which at a given moment may save their
-lives. But it seems that this mode of treatment, which would be
-impracticable in Europe, is perfectly successful in Mexico, where the
-horses are much better off than if treated in a more gentle way.
-
-The leader of the vaqueros made his report. A manada of about ten
-thousand head was two leagues off on the plain, quietly grazing in the
-company of a few elks and buffaloes. The hunters scaled a hill, from the
-top of which they easily saw on the horizon a countless mob of animals,
-grouped in a most picturesque way, and apparently not at all suspecting
-the danger that threatened them.
-
-To hunt the wild horses men must be like the Mexicans, perfect centaurs.
-I have seen the _jinetes_ of that country accomplish feats of
-horsemanship before which our Europeans would turn pale.
-
-After the vaquero's report Don Miguel and his friends held a council,
-and this is the resolution they came to. They formed what is called in
-Mexico the grand circle of the wild horses; that is to say, the most
-skilful riders were echeloned in every direction at a certain distance
-from each other, so as to form an immense circle. The wild horses are
-extremely suspicious: their instinct is so great, their scent is so
-subtle, that the slightest breath of wind is sufficient to carry to them
-the smell of their enemies, and make them set off at headlong speed.
-Hence it is necessary to act with the greatest prudence, and use many
-precautions, if a surprise is desired.
-
-When all the preparations were made the hunters dismounted, and dragging
-their horses after them, glided through the tall grass so as to contract
-the circle. This manoeuvre had gone on for some time, and they had
-sensibly drawn nearer, when the manada began to display some signs of
-restlessness. The horses, which had hitherto grazed calmly, raised their
-heads, pricked their ears, and neighed as they inhaled the air. Suddenly
-they collected, formed a compact band, and started at a trot in the
-direction of some cottonwood trees which stood on the banks of the
-river. The hunt was about to commence.
-
-At a signal from Don Miguel six well-mounted vaqueros rushed at full
-speed ahead of the manada, making their lassoes whistle round their
-heads. The horses, startled by the apparition of the riders, turned back
-hastily, uttering snorts of terror, and fled in another direction. But
-each time they tried to force the circle, horsemen rode into the midst
-of them, and compelled them to turn back.
-
-It is necessary to have been present at such a chase, to have seen this
-hunt on the prairies, to form an idea of the magnificent sight offered
-by all these noble brutes, their eyes afire, their mouths foaming, their
-heads haughtily thrown up, and their manes fluttering in the wind, as
-they bounded and galloped in the fatal circle the hunters had formed
-round them. There is in such a sight something intoxicating, which
-carries away the most phlegmatic, and renders them mad with enthusiasm
-and pleasure.
-
-When this manoeuvre had lasted long enough, and the horses began to grow
-blinded with terror, at a signal given by Don Miguel the circle was
-broken at a certain spot. The horses rushed, with a sound like thunder,
-toward this issue which opened before them, overturning with their
-chests everything that barred their progress. But it was this the
-hunters expected. The horses, in their mad race, galloped on without
-dreaming that the road they followed grew gradually narrower in front of
-them, and terminated in inevitable captivity.
-
-Let us explain the termination of the hunt. The manada had been cleverly
-guided by the hunters toward the entrance of a canyon, or ravine, which
-ran between two rather lofty hills. At the end of this ravine the
-vaqueros had formed, with stakes fifteen feet long, planted in the
-ground, and firmly fastened together with cords of twisted bark, an
-immense corral or inclosure, into which the horses rushed without seeing
-it. In less than no time the corral was full; then the hunters went to
-meet the manada, which they cut off at the risk of their lives, while
-the others closed the entrance of the corral. More than fifteen hundred
-magnificent wild horses were thus captured at one stroke.
-
-The noble animals rushed with snorts of fury at the walls of the
-inclosure, trying to tear up the stakes with their teeth, and dashing
-madly against them. At length they recognised the futility of their
-efforts, lay down, and remained motionless. In the meanwhile a
-tremendous struggle was going on in the ravine between the hunters and
-the rest of the manada. The horses confined in this narrow space made
-extraordinary efforts to open a passage and fly anew. They neighed,
-stamped, and flew at everything that came within their reach. At length
-they succeeded in regaining their first direction, and rushed into the
-plain with the velocity of an avalanche. Several vaqueros had been
-dismounted and trampled on by the horses, and two of them had received
-such injuries that they were carried off the ground in a state of
-insensibility.
-
-With all the impetuosity of youth Don Pablo had rushed into the very
-heart of the manada. Suddenly his horse received a kick which broke its
-off foreleg, and it fell to the ground, dragging its rider with it. The
-hunters uttered a cry of terror and agony. In the midst of this band of
-maddened horses the young man was lost, for he must be trampled to death
-under their hoofs. But he rose with the rapidity of lightning, and quick
-as thought seizing the mane of the nearest horse, he leaped on its back,
-and held on by his knees. The horses were so pressed against one another
-that any other position was impossible. Then a strange thing
-occurred--an extraordinary struggle between the horse and its rider. The
-noble beast, furious at feeling its back dishonoured by the weight it
-bore, bounded, reared, rushed forward; but all was useless, for Don
-Pablo adhered firmly.
-
-So long as it was in the ravine, the horse, impeded by its comrades,
-could not do all it might have wished to get rid of the burden it bore;
-but so soon as it found itself on the plain it threw up its head, made
-several leaps on one side, and then started forward at a speed which
-took away the young man's breath.
-
-Don Pablo held on firmly by digging his knees into the panting sides of
-his steed; he unfastened his cravat, and prepared to play the last scene
-in this drama, which threatened to terminate in a tragic way for him.
-The horse had changed its tactics; it was racing in a straight line to
-the river, resolved to drown itself with its rider sooner than submit.
-The hunters followed with an interest mingled with terror the moving
-interludes of this mad race, when suddenly the horse changed its plans
-again, reared, and tried to fall back with its rider. The hunters
-uttered a shout of agony. Don Pablo clung convulsively to his animal's
-neck, and, at the moment it was falling back, he threw his cravat over
-its eyes with extraordinary skill.
-
-The horse, suddenly blinded, fell back again on its feet, and stood
-trembling with terror. Then the young man dismounted, put his face to
-the horse's head, and breathed into its nostrils, while gently
-scratching its forehead. This operation lasted ten minutes at the most,
-the horse panting and snorting, but not daring to leave the spot. The
-Mexican again leaped on the horse's back, and removed the bandage; it
-remained stunned--Don Pablo had tamed it[1]. Everybody rushed toward the
-young man, who smiled proudly, in order to compliment him on his
-splendid victory. Don Pablo dismounted, gave his horse to a vaquero, who
-immediately passed a bridle round its neck, and then walked toward his
-father, who embraced him tenderly. For more than an hour Don Miguel had
-despaired of his son's life.
-
-
-[1] This mode of taming horses is well known to the Indians, and we
-submit the fact to our readers without comment.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI.
-
-THE SURPRISE.
-
-
-So soon as the emotion caused by Don Pablo's prowess was calmed they
-began thinking about returning. The sun was rapidly descending in the
-horizon: the whole day had been spent with the exciting incidents of the
-chase. The Hacienda de la Noria was nearly ten leagues distant: it was,
-therefore, urgent to start as speedily as possible, unless the party
-wished to run the risk of bivouacking in the open air.
-
-The men would easily have put up with this slight annoyance, which, in a
-climate like that of New Mexico, and at this season of the year, has
-nothing painful about it; but they had ladies with them. Left one or two
-leagues in the rear, they must feel alarmed by the absence of the
-hunters--an absence which, as so frequently happens when out hunting,
-had been protracted far beyond all expectation.
-
-Don Miguel gave the vaqueros orders to brand the captured horses with
-his cipher; and the whole party then returned, laughing and singing, in
-the direction of the tents where the ladies had been left. The vaqueros
-who had served as beaters during the day remained behind to guard the
-horses.
-
-In these countries, where there is scarce any twilight, night succeeds
-the day almost without transition. As soon as the sun had set the
-hunters found themselves in complete darkness; for, as the sun descended
-on the horizon, the shade invaded the sky in equal proportions, and, at
-the moment when the day planet disappeared, the night was complete. The
-desert, hitherto silent, seemed to wake up all at once: the birds,
-stupefied by the heat, commenced a formidable concert, in which joined
-at intervals, from the inaccessible depths of the forest, the snapping
-of the _carcajous_ and the barking of the coyotes mingled with the
-hoarse howling of the wild beasts that had left their dens to come down
-and drink in the river.
-
-Then gradually the cries, the songs, and the howling ceased, and nothing
-was audible save the hurried footfalls of the hunters' horses on the
-pebbles of the road. A solemn silence seemed to brood over this abrupt
-and primitive scenery. At intervals the green tufts of the trees and the
-tall grass bowed slowly with a prolonged rustling of leaves and
-branches, as if a mysterious breath passed over them, and compelled them
-to bend their heads. There was something at once striking and terrible
-in the imposing appearance offered by the prairie at this hour of the
-night, beneath this sky studded with brilliant stars, which sparkled
-like emeralds, in the presence of this sublime immensity, which only
-suffered one voice to be heard--that of Deity.
-
-The young and enthusiastic man to whom it is given to be present at such
-a spectacle feels a thrill run over all his body: he experiences an
-undefinable feeling of happiness and extraordinary pleasure on looking
-round him at the desert, whose unexplored depths conceal from him so
-many secrets, and display to him Divine Majesty in all its grandeur and
-omnipotence. Many a time during our adventurous journeys on the American
-continent, when marching at hazard during these lovely nights so full of
-charms, which nothing can make those comprehend who have not experienced
-them, we have yielded to the soft emotions that overcame us. Isolating
-and absorbing ourselves within ourselves, we, have fallen into a state
-of beatitude, from which nothing had the power of drawing us.
-
-The hunters so gay and talkative at the start, had yielded to this
-omnipotent influence of the desert, and advanced rapidly and silently,
-only exchanging a few syllables at lengthened intervals. The profoundest
-calm still continued to reign over the desert; and while, owing to the
-astonishing transparency of the atmosphere, the eye could embrace a
-horizon, nothing suspicious was visible.
-
-The fireflies buzzed carelessly round the top of the grass, and the
-flickering fires burning before the tents to which the hunters were
-bound could be already seen about half a league ahead. At a signal from
-Don Miguel the party, which had, up to the present, only trotted, set
-out at a long canter; for each felt anxious to leave a scene which, in
-the darkness, had assumed a sinister aspect.
-
-They thus arrived within a hundred yards of the fires, whose ruddy glow
-was reflected on the distant trees, when suddenly a fearful yell crossed
-the air, and from behind every bush out started an Indian horseman
-brandishing his weapons, and making his horse curvet round the white
-men, while uttering his war cry. The Mexicans, taken unawares, were
-surrounded ere they sufficiently recovered from their stupor to think
-about employing their weapons. At a glance Don Miguel judged the
-position: it was a critical one. The hunters were at the most but
-twenty: the number of Comanche warriors surrounding them was at least
-three hundred.
-
-The Comanches and Apaches are the most implacable foes of the white
-race. In their periodical invasions of the frontiers they hardly ever
-make any prisoners: they mercilessly kill all who fall into their hands.
-Still the Mexicans rallied. Certain of the fate that awaited them, they
-were resolved to sell their lives dearly. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation before the commencement of the deadly combat, when suddenly
-an Indian galloped out of the ranks of the warriors, and rode within
-three paces of the little band of Mexicans. On arriving there he
-stopped, and waved his buffalo robe in sign of peace. The governor of
-the provinces prepared to speak.
-
-"Let me carry on the negotiations," Don Miguel said. "I know the Indians
-better than you do, and perhaps I shall succeed in getting out of this
-awkward position."
-
-"Do so," the governor answered.
-
-General Ibanez was the only one who had remained calm and impassive
-since the surprise: he did not make a move to seize his weapons; on the
-contrary, he crossed his arms carelessly on his chest, and took a
-mocking glance at his comrades as he hummed a seguidilla between his
-teeth. Don Pablo had placed himself by his father's side, ready to
-defend him at the peril of his life. The Indian chief took the word.
-
-"Let the palefaces listen," he said; "an Indian sachem is about to
-speak."
-
-"We have no time to spare in listening to the insidious words which you
-are preparing to say to us," Don Miguel replied in a haughty voice.
-"Withdraw, and do not obstinately bar our passage, or there will be
-blood spilt."
-
-"The palefaces will have brought it on themselves," the Comanche
-answered in a gentle voice. "The Indians mean no harm to the pale
-warriors."
-
-"Why, then, this sudden attack? The chief is mad. We do not let
-ourselves be so easily deceived as he seems to suppose: we know very
-well that he wants our scalps."
-
-"No; Unicorn wishes to make a bargain with the palefaces."
-
-"Come, chief, explain yourself; perhaps your intentions are as you
-describe them. I do not wish to reproach myself with having refused to
-listen to you."
-
-The Indian smiled.
-
-"Good!" he said. "The great white chief is becoming reasonable. Let him
-listen, then, to the words Unicorn will pronounce."
-
-"Go on, chief; my comrades and myself are listening."
-
-"The palefaces are thieving dogs," the chief said in a rough voice;
-"they carry on a continual war with the redskins, and buy their scalps
-as if they were peltry; but the Comanches are magnanimous warriors, who
-disdain to avenge themselves. The squaws of the white men are in their
-power: they will restore them."
-
-At these words a shudder of terror ran along the ranks of the hunters;
-their courage failed them; they had only one desire left--that of saving
-those who had so wretchedly fallen into the hands of these bloodthirsty
-men.
-
-"On what conditions will the Comanches restore their prisoners?" Don
-Miguel asked, whose heart was contracted at the thought of his daughter,
-who was also a prisoner. He secretly cursed Valentine, whose fatal
-advice was the sole cause of the frightful evil that assailed him at
-this moment.
-
-"The palefaces," the chief continued, "will dismount and arrange
-themselves in a line. Unicorn will choose from among his enemies those
-whom he thinks proper to carry off as prisoners; the rest will be free,
-and all the women restored."
-
-"Those conditions are harsh, chief. Can you not modify them?"
-
-"A chief has only one word. Do the palefaces consent?"
-
-"Let us consult together for a few moments at any rate."
-
-"Good! Let the white men consult. Unicorn grants them ten minutes," the
-chief made answer.
-
-And turning his horse, he went back to his men. Don Miguel then
-addressed his friends.
-
-"Well; what do you think of what has occurred?"
-
-The Mexicans were terrified: still they were compelled to allow that the
-conduct of the Indians was extraordinary, and that they had never before
-evinced such lenity. Now that reflection had followed on the first
-feeling of excitement, they understood that a struggle against enemies
-so numerous was insensate, and could only result in rendering their
-position worse than it was before, and that the chiefs conditions, harsh
-as they were, offered at least some chance of safety for a portion of
-them, and the ladies would be saved.
-
-This last and all powerful consideration decided them. Don Miguel had no
-occasion to convince them of the necessity of submission. Whatever
-struggle it cost them, they dismounted and arranged themselves in a
-line, as the chief had demanded, Don Miguel and his son placing
-themselves at the head.
-
-Unicorn, with that cool courage characteristic of the Indians, then
-advanced alone toward the Mexicans, who still held their weapons, and
-who, impelled by their despair, and at the risk of being all massacred,
-would have sacrificed him to their vengeance. The chief had also
-dismounted. With his hands crossed on his back, and frowning brow, he
-now commenced his inspection.
-
-Many a heart contracted at his approach, for a question of life and
-death was being decided for these hapless men: only the perspective of
-the atrocious tortures which menaced the ladies could have made them
-consent to this humiliating and degrading condition. The Unicorn,
-however, was generous: he only selected eight of the Mexicans, and the
-rest received permission to mount their horses, and leave the fatal
-circle that begirt them. Still, by a strange accident, or a
-premeditation of which the reason escaped them, these, eight
-prisoners--among whom were the governor, General Isturitz, and the
-criminal judge, Don Luciano Perez--were the most important personages in
-the party, and the members of the Provincial Government.
-
-It was not without surprise that Don Miguel observed this; the
-Comanches, however, faithfully fulfilled their compact, and the ladies
-were at once set at liberty. They had been treated with the greatest
-respect by the Indians, who had surprised their camp, and seized them
-almost in the same way as they had done the hunters--that is to say, the
-camp was invaded simultaneously on all sides. It was a matter worthy of
-remark in an Indian ambuscade that not a drop of blood had been spilt.
-
-After the moments given up to the happiness of seeing his daughter again
-safe and sound, Don Miguel resolved to make a last attempt with Unicorn
-in favour of the unhappy men who remained in his hands. The chief
-listened with deference, and let him speak without interruption; then he
-replied with a smile whose expression the hacendero tried in vain to
-explain,--
-
-"My father has Indian blood in his veins; the redskins love him: never
-will they do him the slightest injury. Unicorn would like to restore him
-immediately the prisoners, for whom he cares very little; but that is
-impossible. My father himself would speedily regret Unicorn's obedience
-to his Wish; but, in order to prove to my father how much the chief
-desires to do a thing that will be agreeable to him, the prisoners will
-not be ill-treated, and will be let off with a few days' annoyance.
-Unicorn consents to accept a ransom for them, instead of making them
-slaves. My father can himself tell them this good news."
-
-"Thanks, chief," Don Miguel answered. "The nobility of your character
-touches my heart: I shall not forget it. Be persuaded that, under all
-circumstances, I shall be happy to prove to you how grateful I am."
-
-The chief bowed gracefully and withdrew, in order to give the hacendero
-liberty to communicate with his companions. The latter were seated sadly
-on the ground, gloomy and downcast. Don Miguel repeated to them the
-conversation he had held with Unicorn, and the promise he had made with
-respect to them. This restored them all their courage; and, with the
-most affectionate words and marks of the liveliest joy, they thanked the
-hacendero for the attempt he had made in their favour.
-
-In fact, thanks to the promise of liberating them for a ransom at the
-end of a week, and treating them well during the period of their
-captivity, there was nothing so very terrifying about the prospect; and
-it was one of those thousand annoyances to which men are exposed by
-accident, but whose proportions had been so reduced in their eyes, that,
-with the carelessness which forms the staple of the national character,
-they were the first to laugh at their mishap.
-
-Don Miguel, however, was anxious to retire; so he took leave of his
-companions, and rejoined the chief. The latter repeated his assurances
-that the prisoners should be free within a week, if they consented each
-to pay a ransom of one thousand piastres, which was a trifle. He assured
-the hacendero that he was at liberty to withdraw whenever he pleased,
-and he should not oppose his departure.
-
-Don Miguel did not allow the invitation to be repeated. His friends and
-himself immediately mounted their horses, together with the ladies, who
-were placed in the centre of the detachment; and after taking leave of
-Unicorn, the Mexicans dug their spurs into their horses, and started at
-a gallop, glad to have got off so cheaply. The campfires were soon left
-far behind them, and General Ibanez then approached his friend, and
-bending down to his ear, whispered,--
-
-"Don Miguel, can the Comanches be our allies? I fancy that they have
-this night given a bold push to the success of our enterprise."
-
-This thought, like a ray of light, had already crossed the hacendero's
-brain several times.
-
-"I do not know," he said with a clever smile; "but at any rate, my dear
-general, they are very adroit foes."
-
-The little band continued to advance rapidly toward the hacienda, which
-was now no great distance, and which they hoped to reach before sunrise.
-The events we have described had occurred in less than an hour.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII.
-
-THE MEETING.
-
-
-"By Jove!" General Ibanez said, "it must be confessed that these red
-devils have done us an immense service without suspecting it. It might
-be said, deuce take me, that they acted under a knowledge of facts. This
-Unicorn, as the chief is called, is a precious man in certain
-circumstances. I am anxious to cultivate his acquaintance, for no one
-knows what may happen. It is often good to have so intelligent a friend
-as him at hand."
-
-"You are always jesting, general. When will you be serious for once?"
-Don Miguel said with a smile.
-
-"What would you have, my friend? We are at this moment staking our heads
-in a desperate game, so let us at any rate keep our gaiety. If we are
-conquered, it will be time enough then to be sad, and make bitter
-reflections about the instability of human affairs."
-
-"Yes, your philosophy is not without a certain dose of fatalism, which
-renders it more valuable to me. I am happy to see you in this good
-temper, especially at a moment when we are preparing to play our last
-card."
-
-"All is not desperate yet, and I have a secret foreboding, on the
-contrary, that all is for the best. Our friend the Trail-hunter, I feel
-convinced, has something to do, if not all, with what has happened to
-us."
-
-"Do you believe it?" Don Miguel asked quickly.
-
-"I am certain of it. You know as well as I do these Indios Bravos, and
-the implacable hatred they have vowed against us. The war they wage with
-us is atrocious; and for them to be suddenly changed from wolves into
-lambs requires some powerful motive to make them act thus. People do not
-lay aside in a moment a hatred which has endured for ages. The
-Comanches, by the choice they made, know the importance of the prisoners
-they have seized. How is it that they consent so easily to give them up
-for a trifling ransom? There is some inexplicable mystery in all this."
-
-"Which is very easy to explain though," a laughing voice interrupted
-from behind the shrubs.
-
-The two Mexicans started, and checked their horses. A man leaped from a
-thicket, and suddenly appeared in the centre of the track the little
-band of hunters was following. The latter, believing in a fresh attack
-and treachery on the part of the Comanches, seized their weapons.
-
-"Stop!" Don Miguel said sharply, "the man is alone. Let me speak with
-him."
-
-Each waited with his hand on his weapon.
-
-"Hold!" Don Miguel continued, addressing the stranger, who stood
-motionless, carelessly resting on his gun. "Who are you, my master?"
-
-"Do you not recognise me, Don Miguel? and must I really tell you my
-name?" the stranger answered with a laugh.
-
-"The Trail-hunter!" Don Miguel exclaimed.
-
-"Himself," Valentine continued. "Hang it all! You take a long time to
-recognise your friends."
-
-"You will forgive us when you know all that has happened to us, and how
-much we must keep on our guard."
-
-"Confound it!" Valentine said laughingly, as he regulated his pace by
-the trot of the horses, "do you fancy you are going to tell me any news?
-Did you not really suspect from what quarter the blow came?"
-
-"What!" Don Miguel exclaimed in surprise, "did you--"
-
-"Who else but I? Do you think the Spaniards are such friends of the
-Indians that the latter would treat them so kindly when meeting them
-face to face in the desert?"
-
-"I was sure of it," General Ibanez affirmed. "I guessed it at the first
-moment."
-
-"Good heavens! Nothing was more simple. Your position, through Red
-Cedar's treachery, was most critical. I wished to give you the time to
-turn round by removing, for a few days, the obstacles that prevented the
-success of your plans. I have succeeded, I fancy."
-
-"You could not have managed better," exclaimed the general.
-
-"Oh!" Don Miguel said with a reproachful accent, "why did you hide it
-from me?"
-
-"For a very simple reason, my friend. I wished that in these
-circumstances your will and conscience should be free."
-
-"But--"
-
-"Let me finish. Had I told you of my plan, it is certain that you would
-have opposed it. You are a man of honor, Don Miguel: your heart is most
-loyal."
-
-"My friend--"
-
-"Answer me. Had I explained to you the plan I formed, what would you
-have done?"
-
-"Well--"
-
-"Answer frankly."
-
-"I should have refused."
-
-"I was sure of it. Why would you have done so? Because you would never
-have consented to violate the laws of hospitality, and betray enemies
-you sheltered beneath your roof, though you knew all the while that
-these men, on leaving you, would have considered it their duty to seize
-you, and that they watched your every movement while sitting by your
-side, and eating at your table. Is it not so?"
-
-"It is true; my honor as a gentleman would have revolted. I could not
-have suffered such horrible treachery to be carried out under my very
-eyes."
-
-"There! You see that I acted wisely in saying nothing to you. In that
-way your honor is protected, your conscience easy, and I have in the
-most simple fashion freed you for some days from your enemies."
-
-"That is true; still--"
-
-"What? Have the prisoners to complain of the way in which they have been
-treated?"
-
-"Not at all; on the contrary, the Comanches, and Unicorn in particular,
-treated them most kindly."
-
-"All is for the best, then. You must congratulate yourself on the
-unexpected success you have achieved, and must now profit by it without
-delay."
-
-
-"I intend to do so."
-
-"You must act at once."
-
-"I ask nothing better. All is ready. Our men are warned, and they will
-rise at the first signal."
-
-"It must be given immediately."
-
-"I only ask the time to leave my daughter at the hacienda; then
-accompanied by my friends, I will march on Paso, while General Ibanez,
-at the head of a second band, seizes Santa Fe."
-
-"The plan is well conceived. Can you count on the persons who follow
-you?"
-
-"Yes; they are all my relatives or friends."
-
-"All for the best. Let us not go further. We are here at the place where
-the roads part; let your horses breathe awhile, and I will tell you a
-plan I have formed, and which, I think, will please you."
-
-The small party halted. The horsemen dismounted, and lay down on the
-grass. As all knew of the conspiracy formed by Don Miguel, and were his
-accomplices in different degrees, this halt did not surprise them, for
-they suspected that the moment for action was not far off, and that
-their chief doubtless wished to take his final measures before throwing
-off the mask, and proclaiming the independence of New Mexico. On
-inviting them to hunt the wild horses, Don Miguel had not concealed from
-them Red Cedar's treachery, and the necessity in which he found himself
-of dealing a great blow, if he did not wish all to be hopelessly lost.
-
-Valentine led the hacendero and the general a short distance apart.
-When they were out of ear-shot the hunter carefully examined the
-neighbourhood; then within a few minutes rejoined his friends, whom his
-way of acting considerably perplexed.
-
-"Caballeros," he said to them, "what do you intend doing? In our
-position minutes are ages. Are you ready to make your pronunciamento?"
-
-"Yes," they answered.
-
-"This is what I propose. You, Don Miguel, will proceed direct on Paso.
-At about half a league from that town you will find Curumilla, with
-twenty of the best rifles on the frontier. These men, in whom you can
-trust, are Canadian and Indian hunters devoted to me. They will form the
-nucleus of a band sufficient for you to seize on Paso without striking a
-blow, as it is only defended by a garrison of forty soldiers. Does that
-plan suit you?"
-
-"Yes; I will set about it at once. But my daughter?"
-
-"I will take charge of her. You will also leave me your son, and I will
-convey them both to the hacienda. As for the other ladies, on reaching
-the town, they will merely go to their homes, which I fancy, presents no
-difficulty."
-
-"None."
-
-"Good! Then that is settled?"
-
-"Perfectly."
-
-"As for you, general, your men have been echelonned by my care in
-parties of ten and twenty along the Santa Fe road, up to two leagues of
-the city, so that you will only have to pick them up. In this way you
-will find yourself, within three hours, at the head of five hundred
-resolute and well-armed men."
-
-"Why, Valentine, my friend," the general said laughingly, "do you know
-there is the stuff in you to make a partisan chief, and that I am almost
-jealous of you."
-
-"Oh! that would be wrong, general: I assure you I am most disinterested
-in the affair."
-
-"Well, my friend, I know it: you are a free desert hunter, caring very
-little for our paltry schemes."
-
-"That is true; but I have vowed to Don Miguel and his family a
-friendship which will terminate with my life. I tremble for him and his
-children when I think of the numberless dangers that surround him, and I
-try to aid him as far as my experience and activity permit me. That is
-the secret of my conduct."
-
-"This profession of faith was at least useless, my friend. I have known
-you too intimately and too long to doubt your intentions. Hence, you
-see, I place such confidence in you, that I accept your ideas without
-discussion, so convinced am I of the purity of your intentions."
-
-"Thanks, Don Miguel; you have judged me correctly. Come, gentlemen, to
-horse, and start. We must separate here--you, Don Miguel, to proceed by
-the right-hand track to Paso; you, general, by the left hand one to
-Santa Fe; while I, with Don Pablo and his sister proceed straight on
-till we reach the Hacienda de la Noria."
-
-"To horse, then!" the hacendero shouted resolutely; "And may God defend
-the right!"
-
-"Yes," the general added; "for from this moment the revolution is
-commenced."
-
-The three men returned to their friends. Don Miguel said a few words to
-his children, and in an instant the whole party were in the saddle.
-
-"The die is cast!" Valentine exclaimed. "May Heaven keep you,
-gentlemen!"
-
-"Forward!" Don Miguel commanded.
-
-"Forward!" General Ibanez shouted, as he rushed in the opposite
-direction.
-
-Valentine looked after his departing friends. Their black outlines were
-soon blended with the darkness, and then the footfalls of their horses
-died out in the night. Valentine gave a sigh and raised his head.
-
-"God will protect them," he murmured; then turning to the two young
-people, "Come on, children," he said.
-
-They started, and for some minutes kept silence. Valentine was too busy
-in thought to address his companions; and yet Dona Clara and Don Pablo,
-whose curiosity was excited to the highest pitch, were burning to
-question him. At length the girl, by whose side the hunter marched with
-that quick step which easily keeps up with a horse, bent down to him.
-
-"My friend," she said to him in her soft voice, "what is taking place?
-Why has my father left us, instead of coming to his house?"
-
-"Yes," Don Pablo added, "he seemed agitated when he parted from us. His
-voice was stern, his words sharp. What is happening, my friend? Why did
-not my father consent to my accompanying him?"
-
-Valentine hesitated to answer.
-
-"I implore you, my friend," Dona Clara continued, "do not leave us in
-this mortal anxiety. The announcement of a misfortune would certainly
-cause us less pain than the perplexity in which we are."
-
-"Why force me to speak, my children?" the hunter answered in a saddened
-voice. "The secret you ask of me is not mine. If your father did not
-impart his plans to you, it was doubtless because weighty reasons oppose
-it. Do not force me to render you more sorrowful by telling you things
-you ought not to know."
-
-"But I am not a child," Don Pablo exclaimed. "It seems tome that my
-father ought not to have thus held his confidence from me."
-
-"Do not accuse your father, my friend," Valentine answered gravely:
-"probably he could not have acted otherwise."
-
-"Valentine, Valentine! I will not accept those poor reasons," the young
-man urged. "In the name of our friendship I insist on your explaining
-yourself."
-
-"Silence!" the hunter suddenly interrupted him. "I hear suspicious
-sounds around us."
-
-The three travellers stopped and listened, but all was quiet. The
-hacienda was about five hundred yards at the most from the spot where
-they halted. Don Pablo and Dona Clara heard nothing, but Valentine made
-them a sign to remain quiet; then he dismounted and placed his ear to
-the ground.
-
-"Follow me," he said. "Something is happening here which I cannot make
-out; but it alarms me."
-
-The young people obeyed without hesitation; but they had only gone a few
-paces when Valentine stopped again.
-
-"Are your weapons loaded?" he sharply asked Don Pablo.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! Perhaps you will have to make use of them."
-
-All at once the gallop of a horse urged to its utmost speed was audible.
-
-"Attention!" Valentine muttered.
-
-Still the horseman, whoever he might be, rapidly advanced in the
-direction of the travellers, and soon came up to them. Suddenly
-Valentine bounded like a panther, seized the horse by the bridle and
-stopped it dead.
-
-"Who are you, and where are you going?" he shouted, as he put a pistol
-barrel against the stranger's chest.
-
-"Heaven be praised!" the latter said, not replying to the question.
-"Perhaps I shall be able to save you. Fly, fly, in all haste!"
-
-"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said with stupor, as he lowered his pistol.
-"What has happened?"
-
-"Fly, fly!" the missionary repeated, who seemed a prey to the most
-profound terror.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
-THE ABDUCTION.
-
-
-Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio had not remained inactive since their last
-interview up to the day when Don Miguel set out to hunt the wild horses.
-These two fellows, so suited to understand each other, had manoeuvred
-with extreme skill. Fray Ambrosio, all whose avaricious instincts had
-been aroused since he had so artfully stolen from poor Joaquin the
-secret of his placer, had assembled a formidable collection of the
-bandits who always swarm on the Indian frontiers. In a few days he found
-himself at the head of one hundred and twenty adventurers, all men who
-had cheated the gallows, and of whom he felt the more sure as the secret
-of the expedition was concealed from them, and they fancied they formed
-a war party engaged to go scalp hunting.
-
-These men, who all knew Red Cedar by reputation, burnt to set out, so
-convinced were they of carrying out a successful expedition under such a
-leader. Only two men formed an exception to this band of scoundrels, the
-smallest culprit of whom had at least three or four murders on his
-conscience. They were Harry, and Dick, who, for reasons the reader has
-doubtless guessed, found themselves, to their great regret, mixed up
-with these bandits. Still we must say, in justice to Fray Ambrosio's
-soldiers, that they were all bold hunters, accustomed for many a year to
-desert life, who knew all its perils, and feared none of its dangers.
-
-Fray Ambrosio; apprehending the effects of mezcal and pulque on his men,
-had made them bivouac at the entrance of the desert, at a sufficiently
-great distance from the Paso del Norte to prevent them easily going
-there. The adventurers spent their time joyously in playing, not for
-money, as they had none, but for the scalps they intended presently to
-lift from the Indians, each of which represented a very decent sum.
-Still Fray Ambrosio, so soon as his expedition was completely organised,
-had only one desire--to start as speedily as possible; but for two days
-Red Cedar was not to be found. At length Fray Ambrosio succeeded in
-catching him just as he was entering his jacal.
-
-"What has become of you?" he asked him.
-
-"What does that concern you?" the squatter answered brutally. "Have I to
-answer for my conduct to you?"
-
-"I do not say so: still, connected as we are at this moment, it would be
-as well for me to know where to find you when I want you."
-
-"I have been attending to my business, as you have to yours."
-
-"Well, are you satisfied?"
-
-"Very much so," he answered with a sinister smile. "You will soon learn
-the result of my journey."
-
-"All the better. If you are satisfied, I am so too."
-
-"Ah, ah!"
-
-"Yes, all is ready for departure."
-
-"Let us be off--tomorrow if you like."
-
-"On this very night."
-
-"Very good. You are like me, and don't care to travel by day on account
-of the heat of the sun."
-
-The two accomplices smiled at this delicate jest.
-
-"But before starting," the squatter continued, becoming serious again,
-"we have something left to do here."
-
-"What is it?" Fray Ambrosio asked with candor.
-
-"It is wonderful what a short memory you have. Take care: that failing
-may play an awkward trick some day."
-
-"Thanks! I will try to correct it."
-
-"Yes, and the sooner the better: in the meanwhile I will refresh your
-memory."
-
-"I shall feel obliged to you."
-
-"And Dona Clara, do you fancy we are going to leave her behind?"
-
-"Hum! Then you still think of that?"
-
-"By Jove! More than ever."
-
-"The fact is it will not be easy to carry her off at this moment."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"In the first place, she is not at the hacienda."
-
-"That is certainly a reason."
-
-"Is it not?"
-
-"Yes; but she must be somewhere, I suppose?" the squatter said with a
-coarse laugh.
-
-"She has gone with her father to a hunt of wild horses."
-
-"The hunt is over and they are on their return."
-
-"You are well informed."
-
-"It is my trade. Come, do you still mean serving me?"
-
-"I must."
-
-"That is how I like you. There cannot be many people at the hacienda?"
-
-"A dozen at the most."
-
-"Better still. Listen to me: it is now four in the afternoon. I have a
-ride to take. Return to the hacienda, and I will come there this evening
-at nine, with twenty resolute men. You will open the little gate of the
-corral, and leave me to act. I'll answer for all."
-
-"If you wish it it must be so," Fray Ambrosio said with a sigh.
-
-"Are you going to begin again?" the squatter asked in a meaning voice as
-he rose.
-
-"No, no, it is unnecessary," the monk exclaimed. "I shall expect you."
-
-"Good: till this evening."
-
-"Very well."
-
-On which the two accomplices separated. All happened as had been
-arranged between them. At nine o'clock Red Cedar reached the little
-gate, which was opened for him by Fray Ambrosio, and the squatter
-entered the hacienda at the head of his three sons and a party of
-bandits. The peons, surprised in their sleep, were bound before they
-even knew what was taking place.
-
-"Now," Red Cedar said, "we are masters of the place, the girl can come
-as soon as she likes."
-
-"Eh?" the monk went on. "All is not finished yet. Don Miguel is a
-resolute man, and is well accompanied: he will not let his daughter be
-carried off under his eyes without defending her."
-
-"Don Miguel will not come," the squatter said with a sardonic grin.
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"That is not your business."
-
-"We shall see."
-
-But the bandits had forgotten Father Seraphin. The missionary, aroused
-by the unusual noise he heard in the hacienda, had hastily risen. He had
-heard the few words exchanged between the accomplices, and they were
-sufficient to make him guess the fearful treachery they meditated. Only
-listening to his heart, the missionary glided out into the corral,
-saddled a horse, and opening a door, of which he had a key, so that he
-could enter or leave the hacienda as his duties required, he started at
-full speed in the direction which he supposed the hunters must follow in
-returning to the hacienda. Unfortunately, Father Seraphin had been
-unable to effect his flight unheard by the squatter's practised ear.
-
-"Malediction!" Red Cedar shouted, as he rushed, rifle in hand, toward a
-window, which he dashed out with his fist, "We are betrayed."
-
-The bandits rushed in disorder into the corral where their horses were
-tied up, and leaped into their saddles. At this moment a shadow flitted
-across the plain in front of the squatter, who rapidly shouldered his
-rifle and fired. Then he went out: a stifled cry reached his ear, but
-the person the bandit had fired at still went on.
-
-"No matter," the squatter muttered; "that fine bird has lead in its
-wing. Sharp, sharp, my men, on the trail!"
-
-And all the bandits rushed off in pursuit of the fugitive.
-
-Father Seraphin had fallen in a fainting condition at Valentine's feet.
-
-"Good heavens!" the hunter exclaimed in despair, "what can have
-happened?"
-
-And he gently carried the missionary into a ditch that ran by the side
-of the road. Father Seraphin had his shoulder fractured, and the blood
-poured in a stream from the wound. The hunter looked around him; but at
-this moment a confused sound could be heard like the rolling of distant
-thunder.
-
-"We must fall like brave men, Don Pablo, that is all," he said sharply.
-
-"Be at your ease," the young man answered coldly.
-
-Dona Clara was pale and trembling.
-
-"Come," Valentine said.
-
-And, with a movement rapid as thought, he bounded on to the missionary's
-horse. The three fugitives started at full speed. The flight lasted a
-quarter of an hour, and then Valentine stopped. He dismounted, gave the
-young people a signal to wait, lay down on the ground, and began
-crawling on his hands and knees, gliding like a serpent through the long
-grass that concealed him, and stopping at intervals to look around him,
-and listen attentively to the sounds of the desert. Suddenly he rushed
-towards his companions, seized the horses by the bridle, and dragged
-them behind a mound, where they remained concealed, breathless and
-unable to speak.
-
-A formidable noise of horses was audible. Some twenty black shadows
-passed like a tornado within ten paces of their hiding place, not seeing
-them in consequence of the darkness.
-
-Valentine drew a deep breath.
-
-"All hope is not lost," he muttered.
-
-He waited anxiously for five minutes: their pursuers were going further
-away. Presently the sound of their horses' hoofs ceased to disturb the
-silence of the night.
-
-"To horse!" Valentine said.
-
-They leaped into their saddles and started again, not in the direction
-of the hacienda, but in that of the Paso.
-
-"Loosen your bridles," the hunter said: "more still--we are not moving."
-
-Suddenly a loud neigh was borne on the breeze to the ears of the
-fugitives.
-
-"We are lost!" Valentine muttered. "They have found our trail."
-
-Red Cedar was too old a hand on the prairie to be long thrown out: he
-soon perceived that he was mistaken, and was now turning back, quite
-certain this time of holding the trail. Then began one of those fabulous
-races which only the dwellers on the prairie can witness--races which
-intoxicate and cause a giddiness, and which no obstacle is powerful
-enough to stop or check, for the object is success or death. The
-bandits' half wild horses, apparently identifying themselves with the
-ferocious passions of their riders, glided through the night with the
-rapidity of the phantom steed in the German ballad, bounded over
-precipices, and rushed with prodigious speed.
-
-At times a horseman rolled with his steed from the top of a rock, and
-fell into an abyss, uttering a yell of distress; but his comrades passed
-over his body, borne along like a whirlwind, and responding to this cry
-of agony, the final appeal of a brother, by a formidable howl of rage.
-This pursuit had already lasted two hours, and the fugitives had not
-lost an inch of ground: their horses, white with foam, uttered hoarse
-cries of fatigue and exhaustion as a dense smoke came out of their
-nostrils. Dona Clara, with her hair untied and floating in the breeze,
-with sparkling eye and closely pressed lips, constantly urged her horse
-on with voice and hand.
-
-"All is over!" the hunter suddenly said. "Save yourselves! I will let
-myself be killed here, so that you may go on for ten minutes longer, and
-be saved. I will hold out for that time, so go on."
-
-"No," Don Pablo answered nobly; "we will be all saved or perish
-together."
-
-"Yes," the maiden remarked.
-
-Valentine shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"You are mad," he said.
-
-All at once he started, for their pursuers were rapidly approaching.
-
-"Listen," he said. "Do you two let yourselves be captured; they will not
-follow me, as they owe me no grudge. I swear to you that if I remain at
-liberty I will deliver you, even if they hide you in the bowels of the
-earth."
-
-Without replying Don Pablo dismounted, and Valentine leaped on to his
-horse.
-
-"Hope for the best!" he shouted hoarsely, and disappeared.
-
-Don Pablo, so soon as he was alone with his sister, made her dismount,
-seated her at the foot of a tree, and stood before her with a pistol in
-either hand. He had not to wait long, for almost immediately he was
-surrounded by the bandits.
-
-"Surrender!" Red Cedar shouted in a panting voice.
-
-Don Pablo smiled disdainfully.
-
-"Here is my answer," he said.
-
-And with two pistol shots he laid two bandits low; then he threw away
-his useless weapons, and crossing his arms on his breast said,--
-
-"Do what you please now; I am avenged."
-
-Red Cedar bounded with fury.
-
-"Kill that dog!" he shouted.
-
-Shaw rushed toward the young man, threw his nervous arms around him, and
-whispered in his ear,--
-
-"Do not resist, but fall as if dead."
-
-Don Pablo mechanically followed his advice.
-
-"It is all over," said Shaw. "Poor devil! He did not cling to life."
-
-He returned his knife to his belt, threw the supposed corpse on his
-shoulders, and dragged it into a ditch. At the sight of her brother's
-body, whom she supposed to be dead, Dona Clara uttered a shriek of
-despair and fainted. Red Cedar laid the maiden across his saddle-bow,
-and the whole band, starting at a gallop was soon lost in the darkness.
-Don Pablo then rose slowly, and took a sorrowful glance around.
-
-"My poor sister!" he murmured.
-
-Then he perceived her horse near him.
-
-"Valentine alone can save her," he said.
-
-He mounted the horse, and proceeded toward the Paso, asking himself this
-question, which he found it impossible to answer:--
-
-"But why did not that man kill me?"
-
-A few paces from the village he perceived two men halting on the road,
-and conversing with the greatest animation. They hurriedly advanced
-toward him, and the young man uttered a cry of surprise on recognising
-them. They were Valentine and Curumilla.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV.
-
-THE REVOLT.
-
-
-Don Miguel Zarate had marched rapidly on the Paso, and an hour after
-leaving Valentine he saw flashing in the distance the lights that shone
-in the village windows. The greatest calmness prevailed in the vicinity;
-only at times could be heard the barking of the dogs baying at the moon,
-or the savage miawling of the wild cats hidden in the shrubs. At about
-one hundred yards from the village a man suddenly rose before the small
-party.
-
-"Who goes there?" he shouted.
-
-"_Mejico e independencia!_" the hacendero answered.
-
-"_?Que gente?_" the stranger continued.
-
-"Don Miguel Zarate."
-
-At these words twenty men hidden in the brushwood rose suddenly, and
-throwing their rifles on their shoulders, advanced to meet the horsemen.
-They were the hunters commanded by Curumilla, who, by Valentine's
-orders, were awaiting the hacendero's arrival to join him.
-
-"Well," Don Miguel asked the chief, "is there anything new?"
-
-Curumilla shook his head.
-
-"Then we can advance?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"What is the matter, chief? Have you seen anything alarming?"
-
-"No; and yet I have a feeling of treachery."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"I cannot tell you. Apparently everything is as usual: still there is
-something which is not so. Look you, it is scarce ten o'clock: generally
-at that hour all the mesones are full, the ventas are crammed with
-gamblers and drinkers, the streets flocked with promenaders. This night
-there is nothing of the sort: all is closed--the town seems abandoned.
-This tranquillity is factitious. I am alarmed, for _I hear the silence_.
-Take care."
-
-Don Miguel was involuntarily struck by the chief's remarks. He had known
-Curumilla for a long time. He had often seen him display in the most
-dangerous circumstances a coolness and contempt for death beyond all
-praise: hence some importance must be attached to the apprehensions and
-anxiety of such a man. The hacendero ordered his party to halt,
-assembled his friends, and held a council. All were of opinion that,
-before venturing to advance further, they should send as scout a clever
-man to traverse the town, and see for himself if the fears of the Indian
-chief were well founded.
-
-One of the hunters offered himself. The conspirators concealed
-themselves on either side the road, and awaited, lying in the shrubs,
-the return of their messenger. He was a half-breed, Simon Munez by
-name, to whom the Indians had given the soubriquet of "Dog-face," owing
-to his extraordinary likeness to that animal. This name had stuck to the
-hunter, who, _nolens volens_, had been compelled to accept it. He was
-short and clumsy, but endowed with marvellous strength; and we may say
-at once that he was an emissary of Red Cedar, and had only joined the
-hunters in order to betray them.
-
-When he left the conspirators he proceeded toward the village whistling.
-He had scarce taken a dozen steps into the first street ere a door
-opened, and a man appeared. This man stepped forward and addressed the
-hunter.
-
-"You whistle very late, my friend."
-
-"A whistle to wake those who are asleep," the half breed made answer.
-
-"Come in," the man continued.
-
-Dog-face went in, and the door closed upon him. He remained in the house
-half an hour, then went out, and hurried back along the road he had
-traversed.
-
-Red Cedar, who wished before all to avenge himself on Don Miguel Zarate,
-had discovered, through Fray Ambrosio, the conspirators' new plan.
-Without loss of time he had taken his measures in consequence, and had
-managed so well that, although the general, the governor, and the
-criminal judge were prisoners, Don Miguel must succumb in the contest he
-was preparing to provoke. Fray Ambrosio, to his other qualities, joined
-that of being a listener at doors. In spite of the distrust which his
-patron was beginning to display toward him on Valentine's
-recommendation, he had surprised a conversation between Don Miguel and
-General Ibanez. This conversation, immediately reported to Red Cedar,
-who, according to his usual custom, had appeared to attach no importance
-to it, had been sufficient, however, to make the squatter prepare his
-batteries and countermine the conspiracy.
-
-Dog-face rejoined his companions after an hour's absence.
-
-"Well?" Don Miguel asked him.
-
-"All is quiet," the half-breed answered; "the inhabitants have retired
-to their houses, and everybody is asleep."
-
-"You noticed nothing of a suspicious nature?"
-
-"I went through the town from one end to the other, and saw nothing."
-
-"We can advance, then?"
-
-"In all security: it will only be a promenade."
-
-On this assurance the conspirators regained their courage, Curumilla was
-treated as a visionary, and the order was given to advance. Still
-Dog-face's report, far from dissipating the Indian chief's doubts, had
-produced the contrary effect, and considerably augmented them. Saying
-nothing, he placed himself by the hunter's side, with the secret
-intention of watching him closely.
-
-The plan of the conspirators was very simple. They would march directly
-on the Cabildo (Town hall), seize it, and proclaim a Provisional
-Government. Under present circumstances nothing appeared to be easier.
-Don Miguel and his band entered the Paso, and nothing occurred to arouse
-their suspicions. It resembled that town in the "Arabian Nights," in
-which all the inhabitants, struck by the wand of the wicked enchanter,
-sleep an eternal sleep. The conspirators advanced into the town with
-their rifle barrels thrust forward, with eye and ear on the watch, and
-ready to fire at the slightest alarm; but nothing stirred. As Curumilla
-had observed, the town was too quiet. This tranquillity hid something
-extraordinary, and must conceal the tempest. In spite of himself Don
-Miguel felt a secret apprehension which he could not master.
-
-To our European eyes Don Miguel will perhaps appear a poor conspirator,
-without foresight or any great connection in his ideas. From our point
-of view that is possible; but in a country like Mexico, which counts its
-revolutions by hundreds, and where _pronunciamentos_ take place, in most
-cases, without sense or reason because a colonel wishes to become a
-general, or a lieutenant a captain, things are not regarded so closely;
-and the hacendero, on the contrary, had evidenced tact, prudence, and
-talent in carrying out a conspiracy which, during the several years it
-had been preparing, had only come across one traitor. And now it was too
-late to turn back: the alarm had been given, and the Government was on
-its guard. They must go onwards, even if they succumbed in the struggle.
-
-All these considerations had been fully weighed by Don Miguel; and he
-had not given the signal till he was driven into his last intrenchments,
-and convinced that there was no way of escape left him. Was it not a
-thousand fold better to die bravely with arms in their hands, in support
-of a just cause, than wait to be arrested without having made an attempt
-to succeed? Don Miguel had sacrificed his life, and no more could be
-expected of him.
-
-In the meanwhile the conspirators advanced. They had nearly reached the
-heart of the town; they were at this moment in a little, dirty, and
-narrow street, called the Calle de San Isidro, which opens out on the
-Plaza Mayor, when suddenly a dazzling light illumined the darkness;
-torches flashed from all the windows; and Don Miguel saw that the two
-ends of the street in which he was were guarded by strong detachments of
-cavalry.
-
-"Treachery!" the conspirators shouted in terror.
-
-Curumilla bounded on Dog-face, and buried his knife between his
-shoulders. The half-breed fell in a lump, quite dead, and not uttering a
-cry. Don Miguel judged the position at the first glance: he saw that he
-and his party were lost.
-
-"Let us die!" he said.
-
-"We will!" the conspirators resolutely responded.
-
-Curumilla with the butt of his rifle beat in the door of the nearest
-house, and rushed in, the conspirators following him. They were soon
-intrenched on the roof. In Mexico all the houses have flat roofs, formed
-like terraces. Thanks to the Indian chief's idea, the rebels found
-themselves in possession of an improvised fortress, where they could
-defend themselves for a long time, and sell their lives dearly.
-
-The troops advanced from each end of the street, while the roofs of all
-the houses were occupied by soldiers. The battle was about to begin
-between earth and heaven, and promised to be terrible. At this moment
-General Guerrero, who commanded the troops, bade them halt, and advanced
-alone to the house on the top of which the conspirators were intrenched.
-Don Miguel beat up the guns of his comrades, who aimed at the officer.
-
-"Wait," he said to them; and, addressing the general, "What do you
-want?" he shouted.
-
-"To offer you propositions."
-
-"Speak."
-
-The general came a few paces nearer, so that those he addressed could
-not miss one of his words.
-
-"I offer you life and liberty if you consent to surrender your leader,"
-he said.
-
-"Never!" the conspirators shouted in one voice.
-
-"It is my place to answer," Don Miguel said; and then turning to the
-general, "What assurance do you give me that these conditions will be
-honourably carried out?"
-
-"My word of honor as a soldier," the general answered.
-
-"Very good," Don Miguel went on; "I accept. All the men who accompany me
-will leave the town one after the other."
-
-"No, we will not!" the conspirators shouted as they brandished their
-weapons; "we would sooner die."
-
-"Silence!" the hacendero said in a loud voice. "I alone have the right
-to speak here, for I am your chief. The life of brave men like you must
-not be needlessly sacrificed. Go, I say; I order you--I implore it of
-you," he added with tears in his voice. "Perhaps you will soon take your
-revenge."
-
-The conspirators hung their heads mournfully.
-
-"Well?" the general asked.
-
-"My friends, accept. I will remain alone here. If you break your word I
-will kill myself."
-
-"I repeat that you hold my word," the general answered.
-
-The conspirators came one after the other to embrace Don Miguel, and
-then went down into the street without being in any way interfered with.
-Things happen thus in this country, where conspiracies and revolutions
-are on the order of the day, as it were. The defeated are spared as far
-as possible, from the simple reason that the victors may find themselves
-tomorrow fighting side by side with them for the same cause. Curumilla
-was the last to depart.
-
-"All is not ended yet," he said to Don Miguel. "Koutonepi will save you,
-father."
-
-The hacendero shook his head sadly.
-
-"Chief," he said in a deeply moved voice, "I leave my daughter to
-Valentine, Father Seraphin, and yourself. Watch over her: the poor child
-will soon have no father."
-
-Curumilla embraced Don Miguel silently and retired; he had soon
-disappeared in the crowd, the general having honourably kept his word.
-
-Don Miguel threw down his weapons and descended.
-
-"I am your prisoner," he said.
-
-General Guerrero bowed, and made him a sign to mount the horse a soldier
-had brought up.
-
-"Where are we going?" the hacendero said.
-
-"To Santa Fe," the general answered, "where you will be tried with
-General Ibanez, who will doubtless soon be a prisoner like yourself."
-
-"Oh!" Don Miguel muttered thoughtfully, "who betrayed us this time?"
-
-"It was still Red Cedar," the general answered.
-
-The hacendero let his head sink on his chest, and remained silent. A
-quarter of an hour later the prisoner left the Paso del Norte, escorted
-by a regiment of dragoons. When the last trooper had disappeared in the
-windings of the road three men left the shrubs that concealed them, and
-stood like three phantoms in the midst of the desolate plain.
-
-"O heavens!" Don Pablo cried in a heart-rending voice, "my father, my
-sister--who will restore them to me?"
-
-"I!" Valentine said in a grave voice, as he laid his hand on his
-shoulder. "Am I not the TRAIL-HUNTER?"
-
-
-
-
-PART II.--EL PRESIDIO DE SANTA FE.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-EL RANCHO DEL COYOTE.
-
-
-About a month after the events we have described in the first part of
-this veracious history, two horsemen, well mounted, and carefully
-enwrapped in their cloaks, entered at a smart trot the town of Santa Fe
-between three and four o'clock in the afternoon.
-
-Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, is a pretty town, built in the
-midst of a laughing and fertile plain. One of its sides occupies the
-angle formed by a small stream: it is surrounded by the _adobe_ walls of
-the houses by which it is bordered. The entrance of each street is
-closed by stakes in the form of palisades; and like the majority of
-towns in Spanish America, the houses, built only one story high in
-consequence of the earthquakes, are covered with terraces of well-beaten
-earth, called _azoteas,_ which are a sufficient protection in this
-glorious climate, where the sky is constantly pure.
-
-In the time of the Castilian rule Santa Fe enjoyed a certain importance,
-owing to its strategic position, which allowed an easy defence against
-the incursions of the Indians; but since the emancipation of Mexico this
-city, like all the other centres of population in his unhappy country,
-has seen its splendour vanish forever, and despite the fertility of its
-soil and the magnificence of its climate, it has entered into such a
-state of decadence that the day is at hand when it will be only an
-uninhabited ruin. In a word, this city, which fifty years back contained
-more than ten thousand inhabitants, has now scarcely three thousand,
-eaten up by fevers and the utmost wretchedness.
-
-Still during the last few weeks Santa Fe had appeared to emerge, as if
-by magic from the lethargy into which it is ordinarily plunged; a
-certain degree of animation prevailed in its usually deserted streets;
-in short, a new life circulated in the veins of this population, to
-whom, however, all must appear a matter of indifference. The fact was
-that an event of immense importance had recently taken place in this
-town. The two leaders of the conspiracy lately attempted had been
-transferred to safe keeping at Santa Fe.
-
-The Mexicans, ordinarily so slow when justice has to be dealt, are the
-most expeditious people in the world when a conspiracy has to be
-punished. Don Miguel and General Ibanez had not pined long in prison. A
-court martial, hurriedly convened, had assembled under the presidency of
-the governor, and the two conspirators were unanimously condemned to be
-shot.
-
-The hacendero, through his name and his position, and especially on
-account of his fortune, had numerous partisans in the province: hence
-the announcement of the verdict had caused a profound stupor, which
-almost immediately changed into anger, among the rich land owners and
-the Indians of New Mexico. A dull agitation prevailed throughout the
-country; and the governor, who felt too weak to hold head against the
-storm that threatened him, and regretted that he had carried matters so
-far, was temporising, and trying to evade the peril of his position
-until a regiment of dragoons he had asked of the Government arrived, and
-gave strength to the law. The condemned men, whom the governor had not
-yet dared to place in _capilla_, were still provisionally detained in
-the prison.
-
-The two men of whom we have spoken, rode without stopping through the
-streets of the town, deserted at this hour, when everybody is at home
-enjoying his siesta, and proceeded toward an unpretending rancho, built
-on the banks of the stream, at the opposite end of the town from that by
-which they entered.
-
-"Well," one of the horsemen said, addressing his comrade, "was I not
-right? You see everyone is asleep: there is nobody to watch us. We have
-arrived at a capital moment."
-
-"Bah!" the other answered in a rough voice, "Do you believe that? In
-towns there is always somebody watching to see what does not concern
-him, and report it after his fashion."
-
-"That is possible," the first said, shrugging his shoulders
-disdainfully. "I care about it as little as I do for a stringhalt
-horse."
-
-"And I, too," the other said sharply. "Do you imagine that I care more
-than you do for the gossips? But stay; I fancy we have reached the
-rancho of Andres Garote. This must be the filthy tenement, unless I am
-mistaken."
-
-"It is the house. I only hope the scamp has not forgotten, the meeting I
-gave him. Wait a minute, senor padre; I will give the agreed-on signal."
-
-"It is not worth while, Red Cedar. You know that I am always at your
-excellency's orders when you may please to give them," a mocking voice
-said from inside the rancho, the door of which immediately opened to
-give admission to the newcomers, and allowed a glimpse of the tall
-figure and intelligent face of Andres Garote himself.
-
-"_Ave Maria purisima!_" the travellers said, as they dismounted and
-entered the rancho.
-
-"_Sin pecado concebida!_" Andres replied, as he took the bridles of the
-horses and led them to the corral, where he unsaddled them and gave each
-a truss of alfalfa.
-
-The travellers, fatigued by a long journey, sat down on butacas arranged
-against the wall, and awaited the host's return, while wiping their dank
-foreheads and twisting a maize cigarette between their fingers. The room
-in which they were had nothing extremely attractive about it. It was a
-large chamber with two windows, protected by iron bars, the greasy panes
-allowing but a doubtful light to pass. The naked and smoky walls were
-covered with clumsily-painted pictures, representing various holy
-objects. The furniture only consisted of three or four halting tables,
-the same number of benches, and a few butacas, the torn and harsh
-leather of which evinced lengthened use. As for the floor, it was merely
-of beaten earth, but rendered uneven by the mud incessantly brought in
-upon the feet of visitors. A door carefully closed led to an inner room,
-in which the ranchero slept. Another door was opposite to it, and
-through this Andres speedily entered after giving the horses their
-provender.
-
-"I did not expect you yet," he said as he entered; "but you are welcome.
-Is there anything new?"
-
-"My faith, I know nothing but the affair that brings us. It is rather
-serious, I fancy, and prevents us attending to anything else," Red Cedar
-remarked.
-
-"_Caspita_! what vivacity, compadre!" Andres exclaimed. "But, before
-talking, I hope you will take some refreshment at any rate. There is
-nothing like a cup of mezcal or pulque to clear the brain."
-
-"Not to forget," Fray Ambrosio said, "that it is infernally hot, and my
-tongue is glued to my palate, as I have swallowed so much dust."
-
-"_Cuerpo de Dios_!" Andres said as he went to look for a bottle among
-several others arranged on a sort of bar, and placed it before the
-travellers. "Pay attention to that, senor padre; for it is serious, and
-you run a risk of death, _caray!_"
-
-"Give me the remedy, then, chatterer," the monk replied as he held out
-his glass.
-
-The mezcal, liberally poured out, was swallowed at a draught by the
-three men, who put back their glasses on the table with a "hum" of
-satisfaction, and that clinking of the tongue peculiar to topers when
-they are swallowing anything that tickles the throat.
-
-"And now suppose we talk seriously," Red Cedar said.
-
-"At your orders, senores caballeros," Andres replied. "Still, if you
-prefer a hand at monte, you know that I have cards at your service."
-
-"Presently, senor Andres, presently. Everything will have its turn. Let
-us first settle our little business," Fray Ambrosio judiciously
-observed.
-
-Andres Garote bowed his head in resignation, while thrusting back into
-his pocket the pack of cards he had already half drawn out. The three
-men made themselves as comfortable as they could, and Red Cedar, after
-casting a suspicious glance around him, at length took the word.
-
-"You know, caballeros," he said, "how, when we thought we had nothing to
-do but proceed straight to Apacheria, the sudden desertion of nearly all
-our gambusinos checked us. The position was most critical for us, and
-the abduction of Dona Clara compelled us to take the utmost
-precautions."
-
-"That is true," Andres Garote observed with an air of conviction.
-
-"Although certain influential persons protect us under the rose," Red
-Cedar continued, "we are compelled to keep in the shade as far as we
-can. I therefore sought to remedy the gravest points in the business. In
-the first place, the girl was hidden in an inaccessible retreat, and
-then I began looking for comrades to take the place of those who
-abandoned us so suddenly."
-
-"Well?" the two men interrupted him sharply.
-
-"At this moment," Red Cedar calmly continued, "when the placers of
-California call away all the men belonging to the profession, it was
-certainly no easy task to collect one hundred men of the sort we want,
-the more so as we shall have to fight the Indios Bravos in our
-expedition. I did not care to enlist novices, who at the sight of the
-first Apache or Comanche savages, would bolt in terror, and leave us in
-the lurch on the prairies. What I wanted were resolute men, whom no
-fatigue would disgust, and who, once attached to our enterprise, would
-follow it out to the end. I have, therefore, during the past month, been
-running about to all the frontier presidios; and the devil has come to
-my help tolerably well, for the evil is now repaired, and the band
-complete."
-
-"I hope, Red Cedar," Fray Ambrosio asked, "that you have not spoken
-about the placer to your men?"
-
-"Do you take me for a fool! No, padre," the squatter answered sharply,
-"no, no. A hundred thousand reasons urge us to be prudent, and keep the
-expedition secret. In the first place, I do not wish to make the fortune
-of the Government while making our own. An indiscretion would ruin us
-now, when the whole world only dreams of mines and placers, and Europe
-sends us a mob of lean and starving vagabonds, greedy to grow fat at our
-expense."
-
-"Famously reasoned," said Andres.
-
-"No, no, trust to me. I have assembled the finest collection of picaros
-ever brought together for an expedition, all food for the gallows,
-ruined by monte, who do not care for hard blows, and on whom I can fully
-count, while being very careful not to drop a word that can enlighten
-them as to the spot whither we propose leading them; for, in that case,
-I know as well as you do that they would abandon us without the
-slightest scruples, or, as is even more probable, assassinate us to gain
-possession of the immense treasures we covet."
-
-"Nothing can be more just," Fray Ambrosio answered. "I am quite of your
-opinion, Red Cedar. Now what have you resolved on?"
-
-"We have not an instant to lose," the squatter continued. "This very
-evening, or tomorrow at the latest, we must set out. Who knows whether
-we have not already delayed our start too long? Perhaps one of those
-European vagabonds may have discovered our placer, for those scoundrels
-have a peculiar scent for gold."
-
-Fray Ambrosio cast a suspicious glance at his partner.
-
-"Hum!" he muttered, "that would be very unlucky, for hitherto the
-business has been well managed."
-
-"For that reason," Red Cedar hastened to add, "I only suggest a doubt
---nothing more."
-
-"Come, Red Cedar," the monk said, "you have yourself narrated all the
-embarrassments of our position, and the countless difficulties we shall
-have to surmount before reaching our object. Why, then, complicate the
-gravity of our situation still more, and create fresh enemies
-needlessly?"
-
-"I do not understand you, senor padre. Be good enough to explain
-yourself more clearly."
-
-"I allude to the young girl you carried off."
-
-"Ah, ah!" Red Cedar said with a grin, "Is that where the shoe pinches
-you, comrade? I am vexed at it; but I will not answer your question. If
-I carried off that woman, it was because I had pressing reasons to do
-so. These reasons still exist; that is all I can tell you. All the
-better if these explanations are sufficient for you; if not, you must
-put up with them, for you will get no others."
-
-"Still it appears to me that, regarding the terms on which we stand to
-each other--"
-
-"What can there be in common between the abduction of Dona Clara and the
-discovery of a placer in the heart of Apacheria? Come, you are mad, Fray
-Ambrosio; the mezcal is getting to your head."
-
-"Still--" the monk insisted.
-
-"Enough of that!" Red Cedar shouted as he roughly smote the table with
-his clenched fist. "I will not hear another word on the subject."
-
-At this moment two smart blows were heard on the carefully-bolted door.
-
-The three men started, and Red Cedar broke off.
-
-"Shall I open?" Andres asked.
-
-"Yes," Fray Ambrosio answered: "hesitation or refusal might give an
-alarm. We must foresee everything."
-
-Red Cedar consented with a toss of his head, and the ranchero went with
-an ill grace toward the door, which was being struck as if about to be
-beaten in.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE CUCHILLADA.
-
-
-So soon as the door was opened two men appeared on the threshold. The
-first was Curumilla; the other, wrapped up in a large cloak, and with
-his broad-brimmed hat drawn over his eyes, entered the room, making the
-Indian chief a sign to follow him. The latter was evidently a Mexican.
-
-"_Santas tardes!_" he said as he raised his hand to his hat, but not
-removing it.
-
-"_Dios las de a usted buenas!_" the ranchero answered. "What shall I
-serve to your excellencies?"
-
-"A bottle of mezcal," the stranger said.
-
-The newcomers seated themselves at the end of the room, at a spot which
-the light reached in such a weakened state that it was almost dark. When
-they were served each poured out a glass of liquor, which he drank; and
-leaning his head on his hands, the Mexican appeared plunged in deep
-thought, not occupying himself the least in the world about the persons
-near him. Curumilla crossed his arms on his chest, half closed his eyes,
-and remained motionless.
-
-Still the arrival of these two men, especially the presence of the
-stranger, had suddenly frozen the eloquence of our three friends. Gloomy
-and silent, they instinctively felt that the newcomers were enemies, and
-anxiously waited for what was about to occur. At length Red Cedar,
-doubtless more impatient than his comrades, and wishful to know at once
-what he had to expect, rose, filled his glass, and turned toward the
-strangers.
-
-"Senores caballeros," he said, imitating that exquisite politeness which
-the Mexicans possess in the highest degree. "I have the honor of
-drinking to your health."
-
-At this invitation Curumilla remained insensible as a granite statue:
-his companion slowly raised his head, fixed his eye for a moment on the
-speaker, and answered in a loud and firm voice,--
-
-"It is needless, senor, for I shall not drink to yours. What I say to
-you," he added, laying a stress on the words, "your friends can also
-take for themselves if they think proper."
-
-Fray Ambrosio rose violently.
-
-"What do you say?" he exclaimed in a threatening voice. "Do you mean to
-insult me?"
-
-"There are people whom a man cannot mean to insult," the stranger
-continued in a cutting voice. "Remember this, senor padre--I do not wish
-to have any dealings with you."
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because I do not please--that is all. Now, gentlemen, do not trouble
-yourselves about me, I beg, but continue your conversation: it was most
-interesting when I arrived. You were speaking, I believe, about an
-expedition you are preparing: there was a question too, I fancy, when I
-entered, about a girl your worthy friend, or partner--I do not know
-which he is--carried off with your assistance. Do not let me disturb
-you. I should, on the contrary, be delighted to learn what you intend
-doing with that unhappy creature."
-
-No words could render the feeling of stupor and terror which seized on
-the three partners at this, crushing revelation of their plans. When
-they fancied they had completely concealed them by their cunning and
-skill, to see them thus suddenly unveiled in all their extent by a man
-whom they did not know, but who knew them, and in consequence could only
-be an enemy--this terrified them to such a degree that for a moment they
-fancied they had to do with the spirit of evil. The two Mexicans crossed
-themselves simultaneously, while the American uttered a hoarse
-exclamation of rage.
-
-But Red Cedar and Fray Ambrosio were men too hardened in iniquity for
-any event, however grave in its nature, to crush them for long. The
-first moment past, they recovered themselves, and amazement gave way to
-fury. The monk drew from his vaquera boot a knife, and posted himself
-before the door to prevent egress; while Red Cedar, with frowning brow
-and a machete in his hand, advanced resolutely toward the table, behind
-which their bold adversary, standing with folded arms, seemed to defy
-them by his ironical smile.
-
-"Whoever you may be," Red Cedar said, stopping two paces from his
-opponent, "chance has made you master of a secret that kills, and you
-shall die."
-
-"Do you really believe that I owe a knowledge of your secrets to
-chance?" the other said with a mocking accent.
-
-"Defend yourself," Red Cedar howled furiously, "If you do not wish me to
-assassinate you; for, _con mil diablos!_ I shall not hesitate, I warn
-you."
-
-"I know it," the stranger replied quietly. "I shall not be the first
-person to whom that has happened: the Sierra Madre and El Bolson de
-Mapimi have often heard the agonising cries of your victims, when
-Indians were wanting to fill up your number of scalps."
-
-At this allusion to his frightful trade the squatter felt a livid pallor
-cover his face, a tremor agitated all his limbs, and he yelled in a
-choking voice,--
-
-"You lie! I am a hunter."
-
-"Of scalps," the stranger immediately retorted, "unless you have given
-up that lucrative and honourable profession since your last expedition to
-the village of the Coras."
-
-"Oh!" the squatter shouted with an indescribable burst of fury, "He is a
-coward who hides his face while uttering such words."
-
-The stranger shrugged his shoulders contemptuously, and let the folds of
-his mantle fall sharply.
-
-"Do you recognise me, Red Cedar, since your conscience has not yet
-whispered my name to you?"
-
-"Oh!" the three men exclaimed in horror, and instinctively recoiling
-"Don Pablo de Zarate!"
-
-"Yes," the young man continued, "Don Pablo, who has come, Red Cedar, to
-ask of you an account of his sister, whom you carried off."
-
-Red Cedar was in a state of extraordinary agitation: with eyes dilated
-by terror, and contracted features, he felt the cold perspiration
-beading on his temples at this unexpected apparition.
-
-"Ah!" he said in a hollow voice, "Do the dead, then, leave the tomb?"
-
-"Yes," the young man shouted loudly, "they leave their tomb to tear your
-victims from you. Red Cedar, restore me my sister!"
-
-The squatter leaped like a hyena on the young man, brandishing his
-machete.
-
-"Dog!" he yelled, "I will kill you a second time."
-
-But his wrist was suddenly seized by a hand of iron, and the bandit
-tottered back to the wall of the rancho, against which he was forced to
-lean, lest he should roll on the ground. Curumilla, who had hitherto
-remained an impassive witness of the scene that took place before him,
-had thought the moment for interference, had arrived, and had sharply
-hurled him back. The squatter, with eyes injected with blood, and lips
-clenched by rage, looked around him with glaring worthy of a wild beast.
-Fray Ambrosio and the ranchero, held in check by the Indian chief, did
-not dare to interfere. Don Pablo walked with slow and measured step
-toward the bandit. When he was ten paces from him he stopped, and looked
-fixedly at him.
-
-"Red Cedar," he repeated in a calm voice, "give me back my sister."
-
-"Never!" the squatter answered in a voice choked by rage.
-
-In the meanwhile the monk and the ranchero had treacherously approached
-the young man, watching for the propitious moment to fall on him. The
-five men assembled in this room offered a strange and sinister scene by
-the uncertain light that filtered through the windows, as each stood
-with his hand on his weapon, ready to kill or be killed, and only
-awaiting the opportunity to rush on his enemy. There was a moment of
-supreme silence. Assuredly these men were brave. In many circumstances
-they had seen death under every aspect; and yet their hearts beat as if
-to burst their breasts, for they knew that the combat about to commence
-between them was without truce or mercy. At length Don Pablo spoke
-again.
-
-"Take care, Red Cedar," he said. "I have come to meet you alone and
-honourably. I have asked you for my sister several times, and you have
-not answered; so take care."
-
-"I will sell your sister to the Apaches," the squatter howled. "As for
-you, accursed one, you shall not leave this room alive. May I be
-eternally condemned if your heart does not serve as a sheath to my
-knife!"
-
-"The scoundrel is mad!" the young man said contemptuously.
-
-He fell back a pace, and then stopped.
-
-"Listen," he continued. "I will now retire, but we shall meet again; and
-woe to you then, for I shall be as pitiless to you as you have been to
-me. Farewell!"
-
-"Oh! you shall not go in that way, my master," replied the squatter, who
-had regained all his boldness and impudence. "Did I not tell you I would
-kill you?"
-
-The young man fixed upon him a glance of undefinable expression, and
-crossed his arms boldly on his chest.
-
-"Try it," he said in a voice rendered harsh by the fury boiling in his
-heart.
-
-Red Cedar uttered a yell of rage, and bounded on Don Pablo. The latter
-calmly awaited the attack; but, so soon as the squatter was within reach
-he suddenly took off his mantle, and threw it over his enemy's head,
-who, blinded by the folds of the thick garment, rolled about on the
-ground, unable to free himself from the accursed cloth that held him
-like a net. With one bound the young man was over the table, and
-troubling himself no further about Red Cedar, proceeded toward the door.
-
-At this moment Fray Ambrosio rushed upon him, trying to bury his knife
-in his chest. Feeling not the slightest alarm, Don Pablo seized his
-assailant's wrist, and with a strength he was far from anticipating,
-twisted his arm so violently that his fingers opened, and he let the
-knife fall with a yell of pain. Don Pablo picked it up, and seized the
-monk by the throat.
-
-"Listen, villain!" he said to him. "I am master of your life. You
-betrayed my father, who took pity on you, and received you into his
-house. You dishonour the gown you wear by your connection with
-criminals, whose ill deeds you share in. I could kill you, and perhaps
-ought to do so; but it would be robbing the executioner to whom you
-belong, and cheating the garrote which awaits you. This gown, of which
-you are unworthy, saves your life; but I will mark you so that you shall
-never forget me."
-
-And placing the point of the knife on the monk's livid face, he made two
-gashes in the shape of a cross along the whole length and breadth of his
-face.
-
-"We shall meet again!" he added in a thundering voice, as he threw the
-knife away in disgust.
-
-Andres Garote had not dared to make a move: terror nailed him motionless
-to the ground beneath the implacable eye of the Indian warrior. Don
-Pablo and Curumilla then rushed from the room and disappeared, and ere
-long the hoofs of two horses departing at full speed from the town could
-be heard clattering over the pavement.
-
-By the aid of the ranchero, Red Cedar presently succeeded in freeing
-himself from the fold of the cloak that embarrassed him. When the three
-accomplices found themselves alone again an expression of impotent rage
-and deadly hatred distorted their faces.
-
-"Oh!" the squatter muttered, grinding his teeth, and raising his fist to
-heaven, "I will be revenged."
-
-"And I too," said Fray Ambrosio in a hollow voice, as he wiped away the
-blood that stained his face.
-
-"Hum! I do not care," Andres Garote said to himself aside. "That family
-of the Zarates is a fine one; but, _caray_! it must be confessed that
-Don Pablo is a rough fellow."
-
-The worthy ranchero was the only one chance had favoured in this meeting
-by letting him escape safe and sound.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-THE HUNTERS.
-
-
-At about two leagues from Santa Fe, in a clearing situated on the banks
-of the stream which borders that town, and on the evening of the same
-day, a man was seated before a large fire, which he carefully kept up,
-while actively engaged in making preparations for supper. A frugal meal,
-at any rate, this supper! It was composed of a buffalo hump, a few
-potatoes, and maize tortillas baked on the ashes, the whole washed down
-with pulque.
-
-The night was gloomy. Heavy black clouds coursed athwart the sky, at
-times intercepting the sickly rays of the moon, which only shed an
-uncertain light over the landscape, which was itself buried in one of
-those dense mists that, in equatorial countries, exhale from the ground
-after a hot day. The wind blew violently through the trees, whose
-branches came in contact, with plaintive moans: and in the depths of the
-woods the miawling of the wild cats was mingled with the snarl of the
-coyotes and the howls of the pumas and jaguars. All at once the sound of
-galloping horses could be heard in the forest, and two riders burst into
-the clearing. On seeing them the hunter uttered an exclamation of joy,
-and hurried to meet them. They were Don Pablo and Curumilla.
-
-"Heaven be praised!" the hunter said. "Here you are at last. I was
-beginning to grow alarmed at your long absence."
-
-"You see that nothing has happened to me," the young man answered,
-affectionately pressing the hunter's hands.
-
-Don Pablo had dismounted, and hobbled his own horse and Curumilla's near
-Valentine, while the Indian chief busied himself in preparing the
-supper.
-
-"Come, come," the hunter said gaily, "to table. You must be hungry, and
-I am dying of inanition. You can tell me all that has occurred while we
-are eating."
-
-The three men went to the table; that is, they seated themselves on the
-grass in front of the fire, and vigorously assailed their meagre repast.
-Desert life has this peculiarity--that in whatever position you may find
-yourself, as the struggles you go through are generally physical rather
-than moral, nature never resigns her claims: you feel the need of
-keeping up your strength, so as to be ready for all eventualities. There
-is no alarm great enough to prevent you from eating and drinking.
-
-"Now," Valentine asked presently, "what have you done? I fancy you
-remained much longer than was necessary in that accursed town."
-
-"We did, my friend. Certain reasons forced me to remain longer than I
-had at first intended."
-
-"Proceed in regular order, if you have no objection. I fancy that is the
-only way of understanding each other."
-
-"Act as you please, my friend."
-
-"Very good: the chief and I will light our Indian pipes while you make
-your cigarette. We will sit with our backs to the fire, so as to watch
-the neighbourhood, and in that way can converse without apprehension.
-What do you say, Pablo?"
-
-"You are always right, my friend. Your inexhaustible gaiety, your honest
-carelessness, restore me all my courage, and make me quite a different
-man."
-
-"Hum!" Valentine said, "I am glad to hear you speak so. The position is
-serious, it is true; but it is far from being desperate. The chief and I
-have many times been in situations were our lives only depended on a
-thread: and yet we always emerged from them honourably--did we not,
-chief?"
-
-"Yes," the Indian answered laconically, drawing in a mouthful of smoke,
-which he sent forth again from his mouth and nostrils.
-
-"But that is not the question of the moment. I have sworn to save your
-father and sister, Pablo, and will do so, or my carcass shall be food
-for the wild beasts of the prairie; so leave me to act. Have you seen
-Father Seraphin?"
-
-"Yes, I have. Our poor friend is still very weak and pale, and his wound
-is scarce cicatrised. Still, paying no heed to his sufferings, and
-deriving strength from his unbounded devotion to humanity, he has done
-all we agreed on. For the last week he has only left my father to hasten
-to his judges. He has seen the general, the governor, the
-bishop--everybody, in short--and has neglected nothing. Unfortunately
-all his exertions have hitherto been fruitless."
-
-"Patience!" the hunter said with a smile of singular meaning.
-
-"Father Seraphin believes for certain that my father will be placed in
-the capilla within two days. The governor wishes to have done with
-it--that is the expression he employed; and Father Seraphin told me that
-we have not a moment to lose."
-
-"Two days are a long time, my friend; before they have elapsed many
-things may have occurred."
-
-"That is true; but my father's life is at stake, and I feel timid."
-
-"Good, Don Pablo; I like to hear you speak so. But reassure yourself;
-all is going on well, I repeat."
-
-"Still, my friend, I believe it would be wise to take certain
-precautions. Remember it is a question of life or death, and we must
-make haste. How many times, under similar circumstances, have the best
-arranged plans failed! Do you think that your measures are well taken?
-Do you not fear lest an unhappy accident may derange all your plans at
-the decisive moment?"
-
-"We are playing at this moment the devil's own game, my friend,"
-Valentine answered coldly. "We have chance on our side; that is to say,
-the greatest power that exists, and which governs the world."
-
-The young man lowered his head, as if but slightly convinced. The hunter
-regarded him for a moment with a mixture of interest and tender pity,
-and then continued in a soothing voice,--
-
-"Listen, Don Pablo de Zarate," he said. "I have said that I will save
-your father, and mean to do so. Still I wish him to leave the prison in
-which he now is, like a man of his character ought to leave it, in open
-day, greeted by the applause of the crowd, and not by escaping furtively
-during the night, like a vile criminal. Hang it all! Do you think it
-would have been difficult for me to enter the town, and effect your
-father's escape by filing the bars or bribing the jailer? I would not do
-it. Don Miguel would not have accepted that cowardly and shameful
-flight. Your father shall leave his prison, but begged to do so by the
-governor himself, and all the authorities of Santa Fe. So regain your
-courage, and no longer doubt a man whose friendship and experience
-should, on the contrary, restore your confidence."
-
-The young man had listened to these words with even increasing interest.
-When Valentine ceased speaking he seized his hand.
-
-"Pardon me, my friend," he answered him. "I know how devoted you are to
-my family; but I suffer, and grief renders me unjust. Forgive me."
-
-"Child, let us forget it all. Was the town quiet today?"
-
-"I cannot tell you, for I was so absorbed in thought that I saw nothing
-going on around me. Still I fancy there was a certain agitation, which
-was not natural, on the Plaza Mayor, near the governor's palace."
-
-Valentine indulged once again in that strange smile that had already
-played round the corners of his delicate lips.
-
-"Good!" he said. "And did you, as I advised, try to gain any information
-about Red Cedar?"
-
-"Yes," he answered with a start of joy, "I did; and I have positive
-news."
-
-"Ah, ah! How so?"
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-And Don Pablo described the scene that had taken place in the rancho.
-The hunter listened to it with the utmost attention, and when it was
-finished he tossed his head several times with an air of
-dissatisfaction.
-
-"All young people are so," he muttered; "they always allow their passion
-to carry them beyond the bounds of reason. You were wrong, extremely
-wrong, Don Pablo," he then added. "Red Cedar believed you dead, and that
-might have been of great use to us presently. You do not know the
-immense power that demon has at his disposal: all the bandits on the
-frontier are devoted to him. Your outbreak will be most injurious to
-your sister's safety."
-
-"Still, my friend--"
-
-"You acted like a madman in arousing the slumbering fury of the tiger.
-Red Cedar will persist in destroying you. I have known the wretch for a
-long time. But that is not the worst you have done."
-
-"What is it, then?"
-
-"Why, madman as you are, instead of keeping dark, watching your enemies
-without saying a word--in short, seeing through their game--by an
-unpardonable act of bravado you have unmasked all your batteries."
-
-"I do not understand you, my friend."
-
-"Fray Ambrosio is a villain of a different stamp from Red Cedar, it is
-true; but I consider him even a greater scoundrel than the scalp hunter.
-At any rate, the latter is purely a rogue, and you know what to expect
-from him: all about him bears the stamp of his hideous soul. Had you
-stabbed that wild beast, who perspires blood by every pore, and dreams
-of naught but murder, I might possibly have pardoned you; but you have
-completely failed, not only in prudence, but in good sense, by acting as
-you have done with Fray Ambrosio. That man is a hypocrite. He owes all
-to your family, and is furious at seeing this treachery discovered. Take
-care, Don Pablo. You have made at one blow two implacable enemies, the
-more terrible now because they have nothing to guard against."
-
-"It is true," the young man said; "I acted like a fool. But what would
-you? At the sight of those two men, when I heard from their very lips
-the crimes they had committed, and those they still meditate against us,
-I was no longer master of myself. I entered the rancho, and you know the
-rest."
-
-"Yes, yes, the cuchillada was a fine one. Certainly the bandit deserved
-it; but I fear lest the cross you so smartly drew on his face will cost
-you dearly some day."
-
-"Well, let us leave it in the hand of Heaven. You know the proverb, 'It
-is better to forget what cannot be remedied.' Provided my father escape
-the fate that menaces him, I shall be happy. I shall take my precautions
-to defend myself."
-
-"Did you learn nothing further?"
-
-"Yes; Red Cedar's gambusinos are encamped a short distance from us. I
-know that their chief intends starting tomorrow at the latest."
-
-"Oh, oh! Already? We must make haste and prepare our ambuscade, if we
-wish to discover the road they mean to follow."
-
-"When shall we start?"
-
-"At once."
-
-The three men made their preparations; the horses were saddled, the
-small skins the horseman always carries at his saddle-bow in these dry
-countries were filled with water, and five minutes later the hunters
-mounted. At the moment they were leaving the clearing a rustling of
-leaves was heard, the branches parted, and an Indian appeared. It was
-Unicorn, the great sachem of the Comanches. On seeing him the three men
-dismounted and waited. Valentine advanced alone to meet the Indian.
-
-"My brother is welcome," he said. "What does he want of me?"
-
-"To see the face of a friend," the chief answered in a gentle voice.
-
-The two men then bowed after the fashion of the prairie. After this
-ceremony Valentine went on:
-
-"My father must approach the fire, and smoke from the calumet of his
-white friends."
-
-"I will do so," Unicorn answered.
-
-And drawing near the fire, he crouched down in Indian fashion, took his
-pipe from his belt, and smoked in silence. The hunters, seeing the turn
-this unexpected interview was taking, had fastened up their horses, and
-seated themselves again round the fire. A few minutes passed thus, no
-one speaking, each waiting till the Indian chief should explain the
-motive of his coming. At length Unicorn shook the ashes from his
-calumet, returned it to his belt, and addressed Valentine.
-
-"Is my brother setting out to hunt buffaloes again?" he said. "There are
-many this year on the prairies of the Rio Gila."
-
-"Yes," the Frenchman replied, "we are going hunting. Does my brother
-intend to accompany us?"
-
-"No; my heart is sad.
-
-"What means the chief? Has any misfortune happened to him?"
-
-"Does not my brother understand me, or am I really mistaken? It is that
-my brother only really loves the buffaloes, whose meat he eats, and
-whose hides he sells at the _tolderia_?"
-
-"Let my brother explain himself more clearly; then I will try to answer
-him."
-
-There was a moment of silence. The Indian seemed to be reflecting
-deeply: his nostrils were dilated, and at times his black eye flashed
-fire. The hunters calmly awaited the issue of this conversation, whose
-object they had not yet caught. At length Unicorn raised his head,
-restored all the serenity to his glance, and said in a soft and
-melodious voice,--
-
-"Why pretend not to understand me, Koutonepi? A warrior must not have a
-forked tongue. What a man cannot do alone, two can attempt and carry
-out. Let my brother speak: the ears of a friend are open."
-
-"My brother is right. I will not deceive his expectations. The hunt I
-wish to make is serious. I am anxious to save a woman of my colour; but
-what can the will of one man effect?"
-
-"Koutonepi is not alone: I see at his side the best two rifles of the
-frontier. What does the white hunter tell me? Is he no longer the great
-warrior I knew? Does he doubt the friendship of his brother Haboutzelze,
-the great sachem of the Comanches?"
-
-"I never doubted the friendship of my brother. I am an adopted son of
-his nation. At this very moment is he not seeking to do me a service?"
-
-"That service is only half what I wish to do. Let my brother speak the
-word, and two hundred Comanche warriors shall join him to deliver the
-virgin of the palefaces, and take the scalps of her ravishers."
-
-Valentine started with joy at this noble offer.
-
-"Thanks, chief," he said eagerly. "I accept; and I know that your word
-is sacred."
-
-"Michabou protects us," the Indian said. "My brother can count on me. A
-chief does not forget a service. I owe obligations to the pale hunter,
-and will deliver to him the gachupino robbers."
-
-"Here is my hand, chief: my heart has long been yours."
-
-"My brother speaks well. I have done what he requested of me."
-
-And, bowing courteously, the Comanche chief withdrew without adding a
-word.
-
-"Don Pablo," Valentine exclaimed joyously, "I can now guarantee your
-father's safety: this night--perhaps tomorrow--he will be free."
-
-The young man fell into the hunter's arms, and hid his head on his
-honest chest, not having the strength to utter a word. A few minutes
-later, the hunters left the clearing to go in search of the gambusinos,
-and prepare their ambuscade.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-SUNBEAM.
-
-
-We will now go a little way back, in order to clear up certain portions
-of the conversation between Valentine and Unicorn, whose meaning the
-reader can not have caught.
-
-Only a few months after their arrival in Apacheria the Frenchman and
-Curumilla were hunting the buffalo on the banks of the Rio Gila. It was
-a splendid day in the month of July. The two hunters, fatigued by a long
-march under the beams of the parching sun, that fell vertically on their
-heads, had sheltered themselves under a clump of cedar wood trees, and,
-carelessly stretched out on the ground, were smoking while waiting till
-the great heat had passed, and the evening breeze rose to enable them to
-continue their hunt. A quarter of elk was roasting for their dinner.
-
-"Eh, _penni_," Valentine said, addressing his comrade, and rising on his
-elbow, "the dinner seems to be ready; so suppose we feed? The sun is
-rapidly sinking behind the virgin forest, and we shall soon have to
-start again."
-
-"Eat," Curumilla answered, sharply.
-
-The meat was laid on a leaf between the two hunters, who began eating
-with good appetite, and indulging in cakes of _hautle_. These cakes,
-which are very good, are certainly curious. They are made of the pounded
-eggs of a species of water bug, collected by a sort of harvest in the
-Mexican lakes. They are found on the leaves of the _toule_ (bulrush),
-and the farina is prepared in various ways. It is an Aztec preparation
-_par excellence_, for so long back as 1625 they were sold on the
-marketplace of the Mexican capital. They form the chief food of the
-Indians, who consider them as great a dainty as the Chinese do their
-swallow nests, with which this article of food has a certain resemblance
-in taste. Valentine had taken a third bite at his hautle cake when he
-stopped, with his arm raised and his head bent forward, as if an unusual
-sound had suddenly smitten his ear. Curumilla imitated his friend, and
-both listened with that deep attention that only results from a
-lengthened desert life; for on the prairie every sound is
-suspicious--every meeting is feared, especially with man.
-
-Some time elapsed ere the noise which startled the hunters was repeated.
-For a moment they fancied themselves deceived, and Valentine took
-another bite, when he was again checked. This time he had distinctly
-heard a sound resembling a stifled sigh, but so weak and hollow that it
-needed the Trail-hunter's practised ear to catch it. Curumilla himself
-had perceived nothing. He looked at his friend in amazement, not knowing
-to what he should attribute his state of agitation. Valentine rose
-hurriedly, seized his rifle, and rushed in the direction of the river,
-his friend following him in all haste.
-
-It was from the river, in fact, that the sigh heard by Valentine had
-come, and fortunately it was but a few paces distant. So soon as the
-hunters had leaped over the intervening bushes they found themselves on
-the bank, and a fearful sight presented itself to their startled eyes. A
-long plank was descending the river, turning on its axis, and borne by
-the current, which ran rather strongly at this point. On this plank was
-fastened a woman, who held a child in her clasped arms. Each time the
-plank revolved the unhappy woman plunged with her child into the stream,
-and at ten yards at the most from it an enormous cayman was swimming
-vigorously to snap at its two victims.
-
-Valentine raised his rifle. Curumilla at the same moment glided into the
-water, holding his knife blade between his teeth, and swam toward the
-plank. Valentine remained for a few seconds motionless, as if changed
-into a block of marble. All at once he pulled the trigger, and the
-discharge was re-echoed by the distant mountains. The cayman leaped out
-of the water, and plunged down again; but it reappeared a moment later,
-belly upwards. It was dead. Valentine's bullet had passed through its
-eye.
-
-In the meanwhile Curumilla, had reached the plank with a few strokes,
-without loss of time he turned it in the opposite direction from what it
-was following; and while holding it so that it could not revolve, he
-pushed it onto the sand. In two strokes he cut the bonds that held the
-hapless woman, seized her in his arms, and ran off with her to the
-bivouac fire.
-
-The poor woman gave no signs of life, and the two hunters eagerly sought
-to restore her. She was an Indian, apparently not more than eighteen,
-and very beautiful. Valentine found great difficulty in loosening her
-arms and removing the baby; for the frail creature about a year old, by
-an incomprehensible miracle, had been preserved--thanks, doubtless to
-its mother's devotion. It smiled pleasantly at the hunter when he laid
-it on a bed of dry leaves.
-
-Curumilla opened the woman's mouth slightly with his knife blade, placed
-in it the mouth of his gourd, and made her swallow a few drops of
-mezcal. A long time elapsed ere she gave the slightest move that
-indicated an approaching return to life. The hunters, however, would not
-be foiled by the ill-success of their attentions, but redoubled their
-efforts. At length a deep sigh burst painfully from the sufferer's
-oppressed chest, and she opened her eyes, murmuring in a voice weak as a
-breath!
-
-"_Xocoyotl_ (My child)!"
-
-The cry of the soul--this first and supreme appeal of a mother on the
-verge of the tomb--affected the two men with their hearts of bronze.
-Valentine cautiously lifted the child, which had gone to sleep
-peacefully on the leaves, and presented it to the mother, saying in a
-soft voice:
-
-"_Nantli joltinemi_ (Mother, he lives)!"
-
-At these words, which restored her hope, the woman leaped up as if moved
-by a spring, seized the child, and covered it with kisses, as she burst
-into tears. The hunters respected this outpouring of maternal love: they
-withdrew, leaving food and water by the woman's side. At sunset the two
-men returned. The woman was squatting by the fire, nursing her child,
-and lulling it to sleep by singing an Indian song. The night passed
-tranquilly, the two hunters watching in turn over the slumbers of the
-woman they had saved, and who reposed in peace.
-
-At sunrise she awoke; and, with the skill and handiness peculiar to the
-women of her race, she rekindled the fire and prepared breakfast. The
-two men looked at her with a smile, then threw their rifles over their
-shoulders, and set out in search of game. When they returned to the
-bivouac the meal was ready. After eating, Valentine lit his Indian pipe,
-seated himself at the foot of a tree, and addressed the young woman.
-
-"What is my sister's name?" he asked.
-
-"Tonameyotl (the Sunbeam)," she replied, with a joyous smile that
-revealed the double row of pearls that adorned her mouth.
-
-"My sister has a pretty name," Valentine answered. "She doubtless
-belongs to the great nation of the Apaches."
-
-"The Apaches are dogs," she said in a hollow voice, and with a flash of
-hatred in her glance. "The Comanche women will weave them petticoats.
-The Apaches are cowardly as the coyotes: they only fight a hundred
-against one. The Comanche warriors are like the tempest."
-
-"Is my sister the wife of a cacique?"
-
-"Where is the warrior who does not know Unicorn?" she said proudly.
-
-Valentine bowed. He had already heard the name of this terrible chief
-pronounced several times. Mexicans and Indians, trappers, hunters, and
-warriors, all felt for him a respect mingled with terror.
-
-"Sunbeam is Unicorn's wife," the Indian girl continued.
-
-"Good!" Valentine answered. "My sister will tell me where to find the
-village of her tribe, and I will lead her back to the chief."
-
-The young woman smiled.
-
-"I have in my heart a small bird that sings at every instant of the
-day," she said in her gentle and melodious voice. "The swallow cannot
-live without its mate, and the chief is on the trail of Sunbeam."
-
-"We will wait the chief here, then," Valentine said.
-
-The hunter felt great pleasure in conversing with this simple child.
-
-"How was my sister thus fastened to the trunk of tree, and thrown into
-the current of the Gila, to perish there with her child? It is an
-atrocious vengeance."
-
-"Yes, it is the vengeance of an Apache dog," she answered. "Aztatl (the
-Heron), daughter of Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, loved
-Unicorn--her heart bounded at the mere name of the great Comanche
-warrior; but the chief of my nation has only one heart, and it belongs
-to Sunbeam. Two days ago the warriors of my tribe set out for a great
-buffalo hunt, and the squaws alone remained in the village. While I
-slept in my hut four Apache thieves, taking advantage of my slumber,
-seized me and my child, and delivered us into the hands of Stanapat's
-daughter. 'You love your husband,' she said with a grin: 'you doubtless
-suffer at being separated from him. Be happy: I will send you to him by
-the shortest road. He is hunting on the prairies down the river, and in
-two hours you will be in his arms, unless,' she added with a laugh, 'the
-caymans stop you on the road.'--'The Comanche women despise death,' I
-answered her. 'For a hair you pluck from me, Unicorn will take the
-scalps of your whole tribe; so act as you think proper;' and I turned my
-head away, resolved to answer her no more. She herself fastened me to
-the log, with my face turned to the sky, in order, as she said, that I
-might see my road; and then she hurled me into the river, yelling:
-'Unicorn is a cowardly rabbit, whom the Apache women despise. This is
-how I revenge myself.' I have told my brother, the pale hunter,
-everything as it happened."
-
-"My sister is a brave woman," Valentine replied: "she is worthy to be
-the wife of a renowned chief."
-
-The young mother smiled as she embraced her child, which she presented,
-with a movement full of grace, to the hunter, who kissed it on the
-forehead. At this moment the song of the maukawis was heard at a short
-distance off. The two hunters raised their heads in surprise, and looked
-around them.
-
-"The quail sings very late, I fancy," Valentine muttered suspiciously.
-
-The Indian girl smiled as she looked down, but gave no answer. Suddenly
-a slight cracking of dry branches disturbed the silence. Valentine and
-Curumilla made a move, as if to spring up and seize their rifles that
-lay by their side.
-
-"My brothers must not stir," the squaw said quickly: "it is a friend."
-
-The hunters remained motionless, and the girl then imitated with rare
-perfection the cry of the blue jay. The bushes parted, and an Indian
-warrior, perfectly painted and armed for war, bounded like a jackal over
-the grass and herbs that obstructed his passage, and stopped in face of
-the hunters. This warrior was Unicorn. He saluted the two men with that
-grace innate in the Indian race; then he crossed his arms on his breast
-and waited, without taking a glance at his squaw, or even appearing to
-have seen her. On her side the Indian woman did not stir.
-
-During several moments a painful silence fell on the four persons whom
-chance had assembled in so strange a way. At length Valentine, seeing
-the warrior insisted on being silent, decided he would be the first to
-speak.
-
-"Unicorn is welcome to our camp," he said. "Let him take a seat by the
-fire of his brothers, and share with them the provisions they possess."
-
-"I will take a seat by the fire of my paleface brother," he replied;
-"but he must first answer me a question I wish to ask of him."
-
-"My brother can speak: my ears are open."
-
-"Good!" the chief answered. "How is it the hunters have with them
-Unicorn's wife?"
-
-"Sunbeam can answer that question best," Valentine said gravely.
-
-The chief turned to his squaw.
-
-"I am waiting," he remarked.
-
-The Indian woman repeated, word for word, to her husband the story she
-had told a few minutes before. Unicorn listened without evincing either
-surprise or wrath: his face remained impassive, but his brows were
-imperceptibly contracted. When the woman had finished speaking, the
-Comanche chief bowed his head on his chest, and remained for a moment
-plunged in serious thought. Presently he raised his head.
-
-"Who saved Sunbeam from the river when she was about to perish?" he
-asked her.
-
-The young woman's face lit up with a charming smile.
-
-"These hunters," she replied.
-
-"Good!" the chief said, laconically, as he bent on the two men glances
-full of the most unspeakable gratitude.
-
-"Could we leave her to perish?" Valentine said.
-
-"My brothers did well. Unicorn is one of the first sachems of his
-nation. His tongue is not forked: he gives his heart once, and takes it
-back no more. Unicorn's heart belongs to the hunters."
-
-These simple words were uttered with the majesty and grandeur the
-Indians know so well how to assume when they think proper. The two men
-vowed their gratitude, and the chief continued:--
-
-"Unicorn is returning to his village with his wife: his young men are
-awaiting him twenty paces from here. He would be happy if the hunters
-would consent to accompany him there."
-
-"Chief," Valentine answered, "we came into the prairie to hunt the
-buffalo."
-
-"Well, what matter? My brothers will hunt with me and my young men; but
-if they wish to prove to me that they accept my friendship, they will
-follow me to my village."
-
-"The chief is mounted, while we are on foot."
-
-"I have horses."
-
-Any further resistance would have been a breach of politeness, and the
-hunters accepted the invitation. Valentine, whom accident had brought on
-to the prairies of the Rio Gila and Del Norte, was in his heart not
-sorry to make friends there, and have allies on whose support he could
-reckon in case of need. The squaw had by this time risen: she timidly
-approached her husband, and held up the child, saying in a soft and
-frightened voice,--
-
-"Kiss this warrior."
-
-The chief took the frail creature in his muscular arms, and kissed it
-repeatedly with a display of extraordinary tenderness, and then returned
-it to the mother. The latter wrapped the babe in a small blanket, then
-placed it on a plank shaped like a cradle, and covered with dry moss,
-fastened a hoop over the place where its head rested, to guard it from
-the burning beams of the sun, and hung the whole on her back by means of
-a woolen strap passing over her forehead.
-
-"I am ready," she said.
-
-"Let us go," the chief replied.
-
-The hunters followed him, and they were soon on the prairie.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIX.
-
-THE ADOPTION.
-
-
-Some sixty Comanche warriors were lying in the grass awaiting their
-sachem, while the tethered horses were nibbling the tall prairie grasses
-and the tree shoots. It could be seen at the first glance that these men
-were picked warriors, selected for a dangerous expedition. From the
-heels of all dangled five or six wolf tails--marks of honor which only
-renowned warriors have the right to wear.
-
-On seeing their chief, they hurriedly rose and leaped into their
-saddles. All were aware that their sachem's wife had been carried off,
-and that the object of their expedition was to deliver her. Still, on
-noticing her, they evidenced no surprise, but saluted her as if she had
-left them only a few moments previously. The war party had with it
-several horses, which the chief ordered to be given to his squaw and his
-new friends; then, at a signal from him, the whole party started at full
-speed, for the Indians know no other pace than the gallop.
-
-After about two hours' ride they reached the vicinity of the village,
-which could be smelt some time before reaching, owing to the habit the
-Comanches have of placing their dead on scaffoldings outside the
-villages, where they moulder away: these scaffoldings, composed of four
-stakes planted in the ground, terminated in a fork, while from poles
-stuck up near them hung skins and other offerings made by the Indians to
-the genius of good.
-
-At the entrance of the village a number of horsemen were assembled,
-awaiting the return of the sachem. So soon as they perceived him they
-burst into a formidable yell, and rushed forward like a whirlwind,
-shouting, firing guns, and brandishing their weapons. Unicorn's band
-followed this example, and there was soon a most extraordinary
-confusion.
-
-The sachem made his entry into the village in the midst of shouts,
-barking of dogs, and shots; in short, he was accompanied to the square
-by an indescribable row. On reaching it the warriors stopped. Unicorn
-begged the hunters to dismount, and guided them to his cabin, which he
-made them enter before him.
-
-"Now," he said to them, "brothers, you are at home: rest in peace, eat
-and drink. This evening I will come and talk with you, and make you a
-proposal which I sincerely hope you will not reject."
-
-The two hunters, wearied by the long ride they had made, fell back with
-extreme satisfaction on the beds of dried leaves which awaited them.
-
-"Well," Valentine asked Curumilla, "penni, what do you say about what is
-happening to us?"
-
-"It may be good."
-
-"Can it not?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-On which Curumilla fell asleep, and Valentine soon followed his example.
-As he had promised, toward evening Unicorn entered the cabin.
-
-"Have my brothers rested?" he asked.
-
-"Yes," Valentine answered.
-
-"Are they disposed to listen to me?"
-
-"Speak, chief; we are listening."
-
-The Comanche sachem then squatted near the fire, and remained for
-several minutes, with his head bent forward and his eyes fixed on the
-ground, in the position of a man who is reflecting. At length he raised
-his head, stretched forth his arm as if to give greater authority to the
-words he was about to utter, and began thus:--
-
-"Brother, you and your friend are two brave warriors. The prairies
-rejoice at your arrival among us; the deer and the buffaloes fly at your
-approach; for your arm is strong, and your eye unerring. Unicorn is only
-a poor Indian; but he is a great warrior among the Comanches, and a much
-feared chief of his tribe. You have saved his wife, Sunbeam, whom the
-Apache dogs threw into the Gila, and whom the hideous alligators were
-preparing to devour. Since his wife, the joy of his hearth, and his son,
-the hope of his old days, have been restored to him, Unicorn has sought
-in his heart the means to prove to you his gratitude. He asked the Chief
-of Life what he could do to attach you to him. Unicorn is terrible in
-combat; he has the heart of the grizzly bear for his enemies--he has the
-heart of the gazelle for those he loves."
-
-"Chief," Valentine answered, "the words you utter at this moment amply
-repay us for what we have done. We are happy to have saved the wife and
-son of a celebrated warrior: our reward is in our hearts, and we wish
-for no other."
-
-The chief shook his head.
-
-"No," he said; "the two hunters are no longer strangers for the
-Comanches; they are the brothers of our tribe. During their sleep
-Unicorn assembled round the council fire the chiefs of his nation, and
-told them what has passed. The chiefs have ranged themselves on
-Unicorn's side, and have ordered him to make known to the hunters the
-resolution they have formed."
-
-"Speak, then, chief," Valentine said, "and believe that the wishes of
-the council will be commands to us."
-
-A smile of joy played round the chief's lips.
-
-"Good!" he said. "This is what was agreed on among the great chiefs. My
-brothers the hunters will be adopted by the tribe, and be henceforth
-sons of the great Comanche nation. What say my brothers?"
-
-A lively feeling of pleasure made Valentine quiver at this unexpected
-proposition. To be adopted by the Comanche tribe, was obtaining the
-right of hunting over the whole extent of the immense prairies which
-that powerful nation holds through its indomitable courage and the
-number of its warriors. The hunter exchanged a glance with his silent
-comrade and rose.
-
-"I accept for myself and friend," he said as he held out his hand to the
-chief, "the honor the Comanches do us in admitting us into the number of
-the sons of their warlike nation. We shall prove ourselves worthy of
-this marked favour."
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"Tomorrow," he said as he rose, "my brothers will be adopted by the
-nation."
-
-After bowing gracefully to the hunters he took leave of them and
-withdrew. The next daybreak the chiefs entered the cabin. Valentine and
-Curumilla were ready, and had long been acquainted with the trials they
-would have to undergo. The neophytes were conducted into the great
-medicine hut, where a copious meal was prepared. It consisted of dog
-meat boiled in bear fat, tortillas, maize, and hautle cakes. The chiefs
-squatted in a circle, while the squaws waited on them.
-
-When the meal was ended all rose. Unicorn placed himself between the
-hunters, laid his hands on their heads, and struck up the great war
-song. This song was repeated in chorus by the company to the sound of
-the war whistles, the drums and the _chikikouis._ The following is the
-translation of the song:--
-
-   "Master of Life, regard us with a favourable eye.
-   We are receiving two brothers in arms who appear to have sense.
-   They display vigour in their arms.
-   They fear not to expose their bodies to the blows of their enemies."
-
-It is impossible for anyone who has not been present at the ceremony to
-form even a distant idea of the frightful noise produced by their hoarse
-voices mingled with the shrill and discordant instruments: it was enough
-to produce a deafness. When the song was ended each took his seat by the
-council fire.
-
-The hunters were seated on beaver skins, and the great war calumet was
-presented to them, from which each took several puffs, and it went the
-round. Unicorn then rose, and fastened round the neck of each a wampum
-collar, and another made of the claws of the grizzly bear. The Indians,
-during this time, had built near the medicine lodge a cabin for the
-sweating, and when it was finished the hunters took off their clothes
-and entered it. The chiefs then brought two large stones which had been
-previously made red hot, and after closing the hut carefully, left the
-neophytes in it.
-
-The latter threw water on the stones, and the steam which arose almost
-immediately produced a profuse perspiration. When this was at its height
-the hunters ran out of the hut, passed through the double row of
-warriors, and leaped into the river, according to the usual fashion.
-They were immediately drawn from the water, wrapped in blankets, and led
-to Unicorn's hut, in order to undergo the final trial, which is also the
-most painful. The hunters were laid on their backs, then Unicorn traced
-on their chests with a sharp stick dipped in water in which gunpowder
-had been dissolved, the figure of the animal serving as _totem_
-(protector) to the tribe. Then with two spikes fastened to a small piece
-of wood, and dipped in vermillion, he proceeded to prick the design.
-
-Whenever Unicorn came to a place that was too hard he made an incision
-in the flesh with a gun-flint. The places that were not marked with
-vermillion were rubbed in with powder, so that the result was a red and
-blue tattooing. During the course of this operation the war songs and
-chikikouis were constantly heard, in order to drown the cries which the
-atrocious pain might draw from the patients; but the latter endured it
-all without even a contraction of the eyebrows evidencing the pain they
-must have felt.
-
-When the tattooing was over the wounds were cauterised with rotten wood
-to prevent suppuration; they were washed with cold water, in which had
-been infused a herb resembling box, a great deal of which the Indians
-mix with their tobacco to reduce the strength. The trial we have
-described is so painful to endure, that nearly always it is only
-accomplished at intervals, and often lasts a week. This time the hunters
-endured it bravely during the six hours it lasted, not uttering a cry,
-or giving a sign of weakness. Hence the Indians, from this moment,
-regarded them with a species of respect; for with them courage is the
-first of qualities.
-
-"My brothers are children of the tribe," the chief said, offering each a
-horse. "The prairie belongs to them. These coursers will bear them to
-the most remote limits of the desert, chasing the wild beasts, or
-pursuing the Apache dogs."
-
-"Good!" Valentine answered.
-
-At one bound the two hunters were in their saddles, and made their
-horses perform the most elegant and graceful curvets. This last and
-heroic deed, after all they had suffered during the course of the day,
-raised to their full height the joy and enthusiasm of the Comanches, who
-applauded with frenzied shouts and yells all they saw their new brothers
-execute. After remaining nearly an hour on horseback they dismounted,
-and followed the chiefs into the medicine lodge; and when each had taken
-his seat round the council fire, and the calumet had again been smoked,
-Unicorn rose.
-
-"The Master of Life loves His Comanche sons, since He gives them for
-brothers such warriors as Koutonepi and Curumilla. Who can equal their
-courage! Who would dare to contend with them! On their approach the
-grizzly bear hides at the extremity of its den; the jaguar bounds far
-away on seeing them; the eagle itself, which looks the sun in the face,
-flies from their unerring bullet. Brothers, we congratulate ourselves on
-counting you among our warriors. Henceforth we shall be invincible.
-Brothers, give up the names you have up to this day borne, and assume
-those we now give you. You, Koutonepi, are henceforth Quauhtli, and bear
-the name of that eagle, whose courage and strength you possess. You,
-Curumilla, will be called Vexolotl, and the cock will be proud to see
-that you have taken possession of its name."
-
-The two hunters warmly thanked their new brothers, and were led back by
-the chiefs to their cabin, who wished them a pleasant night after so
-rude a day. Such was the way in which Valentine and Curumilla, to whom
-we shall continue to give their old names, formed the acquaintance of
-Unicorn, and the result of it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE MISSIONARY.
-
-
-With time the relations existing between the hunters and the Indians
-were drawn closer, and became more friendly. In the desert physical
-strength is the quality most highly esteemed. Man, compelled to struggle
-incessantly against the dangers of every description that rise each
-moment before him, is bound to look only to himself for the means to
-surmount them. Hence the Indians profess a profound contempt, for sickly
-people, and weak and timid nerves.
-
-Valentine easily induced Unicorn to seize, during the hunt of the wild
-horses, the Mexican magistrates, in order to make hostages of them if
-the conspiracy were unsuccessful. What the hunter foresaw happened. Red
-Cedar had opposed stratagem to stratagem; and, as we have seen, Don
-Miguel was arrested in the midst of his triumph, at the very moment when
-he fancied himself master of the Paso del Norte.
-
-After Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo had seen, from their hiding
-place in the bushes, the mournful escort pass that was taking Don Miguel
-as a prisoner to Santa Fe, they held a council. Moments were precious;
-for in Mexico conspirators have the sad privilege over every other
-prisoner of being tried quickly, and not left to pine. The prisoner must
-be saved. Valentine, with that promptitude of decision which formed the
-salient point of his character, soon arranged in his head one of those
-bold schemes which only he could discover.
-
-"Courage!" he said to Don Pablo. "As long as the heart beats in the
-breast there is hope, thank Heaven! The first hand is lost, I allow; but
-now for the second game."
-
-Don Pablo had entire faith in Valentine: he had often been in the
-position to try his friend. If these words did not completely reassure
-him, they at least almost restored his hope, and gave him back that
-courage so necessary to him at this supreme moment, and which had
-abandoned him.
-
-"Speak, my friend," he said. "What is to be done?"
-
-"Let us attend to the most important thing first, and save Father
-Seraphin, who devoted himself for us."
-
-The three men started. The night was a gloomy one. The moon only
-appeared at intervals: incessantly veiled by thick clouds which passed
-over its disc, it seemed to shed its sickly rays regretfully on the
-earth. The wind whistled through the branches of the trees, which
-uttered mysterious murmurs as they came into collision. The coyotes
-howled in the plain, and at times their sinister form shot athwart the
-skyline. After a march of about an hour the three men approached the
-spot where the missionary had fallen from the effect of Red Cedar's
-bullet; but he had disappeared. An alarm mingled with a frightful agony
-contracted the hunter's hearts. Valentine took a despairing glance
-around; but the darkness was too dense for him possibly to distinguish
-anything.
-
-"What is to be done?" Don Pablo asked sadly.
-
-"Seek," Valentine replied sharply: "he cannot be far."
-
-Curumilla had already taken up the trail, and had disappeared in the
-gloom. The Araucano had never been a great speaker naturally: with age
-he had grown almost dumb, and never uttered a word save when absolutely
-necessary. But if the Indian did not talk, he acted; and in critical
-situations his determination was often worth long harangues. Don Pablo,
-obedient to Valentine's orders, threw his rifle over his shoulder, and
-prepared to execute them.
-
-"Where are you going?" the hunter asked him, as he seized his arm.
-
-"To look for Father Seraphin."
-
-"Wait."
-
-The two men stood motionless, listening to the mysterious sounds of the
-desert, that nameless melody which plunges the soul into a soft reverie.
-Nearly an hour passed thus, nothing revealing to the hunters that
-Curumilla's search had proved successful. Valentine, growing impatient
-at this long delay, was also preparing to go on, at once the weak,
-snapping cry of the walkon rose in the air.
-
-"What's that?" Don Pablo asked in surprise.
-
-"Silence!" Valentine muttered.
-
-A second time the walkon sang, but this time stronger, and much nearer.
-Valentine raised his fingers to his lips, and imitated the sharp, shrill
-yell of the ocelot twice, with such perfection that Don Pablo started
-involuntarily, and looked round for the wild beast, whose eyes he
-fancied he could see flashing behind a thicket. Almost immediately the
-note of the walkon was heard a third time. Valentine rested the butt of
-his rifle on the ground.
-
-"Good!" he said. "Do not be alarmed, Don Pablo. Curumilla has found
-Father Seraphin."
-
-The young man looked at him in amazement. The hunter smiled.
-
-"They will both arrive directly," he said.
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"Child!" Valentine interrupted him, "In the desert the human voice is
-more injurious than useful. The song of birds, the cry of wild beasts,
-serve us as a language."
-
-"Yes," the young man answered simply, "that is true. I have often heard
-it stated; but I was not aware you could understand one another so
-easily."
-
-"That is nothing," the hunter answered good-humouredly: "you will see
-much more if you only pass a month in our company."
-
-In a few moments the sound of footsteps became audible, at first faint,
-then gradually coming nearer, and two shadows were dimly drawn on the
-night.
-
-"Halloa!" Valentine shouted as he Raised and cocked his rifle, "friend
-or foe?"
-
-"_Pennis_ (brothers)," a voice answered.
-
-"It is Curumilla," said Valentine. "Let us go to meet him."
-
-Don Pablo followed him, and they soon reached the Indian, who walked
-slowly, obliged as he was to support, almost carry, the missionary.
-
-When Father Seraphin fell off his horse he almost immediately lost his
-senses. He remained for a long time lying in the ditch, but by degrees
-the night cold had brought him round again. At the first moment the poor
-priest, whose ideas were still confused, had cast anxious glances around
-him, while asking himself how he came there. He tried to rise; but then
-a poignant pain he felt in his shoulder reminded him of what had
-occurred. Still he did not despair. Alone, by night in the desert,
-exposed to a thousand unknown dangers, of which the least was being
-devoured by wild beasts, without weapons to defend himself, too weak,
-indeed, to attempt it, even if he had them, he resolved not to remain in
-this terrible position, but make the greatest efforts to rise, and drag
-himself as well as he could to the Paso, which was three leagues distant
-at the most, where he was sure of finding that care his condition
-demanded.
-
-Father Seraphin, like the majority of the missionaries who generously
-devote themselves to the welfare of humanity, was a man who, under a
-Weak and almost feminine appearance, concealed an indomitable energy,
-and a resolution that would withstand all trials. So soon as he had
-formed his plan he began carrying it out. With extreme difficulty and
-atrocious pain he succeeded in fastening his handkerchief round his
-shoulder, so as to check the hemorrhage. It took more than an hour
-before he could stand on his legs: often he felt himself fainting, a
-cold perspiration beaded at the root of his hair, he had a buzzing in
-his ears, and everything seemed to be turning round him; but he wrestled
-with the pain, clasped his hands with an effort, raised his tear laden
-eyes to heaven, and murmured from the bottom of his heart,--
-
-"O God! Deign to support thy servant, for he has set on thee all his
-hopes and confidence."
-
-Prayer, when made with faith, produces in a man an effect whose
-consequences are immediate; it consoles him, gives him courage, and
-almost restores him the strength that has deserted him. This was what
-happened to Father Seraphin. After uttering these few words he set out
-boldly, supporting his tottering footsteps with a stick, which a
-providential chance had placed in his way. He walked thus for nearly
-half a league stopping at every instant to draw breath; but human
-endurance has limits beyond which it cannot go. In spite of the efforts
-he made, the missionary at length felt his legs give way under, him; he
-understood that he could not go further; and he sank at the foot of a
-tree, certain that he had attempted impossibilities, and henceforth
-resigning to Providence the care of saving him.
-
-It was at this moment Curumilla arrived near him. The Indian aided him
-to rise, and then warned his comrades of the success of his search.
-Father Seraphin, though the chief offered to carry him, refused, and
-wished to walk to join his friends; but his strength deserted him a
-second time, he lost his senses, and fell into the arms of the Indian,
-who watched him attentively; for he noticed his increasing weakness, and
-foresaw his fall. Valentine and Curumilla hastily constructed a litter
-of tree branches, on which they laid the poor wounded man, and raising
-him on their shoulders, went off rapidly. The night passed away, and the
-sun was already high on the horizon, and yet the hunters--were marching.
-At length, at about eleven o'clock, they reached the cavern which served
-Valentine as a shelter, and to which he had resolved to carry his
-patient, that he might himself nurse him.
-
-Father Seraphin was in a raging fever; his face was red, his eyes
-flashing. As nearly always happens with gunshot wounds, a suppurating
-fever had declared itself. The missionary was laid on a bed of furs, and
-Valentine immediately prepared to probe the wound. By a singular chance
-the ball had lodged in the shoulder without fracturing the blade bone.
-Valentine drew it; and then helped by Curumilla, who had quietly pounded
-oregano leaves, he formed a cataplasm, which he laid on the wound, after
-first carefully washing it. Scarcely had this been done ere the
-missionary fell into a deep sleep, which lasted till nightfall.
-
-Valentine's treatment had effected wonders. The fever had disappeared,
-the priest's features were calmed, the flush that purpled his cheeks had
-given place to a pallor caused by the loss of blood; in short, he was as
-well as could be expected. On opening his eyes he perceived the three
-hunters watching him anxiously. He smiled, and said in a weak voice,--
-
-"Thanks, my brothers, thanks for the help you have afforded me. Heaven
-will reward you. I feel much better."
-
-"The Lord be praised!" Valentine answered. "You will escape, my father,
-more cheaply than I had dared to hope."
-
-"Can it be possible?"
-
-"Yes, your wound, though serious, is not dangerous, and in a few days
-you can, if you think necessary, resume your avocations."
-
-"I thank you for this new good, my dear Valentine. I no longer count the
-times I have owed my life to you. Heaven, in its infinite goodness, has
-placed you near me to support me in my tribulations, and succour me in
-days of danger."
-
-The hunter blushed.
-
-"Do not speak so, my father," he said; "I have only performed a sacred
-duty. Do you feel strong enough to talk for a few minutes with me?"
-
-"Yes. Speak, my friend."
-
-"I wished to ask your advice."
-
-"My talents are very slight: still you know how I love you, Valentine.
-Tell me what vexes you, and perhaps I may be able to be useful to you."
-
-"I believe it, my father."
-
-"Speak, then, in Heaven's name, my friend; for, if you have recourse to
-me, the affair must be very serious."
-
-"It cannot be more so."
-
-"Go on: I am listening."
-
-And the missionary settled himself on his bed to hear as comfortably as
-he could the confession the hunter wished to make to him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE INTERVIEW.
-
-
-At daybreak the next morning Curumilla started for Unicorn's village. At
-sunset he returned to the cavern, accompanied by the Comanche chief. The
-sachem entertained the most profound respect for Father Seraphin, whose
-noble character he could appreciate, and felt pained at the state in
-which he found him.
-
-"Father," he said to him as he kissed his hand. "Who are the villains
-who thus wounded you, to whom the Master of Life has imparted the secret
-to make us happy? Whoever they may be, these men shall die."
-
-"My son," the priest answered gently, "I will not pronounce before you
-the name of the unhappy man who, in a moment of madness, raised his hand
-against me. My God is a God of peace; He is merciful, and recommends His
-creatures to forget injuries, and requite good for evil."
-
-The Indian looked at him in amazement. He did not understand the soft
-and touching sublimity of these precepts of love. Educated in the
-sanguinary principles of his race--persuaded, like all redskins, that a
-warrior's first duty is revenge--he only admitted that atrocious law of
-the prairies which commands, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth"--a terrible
-law, which we do not venture, however, utterly to condemn in these
-countries, where ambushes are permanent, and implacable death stands at
-every corner of the road.
-
-"My son," Father Seraphin continued, "you are a great warrior. Many a
-time you have braved the atrocious tortures of the stake of blood, a
-thousand fold more terrible than death itself. Often have you, with a
-pleasure I excuse (for it is in your nature), thrown down your enemy,
-and planted your knee on his chest. Have you never pardoned anybody in
-fight?"
-
-"Never!" the Indian answered, his eye sparkling with satisfied pride.
-"Unicorn has sent many Apache dogs to the happy hunting grounds: their
-scalps are drying at the door of his cabin."
-
-"Well," the missionary said gently, "try clemency once, only once, and
-you will know one of the greatest pleasures God has granted to man on
-earth--that of pardoning."
-
-The chief shook his head.
-
-"No," he said; "a dead enemy is no longer to be feared. Better to kill
-than leave him means to avenge himself at a later date."
-
-"My son, you love me, I believe?"
-
-"Yes. My father is good; he has behaved well to the Comanches, and they
-are grateful. Let my father command, and his son will obey."
-
-"I have no right to give you an order, my son. I can only ask a favour of
-you."
-
-"Good! My father can explain himself. Unicorn will do what he desires."
-
-"Well, then," said the missionary with a lively feeling of joy, "promise
-me to pardon the first unhappy man, whoever he may be, who falls into;
-your hands, and you will render me happy."
-
-The chief frowned, and an expression of dissatisfaction appeared on his
-features. Father Seraphin anxiously followed on the Comanche's
-intelligent countenance the different shadows reflected on it as in a
-mirror. At length the Indian regained his stoicism, and his face grew
-serene again.
-
-"Does my father demand it?" he asked in a gentle voice.
-
-"I desire it."
-
-"Be it so: my father shall be satisfied. I promise him to pardon the
-first enemy whom the Manitou causes to fall beneath the point of my
-lance."
-
-"Thanks, chief," the missionary exclaimed joyfully, "thanks! Heaven will
-reward you for this good idea."
-
-The Indian bowed silently and turned to Valentine, who had been
-listening to the conversation.
-
-"My brother called me, and I came. What does he want of Unicorn?"
-
-"My brother will take his seat at the council fire, and smoke the
-calumet with his friend. Chiefs do not speak without reflecting on the
-words they are about to utter."
-
-"My brother speaks well, and I will take my seat at his fire."
-
-Curumilla had lighted a large fire in the first grotto of the cavern.
-The four men left Father Seraphin to take a few moments' rest, and
-seated themselves round the fire, when the calumet passed from hand to
-hand. The Indians never undertake anything important, or commence a
-discussion, without first smoking the calumet in council, whatever may
-be the circumstances in which they are placed. When the calumet had gone
-the round Valentine rose.
-
-"Every day," he said, bowing to the chief, "I appreciate more and more
-the honor the Comanches did me in adopting me as a son. My brother's
-nation is powerful; its hunting grounds cover the whole surface of the
-earth. The Apaches fly before the Comanche warriors like cowardly
-coyotes before courageous men. My brother has already several times done
-me a service with that greatness of soul which distinguishes him, and
-can only belong to a warrior so celebrated as he is. Today I have again
-a service to ask of my brother, and will he do it me? I presume so; for
-I know his heart, and that the Great Spirit of the Master of Life dwells
-in him."
-
-"Let my brother explain," Unicorn answered. "He is speaking to a chief;
-he must remove the skin from his heart and let his blood flow red and
-bright before a friend. The great white hunter is a portion of myself. I
-should have to be prevented by an arrant impossibility if I refused any
-request emanating from him."
-
-"Thanks, brother," Valentine said with emotion. "Your words have passed
-from your lips into my breast, which they have rejoiced. I am not
-mistaken. I see that I can ever count on your well-tried friendship and
-honest aid. Acumapicthzin de Zarate, the descendant of the Mexican
-kings, the friend of the redskins, whom he has ever protected, is a
-prisoner to the gachupinos. They have carried him to Santa Fe in order
-to put him to death, and deprive the Indians of the last friend left
-them."
-
-"And what does my brother want?"
-
-"I wish to save my friend."
-
-"Good!" the chief answered. "My brother claims my help to succeed in
-that project, I suppose?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! The descendant of the Tlatoanis shall be saved. My brother can
-feel reassured."
-
-"I can count, then, on my brother's aid?" Valentine asked quickly.
-
-The chief smiled.
-
-"Unicorn holds in his hands Spaniards who will answer for the life of
-the prisoner."
-
-"That is true!" Valentine exclaimed as he struck his forehead. "Your
-idea is a good one, chief."
-
-"My brother will leave me to act. I answer for success on my head."
-
-"_Caramba!_ Act as you please, chief. Still, were it only form's sake, I
-should not be sorry to know what you intend doing."
-
-"My brother has a white skin, but his heart is Indian. Let him trust to
-the prudence of a chief; Unicorn knows how to treat with the
-gachupinos."
-
-"Doubtless."
-
-"Unicorn will go to Santa Fe to speak with the chief of the white men."
-
-Valentine looked at him in amazement. The chief smiled.
-
-"Have I not hostages?" he said.
-
-"That is true," Valentine remarked.
-
-The chief went on:--
-
-"The Spaniards are like chattering old women, prodigal of seductive
-words, but Unicorn knows them. How many times already has he trodden the
-warpath on their territory at the head of his warriors! They will not
-dare to deceive him. Ere the sun has twice accomplished its revolution
-round the tortoise whose immense shell supports the world, the chief of
-the Comanches will carry the bloody arrows to the whites, and propose to
-them peace or war. Is my brother satisfied?"
-
-"I am. My heart is full of gratitude toward my red brother."
-
-"Good! What is that to Unicorn? Less than nothing. Has my brother
-anything else to ask of me?"
-
-"One thing more."
-
-"Let my brother explain himself as quickly as possible, that no cloud
-may remain between him and his red brother."
-
-"I will do so. Men without fear of the Great Spirit, urged by some mad
-desire, have carried off Dona Clara, the daughter of the white chief
-whom my brother pledged to save."
-
-"Who are these? Does my brother know them?"
-
-"Yes, I know them only too well. They are bandits, at the head of whom
-is a monster with a human face, called Red Cedar."
-
-At this name the Indian started slightly, his eye flashed fire, and a
-deep wrinkle hollowed his forehead.
-
-"Red Cedar is a ferocious jaguar," he said with concentrated passion.
-"He has made himself the scourge of the Indians, whose scalps he
-desires. This man has no pity either for women or children, but he
-possesses no courage: he only attacks his enemies in the dark, twenty
-against one, and when he is sure of meeting with no resistance."
-
-"My brother knows this man, I see."
-
-"And this man has carried off the white gazelle?'
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Good! My brother wishes to know what Red Cedar has done with his
-prisoner?"
-
-"I do wish it."
-
-The Indian rose.
-
-"Time is slipping away," he said. "Unicorn will return to his friends.
-My brother the hunter need not feel alarmed: a chief is watching."
-
-After uttering these few words the chief went down into the cavern,
-mounted his horse, and disappeared in direction of the desert. Valentine
-had every reason to be satisfied with his interview with the Comanche
-chief; but Father Seraphin was less pleased than the hunter. The worthy
-priest, both through his nature and his vocation, was not disposed to
-employ violent measures, which were repugnant to him: he would have
-liked, were it possible, to settle everything by gentleness, and without
-running the risk of bloodshed.
-
-Three weeks elapsed, however, ere Unicorn appeared to be effectually
-carrying out the plan he had explained to Valentine, who only learnt
-indirectly that a strong party of Comanche warriors had invaded the
-Mexican frontiers. Father Seraphin, though not yet completely cured, had
-insisted on proceeding to Santa Fe to take some steps to save Don
-Miguel, whose trial had gone on rapidly, who was on the point of being
-executed. For his part Don Pablo, half mad with uneasiness, also
-insisted, in spite of Valentine's entreaties and remarks, on entering
-Santa Fe furtively, and trying to see his father.
-
-The night on which we found Valentine in the clearing Unicorn visited
-him for the first time in a month: he came to inform him of the success
-of the measures he had taken. Valentine, used to Indian habits,
-understood half a word: hence he had not hesitated to announce to Don
-Pablo as a positive fact that his father would soon be free.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE PRISON.
-
-
-Don Miguel had been transferred to the prison of Santa Fe. Europeans,
-accustomed to philanthropic manners, and regarding human life as of some
-value, cannot imagine what atrocities the word "prison" contains in
-Mexico. In countries beyond sea the penitentiary system is not even in
-its infancy; for it is completely ignored, and has not even been
-suggested yet. With the exception of the United States, prisons are in
-America what they were at the period of the Spanish dominion; that is to
-say, filthy dens, where the wretched prisoners suffer a thousand
-tortures.
-
-Among ourselves, so long as a man is not proved guilty, he is assumed to
-be innocent; but over there, so soon as a man is arrested, he is
-considered guilty, and consequently every consideration and all pity
-vanish, to make room for brutal and barbarous treatment. Thrown on a
-little straw in fetid holes, often inhabited by serpents and other
-unclean animals, the prisoners have more than once been found dead at
-the expiration of twenty-four hours, and half devoured. We have
-witnessed scores of times atrocious tortures inflicted by coarse and
-cruel soldiers on poor fellows whose crimes, in our country, would have
-merited a slight chastisement at the most. Still, in the great centres
-of populations, the prisons are better managed than in the towns and
-villages; and in this land, where money is the most powerful lever, a
-rich man easily succeeds in obtaining all he wishes, and rendering his
-position at any rate tolerable.
-
-Don Miguel and General Ibanez had managed to be confined together by the
-expenditure of many entreaties and a heavy sum of gold. They inhabited
-two wretched rooms, the entire furniture of which consisted in a halting
-table, a few leather covered butacas, and two benches which served them
-as beds. These two men, so powerful by nature, had endured without
-complaint all the humiliation and insults inflicted on them during their
-trial, resolved to die as they had lived, with head erect and firm
-heart, without giving the judges who had condemned them the satisfaction
-of seeing them turn weak at the last moment.
-
-It was toward evening of the same day on which we saw Valentine in the
-clearing. Darkness fell rapidly, and the only window, a species of
-narrow slit that served to light the prison, allowed but a weak and
-dubious light to penetrate. Don Miguel was walking with long strides up
-and down his prison, while the general, carelessly reclining on one of
-the benches, quietly smoking his cigarette, watching with childish
-pleasure the light clouds of bluish smoke which rose in a spiral to the
-ceiling, and which he constantly blew asunder.
-
-"Well," Don Miguel said all at once, "it seems it is not for today
-either."
-
-"Yes," the general said, "unless (though I do not believe it) they wish
-to do us the honor of a torchlight execution."
-
-"Can you at all account for this delay?"
-
-"On my honor, no. I have ransacked my brains in vain to guess the reason
-that prevents them shooting us, and I have given it up as a bad job."
-
-"Same with me. At first I fancied they were trying to frighten us by the
-continued apprehension of death constantly suspended over our heads like
-another sword of Damocles; but this idea seemed to me too absurd."
-
-"I am entirely of your opinion: still something extraordinary must be
-occurring."
-
-"What makes you suppose that?"
-
-"Why, for the last two days our worthy jailer, Tio Quesada, has become,
-not polite to us--for that is impossible--but less brutal. I noticed
-that he has drawn in his claws, and attempted a grin. It is true that
-his face is so little accustomed to assume that expression, that the
-only result he obtains is to make a wretched grimace."
-
-"And you conclude from that?"
-
-"Nothing positive," the general said. "Still I ask myself whence comes
-this incomprehensible change. It would be as absurd to attribute it to
-the pity he feels for our position as to suppose the governor will come
-to ask our pardon for having tried and condemned us."
-
-"Eh?" Don Miguel said with a toss of his head. "All is not over--we are
-not dead yet."
-
-"That is true; but keep your mind at rest--we shall be so soon."
-
-"Our life is in God's hands. He will dispose of it at His pleasure."
-
-"Amen!" the general said with a laugh, as he rolled a fresh cigarette.
-
-"Do you not consider it extraordinary that, during the whole month we
-have been here, our friends have not given a sign of life?"
-
-The general shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
-
-"Hum!" he said, "a prisoner is very sick, and our friends doubtless
-feared to make us worse by the sight of their grief: that is why they
-have deprived themselves of the pleasure of visiting us."
-
-"Do not jest, general. You accuse them wrongfully, I feel convinced."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! For my part, I heartily forgive them their
-indifference, and the oblivion in which; they have left us."
-
-"I cannot believe that Don Valentine, that true-hearted and noble-minded
-man, for whom I ever felt so deep a friendship, has not tried to see
-me."
-
-"Bah! How, Don Miguel, can you, so near death as you are, still believe
-in honourable feelings in any man?"
-
-At this moment there was a great clash of iron outside, and the door of
-the room was opened sufficiently to afford passage to the jailer, who
-preceded another person. The almost complete obscurity that prevailed in
-the prison prevented the condemned men from recognising the visitor, who
-wore a long black gown.
-
-"Eh, eh!" the general muttered in his comrade's ear, "I believe that
-General Ventura, our amiable governor, has at length made up his mind."
-
-"Why so?" Don Miguel asked in a low voice.
-
-"_Canarios!_ he has sent us a priest, which means that we shall be
-executed tomorrow."
-
-"On my word, all the better," Don Miguel could not refrain from saying.
-
-In the meanwhile the jailer, a short, thick-set man, with a ferret face
-and cunning eye, had turned to the priest, whom he invited to enter,
-saying in a hoarse voice,--
-
-"Here it is, senor padre: these are the condemned persons."
-
-"Will you leave us alone, my friend?" the stranger said.
-
-"Will you have my lantern? It is getting dark, and when people are
-talking they like to see one another."
-
-"Thanks; you can do so. You will open when I call you by tapping at the
-door."
-
-"All right--I will do so;" and he turned to the condemned, to whom he
-said savagely, "Well, senores, here is a priest. Take advantage of his
-services now you have got him. In your position there is no knowing what
-may happen from one moment to the other."
-
-The prisoners shrugged their shoulder's contemptuously, but made no
-reply. The jailer went out. When the sound of his footsteps had died
-away in the distance, the priest, who had till this moment stood with
-his body bent forward and his ear on the watch, drew himself up, and
-walked straight to Don Miguel. This manoeuvre on the part of the
-stranger surprised the two gentlemen, who anxiously awaited what was
-about to happen. The lantern left by the jailer only spread a faint and
-flickering light, scarcely sufficient to distinguish objects.
-
-"My father," the hacendero said in a firm voice, "I thank the person
-who sent you to prepare me for death, for I anxiously wished to fulfil
-my duties as a Christian before being executed. If you will proceed with
-me into the adjoining room I will confess my sins to you: they are those
-which an honest man ordinarily commits; for my heart is pure, and I have
-nothing to reproach myself with."
-
-The priest took off his hat, seized the lantern, and placed it near his
-pale face, whose noble and gentle features were suddenly displayed in
-the light.
-
-"Father Seraphin!" the prisoners exclaimed with a surprise mingled with
-joy.
-
-"Silence!" the priest ordered quickly. "Do not pronounce my name so
-loudly, brothers: everyone is ignorant of my being here except the
-jailer, who is my confidant."
-
-"He!" Don Miguel said with a stupor; "the man who has been insulting and
-humiliating us during a month!"
-
-"That man is henceforth ours. Lose no time, come. I have secure means to
-get you out of prison, and to leave the town ere your evasion can be
-even suspected: the horses are prepared--an escort is awaiting you.
-Come, gentlemen, for the moments are precious."
-
-The two prisoners interchanged a glance of sublime eloquence; then
-General Ibanez quietly seated himself on a butaca, while Don Miguel
-replied,--
-
-"Thanks, my father. You have undertaken the noble task of soothing all
-sorrow, and you do not wish to fail in your duty. Thanks for the offer
-you make us, which we cannot, however, accept. Men like us must not give
-our enemies right by flying like criminals. We fought for a sacred
-principle, and succumbed. We owe it to our countrymen and to ourselves
-to endure death bravely. When we conspired we were perfectly well aware
-of what awaited us if we were conquered. Once again, thanks; but we will
-only quit this prison as free men, or to walk to punishment."
-
-"I have not the courage, gentlemen, to blame your heroic resolution: in
-a similar case I should act as you are doing. You have a very slight
-hope still left, so wait. Perchance, within a few hours, unforeseen
-events will occur to change the face of matters."
-
-"We hope for nothing more, my father."
-
-"That word is a blasphemy in your mouth, Don Miguel. God can do all He
-wills. Hope, I tell you."
-
-"I am wrong, father: forgive me."
-
-"Now I am ready to hear your confession."
-
-The prisoners bowed. Father Seraphin shrived them in turn, and gave them
-absolution.
-
-"Hola!" the jailer shouted through the door. "Make haste; it is getting
-late. It will soon be impossible to leave the city."
-
-"Open the door," the missionary said in a firm voice.
-
-The jailer appeared.
-
-"Well?" he asked.
-
-"Light me and lead me out of the prison. These caballeros refuse to
-profit by the chance of safety I came to offer them."
-
-The jailer shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"They are mad," he said.
-
-And he went out, followed by the priest, who turned on the threshold and
-pointed to heaven. The prisoners remained alone.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE EMBASSY.
-
-
-On the selfsame day that Father Seraphin went to the prison to propose
-an escape to the condemned, a very strange circumstance had aroused the
-entire population of Santa Fe. At about midday, at the moment when the
-inhabitants were enjoying their siesta, and the streets, calcined by the
-beams of a tropical sun, were completely deserted, a formidable whoop,
-the terrible war yell of the Comanche Indians, burst forth at the
-entrance of the town.
-
-There was a general alarm, and everybody barricaded himself in his
-house, believing in a sudden assault of the savages. Presently an
-immense clamour, and cries of distress and despair uttered by a
-terrified population, could be heard throughout the town. Several times
-already the Comanches, in their periodical incursions, had come near
-Santa Fe, but never so closely as this time; and the remembrance of the
-cruelties they had practised on the hapless Spaniards who fell into
-their hands was still present to every mind.
-
-In the meanwhile a few inhabitants, bolder than the rest, or having
-nothing to lose, proceeded with the greatest precautions toward the spot
-whence the shouts were heard; and a singular spectacle presented itself.
-A detachment of dismounted Comanche warriors, about two hundred strong,
-was marching in close column, flanked on either wing by two troops, each
-of fifty horses. About twenty paces in front caracoled Unicorn.
-
-All these men had a martial aspect which was really remarkable: all were
-strangely painted, well adorned, and in their full war costume. The
-horsemen were loaded with all sorts of arms and ornaments: they had a
-bow and quiver on their backs, their guns slung and decorated with their
-medicine bags, and their lances in their hands. They were crowned with
-magnificent black and white eagle feathers, with a falling tuft. The
-upper part of the body, otherwise naked, was covered by a coyote skin
-rolled up and worn across the shoulder; their bucklers were ornamented
-with feathers, cloth of different colours, and human scalps. They were
-seated on handsome saddlecloth of panthers' skins, lined with red, which
-almost covered the horses' backs. According to the prairie fashion, they
-had no stirrups.
-
-Unicorn brandished in his right hand the long medicine lance, the
-distinctive mark of the powerful "dance of the prairie dogs." It was a
-staff in the shape of a crook, covered with an otter skin, and decorated
-through its entire length with owl feathers. This talisman, which he had
-inherited, possessed the power of bringing under his orders all the
-warriors of his nation scattered over the prairies: hence on all grand
-occasions he never failed to carry it. He wore a shirt made of the skin
-of the bighorn, embroidered on the sleeves with blue flowers, and
-adorned on the right arm with long stripes of rolled ermine and red
-feathers, and on the left arm with long tresses of black hair cut from
-the scalps he had raised. Over his shoulders he had thrown a cloak of
-gazelle skin, having at each end an enormous tuft of ermine. On his
-forehead the chief had fastened two buffalo horns, which with the blue,
-red, and green paint plastered on his face, gave him a terrible aspect.
-His magnificent horse, a mustang full of fire, which he managed with
-inimitable grace and skill, was painted red in different fashions: on
-its legs were stripes like a zebra, and on either side the backbone were
-designed arrowhead, lances, beavers, tortoises, &c. The same was the
-case with the face and the haunches.
-
-There was something at once imposing and striking in the appearance
-presented by this band of ferocious warriors as they advanced though the
-deserted streets of the city, brandishing their tremendous weapons, and
-uttering at intervals their sinister war cry, which they accompanied by
-the shrill sound of long whistles made of human thigh bones, which they
-wore suspended by strips of wild beast hide.
-
-By this time the Comanches had penetrated to the heart of the city,
-driving before them, though without violence, the few inhabitants who
-had ventured to get in their way. They marched in good order, not
-turning to the right or left to plunder, and doing no reprehensive
-action.
-
-The Spaniards, more and more surprised at the haughty and bold attitude
-of the Indians, and their exemplary conduct, asked themselves with
-terror what these men wanted, and what reason had led them to invade
-their frontiers in so sudden and secret a way, that the scouts the
-Mexican Government pays to watch them had no knowledge of their march.
-As usually happens in such cases, terror gradually gave way to
-curiosity. In the first place the leperos and adventurers dared to
-approach the Indians; then the inhabitants, if not completely
-tranquilised, still reassured by their peaceful attitude, mingled with
-the groups; so that when the Comanche war party arrived on the Plaza
-Mayor; it was followed by a crowd of Spaniards, who regarded them with
-the restless and stupid curiosity only to be found among the masses.
-
-The Comanches did not appear to notice the excitement they created. As
-soon as they were on the Plaza Mayor they halted, and remained
-motionless, as if their feet had suddenly grown to the ground. Unicorn
-made a sign with his talisman; a warrior quitted the ranks, and rode up
-to the sentry standing in front of the governor's palace, who regarded
-the singular scene with a dazed air.
-
-"Wah!" the Indian said sarcastically, as he lightly touched the soldier
-with the end of his lance. "Is my brother asleep, that he does not hear
-a warrior addressing him?"
-
-"I am not asleep," the soldier answered, as he fell back a pace. "What
-do you want?"
-
-"The great sachem of the Comanches, the cacique whom the red children
-call Haboutzelze, has come to speak to his great white father, the chief
-of the frontier palefaces."
-
-"What does he want with him?" the soldier asked, not knowing what he
-said, so much had the unexpected sight of the redskin disturbed him.
-
-"Is my brother a chief?" the Indian asked cunningly.
-
-"No," the soldier answered, greatly confused by this lesson.
-
-"Well, then, let him close his ears as regards those the Great Spirit
-has set above him, and deliver the message I give him in the sachem's
-name."
-
-While the Comanche was exchanging these few words with the sentry,
-several persons, drawn out of the palace by the unusual disturbance they
-heard, mingled with the crowd. Among them were several officers, one of
-whom advanced to the Indian horseman.
-
-"What does my brother want?" he asked him.
-
-The warrior saw at the first glance that this time he had to do with a
-chief. He bowed courteously, and answered.
-
-"A deputation of the great Comanche nation desires to be introduced to
-my great white father."
-
-"Good! But all the warriors cannot enter the palace," the officer said.
-
-"My brother is right. Their chiefs alone will go in: their young men
-will await them here."
-
-"Let my brother be patient. I will go and deliver his message in all
-haste."
-
-"Good! My brother is a chief. The Spider will await him."
-
-The officer disappeared in the interior, while the Spider planted the
-end of his long lance in the ground, and remained with his eye fixed on
-the gate of the palace, not evincing the slightest impatience.
-
-The new governor of Santa Fe was a general of the name of Don Benito
-Ventura. He was ignorant as a fish, stupid and haughty as a heathcock.
-Like the majority of his colleagues in this eccentric country, he had
-gained his general's epaulettes by repeated pronunciamentos, managing
-to gain a step by every revolution, while never having seen more fire
-than that of the thin husk _pajillo_ he constantly had in his mouth. To
-sum him up, he was very rich, a wonderful coward, and more afraid of
-blows than aught else in the world. Such he was morally: physically he
-was a plump little man, round as a barrel, with a rubicund face, lighted
-up by two small grey eyes.
-
-This worthy officer perspired water and blood when the duties of his
-station obliged him to put on the uniform, every seam of which was
-overlaid with gold lace: his chest literally disappeared under the
-infinity of crosses of every description with which each president had
-honoured him on attaining power. In a word, General Ventura was a worthy
-man, as fit to be a soldier as he was to be a cardinal; and he had only
-one object, that of being President of the Republic in his turn; but
-this object he ever pursued without Once swerving from his path.
-
-If he accepted the governorship of New Mexico, it was for the simple
-reason that, as Santa Fe was a long distance from Mexico, he had
-calculated that it would be easy for him to make a _pronunciamento_ in
-his own favour, and become, _ipso facto_, president. He was not aware, on
-coming to Santa Fe, that the province he was about to govern was
-incessantly menaced by Indian forays. Had he known it, however
-advantageous the post of governor might, be for his schemes, he would
-have refused point blank so perilous an honour.
-
-He had learned with the utmost terror the entrance of the Comanches into
-the town, and when the officer intrusted with the Spider's message
-presented himself before him he had literally lost his head. It took all
-possible trouble to make him comprehend that the Indians came as
-friends, that they merely wished to have a palaver with him, and that
-since their coming their conduct had been most honourable and exemplary.
-Fortunately for the Spanish honour, other officers entered the apartment
-in which was the governor, attracted to the palace by the news, which
-had spread with the speed of a train of powder through Santa Fe, of the
-appearance of an Indian detachment.
-
-When the general saw himself surrounded and supported by the officers of
-his staff his terror was slightly toned down, he regained his presence
-of mind and it was with a calm and almost dignified demeanor that he
-discussed the question whether it was proper to receive the Indian
-deputation, and in what manner it should be done. The other officers,
-who, in the course of their professional career, had had many a skirmish
-with the redskins, felt no inclination to anger them. They produced in
-support of their opinions such peremptory reasons, that General Ventura,
-convinced by their arguments gave the officer who brought the message
-orders to bring the three principal Indian chiefs into the palace.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE PRESENTATION.
-
-
-It needed the thorough knowledge the Comanches possessed of the terror
-they inspired the Mexicans with to have dared to enter in so small a
-body a town like Santa Fe, where they might expect to find a
-considerable garrison.
-
-The general officer sent by General Ventura had performed his duty.
-Unicorn and two other chiefs dismounted, and followed him into the
-palace; while the Indian warriors, in spite of the heat of the sunbeams
-that played on their heads, remained motionless on the spot where their
-caciques bade them wait.
-
-The general desired, by a certain display of strength, to impose on the
-redskin deputies; but unfortunately, as is always the case in Mexico,
-the garrison, which on paper represented eight hundred men, was in
-reality only composed of sixty at the most--a very small number for a
-frontier town, especially under the present circumstances. But if
-soldiers were lacking, to make up for it there was no paucity of
-officers; for about thirty were assembled at the palace, which allowed
-one officer to every two privates. This detail, which might appear
-exaggerated, is, however, strictly correct, and shows in what a state of
-anarchy this hapless country is plunged. The thirty officers, attired in
-their splendid uniforms, that glistened with gold and decorations, were
-arranged round the general, while three posts of ten men each held the
-doors of the halls of reception.
-
-When the preparations were completed the ambassadors were introduced.
-The Indian chiefs, accustomed for a long period to Spanish luxury,
-entered without testifying the slightest surprise. They bowed with
-dignity to the assembly, and, crossing their arms on their chests,
-waited till they were addressed. The general regarded them with an
-astonishment pardonable enough, for this was the first time he had found
-himself in the presence of these untamable redskins, whose terrible
-renown had so often made him shudder.
-
-"What reason can have been so powerful as to oblige my sons to come and
-see me?" he asked in a gracious and conciliating tone. "Let them make
-their request, and, if I can do so, I shall be most ready to satisfy
-it."
-
-This opening, which the governor fancied to be very politic, was, on the
-contrary, most awkward, as it offended the pride of those he addressed,
-and whom he had the greatest interest in humouring. Unicorn took a step
-forward. A sarcastic smile played on his lips, and he replied in a voice
-slightly tinged with irony,--
-
-"I have heard a parrot speak. Are the words addressed to me?"
-
-The general blushed up to the eyes at this insult, which he did not dare
-retaliate.
-
-"The chief has not understood my words," he said. "My intentions are
-good, and I only wish to be agreeable to him."
-
-"The Comanches do not come here to ask a favour," Unicorn answered,
-haughtily. "They know how to avenge themselves when insulted."
-
-"What do my sons want then?"
-
-"To treat with my father for the ransom of the white chiefs who are in
-their power. Five palefaces inhabit the cabin of the Comanches. The
-young men of the tribe demand their punishment, for the blood of the
-palefaces is agreeable to the Master of Life. Tomorrow the prisoners
-will have ceased to live if my father does not buy them off today."
-
-After these words, uttered in a firm and peremptory tone, there was a
-moment of supreme silence. The Mexican officers reflected sadly on the
-fearful fate that threatened their friends. Unicorn continued:--
-
-"What does my father say? Shall we fasten our prisoners to the stake of
-blood, or restore them to liberty?"
-
-"What ransom do you ask?" the general said.
-
-"Listen, all you chiefs of the palefaces here present, and judge of the
-clemency and generosity of the Comanches. We only, wish, for the life of
-these five men, the life of two men."
-
-"That is little, I allow," the general remarked; "and who are the two
-men whose lives you ask?"
-
-"The palefaces call them, the first, Don Miguel Zarate; the second,
-General Ibanez."
-
-The general started.
-
-"These two men cannot be delivered to you," he answered; "they are
-condemned to death, and will die tomorrow."
-
-"Good! My prisoners will be tortured this night," the chief replied
-stoically.
-
-"Confound it!" the general sharply exclaimed, "Is there no other
-arrangement possible? Let my brothers ask me a thing I can grant them,
-and--"
-
-"I want those two men," the chief quickly interrupted. "If not, my
-warriors will themselves deliver them; and in that case the Comanche
-chiefs cannot prevent the injury their warriors may commit in the town."
-
-One of the officers present at this interview was aroused by the tone
-Unicorn had affected since the beginning of the audience. He was a brave
-old soldier, and the cowardice of his comrades shamed him. He rose at
-this point.
-
-"Chief," he said in a firm voice, "your words are very haughty and
-foolish for the mouth of an ambassador. You are here, at the head of
-scarce two hundred warriors, in the heart of a town peopled by brave
-men. Despite all my desire to be agreeable to you, if you do not pay
-greater respect to your audience, prompt and severe justice shall be
-inflicted on your insolence."
-
-The Indian chief turned toward the new speaker, whose remarks had
-aroused a sympathetic murmur.
-
-"My words are those of a man who fears nothing, and holds in his hands
-the life of five men."
-
-"Well," the officer retorted sharply, "what do we care for them? If they
-were such fools as to let you capture them, they must suffer the
-consequences of their madness; we cannot pay for them. Besides, as you
-have already been told, those you claim must die."
-
-"Good! We will retire," Unicorn said haughtily. "Longer discourse is
-needless; our deeds shall speak for us."
-
-"A moment!" the general exclaimed. "All may yet be arranged. An affair
-like the present cannot be settled all in a hurry; we must reflect on
-the propositions made to us. My son is a chief, and will grant us
-reasonable time to offer him a reply."
-
-Unicorn bent a suspicious glance on the governor.
-
-"My father has spoken wisely," he presently made answer. "Tomorrow at
-the twelfth hour, I will come for the final answer of the palefaces. But
-my father will promise me not to order the punishment of the prisoners
-till he has told me the decision he has come to."
-
-"Be it so," the general answered. "But what will the Comanches do till,
-then?"
-
-"They will leave the town as they entered it, and bivouac on the plain."
-
-"Agreed on."
-
-"The Master of Life has heard my father's promise. If he break his word
-and possess a forked tongue, the blood shed will fall on his head."
-
-The Comanche uttered these words in a significant tone that made the
-general tremble inwardly; then he bowed to the assembly, and left the
-hall with his companions. On reaching the square the chiefs remounted
-their horses and placed themselves at the head of their warriors. An
-hour later the Comanches had left the town, and camped within two
-gunshots of the walls, on the banks of the river. It was after this
-interview that Unicorn had the conversation with Valentine which we
-recently described.
-
-Still, when the Mexican officers were alone with the general, their
-courage returned all at once, and they reproached him for the little
-dignity he had displayed before the Indians, and specially for the
-promise he had made them. The general listened to them calmly, with a
-smile on his lips, and contented himself with answering them, in a tone,
-of indescribable meaning,--
-
-"The promise you allude to pledges me to nothing. Between this and
-tomorrow certain things will happen to free us from the Comanches, and
-let us dispense with surrendering the prisoners they demand so
-insolently."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-PSYCHOLOGICAL.
-
-
-About half a league to the west of Santa Fe three men and a woman were
-seated behind a dense clump of trees, which sheltered while rendering
-them unseen, over a _bois-de-vache_ fire, supping with good appetite,
-and chatting together. The three men were Red Cedar's sons; the female
-was Ellen. The maiden was pale and sad: her dreamy eye wandered around
-with a distraught expression. She listened hardly to what her brothers
-said, and would certainly have been greatly embarrassed to describe the
-conversation, for her mind was elsewhere.
-
-"Hum!" Sutter said, "what the deuce can keep the old one so long? He
-told us he should be back by four o'clock at the latest; but the sun is
-just disappearing on the horizon, and he has not come yet."
-
-"Pshaw!" Nathan said with a shrug of the shoulders. "Are you afraid that
-something has happened to him? The old chap has beak and nails to defend
-himself; and since his last turn up with Don Miguel, the fellow who is
-to be shot tomorrow at Santa Fe, he has kept on his guard."
-
-"I care very little," Sutter replied brusquely, "whether father is here
-or not; but I believe we should do well not to wait longer, but return
-to the camp, where our presence is doubtless necessary."
-
-"Nonsense! Our comrades can do without us," Shaw observed. "We are all
-right here, so suppose we stop the night. Tomorrow it will be day. Well,
-if father has not returned by sunrise, we will go back to camp. Harry
-and Dick can keep good order till our return."
-
-"In truth, Shaw is right," Nathan said. "Father is at times so strange,
-that he might be angry with us for not having waited for him; for he
-never does anything lightly. If he told us to stay here, he probably had
-his reasons."
-
-"Let us stay, then," Sutter remarked carelessly. "I ask for nothing
-better. We shall only have to keep the fire up, and so one of us will
-watch while the others sleep."
-
-"Agreed on," Nathan replied. "In that way, if the old man comes during
-our sleep, he will see that we waited for him."
-
-The three brothers rose. Sutter and Nathan collected a pile of dry wood
-to maintain the fire, while Shaw intertwined a few branches to make his
-sister a sufficient shelter for the night. The two elder brothers thrust
-their feet toward the fire, wrapped themselves in their blankets, and
-went to sleep, after advising Shaw to keep a bright lookout, not only
-against wild beasts, but to announce the old squatter's approach. Shaw,
-after stirring up the fire, threw himself at the foot of a larch tree,
-and letting his head sink on his chest, plunged into deep and painful
-meditation.
-
-This poor boy, hardly twenty years of age, was a strange composite of
-good and evil qualities. Reared in the desert, he had grown up like one
-of its native trees, thrusting out here and there branches full of
-powerful sap. Nothing had ever thwarted his instincts, no matter what
-their nature might be. Possessing no cognizance of justice and
-injustice, he had never been able to appreciate the squatter's conduct,
-or see the injury he did society by the life he led. Habituated to
-regard as belonging to himself all that he wished for, allowing himself
-to be guided by his impressions and caprices, never having felt any
-other fetter than his father's despotic will, this young man had at once
-a nature expansive and reserved, generous and avaricious, gentle and
-cruel: in a word, he possessed all the qualities of his vices; but he
-was, before all, a man of sensations. Endowed with a vast intellect,
-extreme audacity, and lively comprehensions, he would have been
-indubitably a remarkable man, had he been born in a different position.
-
-His sister Ellen was the only member of his family for whom he
-experienced sympathy; and yet it was only with extreme reserve that he
-intrusted his boyish secrets to her--secrets which, during the last few
-days, had acquired an importance he did not himself suspect, but which
-his sister, with the innate intelligence of woman, had already divined.
-
-Shaw, as we have said, was thinking. The young savage's indomitable
-nature revolted against an unknown force which had suddenly sprung up in
-his heart--mastered and subdued him in spite of all his efforts. He was
-in love! He loved, ignorant even of the meaning of the word love, which
-comprises in this nether world all earthly joy and suffering. Vainly he
-sought to explain his feelings; but no light flashed across his mind, or
-illumined the darkness of his heart. He loved without desire and without
-hope, involuntarily obeying that divine law which compels even the
-roughest man to seek a mate. He was dreaming of Dona Clara. He loved
-her, as he was capable of loving, with that passionate impetuosity, that
-violence of feeling, to which his uncultivated mind adapted him. The
-sight of the maiden caused him a strange trouble, which he did not
-attempt to account for. He did not try to analyse his feelings, for that
-would have been impossible; and yet at times he was a prey to cold and
-terrible fury, when thinking that the haughty maiden, who was even
-unconscious of his existence, would probably only spurn and despise him
-if she knew it. He was yielding to these crushing thoughts, when he
-suddenly felt a hand laid on his shoulder. On turning, Ellen stood
-before him, upright and motionless, like the white apparitions of the
-German legends. He raised his head, and bent an inquiring glance on his
-sister.
-
-"You are not asleep, Ellen?"
-
-"No," she answered in a voice soft as a bird's song. "Brother, my heart
-is sad."
-
-"What is the matter, Ellen? Why not enjoy a few hours of that repose so
-necessary for you?"
-
-"My heart is sad, I tell you, brother," she went on. "In vain do I seek
-sleep--it flies far from me."
-
-"Sister, tell me the cause of your sufferings, and perhaps I can appease
-the grief that devours you."
-
-"Can you not guess it?"
-
-"I do not understand you."
-
-She looked at him so sternly that he could not let his eyes fall.
-
-"On the contrary, you understand me too well, Shaw," she said with a
-sigh. "Your heart rejoices at this moment at the misfortune of the woman
-you should defend."
-
-The young man blushed.
-
-"What can I do?" he murmured faintly.
-
-"Everything, if you have the firm will," she exclaimed energetically.
-
-"No," Shaw went on, shaking his head with discouragement; "the person of
-whom you speak is the old man's prisoner. I cannot contend against my
-father."
-
-Ellen smiled contemptuously.
-
-"You seek in vain to hide your thoughts from me," she said harshly. "I
-read your heart as an open book: your sorrow is feigned, and you really
-rejoice at the thought that in future you will constantly be by Dona
-Clara's side."
-
-"I!" he exclaimed with an angry start.
-
-"Yes, you only see in her captivity a means to approach her. Your
-selfish heart is secretly gladdened by that hope."
-
-"You are harsh to me, sister. Heaven is my witness that, were it
-possible, I would at once restore her the liberty torn from her."
-
-"You can if you like."
-
-"No, it is impossible. My father watches too closely over his prisoner."
-
-"He will not distrust you, but allow you to approach her freely."
-
-"What you ask of me is impossible."
-
-"Because you will not, Shaw. Remember that women only love men in
-proportion to the sacrifices they make for them: they despise cowards."
-
-"But how to save her?"
-
-"That is your affair, Shaw."
-
-"At least give me some advice which will help me to escape from the
-difficult position in which I find myself."
-
-"In such serious circumstances your heart must guide you, and you must
-only ask counsel of it."
-
-"But the old one?" Shaw said hesitatingly.
-
-"Our father will not know your movements. I take on myself to prevent
-him noticing them."
-
-"Good!" the young man remarked, half convinced; "but I do not know where
-the maiden is hidden."
-
-"I will tell you, if you swear to do all in your power to save her."
-
-There was a moment of silence.
-
-"I swear to obey you, Ellen. If I do not succeed in carrying the girl
-off, I will at any rate employ all my intellect to obtain that result.
-Speak, then, without fear."
-
-"Dona Clara is confined at the Rancho del Coyote: she was intrusted to
-Andres Garote."
-
-"Ah, ah!" the young man said, as if speaking to himself, "I did not
-fancy her so near us."
-
-"You will save her?"
-
-"At all events I will try to free her from the hands of the man who
-guards her."
-
-"Good!" the maiden remarked; "I now recognise you. Lose no time: my
-father's absence alarms me. Perhaps at this moment he is preparing a
-safer hiding place for his prisoner."
-
-"Your idea is excellent, sister. Who knows whether it is not too late
-now to tear from the old man the prey he covets?"
-
-"When do you intend to start?"
-
-"At once: I have not a moment to lose. If the old man returned I should
-be compelled to remain here. But who will keep watch while my brothers
-sleep?"
-
-"I will," the maiden answered resolutely.
-
-"Whence arises the interest you feel in this woman, sister, as you do
-not know her?" the young man asked in surprise.
-
-"She is a woman, and unhappy. Are not those reasons sufficient?"
-
-"Perhaps so," Shaw remarked doubtfully.
-
-"Child!" Ellen muttered, "Can you not read in your own heart, the motive
-of my conduct toward this stranger?"
-
-The young savage started at this remark.
-
-"It is true!" He exclaimed passionately. "Pardon me, sister! I am mad;
-but I love you, and you know me better than I do myself."
-
-And rising hurriedly, he kissed his sister, threw his rifle over his
-shoulder, and ran off in the direction of Santa Fe.
-
-When he had disappeared in the gloom, and the sound of his footsteps had
-died out in the distance, the girl fell on the ground, muttering in a
-low, sad voice:
-
-"Will he succeed?"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.
-
-
-Red Cedar did not remain long under the effect of the startling insult
-he had received. Pride, wrath, and, before all, the desire to avenge
-himself restored his strength, and a few minutes after Don Pablo
-Zarate's departure the squatter had regained all his coolness and
-audacity.
-
-"You see, senor padre," he said, addressing the monk, "that our little
-plans are known to our enemies; we must, therefore, make haste if we do
-not wish to see persons break in here, from whom it is of the utmost
-importance to conceal ourselves. Tomorrow night at the latest, perhaps
-before, we shall start. Do not stir from here till my return. Your face
-is too well known at Santa Fe for you to venture to show it in the
-streets without imprudence."
-
-"Hum!" the monk muttered, "That demon, whom I fancied dead, is a rude
-adversary. Fortunately we shall soon have nothing more to fear from his
-father, for I hardly know how we should get out of it."
-
-"If the son has escaped us," Red Cedar said with an ugly smile, "that is
-fortunately not the case with the father. Don't be alarmed; Don Miguel
-will cause us no further embarrassment."
-
-"I wish it most earnestly, _canarios!_ for he is a determined man; but I
-confess to you that I shall not be entirely at my ease till I have seen
-him fall beneath the bullets of the soldiers."
-
-"You will not have long to wait. General Ventura has ordered me to go
-and meet the regiment of dragoons he expects, in order to hurry them on,
-and bring them into the town this very night, if possible. So soon as
-the governor has an imposing force at his disposal he will no longer
-fear a revolt on the part of the troops, and give the order for
-execution without delay."
-
-"May Heaven grant it! But," he added with a sigh of regret, "what a pity
-that most of our scamps deserted us! We should have almost arrived at
-the placer by this time, and been safe from the vengeance of our
-enemies."
-
-"Patience, senor padre; all is for the best, perhaps, trust to me.
-Andres, my horse."
-
-"You will start at once, then?"
-
-"Yes. I recommend you to watch carefully over our prisoner."
-
-The monk shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Our affairs are tolerably well embarrassed already; then why burden
-ourselves with a woman?"
-
-The squatter frowned.
-
-"That is my business," he exclaimed in a peremptory tone. "Keep all
-stupid observations to yourself. A thousand devils! I know what I am
-about. That woman will possibly prove our safeguard at a later date."
-
-And mounting his horse, Red Cedar galloped out of Santa Fe.
-
-"Hum!" Andres Garote said as he watched him depart, "what a diabolical
-eye! Though I have known him several years, I never saw him like that
-before. How will all this end?"
-
-Without further remarks he arranged matters in the rancho, repairing as
-well as he could the disorder caused by the previous struggle; then he
-took a look round him. The monk, with his elbows on the table and a
-cigarette in his mouth, was drinking the fluid left in the bottle,
-doubtless to console himself for the _navajada_ with which Don Pablo had
-favoured him.
-
-"Why, senor padre," the ranchero said in an insinuating voice, "do you
-know that it is hardly five o'clock?"
-
-"Do you think so?" the other answered for the sake of saying something.
-
-"Does not the time seem to you to go very slowly?"
-
-"Extraordinarily so."
-
-"If you liked we could easily shorten it."
-
-"In what way?"
-
-"Oh, for instance, with these."
-
-And Andres drew from his boot a pack of greasy cards, which he
-complacently spread out on the table.
-
-"Ah! That is a good idea," the monk exclaimed with sparkling eyes. "Let
-us have a game of monte."
-
-"At your orders."
-
-"Don Andres, you are a most worthy gentlemen. What shall we play for?"
-
-"Ah, hang it! That is true; we must play for something," the ranchero
-said, scratching his head.
-
-"The merest trifle, simply to render the game interesting."
-
-"Yes, but to do that man must possess the trifle."
-
-"Do not let that trouble you. If you permit me I will make you a
-proposal."
-
-"Do so, senor. You are a remarkable clever man, and can have none but
-bright ideas."
-
-The monk bowed to his flattering insinuation.
-
-"This is it: we will play, if you like for the share of the gold we
-shall receive when we reach the placer."
-
-"Done!" the ranchero shouted enthusiastically.
-
-"Well," the monk said, drawing from his pocket a pack of cards no less
-dirty than the others, "we can at any rate kill time."
-
-"What! You have cards too?" the ranchero remarked.
-
-"Yes, and quite new, as you see." Andres bowed with an air of
-conviction.
-
-The game began at once, and soon the two men were completely absorbed in
-the combinations of the _seis de copas,_ the _as de bastos_, the _dos de
-oro_, and the _cuatro d'espadas_. The monk, who had no necessity to
-feign at this moment, as he was in the company of a man thoroughly
-acquainted with him, yielded frenziedly to his ruling passion. In
-Mexico, and throughout Spanish America, the _angelus_ rings at sunset.
-In those countries, where there is no twilight, night arrives without
-transition, so that ere the bell has done tinkling the gloom is dense.
-At the last stroke of the angelus the game ceased, as if by common
-agreement between the two men, and they threw their cards on the table.
-
-Although Garote was a passed master in trickery, and had displayed all
-his science, he found in the monk so skilful an adversary that, after
-more than three hours of an obstinate struggle, they both found
-themselves as little advanced as at the outset. The monk, however, on
-coming to the rancho, had an object which Red Cedar was far from
-suspecting.
-
-Fray Ambrosio rested his arms on the table, bent his body slightly
-forward, and while carelessly playing with the cards, which he amused
-himself by sorting, he said to the ranchero, as he fixed a scrutinising
-glance upon him,--
-
-"Shall we talk a little, Don Andres?"
-
-"Willingly," the latter replied, who had partly risen, but now fell back
-on his chair.
-
-By a secret foreboding Andres Garote had guessed that the monk wished to
-make some important proposal to him. Hence, thanks to that instinctive
-intuition which rogues possess for certain things, the two men read each
-other's thoughts. Fray Ambrosio bit his lips, for the gambusino's
-intelligence startled him. Still the latter bent upon him a glance so
-full of stupid meaning, that he continued to make a confidant of him, as
-it were involuntarily.
-
-"Senor Don Andres," he said in a soft and insinuating voice, "what a
-happiness that your poor brother, on dying, revealed to me the secret of
-the rich placer, which he concealed even from yourself!"
-
-"It is true," Andres answered, turning slightly pale; "it was very
-fortunate, senor padre. For my part, I congratulate myself on it daily."
-
-"Is it not so? For without it the immense fortune would have been lost
-to you and all else."
-
-"It is terrible to think of."
-
-"Well, at this moment I have a horrible fear."
-
-"What is it, senor padre?"
-
-"That we have deferred our departure too long, and that some of those
-European vagabonds we were speaking of just now may have discovered our
-placer. Those scoundrels have a peculiar scent for finding gold."
-
-"_Caray_, senor padre!" Andres said, striking the table with a feigned
-grief (for he knew very well what the monk was saying was only a clever
-way of attaining his real point), "that would drive me mad--an affair so
-well managed hitherto."
-
-"That is true," Fray Ambrosio said in corroboration. "I could never
-console myself."
-
-"_Demonios_! I have as great an interest in it as yourself, senor
-padre," the gambusino replied with superb coolness. "You know that an
-uninterrupted succession of unfortunate speculations robbed me of my
-fortune, and I hoped thus to regain it at a stroke."
-
-At these words Fray Ambrosio had incredible difficulty in repressing a
-smile; for it was a matter of public notoriety that senor Don Andres
-Garote was a lepero, who, as regarded fortune, had never possessed a
-farthing of patrimony; that throughout his life he had never been aught
-but an adventurer; and that the unlucky speculations of which he
-complained were simply an ill luck at monte, which had recently stripped
-him of 20,000 piastres, acquired Heaven alone knew how. But senor Don
-Andres Garote was a man of unequalled bravery, gifted with a fertile and
-ready mind, whom the accidents of life had compelled to live for a
-lengthened period on the _llanos_ (prairies), whose paths he knew as
-thoroughly as he did the tricks of those who dwelt on them. Hence, and
-for many other reasons, Andres Garote was an invaluable comrade for Fray
-Ambrosio, who had also a bitter revenge to take on the monte table,
-because he pretended to place the most sincere faith in what it pleased
-his honourable mate to say touching his lost fortune.
-
-"However," he said, after an instant's reflection, "supposing that the
-placer is intact, and that no one has discovered it, we shall have a
-long journey to reach it."
-
-"Yes," the gambusino remarked, significantly; "the road is difficult and
-broadcast with perils innumerable."
-
-"We must march with our chins on our shoulders, and finger on the rifle
-trigger--"
-
-"Fight nearly constantly with wild beasts or Indians--"
-
-"In a word, do you not believe that the woman Red Cedar has carried off
-will prove a horrid bore?"
-
-"Dreadfully so," Andres made answer, with an intelligent glance.
-
-"What is to be done?"
-
-"Hang it! That is difficult to say."
-
-"Still we cannot run the risk, on account of a wretched woman, of having
-our hair raised by the Indians."
-
-"That's true enough."
-
-"Is she here?"
-
-"Yes," the gambusino said, pointing to a door; "in that room."
-
-"Hum!"
-
-"You remarked--"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"Could we not--"
-
-"What?"
-
-"It is perhaps difficult," Andres continued, with feigned hesitation.
-
-"Explain yourself."
-
-The gambusino seemed to make up his mind.
-
-"Suppose we restore her to her family?" he said.
-
-"I have thought of that already."
-
-"That is strange."
-
-"It must be all managed very cleverly."
-
-"And the relations pay a proper ransom."
-
-"That is what I meant to say.".
-
-There was a silence.
-
-Decidedly these two honourable persons were made to understand one
-another.
-
-"But who is to undertake this delicate mission?" asked the monk.
-
-"I, _con mil demonios!_" the gambusino exclaimed, his eyes sparkling
-with greed at the thought of the rich ransom he would demand.
-
-"But if Red Cedar were to find out," the monk remarked, "that we
-surrendered his prisoner?"
-
-"Who will tell him?"
-
-"I am sure I shan't."
-
-"Nor I."
-
-"It is very easy; the girl will have escaped."
-
-"Quite true."
-
-"Do not let us lose time, then. You have a horse?"
-
-"I have two."
-
-"Bravo! You will place Dona Clara on one, and mount the other yourself."
-
-"And go straight to the Hacienda de la Noria."
-
-"That is it. Don Pablo will be delighted to recover his sister, whom he
-expected never to see again, and will not haggle over the price he pays
-for her deliverance."
-
-"Famous! In that way we run no risk of not reaching the placer, as our
-party will only consist of men."
-
-"Excellently reasoned!"
-
-Andres Garote rose with a smile which would have caused the monk to
-reflect, had he seen it; but at the same moment the latter was rubbing
-his hands, saying in a low voice, and with a most satisfied air,--
-
-"Now, my scamp, I've got you."
-
-What secret thought possessed these two men, who were carrying on a
-mutual deceit, none save themselves could have said. The gambusino
-approached the door of the room where Dona Clara was confined, and put
-the key in the lock. At this moment two vigorous blows were dealt on the
-door of the rancho, which had been carefully bolted after Red Cedar's
-departure. The two accomplices started.
-
-"Must I open?" Andres asked.
-
-"Yes," the monk answered; "hesitation or refusal might create alarm. In
-our position we must foresee everything."
-
-The ranchero went to open the door, which the newcomer threatened to
-break in. A man walked in, who took a careful glance around, then doffed
-his hat and bowed. The confederates exchanged a glance of vexation on
-recognising him, for he was no other than Shaw, Red Cedar's youngest
-son.
-
-"I am afraid I disturb you, gentlemen," the young man said, with an
-ironical smile.
-
-"Not at all," Andres made answer; "on the contrary, we are delighted to
-see you."
-
-"Thanks!"
-
-And the young man fell back into a butaca.
-
-"You are very late at Santa Fe," the monk remarked.
-
-"It is true," the American said, with some embarrassment; "I am looking
-for my father, and fancied I should find him here."
-
-"He was so a few hours back, but he was obliged to leave us."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-This exclamation was rather drawn from the young man by the necessity he
-felt of replying, than through any interest he took in the information
-afforded him. He was evidently preoccupied; but Fray Ambrosio did not
-appear to notice it, as he continued,--
-
-"Yes: it appears that his Excellency the Governor ordered your father to
-go and meet a regiment of dragoons intended to reinforce the garrison,
-and hasten its march."
-
-"That is true; I forgot it."
-
-The monk and the miner did not at all understand the American's conduct,
-and lost themselves in conjectures as to the reasons that brought him to
-the rancho. They guessed instinctively that what he said about his
-father was only a pretext or means of introduction; and that a powerful
-motive, he would not or dared not avow, had brought him. For his part,
-the young man, in coming to the Rancho del Coyote, where he knew that
-Dona Clara was imprisoned, expected to find Andres alone, with whom he
-hoped to come to an understanding in some way or another. The presence
-of the monk disturbed all his plans. Still, time was slipping away he
-must make up his mind, and, before all, profit by Red Cedar's
-providential absence, which offered him an opportunity he could hardly
-dare to hope again.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-A STORMY DISCUSSION.
-
-
-Shaw was not timid, as we have said--he ought rather be accused of the
-opposite excess; he was not the man, once his resolution was formed, to
-let anything soever turn him from it. His hesitation was not long; he
-suddenly rose, and violently stamping his rifle butt on the ground,
-looked at the two men, while saying in a firm voice,--
-
-"Be frank, my presence here at this hour astonishes you, and you ask
-yourselves what cause can have brought me."
-
-"Sir," the monk said, with a certain degree of hesitation rendered
-highly natural by the young man's tone.
-
-"Pardon me," Shaw exclaimed, interrupting him, "the cause you will seek
-in vain. I will tell you: I have come to deliver Dona Clara."
-
-"Can it be possible?" the two men exclaimed with stupefaction.
-
-"It is so; whether you like it or not, I care little. I am the man to
-hold my own against both of you, and no one can prevent me restoring the
-maiden to her father, as I have resolved on doing."
-
-"What do I hear?" said Fray Ambrosio.
-
-"Hum!" the young man continued quickly, "Believe me, do not attempt any
-useless resistance, for I have resolved, if needs must, to pass over
-your bodies to success."
-
-"But we have not the slightest wish--"
-
-"Take care," he interrupted him in a voice full of menace and frowning,
-"I will only leave this house accompanied by her I wish to save."
-
-"Sir," the monk remarked, in an authoritative voice which momentarily
-quelled the young savage, "two words of explanation."
-
-"Make haste!" he answered, "For I warn you that my patience is
-exhausted."
-
-"I do not insist on your listening any length of time. You have come
-here, you say, with the intention of delivering Dona Clara?"
-
-"Yes," he answered impatiently, "and if you attempt to oppose it--"
-
-"Pardon me," the monk interrupted, "such a determination on your part
-naturally surprises us."
-
-"Why so?" the young man said, raising his head haughtily.
-
-"Because," Fray Ambrosio answered tranquilly, "You are the son of Red
-Cedar, and it is at least I strange that--"
-
-"Enough talking," Shaw exclaimed violently; "will you or not give me up
-her I have come to seek?"
-
-"I must know, in the first place, what you intend doing with her.
-
-"How does that concern you?"
-
-"More than you imagine. Since that girl has been a prisoner I
-constituted myself--if not her guardian, for the dress I wear forbids
-that--her defender; in that quality I have the right of knowing for what
-reason you, the son of the man who tore her from her family, have come
-so audaciously to demand her surrender to you, and what your object is
-in acting thus?"
-
-The young man had listened to those remarks with an impatience that
-became momentarily more visible; it could be seen that he made
-superhuman efforts to restrain himself. When the monk stopped, he looked
-at him for a moment with a strange expression, then walked up so close
-as almost to touch him, drew a pair of pistols from his girdle and
-pointed them at the monk.
-
-"Surrender Dona Clara to me," he said, in a low and menacing voice.
-
-Fray Ambrosio had attentively followed all the American's movements, and
-when the latter put the pistol muzzles to his chest, the monk, with an
-action rapid as lightning, also drew two pistols from his girdle, and
-placed them, on his adversary's chest. There was a moment of supreme
-expectation, of indescribable agony; the two men were motionless, face
-to face panting, each with his fingers on a trigger, pale, and their
-brows dank with cold perspiration. Andres Garote, his lips curled by an
-ironical smile, and his arms crossed, carelessly leaned against a table,
-watching this scene which had for him all the attractions of a play.
-
-All at once the door of the rancho, which had not been fastened again
-after the squatter's entry was violently thrown back and a man appeared.
-It was Father Seraphin. At a glance he judged the position and boldly
-threw himself between the foemen, hurling them back, but not uttering a
-word. The two men recoiled, and lowered their weapons, but continued to
-menace each other with their glances.
-
-"What!" the missionary said in a deep voice, "Have I arrived just in
-time to prevent a double murder, gentlemen? In Heaven's name, hide those
-homicidal weapons; do not stand opposite each other like wild beasts
-preparing for a leap."
-
-"Withdraw, father; you have nothing to do here. Let me treat this man as
-he deserves," the squatter answered, casting at the missionary a
-ferocious glance--"his life belongs to me."
-
-"Young man," the priest replied, "the life of a fellow being belongs
-only to God, who has the right to deprive, him of it; lower your
-weapons"--and turning to Fray Ambrosio, he said to him in a cutting
-voice, "and you who dishonour the frock you wear, throw away those
-pistols which sully your hands--a minister of the altar should not
-employ other weapons than the Gospel."
-
-The monk bowed, and caused his pistols to disappear, saying in a soft
-and cautious voice, "My father, I was compelled to defend my life which
-that maniac assailed. Heaven is my witness that I reprove these violent
-measures, too frequently employed in this unhappy country; but this man
-came into the house with threats on his lips; he insisted on our
-delivering a wretched girl whom this caballero," he said, pointing to
-the gambusino, "and myself did not think proper to surrender."
-
-Andres corroborated the monk's words by a nod of the head.
-
-"I wish to save that young girl from your hands," Shaw said, "and
-restore her to her father."
-
-"Of whom are you speaking, my friend?" the missionary asked with a
-secret beating of his heart.
-
-"Of whom should I speak, save Dona Clara de Zarate, whom these villains
-retain here by force?"
-
-"Can it be possible?" Father Seraphin exclaimed in amazement. "Dona
-Clara here?"
-
-"Ask those men," Shaw answered, roughly, as he angrily struck the butt
-of his rifle against the ground.
-
-"Is it true?" the priest inquired.
-
-"It is," the gambusino answered.
-
-Father Seraphin frowned, and his pale forehead was covered with febrile
-ruddiness.
-
-"Sir," he said, in a voice choking with indignation. "I summon you, in
-the name of that God whom you serve, and whose minister you lay claim to
-being, to restore at once to liberty the hapless girl whom you have so
-unworthily imprisoned, in defiance of all laws, human and divine. I
-engage to deliver her into the hands of those who bewail her loss."
-
-Fray Ambrosio bowed; he let his eyes fall, and said in a hypocritical
-voice--
-
-"Father, you are mistaken as regards myself. I had nothing to do with
-the carrying off of that poor child, which on the contrary, I opposed to
-the utmost of my power; and that is so true, father," he added, "that at
-the moment when this young madman arrived, the worthy gambusino and
-myself had resolved, at all risks, on restoring Dona Clara to her
-family."
-
-"I should wish to believe you, sir; if I am mistaken, as you say, you
-will forgive me, for appearances were against you; it only depends on
-yourself to produce a perfect justification by carrying out my wishes."
-
-"You shall be satisfied, father," the monk replied. At a signal from him
-Garote left the room. During the few words interchanged between the two
-men, Shaw remained motionless, hesitating, not knowing what he ought to
-do; but he suddenly made up his mind, threw his rifle over his shoulder,
-and turned to the missionary.
-
-"Father," he said respectfully, "my presence is now needless here.
-Farewell; my departure will prove to you the purity of my intentions."
-
-And turning suddenly on his heel, he hurried out of the rancho. A few
-moments after his departure the gambusino returned, Dona Clara following
-him.
-
-Dona Clara no longer wore the dress of the whites, for Red Cedar, in
-order to render her unrecognizable, had compelled her to don the Indian
-garb, which the maiden wore with an innate grace which heightened its
-strange elegance. Like all Indian squaws, she was attired in two white
-chemises of striped calico--the one fastened around the neck, fell to
-the hips; while the other, drawn in at the waist, descended to her
-ankles. Her neck was adorned with collars of fine pearls, mingled with
-those small shells called wampum, and employed by the Indians as money.
-Her arms and ankles were surrounded by wide circles of gold, and a small
-diadem of the same metal relieved the pale tint of her forehead.
-Moccasins of deer hide, embroidered with wool and beads of every colour
-imprisoned her small and high-arched feet.
-
-As she entered the room, a shadow of melancholy and sadness spread over
-her face, adding, were that possible, a further charm to her person. On
-seeing the missionary, Dona Clara uttered a cry of joy, and rushed
-toward him, fell into his arms, and murmured in a heart-rending voice:--
-
-"Father! save me! save me!"
-
-"Be calm, my daughter!" the priest said to her, gently. "You have
-nothing more to fear now that I am near you."
-
-"Come!" she exclaimed, wildly, "Let us fly from this accursed house, in
-which I have suffered so greatly."
-
-"Yes, my daughter, we will go; set your mind at rest."
-
-"You see, father," Fray Ambrosio said, hypocritically, "that I did not
-deceive you."
-
-The missionary cast at the monk a glance of undefinable meaning.
-
-"I trust that you spoke truly," he replied; "the God who gauges hearts
-will judge you according to works. I will rescue this maiden at once."
-
-"Do so, father; I am happy to know her under your protection."
-
-And picking up the cloak which Don Pablo left after blinding Red Cedar,
-he placed it delicately on the shuddering shoulders of Dona Clara, in
-order to conceal her Indian garb. Father Seraphin drew her arm through
-his own, and led her from the rancho. Ere long they disappeared in the
-darkness. Fray Ambrosio looked after them as long as he could see them,
-and then re-entered the room, carefully bolting the door after him.
-
-"Well," Andres Garote asked him, "what do you think, senor Padre, of all
-that has happened?"
-
-"Perhaps things are better as they are."
-
-"And Red Cedar?"
-
-"I undertake to render ourselves as white in his sight as the snows of
-the Caffre de Perote."
-
-"Hum! it will be difficult."
-
-"Perhaps so."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-THE MYSTERY.
-
-
-On leaving the Rancho del Coyote, Red Cedar dug his spurs into his
-horse's flanks, and galloped in a south-western direction. So soon as he
-was out of the town he turned to the left, took a narrow path that ran
-round the walls, pulled up his horse, and advanced with the utmost
-caution. Throwing suspicious glances on either side, he went on thus for
-about three-quarters of an hour, when he reached a house, in one of the
-windows of which burned three wax tapers.
-
-The lights thus arranged were evidently a signal for the squatter, for
-so soon as he came to the house he stopped and dismounted, attached his
-horse to a larch-tree, and prudently concealing himself behind a
-thicket, imitated thrice at equal intervals the hu-hu of an owl. The
-lights burning in the window were extinguished, as if by enchantment.
-
-The night was gloomy, only a few stars studded the vault of heaven; a
-leaden silence brooded over the plain, which appeared quite solitary. At
-this moment a voice could be heard from the house which Red Cedar was
-watching so carefully. The squatter listened; the speaker leaned for a
-second out of the window looked cautiously round, and disappeared
-muttering loud enough for the American to overhear--
-
-"All is quiet in the neighbourhood."
-
-"Still," the squatter said, without showing himself, "the coyotes prowl
-about the plain."
-
-"Are you coming or going?" the man at the window continued.
-
-"Both," the squatter answered, still hidden behind his bush.
-
-"You can come on, for you are expected."
-
-"I know it; hence here I am."
-
-While making this answer, the squatter left his hiding place, and placed
-himself before the door with folded arms, like a man who has nothing to
-fear.
-
-The door was cautiously opened; a man emerged, carefully wrapped up in,
-a wide cloak, which only allowed eyes to be seen, that flashed in the
-gloom like a jackal's. This person walked straight up to Red Cedar.
-
-"Well," he asked, in a low voice, "have you reflected?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And what is the result of your reflections?"
-
-"I refuse."
-
-"Still?"
-
-"More than ever."
-
-"Take care."
-
-"I do not care, Don Melchior, for I am not afraid of you."
-
-"No names!" the stranger exclaimed, impatiently.
-
-"We are alone."
-
-"No one is ever alone in the desert."
-
-"That is true," Red Cedar muttered. "Let us return to our business."
-
-"It is simple--give and give."
-
-"Hum! You get to work very fast; unfortunately it cannot be so."
-
-"Why not?"
-
-"Why, because I am growing tired of constantly taking in my nets game by
-which others profit, and which I ought to keep as a safeguard."
-
-"You call that girl a guarantee?"
-
-"By Heaven! what else do you mean to make of her?"
-
-"Do not compare me with you, scoundrel!"
-
-"Where is the difference between us? I am a scoundrel, I grant; but, by
-heaven, you are another, my master, however powerful you may be."
-
-"Listen, caballero!" the stranger answered, in a cutting voice. "I will
-lose no more of my time in discoursing with you. I want that girl, and
-will have her, whatever you may do to prevent me."
-
-"Good; in that case you declare war against me?" the squatter said, with
-a certain tinge of alarm, which he tried in vain to conceal.
-
-The stranger shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"We have known one another long enough to be perfectly well acquainted;
-we can only be friends or foes. Is not that your opinion?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Well, then, hand Dona Clara over to me, and I will give you the papers
-which--"
-
-"Enough!" the squatter said, sharply. "Have you those papers about you?"
-
-The stranger burst into a laugh.
-
-"Do you take me for such a fool?" he said.
-
-"I do not understand you."
-
-"I will not insult you by believing you. No, I have not those papers
-about me. I am not such an ass as to risk assassination at your hands."
-
-"What would your death profit me?"
-
-"Hang it all! If it were only my scalp you would be sure to receive at
-least fifty dollars for it."
-
-At this mournful jest the squatter began laughing.
-
-"I did not think of that," he said,
-
-"Listen to me, Red Cedar, and print the words on your memory."
-
-"Speak."
-
-"In a month from today, hour for hour, day for day, wherever you may be,
-I shall present myself to you."
-
-"For what purpose?' the squatter asked impudently.
-
-"To repeat my demand with reference to the prisoner."
-
-"Then, as now, I shall reply No, my master."
-
-"Perhaps so. Live and learn. Now good-bye, and may the devil, your
-patron saint, preserve you in good health until our next meeting. You
-know that I have you tight; so consider yourself warned."
-
-"Good, good! Threats do not frighten me. _Demonios_, since I have been
-traversing the desert, I have found myself opposed to enemies quite as
-dangerous as you, and yet I managed to get quit of them."
-
-"That is possible, Red Cedar; but believe me, meditate carefully on my
-words."
-
-"I repeat that your threats do not frighten me."
-
-"I do not threaten, I warn you."
-
-"Hum! Well, then, listen in your turn. In the desert, every man armed
-with a good rifle has nothing to fear from whomsoever."
-
-"What next?" the stranger interrupted him, in a sarcastic voice.
-
-"Well, my rifle is excellent, I have a sure aim, and I say no more."
-
-"Nonsense, you are mad! I defy you to kill me!"
-
-"Hang it, though, what can be your motive for wishing to have this girl
-in your power?"
-
-"That is no affair of yours. I have no explanations due to you. Enough
-for you to know that I want her."
-
-"You shall not have her."
-
-"We shall see. Good-bye, Red Cedar."
-
-"Good-bye, Don Melchior, or whatever be the name you please to bear."
-
-The stranger made no reply, but turned his head with a gesture of
-contempt, and whistled. A man emerged from the house, holding a horse by
-the bridle; at one bound the stranger reached the saddle, and ordered
-the servant to withdraw.
-
-"Farewell, _Compadre_, remember our appointment."
-
-And loosing his reins, the stranger started at a gallop, not
-condescending even to turn his head. Red Cedar looked after him with an
-indescribable expression of rage.
-
-"Oh," he muttered in a low voice, "demon! Shall I never free myself from
-your clutches?"
-
-And with a motion rapid as thought he shouldered his rifle, and aimed at
-the departing man. All at once the latter turned his horse, and stood
-right opposite Red Cedar.
-
-"Mind not to miss me!" he cried, with a burst of laughter that caused a
-cold perspiration to bead on the bandit's forehead.
-
-The latter let his rifle fall, saying in a hollow voice: "He is right,
-and I am mad! If I only had the papers!"
-
-The stranger waited for a moment calm and motionless; then he started
-again and soon disappeared in the darkness. Red Cedar stood with his
-body bowed forward, and his ears on the watch, so long as the horse's
-hoofs could be heard; then he returned to his own steed, and bounded
-into the saddle.
-
-"Now to go and warn the dragoons," he said, and pushed on.
-
-The squatter had scarce departed ere several men appeared from either
-side; they were Valentine, Curumilla, and Don Pablo on the right;
-Unicorn and Eagle-wing on the left. Valentine and his friends were
-astonished at meeting the Comanche chief, whom they believed gone back
-to his camp; but the sachem explained to them, in a few words, how, at
-the moment he was crossing the spot where they now were, he had heard
-Red Cedar's voice, and concealed himself in the shrubs in order to
-overhear the squatter's colloquy with his strange friend. Valentine had
-done the same; but, unfortunately, the party had been greatly
-disappointed, for the squatter's conversation remained to them an
-enigma, of which they sought the key in vain.
-
-"'Tis strange," Valentine remarked, as he passed his hand several times
-across his forehead. "I do not know where I have seen the man just now
-talking here with Red Cedar, but I have a vague reminiscence of having
-met him before, where and under what circumstance I try, though in vain,
-to recall."
-
-"What shall we do?" Don Pablo asked.
-
-"Hang it, what we agreed on;" and turning to the chief, he said, "Good
-luck, brother, I believe we shall save our friend."
-
-"I am sure of it," the Indian replied, laconically.
-
-"May heaven hear you, brother," Valentine continued. "Act! While, on
-your side, you watch the town for fear of treason. We then will ambush
-ourselves on the road the gambusinos must take, in order to know
-positively the direction in which they are proceeding. Till tomorrow,
-chief!"
-
-"Stop!" a panting voice exclaimed, and a man suddenly appeared in the
-midst of them.
-
-"Father Seraphin!" Valentine said in a surprise. "What chance brings you
-this way?"
-
-"I was looking for you."
-
-"What do you want with me?"
-
-"To give you some good news."
-
-"Speak! Speak quickly, father! Has Don Miguel left his prison?"
-
-"Alas! Not yet; but his daughter is free!"
-
-"Dona Clara free!" Valentine shouted joyously. "Heaven be blessed! Where
-is she?"
-
-"She is temporarily in safety, be assured of that; but let me give you a
-warning, which may perhaps prove useful to you."
-
-"Speak! Speak!"
-
-"By order of the governor, Red Cedar has gone to meet the regiment of
-dragoons, coming up to reinforce the Santa Fe garrison."
-
-"_Caramba_," Valentine said, "are you sure of your statement, father?"
-
-"I am: in my presence, the men who carried off Dona Clara spoke about
-it."
-
-"All is lost if these soldiers arrive."
-
-"Yes," the missionary said; "but, how to prevent it?"
-
-Curumilla lightly touched the leader's arm.
-
-"What do you want, chief!"
-
-"The Comanches are warriors," Curumilla answered, curtly.
-
-"Ah!" Valentine exclaimed, and tapping his forehead with delight, "that
-is true, chief; you save us."
-
-Curumilla smiled with pleasure.
-
-"While you go in pursuit of the soldiers," said Don Pablo, "as I can be
-of no service to you, I will accompany Father Seraphin to my poor
-sister, whom I have not seen so long, and am eager to embrace."
-
-"Do so," Valentine answered. "At daybreak you will bring Dona Clara to
-the camp, that I may myself deliver her to her father."
-
-"That is agreed."
-
-Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn rushed out in the plain, while Father
-Seraphin and Don Pablo returned to the town. The two gentlemen, anxious
-to join the girl, did not perceive that they were closely watched by an
-individual, who followed their every movement, while careful not to be
-seen by them. It was Nathan, Red Cedar's eldest son.
-
-How was that man there?
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXXIX.
-
-THE AMBUSCADE.
-
-
-The nigh breeze had swept the clouds away; the sky, of a deep azure, was
-studded with an infinity of stars; the night was limpid, the atmosphere
-so transparent as to allow the slightest varieties of the landscape to
-be distinguished. About four leagues from Santa Fe, a numerous band of
-horsemen was following a path scarce traced in the tall grass, which
-approached the town with countless turns and windings. These horsemen,
-who marched in rather decent order, were nearly 600 in number, and
-formed the regiment of dragoons so anxiously expected by General
-Ventura.
-
-About ten paces ahead rode four or five officers gaily chatting
-together, among whom was the colonel. The regiment continued its march
-slowly, advancing cautiously, through fear of losing its way in a
-perfectly strange country. The colonel and his officers who had always
-fought in the States bordering the Atlantic, found themselves now for
-the first time in these savage countries.
-
-"Caballeros," the colonel suddenly remarked, "I confess to you that I am
-completely ignorant as to our whereabouts. Can any one of you throw a
-light on the subject? This road is fearful, it seems to lead nowhere,
-and I am afraid we have lost our way."
-
-"We are all as ignorant as yourself on that head, colonel," an officer
-answered, "not one of us could say where we are."
-
-"On my word!" the colonel went on, taking a glance of satisfaction
-around, "We are not in a hurry to reach Santa Fe. I suppose it makes
-little difference whether we get there today or tomorrow. I believe that
-the best thing for us to do is to bivouac here for the rest of the
-night; at sunrise we will start again."
-
-"You are right, colonel," the officer said, whom he seemed to address
-most particularly, "a few hours' delay is of no consequence, and we run
-the risk of going out of our course."
-
-"Give the order to halt."
-
-The officer immediately obeyed; the soldiers, wearied with a long
-night's march, greeted with shouts of joy the order to stop. They
-dismounted. The horses were unsaddled and picketed, campfires were
-lighted, in less than an hour the bivouac was arranged.
-
-The colonel, in desiring to camp for the night, had a more serious fear
-than that of losing his way; it was that of falling in with a party of
-_Indios bravos._
-
-The colonel was brave, and had proved it on many occasions; grown gray
-in harness, he was an old soldier who feared nothing in the world
-particularly; but accustomed to warfare in the interior of the Republic,
-had never seen opposed to him any but civilised foes, he professed for
-the Indians that instinctive fear which all the Mexicans entertain, and
-he would not risk a fight with an Apache or Comanche war party in the
-middle of the night, in a country whose resources he did not know, and
-run the risk of having his regiment cut to pieces by such Protean
-enemies. On the other hand, he was unaware that the governor of Santa Fe
-had such pressing need of his presence, and this authorised him in
-acting with the utmost precaution. Still, as soon as the bivouac was
-established, and the sentries posted, the colonel sent off a dozen
-resolute men under an Alferez, to trot up the country and try to procure
-a guide.
-
-We will observe, in passing, that in Spanish America, so soon as you
-leave the capitals, such as Lima, or Mexico, roads, such as we
-understand them in Europe, no longer exist; you only find paths traced,
-in nine cases out of ten, by the footprints of wild beasts, and which
-are so entangled one with the other, that, unless you have been long
-accustomed to them, it is almost impossible to find your way. The
-Spaniards, we grant, laid out wide and firm roads, but since the War of
-Independence, they had been cut up, deteriorated and so abandoned by the
-neglect of the ephemeral governments that have followed each other in
-Mexico, that with the exception of the great highways of communication
-in the interior of the country, the rest had disappeared under the
-herbage.
-
-The little squad of troopers sent out to beat up the country had started
-at a gallop, but it soon reduced its pace, and the soldiers and sergeant
-began laughing and talking, caring little for the important mission with
-which they were intrusted. The moon rose on the horizon, shedding her
-fantastic rays over the ground. As we have said, it was one of those
-lovely nights of the American desert full of strange odours. A majestic
-silence hovered over the plain, only disturbed at intervals by those
-sounds, without any known cause, which are heard on the savannahs, and
-which seem to be the respiration of the sleeping world. Suddenly the
-mockingbird sung twice, and its plaintive and soft song resounded
-melodiously through the air.
-
-"Hallo," one of the dragoons said, addressing his comrade, "that's a
-bird that sings very late."
-
-"An evil omen," the other said with a shake of his head.
-
-"_Canarios_! What omen are you talking about, comrade?"
-
-"I have always heard say," the second, speaker remarked sententiously,
-"that when you hear a bird sing on your left at night it predicts
-misfortune."
-
-"The deuce confound you and your prognostics."
-
-At this moment the song, which appeared previously some distance off,
-could be heard much more close, and seemed to come from some trees on
-the side of the path the dragoons were following. The Alferez raised his
-head and stopped, as if mechanically trying to explain the sound that
-smote his ears; but all became silent again, so he shook his head and
-continued his conversation. The detachment had been out more than an
-hour. During this long stroll, the soldiers had discovered nothing
-suspicious; as for the guide they sought, it is needless to say that
-they had not found him, for they had not met a living soul. The Alferez
-was about to give orders to return to camp, when one of the troopers
-pointed out to him some heavy, black forms, apparently prowling about
-unsuspiciously.
-
-"What on earth can that be?" the officer asked, after carefully
-examining what was pointed out to him.
-
-"_Caspita_," one of the dragoons exclaimed, "that is easy to see; they
-are browsing deer!"
-
-"Deer!" said the Alferez, in whom the hunter's instinct was suddenly
-aroused, "there are at least thirty; suppose we try to catch some."
-
-"It is difficult."
-
-"Pshaw!" another soldier shouted, "It is light enough for each of us to
-send them a bullet."
-
-"You must by no means use your carbines," the Alferez interposed
-sharply; "if our shots, re-echoed through the mountains, caught the ears
-of the Indians, who are probably ambushed in the thickets, we should be
-ruined."
-
-"What is to be done, then?"
-
-"Lasso them, _caspita_, as you wish to try and catch them."
-
-"That is true; I did not think of that."
-
-The dragoons, delighted at the opportunity of indulging in their
-favourite sport, dismounted, fastened their horses to the roadside trees
-and seized their lassos. They then advanced cautiously toward the deer,
-which continued grazing tranquilly, without appearing to suspect that
-enemies were so near them. On arriving at a short distance from the
-game, the dragoons separated in order to have room for whirling their
-lassos, and making a covering of each tree, they managed to approach
-within fifteen paces of the animals. Then they stopped, exchanged
-glances, carefully calculated the distance, and, at a signal from their
-leader, sent their lassos whizzing through the air.
-
-A strange thing happened at this moment, however. All the deer hides
-fell simultaneously to the ground, displaying Valentine, Curumilla, and
-a dozen Comanche warriors, who, profiting by the stupor of the troopers
-at their extraordinary metamorphosis, hunted the hunters by throwing
-lassos over their shoulders and hurled them to the ground. The ten
-dragoons and their leader were prisoners.
-
-"Well, my friends," Valentine said with a grin, "how do you like that
-sort of fun?"
-
-The startled dragoons made no reply, but allowed themselves to be bound;
-one alone muttered between his teeth:--
-
-"I was quite sure that villain of a mockingbird would bring us ill luck;
-it sang on our left. That never deceives, _Canarios!_"
-
-Valentine smiled at this sally. He then placed two fingers in his mouth
-and imitated the cry of the mockingbird with such perfection, that the
-soldier looked up at the trees. He had scarce ended, when a rustling was
-heard among the bushes, and a man leaped between the hunters and their
-prisoners. It was Eagle-wing, the sachem of the Coras.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-A FRIENDLY DISCUSSION.
-
-
-After leaving his enemy (for the mysterious man with whom he had so
-stormy a discussion could be nothing else), Red Cedar set out to join
-the regiment, and hasten its arrival according to the orders he had
-received. In spite of himself, the squatter was suffering from
-extraordinary nervousness, and involuntarily he went over the various
-points of the conversation with the person who took such precautions in
-communicating with him. The threats he had proffered recurred to his
-mind. It appeared as if the bandit, who feared nothing in the world, had
-good reason, however, for trembling in the presence of the man who, for
-more than an hour, had crushed him with his irony. What reason could be
-so powerful as to produce so startling a change in this indomitable
-being? No one could have said; for the squatter was master of his
-secret, and would have mercilessly killed anybody he suspected of having
-read even a portion of it.
-
-The reason was, at any rate, very powerful; for after a few minutes of
-deep thought, his hand let go the reins and his head fell on his breast:
-the horse, no longer feeling the curb, stopped and began nibbling the
-young tree shoots. The squatter did not notice this halt; he was
-thinking, and hoarse exclamations now and then came from his chest, like
-the growling of a wild beast. At length he raised his head.
-
-"No," he shouted, as he directed a savage glance at the starlit sky,
-"any struggle with that demon is impossible. I must fly, so soon as
-possible, to the prairies of the far west. I will leave this implacable
-foe; I will fly from him, as the lion does, carrying off my prey in my
-claws. I have not a moment to lose. What do I care for the Spaniards and
-their paltry disputes? General Ventura will seek another emissary, for
-more important matters claim my attention. I must go to the Rancho del
-Coyote, for there alone I shall find my revenge. Fray Ambrosio and his
-prisoner can supply me with the weapons I need for the terrible contest
-I am compelled to wage against that demon who comes straight from hell,
-and whom I will send back there."
-
-After having uttered these words in a low voice, in the fashion of men
-wont to live in solitude, Red Cedar appeared to regain all his boldness
-and energy. He looked savagely around, and, burying his spurs in his
-horse's flanks, he started with the speed of an arrow in the direction
-of the rancho, which he had left but a few hours previously, and where
-his two accomplices still remained.
-
-The monk and the gambusino, delighted at the unforeseen termination of
-the scene we recently narrated, delighted above all at having got rid of
-Dona Clara without being immediately mixed up in her escape, tranquilly
-resumed their game of _monte_, and played with that mental satisfaction
-produced by the certainty of having nothing to reproach themselves with,
-disputing with the utmost obstinacy for the few reals they still
-happened to have in their pockets. In the midst of a most interesting
-game, they heard the furious gallop of a horse up the paved street.
-Instinctively they stopped and listened; a secret foreboding seemed to
-warn them that this horse was coming to the rancho, and that its rider
-wanted them.
-
-In truth, neither Fray Ambrosio nor Andres Garote had a quiet
-conscience, even supposing, which was very doubtful, that either had a
-conscience at all, for they felt they were responsible to Red Cedar for
-Dona Clara. Now that the maiden had escaped like, a bird flying from its
-cage, their position with their terrible ally appeared to them in all
-its desperate gravity. They did not conceal from themselves that the
-squatter would demand a severe account of their conduct, and despite
-their cunning and roguishness, they knew not how they should get out of
-it. The sharp gallop of the approaching horse heightened their
-perplexity. They dared not communicate their fears to each other, but
-they sat with heads bent forward, foreseeing that they would soon have
-to sustain a very firm attack.
-
-The horse stopped short before the rancho; a man dismounted, and the
-door shook beneath the tremendous blows of his fists.
-
-"Hum!" the gambusino whispered, as he blew out the solitary candle that
-illumined the room. "Who the deuce can come at this advanced hour of the
-night! I have a great mind not to open."
-
-Strange to say, Fray Ambrosio had apparently regained all his serenity.
-With a smiling face, crossed arms, and back leaned against the wall, he
-seemed to be a perfect stranger to what perplexed his mate so furiously.
-At Garote's remark an ironical smile played round his pale lips for a
-second, and he replied with the most perfect indifference--
-
-"You are at liberty to act as you please, gossip; still I think it my
-duty to warn you of one thing?"
-
-"What is it?"
-
-"That, if you do not open your door, the man, whoever he may be, now
-battering it, is very capable of breaking it in, which would be a
-decided nuisance for you."
-
-"You speak very much at your ease, senor Padre," the gambusino answered,
-ill-temperedly. "Suppose it be Red Cedar?"
-
-"The greater reason to open the door. If you hesitate, he will begin to
-suspect you; and then take care, for he is a man capable of killing you
-like a dog."
-
-"That is possible; but do you think that, in such a case, you will
-escape with clean hands?"
-
-Fray Ambrosio looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, but made no further
-answer.
-
-"Will you open, _demonios_?" a rough voice shouted.
-
-"Red Cedar!" both men whispered.
-
-"I am coming," Andres replied, in a voice which terror caused to
-tremble.
-
-He rose unwillingly, and walked slowly towards the door, which the
-squatter threatened to tear from its hinges.
-
-"A little patience, caballero," the gambusino said, in that honeyed
-voice peculiar to Mexicans when they meditate some roguery. "Coming,
-coming."
-
-And he began unbarring the door.
-
-"Make haste!" the squatter howled, "For I am in a hurry."
-
-"Hum! It is surely he!" the gambusino thought. "Who are you?" he asked.
-
-"What! Who am I?" Red Cedar exclaimed, bounding with wrath. "Did you not
-recognise me, or are you having a game with me?"
-
-"I never have a game with anyone," Andres replied, imperturbably: "but I
-warn you that, although I fancy I recognise your voice, I shall not open
-till you mention your name. The night is too far advanced for me to risk
-receiving a suspicious person into my house."
-
-"I will break the door down."
-
-"Try it," the gambusino shouted boldly, "and by our Lady of Pilar I will
-send a bullet through your head."
-
-At this threat the squatter rushed against the door in incredible fury,
-with the evident intention of breaking it in; but, contrary to his
-expectations, though it creaked and groaned on its hinges, it did not
-give way. Andres Garote had indulged in a line of reasoning which was
-far from being illogical, and revealed a profound knowledge of the human
-heart. He had said to himself, that, as he must face Red Cedar's anger,
-it would be better to let it reach its paroxysm at once so as to have
-only the decreasing period to endure. He smiled at the American's
-sterile attempts, then, and repeated his request.
-
-"Well, then," the other said, furiously, "I am Red Cedar. Do you
-recognise me now, you devil's own Gachupino?"
-
-"Of course; I see that I can open without danger to your Excellency."
-
-And the gambusino hurriedly drew back the bolts.
-
-Red Cedar rushed into the room with a yell of fury, but Andres had put
-out the light. The squatter stopped, surprised by the gloom which
-prevented him distinguishing any object.
-
-"Hallo!" he said. "What is the meaning of this darkness? I can see
-nothing."
-
-"_Caspita_!" Andres replied, impudently, "Do you think I amuse myself o'
-nights by watching the moon? I was asleep, compadre, when you came to
-arouse me with your infernal hammerings."
-
-"That is possible," the squatter remarked; "but that was no reason for
-keeping me so long at your door."
-
-"Prudence is the mother of security. We must not let every comer enter
-the rancho."
-
-"Certainly not; I approve of that. Still, you must have recognised my
-voice."
-
-"True. Still I might be mistaken; it is difficult to know anyone through
-the thickness of a door; that is why I wished you to give your name."
-
-"Very good, then," Red Cedar said, as if tired of combating arguments
-which did not convince him. "And where is Fray Ambrosio?"
-
-"Here, I suppose."
-
-"He has not left the rancho?"
-
-"No; unless he took advantage of your arrival to do so."
-
-"Why should he do that?"
-
-"I don't know; you question, and I answer; that's all."
-
-"Why does he not speak, if he is here?"
-
-"He is possibly asleep."
-
-"After the row I made, that is highly improbable."
-
-"Hang it, he may be a hard sleeper."
-
-"Hum!" the squatter snorted, suspiciously; "Light the candle."
-
-Andres struck a match, and Red Cedar looked eagerly round the room Fray
-Ambrosio had disappeared.
-
-"Where is the monk?" the American asked.
-
-"I do not know: probably gone."
-
-The squatter shook his head.
-
-"All this is not clear," he muttered; "there is treachery behind it."
-
-"That is possible," the gambusino answered, calmly.
-
-Red Cedar bent on Andres eyes that flashed with fury, and roughly seized
-him by the throat.
-
-"Answer, scoundrel?" he shouted. "What has become of Dona Clara?"
-
-The gambusino struggled, though in vain, to escape from the clutch of
-the squatter, whose fingers entered his flesh, and pressed him as in a
-vice.
-
-"Let me loose," he panted, "you are choking me!"
-
-"Where is Dona Clara?"
-
-"I do not know."
-
-The squatter squeezed more tightly.
-
-"You do not know!" he yelled.
-
-"Aie!" Andres whined, "I tell you I do not know."
-
-"Malediction!" Red Cedar went on. "I will kill you, _picaro_, if you are
-obstinate."
-
-"Let that man go, and I will tell you all you wish to know," was said in
-a firm voice by a hunter, who at this moment appeared on the threshold.
-
-The two men turned in amazement.
-
-"Nathan!" Red Cedar shouted on recognising his son. "What are you doing
-here?"
-
-"I will tell you, father," the young man said, as he entered the room.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLI.
-
-NATHAN.
-
-
-Nathan was not asleep, as Ellen supposed, when she urged on Shaw to
-devote himself to liberate Dona Clara, and he had listened attentively
-to the conversation. Nathan was a man of about thirty years of age, who,
-both physically and morally, bore a marked resemblance to his father.
-Hence the old squatter had concentrated in him all the affection which
-his uncultivated savage nature was capable of feeling. Since the fatal
-night, when the chief of the Coras had avenged himself for the burning
-of his village and the murder of its inhabitants, Nathan's character had
-grown still more gloomy; a dull and deep hatred boiled in his heart
-against the whole human race; he only dreamed of assassination: he had
-sworn in his heart to revenge on all those who fell into his hands the
-injury one man had inflicted on him; in a word, Nathan loved none and
-hated everything.
-
-When Shaw had disappeared among the bushes, and Ellen, after taking a
-final glance around to convince herself that all was in order,
-re-entered the hut that served her as a shelter, Nathan rose cautiously,
-threw his rifle over his shoulder, and rushed after his brother. Another
-reason urged him to foil Shaw and Ellen's plans; he had a double grudge
-against Don Miguel--the first for the stab the Mexican gentlemen had
-given his father; the second because Don Miguel had compelled him to
-leave the forest in which his family had so daringly installed itself.
-
-Convinced of the importance of the affair, and knowing the value the
-squatter attached to carrying off the maiden, who was a most precious
-hostage for him, Nathan did not lose a moment, but reached Santa Fe by
-the most direct route, bounding with the agility of a tiger cat over the
-obstacles that beset his path. Presently he reached an isolated house,
-not far from which several men were conversing together in a low voice.
-Nathan stopped and listened; but he was too far off, and could
-distinguish nothing. The squatter's son, reared in the desert, was
-thoroughly versed in all its stratagems; with the piercing eye of a man
-accustomed to night journeys in the prairie, he recognised well-known
-persons, and his mind was at once made up.
-
-He laid himself on the ground, and following the shadow cast by the
-moon, lest he might be perceived by the speakers, he advanced, inch by
-inch, crawling like a serpent, stopping at intervals lest the waving of
-the grass might reveal his presence, in short, employing all the
-precautions usual under such circumstances. At length he reached a clump
-of Peru trees only a few yards distant from the spot where the men he
-wished to overhear were standing. He then got up, leaned against the
-largest tree, and prepared to listen. His expectations were not
-deceived; though a few words escaped him here and there, he was near
-enough perfectly to catch the sense of the conference. This conversation
-was, in truth, most interesting to him; a sinister smile lit up his
-face, and he eagerly clenched the barrel of his rifle.
-
-Presently the party broke into two. Valentine, Curumilla, and Unicorn,
-took the road leading to the open country, while Don Pablo and Father
-Seraphin returned toward the town. Valentine and his two friends almost
-touched the young man as they passed, and he instinctively carried his
-hands to his pistols; they even stopped for a moment and cast suspicious
-glances at the clump that concealed their foe. While conversing in
-whispers, Unicorn drew a few branches aside and peered in; for some
-seconds Nathan felt an indescribable agony; a cold perspiration stood at
-the root of his hair and the blood coursed to his heart; in a word, he
-was afraid. He knew that if these men, his mortal enemies, discovered
-him, they would be pitiless to him and kill him like a dog. But this
-apprehension did not last longer than a lightning flash. Unicorn
-carelessly let the leafy curtain fall again, saying only one word to his
-comrades:--
-
-"Nothing."
-
-The latter resumed their march.
-
-"I do not know why," said Valentine, "but I fancy there is someone
-hidden there."
-
-"No," the chief answered, "there is nobody."
-
-"Well, be it so," the hunter muttered, with a toss of his head.
-
-So soon, as he was alone, Nathan drew two or three deep breaths, and
-started in pursuit of Don Pablo and the missionary, whom he soon caught
-up. As they did not suppose they were followed, they were conversing
-freely together.
-
-In Spanish America, where the days are so warm and the nights so fresh,
-the inhabitants, shut up at home so long as the sun calcines the ground,
-go out at nightfall to breathe a little pure air; the streets, deserted
-in consequence of the heat, are gradually peopled; benches are placed
-before the doors, on which persons recline to smoke and gossip, drink
-orangeade, strum the guitar, and sing. Frequently the entire night is
-passed in these innocent amusements, and folks do not return home till
-dawn, in order to indulge in the sleep so grateful after this long
-watch. Hence the Hispano-American towns must be especially visited by
-night, if you wish to judge truthfully the nature of this people--a
-strange composite of the most discordant contrasts, who only live for
-enjoyment, and only accept from existence the most intoxicating
-pleasures. Still, on the night to which we refer, the town of Santa Fe,
-usually so laughing and chattering, was plunged into a gloomy sadness,
-the streets were deserted, the doors closed; no light filtered through
-the hermetically closed windows; all slept or at least feigned to sleep.
-The fact was, that Santa Fe was at this moment in a state of mortal
-agitation, caused by the condemnation of Don Miguel Zarate, the richest
-land owner in the province--a man who was loved and revered by the whole
-population. The agitation took its origin in the unexpected apparition
-of the Comanche war detachment--those ferocious enemies whose cruelties
-have become proverbial on the Mexican frontier, and whose presence
-presaged nothing good.
-
-Don Pablo and his companion walked quickly, like persons anxious to
-reach a place where they knew they are expected, exchanging but a few
-words at intervals, whose meaning, however, caught up by the man who
-followed them, urged them still more not to let them out of sight. They
-thus traversed the greater part of the town, and on reaching the Calle
-de la Merced, they stopped at their destination--a house of handsome
-aspect.
-
-A weak light burned at the window of a ground floor room. By an
-instinctive movement, the two gentlemen turned round at the moment of
-entering the house but Nathan had slipped into a doorway, and they did
-not perceive him. Father Seraphin tapped gently; the door was at once
-opened, and they went in. Nathan stationed himself in the middle of the
-street, with his eye ardently fixed on the only window of the house lit
-up. Ere long, shadows crossed the curtains.
-
-"Good!" the young man muttered; "But how to warn the old one that the
-dove is in her nest?"
-
-All at once, a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, and Nathan turned,
-fiercely clutching a bowie knife. A man was before him, gloomy, silent
-and wrapped in the thick folds of his cloak. The American started.
-
-"Go your way," he said in a menacing voice.
-
-"What are you doing here?" the stranger asked.
-
-"How does that concern you? The street is free to all."
-
-"No."
-
-This word was pronounced with a sharp accent. Nathan tried in vain to
-scan the features of the man with whom he had to deal.
-
-"Give way," he said, "or blood will surely be shed between us."
-
-As sole reply, the stranger took a pistol in his right hand, a knife in
-his left.
-
-"Ah!" Nathan said, mockingly, "You mean fighting."
-
-"For the last time, withdraw."
-
-"Nonsense, you are mad, senor Caballero; the road belongs to all, I tell
-you. This place suits me, and I shall remain."
-
-"I wish to be alone here."
-
-"You mean to kill me, then?"
-
-"If I must, yes, without hesitation."
-
-The two speakers had exchanged these words in a low and hurried voice,
-in less time than we have employed to write them. They stood but a few
-paces apart with flashing eyes, ready to rush on each other. Nathan
-returned his pistol to his belt.
-
-"No noise," he said; "the knife will do; besides, we are in a country
-where that is the only weapon in use."
-
-"Be it so," the stranger replied; "then, you will not give way to me?"
-
-"You would laugh at me if I did," the American said with a grin.
-
-"Then your blood will be on your own head."
-
-"Or on yours."
-
-The two foemen each fell back a pace, and stood on guard, with their
-cloaks rolled round their left arms. The moon, veiled by clouds, shed no
-light; the darkness was perfect; midnight struck from the cathedral; the
-voice of the _serenos_ chanting the hour could be heard in the distance,
-announcing that all was quiet. There was a moment's hesitation, which
-the enemies employed in scrutinising each other. Suddenly Nathan uttered
-a hoarse yell rushed on his enemy, and threw his cloak in his face, to
-put him on his guard. The stranger parried the stroke dealt him, and
-replied by another, guarded off with equal dexterity. The two men then
-seized each other round the waist, and wrestled for some minutes,
-without uttering a word; at length the stranger rolled on the ground
-with a heavy sigh; Nathan's knife was buried in his chest. The American
-rose with a yell of triumph--his enemy was motionless.
-
-"Can I have killed him?" Nathan muttered.
-
-He returned his knife to his vaquera boot, and bent over the wounded
-man. All at once he started back, for he had recognised his brother
-Shaw.
-
-"What is to be done now?" he said; but then added carelessly, "Pshaw!
-all the worse for him. Why did he come across my path?"
-
-And, leaving there the body of the young man, who gave no sign of life--
-
-"Well, Heaven knows, I ought not, and could not have hesitated," he
-said.
-
-Shaw lay to all appearance dead, with pale and drawn cheeks, in the
-centre of the street.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLII.
-
-THE WOUNDED MAN.
-
-
-Nathan proceeded straight to the Rancho del Coyote, where his unexpected
-arrival was a blessing for Andres Garote, whom the old squatter was
-treating very roughly. On hearing his son's words, Red Cedar let go of
-the gambusino, who tottered back against the wall.
-
-"Well," he asked, "where is Dona Clara?"
-
-"Come with me, father," the young man answered; "I will lead you to
-her."
-
-"You know her hiding place, then?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And so do I," Fray Ambrosio shouted, as he rushed into the room with
-discomfited features; "I felt sure I should discover her."
-
-Red Cedar looked at him in amazement, but the monk did not wince.
-
-"What has happened to her?" the squatter said presently, as he looked
-suspiciously from the monk to the gambusino.
-
-"A very simple matter," Fray Ambrosio answered, with an inimitably
-truthful accent; "about two hours back your son Shaw came here."
-
-"Shaw!" the squatter exclaimed.
-
-"Yes, the youngest of your sons; he is called so, I think?"
-
-"Yes; go on."
-
-"Very good. He presented himself to us as coming from you to remove our
-prisoner."
-
-"And what did you do?" the squatter asked, impatiently.
-
-"What could we do?"
-
-"Why, oppose the girl's departure."
-
-"_Caspita_! Do you fancy we let her go so?" the monk asked,
-imperturbably.
-
-The squatter looked at him in surprise--he no longer understood
-anything. Like all men of action, discussion was to him almost a matter
-of impossibility; especially with an adversary so crafty as the one he
-had before him. Deceived by the monk's coolness and the apparent
-frankness of his answers, he wished to make an end of it.
-
-"Come," he said, "how did all this finish?"
-
-"Thanks to an ally who came to your son's help, and to whom we were
-obliged to bow--"
-
-"An ally! What man can be so bold as to dare--"
-
-"Eh!" the monk sharply interrupted Red Cedar, "that man is a priest, to
-whom you have already bowed many a time."
-
-"You are jesting, senor Padre," the squatter exclaimed, savagely.
-
-"Not the least in the world. Had it been anyone else, I should have
-resisted; but I, too, belong to the Church; and, as Father Seraphin is
-my superior, I was forced to obey him."
-
-"What!" the squatter said, with a groan, "Is he not dead?"
-
-"It appears," the monk remarked, ironically, "as if those you kill are
-all in good state of health, Red Cedar."
-
-At this allusion to Don Pablo's death, the squatter stifled a cry of
-anger, and clenched his fists.
-
-"Good!" he said; "If I do not always kill, I know how to take my
-revenge. Where is Dona Clara, at this moment?"
-
-"In a house no great distance from here," Nathan answered.
-
-"Have you seen her?" the squatter asked.
-
-"No; but I followed Don Pablo and the missionary to that house, which
-they entered, and as they were ignorant that I was close to them, their
-conversation left me no doubt as to the whereabouts of the girl."
-
-An ill-omened smile momentarily lit up the old bandit's features.
-
-"Good!" he said; "as the dove is in her nest, we shall be able to find
-her. What o'clock is it?"
-
-"Three in the morning," Andres interjected. "Day will soon break."
-
-"We must make haste, then. Follow me, all of you." Then he added, "But
-what has become of Shaw? Does anyone of you know?"
-
-"You will probably find him at the door of Dona Clara's house," Nathan
-said, in a hollow voice.
-
-"How so? Has my son entered into a compact with my enemies?"
-
-"Yes; as he arranged with them to carry off your prisoner."
-
-"Oh! I will kill him if he prove a traitor!" the squatter shouted with
-an accent that made the blood run cold in the veins of his hearers.
-
-Nathan fell back two steps, drew his knife from his boot, and showed it
-to his father.
-
-"That is done," he said, harshly. "Shaw tried to stab me, so I killed
-him."
-
-After these mournful words, there was a moment of silence in the rancho.
-All these men, though their hearts were steeled by crime, shuddered
-involuntarily. Without, the night was gloomy; the wind whistled sadly;
-the flickering light of the candle threw a weird light over the scene,
-which contained a certain degree of terrible poetry. The squatter passed
-his hard hand over his dank brow. A sigh, like a howl, painfully forced
-its way from his oppressed chest.
-
-"He was my last born," he said, in a voice broken by an emotion he could
-not control. "He deserved death, but he ought not to have received it at
-his brother's hands."
-
-"Father!" Nathan muttered.
-
-"Silence!" Red Cedar shouted, in a hollow voice, as he stamped his foot
-passionately on the ground; "What is done cannot be undone; but woe to
-my enemies' family! Oh! I feel now that I can take such vengeance on
-them as will make all shudder who hear it spoken of!"
-
-After uttering these words, which were listened to in silence, the
-squatter walked a few steps up the rancho. He approached a table, seized
-a bottle half full of mezcal that stood on it, and emptied it at a
-draught. When he had finished drinking, he threw down the bottle, which
-broke with a crash, and said to his mates in a hollow voice--
-
-"Let us be off! We have wasted too much time here already!"
-
-And he rushed out of the rancho, the others following close at his
-heels.
-
-In the meanwhile, Don Pablo and Father Seraphin were in the house. The
-priest had taken the maiden to the house of an honest family which owed
-him great obligations, and was too happy to receive the poor sufferer.
-The missionary did not intend, however, to let her be long a burthen to
-these worthy people. At daybreak he intended to deliver her to certain
-relations of her father, who inhabited a hacienda a few leagues from
-Santa Fe.
-
-Dona Clara had been placed in a comfortable room by her hosts. Their
-first care had been to make her doff the Indian robes for others more
-suitable to her birth and position. The maiden worn out by poignant
-emotions of the scene she had witnessed, was on the point of retiring to
-bed, when Father Seraphin and Don Pablo tapped at the door of her room.
-She hastily opened it, and the sight of her brother, whom she had not
-hoped to see so speedily, overwhelmed her with joy.
-
-An hour soon slipped away in pleasant chat. Don Pablo was careful not to
-tell his sister of the misfortune that had befallen her father; for he
-did not wish to dull by that confession the joy the poor girl promised
-herself for the morrow. Then, as the night was advancing, the two men
-withdrew, so as to allow her to enjoy that rest so needed to strengthen
-her for the long journey to the hacienda, promising to come and fetch
-her in a few hours. Father Seraphin generously offered Don Pablo to pass
-the night with him by sharing the small lodging he had not far from the
-Plaza de la Merced, and the young man eagerly accepted. It was too late
-to seek a lodging at a locanda, and in this way he would be all the
-sooner with his sister next morning. After a lengthened leave-taking,
-they, therefore, left the house, and, so soon as they were gone, Dona
-Clara threw herself, ready dressed, into a hammock hanging at one end of
-the room, when she speedily fell asleep.
-
-On reaching the street, Don Pablo saw a body lying motionless in front
-of the house.
-
-"What's this?" he asked, in surprise.
-
-"A poor wretch whom the ladrones killed in order to plunder him," the
-missionary answered.
-
-"That is possible."
-
-"Perhaps he is not quite dead," the missionary went on; "it is our duty
-to succour him."
-
-"For what good?" Don Pablo said, with an air of indifference; "if a
-sereno were to pass he might accuse us of having killed the man."
-
-"Nay, sir," the missionary observed, "the ways of the Lord are
-impenetrable. If He allowed us to come across this unhappy man, it was
-because He judged in His wisdom that we might prove of use to him."
-
-"Be it so," the young man said; "let us look at him, as you wish it. But
-you know that in this country good actions of such a nature generally
-entail annoyance."
-
-"That is true, my son. Well, we will run the risk," said the missionary,
-who had already bent over the wounded man.
-
-"As you please," Don Pablo said, as he followed him.
-
-Shaw, for it was he, gave no signs of life. The missionary examined him,
-then rose hastily, seized Don Pablo's arm, and drew him to him, as he
-whispered--
-
-"Look!"
-
-"Shaw!" the Mexican exclaimed, in surprise; "What could that man be
-doing here?"
-
-"Help me, and we shall learn. The poor fellow has only fainted; and the
-loss of blood has produced this semblance to death."
-
-Don Pablo, greatly perplexed by this singular meeting, obeyed the
-missionary without further remark. The two men raised the wounded lad,
-and carried him gently to Father Seraphin's lodging, where they proposed
-to give him all the help his condition required.
-
-They had scarce turned the corner of the street, when several men
-appeared at the other extremity. They were Red Cedar and his
-confederates. On arriving in front of the house they stopped: all the
-windows were in the deepest obscurity.
-
-"Which is the girl's room?" the squatter asked in a whisper.
-
-"This one," Nathan said, as he pointed to it.
-
-Red Cedar crawled up to the house, drove his dagger into the wall,
-raised himself to the window, and placed his face against a pane.
-
-"All is well! She sleeps!" he said, when he came down. "You, Fray
-Ambrosio, to one corner of the street; you, Garote, to the other, and do
-not let me be surprised."
-
-The monk and the gambusino went to their allotted posts. When Red Cedar
-was alone with his son he bent and whispered in his ear--
-
-"What did you do with your brother after stabbing him?"
-
-"I left him on the spot where he fell."
-
-"Where was that?"
-
-"Just where we now stand."
-
-The squatter stooped down to the ground, and walked a few steps,
-carefully examining the bloody traces left on the pebbles.
-
-"He has been carried off," he said, when he rose again. "Perhaps he is
-not dead."
-
-"Perhaps so," the young man observed, with a shake of his head.
-
-His father gave him a most significant look.
-
-"To work," he said coldly.
-
-And they prepared to escalade the window.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIII.
-
-INDIAN DIPLOMACY.
-
-
-We will return, for the present, to Valentine and his comrades.
-
-The sudden apparition of the sachem of the Coras had produced a certain
-degree of emotion among the hunters and the Comanches. Valentine, the
-first to recover from his surprise, addressed Eagle-wing.
-
-"My brother is welcome," he said, as he held out his hand, which the
-Indian warmly pressed, "What news does the chief bring us?"
-
-"Good," the Coras answered laconically.
-
-"All the better," the hunter said gaily; "for some time past all we have
-received has been so bad that my brother's will create a diversion."
-
-The Indian smiled at this sally, but made no remark.
-
-"My brother can speak," Valentine continued; "he is surrounded by none
-but friends."
-
-"I know it," the chief answered, as he bowed gracefully to the company.
-"Since I left my brother two months have passed away: I have worn out
-many moccasins amid the thorns and brambles of the desert; I have been
-beyond the Great Lakes to the villages of my nation."
-
-"Good; my brother is a chief; he was doubtless well received by the
-sachems of the Coras of the Great Lakes."
-
-"Mookapec is a renowned warrior among his people," the Indian answered
-proudly; "his place by the council fire of the nation is pointed out.
-The chiefs saw him with joy: on his road he had taken the scalps of
-seven gachupinos: they are now drying before the great medicine lodge."
-
-"It was your right to do so, chief, and I cannot blame you. The
-Spaniards have done you harm enough for you to requite them."
-
-"My brother speaks well; his skin is white, but his heart is red."
-
-"Hum," observed Valentine; "I am a friend to justice; vengeance is
-permissible against treachery. Go on, chief."
-
-The hunter's comrades had drawn nearer, and now formed a circle round
-the two speakers. Curumilla was occupied silently, as was his wont, in
-completely stripping each Spanish prisoner, whom he then bound in such a
-way that the slightest movement was impossible.
-
-Valentine, although time pressed, knew too well the Redskin character to
-try and hurry Eagle-wing on. He felt certain that the chief had
-important news to communicate to him; but it would have been no use
-trying to draw it from him; hence he allowed him to act as he pleased.
-Unicorn, leaning on his rifle, listened attentively, without evincing
-the slightest impatience.
-
-"Did my brother remain long with his tribe," Valentine continued.
-
-"Two suns. Eagle-wing had left behind him friends to whom his heart drew
-him."
-
-"Thanks, chief, for the pleasant recollections of us."
-
-"The chiefs assembled in council to hear the words of Eagle-wing," the
-Coras continued. "They shuddered with fury on hearing of the massacre of
-their children; but Mookapec had formed his plan, and two hundred
-warriors are assembled beneath his _totem_."
-
-"Good!" said Valentine, "the chief will avenge himself."
-
-The Indian smiled.
-
-"Yes," he said, "my young men have their orders, they know what I mean
-to do."
-
-"Very good; in that case they are near here?"
-
-"No," the chief replied, with a shake of his head. "Eagle-wing does not
-march with them; he has hidden himself under the skin of an Apache dog."
-
-"What does my brother say?" Valentine asked with amazement.
-
-"My white brother is quick," Unicorn said, sententiously; "he will let
-Mookapec speak. He is a great sachem, and wisdom dwells in him."
-
-Valentine shook his head, however, and said--
-
-"Hum! Answering one act of treachery by another, that is not the way in
-which the warriors of my nation behave."
-
-"The nation of my brother is great, and strong as the grizzly bear,"
-Unicorn said; "it does not need to march along hidden paths. The poor
-Indians are weak as the beaver, but like him they are very cunning."
-
-"That is true," Valentine replied, "cunning must be allowed you in
-dealing with the implacable enemies who surround you. I was wrong; so go
-on, chief; tell us what deviltry you have invented, and if it is
-ingenious. Well, I will be the first to applaud it."
-
-"Wah, my brother shall judge. Red Cedar is about to enter the desert, as
-my brother doubtless knows?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Does my brother know the _Gringo_ has asked the Apaches for a guide?"
-
-"No, I did not."
-
-"Good. Stanapat, the great chief of the Apaches, sent a Navajo warrior
-to act as guide to Red Cedar."
-
-"Well?"
-
-"The Navajo was scalped by Eagle-wing."
-
-"Ah, ah! Then Red Cedar cannot set out?"
-
-"Yes, he can do so when he likes."
-
-"How so?"
-
-"Because Eagle-wing takes the place of the guide."
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"My brother has a deal of wisdom," he said.
-
-"Hum!" Valentine remarked, with some show of ill-humour. "It is
-possible, but you play for a heavy stake, chief. That old villain is as
-crafty as ten monkeys and ten opossums united. I warn you that he will
-recognise you."
-
-"No."
-
-"I wish it; for if he does, you are a lost man."
-
-"Good, my brother can be easy. Eagle-wing is a warrior; he will see the
-white hunter again in the desert."
-
-"I wish so, chief; but I doubt. However, act as you please. When will
-you join Red Cedar?"
-
-"This night."
-
-"You are going to leave us?"
-
-"At once. Eagle-wing has nothing more to confide to his brother."
-
-And, after bowing courteously to the company, the Coras chief glided
-into the thicket, in which he disappeared almost instantaneously.
-Valentine looked after him for some time.
-
-"Yes," he said at last, with a thoughtful air, "his project is a daring
-one, such as might be expected from so great a warrior. May heaven
-protect him, and allow him to succeed! Well, we shall see; perhaps all
-is for the best so."
-
-And he turned to Curumilla.
-
-"The clothes?" he said.
-
-"Here they are," the Aucas answered, laconically, as he pointed to an
-enormous heap of clothing.
-
-"What does my brother mean to do with them?" Unicorn asked.
-
-"My brother will see," Valentine said, with a smile, "each of us is
-going to put on one of those uniforms."
-
-The Comanche drew himself up hastily.
-
-"No," he said, "Unicorn does not put off the dress of his people. What
-need have we of this disguise?"
-
-"In order to enter the camp of the Spaniards without being discovered."
-
-"Wah! For what good? Unicorn will summon his young men to cut a passage
-through the corpses of the gachupinos."
-
-But Valentine shook his head mournfully.
-
-"It is true," he remarked, "we could do so. But why shed blood
-needlessly? No; let my brother put confidence in me."
-
-"The hunter will act rightly. Unicorn knows it, and he leaves him free;
-but Unicorn is a chief, he cannot put on the clothes of the palefaces."
-
-Valentine no longer insisted, as it would have been unavailing; so he
-agreed to modify his plan. He made each of his comrades put on a dragoon
-uniform, and himself donned the clothes stripped from the Alferez. When
-all this metamorphosis was as complete as possible, he turned to
-Unicorn.
-
-"The chief will remain here," he said, "to guard the prisoners."
-
-"Good," the Comanche answered. "Is Unicorn, then, a chattering old
-woman, that warriors place him on one side?"
-
-"My brother does not understand me. I do not wish to insult him, but he
-cannot enter the camp with us."
-
-The chief shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.
-
-"The Comanche warriors can crawl as well as serpents. Unicorn will
-enter."
-
-"Let my brother come, then, since he wishes it."
-
-"Good; my brother is vexed; a cloud has passed over his face. He is
-wrong; his friend loves him."
-
-"I know it, chief, I know it. I am not vexed, but my heart is sad to see
-a warrior thus run the risk of being killed without any necessity."
-
-"Unicorn is a sachem; he must give an example to his young men on the
-warpath."
-
-Valentine gave a nod of assent.
-
-"Here are the horses of the palefaces," Curumilla said; "my brother will
-need them."
-
-"That is true," the hunter answered, with a smile; "my brother is a
-great chief--he thinks of everything."
-
-Everyone mounted, Unicorn alone remaining a-foot. Valentine placed the
-Alferez by his side.
-
-"Caballero," he said to him, "you will act as our guide to the camp. We
-do not wish to take the lives of your countrymen; our intention is
-simply to prevent them following us at present. Pay attention to my
-words: if you attempt to deceive us, I blow out your brains. You are
-warned."
-
-The Spaniard bowed, but made no reply. As for the prisoners, they had
-been so conscientiously tied by Curumilla that there was no chance of
-their escaping. The little band then set out, Unicorn disappearing among
-the trees. When they came a short distance from the bivouac, a sentry
-challenged, "Who goes there?"
-
-"Answer," Valentine whispered the Alferez.
-
-He did so. They passed, and the sentry, suddenly seized by Curumilla,
-was bound and gagged in the twinkling of an eye, all the other sentinels
-sharing the same fate. The Mexicans keep up a very bad watch in the
-field, even in the presence of an enemy; the greater reason, then, for
-them to neglect all precaution when they fancy themselves in safety.
-Everybody was asleep, and Valentine and his friends were masters of the
-camp. The regiment of dragoons had been surprised without striking a
-blow.
-
-Valentine's comrades dismounted; they knew exactly how to act, and did
-not deviate from the instructions given by their leader. They proceeded
-from picket to picket, removing the horses, which were led out of camp.
-Within twenty minutes all had been carried off. Valentine had anxiously
-followed the movements of his men. When they had finished, he raised the
-curtain of the colonel's tent, and found himself face to face with
-Unicorn, from whose waist-belt hung a reeking scalp. Valentine could not
-repress a movement of horror.
-
-"What have you done, chief?" he asked, reproachfully.
-
-"Unicorn has killed his enemy," the Comanche replied, peremptorily.
-"When the leader of the antelopes is killed, his flock disperses; the
-gachupinos will do the same."
-
-Valentine drew near the colonel. The unhappy man, fearfully mutilated,
-with his brain laid bare, and his heart pierced by the knife of the
-implacable Indian, lay stark dead, in a pool of blood, in the middle of
-the tent. The hunter vented a sigh at this sorry sight.
-
-"Poor devil!" he said, with an air of compassion.
-
-After this short funeral oration, he took away his sabre and epaulettes,
-left the tent, followed by the Indian chief, and rejoined his comrades.
-The horses were led to the Comanche camp, after which Valentine and his
-party wrapped themselves in their blankets, and slept calmly till
-daybreak. The dragoons were no longer to be feared.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIV.
-
-THE STRANGER.
-
-
-Father Seraphin and Don Pablo we left bearing the wounded man to the
-missionary's lodging. Although the house to which they were proceeding
-was but a short distance off, yet the two gentlemen, compelled to take
-every precaution, employed considerable time on the journey. Nearly
-every step they were compelled to halt, so as not to fatigue too greatly
-the wounded man, whose inert limbs swayed in every direction.
-
-"The man is dead," Don Pablo remarked, during a halt they made on the
-Plaza de la Merced.
-
-"I fear so," the missionary answered, sadly; "still, as we are not
-certain of it, our conscience bids us to bestow our care on him, until
-we acquire the painful conviction that it avails him nought."
-
-"Father, the love of one's neighbour often carries you too far; better
-were it, perhaps, if this wretch did not come back to life."
-
-"You are severe, my friend. This man is still young--almost a boy.
-Trained amid a family of bandits, never having aught but evil examples
-before him, he has hitherto only done evil, in a spirit of imitation.
-Who knows whether this fearful wound may not offer him the means to
-enter the society of honest people, which he has till now been ignorant
-of? I repeat to you, my friend, the ways of the Lord are inscrutable."
-
-"I will do what you wish, father. You have entire power over me. Still,
-I fear that all our care will be thrown away."
-
-"God, whose humble instruments we are, will prove you wrong, I hope.
-Come, a little courage, a few paces further, and we shall have arrived."
-
-"Come on then," Don Pablo said with resignation.
-
-Father Seraphin lodged at a house of modest appearance, built of adobes
-and reeds, in a small room he hired from a poor widow, for the small sum
-of nine reals a month. This room, very small, and which only received
-air from a window opening on an inner yard, was a perfect conventual
-cell, as far as furniture was concerned, for the latter consisted of a
-wooden frame, over which a bull hide was stretched, and served as the
-missionary's bed; a butaca and a prie-dieu, above which a copper
-crucifix was fastened to the whitewashed wall. But, like all cells, this
-room was marvellously clean. From a few nails hung the well-worn clothes
-of the poor priest, and a shelf supported vials and flasks which
-doubtless contained medicaments; for, like all the missionaries, Father
-Seraphin had a rudimentary knowledge of medicine, and took in charge
-both the souls and bodies of his neophytes.
-
-The father lit a candle of yellow tallow standing in an iron
-candlestick, and, aided by Don Pablo, laid the wounded man on his own
-bed; after which the young man fell back into the butaca to regain his
-breath. Father Seraphin, on whom, spite of his fragile appearance, the
-fatigue had produced no apparent effect, then went downstairs to lock
-the street door, which he had left open. As he pushed it to, he felt an
-opposition outside, and a man soon entered the yard.
-
-"Pardon, my reverend father," the stranger said; "but be kind enough not
-to leave me outside."
-
-"Do you live in this house?"
-
-"No," the stranger coolly replied, "I do not live in Santa Fe, where I
-am quite unknown."
-
-"Do you ask hospitality of me, then?" Father Seraphin continued, much
-surprised at this answer.
-
-"Not at all, reverend father."
-
-"Then what do you want?" the missionary said, still more surprised.
-
-"I wish to follow you to the room where you have laid the wounded man,
-to whose aid you came so generously a short time back."
-
-"This request, sir--" the priest said, hesitating.
-
-"Has nothing that need surprise you. I have the greatest interest in
-seeing with my own eyes in what state that man is, for certain reasons
-which in no way concern you."
-
-"Do you know who he is?"
-
-"I do."
-
-"Are you a relation or friend of his?"'
-
-"Neither one nor the other. Still, I repeat to you, very weighty reasons
-compel me to see him and speak with him, if that be possible."
-
-Father Seraphin took a searching glance at the speaker.
-
-He was a man of great height, apparently in the fullest vigour of life.
-His features, so far as it was possible to distinguish them by the pale
-and tremulous moonbeams, were handsome, though an expression of
-unbending will was the marked thing about them. He wore the dress of
-rich Mexican hacenderos, and had in his right hand a magnificently
-inlaid American rifle. Still the missionary hesitated.
-
-"Well," the stranger continued, "have you made up your mind, father?"
-
-"Sir," Father Seraphin answered with firmness, "do not take in ill part
-what I am going to say to you."
-
-The stranger bowed.
-
-"I do not know who you are; you present yourself to me in the depths of
-the night, under singular circumstances. You insist, with strange
-tenacity, on seeing the poor man whom Christian charity compelled me to
-pick up. Prudence demands that I should refuse to let you see him."
-
-A certain annoyance was depicted on the stranger's features.
-
-"You are right, father," he answered; "appearances are against me.
-Unfortunately, the explanation you demand from me justly would make us
-lose too much precious time, hence I cannot give them to you at this
-moment. All I can do is to swear, in the face of Heaven, on that
-crucifix you wear round your neck, and which is the symbol of our
-redemption, that I only wish well to the man you have housed, and that I
-am this moment seeking to punish a great criminal."
-
-The stranger uttered these words with such frankness, and such an air of
-conviction, his face glistened with so much honesty, that the missionary
-felt convinced: he took up the crucifix and offered it to this
-extraordinary man.
-
-"Swear," he said.
-
-"I swear it," he replied in a firm voice.
-
-"Good," the priest went on, "now you can enter, sir; you are one of
-ourselves; I will not even insult you by asking your name."
-
-"My name would teach you nothing, father," the stranger said sadly.
-
-"Follow me, sir."
-
-The missionary locked the gate and led the stranger to his room, on
-entering which the newcomer took off his hat reverently, took up a post
-in a corner of the room, and did not stir.
-
-"Do not trouble yourself about me, father," he said in a whisper, "and
-put implicit faith in the oath I took."
-
-The missionary only replied by a nod, and as the wounded man gave no
-sign of life, but still lay much in the position he was first placed in,
-Father Seraphin walked up to him. For a long time, however, the
-attention he lavished on him proved sterile, and seemed to produce no
-effect on the squatter's son. Still, the father did not despair,
-although Don Pablo shook his head. An hour thus passed, and no
-ostensible change had taken place in the young man's condition; the
-missionary had exhausted all his stock of knowledge, and began to fear
-the worst. At this moment the stranger walked up to him.
-
-"My father," he said, touching him gently on the arm, "you have done all
-that was humanly possible, but have not succeeded."
-
-"Alas! No!" the missionary said sadly.
-
-"Will you permit me to try in my turn?"
-
-"Do you fancy you will prove, more successful than I?" the priest asked
-in surprise.
-
-"I hope so," the stranger said softly.
-
-"Still, you see I have tried everything that the medical art prescribes
-in such a case."
-
-"That is true, father; but the Indians possess certain secrets known
-only to themselves, and which are of great efficacy."
-
-"I have heard so. But do you know those secrets?"
-
-"Some of them have been revealed to me; if you will permit me, I will
-try their effects on this young man, who, as far as I can judge, is in a
-desperate condition."
-
-"I fear he is, poor fellow."
-
-"We shall, therefore, run no risk in trying the efficacy of my superior
-remedy upon him."
-
-"Certainly not."
-
-The stranger bent over the young man, and regarded him for a moment with
-fixed attention; then he drew from his pocket a flask of carved crystal,
-filled with a fluid as green as emerald. With the point of his dagger he
-slightly opened the wounded man's closed teeth, and poured into his
-mouth four or five drops of the fluid contained in the flask. A strange
-thing then occurred; the young man gave vent to a deep sigh, opened his
-eyes several times, and suddenly, as if moved by supernatural force, he
-sat up and looked around him with amazement. Don Pablo and the
-missionary were almost inclined to believe in a miracle so extraordinary
-did the fact appear to them. The stranger returned to his dark corner.
-Suddenly the young man passed his hand over his dank forehead, and
-muttered in a hollow voice:--
-
-"Ellen, my sister, it is too late. I cannot save her. See, see, they are
-carrying her off; she is lost!"
-
-And he fell back on the bed, as the three men rushed towards him.
-
-"He sleeps!" the missionary said in amazement.
-
-"He is saved?" the stranger answered.
-
-"What did he want to say, though?" Don Pablo inquired anxiously.
-
-"Did you not understand it?" the stranger asked of him.
-
-"No."
-
-"Well, then, I will tell you."
-
-"You!"
-
-"Yes, I; listen! That lad wished to deliver your sister!"
-
-"How do you know?"
-
-"Is it true?"
-
-"It is; go on."
-
-"He was stabbed at the door of the house when she sought shelter."
-
-"What next?"
-
-"Those who stabbed him wished to get him out of the way, in order to
-carry her off a second time."
-
-"Oh, that is impossible!"
-
-"It is the fact."
-
-"How do you know it?"
-
-"I do not know it, but I can read it plainly."
-
-"Ah!" Don Pablo exclaimed in despair, "my father--let us fly to my
-sister's aid!"
-
-The two gentlemen rushed from the house with a presentiment of
-misfortune. When the stranger found himself alone with the wounded man,
-he walked up to him, wrapped him in his cloak, threw him over his
-shoulders as easy as if he were only a child, and went out in his turn.
-On reaching the street, he carefully closed the door, and went off at a
-great rate, soon disappearing in the darkness. At the same instant the
-melancholy voice of the sereno could be heard chanting--
-
-_"Ave Maria purisima! Los cuatro han dado! Viva Mejico! Todo es
-quieto!_"[1]
-
-What irony on the part of accident was this cry after the terrible
-events of the night!
-
-
-[1] Hail, most pure Mary! It has struck four. Long live Mexico! All is
-quiet.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLV.
-
-GENERAL VENTURA.
-
-
-It was about six in the morning. A dazzling sun poured down its
-transparent rays on the streets of the Presidio of Santa Fe, which were
-already full of noise and movement at that early hour of the morning.
-General Ventura was still plunged in a deep sleep, probably lulled by
-agreeable dreams, judging from the air of beatitude spread over his
-features. The general, reassured by the speedy arrival of the dragoons
-promised him, fancied he had nothing more to fear from mutineers who had
-hitherto inspired him with lively apprehensions. He thought, too, that
-by the aid of the reinforcements, he could easily get rid of the
-Comanche, who, on the previous day, had so audaciously bearded him in
-the very heart of his palace.
-
-He slept, then, that pleasant morning sleep, in which the body, entirely
-rested from its fatigue, leaves the mind the entire liberty of its
-faculties. Suddenly the door of the sleeping room in which the worthy
-governor reposed, was torn violently open, and an officer entered.
-General Ventura, aroused with a start, sat up in his bed, fixing on the
-importunate visitor a glance, at first stern, but which at once became
-uneasy on seeing the alarm depicted on the officer's features.
-
-"What is the matter, senor Captain Don Lopez?" he asked, trying in vain
-to give firmness to his voice, which trembled involuntarily from a
-foreboding of evil.
-
-Captain Lopez was a soldier of fortune, who had grown grey in harness,
-and contracted a species of rough frankness, that prevented him toning
-the truth down under any circumstances, which fact made him appear, in
-the General's eyes, a bird of very evil omen. The captain's arrival,
-therefore, doubly disquieted the governor. In the first place, through
-his alarmed face; and secondly, the reputation he enjoyed. To the
-general's query the captain only replied the following three storm laden
-words--
-
-"Nothing that's good."
-
-"What do you mean? Have the people rebelled??"
-
-"On my word, no! I do not fancy they even dream of such a thing."
-
-"Very well, then," the general went on, quite cheered by the good news,
-"what the deuce have you to tell me, captain?"
-
-"I have not come to tell you anything," the other said, roughly. "There
-is a soldier outside who has just come from I don't know where, and who
-insists on speaking with you. Shall I bring him, or send him about his
-business."
-
-"One moment," exclaimed the general, whose features had suddenly become
-gloomy; "who is the soldier?"
-
-"A dragoon, I fancy."
-
-"A dragoon! Let him come in at once. May heaven bless you, with all your
-circumlocution! The man, doubtless, brings me news of the arrival of the
-regiment I am expecting, and which should have been here before."
-
-The captain shrugged his shoulders with an air of doubt.
-
-"What is it now?" the general said, whom this expressive pantomime
-eminently alarmed; "What are you going to say?"
-
-"Nothing, except that the soldier looks very sad to be the bearer of
-such good news."
-
-"We shall soon know what we have to depend on. Let him come in."
-
-"That is true," said the captain, as he went off.
-
-During this conversation the general had leaped from his bed, and
-dressed himself with the promptness peculiar to soldiers. He now
-anxiously awaited the appearance of the trooper whom Don Lopez had
-announced to him. In vain he tried to persuade himself that the captain
-was mistaken, and that the soldier had been sent to tell him of the
-arrival of the regiment. In spite of himself, he felt in his heart a
-species of alarm which he could not account for, and yet nothing could
-dissipate.
-
-A few minutes were thus passed in febrile restlessness. All at once a
-great noise was heard in the Plaza Major. The general went to a window,
-pulled aside a curtain, and looked out. A tumultuous and dense crowd was
-thronging every street leading to the square and uttering sharp cries.
-This crowd, momentarily increasing, seemed urged on by something
-terrible, which the general could not perceive.
-
-"What is this?" the general exclaimed; "And what can be the meaning of
-this disturbance?"
-
-At this moment the shouts grew louder, and the detachment of Comanche
-warriors appeared debouching by the Calle de la Merced, and marching in
-good order, and at quick step, upon the palace. On seeing them the
-general could not restrain a start of surprise.
-
-"The Indians again!" he said; "How can they dare to present themselves
-here? They must be ignorant of the arrival of the dragoons. Such
-boldness is incomprehensible."
-
-He let the curtain fall, and turned away. The soldier whom the captain
-had announced to him stood before him, waiting the general's pleasure to
-question him. The general started on perceiving him. He was pale; his
-uniform was torn and stained with mud, as if he had made a long journey
-on foot through brambles. The general wished to clear up his doubts;
-but, just as he was opening his mouth to ask the man a question, the
-door flew back, and several officers, among whom was Captain Don Lopez,
-entered the room.
-
-"General," the captain said, "make haste! You are expected in the
-council hall. The Indians have come for the answer you promised to give
-them this morning."
-
-"Well! Why this startled look, gentlemen?" the general said, severely.
-"I fancy the town has not yet been set on fire. I am not at the orders
-of those savages, so tell them that I have no time to grant them an
-audience."
-
-The officers gazed at the general with a surprise they did not attempt
-to conceal, on hearing these strange and incomprehensible words.
-
-"Good, good," Captain Lopez said, roughly, "the town is not yet fired,
-'tis true; but it might be so, erelong, if you went on in this way."
-
-"What do you mean?" the general asked, as he turned pale. "Are matters
-so serious?"
-
-"They are most serious. We have not a moment to lose, if we wish to
-avoid heavy disasters."
-
-The general started.
-
-"Gentlemen," he then said, in an ill-assured voice, "it is our duty to
-watch over the safety of the population. I follow you."
-
-And taking no further heed of the soldier he had ordered to be sent in,
-he proceeded towards the council hall.
-
-The disorder that prevailed without had at length gained the interior of
-the palace. Nothing was to be heard but shrieks or exclamations of anger
-and terror. The Mexican officers assembled in the hall were tumultuously
-discussing the measures to be adopted in order to save a contest and the
-town. The entrance of the governor produced a healthy effect upon them,
-in so far that the discussion, which was degenerating into personalities
-and reproaches, dictated by individual fear, suddenly ceased, and
-calmness was restored.
-
-General Ventura regretted in his heart having counted on imaginary help,
-and not having listened to the sensible advice of some of his officers,
-who urged him the previous day to satisfy the Indians by giving them
-what they asked. In spite of the terror he felt, however, his pride
-revolted at being compelled to treat on equal terms with barbarians, and
-accept harsh conditions which they would doubtless impose on him, in the
-consciousness of having the upper hand.
-
-The governor, in entering the hall, looked around the assembly
-anxiously. All had taken their places, and, externally at least, had
-assumed that grace and stern appearance belonging to men who are
-penetrated with the grandeur of the duties they have to perform, and are
-resolved to carry them out at all hazards. But this appearance was very
-deceptive. If the faces were impassive the hearts were timorous. All
-these men, habituated to a slothful and effeminate life, did not feel
-capable of waging a contest with the rude enemies who menaced them so
-audaciously, even at the doors of the governor's palace.
-
-Under present circumstances, however, resistance was impossible. The
-Indians, by the fact of their presence on the square, were masters of
-the town. There were no troops to oppose to them; hence, the only hope
-was to make the easiest terms possible with the Comanches. Still, as all
-these men wished to save appearances at any rate, the discussion began
-anew. When everyone had given his opinion, the governor rose, and said
-in a trembling voice--
-
-"Caballeros, all of us here present: are men of courage, and have
-displayed that quality in many difficult circumstances. Certainly, if
-the only thing, was to sacrifice our lives to save the hapless townsmen,
-we would not hesitate to do so, for we are too well imbued with the
-soundness of our duties tot hesitate; but, unhappily, that sacrifice
-would not avail to save those whom we wish before all to protect. Let us
-treat, then, with the barbarians, as we cannot conquer them. Perhaps in
-this way we shall succeed in protecting our wives; and children from the
-danger that menaces them. In acting thus, under the grave circumstances
-in which we find ourselves, we shall at least have the consolation of
-having done our duty, even if we do not obtain all we desire."
-
-Hearty applause greeted this harangue, and the governor, turning to the
-porter, who stood motionless at the door, gave orders to introduce the
-principal Indian chiefs.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLVI.
-
-THE COMANCHES.
-
-
-Valentine and his friends awoke at daybreak. The Comanches were already
-prepared to start; and Unicorn, dressed in his great war costume,
-presented himself to the hunter.
-
-"Is my brother going?" Valentine asked him.
-
-"Yes," the sachem answered. "I am returning to the Presidio to receive
-the answer of the chief of the palefaces."
-
-"What is my brother's intention, should his demand be rejected?"
-
-Unicorn smiled.
-
-"The Comanches have long lances," he said; "the palefaces will not
-refuse."
-
-"My anxiety will be extreme till you return, chief; the Spaniards are
-perfidious; take care they have not planned some treachery."
-
-"They would not dare," Unicorn said, haughtily. "If the chief, whom my
-brother loves, is not delivered to me safe and sound, the Spanish
-prisoners shall be tortured on the plaza of Santa Fe, the town burned
-and sacked. I have spoken; my brother's mind may be at rest."
-
-"Good! Unicorn is a wise chief; he will do what is necessary."
-
-In the meantime the Comanche warriors had formed their ranks, and only
-awaited the signal of the sachem to start. The Spanish prisoners taken
-during the night were placed in the centre bound and half naked.
-Suddenly a disturbance was heard in the camp, and two men rushed panting
-toward the spot where stood Valentine, the sachem and Curumilla. They
-were Don Pablo and Father Seraphin, their clothes in disorder, their
-features haggard, and their faces glistening with perspiration. On
-reaching their friends, they fell, almost in a fainting state, on the
-ground. The proper attentions were at once paid them, and the missionary
-was the first to recover. Don Pablo seemed stupefied; the tears poured
-incessantly down his cheeks, and he could not utter a word. Valentine
-felt strangely alarmed.
-
-"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "What has happened? Don Miguel--?"
-
-The missionary shook his head.
-
-"No," he said, "nothing has happened to him, as far as I know."
-
-"Heaven be praised! But what is the matter, father? What misfortune have
-you to announce to me?"
-
-"A frightful one, indeed, my son," the missionary replied, as he buried
-his face in his hands.
-
-"Speak, in Heaven's name! Your delay is killing me."
-
-"Dona Clara--"
-
-"Well!" he hunter said, sharply.
-
-"Was captured again last night by Red Cedar, and torn from the refuge
-where I placed her."
-
-"Oh!" Valentine exclaimed, with concentrated fury, as he stamped his
-foot, "Always that demon--that accursed Red Cedar. My curses on him! But
-take courage, father; let us first save Don Miguel, and then I swear to
-you that I will restore his daughter to him."
-
-Unicorn advanced.
-
-"Master of prayer," he said to Father Seraphin, in a soft and impressive
-voice, "your heart is good. The Comanches love you. Unicorn will help
-you. Pray to your God. He will protect us in our researches, since He
-is, as you say, so powerful."
-
-Then the chief turned to Don Pablo, and laid his hand firmly on his
-shoulder.
-
-"Women weep," he said; "men avenge themselves. Has not my brother his
-rifle?"
-
-On feeling the Comanche's hand laid on him--on hearing these words--the
-young man quivered as if he had received an electric shock. He drew
-himself up, and fixed on the chief his eyes burning with the fever of
-sorrow.
-
-"Yes," he said, in a broken voice, "you are right, chief, and," passing
-his hand over his eyes, with a gesture of rage, "let us leave tears to
-women, who have no other weapons to protect their weakness. I am a man,
-and will avenge myself."
-
-"Good. My brother speaks well: he is a warrior; Unicorn esteems him; he
-will become great on the war path."
-
-Don Pablo, crushed for a moment, had regained all his energy; he was no
-longer the same man; he looked around him.
-
-"Where are you going?" he asked.
-
-"To Santa Fe, to deliver your father."
-
-"I will go with you."
-
-"Come," said Unicorn.
-
-"No," Valentine interposed, authoritatively. "Your place is not there,
-Don Pablo; leave the Comanche warriors to act as they please; they do
-not need your help to carry out their plans properly. Remain with me."
-
-"Command me, my friend," the young man said with resignation; "I have
-perfect confidence in your experience."
-
-"Good. You are reasonable. Brother," he added, turning to the chief,
-"you can start. The sun is already high in the horizon; may Heaven grant
-that you may succeed!"
-
-Unicorn gave the signal for departure. The Comanches uttered their war
-yell, while brandishing their arms, and started at a quick amble, the
-only pace they know. Curumilla then rose, and wrapped himself in his
-buffalo robe; Valentine watching him, inquiringly.
-
-"Does my brother leave us?" he said.
-
-"Yes," the Araucano answered, laconically.
-
-"For long?"
-
-"For a few hours?"
-
-"Where is my brother going?"
-
-"To look for the camp of Red Cedar's gambusinos," the Indian replied
-with a cunning smile.
-
-"Good," Valentine said, gleefully. "My brother is a wise chief; he
-forgets nothing."
-
-"Curumilla loves his brother; he thinks for him," the chief answered,
-simply.
-
-After uttering these words, the Unicorn bowed gracefully, and proceeded
-in the direction of the Paso del Norte, soon disappearing in the
-windings of the road. Valentine looked after him for a long while. When
-he no longer saw him, he let his head fall pensively on his chest,
-murmuring in a low voice--
-
-"Good, intelligent fellow! Heart of gold! The only friend left me! The
-only one remaining of my old and faithful comrades! Louis, my poor
-Louis, where are you now?" A deep sigh burst from his bosom, and he
-remained absorbed in a gloomy reverie.
-
-At length Valentine raised his head, passed his hand over his brow, as
-if to dispel these sad thoughts, and turned to his friends.
-
-"Pardon me," he said, "but I, at times, give way to my thoughts in that
-fashion. Alas! I, too, have suffered; but let us leave that," he added,
-gaily. "Bygones must be bygones. Let us attend to your affairs."
-
-He made them a sign to sit down by his side on the grass, rummaged his
-alforjas and produced some slight food, which he laid before them.
-
-"Eat," he said to them; "we do not know what awaits us within the next
-few hours, and we must recruit our strength. When you have satisfied
-your appetite, you will tell me all about Dona Clara being carried off
-again, for I must have the fullest details."
-
-We will leave the three now conversing, and join the Comanches and
-Unicorn again.
-
-When the Comanches reached the Plaza Mayor, opposite the Cabildo, they
-halted. At an order from Unicorn, the prisoners were completely stripped
-of their clothing and placed some distance in front of the first rank of
-Indians, each of them having at his side a fully armed Indian ready to
-massacre him mercilessly at the slightest sign from Unicorn. When the
-preparations were completed, and the Comanches had stationed sentinels
-at each corner of the streets, opening in the square, in order not to be
-taken in reverse, and surrounded by the Spaniards, if they felt any
-inclination for fighting, the Spider, the chief who had already
-performed the duty of flag of truce, pranced up to the gate of the
-palace, and demanded speech with the governor.
-
-The officer of the guard, who was no other than Don Lopez, politely
-requested the Indian warrior to wait a few moments, and then proceeded
-in all haste to General Ventura. We have seen what took place, and,
-after a delay of nearly half an hour, Captain Don Lopez returned. It was
-time, for the Comanches were beginning to grow tired of waiting, and
-were preparing to force the passage which was not voluntarily granted
-them. After some preliminary explanations, Captain Lopez informed the
-Spider that the general, surrounded by his staff, was awaiting, in the
-hall of audience, the sachem of the nation and his three principal
-warriors.
-
-The Spider communicated this answer to Unicorn, who gave a nod of
-assent, dismounted, and entered the Cabildo.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
-NEGOTIATIONS.
-
-
-When Unicorn entered the council chamber, preceded by Captain Lopez, and
-followed by the three Indian chiefs, the deepest silence prevailed among
-the Spanish officers assembled to meet him. The governor, seated in a
-chair placed in the centre of the hall, was looking nervously round him,
-while tapping on the arm of the chair with the fingers of his right
-hand. Still, his countenance was tolerably composed; nothing externally
-revealed the terror that devoured him. He answered by a nod the
-ceremonious bow of the Comanches, and drew himself up as if intending to
-address them; but if such were his desire, Unicorn did not grant him
-time to do so. The sachem draped himself in his buffalo robe with that
-majestic grace possessed by all those untamed sons of the desert, drew
-his head up proudly, and walked toward General Ventura, who watched him
-approach with an anxious eye. On coming within four paces of the
-governor, Unicorn stopped, crossed his arms on his chest, and took the
-word.
-
-"I salute my father!" he said, in a loud and fierce voice. "I have come,
-as was agreed on yesterday, to fetch the answer he owes me."
-
-The general hesitated for an instant.
-
-"I am waiting!" the Indian went on, with a frown that augured ill.
-
-The general, forced almost into his last entrenchments, saw that the
-hour for surrender had at length arrived, and that no way of escape was
-left him.
-
-"Chief," he answered, in anything but a firm voice, "your behavior
-naturally surprises me. To my knowledge the Spaniards are not at war
-with your nation; the whites have not done anything of which you have a
-right to complain. For what reason do you come, then, against the sworn
-faith, and when nothing authorises you, to invade a defenceless town,
-and interfere in matters that only concern ourselves?"
-
-The sachem understood that the Spaniard was trying to shift the question
-on to other ground; he saw the snare offered him, and was not to be
-caught.
-
-"My father does not answer my request," he said. "Still, in order to
-have finished at once with the recriminations he brings up, I will
-answer his questions peremptorily, separating them one from the other.
-In the first place, my father knows very well that the palefaces and
-redskins have been in a constant state of warfare since the arrival of
-white men in America. This war may have slightly relaxed at intervals,
-but has never really ceased. Our two races are hostile; the struggle
-will not end between them until one of the two families, whether white
-or red, has given place to the other by its general extinction.
-Secondly, my father said that nothing has been done of which we had a
-right to complain. My father is mistaken, we have a cause, the
-imprisonment of Don Miguel Zarate, who, himself an Indian, has never
-belied his origin. Hence my father must no longer ask by what right I am
-here, for that is perfectly established; it is that which every honest
-man possesses of defending an innocent person who is oppressed. Now that
-fact is cleared up, let us pass to another. When I came here yesterday,
-my father gave me to understand that my propositions would be accepted,
-and the exchange of prisoners carried out."
-
-"It is possible, chief," the general replied; "but things are so in this
-world, no one knows today what he will do tomorrow. With night
-reflection has come, and, in short, your propositions have appeared to
-me unacceptable."
-
-"Wah!" the Indian said, though not testifying his surprise otherwise.
-
-"Yes," the general continued, growing animated, "I should be ashamed to
-grant them, for I should have the appearance of only yielding to
-threats. No, it cannot be. The two gentlemen you claim are guilty, and
-shall die; and if you venture to oppose the execution of the just
-sentence of the court, we will defend ourselves, and God will protect
-the good cause."
-
-The Mexican officers warmly applauded this haughty response, which they
-were far from expecting. They felt their courage rekindled, and did not
-despair of obtaining better conditions. A smile of disdain played round
-the chiefs haughty lips.
-
-"Good," he said; "my father speaks very loudly. The coyotes are bold
-when they hunt the buffalo in packs. My father has carefully reflected,
-and is determined to accept the consequences of his answer. He wishes
-for war, then?"
-
-"No," the general quickly interposed, "heaven forbid! I should be glad
-to settle this matter amicably with you, chief, but honor forbids me
-subscribing those disgraceful proposals which you did not fear to lay
-before me."
-
-"Is it really honour that has dictated my father's answer?" the Indian
-asked, ironically. "He will permit me to doubt it. In short, whatever be
-the reason that guides him, I can but withdraw; but, before doing so, I
-will give him news of a friend whom he doubtless impatiently expects."
-
-"What means that word, doubtless?"
-
-"This," the Indian said, sharply. "The warriors whom my father expected
-to arrive to his aid this day have been dispersed by my young men, as
-the autumn breeze sweeps away the leaves. They will not come."
-
-A murmur of surprise, almost of terror, ran through the assembly. The
-sachem let the long folds of his buffalo robe fall back, tore from his
-girdle the bleeding scalp that hung there, and threw it at the general's
-feet.
-
-"That," he said, gloomily, "is the scalp of the man who commanded my
-father's warriors! Does the chief of the palefaces recognise it? This
-scalp was raised by me from the head of the man who was to arrive, and
-who, at this hour, has set out for the happy hunting grounds of his
-nation."
-
-A shudder of terror ran round the room at the sight of the scalp; the
-general felt the small dose of courage that had still animated him
-oozing out.
-
-"Chief," he exclaimed, in a trembling voice "is it possible you have
-done that?"
-
-"I have done it," the sachem answered, coldly. "Now, farewell. I am
-about to join my young men, who are impatient at my long absence."
-
-With these words the Comanche haughtily turned his back on the governor,
-and walked toward the door.
-
-"A few moments longer, chief," the general said; "perhaps we are nearer
-an understanding than you suppose."
-
-The Comanche gave the speaker a glance which made him quiver.
-
-"Here is my last word," he said. "I insist on the two prisoners being
-handed over to me."
-
-"They shall be."
-
-"Good; but no perfidity, no treachery."
-
-"We will act honourably," the general replied, not dreaming, of resenting
-the insult conveyed in the Indian's words.
-
-"We shall see. My warriors and myself will remain on the square till my
-father has performed his promise. If, within an hour, the palefaces are
-not free, the prisoners I hold will be pitilessly massacred, and the
-_altepetl_ plundered. I have spoken."
-
-A gloomy silence greeted these terrible threats. The pride of the
-Mexicans was quelled, and they at length recognised that nothing could
-save them from the vengeance of the Comanche chief. The general bowed in
-assent, not having strength to answer otherwise. The sight of the scalp
-had paralyzed in him all desire to contend longer. Unicorn left the
-hall, mounted his horse again, and calmly awaited the fulfilment of the
-promise made to him.
-
-When the Indians had left the council chamber, the Mexicans rose
-tumultuously, for each feared the execution of the chief's threats.
-General Ventura was pressed on all sides to make haste, and run no risk
-of breaking his word. When the governor saw that his officers were as
-terrified as himself, he re-assumed his coolness, and cleverly profited
-by this state of mind, in order to throw the responsibility off himself,
-and appear only to act under the impulse of others.
-
-"Caballeros," he said, "you have heard this man. You understood as well
-as I did the menaces he dared to offer us. Shall such an insult be left
-unpunished? Will you allow yourselves to be thus braved in the heart of
-the town by a handful of scoundrels, and not attempt to inflict on them
-the chastisement they deserve? To arms, caballeros, and let us die
-bravely, if it must be so, sooner than suffer this stain on the old
-Spanish honor our fathers transmitted to us!"
-
-This warm address produced the effect the general anticipated from it;
-that is to say, it redoubled, were that possible, the terror of the
-hearers, who had long been acquainted with their chiefs cowardice, and
-knew how little he could be depended on. This sudden warlike order
-seemed to them so unusual, and before all so inopportune, that they
-pressed him to accept without delay the proposals dictated by the
-sachem.
-
-This was all the governor wanted. He had the minutes of the council at
-once drawn up, when it was signed by all present, he put it in his
-pocket.
-
-"As you insist," he said, "and nothing can induce you to offer an
-honourable resistance, I will myself proceed to the prison, in order to
-avoid any misunderstanding, and have the doors opened for Don Miguel
-Zarate and General Ibanez."
-
-"Make haste, pray?" the officers answered.
-
-The general, glad in his heart at having got out of the scrape so well,
-left the Cabildo, and walked across the square to the prison, which
-stood on the opposite side. The Comanches were motionless as statues of
-Florentine bronze, leaning on their weapons, with their eyes fixed on
-the chief, ready to carry out his orders.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV.
-
-FREE.
-
-
-Don Miguel and General Ibanez were completely ignorant of what was going
-on outside, and the rumours of the town did not reach their ears. Had
-they deigned to question their jailer, the latter, who was beginning to
-fear for himself the effects of the ill-treatment he had made the two
-gentlemen undergo, would doubtless not have hesitated to give them all
-possible information, for the sake of regaining their favour; but each
-time this man presented himself before them, and opened his mouth to
-speak, they turned their backs contemptuously, giving him a sign to
-withdraw at once, and be silent.
-
-On this day, according to their wont, the two prisoners had risen at
-sunrise, and then, with incredible coolness, began conversing on
-indifferent topics. Suddenly a great noise was heard in the prison; a
-clang of arms reached the prisoners' ears, and hurried footsteps
-approached the rooms in which they were confined. They listened.
-
-"Oh, oh!" said Ibanez, "I fancy it is for today at last."
-
-"Heaven be praised!" Don Miguel answered; "I am glad they have made up
-their minds to bring matters to a conclusion."
-
-"On my honour, and so am I," the general said, gaily; "time was
-beginning to hang heavy in this prison, where a man has not the
-slightest relaxation. We are going to see again that splendid sun which
-seems afraid of showing itself in this den. _Viva Cristo_! I feel
-delighted at the mere thought, and gladly pardon my judges."
-
-Still the noise drew nearer and nearer, and confused voices were mingled
-with the echoing steps in the passage, and the rattling of sabres.
-
-"Here they are," said Don Miguel; "we shall see them in a minute."
-
-"They are welcome if they bring us death, that supreme solace of the
-afflicted."
-
-At this moment a key creaked in the lock, and the door opened. The two
-prisoners fell back in surprise on seeing the general, who rushed into
-the cell followed by two or three officers. Assuredly, if the prisoners
-expected to see anybody, it was not the worthy General Ventura. Ibanez'
-surprise was so great at this unexpected apparition, that he could not
-refrain from exclaiming, with that accent of caustic gaiety which formed
-the basis of his character--
-
-"What the deuce do you want here, Senor Governor? Have you, too,
-suddenly become a frightful conspirator, such as we are accused of
-being?"
-
-Before answering, the general fell back into a chair, wiping away the
-perspiration that trickled down his forehead, such speed had he
-displayed in coming to the prison. Three or four officers stood
-motionless on the threshold of the widely open door. The condemned men
-could not at all understand the affair.
-
-"Have you by any chance, my dear governor," General Ibanez said, gaily,
-though not believing a word of it, "come to restore us to liberty? That
-would be a most gallant action, and I should feel deeply indebted to you
-for it."
-
-General Ventura raised his head, fixed on the prisoners eyes sparkling
-with joy, and said, in a panting voice--
-
-"Yes, my friends, yes; I _would_ come myself to tell you that you are
-free; I would not yield to anyone else the pleasure of announcing the
-good news."
-
-The prisoners fell back in amazement.
-
-"What!" General Ibanez exclaimed, "You are speaking seriously?"
-
-Don Miguel attentively looked at the governor, trying to read in his
-face the reasons of his conduct.
-
-"Come, come," General Ventura cried, "this hole is frightful; do not
-remain any longer in it."
-
-"Ah!" Don Miguel remarked, bitterly, "You find it frightful; you have
-been a long time in discovering the fact; for we have lived in it nearly
-a month, and the thought never once occurred to you of disturbing our
-repose."
-
-"Do not be angry with me, Don Miguel," the governor answered eagerly,
-"it was greatly against my will you were detained so long; had it only
-depended on me you would have been free; but, thanks to Heaven, all is
-settled now, and I have succeeded in having justice done you. Come away;
-do not remain a moment longer in this pestilential den."
-
-"Pardon me, Caballero," Don Miguel said coldly, "but, with your
-permission, we will remain a few moments longer in it."
-
-"Why so?" General Ventura asked, opening his eyes to their fullest
-extent.
-
-"I will tell you."
-
-Don Miguel pointed to a chair, and sat down himself. Ibanez following
-his example. There was a moment of deep silence between these three men
-as they strove to read each other's real secret thoughts.
-
-"I am waiting your pleasure to explain yourself," the governor at last
-said, as he was anxious to get away, and time pressed.
-
-"I am about doing so," Don Miguel answered; "you have come to tell us we
-are free, sir; but you do not say on what conditions."
-
-"What do you mean by conditions?" the general asked, not understanding
-him.
-
-"Of course," Ibanez went on, supporting his friend; "and these
-conditions, too, must suit us; you must see, my dear sir, we cannot
-leave this delightful place without knowing the why or wherefore. _Viva
-Cristo_! We are not vagabonds to be got rid of in that way; we must know
-if we are justified in accepting the proposals you have just made."
-
-"The general is right, sir," the hacendero said in his turn; "the care
-of our honor does not permit us to accept a liberation which might stain
-it; hence, we shall not leave this prison until you have given us an
-explanation."
-
-The governor hardly knew whether he was on his head or his heels; he had
-never before had to deal with such obstinate prisoners. He racked his
-brains in vain to discover why it was that men condemned to death could
-so peremptorily decline their liberty. His ideas were too narrow, his
-heart was too cowardly for him to comprehend the grandeur and nobility
-in this determination on the part of two men, who preferred an honourable
-death to a branded life which they only owed to the pity of their
-judges. Still, he must induce them to quit the prison, for time was fast
-slipping away, and their obstinacy might ruin everything. Hence, General
-Ventura made up his mind like a man.
-
-"Gentlemen," he said, with feigned admiration, "I understand what
-nobleness there is in your scruples, and am happy to see that I was not
-mistaken in the greatness of your character. You can leave this prison
-in full security, and take once more the station that belongs to you in
-the world. I will lay no conditions on you; you are free, purely and
-simply. Here are the documents connected with your trial, the proofs
-produced against you; take them and destroy them, and accept my sincere,
-apologies for all that has passed."
-
-While saying this, the governor drew from his breast an enormous bundle
-of papers, which he offered Don Miguel. The latter declined them with an
-air of disgust; but General Ibanez, less scrupulous or wiser in his
-generation, eagerly clutched them, looked through them to see that the
-governor was not deceiving him, and then threw them into the _brasero_,
-standing in the middle of the room. In less than four minutes, all this
-undigested mass was consumed. General Ibanez watched them burning with a
-certain degree of pleasure, for he began to feel himself really free.
-
-"I am waiting for you, gentlemen," said the governor.
-
-"One word more, by your leave," the hacendero remarked.
-
-"Speak, sir."
-
-"On leaving this prison, where are we to go?"
-
-"Wherever you please, gentlemen. I repeat to you that you are perfectly
-free, and can act as you think proper. I do not even ask your word of
-honor to enter into no further conspiracy."
-
-"Good sir," Don Miguel said, holding out his hand to General Ventura,
-"your conduct affects me--thanks."
-
-The governor blushed.
-
-"Come, come," he said, to hide his embarrassment on receiving this so
-ill-deserved praise.
-
-The prisoners no longer hesitated to follow him.
-
-In the meanwhile, the news of Don Miguel's deliverance had spread
-through the town with the rapidity of a train of gunpowder. The
-inhabitants, reassured by the continence of the Comanches, and knowing
-that they had only come to save a man, in whose fate the entire
-population felt interested, had ventured to leave their houses, and at
-length thronged the streets and squares; the windows and roofs were
-filled with men, women, and children, whose eyes, fixed on the prison,
-awaited the moment of Don Miguel's appearance. When he did so,
-tremendous shouts greeted him.
-
-Unicorn walked up to the governor.
-
-"My father has kept his promise," he said, gravely, "I will keep mine;
-the white prisoners are free; I now depart."
-
-The governor listened to these words with a blush; the sachem returned
-to the head of his war party, which rapidly retired, followed by the
-shouts of a mob intoxicated with joy. Don Miguel, perplexed by the scene
-which had taken place in his presence, and who began to suspect a
-mystery in the governor's conduct, turned to him to ask an explanation
-of the Indian chief's words--an explanation the governor luckily
-escaped, owing to the eagerness of the people who flocked up to
-congratulate the prisoners on their release.
-
-On reaching the gate of the Cabildo, General Ventura bowed courteously
-to the two gentlemen, and hurried into his palace, happy at having
-escaped so cheaply, and not tearing with his own hands the cloak of
-generosity which he had paraded in the sight of his prisoners.
-
-"What do you think of all that?" the hacendero asked his friend.
-
-"Hum!" General Ibanez muttered, "The governor's conduct seems to me
-rather queer; but, no matter, we are free. I confess to you, my friend,
-that I should have no objection to go a little distance from this place,
-the air of which, despite General Ventura's protestations, appears to me
-remarkably unhealthy for us."
-
-At this moment, and ere Don Miguel could answer, the general felt a
-slight touch on his shoulders; he turned and saw Curumilla before him,
-with a smiling face. Don Miguel and the general suppressed a cry of joy
-at the sight of the grave and excellent Indian.
-
-"Come!" he said to them, laconically.
-
-They followed him, with some difficulty, through the crowd that
-accompanied them with shouts, and whom they were obliged to stop and
-thank. On reaching a small street near the square, and which was nearly
-deserted, Curumilla led them to a house before which he stopped.
-
-"It is here," he said, as he tapped twice.
-
-The door opened, and they entered a courtyard, in which were three ready
-saddled horses, held by a groom, which they at once mounted.
-
-"Thanks, brother," the hacendero said, warmly, as he pressed the chiefs
-hand; "but how did you learn our deliverance?"
-
-The Araucano smiled pleasantly. "Let us go," he said, making no other
-answer.
-
-"Where to?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"To join Koutonepi."
-
-The three men started at full speed. Ten minutes later they were out of
-the town, and galloping across the plain.
-
-"Oh!" General Ibanez said, gaily, "How pleasant the fresh air is! How
-good it is to inhale it after remaining for two months stifled between
-the walls of a prison!"
-
-"Shall we soon arrive? Don Miguel asked.
-
-"In an hour," the chief answered.
-
-And they went on with renewed speed.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XLIX.
-
-THE MEETING.
-
-
-On reaching a spot where the trail they were following formed a species
-of fork, Curumilla stopped, and the two gentlemen imitated him.
-
-"That is your road," the Araucano chief said. "At the end of that path
-you will see Koutonepi's bivouac fire. I must leave you here."
-
-After uttering these words, Curumilla turned his horse and started,
-after giving them a parting wave of the hand. The Unicorn was not much
-of a talker naturally; generally, he did more than he said. His friends,
-convinced that urgent necessity could alone have forced him thus to
-break through his habits, made no observation, but let him go. When they
-were alone, they gently relaxed the pace of their horses, and proceeded
-at a canter.
-
-General Ibanez was radiant. He inhaled the fresh air Of the desert,
-which dilated his wide chest, revelling in his liberty. He thought of
-nothing but enjoying the present, regardless of the past, which, with
-his careless character, he had already forgotten, only to dream of the
-future, which he gazed on through a prism of brilliant hues. Don Miguel,
-on the contrary, felt, during the last few moments, a sad melancholy
-invade his mind. Not able to account for the emotion he experienced, he
-had a species of secret presentiment that a misfortune was suspended
-over his head. In vain did he try to dispel these ideas, but they
-constantly returned more obstinately than ever and it was with a sort of
-dread that he advanced in the direction where he was to meet Valentine,
-although he was his best friend, so much did he fear that he would greet
-his arrival with evil tidings.
-
-The two gentlemen went on thus for nearly half an hour without
-exchanging a syllable; but, just as they turned a corner in the path,
-they saw a horseman about thirty paces in front of them, barring the
-road, and apparently waiting for them. The Mexicans examined him
-attentively. He was a tall man, well armed, and wearing the garb of the
-rich hacenderos; but, singularly enough, a black velvet mask prevented
-them distinguishing his features. By an instinctive movement Don Miguel
-and his friend moved a hand to their holsters, but they were empty.
-
-"What is to be done?" the hacendero asked the general.
-
-"Go on, of course. We have just escaped too great a peril for us to fear
-this. Even in the event of the mysterious being planted there before us,
-like an equestrian statue, trying to play us a trick, which is not
-impossible."
-
-"Let us trust to Heaven," Don Miguel muttered, and pushed on.
-
-The distance separating them from the stranger was soon cleared. On
-coming within five yards of him, they stopped.
-
-"_Santas tardes_, caballeros," said the stranger, in a friendly voice.
-
-"_Santas tardes_!" the gentlemen answered, in accord.
-
-"I salute you, Don Miguel Zarate, and you, General Ibanez," the stranger
-then said. "I am happy to see you at length safe and sound out of the
-claws of that worthy General Ventura, who, if he could, would certainly
-have played you a trick."
-
-"Caballero," Don Miguel made answer, "I thank you for the kind words you
-address to me, and which can only come from a friend's lips. I should be
-pleased if you would take off the mask that conceals your features, so
-that I may recognise you."
-
-"Gentlemen, if I removed my mask you would be disappointed, for my
-features are unfamiliar to you. Do not be angry with me for keeping it
-on; but, be assured that you are not mistaken with regard to me, and I
-am really your friend."
-
-The two Mexicans bowed courteously to each other, and the stranger went
-on.
-
-"I knew that so soon as you were free you would hasten to join that
-worthy hunter Valentine, whom the trappers and gambusinos along the
-frontier have christened the 'Trail-hunter.' I placed myself here, where
-you must infallibly pass, in order to make you a communication of the
-utmost importance, which interests you extremely."
-
-"I am listening, sir," Don Miguel responded with secret alarm; "and I
-beg you to accept, beforehand, my sincere thanks for the step you have
-taken on my behalf."
-
-"You will thank me when the proper time comes, Don Miguel. Today I only
-warn you: at a later date I hope to aid you, and my help will not prove
-useless."
-
-"Speak, sir! You excite my curiosity to the highest pitch, and I am
-anxious to learn the news of which you have condescended to be the
-bearer."
-
-The stranger shook his head sadly, and there was a moment's silence.
-This meeting of three horsemen, one of whom was masked, in this deserted
-place, where no sound troubled the imposing silence of solitude, had
-something strange about it. At length the mask spoke again.
-
-"Two months have elapsed, Don Miguel, since, through the treachery of
-Red Cedar, you were arrested and made prisoner at the Paso del Norte.
-Many events of which you are ignorant have occurred since then; but
-there is one I must inform you of at once. On the very night of your
-arrest, at the moment you laid down your arms, your daughter was carried
-off by Red Cedar."
-
-"My daughter!" the hacendero exclaimed; "And Valentine to whom I
-confided her, and who was responsible for her safety?"
-
-"Valentine attempted impossibilities to save her; but what can one man
-effect against twenty?"
-
-Don Miguel shook his head mournfully.
-
-"After researches, long, sterile, and extraordinary efforts, a man
-providentially aided by Father Seraphin, at length succeeded last night
-in taking Dona Clara from her ravishers; but Red Cedar, advised by some
-extraordinary chance, entered the house where the maiden had sought
-shelter, and carried her off again."
-
-"Oh! I will avenge myself on that man!" the hacendero shouted,
-passionately.
-
-The stranger's eyes flashed with a lurid light though the holes in his
-mask.
-
-"You will find your son and Father Seraphin with Valentine. Red Cedar
-intends to start this evening at the head of a band of gambusinos, to go
-into the deserts of the Rio Gila in search of a placer, which his
-accomplice, Fray Ambrosio, had indicated to him."
-
-"Fray Ambrosio!" the hacendero repeated, in stupor.
-
-"Yes. Your former chaplain, who served as spy to the squatter, revealed
-your plans to him, and provided him the means to enter the hacienda and
-carry off your daughter."
-
-"Good," Don Miguel said, in a hollow voice. "I will remember."
-
-"Red Cedar, I know not with what design, is taking your daughter with
-him into the desert."
-
-"I will follow him, were it for a thousand leagues," Don Miguel said,
-resolutely. "Thanks to you for having instructed me so fully. But whence
-comes the interest you take in me so gratuitously, since, as you say, I
-do not know you?"
-
-"You shall learn at a later date, Don Miguel. Now, before I leave you,
-one last word--an earnest warning."
-
-"I listen attentively, caballero."
-
-"Do not tell anyone--not even the French hunter, not even your son--of
-our meeting. Let this secret be buried in your breast. When you reach
-the far west, if you see before you, at one of your bivouacs, a piece of
-mahogany bearing the impress of a horse's shoe, rise at midnight, and
-leave the camp, not letting anyone see you. When you have gone one
-hundred paces in the tall grass, whistle thrice; a similar whistle will
-answer you, and then you will learn many things important for you to
-know, but which I cannot tell you today."
-
-"Good. Thanks. I will do what you tell me."
-
-"You promised it?"
-
-"I swear it on my word as a gentleman," Don Miguel said, as he took off
-his hat.
-
-"I accept your oath. Farewell."
-
-"Farewell."
-
-The stranger dug his spurs into his horse's sides and the animal started
-off as if impelled by a tornado.
-
-The two gentlemen looked after him for a long time, admiring the grace
-and ease of his movements; at length, when horse and rider had
-disappeared in the distance, Don Miguel went on again pensively, while
-saying to the general--
-
-"Who can that man be?"
-
-"I know no more than you do. _Viva Cristo_!" his friend answered, "but I
-assure you I will know, even if to do so I have to search all the
-thickets and caverns in the desert."
-
-"What," Don Miguel exclaimed, "do you intend to come with me?"
-
-"Did you ever doubt it, Don Miguel? If so, you insulted me. You will
-need all your friends to go in search of your daughter, and inflict on
-that demon of a gringo squatter the chastisement he deserves. No, no; I
-will not leave you under such circumstances, for that would be
-committing a bad action; besides, I shall not be sorry," he added with a
-smile, "to get out of the sight of the government for a time."
-
-"My friend, I thank you," the hacendero said, as he took his hand. "I
-have long known that you were entirely devoted to me; I am pleased to
-receive this new proof of your friendship."
-
-"And you accept it?" the general asked gaily.
-
-"Most heartily; the help of an iron arm like yours must be most useful
-to me under the painful circumstances in which I am placed."
-
-"That is settled, then; we will start together, _Mil rayas!_ and I swear
-we will deliver Dona Clara."
-
-"May Heaven grant it," the hacendero said, sadly.
-
-The conversation then dropped, and the two friends proceeded in silence.
-A quarter of an hour later they reached the Trail-hunter's bivouac.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVI.
-
-DONA CLARA.
-
-
-Valentine had been warned, nearly an hour previously, by Unicorn of the
-result of the negotiations with the governor of Santa Fe, and the
-immediate liberation of the prisoners; he was, therefore, expecting
-them. Though they were ignorant where to find him, Valentine presumed
-that the chief would leave some Indian to direct them, and, therefore,
-did not feel at all surprised at seeing them. So soon as he noticed
-their approach he walked to meet them, followed by Don Pablo and the
-missionary, while the hacendero and his comrade on their side pricked
-on to join them sooner.
-
-A few hours were spent, after the first greetings were over, in a
-conference, of which the poor child so audaciously carried off was the
-sole subject. Valentine drew up with his friends the plan of the
-campaign against Red Cedar, which was so daring that it would have made
-a European nervous; but the free adventurers who were about to carry it
-out in no way feared the mysterious dangers of the desert which they
-were going to confront. We say, free, because Father Seraphin had taken
-leave of his friends and found Unicorn, with whom he wished to go to the
-Comanche villages, in the hope of spreading the light of the Gospel
-there. Still, he did not despair about, meeting his friends in the
-prairies, whither he was himself proceeding. Toward evening, Curumilla
-arrived. The Araucano was covered with dust, and his face damp with
-perspiration; Not uttering a word, he sat down by the fire, took his
-calumet from his girdle, and began smoking. Valentine let him do so
-without asking a question, but so soon as he saw him absorbed in his
-pipe, he laid his hand on his shoulder.
-
-"Well?" he said to him.
-
-"Curumilla has seen them."
-
-"Good; are they numerous?"
-
-"Ten times the number of fingers on my two hands, and one more."
-
-"_Caramba!_" Valentine exclaimed, "Are they so many as that? We shall
-have a tough job in that case."
-
-"They are bold hunters," the chief added.
-
-"Hum! Do you know when they will start?"
-
-"This evening, when the new moon rises."
-
-"Ah, ah! I read their plan," the hunter said. "They intend crossing the
-ford of the Toro before day."
-
-Curumilla bowed his head in affirmation.
-
-"That is true," Valentine remarked; "once the ford is passed they will
-be in the desert, and have comparatively nothing to fear, or at least
-they suppose so. I must confess," he added, addressing his friends,
-"that Red Cedar is a remarkably clever scoundrel; nothing, escapes him,
-but this time he has a' tough adversary. I have my revenge to take on
-him, and, with the help of Heaven, it shall be exemplary."
-
-"What shall we do?" Don Miguel asked.
-
-"Sleep," Valentine answered, "we have still several hours before us, so
-let us profit by them; in the new life we are beginning, we must neglect
-nothing, the body and mind must repose, so that we may act vigorously."
-
-Curumilla had slipped away but now returned, bringing with him two
-rifles, pistols, and knives.
-
-"My brothers had no weapons," he said, as he laid his load before the
-Mexicans.
-
-The latter thanked him heartily; for, owing to the foresight of
-Curumilla, who thought of everything, they could now enter the desert
-boldly. Two minutes later the five men were fast asleep, and we will
-take advantage of their slumber to return to Red Cedar, whom we left on
-the point of climbing through Dona Clara's window, while Fray Ambrosio
-and Andres Garote were watching at either end of the street.
-
-At one bound the bandit was in the room, after breaking open the window
-with a blow of his fist. Dona Clara, suddenly aroused, leaped from the
-bed, uttering fearful cries at the sight of the terrible apparition
-before her.
-
-"Silence," Red Cedar said to her, in a threatening voice, as he placed
-the point of his knife on her chest, "one cry more, and I kill you like
-a dog."
-
-The maiden, trembling with fright, looked pitifully at the bandit; but
-Red Cedar's face wore such an expression of cruelty, that she understood
-how little she had to hope from this man. She addressed a silent prayer
-to Heaven, and resigned herself to her fate. The bandit gagged the poor
-child with the rebozo that lay on the bed, threw her over his shoulder,
-and clambered out of the window again. So soon as he put foot on the
-ground, he whistled lightly for his comrades to rejoin him, which they
-did immediately, and, still carrying his burthen, he proceeded with them
-in the direction of the Rancho del Coyote.
-
-During the walk, which was not a long one, the bandits did not meet a
-soul. Andres opened the door and lit a candle; the ruffians entered, and
-the door was carefully bolted again. Thus, after only a few hours of
-liberty, the wretched girl had fallen once more into the hands of her
-ravishers, and placed again by them in the wretched room where she had
-spent so many days in prayer and weeping. Red Cedar carried Dona Clara,
-who was in a half-fainting state, to her room, removed the rebozo, and
-then returned to the bar.
-
-"There;" he said, with satisfaction, "that is all right; the sheep has
-returned to the fold. What do you say, reverend father? This time let us
-hope she will not escape us."
-
-The monk smiled.
-
-"We shall do well in not remaining here long," he said.
-
-"Why so?"
-
-"Because this hiding place is known and will soon be visited."
-
-The squatter shrugged his shoulders.
-
-"Listen! Fray Ambrosio," he said, with a sinister grimace, which he
-intended for a smile. "I predict that, rogue as you are, you run a great
-chance of dying in a fool's skin, if you are not flayed beforehand,
-which may easily be the case."
-
-The monk shuddered. Red Cedar's gaiety had the peculiarity of being even
-more fearful than his anger. The squatter sat down on a bench, and
-turned to the gambusino.
-
-"Drink!" he said roughly.
-
-Garote fetched a jar of mezcal, which he placed before his terrible
-accomplice. The latter, not taking the trouble to pour the liquor into a
-glass, raised the jar to his lips, and drank till breath failed him.
-
-"Hum!" he said, with a click of his tongue, "That's pleasant tipple when
-you're thirsty. Listen to my orders, my dear children, and try to carry
-them out to the letter; or, if not, your roguish hides will bear the
-blame."
-
-The three men bowed silently.
-
-"You, Nathan," he went on, "will come with me, for you are not wanted
-here, but your presence is necessary at. Cerro Prieto, where our
-comrades are encamped."
-
-"I will follow you," the young man replied, laconically.
-
-"Good! Now, you others, bear this carefully in mind:--Our enemies will
-never suppose that I have made such a mistake as to bring my prisoner
-back here; for that is so absurd, that the idea will never enter their
-heads; so you can be at ease, and no one will trouble your peace of
-mind. Tomorrow, so soon as the moon rises, you will make the girl put on
-an Indian dress, mount her, and come to me at Cerro Prieto. Immediately
-after your arrival we shall start."
-
-"Good!" Fray Ambrosio answered. "We will take care."
-
-"I expect so; for, if you do not, I wouldn't give a _cuartillo_ for your
-accursed hide, my reverend friend."
-
-After uttering these friendly words, the squatter seized the jar of
-mezcal, emptied it at a draught, and sent it flying across the room,
-where it broke to pieces.
-
-"Good bye till tomorrow," he then said, "come, Nathan."
-
-"Till tomorrow," they answered.
-
-The squatter and his son left the rancho, and walked on silently side by
-side, plunged in gloomy reflections produced by the events of the night.
-They soon left the town. The night was gloomy, but darkness did not
-exist for squatters accustomed to find their way anywhere, and never
-dreaming of going astray. They walked thus for a long time, with slung
-rifle, not exchanging a word, but listening to the slightest noise and
-sounding, the darkness with their tiger-cat eyes. All at once they heard
-the firm footfall of a man coming towards them. They cocked their
-rifles, ready for any emergency. A voice was then heard, though the
-person to whom it belonged was invisible.
-
-"My brothers must not fire; they would kill a friend."
-
-The words were Apache--a language well known to the squatters.
-
-"Tis an Indian," said Nathan.
-
-"Do you think I did not recognise him?" Red Cedar replied, brutally;
-"then," he added, in the same dialect, "there are no friends in the
-shadow of the desert. My brother must get out of my path, or I will kill
-him like a coyote."
-
-"Is it thus," the Indian continued, "that the 'maneater' receives the
-guide whom Stanapat, the Great Chief of the Apaches, sends him? In that
-case, good-bye. I will retire."
-
-"One moment," the squatter said, sharply, as he lowered his rifle, and
-made his son a sign to follow his example. "I could not guess who you
-were. Advance without fear and be welcome, brother, for I was anxiously
-expecting you."
-
-The Indian stepped forward. He wore the costume and characteristic paint
-of the Apache warriors; in a word, he was so well disguised, that
-Valentine himself could not, have recognised in him his friend,
-Eagle-wing the Chief of the Coras, though it was he.
-
-Red Cedar, delighted at the arrival of his guide, received him in the
-most affable manner. He had long been acquainted with Stanapat, the most
-ferocious warrior of all the Indian nations that traverse the immense
-regions of the Rio Gila, and whom we shall presently visit. After
-several questions, which Eagle-wing answered without hesitation or once
-tripping, Red Cedar, convinced that he was really the man the Apache
-chief had promised to send him, dismissed all doubt, and conversed with
-him in the most friendly spirit, inquiring after certain warriors he had
-formerly known.
-
-"What is my brother's name?" he asked, in conclusion.
-
-"The Heart of Stone!" Eagle-wing replied.
-
-"Good!" the squatter said, "My brother has a grand name. He must be a
-renowned warrior in his tribe."
-
-A short time after, the three men reached the camp of the gambusinos,
-established in a formidable position on the top of a rock called the
-Cerro Prieto (Black Mountain). The miners greeted Red Cedar's arrival
-with the most lively joy, for his presence announced a speedy departure;
-and all these semi-savages, the greater part of whose life had been
-spent in the prairies, were anxious to quit civilization to re-assume
-their adventurous career, which was so full of charms and strange
-incidents.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVII.
-
-EL VADO DEL TORO.
-
-
-Red Cedar reasoned correctly when he told Fray Ambrosio and Garote that
-Dona Clara was in safety at the rancho, and no one would dream of
-seeking her there. In truth, Valentine knew the squatter's cunning too
-well to suppose that he would commit the impudence of bringing his
-prisoner back to the very spot where she was discovered.
-
-The squatter's two accomplices passed the day quietly in playing, on
-credit, at monte; each cheating with a dexterity which did honor to
-their knowledge of that noble game. No one came to disturb them, or cast
-an indiscreet glance into this famous den, which, in the bright
-sunshine, had an air of respectability pleasant to look on, and amply
-sufficient to dispel all suspicions. About nine in the evening, the
-moon, though new, rose magnificently on a deep blue sky, studded with
-brilliant stars.
-
-"I fancy it is time to get ready, gossip," Fray Ambrosio said, "the moon
-is peering through the trees in your neighbour's garden."
-
-"You are right, senor Padre, we will be off; but let me, I implore you,
-first finish this deal; it is one of the most magnificent I ever
-witnessed. _Caspita!_ I will bet a nugget as big as my thumb on the
-seven of clubs."
-
-"I'll back the two of spades. Something tells me it will turn up first,
-especially if you pull up the sleeves of your jacket, which must be
-horribly in the way when dealing."
-
-"Oh dear, no, I assure you; but stay, what did I tell you? There is the
-seven of clubs."
-
-"That is really extraordinary," Fray Ambrosio replied, with feigned
-surprise, for he was not duped by the gambusino's trickery; "but I fancy
-we had better make haste."
-
-"Decidedly," said Andres, as he hid his greasy cards in his vaquera
-boots, and proceeded to the room in which Dona Clara was confined. She
-followed him out, weeping bitterly.
-
-"Come, come," the gambusino said to her, "dry your tears, senorita; we
-do not mean you any harm. Hang it all! Who knows but this may end
-perhaps better than you expect; ask that holy monk what he thinks."
-
-Fray Ambrosio bowed an assent, but the maiden made no response to the
-gambusino's consolation; she allowed herself to be disguised
-unresistingly, but still continued to weep.
-
-"In truth, it is absurd," the worthy Andres muttered, in an aside to
-himself, while attiring his prisoner and looking covetously at the
-pearls with which she was adorned, "to waste gold and pearls in this
-fashion; would it not be much better to use them in buying something
-serviceable? What she has on her is worth at least three thousand
-piastres--what a splendid game of monte a fellow could have with that
-sum--and if that demon of a Red Cedar had only been willing--well, we
-shall see presently."
-
-While making these judicious reflections, the gambusino had completed
-the maiden's Indian toilet. He perfected the disguise by throwing a
-zarape over her shoulders; then giving a parting glance round his
-domicile, he put in his pocket a pack of cards accidentally left on the
-table, drank a large glass of spirits, and left the room, followed by
-Dona Clara and the monk, who, in spite of the varying incidents of the
-last few days had regained all his good humour, doubtless owing to the
-good company in which he was, and the game of monte--that inveterate
-passion in every Mexican.
-
-Dona Clara was placed on a horse; Andres and the monk also mounted, and
-leaving the house to the problemical care of Providence, the gambusino
-gave the signal for departure. He made a wide circuit, to avoid passing
-through the Presidio, and then started at a gallop in the direction of
-the Cerro Prieto.
-
-Red Cedar had lost no time, and all was ready for departure. The
-newcomers did not even dismount, but so soon as they were sighted, the
-caravan, composed, as we have stated of some hundred and twenty resolute
-men, after forming in Indian file, started in the direction of the
-prairies, having first prudently detached two scouts to watch the
-neighbourhood.
-
-Nothing is so mournful as a night march in an unknown country, covered
-with snares of every description, when you fear least the ever-watchful
-enemy may pounce on you from every bush. Thus, the gambusinos, restless,
-and starting at the slightest rustling of the leaves, advanced silently
-and gloomily, with their eyes fixed on the clumps that grew along the
-wayside, rifle in hand, ready to fire at the slightest suspicious
-movement. They marched, however, for upwards of three hours, and nothing
-happened to justify their fears; a solemn calmness continued to prevail
-around them. Gradually these apprehensions were dissipated; they began
-talking in a suppressed voice, and laughing at their past terrors, when
-they reached, on the banks of the Del Norte, the _vado_, or Ford del
-Toro.
-
-In the interior of Southern America, and specially in New Mexico, a
-country still almost entirely unknown, the means of communication are
-_nil_, and consequently bridges may be looked for in vain. There are
-only two methods of crossing even the widest rivers--looking for a ford,
-or, if you are in a great hurry, forcing your horse into the oft-times
-rapid current, and trying to reach the other bank by swimming.
-
-The squatter had selected the first method, and in a few minutes the
-whole party was in the water. Although the ground of the ford was
-uneven, and at times the horses were up to their chests, and compelled
-to swim, the gambusinos managed to get across safely. The only persons
-left on the bank were Red Cedar, Eagle-wing, the guide, Dona Clara, and
-Andres Garote.
-
-"It is our turn now, Heart of Stone," the squatter said, addressing
-Eagle-wing; "you see that our men are in safety, and only await us to
-set out again."
-
-"The squaw first," the Indian replied, laconically.
-
-"That is true, chief," the squatter said, and, turning to the prisoner,
-"Go across," he said to her, coarsely.
-
-The maiden, not deigning to answer, boldly made her horse enter the
-river, and the three men followed. The night was dark, the sky covered
-with clouds, and the moon, constantly veiled, only shone forth at
-lengthened intervals, which rendered the passage difficult and even
-dangerous, as it did not allow objects to be distinguished, even at a
-distance. Still, after a few seconds, Red Cedar fancied he saw that Dona
-Clara's horse was not following the line traced by the ford, but was
-turning to the left, as if carried away by the current. He pushed his
-horse forward, to assure himself of the reality of the fact; but
-suddenly a vigorous hand seized his right leg, and before he could even
-think of resisting, he was hurled back into the water, and his throat
-seized by an Indian. Andres Garote hurried to his assistance.
-
-During this time, Dona Clara's horse, probably obeying a hidden impulse,
-was proceeding still further from the spot where the gambusinos had
-landed. Some of them, at the head of whom were Dick, Harry, and the
-squatter's three sons, perceiving what was going on, returned to the
-water, to proceed to their chiefs help, while the others, guided by Fray
-Ambrosio, galloped down the river bank, in order to cut off retreat,
-when Dona Clara's horse landed.
-
-Andres Garote, after several fruitless efforts, succeeded in catching
-Red Cedar's horse, which he brought to him at the moment when the latter
-had scalped his enemy. The American got into his saddle again, reached
-the bank, and tried to restore some order among his band, while actually
-watching the incidents of the silent drama being played in the river
-between Eagle-wing and the young Spanish girl.
-
-The Coras sachem had urged his steed in pursuit of Dona Clara's, and
-both were following almost the same line down the stream, the former
-striving to catch up the latter, who, for her part, was doing her utmost
-to widen the distance between them. Suddenly the Coras horse gave a
-leap, while uttering a snort of pain, and began madly beating the water
-with its forelegs, while the river was tinged with blood around it. The
-chief, perceiving that his horse was mortally wounded, leaped from the
-saddle, and leant over the side, ready to leap off. At this moment, a
-hideous face appeared flush with water, and a hand was stretched out to
-grasp him. With that imperturbable coolness that never deserts the
-Indians, even under the most critical circumstances, the Coras seized
-his tomahawk, split his enemy's skull open, and glided into the river.
-
-A formidable war yell was, at this moment, heard from the forest, and
-some fifty shots were fired from both banks at once, illumining the
-scene with their fugitive flashes. A multitude of redskins rushed on the
-gambusinos, and a terrible fight commenced. The Mexicans, taken
-unawares, defended themselves at first poorly, giving ground and seeking
-shelter behind trees; but, obeying the thundering voice of the squatter,
-who performed prodigies of valor while exciting his comrades to sell
-their lives dearly, they regained courage, formed in close column, and
-charged the Indians furiously, beating them down with the butts of their
-muskets, or slashing them with their machetes.
-
-The combat was short; the redskins, who were only a party of marauding
-Pawnees, seeing the ill-result of their surprise, grew discouraged, and
-disappeared as rapidly as they had come. Two minutes later calmness and
-silence were so perfectly re-established, that had it not been for a few
-wounded gambusinos, and several Indians stretched dead on the
-battlefield, the strange scene would have appeared as a dream.
-
-So soon as the Indians were routed, Red Cedar bent an eager glance up
-the river; on that side the struggle was also over, and Eagle-wing,
-mounted behind the young lady, was guiding her horse to the bank, which
-it soon reached.
-
-"Well?" the squatter asked.
-
-"The Pawnees are cowardly coyotes," the Coras answered, pointing to two
-human scalps that hung all bloody from his girdle; "they fly like old
-women, so soon as they see the war plume of a warrior of my nation."
-
-"Good!" the squatter said, gleefully, "My brother is a great warrior; he
-has a friend."
-
-The Coras bowed with a smile of indescribable meaning. His object was
-gained; he had acquired the confidence of the man he meant to destroy.
-Dona Clara, Ellen, and the squatter's wife were placed in the centre of
-the caravan, and the band started again.
-
-An hour later, a second party of horsemen also crossed the Vado del
-Toro. It was much less numerous than the first, as it consisted of only
-five men, but they were Valentine, Curumilla, Don Miguel, his son, and
-General Ibanez. The real struggle was about to commence: behind them
-they left the civilised world, to find themselves face to face on the
-desert with their enemies.
-
-(Those of our readers who take an interest in the Trail-hunter, we must
-ask to follow his adventures through a second volume, to be called--THE
-PIRATES OF THE PRAIRIES.)
-
-
-THE END
-
-
-
-
-
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